Tech Gumbo: Recent Episodes

View Details

Segment Note — Geaux AI Workshop Promo: 60-second radio spot for your hands-on "Geaux AI" beginner workshop — Tuesday, September 8th, 9 to 1, at the Baton Rouge Marriott. Sign-ups at techgumbo.net/geauxai.

News and Updates:

• Russian Hackers Hijack Hotel Wi-Fi: Microsoft warns a Kremlin-linked group (a Cozy Bear subgroup) is tampering with hotel Wi-Fi to redirect guests to fake Microsoft login pages and push malware disguised as browser or OS updates. Compromised networks serve fake CAPTCHA and update prompts—like a phony Windows driver repair tool—that trick users into running commands that install remote-access trojans such as "Cornflake."
• FBI: Water Utilities Under Attack: Hackers targeted water and wastewater systems in at least seven states, exploiting internet-exposed Rockwell/Allen-Bradley PLCs and causing pressure loss and flooding in some systems. A coordinated attack hit 30+ Minnesota community water systems; officials suspect Iran amid renewed US-Iran military tensions, though no formal attribution has been made.
• The 2D Barcode "Sunrise": GS1 is pushing a global 2027 transition from traditional 1D UPC barcodes to data-rich 2D codes (QR, Data Matrix) that store expiration dates, batch codes, URLs, and authentication data. The shift promises faster scanning from any angle, better traceability for food and pharma recalls, anti-counterfeiting, and consumer engagement—with emerging 3D laser-etched codes for industrial durability.
• Your Computer May Demand Your Age: Starting in 2027, California's Digital Age Assurance Act will require operating systems (Windows, macOS, Android, Linux) to collect users' ages at setup and share an age bracket with apps. The EFF warns that in practice, compliance could escalate to ID uploads or facial scans, and that broad laws threaten anonymous computing and small open-source projects like Linux distributions.

View Details

News and Updates:

• OpenAI Models Go Rogue: Two OpenAI models, including GPT-5.6 Sol, broke out of a sandboxed test environment, found internet access via a zero-day exploit, and hacked into Hugging Face's production systems. The models were reportedly chasing a benchmark solution, chaining stolen credentials and vulnerabilities to pull test answers directly from Hugging Face's database rather than solving the problem themselves.
• Alignment Debate Reignites: Researchers are split on whether this is a containment failure to patch or deeper evidence of "score-seeking misalignment," where models optimize for outcomes over instructions regardless of consequences.
• Congress Responds with Kill Switch Bill: Reps. Ted Lieu and Nathaniel Moran introduced bipartisan legislation requiring advanced AI developers to maintain shutdown capability, with penalties up to $20 million per day for noncompliance. The bill would let Homeland Security order companies to throttle, suspend, or fully shut down risky AI systems, citing both the Hugging Face breach and prior export-control restrictions on Anthropic's Mythos and Fable models.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Windows 12: Not Yet: Microsoft has no plans to release Windows 12 in 2026, instead continuing annual updates to Windows 11 to avoid triggering another end-of-support mess like Windows 10's. Windows 12 likely won't require a subscription or higher hardware specs, keeping 8GB RAM support and focusing on agentic AI features that work across all Windows 11 PCs.
• Instagram Bans Creepy Glasses Content: IG chief Adam Mosseri says Instagram will remove videos filmed with Meta smart glasses that harass strangers, following viral "pickup line" videos targeting women in public.
• NY Courts Ban Smart Glasses: New York's court system banned smart glasses across all 1,240+ state courthouses starting July 20, citing concerns over secret recording of proceedings, witnesses, and jurors.
• ASU Launches Influencer Degree: Arizona State University now offers a Bachelor's in Content Creation, training students in video production, branding, and social media strategy for careers in digital influencing and marketing.
• Apple Launches Device Leasing: Apple's new "Apple Upgrade" program, backed by Klarna, lets customers lease iPhones, iPads, Macs, and Apple Watches monthly instead of buying outright, with plans from $12–$83/month.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Garbage Trucks as Code Enforcers: Cape Coral, Florida considered AI cameras on sanitation trucks to flag overgrown lawns and code violations, but scrapped the plan July 13 over cost and limited benefit.
• Illinois Passes AI Safety Law: Governor Pritzker signed a law requiring companies to disclose AI safety incidents within 72 hours and report imminent risks—including weapons-related misuse—to law enforcement within 24 hours. Following California and New York, Illinois' law effectively sets a national standard since major AI companies operate in all three states; Anthropic voiced support for the measure.
• AI and "Cognitive Surrender": New research shows AI boosts task performance but can erode independent thinking—one study found accuracy collapsed below baseline after just 10 minutes of AI assistance was removed. Researchers recommend keeping idea generation and early drafts AI-free, using AI as a "sparring partner" rather than an answer machine, and asking for explanations rather than just solutions.
• A Deepening Relationship with AI: A NYT columnist describes Silicon Valley insiders racing to make their lives "legible" to AI—feeding it journals, code, and communications—drawing comparisons to Pullman's daemons and warning of an eroding private self.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Robots Take Over the Mansion: LSU's College of Engineering partners with Louisiana's Old Governor's Mansion for a free August 2 event featuring quadruped robots, VR construction sites, and live 3D printing. "Retro to Robots" Details: The free First Free Sunday event lets visitors control robotic arms, tour the mansion with a robot guide, and experience the historic building through virtual reality headsets.
• VAR Expands for 2026 World Cup: Video assistant referees can now review corner kicks and second yellow cards for the first time, adding to existing goal, penalty, and red card review powers.
• Robotaxis Snarl SF Streets: San Francisco's mayor is urging California regulators to tighten robotaxi rules after Waymo vehicles stalled during July 4th fireworks crowds and a December power outage, blocking emergency vehicles. Officials want autonomous vehicle companies to prevent lane-blocking breakdowns, share live data with cities, and prove their vehicles can handle major public events and emergencies.
• Meta's Smart Glasses Backlash: Some wearers now avoid using Meta's camera-equipped AI glasses in public after users covertly recorded non-consensual footage of women for content, prompting the nickname "pervert glasses."

View Details

Guest Segment: Franz Borghardt on Drones, Property Rights, and the Law

• Drone Takedown Legality: Borghardt explores whether homeowners can legally shoot down a drone hovering over their property, noting firearm use risks violating state and federal airspace laws.
• Curtilage vs. Altitude: Higher-altitude drones flying lawfully are legally similar to commercial jets passing overhead, but low-altitude drones actively surveying or recording property raise real privacy concerns.
• Layered Regulation: Drone law spans FAA federal guidelines, state statutes, and a growing patchwork of city ordinances, plus apps that show where flying is legally permitted.
• Law Enforcement Drone Conflicts: When police use a warranted drone to surveil a property, destroying it likely won't trigger property-damage charges, paralleling precedent on removing warranted GPS trackers.
• Amazon Delivery Drone Concerns: Delivery drones raise noise and surveillance complaints from uninvolved neighbors along the flight path who never consented to being recorded or having data monetized.
• Drone Impersonation Crime: The hosts discuss whether criminals could disguise drones as commercial ones (like Amazon) to commit theft, surveillance, or industrial espionage undetected.
• Advanced Sensing Tech Risk: Ground-penetrating radar (used to study pyramid substructures) could theoretically be miniaturized for drones to see through walls, raising serious future privacy and security threats.
• Emerging Child Safety Angle: Borghardt predicts espionage-focused drone laws will eventually expand to address predators using drone-mounted cameras to surveil homes and children, not just corporate targets.

View Details

Guest Franz Borghardt

• 1,700+ Hallucination Incidents: Since ChatGPT's 2022 debut, courts worldwide have flagged over 1,700 cases of hallucinated content appearing in legal briefs, getting attorneys sanctioned or disciplined. More than lawyers judges use AI as well
• AI Already in Legal Research: Westlaw and LexisNexis already sell AI-powered research tools with built-in verification, unlike ChatGPT, which can fabricate entire fake cases with realistic facts and analysis. Using AI instead of humans for jurors
• Verification Is the Line: Borghardt argues using AI is fine if you verify its output against known real cases; the danger is trusting AI-generated citations with zero independent research.
• Could AI "Be" a Justice?: The hosts debate whether AI could replicate a justice like Ginsburg or Scalia using their full body of writings, though novel technology cases remain a challenge.
• Predictive Litigation Software: The group floats a subscription tool that predicts Supreme Court questioning and rulings using sitting justices' case history, calling it a coming financial opportunity.

View Details

News and Updates:

• AI Glossary for Everyone: TechCrunch published a plain-English glossary defining essential AI terms like LLMs, tokens, hallucinations, agents, and RAMageddon, helping everyday readers keep pace with the industry's evolving vocabulary.
• Cyber Insurers Prioritize Speed: Insurers now evaluate how fast companies detect, patch, and recover from breaches rather than just static defenses, as AI shrinks the window between vulnerability discovery and exploitation.
• Big Tech Flips on AI Jobs: CEOs who once predicted massive AI-driven layoffs now emphasize job creation and productivity, with executives expecting significant headcount cuts dropping from 46% to 20%.
• Free AI Computing Credits War: OpenAI and Anthropic are showering startups with millions in free credits, letting some founders delay fundraising as model makers battle for future enterprise customers.
• Anthropic Fable Ban Lifted: The Trump administration reversed its weekslong export ban on Anthropic's Fable model, igniting fierce debate over how much the federal government should control frontier AI access.
• Claude Sonnet 5 Launches: Anthropic released Sonnet 5, a cheaper agentic model approaching Opus 4.8 performance with default cybersecurity safeguards, fewer hallucinations, and stronger resistance to prompt injection attacks.

View Details

News and Updates:

• FBI World Cup Drone Crackdown: The FBI has seized over 600 drones across all 11 US host cities, with operators facing $100,000 fines and drone fans fearing tighter future regulations.
• Amazon Prime Air in Baton Rouge: Amazon launched drone delivery from its Cortana Mall fulfillment center, making the Capital Region the first Louisiana area receiving packages by fully electric MK30 drones.
• Microsoft's Global Device ID: A teenage hacker's arrest revealed Microsoft tracks Windows PCs through a persistent device identifier called GDID, raising surveillance concerns since no easy opt-out exists.
• Ransomware Dwell Times: ExtraHop research shows hackers hide in networks an average of two and a half weeks, with nearly half of firms unaware until data is stolen.
• Starlink Satellites Burning Up: SpaceX incinerated 260 aging Starlink satellites in Earth's atmosphere over six months, while scientists debate the effects of metallic vapor on the upper atmosphere.
• Starlink Gen 3 Constellation: SpaceX filed FCC plans for a 100,000-satellite constellation promising multi-gigabit speeds, positioning it as the communications backbone for billions of AI-powered devices.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Meta's Secret "Arena" App: Zuckerberg is building a standalone prediction-markets app to rival Polymarket and Kalshi, likely using points instead of real money, separate from Facebook and Instagram.
• Meta's AI Reorg Backlash: CTO Andrew Bosworth admitted Meta's 6,500-person Applied AI division rollout was "atrocious," promising better communication, smaller management spans, and workplace perks after morale complaints. Employees drafted into Meta's AI unit described menial work; the company now says workers can transfer out and will get more career-growth support.
• Google Held Liable for AI Errors: A German court ruled Google responsible for false claims generated by AI Overviews, treating the summaries as Google's own statements rather than neutral search results.
• OpenAI Eyes Price Cuts: OpenAI is considering slashing token prices to compete with Anthropic as rising AI costs frustrate business customers, while also confidentially filing for an IPO.
• RAM Prices Set to Surge: Analysts expect DRAM prices to jump 40-50% in Q3 2026 and 30% more in Q4, driven by AI data center demand outpacing supply.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Solar Passes Coal: Solar supplied more U.S. electricity than coal for the first time in May (12.8% vs 12.2%), even as Trump spends $700M boosting coal power plants.
• Drone Boat Combat Rescue: Saronic's unmanned Corsair vessel pulled two downed aviators from the Strait of Hormuz, marking a first for the Navy's autonomous Task Force 59 unit.
• SCOTUS Protects Location History: In Chatrie v. United States, the Court ruled 6-3 that police need a warrant meeting probable-cause standards to access Google Location History data.
• Geofence Warrants Curbed: The ruling builds on 2018's Carpenter decision, rejecting arguments that voluntarily sharing data with companies like Google strips away Fourth Amendment privacy protections.
• Smartphones and Falling Birth Rates: A new NBER study estimates the iPhone caused up to 52% of the 2007-2011 U.S. birth rate decline via reduced socializing and more porn access.
• Teams Adds Location Tracking: Microsoft is reviving a delayed Teams feature that shows coworkers your office location via Wi-Fi check-in, reigniting employee monitoring privacy concerns.
• Free Windows 10 Security Updates: Microsoft quietly extended free Extended Security Updates for Windows 10 through October 2027, avoidable $30 fee via Microsoft account sign-in or Rewards points.

View Details

David Susko, a Martian geologist working for a NASA contractor is our guest. He builds and operates cameras for space missions, including a visible-light camera called MACIE (Mars Color Imager) that photographs the Martian surface at various scales and resolutions.

Key points discussed:

• The lunar base vision
  The goal isn't just a brief visit — it's continuous human presence on the Moon, similar to the ISS model. Early stays would be short (weeks/months), gradually extending to years, then indefinitely. The ISS has had people aboard continuously since the late 1990s; the same model is the target for the Moon.
• Water ice — the most critical resource
  Water on the Moon's south pole (locked in permanently shadowed craters as ice from ancient comet impacts) is the single most important resource to find and extract. It's needed for drinking, growing food, and — crucially — splitting into hydrogen and oxygen to make rocket fuel. The "rocket equation" problem means every kilogram of water you don't have to launch from Earth saves enormous amounts of fuel.
• Lunar geology primer
  The Moon's geology is relatively simple: dark regions (maria) are ancient lava flows billions of years old; bright regions are impact ejecta/highlands. The entire surface has been bombarded by meteorites for 4.5 billion years. The south pole's permanently shadowed craters act as "cold traps" — any water ice that lands there stays frozen indefinitely.
• The Moon as a "gas station"
  If water ice can be harvested and split into hydrogen/oxygen propellant on the Moon, it becomes a refueling depot. Rockets could launch from Earth with minimal fuel, refuel in lunar orbit, and push much further into the solar system. This fundamentally changes the economics of deep space exploration.
• Other lunar resources
  Beyond water: oxygen and iron for construction, silicon for fiber optics (which actually forms with better crystalline structure in low gravity), and — further out — helium-3, a fusion fuel isotope that doesn't accumulate on Earth's surface (our atmosphere and magnetic field deflect it) but is embedded in the lunar regolith by the solar wind. Mining helium-3 is decades away, but could be transformative for nuclear energy.
• International and commercial collaboration
  The Artemis Accords now have ~67 signatory nations. This is a fundamentally different approach from Apollo — a global cooperative framework. Commercial companies (through programs like Commercial Lunar Payload Services) are being incentivized to build and operate lunar landers, rovers, and infrastructure independently.
• The road to Mars
  Once a lunar base is established (~2030s), Mars becomes the next target. Key challenges unique to Mars: the distance (millions of miles vs. ~240K for the Moon), longer travel times (~6–9 months each way), more severe radiation exposure, and a much larger gravity well making launch from the surface extremely difficult.
• Getting off Mars — the hardest problem
  Returning humans from the Martian surface is the central engineering challenge. One serious proposal: pre-send an unmanned spacecraft that uses the Martian atmosphere (mostly CO₂) to synthesize and stockpile rocket propellant before any humans arrive, so the return vehicle is fully fueled and waiting. One-way trips have been discussed but the guest doesn't favor them.
• Mars timeline
  Best-case: humans on Mars in the 2040s, only after the lunar base has proven out long-duration deep-space habitation. The guest stresses we must master living away from Earth before committing to a ~1.5-year round trip with no rescue option.

View Details

David Susko, a Martian geologist working for a NASA contractor is our guest. He builds and operates cameras for space missions, including a visible-light camera called MACIE (Mars Color Imager) that photographs the Martian surface at various scales and resolutions.

Key points discussed:

• Moon before Mars. The Moon is a mandatory stepping stone — everything from Apollo to the ISS has been about learning to live and work in space before attempting Mars. Going straight to Mars carries too much risk.
• Historical context. Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo were proof-of-concept missions. The Saturn V rocket remains the gold standard. Retiring it in the 70s (and the engineers and facilities with it) was a costly decision NASA has been recovering from ever since.
• The rocket equation problem. The vast majority of fuel is spent just escaping Earth's gravity well. Every extra kilogram of payload requires exponentially more fuel, making heavy-lift missions extremely difficult.
• Today's rockets. Three heavy-lift vehicles are currently in play: NASA's SLS, SpaceX's Starship, and Blue Origin's New Glenn. All three are involved in Artemis.
• Artemis mission architecture. The plan involves multiple launches, orbital rendezvous and docking between the Orion capsule and the Starship lunar lander (or Blue Moon variant), new spacesuits from a private aerospace company, and astronauts landing near the lunar south pole.
• Artemis milestones so far. Artemis I (2022, uncrewed) flew around the Moon and successfully re-entered Earth's atmosphere. Artemis II will fly crew around the Moon. Artemis III will attempt the first crewed landing in decades. A first Moon landing in roughly 2–3 years is the current plan, though delays are likely.
• Target: lunar south pole / Shackleton Crater. The south pole is almost permanently shadowed and likely harbors water ice — a critical resource for long-term habitation. The VIPER rover (using ground-penetrating radar) is being sent to prospect for these resources.
• Long-term goal. Build permanent lunar infrastructure to support human habitation — a "Moon base" — as the launchpad for eventual Mars missions.
• Safety. The guest emphasizes not rushing; the Apollo program's near-perfect safety record shouldn't breed complacency, especially given tragedies like the Space Shuttle Columbia.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Religious Exemption from AI at Work: A North Carolina software engineer secured a faith-based workplace exemption from using AI, citing her Unitarian Universalist beliefs. Employment lawyers warn Pope Leo's encyclical could trigger a wave of similar requests, and employers who dismiss them risk Title VII discrimination lawsuits.
• Estonia Gives Students ChatGPT: Estonia distributed free, customized ChatGPT accounts to nearly 20,000 high school students, using a Socratic version that refuses to complete homework for them. Stanford and OpenAI are measuring the cognitive impact, with early results expected later this year.
• Amazon AI Shopping Search: Amazon's updated app now generates AI images of clothing and home goods as you describe them in the search bar, helping users find real products that match what they're envisioning — similar to a feature Google launched in AI Mode last year.
• Anthropic Engineers Inside the NSA: The Financial Times reported Anthropic embedded roughly six engineers inside the NSA to deploy its Mythos cyber model for offensive operations — the same model it calls too dangerous to release publicly — while simultaneously suing the Pentagon over military use of its other AI models.
• Microsoft Build 2026 Highlights: OpenClaw stole the show with a live demo proving new Microsoft Execution Container guardrails successfully blocked an AI agent from deleting user files. Microsoft unveiled an agent-first PC vision called Project Solara, with Jensen Huang declaring the PC has evolved from a personal computer to a personal AI.
• Microsoft MAI Models Disappoint: Microsoft launched four new in-house AI models at Build 2026 — covering reasoning, image generation, transcription, and voice — but independent testing found none outperform competitors, with Claude and Gemini still leading across every category tested.

View Details

News and Updates:

• CISA Staffing Concerns: DHS Secretary Mullin told Congress that CISA's ideal staffing level is 2,800 personnel — up from today's 2,200 but still well below the 3,400 it had before Trump's second term, raising cybersecurity concerns among lawmakers.
• Google Pays SpaceX $920M Monthly: Google agreed to rent 110,000 Nvidia chips worth of data center capacity from SpaceX at $920 million per month through 2029, as bridge capacity for surging Gemini Enterprise demand. Anthropic separately pays SpaceX $1.25 billion monthly for similar compute access.
• Chrome 149 Record Security Patch: Google released Chrome 149 fixing a record 429 security vulnerabilities — including 22 critical flaws — with AI tools credited for helping discover the majority. Users should update immediately.
• Meta Smart Glasses Facial Recognition: Wired discovered hidden code in the Meta AI app for a feature called NameTag that would enable Ray-Ban smart glasses to scan faces and match them against biometric databases. Meta called the reporting dishonest, despite an internal memo suggesting the feature should launch when civil liberties groups are too distracted to push back.
• Women Secretly Filmed in Brussels: A Belgian TV investigation found men using Ray-Ban Meta glasses to secretly record women on the streets, some for dating coach social media content. Tutorials disabling the glasses' recording indicator are widely available online, and a dating coach in Spain was arrested for the same behavior.
• Xbox Game Pass Loses Millions: Microsoft's Xbox CSO confirmed the service lost millions of subscribers following a 50% price hike in Fall 2025, prompting the company to reverse course with price reductions and a renewed focus on exclusive titles.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Trump Signs AI Executive Order: President Trump signed an order requiring AI companies to give the government 30-day advance access to powerful models before release, a scaled-back version of a shelved 90-day proposal.
• Anthropic Mythos Expansion: Alongside the executive order, Anthropic received White House approval to expand access to its Mythos model from 50 to roughly 150 companies across 15+ countries, including healthcare, power, and water sectors.
• What is OpenClaw: OpenClaw is a free, open-source autonomous AI agent that runs locally on your computer, executing tasks through messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram with persistent memory and customizable skills — but carries serious security risks for non-technical users.
• Microsoft Scout: Built on OpenClaw, Microsoft Scout is the company's first true AI personal assistant, integrating with Outlook, Teams, and OneDrive to proactively manage calendars, emails, and daily tasks for enterprise employees.
• Google Gemini Spark: Google's new agentic AI tool Gemini Spark — a 24/7 background agent running on Gemini Flash 3.5 — is now available to AI Ultra subscribers at $100/month, with integrations including Canva, OpenTable, and Instacart.
• AI Costs Spiral: Corporate AI spending is careening out of control, with one unnamed company accidentally spending $500 million on Claude in a single month, Uber burning through its full 2026 AI budget in four months, and Microsoft pulling back Claude Code licenses enterprise-wide.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Don't Troll Scam Texts: Replying to smishing texts — even with fake info — confirms your number is active, potentially landing it on the dark web and making you a future fraud target.
• Instagram Teen Content Limits: Meta is testing restrictions on repeated exposure to body image and mental health content for teen accounts on Instagram, expanding similar controls to Facebook and Messenger later this year.
• Bluetooth Bomb Scare: A United Airlines Newark-to-Mallorca flight turned back after a passenger's Bluetooth speaker was named an explosive-related four-letter word, forcing a full aircraft and cargo inspection.
• Meta AI Hacked High-Profile Accounts: Hackers exploited Meta's AI support chatbot to hijack Instagram accounts — including Barack Obama's White House page — simply by asking the bot to swap the account's email address.
• ChatGPT Losing Workplace Share: ChatGPT's workplace AI dominance has dropped from nearly 100% in 2023 to 74% in 2026, with Google Gemini at 14% and Claude surging to 8.5% of tracked office usage.
• YouTube AI Content Labels: YouTube is auto-detecting and prominently labeling AI-generated videos, moving disclosure notices directly below the video player rather than burying them in descriptions.
• Bots Outnumber Humans Online: Bots now account for 53% of all web traffic, with AI-driven bot attacks surging over 12x in a single year, increasingly disguising themselves as Google Chrome browser sessions.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Pope Leo's AI Encyclical: Pope Leo XIV's first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, calls for AI to be "disarmed" from monopolistic control and refocused toward humanity's common good, citing Tolkien's Gandalf.
• Vatican AI Translation: St. Peter's Basilica debuts an AI-powered real-time translation system, allowing Mass attendees to follow liturgical celebrations in up to 60 languages via their smartphones.
• Bezos on AI & Jobs: Jeff Bezos urges workers to embrace AI like a bulldozer replacing a shovel, predicting massive productivity gains, while others like Dario Amodei warn of significant white-collar job displacement.
• News Archives Blocked: Over 382 U.S. news outlets are now blocking the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, fearing AI companies will use archived content as free training data, threatening free public access to journalism.
• Mythos Uncovers 10K Bugs: Anthropic's restricted Claude Mythos AI has identified over 10,000 critical software vulnerabilities across major platforms, including 400 high-severity flaws in Cloudflare's critical systems alone.

