Australia Sues Microsoft-365 Pricing; Gemini Can Create Presentations Now; Apple iPhone Wallet Getting Passport; AI Being Used to Fake Expense Reports

Posted: October 27, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Australia has sued Microsoft over AI linked subscription price increases. Reuters.com reports that the suit claims that Microsoft has mislead millions of users into paying more of its Microsoft 365 product after bundling it with AI tool Copilot. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission says about 2.7 million users were affected, as they were led to believe they had to move to higher priced Microsoft 365 personal and family plans that included Copilot. The price increase with Copilot per year was a fat 45% more for the personal plan and 29% for the family plan. According to the suit, Microsoft didn’t clearly explain that people could use the cheaper ‘classic’ plan that omitted Copilot. A Microsoft spokesperson says they are reviewing the legal action.

A number of new features are out with the October update to Google’s Gemini. According to bgr.com, you will now be able to create presentations with the AI chatbot. Essentially, you will be able to drop any source into Gemini, and it will use that to create slides for a presentation. If you aren’t satisfied with the output, you can export them to Google Slides, and then edit and refine the idea further. 

A number of state driver licenses can be saved in the iPhone Wallet, and can be used for some things…not for police stops, though. Now, Apple is going to add a digital version of your passport to the Wallet. Apple VP of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet Jennifer Bailey said the update will be coming later this year. She didn’t specify if it would be with an iOS update or just something Apple will do server side. You will be able to show the digital passport to the TSA in select US airports if you are flying domestically. If you are going to fly internationally or cross a border, you will still need a physical passport. You will also be able to use the Digital ID for age and identity verification in apps, online, and in stores. 

 Workers with expense reimbursement are getting crafty. Some are using image-generating AI to fake expense reports! Financialtimes.com reports that models from both OpenAI and Google are cranking out the fakes. Software provider AppZen says fake expense reports added up to about 14% of those submitted in September…that compares with none last year. The realistic fakes sometimes even have wrinkles in the paper, a coffee stain, detailed itemization, and even signatures! Some systems can detect metadata and toss the fakes, but savvy employees can easily remove that info. No Photoshop skills are needed, just write a prompt. This is going to be a serious issue for companies starting now. 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.

Samsung Galaxy XR Takes on Apple Vision Pro-at Half the Price; OpenAI’s New Atlas Browser; GM Looks other Launch Eyes-Off Driving with Google AI; Netflix ‘All In’ on Generative AI

Posted: October 22, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

While Apple never planned on the Vision Pro headset being a mass consumer item, Samsung may have other ideas. The Galaxy XR is Samsung’s answer to the Vision Pro, at a much more marketable $1800..about half the price of Apple’s offering. The Samsung headset runs Google’s new Android XR platform, and heavily emphasizes AI and Gemini based voice controls. It actually looks much the same as Apple’s Vision Pro, dow to the connector wire to its external clip-on battery pack. One big difference…the Galaxy XR doesn’t have an outward facing display, so you won’t be able to project your face onto the outside of the headset…which is a bit creepy anyway. The Galaxy is not only less money, it’s lighter, coming in at 1.2 lbs, compared to the new M5 Vision Pro at 1.6 lbs. The Galaxy XR is available now at samsung.com for $1800.00.

OpenAI has released the MacOS version of its new Atlas web browser. According to arstechnica.com, the browser includes Agent Mode preview to ‘use the internet for you.’ OpenAI is hoping the Atlas browser will be as big as success for them as Chrome was for Google. The Atlas browser will let users ‘chat with a page,’ helping ChatGPT become a core way that users interact with the place ‘where a ton of work and life happens,’—online. At least that is the vision of CEO Sam Altman. A Windows and mobile version are due to come out quote ‘as quick as we can.’

General Motors CEO Mary Barra was at the Wall Street Journal’s Future of Everything conference, and said that the General is targeting a suite of new software initiatives for its vehicles over the next three years, including an in-vehicle artificial intelligence assistant from Google and a driver-assistance system that can largely control the vehicle without human interaction or monitoring. CNBC.com notes that the CEO said conversational Google Gemini AI will begin launching in its vehicles next year, followed by the new driver-assistance system, which will allow drivers to be hands-free and take their eyes off the road under certain circumstances, in 2028. Remember the old slogan about driving ‘Watch Out for the Other Guy?’ Well now, you’re going to have to watch out for the other vehicle…the other guy might be literally asleep at the wheel in 2028!