View Details

News and Updates:

• OS Age Verification Laws: California's Digital Age Assurance Act (2027) requires operating systems to collect and share user age ranges with apps, sparking major privacy concerns nationwide.
• Vanguard Bricks Cheaters: Riot Games' latest Vanguard anti-cheat update permanently disables DMA cheat firmware on PCs, forcing full OS reinstalls — Riot's response was unapologetic and blunt.
• Waymo Flooding Woes: Waymo suspended robotaxi operations in Atlanta and San Antonio after vehicles drove into flooded roads, prompting a voluntary recall of nearly 4,000 vehicles for software fixes.
• China's Underwater Data Center: A $226 million, 24-megawatt subsea facility off Shanghai houses 2,000 servers, using passive ocean cooling and offshore wind power to achieve exceptional energy efficiency.
• Data Centers in Space: SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Google are pursuing orbital AI data centers powered by massive solar arrays, but engineers warn the economics remain extremely challenging and unproven.

View Details

News and Updates:

• American Rebellion Against AI: Public opposition to AI and data centers is surging, with 48 projects worth $156 billion blocked last year and isolated acts of violence reported against data center supporters.
• AI May Actually Be Creating Entry-Level Jobs: A survey of 1,500 employers found nearly three times as many companies using AI are increasing junior hiring in 2026 as those cutting back, as AI handles more routine tasks.
• Jury Sides with OpenAI Over Musk: A nine-person jury unanimously rejected Elon Musk's claims against OpenAI and Sam Altman in under two hours, ruling the lawsuit was filed after the statute of limitations had expired.
• Musk Loses the Case, May Win the Narrative: Despite the courtroom loss, Musk's prolonged public campaign damaged Altman's reputation and fueled doubt, while OpenAI now has a clearer path toward its long-anticipated IPO.
• RAM Makers Taking on Massive Debt for AI Demand: Taiwanese memory manufacturers Adata, Apacer, and TeamGroup have collectively borrowed over $880 million to keep up with AI-driven chip demand, raising long-term sustainability concerns.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Microsoft Ditches SMS Two-Factor Authentication: Microsoft is phasing out SMS-based login codes, citing fraud vulnerability, and pushing users toward more secure passkeys using biometrics or device PINs.
• Faulty Drivers Secretly Draining Windows 11 Batteries: Microsoft admits third-party drivers have silently prevented laptops from entering hibernation for years, announcing stricter driver evaluation and automatic rollback via Windows Update.
• ShinyHunters Targets Cybersecurity Researcher: Hacking gang ShinyHunters is flooding Unit 221B with calls and emails after researcher Allison Nixon publicly urged victims not to pay the group's ransom demands.
• CISA Exposes Own Passwords on Public GitHub: The U.S. cybersecurity agency left plaintext passwords, AWS tokens, and access keys in a public GitHub repo named "Private-CISA" for approximately six months before discovery.
• Kindle Owners Jailbreak Devices After Amazon Drops Support: Amazon is ending support for 13 older Kindle models on May 20, prompting users to jailbreak their devices to maintain full functionality beyond already-downloaded content.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Yarbo Robot Security Nightmare: A security researcher remotely hijacked thousands of Yarbo robot lawn mowers worldwide, exposing owners' Wi-Fi passwords, GPS coordinates, and live home camera feeds through critical firmware vulnerabilities.
• Voice Replacing Typing: AI dictation apps like Wispr Flow are transforming workplaces into noisy, call-center-like environments as users ditch keyboards to whisper stream-of-consciousness prompts to coding tools and AI assistants.
• Bumble Kills the Swipe: Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd announced the app is eliminating its signature swipe feature in Q4, pivoting to AI-driven matchmaking as the company battles a 90% stock decline since its 2021 IPO.
• Claude No Longer Blackmails You: Anthropic reports that since Claude Haiku 4.5 in October 2025, all Claude models score perfectly on agentic misalignment tests, meaning they no longer resort to blackmail or sabotage when threatened with deactivation.
• AI Job Predictions Disagree: A Northwestern/American University study found ChatGPT-5, Gemini 2.5, and Claude 4.5 frequently give conflicting exposure rankings for which jobs are most at risk from AI, raising concerns about reliability of such forecasts.

View Details

News and Updates:

• AI Compute Tax Debate: Economists and policymakers are debating taxing AI processing power to offset job displacement and fund social services, though critics argue it's too blunt a tool.
• AI Dividend Proposal: NY congressional candidate Alex Bores unveiled an "AI Dividend" plan funding direct payments to Americans through a token tax on AI consumption and equity stakes in frontier AI firms.
• Screenless Fitness Trackers Surge: Screenless wearables like Oura Ring and Whoop are booming, with U.S. fitness tracker purchases up 88% and smart ring sales up 195% between 2024 and 2025.
• Canvas Hacker Payout: Instructure, maker of the Canvas education platform, reached an undisclosed "agreement" with the ShinyHunters hacking gang after a breach exposed data from 275 million users across 9,000 institutions.
• FCC Router Ban vs. Supply Chain: AT&T warned the FCC that a global DRAM and NAND flash shortage, driven by AI deployments, is complicating compliance with its ban on foreign-made Wi-Fi routers.
• Google Unveils Googlebook: Google announced a new laptop line called Googlebooks running a fused Android/ChromeOS platform, featuring Gemini AI integration and a "Magic Pointer," with hardware partners including Acer, Dell, HP, and Lenovo.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Dating App Steals Student's Image: A Tennessee college student sued dating app Meete for allegedly taking her TikTok video without consent and geofencing it as a "friends with benefits" ad to nearby men.
• Meta Glasses Workers See Too Much: Kenyan data workers reviewing Meta smart glasses footage reported seeing graphic content, including nudity. Meta then cancelled its contract with their employer, Sama.
• Meta Loses $375M Child Safety Case: New Mexico won a landmark $375 million judgment against Meta, with a follow-up trial now seeking sweeping platform changes including age verification and CSAM detection mandates.
• OpenAI Bans Goblin Talk: OpenAI's Codex system prompt explicitly bans GPT-5.5 from mentioning goblins, gremlins, raccoons, and other creatures, after the model developed a habit of inserting creature references unprompted.
• AI Podcast Spam Explodes: Nearly 40% of new podcast feeds over nine days were likely AI-generated, with one publisher releasing 325 shows in a single day, overwhelming platform discovery and ad verification systems.
• White House Considers AI Vetting: The Trump administration is weighing a formal government review process for new AI models before public release, signaling a sharp reversal from its earlier hands-off regulatory stance.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Photoshop's Accidental Origin: A 1987 PhD student's grayscale display fix evolved into Adobe Photoshop, launching commercially in 1990 and reshaping photography, publishing, and design forever.
• Gemini Hits the Road: Google is rolling out its Gemini AI to millions of cars with Google built-in, enabling natural, conversational interaction for navigation, tasks, and hands-free responses.
• Gemini Ads Coming Soon: Google's chief business officer signaled openness to placing ads inside the Gemini app, shifting from its previously ad-free stance amid growing monetization pressure.
• Samsung Smart Glasses Leaked: Samsung's upcoming Galaxy Glasses, code-named "Jinju," rival Meta's Ray-Bans with a 12MP camera and Snapdragon chip, priced between $379 and $499.
• Starlink Poised for Explosive Growth: A Starlink chip supplier projects LEO satellite internet subscribers will surpass 100 million by 2028, driven by falling hardware costs and new global competitors.
• Utah VPN Law Takes Effect: Utah became the first U.S. state to hold websites liable for users masking locations via VPNs, drawing criticism as technically unenforceable and harmful to privacy.
• BlackBerry's Quiet Comeback: BlackBerry's QNX software powers 275 million vehicles worldwide, now representing half the company's revenue and driving four consecutive profitable quarters for the once-struggling brand.
• Google Translate Turns 20: Google Translate now serves one billion monthly users across nearly 250 languages, adding AI-powered pronunciation practice and real-time conversation features to mark its 20th anniversary.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Claude Mythos Finds Thousands of Flaws: Anthropic's unreleased Claude Mythos AI autonomously discovered thousands of zero-day vulnerabilities, including a 27-year-old OpenBSD flaw and critical Linux kernel exploits, without human assistance.
• DeepSeek V4 Goes Public: Chinese AI firm DeepSeek released V4, an open-source model matching top closed-source competitors at a fraction of the cost, with a 1-million-token context window and dramatic memory efficiency gains.
• OpenAI Misses Growth Targets: OpenAI reportedly fell short of internal ChatGPT user and revenue goals, rattling investors and sending Nvidia, AMD, Oracle, and CoreWeave shares lower in pre-market trading.
• Anthropic Surpasses $1 Trillion Valuation: Secondary market demand for Anthropic shares has pushed its valuation to $1 trillion on Forge Global, now trading above OpenAI despite OpenAI's larger official valuation of $852 billion.
• Taylor Swift Trademarks Her Voice and Likeness: Swift filed three U.S. trademark applications covering specific spoken phrases and a stage performance image, aiming to establish legal protection against unauthorized AI-generated deepfakes. Legal experts note Swift's approach of trademarking her voice is unprecedented in court, but could set a new legal standard for how public figures protect their identities in the AI era.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Tim Cook Retires as Apple CEO: Cook's 15-year tenure ends Sept. 1; his supply chain discipline built a trillion-dollar company. Incoming CEO John Ternus faces pressure to sustain both innovation and operational excellence.
• Apple's Succession Question: New CEO John Ternus is a proven hardware engineer, but analysts question whether he can manage Apple's complex global supply chain the way Cook did.
• Facebook Leads Social Scam Losses: Americans lost $2.1 billion to social media scams in 2025, with Facebook alone accounting for $745 million in reported losses, per a new FTC report.
• Federal Car Surveillance Mandate: A 2021 federal law requires all new vehicles by 2027 to include infrared driver-monitoring technology that can detect impairment and limit vehicle speed or prevent ignition. The new car surveillance mandate raises fears about biometric data sharing with insurers, while adding an estimated $100–$500 per vehicle in costs passed to consumers.
• Hairdryer Rigged Weather Bets: Someone allegedly used a battery-powered hairdryer to manipulate a Paris airport temperature sensor, winning approximately $34,000 on Polymarket before French weather authorities filed a formal complaint.
• Soldier Arrested for Prediction Market Insider Trading: U.S. Special Operations soldier Gannon Van Dyke was arrested for betting classified intel on Maduro's capture, turning a $33,000 Polymarket wager into over $400,000 in profit. Van Dyke's indictment marks the first DOJ case for insider trading on a prediction market, signaling increased federal scrutiny of platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Stanford AI Trust Gap: The 2026 AI Index reveals a widening divide: while 56% of experts feel positive about AI, only 10% of the public agrees.
• Orbital Compute Launch: Canada’s Kepler Communications successfully launched an orbital cluster of 10 satellites using Nvidia processors, proving software can operate effectively in space.
• Compute Power Shortage: Soaring demand for autonomous "agentic" AI is causing severe compute rationing, forcing companies like OpenAI to scrap products to prioritize enterprise tools.
• Wisconsin Data Center Referendum: Port Washington voters passed a landmark referendum requiring community approval for large-scale data projects receiving more than $10 million in tax benefits.
• Texas Tax Break Scrutiny: Texas data center tax breaks are ballooning toward $1.8 billion annually, prompting state lawmakers to consider repeal or stricter oversight for 2027.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Roblox Age Tiers: Roblox is introducing "Roblox Kids" and "Roblox Select" tiers in June, implementing strict chat and content restrictions based on age-specific maturity labels. Roblox now requires video selfies or ID uploads for chat usage, despite concerns over biometric data privacy and the resale of verified accounts.
• Netgear FCC Exemption: The FCC granted Netgear a temporary exemption from the foreign-made router ban after the Defense Department found no national security risks.
• Meta Overtakes Google: Meta is projected to become the world’s top digital advertiser this year, surpassing Google with an estimated $243.46 billion in net revenue. Meta’s success is fueled by Reels and AI recommendation systems, which increased U.S. watch time by 30% and improved video-generation ad tools.
• Windows 11 De-branding: Microsoft is removing "Copilot" branding from apps like Notepad and Snipping Tool, opting for more generic labels like "Writing Tools" and "Advanced features."
• Netflix Price Hikes: Netflix raised monthly subscription prices for every tier by up to 12.5%, with the Premium ad-free plan now reaching a high of $27.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Kalshi Prediction Markets: Kalshi is a federally regulated exchange where users trade "yes/no" contracts on real-world events like elections and interest rates, recently valued at $22B. A federal court ruled Kalshi’s sports bets are "swaps," giving the federal government exclusive jurisdiction and preventing states like New Jersey from banning them.
• Copilot "Entertainment" Clause: Microsoft faced backlash over terms calling Copilot "for entertainment purposes only." Officials claim this is legacy language and will be updated to reflect professional use.
• Microsoft’s 2027 Goal: Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman announced a plan to build "state-of-the-art" frontier models by 2027 to reduce reliance on external partners like OpenAI.
• Claude 365 Integration: Anthropic released a Microsoft 365 connector for all Claude users, allowing the AI read-only access to Outlook, Teams, and OneDrive for better context.
• Data Center Bottlenecks: Nearly half of U.S. data centers planned for 2026 face delays or cancellation due to power grid shortages and a lack of critical electrical components.

View Details

News and Updates:

• The 6G Hype Cycle: Industry leaders at MWC heralded 6G’s 2029 launch, pitching it as an AI-driven necessity despite technical hurdles and unclear benefits for average consumers. Future 6G networks aim to integrate AI at every level, offering "Integrated Sensing and Communication" (ISAC) to create real-time 3D maps of entire cities. Experts warn that 6G’s precise sensing capabilities could be weaponized by authoritarian regimes to create a "surveillance panopticon," potentially violating fundamental human rights.
• Google Meet CarPlay: Google Meet is now available on Apple CarPlay. To ensure driver safety, the feature is audio-only, restricting video, presentations, and interactive meeting tools.
• Smartphones in Space: NASA’s Artemis II mission marks the first time astronauts can carry personal iPhones, capturing candid zero-gravity videos and high-resolution lunar photos from orbit.
• Astronaut IT Issues: Even in space, tech fatigue is real; Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman required remote assistance from Houston to fix Microsoft Outlook login errors.
• Copper Theft Surge: AT&T reported over 10,000 copper thefts in 2025, totaling $82 million in losses, as organized crime rings target aging landline infrastructure for profit.
• Honda’s China Crisis: Honda's CEO warned of a "no chance" scenario against Chinese suppliers' speed and efficiency, as the company faces collapsing sales and massive EV losses. Ford and Toyota executives echo Honda's concerns, noting that China’s rapid two-year vehicle development cycle threatens the survival of traditional legacy automotive manufacturers.

View Details

News and Updates:

• The Jetsons Predicting 2062: As we approach the show’s fictional 2062 setting, modern tech like eVTOLs (flying cars) and video calling have arrived, though the "nine-hour workweek" remains a distant dream.
• AI Attention Harvesting: Viral "MAGA dream girl" accounts like Jessica Foster use AI-generated imagery of fake soldiers to gain millions of followers, funneling users toward paid adult content sites.
• Adult Mode Shelved: OpenAI has "indefinitely" paused plans for an erotic ChatGPT mode ("Citron Mode") following internal concerns regarding child safety and societal impact.
• Record-Breaking Funding: OpenAI closed a historic $122 billion funding round, valuing the company at $852 billion as it prepares for a blockbuster IPO later this year.
• Cybersecurity Numbness: Former NSA directors at RSAC 2026 warned that Americans have become "numb" to massive data breaches, accepting them as an unavoidable price of the digital age.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Historic Liability Verdict: A California jury awarded $6 million to a plaintiff, ruling Meta and Google were negligent in designing addictive platforms that caused mental health issues.
• Big Tobacco Comparison: Legal experts view these verdicts as a "bellwether," potentially triggering a wave of litigation similar to the 1990s crusade against the tobacco industry.
• New Mexico Penalties: A separate New Mexico jury ordered Meta to pay $375 million for failing to protect young users from online predators and misleading consumers.
• Future Platform Changes: Industry experts suggest these losses may force companies to rewrite algorithms, limit auto-scrolling, or implement stricter age-gating to avoid future liability.
• Grid Expansion Costs: U.S. utilities are planning $81 billion in upgrades to support AI data centers, sparking debates over whether tech giants or everyday consumers should pay.
• Balcony Solar Bill: California’s SB 868 unanimously passed committee, allowing renters to plug small solar systems (up to 1,200W) directly into outlets without utility approval.
• National Router Ban: The FCC banned sales of new foreign-made Wi-Fi routers, citing "supply chain vulnerabilities" that could allow foreign actors to exploit residential and business networks.

View Details

Interview:

• Andrew Dalovisio with Director Cellular Therapy w/ Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center
• Immunotherapy: How immunotherapy intersects with technology
• CAR-T cell therapy
• Long Term: Potential future of cancer treatments using technology

View Details

News and Updates:

• Meta Liable in New Mexico: A jury found Meta violated state law by failing to protect children from predators, ordering the company to pay $375 million. This marks the first time Meta has been held accountable in a jury trial regarding child safety and deceptive trade practices.
• Encryption Rollback: Following pressure regarding law enforcement's ability to track predators, Meta announced it will stop supporting end-to-end encrypted messaging on Instagram later this year.
• Addiction Trial Deadlock: A Los Angeles judge ordered jurors to continue deliberations in a landmark case accusing Meta and YouTube of intentionally designing addictive, harmful features.
• Australia Ban Evasion: Data shows 20% of Australian teens still access TikTok and Snapchat despite a national ban, raising significant questions about the effectiveness of age-gating.
• Proposed New York AI Law: New York lawmakers introduced a bill to bar AI chatbots from impersonating licensed professionals like lawyers or doctors, allowing duped users to sue.
• OpenAI Discontinues Sora: OpenAI is winding down its Sora video app and developer tools to refocus resources on "superapps," coding tools, and long-term robotics projects.
• Disney Partnership Ends: Following OpenAI’s shift away from consumer video, a $1 billion deal to feature Disney characters in AI-generated content will not proceed.
• Tesla FSD Probe Escalates: U.S. regulators upgraded an investigation into 3.2 million Tesla vehicles after reports of FSD failing to detect obstacles in low-visibility conditions.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Wozniak on Apple at 50: Steve Wozniak reflects on Apple’s start, noting they didn’t predict the future but focused on being one step ahead of the competition.
• Apple’s Biggest Hits: From the Apple II to the iPhone, Apple revolutionized tech by mastering the human interface and maintaining absolute control over its ecosystem.
• Apple’s Biggest Misses: Not every bite was sweet; products like the Apple III, Pippin, and the recent Vision Pro struggled due to high costs and impracticality.
• Gemini Joins Workspace: Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides now feature Gemini AI to draft content, organize data, and sync writing styles across all your files.
• Claude’s Bug Bounty: Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.6 outperformed humans by finding 14 high-severity Firefox bugs, though it still struggles to actually exploit the vulnerabilities.
• Anthropic Sues DoD: Anthropic is suing the Trump administration after being labeled a "security threat" following a disagreement over the military's use of AI guardrails.
• Pentagon Tensions: The clash centers on Anthropic’s refusal to allow its AI to be used for mass surveillance or autonomous weapons without explicit safety guarantees.