Many in the entertainment industry are skeptical about using generative AI in filmmaking, but not Netflix. Techcrunch.com reports that while Netflix isn’t planning to use generative AI as the backbone of its content but believes the technology has potential as a tool to make creatives more efficient. CEO Ted Sarandos said in an earnings call “It takes a great artist to make something great.” He did say quote “We’re confident that AI is going to help us and help our creative partners tell stories better, faster, and in new ways. We’re all in on that, but we’re not chasing novelty for novelty’s sake here.”

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.

YouTube Launches Likeness Detection Tech; Judge Rules Zuckerberg Must Testify in Trial About Social Media Effects on Young Users; Amazon DNS Problem Knocked Out Half the Web; Amazon Plans More Mass Automation 

Posted: October 21, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

YouTube’s likeness detection tech has officially rolled out to eligible creators in the YouTube Partner Program, after a pilot run. Techcrunch.com reports that the tech identifies and manages AI-generated content featuring the likeness of creators, such as their face and voice. It is designed to prevent people from having their likeness misused, whether for endorsing products and services they have not agreed to support or for spreading misinformation. There have been plenty of examples of AI likeness misuse in recent years. On its Creator Insider channel, the company provided instructions on how creators can use the technology. Creators can make a removal request or a copyright request. Creators can also opt out of the tech if they want to.

A judge has ordered Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify at the first trial about the adverse effects of social media on younger users. According to CNBC.com, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel and Instagram’s Adam Mosseri will also have to testify at the trial slated to start in January. It is alleged that social media companies failed to warn users of features created to ‘be addictive’ and ‘drive compulsive’ behaviors in minors. Meta has moved to stop Zuckerberg and Mosseri from testifiying, and Snap argues that Spiegel testifying would be an ‘abuse of discretion.’

The saga of Amazon Web Services’ huge outage Monday continues. Arstechnica.com notes that it was the biggest outage since last year’s CrowdStrike event. More than 28 AWS services were disrupted, possibly causing billions in damages. Snapchat, Signal, and Reddit went dark. Flights got delayed. Banks and financial services went down. Massive games like Fortnite could not be accessed. Some of Amazon’s own services were hit, too, including its e-commerce platform, Alexa, and Prime Video. Ultimately, millions of businesses simply stopped operating, unable to log employees into their systems or accept payments for their goods. “The incident highlights the complexity and fragility of the Internet, as well as how much every aspect of our work depends on the Internet to work,” Mehdi Daoudi, the CEO of an Internet performance monitoring firm called Catchpoint, told CNN. “The financial impact of this outage will easily reach into the hundreds of billions due to loss in productivity for millions of workers that cannot do their job, plus business operations that are stopped or delayed—from airlines to factories.”

In other Amazon news, Amazon is planning to sell twice as many products by 2033…but the some half million humans that would require may be out of luck. The online giant intends to scale up its robotics operations, and would thereby avoid hiring some 600,000 people! Engadget.com reports that the huge robotics department at Amazon would help it automate 75% of all operations. That will save them a whopping 30 cents on each item packed and delivered to consumers. Ok, to be fair, that 30 cents for all those items does add up to real money. In the short run, Amazon plans to hire 250,000 people for this holiday season.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.

Anthropic Releases Claude Code to iOS & the Web; iPhone 17 Line Outselling Last Year’s Models; SpaceX Launches 10,000th Starling Satellite; Update of This Morning’s AWS Outage 

Posted: October 20, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Last winter, Anthropic announced Claude Code. Now, the AI company is making it easier for developers to use Claude Code in more places by putting up a new web interface to access the agent. Engadget.com reports that Anthropic is also releasing a preview of the agent inside its iOS app. The company has given users a warning that the mobile version is an early integration, which will be quickly refined based on user feedback. Pro and Max users can start using Claude Code on the web today. Anthropic notes any cloud sessions share the same rate limits with all other Claude Code usage.