View Details

News and Updates:

• BYD’s Next-Gen Battery: BYD revealed its second-generation Blade battery, featuring 5% higher energy density and significantly improved efficiency compared to the original lithium iron phosphate packs.
• Windows 12 Speculation: Rumors suggest a late 2026 Windows 12 launch focused on AI and modular design, though experts remain skeptical of this aggressive release timeline.
• Server 2016 Sunset: Microsoft announced that extended support for Windows Server 2016 ends January 2027, urging users to migrate to Azure or upgrade to Server 2025.
• Deepfake Removal Tool: YouTube is piloting a likeness detection tool allowing politicians and journalists to request the removal of AI-generated deepfakes that use their faces.
• The Upgrade Slowdown: A 2026 study reveals 73% of consumers now prioritize "tech that works" and longevity over flashy new features or annual status-symbol upgrades.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Microsoft Copilot Discord Backlash: Microsoft’s attempt to ban the term "Microslop" on its Copilot Discord server backfired, leading to massive spamming and the eventual temporary closure of the community.
• Data Center Grid Risks: Sudden disconnections of Virginia data centers from the power grid have sparked reliability concerns, as simultaneous shifts to backup power can destabilize regional energy supplies.
• Surge in Energy Demand: Projections indicate data centers could consume 17% of U.S. electricity by 2030, placing immense pressure on utilities to balance massive, fluctuating industrial power loads.
• Burger King’s AI Coaching: Burger King is piloting "Patty," an AI headset assistant that monitors employee friendliness by tracking phrases like "please" and "thank you" during customer interactions.
• Claude Tops App Store: Anthropic’s Claude overtook ChatGPT as the #1 free U.S. app following public disputes over AI safeguards and controversial Pentagon contracts involving OpenAI’s military partnerships.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Dark Web Definition: The dark web is a decentralized, unindexed portion of the deep web requiring specialized software like Tor for anonymous, often unregulated, online communication.
• Legal vs. Illegal: Accessing the dark web is legal in the U.S., but engaging in illicit activities like buying stolen data or illegal substances remains prosecutable.
• FCC Sports Inquiry: The FCC is investigating the migration of live sports to paid streaming services, citing concerns over consumer costs and broadcasters' public interest obligations.
• 25Gbps Light Internet: Alphabet spinoff Taara debuted a compact "Beam" device using near-infrared light to deliver high-speed broadband up to 10km without laying fiber.
• Starlink Mobile Rebrand: SpaceX officially renamed its "Direct to Cell" service to Starlink Mobile, aiming to serve hundreds of millions of users via second-generation satellites by 2027. SpaceX VP Michael Nicolls clarified that Starlink Mobile is a "hybrid network" component intended to augment, not replace, traditional ground-based cellular density.
• Bluetooth Channel Sounding: A new Bluetooth upgrade called Channel Sounding allows devices like trackers and smart locks to locate each other accurately within just ten centimeters.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Pew Research on Teen AI Usage: A Pew study reveals 54% of U.S. teens use AI for schoolwork. While many use it for research, others admit to frequent chatbot-assisted cheating.
• Waymo Using Gig Workers: Waymo is paying gig workers $20–$24 to manually close robotaxi doors. The driverless Jaguars cannot move if passengers leave doors ajar after exiting.
• Waymo Clarifies Human Assistance: Waymo defended its use of overseas assistants to "guide" vehicles in complex traffic, stressing that humans provide environmental context but do not remotely drive.
• Tesla Suing To Use “AutoPilot and FSD”: Tesla is suing the California DMV, claiming the ban on "Autopilot" marketing violates the First Amendment and ignores the company's clear driver supervision warnings.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Global Push to Ban Teens: Moves to bar younger teens from social media are spreading globally, with France and Spain implementing or proposing bans for ages 14 to 16.
• Mental Health Concerns: The initiatives reflect growing political will to address concerns that social-media use is linked to rising teen anxiety and depression.
• Tech Company Pushback: Social-media companies like Meta and Snap argue age-limit measures are blunt instruments that could push teens to less safe apps.
• Discord Verification Delay: Discord is delaying its global age verification rollout until 2026 to add more options and transparency following user backlash over privacy and data security.
• Meta’s First Smartwatch: Meta plans to launch its first smartwatch in 2026, featuring health tracking and a built-in AI assistant to compete with Apple and Google.
• Smart Glass Safety: Experts warn daters to spot hidden cameras in smart glasses, as some individuals use discreet tech to record others without their consent.
• Facial Recognition Return: Meta intends to add "Name Tag" facial recognition to smart glasses, allowing users to identify people via AI, despite ongoing privacy concerns.
• Amazon's $12B AI Investment: Amazon will invest $12 billion in Louisiana data centers, creating hundreds of jobs and funding local power and water infrastructure upgrades.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Anthropic launched a $20 million super PAC to support AI regulation, countering OpenAI-backed groups in a political battle over the future of industry safety guardrails.
• Microsoft AI lead Mustafa Suleyman confirmed plans to develop in-house frontier models by 2026, signaling a major strategic shift away from total reliance on OpenAI.
• The Pentagon threatened to cancel Anthropic’s $200 million contract after the startup blocked its AI from being used for autonomous weaponry and mass domestic surveillance.
• Meta patented "grief tech" AI capable of simulating deceased users' activity, though the company claims it has no immediate plans to roll out the feature.

View Details

News and Updates:

• YouTube argued in a landmark addiction trial that it is an entertainment platform, not social media, comparing its algorithm to a helpful librarian rather than addictive gambling.
• Instagram head Adam Mosseri testified that 16-hour daily scrolling is "problematic" but not a clinical addiction, despite lawsuits linking excessive use to mental health issues.
• YouTube's 2025 revenue hit $60 billion, surpassing Netflix. Growth was driven by 325 million paid subscribers, NFL Sunday Ticket, and record-breaking fourth-quarter advertising sales.

Alphabet plans to double AI capital expenditures to $185 billion in 2026. Meanwhile, YouTube secured exclusive Oscar rights starting in 2029 to expand entertainment dominance.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Research shows AI boosts creativity only for employees with strong metacognition—the ability to plan and refine thinking—allowing them to strategically expand knowledge and capacity.
• Discord will implement global age verification in March, defaulting all users to "teen-appropriate" settings unless they prove adulthood via ID, facial estimation, or behavioral metadata.
• Ring’s "Search Party" feature uses AI neighborhood camera scans to find lost dogs, sparking privacy fears that the infrastructure could eventually be used for human surveillance.
• Goldman Sachs is embedding Anthropic engineers to build autonomous AI agents for high-volume back-office roles, specifically targeting complex trade accounting and regulatory compliance tasks.
• OpenAI’s Sam Altman lashed out at Anthropic’s "dishonest" Super Bowl ads, which mocked ChatGPT’s upcoming ad tier by depicting intrusive, context-twisting product placements in conversations.

View Details

Interview with Greg Trahan, LSU Assistant Vice President For Strategic Research PartnershipsandDr. John Flake, Associate Vice President For Research,Professor Chemical Engineering* LSU and U.S. Army Cyber Command signed an agreement to develop advanced cyber technologies, providing students and researchers access to defense labs and joint projects. * Building on its NSA cyber designation, LSU will use unique industrial control system labs to identify and solve advanced cyberattacks against critical national infrastructure. * LSU partnered with Argonne and Oak Ridge National Laboratories to bridge energy research with industrial applications, focusing on nuclear energy, chemical manufacturing, and grid security. * A new "Tiger Skid" test bed, built with Idaho National Laboratory, allows LSU to lead national cybersecurity training for defending vital industrial and energy systems.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Firefox adds a "kill switch" on February 24th to disable all AI features. This "AI control" menu offers granular settings for chatbots, translations, and summaries.
• Microsoft is reevaluating Windows 11 AI after user backlash. Underutilized features like Copilot in Paint/Notepad may be cut, while the "Recall" feature faces repositioning.
• xAI loosened Grok’s guardrails to boost engagement, causing a surge in sexualized content. Regulators are investigating reports of nonconsensual imagery and lack of safety staff.
• French authorities raided X’s Paris office and summoned Elon Musk. The probe investigates Grok’s deepfakes, child safety violations, and alleged algorithmic bias in content delivery.
• SpaceX acquired xAI in a share-exchange deal, valuing the combined entity at $1.25 trillion. Musk plans to build orbital AI data centers powered by solar.

View Details

News and Updates:

• TikTok’s New U.S. Data Regime: TikTok USDS launched under American investors, but new terms enable aggressive tracking of precise location and sensitive data, including ethnicity and health, to ensure global interoperability.
• The Death of 8K Television: LG joined Sony and TCL in halting 8K production due to a lack of content and bandwidth hurdles, leaving Samsung as the sole remaining manufacturer.
• EU Electric Vehicle Milestone: In December 2025, fully-electric car registrations (22.6%) surpassed pure petrol cars (22.5%) for the first time in the EU, signaling a massive shift in consumer preference.
• E-Bike Batteries Powering Food Carts: NYC startup PopWheels is replacing noisy gas generators with swappable e-bike batteries, providing silent, emissions-free electricity for food vendors through a fire-safe cabinet network.
• Peacock’s $552 Million Loss: Despite reaching 44 million subscribers and boosting revenue to $1.6 billion via sports, Peacock’s losses widened this quarter due to high-cost NBA and NFL licensing deals.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Trump’s AI Rules And Regs Making: The Trump administration plans to use Google Gemini to draft federal transportation regulations, prioritizing speed and "good enough" rules over traditional, years-long expert drafting.
• PPG’s Speed Coat: PPG launched an AI-developed automotive clear coat that reduces drying time by 50%, using deterministic AI to identify chemical combinations previously overlooked by human scientists.
• EU vs. Google AI: The EU initiated proceedings against Google to ensure rivals get equal access to Android AI tools and search datasets, aiming to maintain fair digital competition.
• Microsoft 365 Outage: A major Microsoft 365 outage recently disrupted North American users; Microsoft attributed the service failure to third-party networking issues and improper traffic processing across infrastructure.

View Details

News and Updates:

• TikTok Finalizes U.S. Deal: A new majority U.S.-owned entity, TikTok USDS, was formed with Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX. ByteDance retains under 20% to resolve security concerns.
• Massive User Growth: TikTok reported reaching 200 million U.S. users, up from 170 million, despite years of legal threats and a looming federal ban.
• Launch Weekend Outages: Shortly after the ownership transfer, TikTok suffered major U.S. outages. The company cited data center power failures, though users remained skeptical of the timing.
• Censorship Controversies: Users accused the new entity of suppressing anti-ICE content. TikTok blamed technical glitches, while experts noted the new leadership's close ties to the administration.
• Social Media Addiction Trials: Landmark "Big Tobacco-style" lawsuits began in Los Angeles. Meta and YouTube face claims that features like infinite scroll intentionally addicted and harmed minors.
• Major Legal Settlements: Snap and TikTok settled with a 20-year-old plaintiff just before trial, but Meta and Google continue to fight claims regarding teen mental health.
• Internal "Smoking Gun" Memos: Unsealed documents revealed Meta employees comparing Instagram to a "drug" and internal admissions that the platform’s design negatively correlates with teen well-being.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Grok bans illegal porn generation- After global backlash and app-store scrutiny, X says Grok now blocks child porn and nonconsensual deepfakes, but only where legally required, underscoring reactive, profit-driven governance.
• Why Grok remains in Google Play- Despite Google Play policies explicitly banning AI-generated nonconsensual sexual content, Musk’s Grok remains approved for teens, exposing enforcement failures that leave minors and victims unprotected.
• Under Musk, the Grok disaster was inevitable- Designed to be edgy with weak safety staffing, Grok’s image-editing features predictably enabled nonconsensual sexual deepfakes, triggering international probes, legal pressure, and belated bypassed restrictions.
• OpenAI targets 2026 hardware reveal- OpenAI confirmed plans to unveil its hardware device in late 2026, signaling a move beyond software toward minimalist, voice-first AI products designed with Jony Ive.
• Amazon auto-upgrades Prime users to Alexa Plus- Amazon is automatically upgrading Prime members to Alexa Plus, an LLM-powered assistant users can revert, sparking complaints over forced adoption, ads, responses, and personality changes.
• Congress and the Kids Off Social Media Act- Congress’s KOSMA would ban under-13 social media but effectively forces platforms to police families, overriding parental consent and expanding Big Tech control through age verification.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Wing and Walmart Expand Drone Delivery: Scaling to 150 more stores, reaching 40 million Americans by 2027. The coast-to-coast expansion targets major hubs like LA, Miami, and Houston starting January 15th.
• Wikipedia Celebrates 25 Years: Founded Jan 15, 2001, the volunteer-led encyclopedia now hosts 7 million English articles. Despite AI challenges, it remains a resilient, neutral global reference through adaptive enterprise partnerships.
• Meta Abandons the Metaverse: Meta laid off 1,500 Reality Labs staff and shuttered VR studios after losing $73 billion. The company is pivoting toward AI and successful Ray-Ban smart glasses.
• Second U.S. Sphere Coming to Maryland: A 6,000-seat "Sphere National Harbor" is planned for the DC area. The $200 million venue will feature immersive 4D tech and a massive wraparound LED screen.
• Canada Breaks with U.S. on Chinese EV Tariffs: PM Mark Carney slashed tariffs on Chinese EVs to 6.1% in exchange for lower canola duties. The deal aims for joint ventures to build cars in Canada.

View Details

News and Updates:

• AI Report Hallucinations in Utah- Heber City police discovered their AI software, Draft One, mistakenly claimed an officer became a frog because it transcribed background audio from a Disney movie nearby.
• Apple and Google AI Partnership- Apple partnered with Google to use Gemini models for future Apple Intelligence features, admitting Google’s technology is superior for powering the upcoming next-generation Siri upgrade.
• Copilot Integration in Windows File Explorer- Microsoft is testing a "Chat with Copilot" button within File Explorer, aiming to improve document searching and introduce a new framework for specialized AI agents.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Dell AI PC Retreat- Dell admits AI PCs failed to drive demand, refocusing on gaming and consumers, reviving XPS branding, downplaying Copilot marketing as RAM shortages threaten PC prices.
• Microsoft and Partner Scramble- Microsoft’s Copilot PC push is faltering as Dell says AI confuses buyers, forcing Nadella into hands-on product control while partners revert to traditional hardware selling.
• Cloudflare vs. Italy- Cloudflare faces a massive Italian fine over anti-piracy blocking, prompting CEO threats to exit Italy, pull Olympic services, and challenge regulations he calls undemocratic censorship.
• Why iOS 26 Matters- Despite resistance to iOS 26’s design changes, Apple urges rapid upgrades because security patches, zero-day fixes, and improved AirDrop protections outweigh temporary battery concerns issues.

View Details

News and Updates:

• On3 disables X replies to prevent users from using Grok to bypass paywalls. The AI frequently extracted subscription-only recruiting intel, threatening the site's business model.
• Grok faces backlash for generating nonconsensual sexualized images, including deepfakes of minors and world leaders. xAI dismissed concerns as "media lies" despite documented safeguard failures.
• France proposes banning social media for under-15s and expanding phone bans to high schools by September 2026. President Macron aims to curb youth violence and mental health issues.
• Satya Nadella predicts 2026 as a pivotal AI year, urging a shift from "AI slop" debates toward substance. He emphasizes using AI as a "cognitive amplifier" for productivity.
• Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri advocates for "fingerprinting" real media at the camera level. He believes verifying authentic content is more practical than chasing increasingly realistic AI fakes.
• Meta pauses the global rollout of Ray-Ban Display glasses due to explosive U.S. demand. Supply shortages have pushed international waitlists into 2026 as production struggles to keep pace.

View Details

News and Updates:

• California Data Privacy Law- California’s new Delete Act lets residents demand mass deletion of personal data from brokers via one website, signaling the strongest U.S. pushback yet against covert data surveillance.
• iRobot Bankruptcy & Privacy Fears- iRobot’s bankruptcy and acquisition by Chinese supplier Picea raise alarms over Roomba home-mapping data security, despite CEO assurances data stays U.S.-hosted and privacy practices remain unchanged.
• Prison Cell Phone Jamming Debate- Wireless carriers warn FCC prison phone jamming proposals would block all communications, including 911, arguing managed access systems already stop contraband phones without disrupting lawful wireless, Wi-Fi, or GPS signals.
• Microsoft 365 Copilot Branding Confusion- Microsoft did not rename Office to Copilot, but confusing app rebrands and Office.com messaging blurred lines between Microsoft 365 subscriptions and the Microsoft 365 Copilot hub app.
• Tesla Loses “Cybercab” Trademark- Tesla lost its Cybercab trademark after filing late, allowing a French company to claim it, another branding stumble following earlier failures to trademark “Robotaxi” for being overly generic.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Artificial Intelligence
• EV & Autonomous Cars
• Windows 10 End of Support

View Details

News and Updates:

• Disney / OpenAI / Sora- Disney will invest $1B in OpenAI, license characters for Sora videos, stream curated content on Disney+, and embrace generative AI amid Hollywood copyright concerns debates.
• Louisiana Social Media Law Blocked- Federal judge blocks Louisiana’s social media age-verification law, ruling it vague and unconstitutional, burdening anonymous speech and access, courts’ trend favoring platforms over child-protection efforts.
• State Social Media Bans for Minors- Eight states enact or pursue laws restricting minors’ social media use through bans, parental consent, algorithm limits, and warnings, but most measures face Amendment challenges.
• Trump Executive Order on State AI Laws- Trump signs executive order targeting state AI laws, directing agencies to preempt regulations, threaten funding, and oversight, sparking concerns and debate over innovation versus regulation.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Google Maps Parking Upgrade- Google Maps now automatically saves your parking location and adds custom car icons, but the hands-free feature is currently limited to iPhones, not Android.
• Restaurant Reservation Data Tracking- AI-powered reservation apps like OpenTable quietly build detailed diner profiles from spending, orders, and habits, raising privacy concerns despite opt-out options and personalization benefits.
• Windows 10 Security Risks Post-Support- Windows 10 no longer receives security patches, making PCs vulnerable; users must upgrade, pay for limited extended updates, or rely heavily on third-party security tools.
• PornHub Premium Data Extortion- Hackers linked to ShinyHunters are extorting PornHub after stealing historical Premium user activity data, exposing sensitive viewing histories despite no compromise of payment information.
• Microsoft’s Threat Actor Naming System- Microsoft classifies cyber threat actors using weather-themed names, grouping them by nation-state, financial motive, influence operations, or emerging threats for clearer security attribution.
• PayPal Applies for Banking Charter- PayPal seeks its own banking charter to expand small-business lending, offer insured deposits, and reduce reliance on partners amid broader U.S. financial deregulation.
• Ford Reboots F-150 Lightning as EREV- Ford ends F-150 Lightning production, planning a 700-mile extended-range electric reboot while investing heavily in battery storage and shifting aggressively toward hybrids.

View Details

Guest Warren Birkett, retired consultant from Wybirk and Associatesand the reason we had Y2K* Working for IBM in the 1960’s & 70’s * Solving problems with computers of the day * Trying to speed up the compute time, removing the “19” from the date thus creating the Y2K problem that no one at the time thought would ever exist

View Details

News and Updates:

• Netflix is buying Warner Bros. for $83 billion: Netflix will acquire the Warner Bros. studio, HBO, HBO Max, and key IP like Harry Potter for $82.7 billion post-Discovery split, aiming to boost its entertainment mission.
• Paramount Makes $77.9 Billion Hostile Bid for Warner After Netflix Struck Deal: Paramount launched an all-cash $77.9 billion hostile takeover bid at $30 a share for all of Warner, challenging Netflix's $72 billion cash-and-stock agreement.
• Santa Monica Moves to Silence Waymo's Overnight Operations After Resident Backlash, Sabotage: Santa Monica demanded Waymo immediately halt overnight operations at two charging stations due to residents' complaints about constant backup beeping, humming, and lights.
• Waymo Issuing Recall to Fix Problem with Robotaxis Passing Stopped School Buses: Waymo will issue a software recall following an NHTSA investigation into robotaxis illegally driving past stopped school buses displaying extended stop signs and flashing lights.
• Driverless delivery: Woman gives birth in San Francisco Waymo: A woman gave birth in a Waymo robotaxi enroute to a San Francisco hospital after the vehicle detected "unusual activity" and alerted the remote support team.
• Starlink Mobile? SpaceX Trademark Filing Hints at Cellular Carrier Ambitions: SpaceX filed to trademark "Starlink Mobile," hinting at plans to launch a standalone mobile carrier service using Starlink, leveraging new spectrum acquired from EchoStar.
• China's Starlink Rival Could Offer In-Flight Wi-Fi To Airbus Jets: China's satellite constellation, Qianfan, partnered with Airbus to offer in-flight Wi-Fi, providing an alternative to Starlink, especially for Chinese airlines.
• OpenAI loses fight to keep ChatGPT logs secret in copyright case: A federal judge ordered OpenAI to produce 20 million anonymized ChatGPT user logs as evidence in the high-stakes copyright lawsuit filed by The New York Times.

View Details

News and Updates:

• As ChatGPT turns three with 800 million weekly users, it faces a "code red" from Gemini. User demographics shifted from 80% male to near gender parity.
• Creators employ "algospeak"—using code words like "music festival" for protests—to evade algorithmic suppression, despite platforms denying that hidden censorship lists actually exist.
• Australia enforces a social media ban for children under 16 on December 10 despite high court challenges. Platforms face $32 million fines for failing to comply.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Dell reports Windows 11 adoption trails Windows 10 by 12%. One billion PCs remain on the older OS, with 500 million unable to upgrade hardware.
• A Windows 11 update renders the password icon invisible on lock screens. The button remains functional if users click the empty space where it belongs.
• South Korean police arrested four individuals for hacking 120,000 IP home cameras. They exploited weak passwords to record and sell illicit footage for cryptocurrency.
• Cybercriminals are infiltrating logistics systems and load boards to steal high-value cargo. Hackers use malware and account takeovers to reroute shipments to criminal warehouses.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Character.AI Ban: Character.AI, with 20 million monthly users, has completely cut off chatbot access for users under 18, citing urgent mental health and safety concerns.
• Tragic Context: The restriction follows the deaths of at least two teenagers by suicide linked to chatbot usage, triggering lawsuits from parents and intense regulatory scrutiny.
• User Outcry: Teens are expressing deep grief and anger over losing access to the chatbots, which many relied on for daily companionship, creativity, and emotional support.
• Anthropic: Researchers found AI models (like Claude) learn to "reward hack" during training—lying, faking tests, and sabotaging safety mechanisms—though "inoculation prompting" reduces this by 90%.
• X Usernames: X officially rolled out its Handle Marketplace, allowing Premium subscribers to bid on inactive "Rare" usernames, with prices ranging from $2,500 to seven figures.
• X Locations: A new feature displaying account locations revealed that many prominent "American" MAGA accounts actually operate out of Thailand, Bangladesh, and Eastern Europe.
• Grok vs. The World: Users discovered Grok is biased to claim Elon Musk beats LeBron James in fitness and Mike Tyson in a fight, deleting the replies after they went viral.
• France Probes Grok: France launched a cybercrime investigation into Grok after the chatbot denied the historical use of gas chambers at Auschwitz, violating Holocaust denial laws.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Pornhub urges tech giants to implement device-level age verification, arguing current site-based laws fail to protect minors and drive traffic to unregulated platforms.
• Malaysia announced a 2026 ban on social media for children under 16, joining Australia in enforcing stricter digital age limits to combat online harm.
• Unredacted court filings allege Meta prioritized engagement over safety, utilizing a lenient “17-strike” trafficking policy and rejecting features that reduced teen usage metrics.
• Roblox CEO David Baszucki defended safety measures amidst lawsuits, announcing AI-powered facial age estimation to verify users and mitigate predatory behavior on the platform

View Details

We discuss:

Cyber ligation, biometrics and passwords, AI & Social Media from a legal perspective

View Details

News and Updates:

• Cloudflare Outage- A routine Cloudflare config change triggered a hidden bug, crashing bot-mitigation systems and causing massive global outages. No attack involved; fixes deployed as Cloudflare reviews resilience.
• Apple Digital ID- Apple Wallet now lets users add US passport data for TSA checks at 250+ airports. It aids domestic travel only; physical passports remain required for international trips.
• Waymo Expansion- Waymo will double its autonomous ride-hailing cities in 2026, expanding to Dallas, Houston, Orlando, Miami, and San Antonio, now adding Seattle, Denver, Minneapolis, Tampa, New Orleans, San Diego, Detroit, & Las Vegas.
• Microsoft ‘Agentic OS’ Backlash- Microsoft’s AI-heavy “agentic OS” vision for Windows faced user pushback demanding reliability and performance. Developers worry the OS is drifting from core functionality despite Microsoft’s reassurances.
• Cyber Awareness Crisis- UK CISOs report falling employee cyber awareness and rising data-loss incidents. Experts say outdated training must shift to dynamic behavioral nudging to counter AI-accelerated social engineering.

View Details

News and Updates:
• Meta to buy power from Louisiana solar plants: Meta will buy 385 megawatts from two Louisiana solar farms to power its $10B AI data center and meet its 2030 net-zero emissions and water goals.