The new iPhone 17 models are a hit for Apple. This year’s models around outselling last year’s iPhone 16 series by 14% in the first 10 days of availability in both the US and China. According to macrumors.com, this is new sell-through data from Counterpoint Research. The firm said the overall uplift is being led by stronger upgrades to the standard ‌iPhone 17‌, particularly in China, and by higher uptake of the iPhone 17 Pro Max among U.S. carrier customers based on enhanced subsidy plans. In China, the base iPhone 17 nearly doubled compared to the iPhone 16 based on the same initial period. The 17 Pro Max is ahead of the 16 for the initial period, in no small measure due to the big three carriers increasing maximum subsidies by about $100. 

SpaceX has notched a major milestone. They have launched the 10,000th Starlink satellite. Arstechnica.com notes that the benchmark came when two Falcon 9 rockets took off from spaceports in Florida and California Sunday afternoon, adding 56 more satellites to SpaceX’s Starlink broadband network. Actually, now there are 10,006 in orbit…including a few dozen demo satellites. Starlink passed 7 million global subscribers in August.

There was a huge outage early this morning for Amazon Web Services. Geekwire.com says the outage took down several major sits and services. Thankfully it was not due to a cyberattack, but an internal issue within the cloud giant’s infrastructure. Facebook, Coinbase, Amazon, and even check-in kiosks at LaGuardia airport were affected. Amazon pinned the outage on a failure of an “underlying internal subsystem responsible for monitoring the health of our network load balancers.” Tech experts say that this outage indicates that many sites have not adequately implemented the redundancy needed to fall back to other regions or other providers in the event of AWS outages. 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now. 

Apple Bows New M5 Chip & MacBook Pros; US Charges Cambodian in Huge Crypto Scam; Microsoft Rolls Out Image Generator; ‘Pixnapping’ Hack for Android

Posted: October 15, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Apple has introduced its latest greatest system…the M5 chip, with their next generation GPU. The new system will be the brains of the MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and Vision Pro goggles. Macrumors.com reports that the new chip has 10 cores with a ’Neural Accelerator’ for each individual core…which enables GPU based artificial intelligence workloads to run dramatically faster. Apple claims graphics performance up to 45% higher than the M4 chip. It is worth noting that the new 14 inch MacBook Pro doesn’t really have any new major features, besides the more robust chip. The higher end 14 inch and 16 inch MacBook Pro models with M5 chips are yet to come…expect them in early 2026. 

A Cambodian executive masterminded a huge crypto scam, but now is on the run and the US government has seized more than $14 billion in Bitcoin, and indicted him. According to NPR, Chen Chi and his Prince Holding Group have been charged with wire fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering conspiracy. The US and British authorities have also placed sanctions on his company, which has operated in real estate development, financial services, and some other businesses. Chen is accused of sanctioning brutal violence against workers, authorizing hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes to foreign officials and using his other businesses, such as online gambling and cryptocurrency mining operations, to launder illicit profits. He is on the run and at large. He is a native of China and has gone by the alias of ‘Vincent.’ He had compounds in Cambodia, where workers were held captive and beaten, while they were forced to contact thousands of victims through social media or online messaging platforms, build rapport and entice them to transfer cryptocurrency with hopes of big investment returns. The money was just stolen from them. 

Microsoft has rolled out its own image generator, and Redmond claims it is faster than rival generators. Bgr.com notes that the clunky named MAI-Image-1 is better than OpenAI’s Sora2 and Google’s Nano Banana. Both those apps raced to the top of app stores, with Sora being the most downloaded app on iPhone in less than a week. Microsoft hasn’t released the generator yet, saying it will take into account feedback from early users before releasing it in Copilot and Bing Image Creator. 

A new kind of hacker attack for Androids. Mashable.com reports that it lets bad guys snag your private chats, text messages, emails, and even two-factor authentication  codes. It has been named ‘Pixnapping’, and it can be used to grab info from any data displayed on your screen. The victim has to have downloaded a malicious app. After that, the screen grabs can happen without any permissions or without being noticed.  Google released an early patch for it already, but there is a work around to evade the patch. Pixnapping was uncovered by a group of researchers collaborating from University of California, Berkeley, University of Washington, University of California, San Diego, and Carnegie Mellon University.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.