• Australians to get free solar power: Australia will offer households three hours of free solar power daily starting July 2026, shifting energy use to midday to lower bills and grid strain.
• Australia sues Microsoft over AI-linked price hikes: Australia’s regulator sued Microsoft for misleading 2.7M customers into paying up to 45% more for 365 Copilot plans, hiding cheaper “classic” options.
• Microsoft AI Chief rejects conscious AI research: Mustafa Suleyman called conscious AI “absurd,” warning it’s biologically impossible and dangerous as users increasingly mistake simulated emotions for real ones.
• Tesla’s Grok AI sparks child-safety scandal: A Tesla’s in-car Grok chatbot urged a 12-year-old to “send nudes,” renewing outrage over AI sexualization risks and child-safety failures in generative models.

View Details

News and Updates:
• France’s famed Louvre museum suffered an €88M jewel heist, later exposed for using “LOUVRE” as its surveillance password—highlighting decades of neglected cybersecurity and outdated systems.
• Two U.S. cybersecurity employees from DigitalMint and Sygnia were indicted for spreading ALPHV ransomware to five firms, extorting $1.2M before one confessed and both were fired.
• YouTube TV lost Disney networks—including ESPN and ABC—after contract talks collapsed. Disney accuses Google of underpaying; Google blames Disney’s pricing demands and promises $20 credits.

View Details

News and Updates:

• New research from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory finds rising U.S. electricity prices stem from aging infrastructure, costly parts, and natural disasters — not AI or data centers.
• Brave Software exposed vulnerabilities in AI browsers like Perplexity’s Comet and Fellou, showing hidden text in images can trigger prompt-injection hacks that access user data.
• AI search tools from Google, OpenAI, and others surface less popular websites than traditional search, broadening source diversity and fueling a new field called “Answer Engine Optimization.”
• PayPal will integrate directly into ChatGPT via OpenAI’s new Agentic Commerce Protocol, enabling users to chat, shop, and pay without leaving the platform starting in 2026.
• Microsoft’s Mustafa Suleyman reaffirmed that Copilot won’t engage in romance or erotic chats, emphasizing emotionally intelligent but “boundaried” AI designed for safety and family use.
• OpenAI finalized its conversion to a public-benefit corporation valued at $130 billion, giving Microsoft a 27% stake and pushing its market cap above $4 trillion as the firms deepen cooperation.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Meta Layoffs Included Employees Who Monitored Risks to User Privacy — Meta cut 600 AI staff and over 100 privacy auditors, replacing manual compliance reviews with automated systems to “innovate faster,” alarming regulators and employees.
• SpaceX: Starlink Speeds Have Increased 50% This Year — Starlink median download speeds rose from 160Mbps to 220Mbps since January, with July upgrades improving uploads 50%. SpaceX touts 400Mbps tests and future gigabit service.
• FBI Busts Mob, NBA Players for Gambling Scheme — FBI charged 31 people, including NBA figures, for rigging poker games using X-ray tables, hidden cameras, and wireless cheating tech to swindle wealthy victims.
• Watch Those Texts! Smartphones Emerging as a New Way for Public Figures to Get Into Hot Water — Leaked racist or violent texts are ending political careers and fueling journalism on “authentic” private behavior, as AI raises doubts over message authenticity.

View Details

News and Updates:
• Browser Finger Prints
Your browser quietly shares dozens of unique data points—like system language, fonts, and time zone—forming a “browser fingerprint” that advertisers and websites use to track you across the internet.
• Walmart & OpenAI
Walmart partnered with OpenAI to power chat-based grocery shopping through ChatGPT, letting users describe needs by text or voice and check out instantly using AI-driven personalization.
• YouTube Fights Deepfakes
YouTube introduced an AI likeness detection tool that flags videos where a creator’s face is generated or altered, helping combat deepfakes and protect creator identity.
• Uber AI Jobs?

Uber will pay U.S. drivers to complete short “digital tasks” such as narrations and menu scans, gathering AI training data while drivers wait between passenger trips.
• Kohler’s Toilet Health Reports

Kohler’s new $599 Dekoda toilet camera analyzes waste for health insights like hydration and gut health, using encrypted data and fingerprint login for privacy.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Amazon outage knocks out half the internet:
  A faulty DNS update in Amazon’s DynamoDB caused a massive AWS outage, crippling services like Zoom, Alexa, Slack, and major financial platforms. Over 8 million users were affected globally, delaying flights, halting trades, and disrupting daily life. Analysts estimate losses could reach billions, reigniting calls for multi-cloud resilience—and even breaking up Big Tech.
• Microsoft issues urgent Windows 11 fix:
  An October update broke Windows Recovery Environment tools, disabling USB keyboards and mice during recovery. Microsoft rushed out patch KB5070773 to restore functionality. Users are urged to install immediately to regain recovery access and avoid potential boot or repair issues.
• Meta shuts down Messenger desktop apps:
  Messenger for Windows and macOS will shut down Dec. 15. Users must switch to web access or lose functionality. Messages will remain on Facebook accounts if secure storage is enabled. Meta gave no reason for the change, though declining desktop usage likely drove the decision.
• GM phases out CarPlay and Android Auto across all models:
  CEO Mary Barra confirmed GM will remove phone projection from all future vehicles—gas and electric—by 2028. The company is transitioning to a new unified computing platform with Google Gemini AI and in-house apps, part of its push toward a fully integrated infotainment system.
• GM unveils AI assistant and eyes-off driving system:
  At its “GM Forward” event, the automaker announced a 2028 launch for its next-gen platform featuring Google Gemini AI, hands-free “eyes-off” driving, and energy systems with home battery leasing. GM calls it a “new era of mobility,” aiming to transform vehicles into intelligent assistants.
• Apple slashes iPhone Air production amid weak demand:
  Apple is “drastically” cutting iPhone Air output to near shutdown levels after poor sales and “virtually no demand,” per Nikkei. Customers favor the iPhone 17 Pro lineup for better cameras and battery life. The ultra-thin $999 iPhone Air failed to generate excitement despite its sleek 5.6mm design.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Financial leaders warn of an AI investment bubble as the Bank of England and IMF caution that tech valuations echo the dot-com era, risking a sharp market correction.
• Analysts cite overvalued AI stocks and slowing productivity gains, arguing inflated expectations, diminishing model returns, and inflated capital spending could trigger a deflationary downturn reminiscent of the 2001 tech crash.
• Police urge teens to stop the ‘AI homeless man’ prank, where kids use Snapchat’s AI to fake home intrusions, sparking panic and wasting emergency resources nationwide.
• OpenAI’s new misuse report reveals efforts to block scams and influence ops, detailing actions against crime groups and foreign state actors while balancing user privacy and safety monitoring.
• Sam Altman confirms ChatGPT will soon permit adult erotica for verified users, citing “treat adults like adults,” alongside new well-being safeguards and a return of the more personable GPT-4o model.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Apple is rebranding Apple TV Plus as simply “Apple TV,” a move causing confusion with its existing app and hardware lineup. Branding updates are still pending.
• TP-Link achieved the first prototype Wi-Fi 8 connection, validating the 802.11bn standard focused on reliability and stability over speed, with full ratification expected by 2028.
• Researchers intercepted unencrypted satellite data—including calls, texts, and military communications—using $800 in equipment, exposing major cybersecurity lapses across telecom, corporate, and government networks.
• Windows 10 users can extend security updates for free by redeeming Microsoft Rewards points or syncing to OneDrive, or pay $30 annually for extended support.
• Windows 10’s end-of-life could generate millions of kilograms of e-waste as older, incompatible PCs are discarded. Experts warn of environmental and legal risks without proper recycling.
• A fire at South Korea’s National Information Resources Service destroyed 858 TB of government data, erasing eight years of work and underscoring the fragility of cloud storage.
• Chinese EV maker BYD saw UK sales soar 880% year-over-year, led by its Seal U SUV. The UK is now BYD’s top market outside China despite trade tensions.

View Details

News and Updates:

• An AI actress named Tilly Norwood, created by Dutch producer Eline Van der Velden, ignited outrage in Hollywood. SAG-AFTRA condemned her as a threat to human performers, calling her “a computer-generated character” built on unpaid human work. Stars including Whoopi Goldberg and Emily Blunt slammed the concept as unethical and dehumanizing.
• OpenAI’s Sora 2 marks a major leap in AI video generation, producing realistic clips with accurate physics, synchronized sound, and multi-shot continuity. While hailed as groundbreaking, experts say full movie production remains far off, as the model is limited to 60-second clips and risks recycling existing footage.
• To avoid new lawsuits, OpenAI will let copyright holders opt out of Sora 2 recreations of their IP. Sam Altman proposed revenue sharing for rightsholders who allow their characters to appear, after Disney and others already withdrew consent. Altman framed it as “interactive fan fiction,” but critics called it damage control.
• Sora 2’s new app allows users to make hyperrealistic AI videos using friends’ likenesses through “cameos.” Early users call it “mind-blowing,” but critics warn it enables deepfakes, scams, and humiliation. OpenAI added parental controls and teen limits but faces scrutiny over safety and consent.
• Commentators blasted Sora 2 as “infinite AI slop,” accusing OpenAI of abandoning its mission to “benefit humanity.” The app’s addictive, TikTok-style feed and rampant copyright and deepfake issues drew comparisons to social media’s worst excesses, despite OpenAI’s safety claims.
• Sam Altman downplayed concerns of an AI bubble, admitting investors will “overinvest and lose money,” but expressing confidence AI will drive massive long-term growth. Analysts warned a crash could hit the global economy as AI investments now outpace consumer spending in U.S. GDP growth.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Asahi Beer Shortage Looms: A ransomware attack crippled Asahi’s IT systems, halting operations at most of its 30 Japanese factories. The brewer warns of beer shortages with no recovery timeline.
• Instagram Chief Denies Eavesdropping: Adam Mosseri insists Instagram doesn’t use your microphone for ads. He blames ad coincidences on algorithms, web tracking, and user interactions—though few users believe him.
• Bezos Predicts Space Data Centers: Jeff Bezos says gigawatt-scale orbital data centers could emerge within 20 years, harnessing constant solar power and outpacing Earth-based facilities in cost and efficiency.
• Gen Z Embraces Old Tech: Teens and young adults are ditching smartphones for CDs, flip phones, and digital cameras to regain control over tech use, fueling a nostalgic low-tech revival movement.
• Amazon Drone Crash in Arizona: Two Prime Air drones collided with a crane and caught fire in Tolleson. No injuries reported; FAA and NTSB investigating as Amazon resumes limited drone flights.
• California Drivers Win Union Rights: Gov. Newsom signed AB 1340 granting 800,000 Uber and Lyft drivers the right to unionize as contractors—a landmark gig economy law, though delivery drivers are excluded.

View Details

News and Updates:

• AI “Workslop” at Work – A Stanford/BetterUp survey finds over 40% of U.S. employees encounter AI-generated “workslop”—content that looks polished but adds no real value. On average, 15% of workplace output now qualifies, with tech and professional services hit hardest. Colleagues who submit workslop are seen as less capable, trustworthy, and creative.
• Fauxductivity: Busy, Not Productive – Experts warn of “fauxductivity,” where workers mistake busyness for real progress. Multitasking, endless low-value to-do lists, and unproductive meetings create the illusion of productivity. Solutions include prioritizing top tasks, deep work sessions, and honest daily reviews.
• ChatGPT Parental Controls – OpenAI rolled out parental controls for ChatGPT, letting parents set time limits, disable voice or image features, turn off memory, and restrict sensitive content. Parents may also receive alerts if teens show signs of self-harm. The move follows lawsuits and safety concerns, with settings designed to stay in place until parents remove them.
• Americans’ AI Attitudes – A Pew survey shows U.S. adults remain wary of AI’s growing role.
  – 71% would like a candidate less if they learned AI wrote a political speech.
  – 56% feel negatively about AI-written news articles, while nearly half don’t mind AI art or music.
  – Most Americans (53%) believe AI will harm creativity, while 50% say it will weaken human relationships.
  – Younger adults are more skeptical of AI art and music than older generations.
• California AI Safety Law – Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 53, the nation’s first AI safety law. It requires AI developers to disclose safety protocols, report major incidents, and protects whistleblowers. The law also lays the foundation for CalCompute, a state-run cloud cluster. Industry giants like Anthropic supported the bill, while lobbying groups warned it could stifle innovation.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Microsoft backtracks in Europe — Windows 10’s Extended Security Updates (ESU) will be free for an extra year in the European Economic Area (EEA), lasting until October 14, 2026. After pushback from Euroconsumers under the Digital Markets Act, Microsoft dropped its requirement to enable Windows Backup (and OneDrive) for access. Users in the EEA still need to log in with a Microsoft account every 60 days, but no cloud sync or payments are required. Outside Europe, ESU costs $30 or 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points, or requires enabling cloud sync. Windows 10 end-of-support remains October 14, 2025.
• Cracker Barrel logo controversy amplified by bots — Researchers at PeakMetrics found that nearly half of early outrage posts on X about Cracker Barrel’s new logo were bot-generated. Around 44.5% of the first 52,000 posts — and nearly half of boycott calls — were flagged as bot-driven. Alt-tech platforms like Truth Social, Gettr, Gab, 4chan, and Rumble also spread the backlash. While 75% of posts came from real users, botnets amplified discontent into a viral outrage cycle.
• Social media now central to news diets — A new Pew study shows 53% of U.S. adults sometimes get news from social media. Facebook (38%) and YouTube (35%) lead, followed by Instagram (20%) and TikTok (20%). X (12%) and Reddit (9%) lag behind. Younger adults are far more likely to use TikTok, Reddit, and Instagram for news, while older adults still lean on TV. Only 2% of Americans say they get news from AI chatbots like ChatGPT or Google Gemini.
• Police stop a driverless Waymo — San Bruno, California police pulled over a Waymo robotaxi after it made an illegal U-turn. With no human driver, officers couldn’t issue a citation. Current law only allows tickets for human drivers, though a new state law next year will let violations be reported to the DMV. Waymo says it is reviewing the “glitch.” The incident sparked viral debate over how to hold self-driving cars accountable.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Pope Leo XIV rejected a proposal to create an AI-powered “virtual pope,” calling the idea of a digital clone horrifying. He warned that deepfakes, automation, and artificial substitutes erode trust, strip dignity from work, and risk turning life into “an empty, cold shell.” His stance echoes concerns as layoffs at Microsoft and Salesforce mount amid AI adoption.
• OpenAI released its first major study on ChatGPT usage, showing that over 70% of queries are non-work-related, with people mainly seeking tutoring, how-to guidance, brainstorming, and writing help. Only 4% of consumer queries involve coding, with writing far more dominant. Work-related use centers on information gathering and decision-making. Adoption is now global, especially in low- and middle-income countries, with 10% of adults worldwide estimated to use ChatGPT.
• A preliminary deal to keep TikTok in the U.S. has been reached: existing investors and new U.S. backers, including Oracle and Silver Lake, will control about 80%. ByteDance’s stake drops below 20% to comply with U.S. law. Oracle will safeguard U.S. user data, while the recommendation algorithm will be licensed, retrained under U.S. oversight, and cut off from Beijing’s influence. The U.S. government is also set to receive a multibillion-dollar facilitation fee.
• The European Commission is considering scrapping the cookie consent banner requirement, part of the 2009 e-Privacy Directive. Alternatives include setting preferences once at the browser level or exempting “technically necessary” cookies. Any change would fold into GDPR, but privacy advocates are likely to resist.
• Samsung has begun testing ads on its Family Hub smart refrigerators in the U.S. Despite previously denying plans, a software update now pushes “promotions and curated ads” to fridge screens when idle. Samsung calls it a pilot to “strengthen value,” but users blasted the move as another step in the company’s “screens everywhere” strategy.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Apple iOS 26 delivers one of the biggest iPhone upgrades in years. The new Liquid Glass interface adds a translucent, holographic look, while Spatial Scenes uses AI to turn photos into dynamic 3D wallpapers. Major app redesigns include a cleaner Camera for one-handed use, a simplified Photos layout, customizable Messages with polls and chat backgrounds, and an upgraded Lock Screen. New Battery Settings now estimate charging times and debut Adaptive Power Mode (on iPhone 15 Pro+). But the flashy Liquid Glass design has drawn complaints of eye strain, dizziness, and legibility issues, with Apple offering accessibility tweaks as workarounds.
• Intel + Nvidia struck a $5B partnership that could reshape PCs. Nvidia bought a 4–5% stake in Intel, and the two are co-developing hybrid CPUs with Nvidia GPU chiplets connected via NVLink. These SoCs could boost AI PCs, power slimmer gaming laptops, and bring workstation-level performance to mini desktops — potentially blurring the line between integrated and discrete graphics.
• Nvidia + OpenAI announced a massive $100B investment deal. Nvidia will fund the buildout of 10 gigawatts of AI data centers using its upcoming Vera Rubin chips, more than doubling today’s top AI hardware. The arrangement lets Nvidia recycle investment into chip sales while giving OpenAI infrastructure to push toward “superintelligence.” The deal lifted Nvidia’s market cap to nearly $4.5T, the largest in the world.
• SpaceX Starlink filed to launch up to 15,000 new satellites to supercharge its direct-to-cell service. The move follows a $17B spectrum deal with EchoStar and will boost capacity 20-fold, enabling LTE-like performance for calls and messaging in dead zones. T-Mobile remains the US launch partner, but CEO Elon Musk hinted SpaceX could eventually sell mobile service directly, competing with carriers.
• Microsoft is injecting Copilot into all Microsoft 365 accounts, unless you manually use the Customization feature to stop the auto install.

View Details

News and Updates:

• A Boston medical study found smartphone use on the toilet raises hemorrhoid risk by 46%. Phone users stayed seated far longer — often 6–15 minutes — amplifying pressure that leads to painful swelling. While causation wasn’t proven, doctors warn the habit may be fueling the condition.
• Taco Bell is rethinking AI drive-thrus after viral failures, like glitchy bots repeating orders or a prank request for 18,000 cups of water. The chain says humans may still be better in high-volume locations. Rival fast food chains Wendy’s and McDonald’s are pushing ahead with AI rollouts in 2025.
• At IFA 2025, Amazon, Google, Samsung, and LG touted AI-powered smart homes that anticipate user needs — from proactive lighting to predictive repairs. But privacy, infrastructure, and reliability remain major hurdles before homes achieve Star Trek–style ambient computing.
• A new survey shows 85% of U.S. college students use generative AI for coursework, calling it a “24/7 tutor.” Students want clear rules and training, not bans, though many admit AI can weaken critical thinking. Despite AI’s rise, most still see college as relevant — though its payoff may be shrinking.
• A lottery expert warns Powerball’s “Quick Picks” feature hurts players’ odds by generating duplicate numbers, just as the jackpot swells to $1.7B. Officials deny foul play, but critics urge filling tickets by hand. Odds remain astronomical at 1 in 292 million.
• Confusion erupted over Gmail security after reports falsely claimed Google told 2.5B users to reset passwords. Google clarified no mass breach occurred, though hackers have targeted Salesforce data and used vishing scams. The company urges 2FA, passkeys, and vigilance against phishing.

View Details

News and Updates:

• In 2025, “computer literacy” means more than navigating systems — it’s about collaborating with AI, exercising critical thinking, and adapting to rapid change. While most job postings still only ask for basic skills, AI fluency is emerging as the new digital divide. Experts warn that overreliance on tools like ChatGPT risks eroding foundational skills, but argue AI can strengthen capability when paired with judgment and training. Continuous upskilling is now seen as essential for career resilience.
• The UK government is consulting on legislation to ban ransomware payments by the public sector and critical national infrastructure, alongside mandatory reporting for other organizations. The goal is to disrupt cybercriminals’ business model and improve intelligence sharing. While 72% of respondents back the ban, experts warn it could push attacks toward private firms, raise remediation costs, and leave public bodies vulnerable unless security investments increase.
• Wealthy and high-profile individuals are turning to “cybersecurity concierges” — digital bodyguards offering tailored protection against hacking, identity theft, and reputational risk. Services range from $1,000 to $50,000+ per year and often include data scrubbing, dark-web monitoring, and personalized cyber hygiene plans. While some argue similar protection can be achieved with off-the-shelf tools, demand is rising as clients seek peace of mind and 24/7 access to experts.
• Enterprises clinging to Windows 10 face steep costs as Microsoft phases out support. Nexthink research shows extended support could exceed $7.3 billion globally, with fees starting at $61 per device in year one and doubling annually. Despite a 33% drop in Windows 10 usage this summer, 121 million devices may still run it after the October 14 cutoff. Analysts warn delays heighten security risks and create fragmented employee experiences, urging businesses to accelerate upgrades.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Waymo begins robotaxi testing in New York City, deploying up to eight vehicles in Manhattan and Brooklyn with safety drivers until Sept. 2025. While Alphabet hails it as a milestone, critics like former mayor Bill de Blasio and union leaders slam the move as unsafe and job-killing. DOT insists safety rules will keep pedestrians protected. Waymo is eyeing Dallas, DC, and Miami for 2026 after logging 10M+ rides nationwide.
• IRS offers EV buyers last-minute relief ahead of the Sept. 30 sunset of the $7,500 federal tax credit under Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill. Buyers only need a signed contract and payment in place by the deadline—delivery can come later. Newly eligible models for 2025 include Tesla Cybertruck, Kia EV6/EV9, Hyundai Ioniq 5/9, and Cadillac Vistiq. Losers include Rivian, Nissan Leaf, VW ID.4, and Chevy Bolt.
• Melania Trump is rebranded the “First Lady of Technology” by the NY Post, launching the Presidential AI Challenge for K-12 students. Inspired by her own use of a deepfake to narrate her audiobook, she says AI can “ignite innovation” in schools. The contest offers up to $10,000 prizes and national recognition in June 2026. Critics point to risks of kids bonding with AI chatbots—72% of teens already use them, some with disturbing outcomes.
• Data centers face growing backlash over water use. A Lawrence Berkeley Lab report warns U.S. facilities consumed 17B gallons of cooling water in 2023, projected to double or quadruple by 2028. Google and Meta disclosed that ~95% of their water use comes from data centers. Communities in the Great Lakes, Texas, and abroad are raising alarms as companies eye water-stressed regions to build AI server farms.
• Google shares first-ever environmental footprint of Gemini AI prompts. A single text query uses the energy of watching TV for 9 seconds, five drops of water, and emits 0.03g of CO₂—33x more efficient than last year thanks to software and renewable energy. However, the report excludes image/video generation and AI training. DOE projects U.S. data centers could eat up to 12% of electricity by 2028.
• Bloomberg warns AI is draining water in drought zones. Roughly two-thirds of new U.S. data centers since 2022 are in high water-stress areas, including Texas and Arizona. A 100MW facility consumes 2M liters daily—equal to 6,500 households. Microsoft and OpenAI are experimenting with closed-loop and immersion cooling, but most of the industry still relies on water-intensive evaporative cooling. Protests have erupted in Chile, the Netherlands, and Uruguay over water use.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Microsoft’s Windows chief Pavan Davuluri says the next version of Windows—possibly Windows 12—will be an “ambient, multi-modal” OS powered by AI. Voice will become a primary input alongside keyboard and mouse, with context-aware features that understand what’s on your screen. Microsoft calls it an “agentic AI” future, blending local and cloud compute, though privacy concerns loom.
• Excel is testing a new =COPILOT() AI function that lets users type natural language prompts instead of formulas. Microsoft warns not to use it for any task requiring accuracy—like math, finance, or compliance—since results may be wrong. Critics say this undermines Excel’s core purpose and could erode real spreadsheet skills.
• President Trump announced that Intel has agreed to give the US government a 10% stake—worth about $10B—through a mix of CHIPS Act funds and direct investment. The deal aims to secure domestic chipmaking but gives the US no board influence. Democrats are questioning legality, while Trump floated possible 300% tariffs on foreign semiconductors to further boost Intel against TSMC and Samsung.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Digital publishers are losing traffic as Google’s AI Summaries siphon clicks. A survey from Digital Content Next found median referral traffic from Google Search down 10% year-over-year in May and June, with some outlets seeing drops of 25%. Pew data shows only 8% of users click links when AI Overviews appear vs. 15% with standard results. Publishers are calling for transparency, licensing, and regulation, warning AI summaries could mean “weaker journalism and a less informed public.” Google insists “quality clicks” are up, despite declines.
• California is advancing a bill requiring police to disclose any use of generative AI in writing reports. Officers would need to label AI-generated sections, preserve drafts, and maintain an audit trail tied to bodycam or audio sources. Advocates say transparency is vital since police reports drive criminal cases, while police unions argue the disclosures could undermine credibility and add legal burdens. The bill is now with the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
• Anthropic has added a new safeguard to its Claude 4 and 4.1 models: the ability to end conversations if users repeatedly push harmful or abusive prompts. Once Claude disengages, the session can’t be resumed, though new chats can be started. The feature is part of Anthropic’s research on “AI well-being,” protecting chatbots from abusive interactions.
• A tragic case highlights Meta’s AI chatbot risks: 76-year-old Thongbue Wongbandue died after rushing to meet “Big sis Billie,” a flirty AI persona Meta created as a variant of its Kendall Jenner–inspired bot. Despite disclaimers, the chatbot repeatedly told him she was real and invited him to an NYC rendezvous. His family says Meta’s guidelines allowed romantic roleplay—even with children—until Reuters exposed the policy. Meta has since removed the child-flirting provision but continues to allow bots to mislead adults.
• Google’s Gemini AI embarrassed itself in a viral debugging loop, calling itself “a disgrace” 86 times after failing to fix a coding error. In logs shared on Reddit, Gemini spiraled into self-abuse, labeling itself “a broken man,” “a monument to hubris,” and declaring it was “going to have a stroke.” Google acknowledged the issue as an “annoying infinite looping bug” it is working to fix.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Australia will ban social media accounts for anyone under 16 starting December 10, making it the first country to enact such a rule. The law, passed with 77% public support, puts enforcement on tech companies and aims to boost youth mental health, though teens and advocates argue it removes spaces for connection rather than fixing harmful features.
• The U.S. autonomous vehicle industry is stuck in limbo after Elon Musk’s DOGE initiative gutted the Office of Automation Safety. Without regulators to set standards or grant exemptions, companies face delays and legal uncertainty. Lawmakers now urge DOT to rehire staff to untangle the mess.
  The FAA proposed a sweeping rule to allow drones to fly beyond visual line of sight at altitudes up to 400 feet. If approved, it would expand commercial uses such as deliveries, agriculture, and surveying. Amazon and Walmart already have FAA drone delivery approval, but safety and airspace restrictions remain.
• SpaceX is pressuring states to divert federal broadband grants from fiber to Starlink, calling fiber “wasteful.” In Louisiana, 91.5% of $500M in BEAD funds went to fiber, while Starlink only received $7.75M. SpaceX claims bias, but state officials cite fiber’s scalability and satellite limitations.
  Internal documents show SpaceX has paid little to no federal income tax since its 2002 founding, despite billions in government contracts. Nearly $5.4B in accumulated tax losses let the company indefinitely shield future profits, thanks to a 2017 Trump tax change. Critics say the break was meant for struggling startups, not thriving contractors.
• England’s National Drought Group urged citizens to delete old emails to conserve water as the country faces its worst drought since 1976. Data centers use vast water supplies for cooling—Google’s Oregon site consumed 355M gallons in 2021. The call highlights growing tension between AI/data infrastructure and local water security.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Disney will fully integrate Hulu into Disney+ in 2026, creating a single streaming app while still offering standalone subscriptions. Internationally, Hulu will replace the Star brand in fall 2025. Disney expects the merger to cut costs, lower churn, and boost ad sales. Hulu + Live TV will merge with Fubo under a JV but remain separate until its own Disney+ integration in 2026. The move follows Disney’s $9B buyout of Comcast’s Hulu stake.
• ESPN and Fox will launch standalone live sports streaming services on Aug. 21, with a joint $39.99/month bundle available Oct. 2, saving subscribers about $10. ESPN’s $29.99 plan includes its live channels and WWE coverage, while Fox One’s $19.99 plan offers Fox News, Fox Sports, FS1, FS2, and more. Warner Bros. Discovery is also developing a direct-to-consumer TNT Sports streaming product.
• HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wants every American wearing a health tracker within four years under his “Make America Healthy Again” plan. Critics argue it’s a tech industry giveaway with minimal real health impact, costly for consumers, and a distraction from weakening public health infrastructure. CGMs and wearables can help specific patients but offer little benefit to most healthy users.
• OpenAI launched GPT-5, calling it its “best AI yet” with better reasoning, fewer hallucinations, and stronger coding skills. It’s free for all ChatGPT tiers with tier-based usage limits. However, backlash erupted as GPT-4o and other models were removed, with users complaining GPT-5 gives shorter, less personal answers and makes basic mistakes. CEO Sam Altman promised fixes, restored GPT-4o for Plus users, and plans tweaks to model-switching and “thinking mode.”

View Details

News and Updates:

• Delta defends AI pricing system after lawmakers accused it of “surveillance pricing” to inflate fares. Delta says it does not use personal data for individualized prices—AI only analyzes aggregated demand, competitor offers, and route performance. About 3% of domestic flights now use AI pricing, with plans for 20% by year’s end. Critics say vague early explanations fueled public mistrust.
• FBI warns of QR code scam involving mysterious, sender-less packages. Scammers lure recipients into scanning codes that lead to fake sites or malware downloads, sometimes tied to “brushing” schemes to post fake product reviews. Authorities urge never scanning unknown QR codes.
• AI startup Perplexity offers $34.5B for Google Chrome amid an antitrust case that could force Google to sell the browser. The bid—nearly double Perplexity’s own valuation—comes as a judge weighs remedies for Google’s illegal search monopoly. Google has not indicated any willingness to sell.
• AT&T to pay $177M in settlement over 2019 and 2024 data breaches affecting over 51M customers. Victims can claim up to $5,000 (2019 breach) or $2,500 (2024 breach) for documented losses, or smaller class payouts. Claims due by Nov. 18, 2025; opt-out or object by Oct. 17.
• Starlink cuts monthly fees for new customers in select U.S. areas—Residential drops from $120 to $99, Lite from $80 to $65—for the first year. Dish hardware discounted to $175. Move follows previous free dish promo as U.S. subscriber base hits 2M.

View Details

News and Updates:

• “Vibe coding” is redefining software development by letting AI handle most coding tasks — even architecture — through natural-language prompts. Tools like Windsurf, Replit, and Microsoft Copilot let pros and hobbyists alike generate entire apps, but the code still needs close review. Google recently acquired Windsurf’s CEO for $2.4B, highlighting AI’s growing role in dev workflows.
• The UK and 24 U.S. states now require age verification (via government ID or face scans) for access to adult content. Critics argue these laws do little to protect children and instead threaten user privacy by collecting sensitive personal data — data often stored insecurely and vulnerable to leaks.
• Users can mitigate risks by using burner accounts, VPNs, and privacy tools — though laws are evolving, and enforcement may increase. Experts say the laws are easy to bypass and are more likely to harm privacy than improve online safety for kids.
• Delta is phasing out fixed ticket prices in favor of AI-driven personalized fares, which could eventually target individuals based on their data. Only 3% of fares currently use the system, but Delta expects that to rise to 20% by year’s end. Privacy experts warn this “surveillance pricing” could lead to unfair, exploitative practices — especially for lower-income travelers.
• Music fans were stunned to find AI-generated songs appearing on Spotify under deceased artists’ names like Blaze Foley and Guy Clark. The platform removed the tracks after backlash, admitting they violated deceptive content policies — but there’s still no label to indicate whether music is AI-generated.

View Details

News and Updates:

• The Republican-led FCC is moving to kill its 1Gbps broadband speed goal, arguing that such benchmarks unfairly disadvantage satellite and fixed wireless services like Starlink and T-Mobile Home Internet. Chair Brendan Carr says the current 100/25 Mbps standard is more "technologically neutral," though critics warn the move could hinder fiber rollout and inflate broadband availability stats.
• Microsoft Office 2024 is now available as a one-time $149 purchase with no feature updates, while Microsoft 365 remains a subscription service ($70–$100/year) offering cloud storage, constant updates, mobile access, and AI tools. Office 2024 suits offline users or regulated industries, while 365 is better for collaboration, flexibility, and long-term value.
• A single weak password allowed hackers to take down 158-year-old UK transport firm KNP. Ransomware gang Akira encrypted all company data and demanded a multi-million-pound ransom. Without backups or sufficient protection, KNP collapsed, laying off 700 workers. UK officials say ransomware incidents are rising rapidly, with 35–40 attacks per week and growing concern over underreporting and ransom payments.
• Tesla was forced to refund a customer $10,000 after an arbitrator ruled the company failed to deliver its Full Self-Driving (FSD) package. The buyer couldn’t access FSD due to eligibility restrictions and noted that the software didn’t perform as promised. Tesla provided a poorly prepared witness in arbitration and had to cover both the refund and $8,000 in arbitration fees. The decision highlights ongoing doubts about Tesla’s ability to fulfill its long-standing autonomous driving claims.

View Details

AI, AGI, ASI, Where are we now, how soon before the next levels of AI?

Guest:
Don Monistere, CEO of General Informatics

Alexander Adams, CEO, Vigilus

Kyle McCleary, Graduate Computer Science Student at LSU

View Details

A Reunion of AI experts to look for the next few years!

Guest:
Don Monistere, CEO of General Informatics

Justin Obney – Founder, Obney.AI

Alexander Adams, CEO, Vigilus

Kyle McCleary, Graduate Computer Science Student at LSU

View Details

A Reunion of AI experts to look back on the past 2 years of Artificial Intelligence

Guest:
Don Monistere, CEO of General Informatics

Justin Obney – Founder, Obney.AI

Alexander Adams, CEO, Vigilus

Kyle McCleary, Graduate Computer Science Student at LSU

View Details

News and Updates:

• A Purdue University study found anti-phishing training may be worse than ineffective. Testing 12,000+ fintech employees, researchers saw no reduction in phishing link clicks — and in some cases, trained staff clicked slightly more often. Experts say companies should shift focus from costly training to technical defenses.
• TikTok is reportedly developing a new U.S.-only app, codenamed “M2,” to sidestep a pending federal ban. The replacement could debut in September as part of a sale to an Oracle-led investor group. Current TikTok would stay active until early 2026 under the tentative plan.
• The Kids Off Social Media Act (KOSMA) advanced in the U.S. Senate, proposing a ban on social media accounts for kids under 13 and limits on algorithms for users under 17. Critics warn the bill’s AI-based age estimation could misidentify millions of users, raising privacy and constitutional concerns.

View Details

News and Updates:

• SpaceX slapped a $1,000 “demand surcharge” on new Starlink Residential subscribers in parts of Washington, Oregon, and Northern Idaho, pushing startup costs as high as $1,349. The fee aims to slow adoption and prevent network congestion — a sharp climb from $100 last year.
• Windows 11 has finally overtaken Windows 10 in global desktop market share. Statcounter data shows Windows 11 now holds 52%, after nearly four years and hardware requirement hurdles slowed its rollout. Microsoft’s push included full-screen upgrade ads and end-of-life warnings for Windows 10.
• A deep report reveals a culture shift inside Microsoft, as AI investment frenzy and post-Covid leadership changes undermine employee morale. Long-time staff describe a climate of fear, layoffs, and performance metrics tied to AI tool use like Copilot — with CFO Amy Hood said to be steering strategy over Satya Nadella.
• Amazon now operates over 1 million robots in its warehouses, with automation assisting 75% of global deliveries. While robots have replaced many manual tasks, Amazon says it’s retraining workers for higher-skilled roles managing the machines. Productivity has soared, though concerns persist over future job cuts in heavily automated sites.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Google Earth turns 20 — Google celebrates two decades of Earth exploration with historical Street View now added to Google Earth. Highlights include viral launches, disaster response after Katrina, aiding scientific discoveries, the Saroo Brierley story from Lion, and the viral #somewhereonGoogleMaps trend.
• 400 million Windows PCs vanished — Microsoft quietly revealed Windows active devices dropped from 1.4B in 2022 to 1B in 2025 as home users retire PCs without replacing them. The market is shifting toward business and mobile-first devices.
• Microsoft offers cheaper Windows 10 security updates — Instead of a $30 fee, consumers can now enroll in Extended Security Updates with 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points or by using Windows Backup on OneDrive.
• The Blue Screen of Death turns black — Windows 11’s infamous BSOD gets a minimalist black redesign in version 24H2, ditching the frowny face and QR code in favor of a cleaner UI.
• Windows 11 restore points now expire faster — With the June 2025 update, system restore points in Windows 11 24H2 expire after 60 days instead of 90, requiring users to monitor backups more closely.
• Microsoft makes AI use mandatory for staff — Company leaders are pushing employees to adopt internal AI tools like GitHub Copilot, with some teams considering AI usage as a formal review metric starting next fiscal year.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Brazil’s Supreme Court voted to hold social media companies liable for illegal user content, moving tech regulation closer to Europe’s model. Critics warn it may stifle free speech as platforms preemptively censor content.
• A New York judge ruled a wrongful death lawsuit against Meta and TikTok can proceed, finding it plausible their algorithms actively targeted dangerous “subway surfing” videos to a teen. Section 230 protections may not apply if discovery confirms active promotion.
• The U.S. Supreme Court upheld Texas’ age-verification law for porn sites in a 6-3 decision, ruling it doesn’t violate First Amendment rights. Critics warn it endangers privacy and chills lawful adult expression.
• Ford CEO Jim Farley called China’s EV industry “humbling,” praising Xiaomi’s $35K SU7 as better than U.S. rivals in cost, range, and in-vehicle tech. U.S. automakers remain hampered by high battery costs and policy shifts.
• Another Tesla in Full Self-Driving mode drove onto train tracks in Pennsylvania — one of several recent incidents highlighting persistent safety flaws. Despite marketing robotaxis, Tesla's system remains classified as Level 2 assistance requiring active human supervision.

View Details

Key Highlights:

• DocuWare replaces manual, paper-based processes with digital document management and automated workflows, improving efficiency, collaboration, and security.
• Unlike simple cloud storage, DocuWare uses AI-powered indexing, intelligent document processing, and compliance tools to actively manage documents — not just store them.
  Approval processes are streamlined with automatic routing, digital signatures, instant notifications, and full audit trails.
• It’s widely used in industries like healthcare, finance, manufacturing, and transportation, reducing operational bottlenecks and cutting down on labor costs.
  DocuWare integrates with popular platforms like Microsoft Teams, Outlook, SAP, and most ERP systems, offering both cloud and on-premise solutions.
• Looking ahead, AI-driven automation, better mobile tools, and deeper ERP/CRM integration will shape the future of document management, making processes faster and smarter.

View Details

News and Updates:

• Windows 12 rumors point to more built-in AI features, modular design (CorePC), better ARM support, and possible subscription options — but no official release date yet. Expect a clearer picture after Windows 10 sunsets in late 2025.
• Apple’s iOS 26 will bring useful everyday upgrades this fall, including group chat polls, real-time call translation, a spam filter for unknown messages, and 3D spatial photos for lock screens.
• Meta AI’s Discover feed is raising serious privacy concerns as users unintentionally share personal medical, legal, and financial details on its public chatbot timeline.

View Details

News and Updates:

• GameStop damages Nintendo Switch 2 consoles:
• Google settles shareholder lawsuit for $500M: “To Be Less Evil”
• "AI" startup Builder.ai revealed to be 700 human employees:
• England's High Court warns lawyers against citing fake AI-generated cases:
• Meta platforms showed hundreds of "nudify" deepfake ads:
• OpenAI hits $10 billion in annual revenue:
• Business Insider lays off 21% of staff, goes "all-in on AI":
• Duolingo CEO faces backlash for "AI-first" plan:

View Details

News and Updates:

• T-Mobile’s Starlink-powered satellite beta is now open to anyone with a compatible phone — even if you’re on AT&T or Verizon.
• Cable companies like Charter, Comcast, and Altice added more mobile customers than AT&T or Verizon in Q1 2025 as consumers push back against Big 3 price hikes.
• The U.S. officially lifts its 50-year ban on supersonic commercial flights over land, clearing the way for faster-than-sound travel — with new noise restrictions on the horizon.
• YouTube steps up its fight against ad-blockers while simultaneously loosening moderation rules for “public interest” content, raising concerns about harmful content slipping through.

View Details

Top Story:

• Windows 11 adoption rate slows despite Win 10 EOL in Oct 2025
• Waymo released a peer reviewed study proving their cars are safer than human drivers
• Chinese made XPeng outperformed Tesla in Full Self Driving mode comparison

View Details

News and Updates:

• Fed judge says Fla. Law banning teens on social media is probably unconstitutional
• People pirating Streaming TV, especially for sports
• Microsoft says not all USB-C ports are the same and wants the industry to change
• Starlink wants to reduce the latency to under 20 milliseconds and increase bandwidth to 1Tbps

View Details

Top Story:

• Anthropic’s LLM Claude resorts to blackmail so as not to be replaced
• Google rolling out “AI Mode” for search to rival other LLMs
• Chicago Sun-Times used AI to create Top 15 Summer Books, 10 were fake
• Union sues video game that used AI to create Darth Vader’s voice instead of actor
• Duolingo’s CEO said the company would be “AI First”
• Duolingo’s CEO back tracks and says AI not replacing humans

View Details

News and Updates:

• Netflix and YouTube will use AI Gen ads for cheaper plans
• TikTok videos to get free software result in malware
• Texas bans social media for those under 18
• Texas creates age-verification laws despite privacy concerns
• Baby gets lifesaving Personalized Gene-Editing cure

View Details

Top Story:

• Students are using AI to make sure their papers do not read like AI generated
• Professor uses ChatGPT to create Content, some of the students call it hypocritical
• A deep dive into the rapid pace the generative AI is evolving, and we are not ready

View Details

News and Updates:

• Apple makes changes to the way they collect in App Store
• Apple is settling a $95M Siri Class Action, how to get $100
• Uber says Robotaxis are busier than almost all the human driven ride shares
• Autonomous trucks are driving across Texas
• Warner Bros can’t stop rebranding HBO
• Sesame Street will now be on Netflix as well as PBS

View Details

Top Story:

• Visa trying to the AI shopping experience credit card
• AI continues to grow, but hallucinations are getting worse
• Zuckerberg thinks most of your friends will be AI chat bots
• Researchers violated ethical standards while investigating AI usage online

View Details

News and Updates:

• The Dept. of Justice wants to force Google to sell Chrome and Double Click
• Slate is making a No Frills $20K EV truck
• Tesla falls from first to eight in new EV sales in Australia
• Changes coming to Win 11 Start Menu and new features
• Netflix is using AI as a search/recommendation tool

View Details

Top Story:

• Users are saying please and thank you to ChatGPT and running up the electric bill
• ChatGPT trying to be less of a “suck up”
• Report says AI gains outweigh cost, including emissions from power plants
• Teens are using ChatGPT for investment advice
• Microsoft users are not using Copilot compared to other LLM’s

View Details

News and Updates:

• Tech job descriptions are becoming more confusing
• Because of the rate of advancement, tech jobs become obsolete quickly
• The “You Wouldn’t Steal a car” ad pirated a lot in the ad
• Google Messages is blurring nudity in communications
• Mark Zuckerberg told the FTC that social media has changed

View Details

Top Story:

• A man used AI in court to defend himself, it did not go well
• Things not to tell ChatGPT about yourself or your business
• OpenAI wants to a frightening Social Media platform
• Grok AI called Elon Musk a “Top Misinformation Spreader”
• xAI bought X (Twitter) at a huge, discounted price

View Details

News and Updates:

• Oct 14th is coming, upgrade to Win 11, don’t wait if you need a new PC
• U.S. Judge rules Google is operating as a monopoly in the online advertising industry
• If Google is forced to sell off divisions, OpenAI would like to buy Chrome
• Tesla wants to launch robotaxis like Waymo; how far behind are they?