Walmart Partners with OpenAI-Buy Right in ChatGPT; Satellites Leaking Personal Data & Secrets; CA Law-Big Fines for Deepfake Nudes and Restricts Bots Advising Kids; Windows 10 Support Ends Today-But You can Extend It

Posted: October 14, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Walmart has cut deal with OpenAi to let shoppers make faster purchases within AI chatbot ChatGPT. CNBC.com reports that Walmart said in a statement that the AI feature will be “multi-media, personalized and contextual,” adding that Walmart is “running towards that more enjoyable and convenient future.” The news release didn’t say when customers could start buying goods from Walmart using ChatGPT. Last month, OpenAI announced Instant Checkout, that allows purchases such as those from Walmart. Initially, the feature just supports single item purchases from Etsy sellers. Besides Walmart, the feature will work for Shopify soon. No details on the cost, but OpenAI has said it will charge companies a fee for transactions made using ChatGPT.

We have stories weekly of data leaks…I could report on nothing else and not even scratch the surface. Here’s a new wrinkle, though…data beamed from satellites has been grabbed by researchers at UC San Diego and the University of Maryland…using an $800 off-the-shelf satellite receiver system! According to wired.com, the researchers found that almost half of geostationary satellite signals, including many carrying sensitive consumer, corporate, and government communications, have been left entirely vulnerable to eavesdropping. They picked up T-Moble users’ calls, airline passengers’ Wi-Fi browsing in-flight, and communication of utility companies, as well as US and Mexican military and law enforcement communications…which revealed location of personal, equipment, and facilities. It’s time for satellite using companies…and governments to tighten up and encrypt data bounced to and from satellites!

California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed the first-ever US last regulating companion bots in a move to protect kids. Arstechnica.com notes that the law will attempt to shield kids from companion bots and deepfake porn. California will require any companion bot platforms—including ChatGPT, Grok, Character.AI, and the like—to create and make public “protocols to identify and address users’ suicidal ideation or expressions of self-harm.” In an effort to stop kids from being cyber-bullied with deepfake nudes, the new law has vastly increased fines…up to now, they ranged from $1500 to $30,000. Now, a victim can go for up to $150,000 for a malicious violation. Not only that, any victims…including minors… can seek that level of damages. Here’s hoping other states get on board and protect children from malicious use of bots and chat apps. 

Windows 10 support officially ends today. If you have a computer that can run Windows 11, you may want to update to that for free. If you don’t like the Recall feature or have a box that won’t run 11, you can still sign up for Extended Security Updates…and you should. Engadget.com reports that first off, update the computer. Next, be using an administrator account. You will have to verify if you can upgrade to Windows 11…do so if you want and you’re done. If not, sign up for ESU by selecting Update & Security from the Settings menu. Click on ‘Enroll now.’ You will again be pestered to sign up Windows 11 of course. With the Extended Security, you have an extra year to either update to 11 or if your computer won’t run 11, replace the computer….or put Linux on it! 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.

Salesforce Announces Agentforce 360 at Dreamforce; OpenAI Making own AI Chips-Partnering with Broadcom; Holiday Hiring Same as Last Year; Slack Making Slackbot into AI Assistant 

Posted: October 13, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Salesforce’s Dreamforce convention opened in San Francisco today, and the company announced Agentforce 360 as their next generation AI agent. Techcrunch.com reports that the new version of Agentforce includes new ways to instruct AI agents through text, a new platform to build and deploy agents, and new infrastructure for messaging app Slack, among others. A feature they touted is Agent Script, which will be released in beta in November. Agent Script gives users the ability to program their AI agents to be more flexible and better respond to “if/then” situations. This allows AI agents to be programmed to be more predictable in less rigid situations like customer questions.

OpenAI is moving at warp speed into the future, even if that means some real stumbles along the way…like the disastrous ChatGPT 5o, which had to be backed out. According to engadget.com, the AI firm is designing ‘AI accelerators’ and systems. Partner Broadcom will start deploying racks of these systems the latter half of 2026. The companies are shooting for a completed rollout by the end of 2029. The deal is for 10 gigawatts of chips and it’s worth “multiple billions of dollars.” It was reported last month that OpenAI and Broadcom were making custom chips together. 

With the Trump tariffs and other moves throwing the US economy into uncertainty, a number of retailers are backing off on staffing up for the holiday season. The AP notes that part of the issue is the changes by the administration and then the government shutdown that have limited or delayed economic data retailers and wholesalers rely on. Job placement firm Challenger, Gray, and Christmas forecasts that hiring for the last quarter of the year will drop under 500,000 positions. 