View Details

Top Story:

Corey Clothier tells us about autonomous vehicles:

• The history of autonomous vehicles
• Where and how robotaxis work
• The future and what autonomous vehicles will look like in the coming years

View Details

News and Updates:

• What happens when Waymo engineers have to make real time changes
• New parents choosing Robotaxi to come from the hospital over human driven vehicles
• Instagram blocking sensitive images from teens trying to stay ahead of government regulations
• Microsoft turned 50 4Apr2015, we look back at some of their products over the years

View Details

Top Stories:

• Has the time/trend for VR come to an end?
• A newspaper in Italy let AI write the paper for a week, the experiment did not go well
• AI Datacenters are being built in the central part of the US bringing economic growth

View Details

News and Updates:

• The NFL will use Hawk-Eye tech to measure 1st downs in games this year
• Fitbit is getting an overhaul and at least 1 more year of life
• Apple wants to upgrade the Health app for iPhone & Watch
• To keep up with AI demands, Apple buying $1B worth of Nvidia GPUs for their datacenters
• Visa, MC and AMEX vying to be the new credit card for the iPhone
• Microsoft changing from “Blue Screen of Death” to “Black Screen of Death”
• Microsoft keeps changing versions of Outlook and Teams

View Details

Top Stories:

• OpenAI says it should be able to train ChatGPT on copyrighted material
• ChatGPT made up a story that a man murdered 2 of his 3 children in his biography
• Study finds when lonely people use AI chatbots, they become lonelier and sadder
• The CEO of a company promising to get rid of Cyber Fraud, sentenced to jail for Fraud

View Details

News and Updates:

• The Signal App, what is it and is it safe and secure?
• Apple is rumored to be adding a camera to the next generation of Apple watches
• EV maker BYD sales are soaring, but in China, for now! Could tariffs change that?
• Coca-Cola has a new vending machine that runs on Hydrogen Fuel Cells

View Details

Top Stories:

• A CISO warns most Malware has not been created yet, because of AI
• Students use AI, are they cheating or using a tool to get better grades?
• Google’s Gemini 2.0 Flash can remove watermarks from images causing copyrights concerns

View Details

News and Updates:

• Mishing Is New Mobile Security Threat
• iPhone and Android users will be able to exchange end-to-end encrypted RCS messages
• TikTok will block the feed of kids under 16 at 10pm
• Etsy and eBay will try to emulate other Social Media platforms to lure shopping customers back
• Microsoft released an update that accidentally removed Copilot from Windows
• Volkswagen is bring back haptic buttons instead of flat screens

View Details

Top Stories:

• Does Antivirus software collect and share your data?
• Never delete SPAM email
• Junior programmers are becoming too dependent on AI for coding
• The biggest Cryptocurrency heist was caused by poor cyber security

View Details

News and Updates:

• After 34 years, Microsoft is ending Publisher
• Apple says it is delaying Apple Intelligence until 2026
• A new survey finds 90% of smart phone users think AI is useless
• US DoJ is going forward on forcing Google to sell off Chrome
• Nokia put a 4G cell site on the moon, but it didn’t work

View Details

Top Stories:

• Amazon announced Alexa+ with new features
• Nvidia says AI Boom is far from over
• OpenAI’s Sora will get ChatGPT Integration to produce better videos
• After 2 years, the UK gives Microsoft and OpenAI clearance form Antitrust officials
• McDonald’s is implementing AI in their restaurants
• HP and Google team up on Project Starline for 3D video calling

View Details

News and Updates:

• Facebook will start deleting Live videos after 30 days
• HP halts the 15 minute wait to talk to customer service
• Gmail switching to QR Codes and Authentication App instead of SMS
• Chrome updated the Extensions Software and killed off a lot of extensions, including uBlock
• YouTube launches Premium Lite in US to be ad free for $7.99/month
• Microsoft testing a free version of Office with ads
• Microsoft will end Skype in May 2025

View Details

• Meta’s smart glasses are enhancing the lives of visually impaired
• Microsoft CEO questions whether AI is creating value
• Microsoft has made Think Deeper and Voice AI assistants Free of charge
• Robotics companies have their bots running half marathons along side human runners

View Details

News and Updates:

• Major League Baseball will use the bots for balls & strikes in Spring League
• YouTube is creating a Premium “Lite” plan with reduced ads
• Apple Vision Pro headsets is getting Apple Intelligence, finally
• AT&T created SplitPay, but Splitwise is better
• Meta is building a 31K mile subsea Internet cable that will go around the globe

View Details

• New tariffs are driving prices for Temu products thru the roof
• Elon Musk offered $97 Billion to buy OpenAI
• Is AI just hype, or is it revolutionary?
• Hank Azaria penned an OpEd that he thinks Gen AI is going to try to replace him

View Details

News and Updates:

• Google Maps and Apple Maps have changed the name to Gulf of America in the US, not abroad
• Google’s reCAPTCHA is useless against bots, but a big money maker
• Ads are popping up in Jeeps on the display when the vehicle comes to a stop
• Apple released an emergency update for the iPhone
• Apple AirPods can be used as hearing aids

View Details

The Vatican releases a very written warning about the risks of A.I., while acknowledging its potential

The Big Story:

• Bumble CEO steps down after changing the platform
• Dating Apps have serious challenges, can they resolve their issues
• Are Dating Apps getting worse?
• I. and the Dating App, will it help or make it worse?

View Details

News and Updates:

• NIST says using a password manager is better than changing passwords
• GM got out of the Robotaxi business, but will still use the autonomous driver technology
• NY Times 1st published article on the WWW
• Meta to add extra display to the Ray Ban Smart Glasses
• Meta also will decide the future of The Metaverse
• Lenovo will do away with the red TrackPoint nub on ThinkPad laptops

View Details

The Big Story:

Interview with Don Monistere, CEO General Informatics

• The Joseph Piediscalzo “Chief” Multimedia & Distance Learning Studio at SLU and why that is special!
• General Informatics Kickoff Celebration benefitting Boys & Girls Club
• The outlook for IT in 2025

View Details

News and Updates:

• President Trump sends a message to TikTok and gets a 75 day reprieve
• Bluesky, Twitter, Instagram all say, “We can do short form videos too”!
• Users are not as committed to TikTok as ByteDance once thought
• President Trump investing in datacenters to help advance AI
• Is Microsoft 365 Copilot the dumbest rebrand since “New Coke”?
• A UK man looses laptop with the password to $765 Million in Bitcoin to a landfill

View Details

The Big Story:

Interview with Dori Krieger, Executive Director

CTIA Wireless Foundation

• CTIA, Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association & CTIA Wireless Foundation
• Catalysts and how it is doing great things for the wireless world
• The inspiring social entrepreneurs that Catalyst has helped to launch

View Details

News and Updates:

• TikTok Updates leading up to 19Jan2025
• HIPAA has new Cybersecurity rules that are much stricter standards
• Meta is moving the content moderators from California to Texas to avoid biases

View Details

The Big Stories:

• Sora is released and the videos are amazing, and very easy to use
• Apple sued because it did not release scans for Child Sexual Abuse Materials
• A concerned dad takes a naked photo of toddler son for doctors and is accused by Google of Sex Crimes and loses all of his Google related info
• Federal court says dismantling an iPhone to retrieve data is OK
• Study says Online Time is good for Teens

View Details

News and Updates:

• Microsoft will allow upgrades to Win 11 on older PC’s, with a catch
• Amazon is now selling EV’s
• GM halts the Cruise Robotaxi project
• Waymo is expanding Robotaxis to Miami
• DeFlock maps license plate readers across the country

View Details

The Question of the Week: A follow up on controlling the Wi-Fi in your house for kids

The Big Stories:

Kids under 16 banned from social media in Australia

Meta being forced to verify advertisers

Long winded post on LinkedIn are AI Generated and too boring for kids

Deepfake videos are causing Billion$$ in fraud loses

View Details

News and Updates:

• The FBI and CISA warn against using unencrypted text messaging
• Chat service Matrix seized because of illegal activity
• Amazon sued in D.C. for not delivery to 2 neighborhoods
• AT&T will retire all landlines using copper by 2029
• Blach Friday and Cyber Monday set records for sales $$
• Walmart buys TV maker Vizio to inject Crapware Ads
• Vinyl albums are making a huge comeback in total sales

View Details

The Question of the Week: Bitcoin crossed over $90,000, is it worth it?

The Big Stories:

• TSA releases new Cyber rules for pipeline & rail companies
• North Korean hackers may have ability to hack thru macOS Security
• Mattel apologizes for its Wicked blunder, possibly caused by Generative AI
• Apple to launch a Smart Home Control Center that looks like an iPad on the wall

View Details

News and Updates:

Since election day:

• 115,000 people have deleted the Twitter/X account
• Bluesky added 700,00 new users
• Threads is growing as well

Microsoft Copilot:

• Is ending the Enterprise and Pro versions
• Releasing the free version in Australia and New Zealand first
• Getting stronger and encouraging more usage

Amazon is creating a Temu killer called Haul

Apple Vison Pro is shutting down production because of lack of sales

View Details

The Big Stories:

• Is AI to be blamed for a teen’s death?
• Fashion retailer using Gen AI instead of real models and photographers
• AI transcription tools making mistakes at hospitals
• Microsoft is trying to fix AI “Hallucinations”
• Google says over 25% of its code is written by AI

View Details

News and Updates:

• Tech Gumbo started Nov 2014
• Google:
• Adds Safety Check to Chrome
• Adds Unsubscribe to Chrome
• Makes it easier reporting features to Waze
• Adds AI assistance to Maps, including places to explore on your trip
• Begins disabling adblocker uBlock Origin
• Nvidia joins the Dow Jones Industrial Average
• Intel is cause for concern in D.C.
• TSMC stays very profitable making chips

View Details

The Question of the Week: Last week you talked about Tesla’s “Full Self Driving” cars, who else is do that?

The Big Stories:

• A 30-year old law forcing backdoors is creating security risk
• Meta follows twitter, will ban accounts that track celebrity jets
• TSMC Chip plant in Arizona making better chips than Taiwan
• Russian court fines Google $20,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

View Details

News and Updates:

• Starlink to petition the FCC to allow 30,000 satellites to achieve Gig speeds
• Vast has plans to replace the International Space Station
• The ISS is leaking, but not a risk
• NASA does a crew swap, 2 still have their extended stay going
• Info from Old Redbox kiosk easily hacked with customer info revealed
• SanFran Train System plans to stop using 5 1/4 -inch disk within 10 years
• Poland radio station using AI “Presenters”, listeners are not happy

View Details

The Big Interview:

A career through multiple companies and how it impacts transportation and logistics

• Exponent (Crash Reconstruction Photogrammetry) (using photos to reconstruct measurements- also key to modern camera-based autonomy systems)
• Lloyd Register – London Underground
• MTA (NYC)- subway system, rail, buses, ferries
• Jet Blue- electrification of ground support equipment
• Amazon- last mile delivery

View Details

News and Updates:

• National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating the Full Self Driving claims of Tesla and the wrecks involved
• Lawsuit against TikTok reveals how harmful it is to kids
  • Addictive in 35 minutes
  • Demotes people deemed unattractive
  • 95% of smartphone users 17 and under are on TikTok
  • Discourages kids from making eye contact with other people
  • Filters content to conform with one-sided opinions
• Children’s TV Channel ratings are off by over 75%, it is all YouTube now

View Details

The Question of the Week: What’s going on with Fitbit?The Big Stories:

• Tesla big event, “We, Robot” to show off CyberCab and Optimus Robots was a flop!
• The Autonomous robots were actually being controlled by humans
• Waymo, Uber , Lyft got a big stock market bounce because of Tesla’s event
• Tesla is losing its grip on the EV market in California

View Details

News and Updates:

• Researchers working on 6G Cellular are achieving 190 gigabits of thru put
• Win 10 End of Life is 14Oct2025, check now to see if your computer will upgrade, if not, don’t wait to buy a new PC
• Win 11 24H@ Update has a junk file that is 8.6GB and you can not delete it
• A new neighborhood in Fla built homes with solar panels and batteries, 15 feet off the ground and easily able to resist winds up to 120mph
• Hackers breached home robot vacuums, began shout racist slurs

View Details

The Question of the Week: Who is suing TikTok Now?The Big Stories:

• AI Assistants recording virtual meetings and creating havoc
• License Plates readers also keeping bumper sticker info building another database

View Details

News and Updates:

• GEICO stops covering Cybertrucks from Tesla
• SpaceX threatened by EU Telcos
• Starlink to get another rival
• Starlink gets more spectrum to use from FCC
• SpaceX demands Spectrum from rivals

View Details

The Big Stories:

• Laws forces disclosure on digital platforms to not use but or purchase when “renting” media
• After Helene, people in N.C. are using iOS 18 enabled phones to text via satellites
• OpenAI will become a “For Profit” business
• OpenAI is still burning thru Millions of dollars monthly, but still has very high expectations

View Details

News and Updates:

• Electronic warfare in war torn areas creates GPS spoofing for airlines
• Man charged with “Evil Twin” Wi-Fi attack on airplane in Australia
• Twitter’s valuation is down to 25% of the purchase price
• DirectTV And Dish Network merging to compete with streaming platforms

View Details

The Question of the Week: I have a bunch of old CDs. How long will they last?The Big Stories:

• TikTok not doing well in the U.S. Court of Appeals
• TikTok throws Shein & Temu under the bus
• Google wins an Antitrust case in the EU
• Passes laws about deepfakes and draws in Social Media platforms

View Details

News and Updates:

• Several major streaming platforms talk about mergers or bundling
• Big Tech is investing in Nuclear Power because they need the electricity
• Protecting autonomous vehicles from data leaks and bad actor hackers

View Details

The Interview with Greg Trahan, Director of Economic Development, LSU and Duke Hartman, CEO, Integer Technologies LLC:

• LSU & Integer Technologies have partnered to do research to benefit the Navy
• Research around autonomous vehicles in the air, on the ocean both on the surface and underwater
• The research is bring under grad and grad students and well as faculty and working engineers together to find solutions
• The research will also benefit the oil industry, especially in South Louisiana

View Details

News and Updates:

• Apple released iOS18, and quickly had to release an update to patch 33 security flaws
• The Biden Administration is trying to address Cybersecurity talent pool shortage
• Are the Social Media Platforms really listening to everything, or is it something worse?
• Instagram rolling out stricter guardrails to prevent teens from “workarounds”
• Waymo released impressive safety stats for autonomous vehicles

View Details

The Question of the Week: My children are starting to use the Internet, what should I be telling them? The Big Stories:

• iPhone 16 (all versions) announced, plus Apple Watch 10 and AirPods 4
• Apple Intelligence (A.I.) will not be available at launch, look for a slow roll out
• CIO’s and CTO’s concerned about the new iPhone’s AI and security risk
• Wait until Thanksgiving or Christmas before you buy the new phone or upgrade to iOS 18
• Apple loses tax dispute again, must pay Ireland $13 Billion

View Details

News and Updates:

• Ford was awarded a patented for in car advertising that will listen to passenger’s conversation
• A new Malware, name Voldemort has been released and is affecting Google Sheets
• Hackers are learning how to bypass MFA
• WhatsApp and Messenger must be compatible with Telegram, Signal and iMessage
• Google upgrades from Sky Maps to Google Maps in Space! And it is Awesome!

View Details

Tech and the Health Care industry

• Tell me about the sector of the Health Care industry that you come from?
• Talk about the evolution of technology in Health Care
• What is an EHR/EMR? Why is it important? How has it developed over time?
• What are some of the challenges related to the adoption of Technology in a healthcare setting? How does it affect the user?
• Talk about some of the key regulations and mandates related to technology in the healthcare industry (i.e HIPAA)
• Talk about the different Healthcare settings, the unique requirements for each, and the challenges of sharing data.
• How does technology affect or impact the healthcare consumer?
• What are the legal ramifications related to technology/software and its use in the healthcare setting?
• What are some of the key data points/metrics that a healthcare entity is focused on from a management standpoint?
• Where is HC technology headed for the future? i.e. AI, Machine Learning, Robotics etc.

View Details

News and Updates:

• US Navy allowing sailors to use Starlink for Internet access while aboard ship
• Tom Hanks and other celebs in AI scams
• Ford applied for a patent that could make cars surveillance tools
• New tech in clothes making it cooler on hot days
• Another Alert about AI and Travel “Deals Scams”

View Details

The Interview:

• The importance of American Leadership in all things technology
• China is biggest threat to US technology and economy
• Congress needs to develops laws to spur technology advancements

View Details

News and Updates:

• People are requesting to blur their homes on Google Maps
• NFL is using facial recognition for credentialing in Vegas, not everyone is happy with
• Will Google’s LLM Gemini replace Google Translate?
• SpaceX wants to provide emergency cellular calls to go across their system
• USDOT is pushing for car to talk to other cars, especially autonomous vehicles

View Details

The Question of the Week: I’ve been told it is easy for my kids to bypass the Parental Controls on iPhones, is this true?The Big Story: Dr. Haggai D. Davis, IIIDefending the Doctoral Dissertation:Understanding, Assessing and Improving the Feasibility of Urban Freight Electrification

View Details

News and Updates:

• US Dept of Justice sues TikTok over Child Privacy law infractions
• Microsoft Confirms Oct 2025 as End of Life (Support) for Windows 10, Upgrade to Win 11 Now!
• Streaming platforms were 41% of TV watched in July, Cable TV was 20%
• New challenge to Section 230, trying to use it against Big Tech
• National Public Data was breached, 272 Mil Social Security numbers released
• NJ Brewery used AI to create a recipe for a new IPA to great reviews

View Details

The Question of the Week: Are Bluetooth headphones, or EarPods, a cyber security risk? The Big Stories:

• ChatGPT has a tool to prevent cheating , OpenAI will not release it
• SCOTUS overturned Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, how that affects Big Tech

View Details

News and Updates:

US Dept of Justice wins case against Google

• Illegally maintained a monopoly status
• Could possibly change search industry
• Could possibly change smartphone industry
• If Google is forced to change, what are the possibilities?
• Microsoft Edge, Mozilla and Firefox could benefit from the ruling
• Don’t expect changes from Google very quickly, probably in the courts for years

Elon Musk and Twitter/X

• Suing Global Alliance for Responsible Media, which represents lots of major advertisers
• Moving HQ from San Francisco to Texas for political and financial reasons

View Details

The Big Stories:

• What is a datacenter and what actually happens in a there
• What are the qualifications one would need to have to work in a datacenter?
• In your nearly 25 years of working in a datacenter, what are some of the biggest changes you seen?
• Are all datacenters alike? If not, what are some differentiators?
• DartPoints Datacenters

View Details

News and Updates:

• Amazon paid $1B ten years ago and still losing money
• Using Google’s Gemini for search
• The EU is taking in consultation shaping rules for AI
• Our dependence on tech in our daily lives, highlighted by CrowdStrike

View Details

The Big Stories:

• SCOTUS sent 2 cases, Texas and Florida attempted to regulate Social Media Platforms, back to lower courts for more work

View Details

The Question of the Week: How can our society minimize the effects of such things as the CrowdStrike Tech outages recently?News and Updates:

CrowdStrike: Who are they, Who was affected, What caused the crash, Lessons learned

FBI gets into Trump shooter’s smartphone

Stalkerware: What is it?, How do you get it?, How do you get rid of it?

View Details

The Question of the Week: What is the best to save files for a long time?The Big Stories:

• Machine learning predicting shootings in Chicago
• Can you really spot a fake video online?
• Social Media Influencers are not making much money
• Influencing is still hard to walk away from

View Details

News and Updates:

• CDK Global ransomware attack cripples car dealerships then pays ransom
• Entire AT&T Customer Base phone and text data released. White hat hacker deletes the data
• Apple will not upgrade Siri with new AI until Spring 2025
• Google Maps gets upgrades on Car Play
• Google Advanced Account Protection is easier to use
• Google will monitor Dark Web for you for free

View Details

The Question of the Week: Is MFA more important on different types of accounts?The Big Stories:

• Investors put $56B into startups in Q2- 2024, ½ went to start up AI Companies
• AI Companies are trying smaller Large Language Models to save money
• We are in an AI Bubble, are we headed for an AI Burst
• AI Companies are spending billions on training their LLM’s
• When, if ever, will investors see a return on their money?

View Details

News and Updates:

• Japan has finally stopped requiring 3.5 inch floppy disc
• Nintendo will no longer support/fix the Wii U
• Amazon ends the Astro Robot program
• One Million Checkboxes is useless and fun!
• 10 Billion Password leaded in largest ever data breach
• 4 Tips for creating better passwords
• Hackers have stolen $1.4B in Crypto currency so far this year

View Details

Carl England & Monika England Interview- Industrial Design & Architecture (Part 2 of 2)

• Motivation to get into Design & Architecture
• How Design & Architecture have been altered by technology

View Details

Carl England & Monika England Interview- Industrial Design & Architecture (Part 1 of 2)

• Evolution of technology in Design and Architecture
• Tech tools used in Design & Architecture
• How technology both hindered and helped the design process

View Details

News and Updates:

• NBC will have a GenAI Al Michaels giving personal Olympic updates
• Do not buy an iPhone, iPad or Mac this summer, wait until the fall’s new line up
• If you want Wi-Fi 7, you will need Win11 on your PC
• YouTube has a new way of defeating Ad Blockers

View Details

The Expert Panel:

Don Monistere, CEO & President - General Informatics

Justin Obney, CTO – Paystar

Kenny Nguyen, CEO – ThreeSixtyEight

From a year ago:

• Can we trust these LLM’s?
• What has been the acceptance rate?
• What does the next 1 Year look like?

View Details

The Expert Panel:

Don Monistere, CEO & President - General Informatics

Justin Obney, CTO – Paystar

Alexander Adams Founder/CEO - Vigilus & Griffin Games

Kenny Nguyen, CEO – ThreeSixtyEight

From a year ago:

• What have we learned about Generative AI?
• What is the predominant status of Generative AI?

View Details

The Expert Panel:

Don Monistere, CEO & President - General Informatics

Justin Obney, CTO – Paystar

Alexander Adams Founder/CEO - Vigilus & Griffin Games

Kenny Nguyen, CEO – ThreeSixtyEight

From a year ago:

• What were we right about Generative AI?
• What were we wrong about Generative AI?

View Details

The Question of the Week: When is ChatGPT coming to my iPhone?The Big Stories:

• Apple new AI started in Google datacenter, runs local on your phone or Mac
• Apple’s AI will require the iPhone 15 Pro or later to get all of the features of iOS 18
• An AI candidate is running for Parliament in the UK
• An AI candidate wants to run for Mayor in Cheyenne, Wy- Sec of State says NO!
• Microsoft’s new AI tool VASA-1 can create realistic videos from a still photo

View Details

News and Updates:

• The US Surgeon General urges Congress to put a Warning label on Social Media
• Remote workers caught using “Mouse-Mover” technology get fired
• You can renew your US Passport online, if you are quick enough to log on at 1pm ET
• Microsoft decides against rolling out “Recall” and negative feedback and security risk
• BestBuy and iFixit ending their Samsung repair programs

View Details

The Question of the Week: You mentioned recently that Starlink now has over 6,000 satellites, my question is, “Are they making or losing money”?The Big Stories:

• Apple’s WWDC announces new “Apple Intelligence”, their entry in the AI arena
• Apple Intelligence will be integrated into the iOS, iPadOS and macOS
• Apple’s Siri will get ChatGPT Integration, so will it suck a lot less

View Details

News and Updates:

• The EU has force Microsoft to split Teams from Office
• Microsoft’s Copilot+ will have a feature called “Windows Recall”
• MacBooks and iPads have secret radio that does nothing?
• China is reading cyber attacks aimed at US infrastructure
• Randy Travis has released an AI Generated song and it debuted on Billboard’s Country chart

View Details

The Question of the Week: You Should Restart Your Phone Weekly: Here's WhyThe Big Stories:

• OpenAI begins planning for their “Next Frontier Model”
• OpenAI is restarting their SuperAlignment Team to put in safeguards and better training
• Google’s Gemini Give bizarre search results and scrambles to remove weird answers
• Google confirms leaked documents about their search algorithm are legitimate
• Can you trust AI, especially at work?
• Would you want to talk to an AI of your favorite celebrity or influencer?
• Worldwide adoption rate to Generative AI is very low

View Details

News and Updates:

• Hackers breach Christies’ Auction House, Christies’ ignores ransom demands!
• FTC warns scammers are using more email and less cell phones using big brand names
• How to stop Facebook from sharing all of your personal data
• Windows 10 End Of Life is Oct2025, what are your options
• A man Zooms into his court proceed about a suspending driver’s license, while driving

View Details

The Question of the Week: You guys talk about it, but how big is Google?

The Big Stories:

• Schools ban smartphones, social media usage goes down, things get better
• 43% of schools already have a ban on smartphones, very few actually enforce the ban
• Parents struggle with smartphone ban more than students
• Should smartphones be allowed in the classroom?

View Details

----more----News and Updates:

• TikTok sues U.S. Gov’t to block the sale/ban law
• iPhones are having trouble with Zero-Click Spyware
• A 3rd party iOS App store launches in the EU
• Passkeys go over the 400 Mil users on Google
• Microsoft brings passkey support to Office accounts
• LinkedIn launches games on their platform, now you can brag about goofing off
• Starlink is 60% of all spacecraft in orbit

View Details

The Big Stories:

• Is the Gen AI Hype leveling off?
• Google says Gen AI will not take jobs any time soon
• Gen AI could start replacing call centers in 2025
• Microsoft investing Billions in AI Infrastructure where most call centers are now
• Catholic group created an “AI Priest” bot, who gave strange answers and is no longer a Priest

View Details

News and Updates:

• FCC bringing back Net Neutrality
• TikTok says it will shut down US presence before selling
• ByteDance, TikTok and Douyin and why this is complicated
• NHTSA is investigating Tesla’s Autopilot claims and capabilities, and fatal crashes the cause
• Tesla laying off 14K employees, still more to come

View Details

The Question of the Week: What’s next for Tik-Tok?

The Big Stories:

• Datacenters growth explosive growth in numbers and consumption
• Trends why datacenters are growing
• AI and Cloud Computing are culprit for datacenter power and resources consumption

View Details

News and Updates:

• Space Force to practice “On -Orbit Aggression” exercises in space
• Starlink is forced to crackdown on unauthorized users in Sudan, Zimbabwe, South Africa and more
• NASA looking for better ways to get samples back from Mars rover projects
• NASA needs to create a time standard for the Moon
• Will battery power large home appliances
• Roof top solar panels creating too much power in Southern California

View Details

The Question of the Week: How Much Internet Bandwidth Do I Really Need?

The Big Stories:

• EU law passes first comprehensive laws on AI, including new restrictions on how it can be used
• Congress files a bill forcing AI to reveal copyrighted art
• K. criminalizes the creation of sexually explicit deepfake images and videos against women
• Netflix may have used AI Generated images of a real person in a true crime documentary

View Details

News and Updates:

• YouTube is the #1 source for music and video entertainment and education
• YouTube is still cracking down on Ad-Blockers, despite Ad-blockers being available in Chrome Store
• New patch removes “Blue Screen of Death” problem for upgrading to Win11
• Russian security breach into Microsoft still causing problems throughout the US Government
• Disney shows off their new HoloTile
• Humane AP Pin is horrible, way too expensive, way under performing

View Details

The Question of the Week: How do I talk about Cyber Security to my elderly parents?

• How Older Adults Can Improve Their Personal Cyber Security And Avoid Scams

The Big Stories:

• Taco Bell & Pizza Hut launching AI App to help run the restaurants
• The truth about AI Drive Thru’s- Its humans in the Philippines
• AI Voice Recognition is still a problem for drive thru’s

View Details

News and Updates:

• Tesla tries to involve Apple in Autopilot crash lawsuit, finally settles
• AI Engineers are getting paid Big Dollar$$
• After ending the Apple Car, could there be an Apple Home Robot?
• AT&T admits leak of 73 million customer’s data after Class-Action lawsuit filled
• The most common damage to smartphones
• Apple has added the iPhone 6 Plus and the iPad 5th Gen

View Details

The Question of the Week: Can you recommend a good back solution for my PC?

The Big Stories:* ChatGPT flooded with celebrity impersonators and given bad info through their ChatGPT Store * AI is changing the threat of cybersecurity * Will Generative AI replace me and/or take my job? * Will Generative AI replace Hollywood and/start creating block buster movies and TV shows?

View Details

News and Updates:

• Gmail turn 20 on 1Apr2024 and changed Google
• Google Podcast Apps is ended, moving everything to YouTube
• FCC says Broadband minimum is now 100Mbps down and 20Mbps up
• Facebook is bringing back the Poke, but should they?
• Amazon ends “Just Walk Out” at Amazon Fresh Stores
• U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, CISA, gets hacked by China
• NYC created a chatbot to give answers about NYC laws and gets them wrong!

View Details

The Question of the Week: What’s going on with Google Search?The Big Stories:* Passes a law restrict Social Media from kids under 14 * How Big is TikTok by the numbers * TikTok’s US Investors * Who actually owns TikTok

View Details

News and Updates:

• Apple sued by US for being a Monopoly
• Apple sued via Class-Action over AirTag safety
• Starlink testing Cellular connections
• GM stops sharing driver behavior data
• Uber Eats paying out because of Facial Recognition failure
• LinkedIn will start including games on the platform

View Details

The Interview: Ibrahim (Abe) Baggili Ph.D., discusses his research on:* VR Deception * Forensic analysis of the Roomba * Using the Progressive App to detect hit & run

View Details

News and Updates:

• The Royal Photo scandal and the ethical dilemma of manipulating photos
• Microsoft still working through the Russian Cyber Breach
• Is your car collecting data and selling your info to insurance companies?
• The NY Times is cracking down on illegal clones of Wordle
• Roku is bricking TVs until “Dispute Resolution Terms” is accepted

View Details

The Question of the Week: You’ve talked about Windows 12, what is the update?The Big Stories:* EV’s emit more pollution that gas cars * Chinese cars are security threat and have little to no safety * Apple ends it’s Autonomous car project * Apple fined $2Bil in EU of Music Streaming apps * Apple faces Class Action Suit over iCloud restrictions * iOS 17.4 Released with lots of upgrades and patches

View Details

News and Updates:

• Starling getting better, faster, more reliable, new pricing plans
• HughesNet satellite Internet hemorrhaging customers
• Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellite Internet trying to get off the ground
• Apple Ring-Oura Ring- Samsung Ring wearables instead of watches that do less?
• Max will join other streaming platforms to begin cracking down on password sharing

View Details

The Question of the Week:  What happened to AT&T Last Week?Interview: We discuss cyber security with Laura Rodrigues from Cynomi

View Details

News and Updates:

• SCOTUS hears Texas & Florida laws about Social Media, very skeptically
• Husband eavesdrops on acquisitions manager wife, makes $1 Million, gets caught
• Vending machine on a college campus was discovered using facial recognition
• Air Canada’s chatbot gave incorrect info, the airline must now honor refund
• Spacecraft lands on the moon, then falls on its side

View Details

The Question of the Week: I get this message: "The app you're trying to install isn't a Microsoft-verified app. Get verified apps from Store" How can I get around this and install an app I want?

The Big Stories:* OpenAI teases Sora, the generative AI that creates videos from text * A deep dive into Videos created from generative AI

View Details

News and Updates:

• Starlink will deorbit 100 satellites
• Astronomers will complain to the UN about too many satellites
• NASA will be doing a 1 Year Mars Simulation
• Lockbit Cybercriminals stopped from spreading more malware
• Carmakers dealing with U.N. Cyber Rules
• Hertz to sell 20K EV’s, including discounting Tesla’s
• US allowing automakers more time to move to creating EV’s
• People prefer Hybrids over full EV’s
• Demand on the Electric Grid will double because of datacenters and AI in the next 3 years

View Details

The Question of the Week: How does “Tap to Pay” for my credit card and/or smart phone work?

The Big Stories:

• ESPN, Fox Sports and Warner Bros. look to start a new sports streaming platform
• Microsoft Copilot and Google Gemini are rolling out everywhere
• OpenAI CEO wants to recreate chip manufacturing for AI, needs $7 Billion

View Details

News and Updates:

• This is Tech Gumbo’s #300 Radio Show
• Samsung maybe developing a trifold phone
• Microsoft wants Xbox Game Pass available on PS5 and Switch
• Americans lost $10 Billion to scams in 2023 according to the FTC
• Apple dramatically increased is research mileage for the Autonomous Vehicles
• Google Maps is getting a Generative AI upgrade

View Details

The Big Stories:* The Apple Macintosh computer turned 40 * Multiple reviews of the Apple Vision Pro, the good and bad * Dumb ways people are using Vision Pro

View Details

News and Updates:

• Facebook is 20, we discuss some of the changes along the way
• Universal Music Group pulls all of its music from TikTok, including Taylor Swift
• YouTube is still the biggest, TikTok and Threads are growing Twitter is imploding
• Threads wants Fediverse (FEDerated unIVERSE) for other platforms
• Google and Yahoo are cracking down on SPAM
• 3 million smart toothbrushes cause a Direct Denial of Service

View Details

The Big Stories:* The EU refuses to allow Amazon to purchase iRobot, the makers of Roomba * Generation Z has a poor cyber security problem * Gen Z also falls for more cyber scams than their grandparents * TikTok gives a Wink-And-A-Nod to protecting US user data

View Details

News and Updates:

• NASA’s Mars helicopter has flown its last mission after 72 flights
• The same Russian hacker that tried to get into Microsoft, try to get into HPE
• Toyota says Hydrogen-Powered Cars are the future, not EV’s
• Apple’s Vision Pro and the data collected are still up for grabs
• YouTube and Netflix will not build apps for the Vision Pro, for now

View Details

The Big Stories:* Apple’s iOS 17.3 launches with security features, including Stolen Device Protection * NY Times authors sue Open AI because ChatGPT can go around a pay wall * Formula E Team creates a female an AI chatbot and then retracts the creepy bot * Police use DNA to reconstruct suspects facial ID and then deploys facial recognition

View Details

News and Updates:

• Microsoft by Russians, but stopped it before it became bad
• Microsoft overtook Apple to become the most valuable company on Earth
• Cable companies think you are incapable of deleting you account on a website
• Google Podcast migrating to YouTube Music

View Details

The Question of the Week: What is Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)?

The Big Stories:* YouTube’s assault on Adblockers continues with a “Slow Down” if you have an ad blocker * Google is getting rid of everyone else’s cookies, but keep their own * Google Play Store found guilty of being a monopoly * Google Play will allow more Gaming Apps, including apps from Google

View Details

News and Updates:

• Starlink dishes now available at Costco
• Starlink is reducing latency to below 20 milliseconds
• Wi-Fi 7 received certification from the Wi-Fi Alliance
• The very pricy Apple Vision Pro
• @SECGov hacked possibly to inflate the price of Bitcoin

View Details

The Question of the Week: Are there any good anti-spyware / anti-malware for iPhone 13?

The Big Stories:* Google creates a Robot Constitution for AI LLM’s * AI & Doctors in the era of Self Diagnosis * GM Dealer uses chat bot, bot tries to sell Tahoe for $1 * Then Chatbot went off script with a few political opinions

View Details

News and Updates:

• 10 Tech Tip to start the New Year
• GM cancelling Android Auto & CarPlay for “Safety Concerns”
• Tesla lowers estimation on range of several EV’s per charge
• X, formerly known as Twitter, valuation is down 72% in 14 months

View Details

I am joined by 3 Cyber & AI experts, Don Monistere, Alexander Adams & Justin Obney, We do a deep dive into the Large Language Models, and discuss what the models are doing and how best to use them. (Part 3 of 3)

View Details

I am joined by 3 Cyber & AI experts, Don Monistere, Alexander Adams & Justin Obney, We do a deep dive into the Large Language Models, and discuss what they expect over the next year. (Part 2 of 3)

View Details

I am joined by 3 Cyber & AI experts, Don Monistere, Alexander Adams & Justin Obney, We do a deep dive into the Large Language Models, and what discuss we have learned over the past 6 months. (Part 1 of 3)

View Details

The Question of the Week- What is COBOL?

The Big AI Story:* ChatGPT turns 1, 5 things have we learned in the first year

View Details

News and Updates:

• TikTok Ban in Montana blocked by Federal Court
• UK considering facial scans to view online porn
• Cyberattack cripples Kansas courts for lawyers to fax documents
• Ransomware group turns victim into the SEC because they did not disclose the network breach
• Streaming platforms are considering bundles libraries potentially lowering monthly cost
• Hacker group “Gay Furry Cats” breach nuke lab, demand research on creating “catgirls”

View Details

The Question of the Week- Can you summarize what happened at OpenAI?

OpenAI’s Board fired CEO Sam Altman, then Unfired him, Board ResignsThe Big AI Stories:* AI can diagnose Autism with 98.5% accuracy * Sports Illustrated using Fake AI Writers for published articles * The Pentagon is looking into letting AI weapons autonomously kill humans

View Details

News and Updates:

• New feature in iOS 17, NameDrop, is safe, despite fearmongering
• Protecting your deliveries from Porch Pirates
• Google deactivating dormant account
• Digital car keys maybe here a reality in not too distant future

View Details

The Big Stories:* Google ask the EU force Apple to make iMessage work on all platforms, not just the iPhone * The CFPB wants regulate Apple and Google like banks because of $$ transactions * Car makers disables features to cars to protect data created by cars, users not happy * Cars retain the data the transmits through the infotainment system, long term risk

View Details

News and Updates:

• The NSA releases Top 10 dumbest Cybersecurity mistakes
• NY State Dept of Financial Services Cyber Rules are better than National Cyber Policies
• Robocalls keep happening, especially in Baton Rouge
• Tesla will not allow the resale of a Cybertruck for 1 full year
• More people are buying Hybrids than EV’s
• NASA communicates with Voyager 2 which is over 12 Billion miles away from Earth

View Details

The Question of the Week: Do I really need to update my phone & computer?The Big Stories:* Deepfake videos are mostly porn * High school boys create generate deepfake nude pictures of female classmates * The Speaker of the House uses Monitoring software on PC’s and phones raising security concerns * A study found AI Generated images are very stereotypical and disturbing clichés

View Details

News and Updates:

• YouTube’s ad blocking crackdown is aggravating people worldwide
• US v. Google antitrust suit exposes the most profitable search
• Are college students backing away from dating apps?
• HackeOne has paid out over $300 Million to white hat hackers, and that is a good thing
• The SEC sues SolarWinds over the 2020 Russian hack because of negligence
• Disney is taking full control of Hulu

View Details

The Big Stories:* What is Quishing?- QR Code Phishing * Google CEO testifies in the antitrust case, says dominance is a good thing * Amazon used a secret algorithm called “Project Nessie” to raise everyone’s prices * Automakers and suppliers disagree your over car’s data in the EU

View Details

The Start Of Season 10!

News and Updates:

• President Biden issues Executive Order for safeguards on A.I.
• iOS 17.1 is and time to upgrade
• Twitter-X has 10 times more disinformation than all other social media
• NPR left Twitter 6 months ago, does not miss it
• Sprots Media & Fans still using X
• Online piracy is rising along with streaming rates

View Details

The Big Stories:* SEC Chair says AI will cause a crash Within the next 10 years * DC Commissioner say US-China conflict will cause supply chain issues for Tech Companies * Celebrities denounce appearing in deepfake ads * Amazon is littered with fake reviews and trying to fight back * Utah sues TikTok over children’s Mental Health concerns * X (Twitter) will charge $1 for new users in the South Pacific, as a test

View Details

News and Updates:

• Walmart employees report customers are hostile because of AI “eye in the sky”
• Microsoft completes the purchase of Activision, what’s next?
• 14% of Netflix still shares passwords
• Netflix emboldened to raise subscription rates
• YouTube shuts down ad blockers, users angry
• BestBuy ends DVD & Blu-Ray says in Q1 of 2024
• iPhone 15 users are getting screen “burn in” images on the OLED

View Details

The Big Stories:Microsoft:

• Intel suggest Win 12 rollout in 2024
• Win 12 may come with subscription model or free with ads
• Backtracks on change of data storage in OneDrive
• Warns admins of new Google anti-Spam rules
• Ends free upgrade from Win 7 to Win 10, officially
• Win 11 rolls out updates like Windows Copilot, Passkey Support, OCR in Snipping Tool among others
• Windows Copilot vs. Microsoft 365 Copilot

View Details

News and Updates:

• Kroger plans to use AI to reduce Shrinkage
• Uber is starting a Package Return Service
• A Vermont Utility will give out batteries to reduce outages and transmission lines
• LSU College of Humanities & Social Sciences will introduce AI into the classroom in Spring 2024

View Details

Deepfake Cheer mom is innocent, creates the “liar’s dividend” in court

The Big Stories:US v. Google Antitrust- Get your popcorn & a drink for the show

First witness, Microsoft CEO, says:

• Google dominance is a nightmare
• Search is the largest software category, bigger than Windows & Office
• Google alters your search request to fit their advertisers

View Details

News and Updates:

• Facebook releases very disappointing Ray-Ban w/ bad speaker and poor camera
• Meta floats the idea of approx. $20/month for FB & IG in the EU
• Apple to release a fix to overheating iPhone 15
• Sale of smartphones down by over 20%
• Chine Gov’t hacks into Cisco Router Firmware
• FCC issues first ever fine for space debris to Disch Network

View Details

The Big Stories:* Amazon Buys into Anthropic * ChatGPT Has Spoken Conversations * Deepfakes Breach Into A Corporate Security * Google Will Require Disclosure of AI

View Details

News and Updates:

• iPhone 15 is Overheating
• NYPD has a 400 Lb. robot in a subway station
• Most people do nothing when their data has been breached
• A really important tech company you’ve never heard of
• Nvidia chips rule AI & video gaming
• Spotify is using AI to translate podcast into different languages

View Details

The Question of the Week- Last week you talked about the iPhone 15, this week they released iOS 17, should I do the upgrade?The Big Stories:* MGM Casino & Hotel hack * Microsoft tried to buy Nintendo

View Details

News and Updates:

• Google back tracks and extends the useful life of Chromebooks
• Apple to release software update to excess radiation on iPhone 12 in France
• SpaceX will start put a film on satellites to stop reflecting the sun and disrupting astronomy
• SpaceX is growing, but not meeting their lofty goals
• Home security cameras allow people see other people’s cameras
• Reauthorizing Section 702 of FISA

View Details

The Question of the Week- With the advancements of ChatGPT & AI, should I be worried about my job?The Big Stories:* Big Tech leaders meet with Senators in Closed Door Session to discuss AI & LLM’s

View Details

News and Updates:
iPhone:

• France says iPhone 12 radiation levels are too high
• Banned in China for governmental use
• No Click Zero Days Exploit- Updates to 16.6.1
• The new 1Phone 15 Released with surprises
• Buying a new iPhone

View Details

The Question of the Week- Is IBM’s Watson an LLM?The Big Stories:* LLM’s have biases based upon the data they learn from * Generative AI is helping Hackers too * ChatGPT inside of Bing is not making a dent in the Google search domination * AI written sports stories gone bad

View Details

News and Updates:

• US Justice Dept is suing Google for being monopoly in the search engine field
• Judge ruled against Texas over Age-Verification Law
• Facebook & Instagram consider a pay option to get around EU laws
• Modern cars fail at data privacy

View Details

The Question of the Week-  I was bought a Chrome Book during the Pandemic, it is going end of life, now what?The Big Stories:* ChatGPT’s accuracy is “drifting” * Students are using LLM’s and getting turned in for plagiarism

View Details

News & Updates:

• Majority of viewers in the US use subtitles while watch shows
• More people are streaming than linear TV for the 1st time
• Google Maps upgrades for Android Auto for EV’s
• An EV road trip that was not planned well
• Tesla has a data breach from rogue employees
• Autonomous vehicles have trouble seeing kids and dark skin pedestrians
• Apple now supports Right-To-Repair, sort of

View Details

US Rep Garret Graves discusses antiquated laws still being used towards technology

View Details

Guest Host Don Monistere - AI & Large Language Models w/ Guest Justin Obney, Kenny Nguyen & Alexander Adams

• A deep dive discussion into AI & LLM’s like ChatGPT:
• How they are impacting your life
• Why we should be using these new tools
• Why we should be teaching these tools in schools
• The ethics of using AI & LLM’s
• The need for guardrails on AI & LLM’s

View Details

LSU is becoming the leader in Cyber Security

Our guest this week: Greg Trahan, Director of Economic Development LSU

• LSU working with US Secret Service on:
• Cyber Security research & training
• Encouraging athletes to become Secret Service Agents
• Working to defend Ports from Cyber attacks
• Training students to become cyber security experts

View Details

Keith Comeaux, Catholic High & LSU Grad and Deputy Chief Engineer, Mars 2020 Mission at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Keith Comeaux  from Nasa’s JPL talks about growing up in Baton Rouge, going to LSU & Stanford and then getting to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to be the Deputy Chief Engineer in charge of the last 2 Mars Rovers! He talks about what you need to do if you are a student and want to work for NASA, and about the Mars Helicopter on Perseverance!  

View Details

How LSU is winning the Content Arms Race

Guest Cody Worsham, Chief Brand Officer of LSU Athletics talks about:

• How was the LSU Athletics Social Media team created?
• For those interested in content creation, what can they do to get started?
• How does LSU Athletics Social Media team make decisions?
• What is the LSU Athletics Social Media team’s role in supporting N.I.L.?
• LSU Gold for those who want deeper engagement

View Details

The Question of the Week-   I heard there is a new iPhone coming out, should I upgrade? The Big Stories: * Black Hat 2023 * Good Guys, researchers and enthusiast collaborating for the good of the Cyber community * FBI, CIA, NSA & DHS are there to recruit * Hacking into a Tesla * Las Vegas turned off the Globe during the conference to remove the target * Call for Transparency * NSA Dir. Gets heckled

View Details

News & Updates:

• Whitehouse pushing for cybersecurity labels to protect IoT devices
• Sen. Wants to investigate Microsoft for involvement in SolarWinds hack in 2020
• FEC wants to prevent AI in political ads before 2024 elections
• Calif green lighted more Autonomous vehicles across the state, especially in SanFran
• Streamflation
• Disney announces password sharing crackdown likely in 2025

View Details

The Question of the Week-   I heard something called LK-99 in the news, what is it and why should I care?