My joy knows no bounds…Slack is turning Slackbot into an AI assistant. Theverge.com says with the update, Slackbot can create custom plans tailored to your workspace, sift through a mountain of messages, gather information from a range of Slack channels, and more. For now, it will be a pilot program. Slackbot will appear as an icon next to the search bar at the top of the workspace. Clicking into it will open a DM-like panel on the right side of the screen where you can enter prompts like “What are my priorities for today?” or “Find the latest updates on a project.” The new Slackbot will draw from your conversations, files, and workspace to provide personalized assistance. We can only hope Slack isn’t as pushy about trying to get you to use this as Microsoft is with Teams, or Meta is with their AI assistant. In all of these cases, to be frank…you have to be completely clueless to need the AI assistants to help you with a task, and honestly…so far anyway…it takes as much time as it does for you to just do it yourself.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now. 

Prime Day in Full Swing; ChatGPT-Multiple Acts Inside It Now; California Law Cuts Volume on Netflix, Others; Deloitte Refunds Australia for AI Lie-Ridden Report

Posted: October 7, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

Prime Day is here…and if you weren’t already up at midnight buying your favorite stuff at big discounts, some may be sold out by now. That said, there are still a huge number of deals to be had the rest of today and tomorrow. Engadget.com reports that as usual, deep discounts are available on Amazon’s own hardware…all the Alexa-related devices. Besides Amazon’s gear, though, there are other bargains. A 4 pack of Apple AirTags can be picked up for $65, which is 34% off…and unheard of bargain. You can get an Anker Nano 5K ultra slim power bank that is Qi2 and 15 watts for $40…that’s $15 off and is a Prime exclusive. A Google Pixel 9a midrange smartphone is just $349, which is a whopping $150 discount. Also, A Dyson V8 Plus cordless vac is $300…that’s $219 off. It’s not the top line Dyson, but I’ve been using one myself for several years, and it works well and runs 40 minutes on a charge. I hope your place isn’t so big that you need to vacuum for more than that! If it is, maybe you can have a maid service come in. 

ChatGPT can now interact with a number of third-party apps right inside their conversations. According to macrumors.com, initial partners include Spotify, Canva, Zillow, Expedia, Booking.com, Coursera, and Figma. Users can activate the app by name. You can, for example, ask Spotify to make you a new playlist. OpenAI says additional apps are coming later this year, including from DoorDash, Instacart, Uber, and AllTrails. Like so many internet products, OpenAI would love to Make ChatGPT into a walled garden that you rarely leave, getting them a piece of revenue from every app you use inside. 

Governor Newsom has signed into law a bill that eliminated a loophole in the 2010 Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act. The new California law bans loud commercials on video streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and HBO Max. At the time of the original bill, streaming was not much of a factor…but now about 83% of adults use streaming services. The FCC is also looking at rule making to deal with loud commercials on streaming services. The California law requires that streamers “not transmit the audio of commercial advertisements louder than the video content they accompany.” Unfortunately, the law doesn’t take effect immediately, but in July 2026. Perhaps by that time, the FCC will pick up on California’s law, and make it the rule nationwide. 

Yet another AI lying scandal…or as that industry has dubbed it…’hallucinations.’ Consulting/accounting firm Deloitte is coughing up a partial refund for a report that was full of fake citations. The firm had used ChatGPT-4o in creating the report. Arstechnica.com reports that the so-called ‘Targeted Compliance Framework Assurance Review’ was finalized in July then published by a government department in August. The Aussies had paid $440,000 in US dollars for it. It centered around a framework the government there uses to automate penalties under the country’s welfare system. An official from Sydney University noticed multiple citations to papers and publications that didn’t exist. the report was updated by Deloitte, and only 127 of the original 141 references in the ‘Reference List’ remain. The other 14 were fakes made up by ChatGPT 4o. 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now. 

AMD Partners with OpenAI; ICE Wants to Build 24-7 Social Media Surveillance Team; Discord User IDs & Data Compromised; Tesla Insurance Division Accused of ‘Egregious Delays’

Posted: October 6, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

AMD is partnering up with OpenAI, and will provide the AI firm with 6 gigawatts worth of processors for its AI data centers…something that poses a direct challenge to Nvidia’s AI chip market dominance. Theverge.com reports that the deal is a 5 year agreement which will aim to help OpenAI bulk up its infrastructure to meet the growing computational demands for its AI apps like ChatGPT. The first wave will be a gigawatt worth of AMD GPUs coming in the 2nd half of 2026. No dollar amount has been announced, but it is safe to say it will be in the tens of billions of dollars. 

ICE is moving to connect with private vendors to run a multi-year surveillance program out of its two little—known targeting centers. According to wired.com, ICE plans to hire almost 30 contractors to sift through posts, photos, and messages—raw material to be transformed into intelligence for deportation arrests and raids. The contractors would be located at ICE facilities in Williston, Vermont and Santa Ana in Southern California. They would pore over Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and other platforms converting posts and profiles into fresh leads for enforcement raids. 

A third party customer service provider for Discord has been infiltrated, and the hackers were able to gain access to user information. Engadget.com says the breach occurred on September 20th. Discord claims that the compromised data includes a “small number” of government IDs like driver’s licenses and passports, which some users may have submitted to verify their ages. To be clear, Discord itself wasn’t hacked, and you would only be affected by the data breach if you’ve ever communicated with the messaging service’s Customer Support or Trust & Safety teams. That also means the bad actors didn’t get access to your messages within the service, just whatever you may have communicated with customer support. Affected users are getting emails notifying them. They have cut ties with the provider. 

The California Department of Insurance has slapped Tesla with an enforcement action for routinely denying or delaying customer claims despite years of warnings from that state regulator. Techcrunch.com notes that Tesla’s insurance arm along with partner State National Insurance Company, engaged in “willful unfair claims settlement practices” including “egregious delays in responding to policyholder claims in all steps” of the process and “unreasonable denials,” CDI wrote. This has allegedly caused “financial harm” and “distress to policyholders.” The state insurance department first warned about the issues in 2022, and now says things have only gotten worse. Tesla launched the in-house insurance back in 2019. 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.

Meta to Sell Targeted Ads Based on Your AI Interaction; Google-Gemini for Home Replaces Assistant; Microsoft Redoes Xbox Game Pass Plans; Disney Lost 1.7 Million Subscribers over Kimmel Suspension

Posted: October 1, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

As if they didn’t have a big enough trove of information on all of us that can be used to sell targeted ads, now Meta will sell targeted ads based on data in your AI chats. You may have noticed the push for AI in Messages and Facebook…it’s right there like it was a person on your friends list. TechCrunch.com reports that if you ask the Meta AI about hiking or camping, you will see ads for appropriate gear for those activities. Of course the targeting will work across platforms. If you are logged in to both Facebook and Instagram, you will get targeted ads that are based on AI interactions with either platform. Meta did say it has no immediate plans to put ads directly in the AI products. Wow, that’s a real relief. 

Google has bowed new hardware, and along with that, they have replaced Google Assistant with Gemini for Home. According to 9to5google.com, there are 10 new voices, with what is touted as more natural pacing and intonation. With the new Gemini, commands no longer have to follow a specific structure to work. You don’t have to remember device names now, and you can string multiple instructions together and it will process all of them. Google is claiming you can now talk to Gemini for Home as if it was a person. New AI cameras are supposed to be able to tell you what’s happening…for example, you can asked if a critter ate your plants outdoors, or if a family member got home. Google says their redesigned app runs faster, too. 

Microsoft has rejiggered their Xbox Game Pass plans and surprise….there’s a price hike, too! Theverge.com notes that as of today, Game Pass Ultimate will jump from $19.99 a month to $29.99 a month! That’s up 50%! Xbox Game Pass Core is being rebranded Game Pass Essential, and the standard plan is now Game Pass Premium. Microsoft says all 3 plans are getting bigger libraries and unlimited cloud gaming. 45 new games are out for Ultimate as of today. 

Boycotts work! Engadget.com reports that The Handbasket is saying Disney lost more than 1.7 million subscribers to their paid streaming plans from September 17th to the 23rd. If you figure most were being dinged for about $20 a month, I calculate that this is a hit of around $400 million a year for the House of Mouse. THAT more than anything, is what brought Kimmel back. Money talks, and bullshit walks…as we used to say in the car business.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now. 

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