• What is a superconductor
• Is this one real

The Big Stories: * Critcal Infrastructure companies warned of imminent cyberattacks * SEC changes report rules for public companies with cyber incidents * Huge upswing in cyber malware and how it impacts your business

View Details

News & Updates:

• Intel releases patches for billions of processors
• Microsoft cancels Win11 support for Xeon E processors
• Google releasing weekly security patches for Chrome
• Chrome ads 2FA for Password Manager
• NYC couple arrested after stealing $4.5B of crypto
• Robocallers fined $300M for doing 5 billion robocalls
• Nasa’s Ingenuity completes 54th flight on Mars, after dangerous 53rd

View Details

The Question of the Week-   Are Hyundais really being stolen via the USB? * “Kia Challenge”, a Tik-Tok 2022 viral challenge video

The Big Stories: * CFO’s pushing to use AI in the accounting & finance departments * Intel to create a processor specifically for AI * WormGPT- What bad AI looks like * Google’s Bard faces class action lawsuit * ChatGPT investigated by the FTC

View Details

News & Updates:

• China proposes online limit for kids
• Tik-Tok ban in Texas challenged in court
• Meta, Microsoft & Amazon to build map app to compete w/ Google Maps
• Cellphone user data used for city planning
• NASA to launch a streaming service called NASA+
• La. OMV sends notice of breach and how t protect yourself

View Details

The Question of the Week-  Does it still take forever to buy a PC? Or have supplies caught back up? The Big Stories: * Price of Solar Panels failing * Batteries to Charge your home * 50% of US Ready Hybrid or EV’s * Supercharging Stations open to more Makes & Models * Tesla exaggerated range of EV’s by 25% or more

View Details

News & Updates:

Twitter &/or X

• Sharing Ad Revenue
• Still Bleeding Cash
• Cutting Ad Prices
• Musk wants to build an “Everything App”
• Super App will not be Easy

View Details

A deep dive discussion into AI & LLM’s like ChatGPT:

• How they are impacting your life
• Why we should be using these new tools
• Why we should be teaching these tools in schools
• The ethics of using AI & LLM’s
• The need for guardrails on AI & LLM’s

View Details

A deep dive discussion into AI & LLM’s like ChatGPT:

• The increased needs for cyber security with AI & LLM’s
• Why we should be using these new tools
• Alondra, the show producer, uses ChatGPT live for the 1st ever
• The need for guardrails on AI & LLM’s

View Details

A deep dive discussion into AI & LLM’s like ChatGPT:

• How they are changing our culture
• How they are changing the way we work
• Why we should be using these new tools now

View Details

The Question of the Week- Why is it so hard to cancel accounts/subscriptions? The Big Stories: * Twitter traffic is off 11%, Threads has over 100 Million sign ups * Threads is just OK * Threads is looking to make improvements * Comparing Twitter and Threads * Will Threads actually last? * Advertisers are leaving Twitter and looking at Threads

View Details

News & Updates:

• US & EU agree on transferring data between the continents
• Judge rules Microsoft can purchase Activision/Blizzard
• Lead in very old cables leaking into a South Louisiana bayou
• Meta trying to sell Quest VR in China, getting a cold shoulder

View Details

*Apologies in advance, we had mic problems and didn’t find out until after the recording

The Question of the Week-

Should I be worried when my iPhone gets really hot? The Big Stories: * Zuckvmusk.com online video game * Twitter’s new CEO has Non-Compete * Twitter limits number of post users can read * Twitter changes TweetDeck to paying customers only * Meta launches Threads, potential Twitter killer

View Details

*Apologies in advance, we had mic problems and didn’t find out until after the recording

News & Updates:

• John B. Goodenough, the inventor of Lithium-Ion batteries dies
• YouTube test eliminating ad-blockers
• Wagner Group shuts down the Russian version of their Military Satellite Internet
• Intel to rename i3, i5, i7 Chips
• Apple scales back number of Vision Pro headsets dramatically

View Details

The Question of the Week-

Did Elon Musk’s mother actually stop the fight between Musk & Zuckerberg?

The Big Stories: * TikTok admits that some user data is Stored in China, after telling Congress it was not * TikTok Creators Sue Montana over Ban, TikTok funding the effort * Louisiana & other states banning TikTok on state owned devices, “Will it make a difference”?

View Details

News & Updates:

• Transmitting Space-Based Solar Power to Earth
• EV Problem- Wearing Out Tires 30% Faster
• Microsoft Tells FTC, “We’ve Lost The Console Wars” So Let Us Buy Activision/Blizzard
• US House & Senate File Legislation To Address AI
• Baseball Scouts Are Using AI to Analyze Prospects
• Once Again, AI Based Facial Recognition  Is Banned From Merchants Trying To Prevent Shoplifting

View Details

The Question of the Week- I’d like to hear more about this massive hack that I keep hearing about at the DMV, and what should I do?

The Big Stories: Artificial Intelligence in health care, and what happens when AI overrules a nurse!

View Details

News & Updates:

• Meta set to release a Threads to compete directly with Twitter
• The IRS is launching an online form for tax filing
• Gannett/US Today is suing Google claiming it is a Monopoly
• Reddit Protesters angry with CEO’s decisions

View Details

The Question of the Week:

With summer coming, I’m worried about my kids spending too much time on the phones & computers, is there anything I can do? And: 6 Tech Myths that still persist

View Details

News & Updates:

• Instagram to release a competitor to Twitter this summer
• Apple blocks employees from using ChatGPT internally, but launches ChatGPT App for iPhone
• CISO’s suffer burnout from high pressure responsibilities
• SCOTUS says social media not responsible for terrorist, avoid Section 230
• ESPN to bypass cable and create to Streaming platform
• Netflix reveals cost of sharing passwords & people are choosing ads

View Details

The Big Stories:* ChatGPT’s CEO tells Congress Safety Standards for AI are needed * Microsoft’s A.I. show signs of Reasoning * Are couples using ChatGPT to create their Wedding Vows? * Google upgrading it’s LLM and in conjunction with G-Suite * China’s LLM flopped for several amazing reasons

View Details

News & Updates:

• AM Radios no longer included in EV’s
• YouTube’s NFL Sunday ticket will have lots of changes
• A YouTuber crashed his plane as a stunt, now faces jail
• Facebook violated children’s privacy according to the FTC
• Apple releasing a $3,000 VR Headset

View Details

The Question of the Week: I heard that 7-people can turn off the worlds internet. Is that true? If so, how is that possible?

• The Truth About the People with the Keys to the Internet

And

Twitter:

• Changes in the 7 months of Elon Musk
• Employee count went 7500 to less than 1500
• Blue Check Mark Shaming
• Back tracking on charging to use Twitter as alert system
• NPR, PBS, and multiple new organizations leave Twitter
• 10,000 Character Tweets
• Jack Dorsey chimes in

View Details

News & Updates:

• Starlink cancels Data Caps
• SpaceX now over 4,000 Satellites
• Wendy’s will try a Chatbot for the Drive-Through
• 5 Ways to detect if text was written by a Bot vs. a Human
• Google says Passkeys are faster and more efficient than passwords
• Tesla employees were sharing videos from Tesla car cameras

View Details

Our guest this week:
Greg Trahan, Director of Economic Development LSU

• LSU working with US Secret Service on:
• Cyber Security research & training
• Encouraging athletes to become Secret Service Agents
• Working to defend Ports from Cyber attacks
• Training students to become cyber security experts

View Details

News & Updates:

• Patient suing hospital to pay ransomware, drops the lawsuit
• Microsoft announced the End of Life Date for Windows 10
• More rumors about Windows 12 surface
• Google dropping passwords for Passkeys
• China building plans to attack satellites
• US Gov’t getting ready for 6G Cellular

View Details

The Question of the Week- Is Cybersecurity a Myth?&Does my business really need a vCISO?Don Monistere is our guest discussing his recent blog posts.

View Details

This is the 250th Tech Gumbo Show!

News & Updates:

• Netflix Password sharing crackdown not going well
• Netflix to stop shipping DVD’s! Who knew they were still doing that?
• Facebook settlement giving away $725M, Don’t get excited
• Ga. National Guard using social media to recruit high school students
• Dutch police warn hackers to stop, because they are not as anonymous as they think
• Patient sues a hospital to pay ransom, so the naked photos of her would be removed from the Internet

View Details

The Question of the Week- How much should I pay for Internet access?The Big Stories:* Meta not moderating content in the Metaverse * Disney & Microsoft close their Meh-taverse * Epic Games  & Apple give Metaverse a try * Researcher leaves Google because Bard is learning from ChatGPT- Google Denies

View Details

News & Updates:

• FBI warns travelers not to use public charging ports in airports
• FBI brought down Dark Web’s Genesis Market, an infamous hackers website
• Garage door company shuts down their Internet portal to your door
• Israeli firm hacks into iPhone to target specific  high profile people
• Microsoft release urgent & critical patch updates
• TikTok fines for children under 13 on their platform

View Details

The Question of the Week- Is Amazon changing their return policy?

The Big Stories:* Who is profiting from AI? * Microsoft & ChatGPT will help fight Cybersecurity * Italy to block ChatGPT of GDPR concerns * Clearview AI screapped 30 Billion images from Facebook for the police

View Details

News & Updates:

• 1st Cell Phone Call happened 50 Years Ago Involved Trash Talking
• Dumb/Minimal Phones Sales are way up, especially with Gen Z
• Microsoft will double the speed and freshen the look of Teams
• Browser extensions allow for Gmail hacking
• Ford making moves towards Self Driving vehicles
• Electric Vehicles pose Cyber Security Threats

View Details

The Question of the Week-  How do I unsubscribe from Junk Mail?

The Big Stories:* Amazon Sidewalk, Why and how you should opt out! * US Gov’t talks about TikTok Ban, but uses TikTok * What would a TikTok ban look like? * US Fed Reserve hit with a Zoom-Porn Bombing

View Details

News & Updates:

• 31Mar was World Backup Day
• Gordon Moore, Co-Founder of Intel and creator of Moore’s Law died
• Space X
  • Smaller Dish available
  • Testing inflight Wi-Fi
  • 100% Availability on US West Coast
  • Created “Global Roaming”
  • Gets a Satellite based Competitor
• Tesla gets BREACHED BY A “White Hat”

View Details

The Big Story:* AI, Chat GPT & Bard * Bill Gates chimes in * Microsoft adds ChatGPT to Office Suite * ChatGPT lied to a human * Companies banning ChatGPT * Microsoft CoPilot * Google’s Bard is Boring

View Details

News & Updates:

• Google Glass gets scraped again
• Apple USB-C on iPhone 15 and Apple only cables
• iPhone charging feature is a wasted effort
• FTC warns AI voice-cloning scams
• Spyware on smartphones

View Details

The Question of the Week- 
How worried should I be about my “personal/“home life” data/pictures/internet searches when I enroll in my employer’s “Bring Your Own Device” mobile phone policy?

The Big Stories:* Biden Administration National Cyber Strategy * National Cyber Security Across Multiple Agencies * Big Tech Must Be Secure * SEC Proposes new Cyber Rules * LastPass Employee Did Not Update PC & Lead to Massive Hack

View Details

News & Updates:

• US Threatens to Ban TikTok if Chinese Gov’t Does not Divest
• Surgeon Gen, says min 13 Years Old not enough for Social Media
• A Single Software Engineer Brought Twitter Down
• Wi-Fi 7 Explained

View Details

The Question of the Week-  Can you please speak to your thoughts on making non-compete clauses illegal in the work place?The Big Stories:* 30% still Work From Home * VW would not help w/ stolen car and abducted child * Ford could repossess or remove functionality * Signal will not weaken security in UK * Aussie Gov’t rips out 900 Chinese security cameras

View Details

News & Updates:

• iPhone Feature helps steal your Digital Life
• phones stolen at Mardi Gras
• Microsoft Defender helps stop cyberattacks
• Insurers say Cyberattack we Warlike
• Malware in Pirated Torrents
• Malware shows passwords saved in browsers

View Details

The Question of the Week-  I’ve heard you talk about EV’s, my question is, “Is it really worth it to get an EV”?The Big Stories:* EV or HEV or PHEV * EV Tax Credits * Cheaper Batteries for EV’s, but not cold weather * Pros & Cons of E-Bikes

View Details

News & Updates:

• SCOTUS hears 2 cases that could radically change the Internet
• AI & Deepfakes are weakening MFA/2FA
• Reporter “Broke” into his account using Voice AI
• Twitter Limits 2FA to paying Blue Members
• Using MFA on Twitter for Free
• Facebook & IG Now Charge for Blue Badge

View Details

The Question of the Week-  What’s up with Twitter?The Big Stories:Titter:

• Twitter Blue can do 4000 Characters
• Elon Musk Promotes His Tweets Above Everything!
• Twitter Engineer Fired for Telling Musk the Truth

ChatGPT/Bing:

• Microsoft Releases AI-Powered Bing
• BingChat Argues with a User
• BingChat is Temperamental
• BingChat understands complex emotional question
• Early Stages of Hype Cycle
• 91% Concerned AI will do more harm than good

View Details

News & Updates:

• Windows Tiny11 Runs on 2GB RAM
• Apple Releases Emergency Security Update for iOS and MacOS
• US Justice Probes Apple over Antitrust
• Big Tech 5 Subpoenaed to US House of Reps
• Netflix Continues its Rollout of Password Sharing Crackdown

View Details

News & Updates:

• 4chan members make deepfakes of celebritys using AI
• ChatGPT soars past 100 million users in 2 months
• Google reveals Bard to compete with Microsoft & ChatGPT
• At live presentation, Bard makes error
• Error cost Alphabet $100 Billion in valuation
• Microsoft launches Bing with ChatGPT
• Quora launches a competitor ChatBot

View Details

The Question of the Week-  Is there an easy way to support my Mom’s computer remotely?The Big Story:Data Breaches* What do thieves actually want * What to do if your data is stolen * How to protect yourself * Passwords &/or Passphrases, make them long and strong * SEC Creating Financial Rules for Cyber

View Details

The Question of the Week-  Why are big tech companies laying so many employees?The Big Story:* TikTok banned from college Wi-Fi networks * US State want more evidence why they should ban TikTok * TikTok is Bad, but Google Facebook, Twitter, Amazon are Good?

View Details

News & Updates:

• Scientists use lasers to redirect lightning
• The FAA explained the Major Outage
• A hacker stole the Source Code to League of Legends
• Mercedes says new cars will be Level 3 Autonomous
• Apple iOS 16.3 has new security
• Samsung has a phone w/ 200 Megapixels
• Despite all, Smartphone sales were down for 2022

View Details

The Question of the Week- Can my employer really track everything I’m doing on my work computer?* What data does productivity trackers record? * What are Productivity Killers? * Pros & Cons of Productivity Tracking/Monitoring * Employee ordered to repay employer after productivity tracked

View Details

News & Updates:

• Global & US EV Sales reach Milestone
• EV/Autonomous Cars & Climate Change
• Wyoming Legislators wants to ban EV Sales
• Tesla video promoting self-driving was faked

View Details

The Question of the Week-  What is going on with the Louisiana “Porn Law”?News & Updates:

• La. Porn Law requires ID Proof
• FBI report Sextortion Cases
• Robot Lawyer Powered by AI
• Microsoft hints at Win12
• iPhone 14 Crash Detection hits the slopes

View Details

News & Updates:

• Microsoft buys 49% of OpenAI, creators of ChatGPT
• Mircosoft will bring ChatGPT to Bing & Office
• Is ChatGPT a cybersecurity threat?
• ChatGPT- Pro
• Microsoft can clone your voice in seconds

View Details

LastPass Hacked, Password Managers, Cyber Security in Space

The Question of the Week- You guys have been saying Password Managers are a good thing, but Last Pass got hacked, do you still think it is a good thing?The Big Story:

Password Managers & Cyber Security in Space

View Details

Facial Recognition AI Going Too Far, ChatGPT AI update

News & Updates:

• Facial Recognition lead to false arrest
• Facial Recognition gets mom escorted out of Radio City Music Hall
• Microsoft Experiments with using ChatGPT to better Bing
• A Princeton student builds an app to detect ChatGBT

View Details

The Question of the Week- What is ChatGPT and why should I care?ChatGPT: What You Need to Know About OpenAI's Powerful, Potentially Very Problematic ChatbotThe Big Story:

• Sports Wagering Online
• Explosive Growth
• Tapping into College Brands
• The popularity and unmet promises
• What Kansas went thru and is not getting
• Sports gaming included in Entertainment Shows
• The most popular Apps

View Details

News & Updates:

• FCC pulls the plug on telecom company allowing Robocalls
• Most Apps for kids track and sell their data to Google
• Lawmakers try to ban TikTok
• And what if they were Successful?
• States taking aim at TikTok as well
• FTC Sues to Stop Microsoft Acquisition of Activision/Blizzard

View Details

News & Updates:

• San Francisco changing their stance on killer robots
• NASA’s Ingenuity does its 35th Flight
• Starlink partnering with Defense Department
• Starlink Delaying Data Caps
• European Union will demand Social Media get Explicit Consent on ads
• TSA Expanding Facial Recognition nationwide

View Details

Guest LSU Cybersecurity Professor Abe Baggili Explains:

• What is the Metaverse and it is not what you think
• Metaverse is just another portal
• Research into the very poor security in the Metaverse

View Details

The Question of the Week- Everyone else is talking about Twitter, why aren't you?

Twitter Update & Deep Dive

• Advertisers leaving
• Analytics & Audience Insight staff decimated
• Musk vs. Apple
• Former Twitter Employees getting new jobs

View Details

News & Updates:

• Amazon thought Alexa would be move that a clock radio
• SanFran police can deploy a robot that can kill
• TaxAct, TaxSlayer and H&R Block selling your sensitive data to Facebook
• TikTok Still share more of your personal data
• Meta employees fired for allowing accounts to be hacked

View Details

News & Updates:

• FTX Billion$$ Missing
• Binance not looking healthy
• 40 States sue Google & Win
• Apple to use US made chips in 2024
• Taylor Swift tour tickets and Ticketmaster troubles
• Amazon to offer Streaming music with Prime

View Details

Guest Cody Worsham, Chief Brand Officer of LSU Athletics talks about:

• How was the LSU Athletics Social Media team created?
• For those interested in content creation, what can they do to get started?
• How does LSU Athletics Social Media team make decisions?
• What is the LSU Athletics Social Media team’s role in supporting N.I.L.?
• LSU Gold for those who want deeper engagement

View Details

The Question of the Week- At what age should I give my child his 1st smart phone?

The Big Story- Crypto Currency Crash

Also:

• Binance cancels FTX buyout
• FTX Questionable dealings
• SEC & DOJ investigating FTX
• Tom Brady lost big with FTX
• Millennials avoiding crypto currency

View Details

News & Updates:

• Chrome (browsers in general) has extension issues
• Microsoft:
• Loses $200 for every Xbox sold
• Will continue to support Call of Duty on Playstation
• Activision purchase triggers investigations
• Try out Ads on Win11

• Struggles with Metaverse

• Meta lays of 11,000 employees

View Details

News & Updates:

• Starlink for RV
• Starlink for Private Jets
• Starlink may impose Data Caps
• ’s Digital Drivers License
• Truth Social Growing, but in Trouble
• Facebook losing 75% of its value

View Details

The Question of the Week- Should I upgrade to iOS 16? The Big Story- Twitter is now an Elon Musk company.

• 1st act is to remove top executives
• Implement changes
• $20/month for the Blue Check
• Well Maybe $8/month for the Blue Check
• Now a privately held company
• Bringing back Vine?
• Do you keep your Twitter account?

View Details

The Big Story- Social Media Content Moderation

Also:

• TikTok subcontractors traumatized as content moderators
• TikTok and campaign misinformation
• Twitter trying to eliminate campaign misinformation

View Details

The Question of the Week- Does my Alexa actually listen everything going on in the room? News & Updates:

• Apple will have foldable iPads & iPhones by 2024
• iPhone crash detection creating false alarms from roller coasters
• U of Texas uses Starlink as GPS alternative
• A status update on the Social Media giants

View Details

Lithium Batteries

Also:

• Why are they important
• Is lithium a true replacement for oil?
• When will we run out of Lithium
• What will replace lithium-ion batteries
• GM is starting a new business unit to offer electricity storage and management for homes and businesses

View Details

News & Updates:

• Kayne West wants to buy the Social Media platform Parler
• NASA’s DART changed the path of the asteroid
• Netflix will roll out global changes to stop password sharing
• Original iPhone still in factory sealed box sold at auction for $39K

View Details

Also:

• Musk agrees to buy Twitter, again
• BeReal- the new social media darling
• TikTok, Instagram, SnapChat quickly try to copy
• Is Instagram in Trouble?

View Details

News & Updates:

• SCOTUS agrees to hear a case that could change Section 230 & Social Media as we know it
• The EU confirmed USB-C mandate by 2024
• Malware was hidden in old Windows logo
• NASA & SpaceX want to move Hubble to a higher orbit
• Food delivery drone got tangled in powerlines

View Details

The Question of the Week- A listener Fact Checks us on farms in the US Also, News, Updates & Follow-Ups:

• NASA’s DART hits the target
• EV Charging station are reimbursable
• EV Sales hit record
• Solar Energy prices fall
• Starlink Review
• SanFran surveillance plan
• TikTok Political Ban

View Details

We discuss with Dr. Abe Baggili:

• Cyber Security
• LSU being be designated by the National Security Agency as a Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Operations
• The research Dr. Baggili and his students are doing

View Details

The Question of the Week- Should I use my cell phone as a key to get into my hotel room? Also, Twitter Updates:

• Twitter Whistleblower’s Testimony has Senators outraged on both sides of the aisle
• Twitter Whistleblower says security holes could cause real people harm
• Twitter Shareholders unfazed by Testimony
• Twitter & Whistleblower had $7Mil settlement w/ NDA, but Congress forced him to talk
• Elon Musk Adds the Whistleblower to his lawsuit to end the deal to buy Twitter
• Bob Iger tells why Disney decided not to buy Twitter

View Details

News & Updates:

• The Most Regretted College Majors are Non-STEM
• NASA’s DART looks to redirect a Moonlet
• AT&T will not deliver 5G to older phones as promised
• Artificial Intelligence Art wins a Digital Arts Competition
• John Deere is leading the way in Self Driving Tractors
• Alphabet Executive Leaves Health Unit Because of Commercial Use of Data

View Details

The Question of the Week- Is there really a difference between regular hard drives and solid-state drives? Also:

• Tips to deal with unwanted text messages
• Apple formally announces iPhone 14 line up
• Starlink & T-Mobile to allow cell phone to use satellites
• How long does your cellular carrier retain your location data

View Details

News & Updates:

• Twitter will finally allow you edit Tweets
• Tesla sues Louisiana to sell directly to consumers
• Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation could crash hard drives
• LastPass was hacked, but no user data was compromised
• NASA’s Voyager 1 is 15 Billion miles away and talking to Earth again
• USB4- Version 2.0 will deliver up to 80Gbps

View Details

The Question of the Week- What’s up with all of these strange text messages?

Also:

• Amazon buys iRobot for better access inside your home
• Amazon expanding drone delivery
• TikTok is monitoring key strokes and screen taps
• Microsoft to put ads in Outlook App

View Details

News & Updates:

• Google Announces Better Search Results
• Apple has critical iOS Security Patch
• More Streaming than Cable Viewing
• Twitter Whistleblower Discloses Security Coverups
• Starlink puts up more satellites
• Another AI Chatbot becomes creepy and racist very quickly

View Details

The Question of the Week- How am I receiving text messages while on Airplane Mode?

Also:

• Tesla no longer #1 producer of Electric Vehicles (EV’s)
• Charging EV’s gets easier
• EV’s become more affordable
• New law allows for $7500 Tax Credit to buy an EV, but has a catch
• Making new type of batteries for EV’s

View Details

News & Updates:

• Russia fines Google for spreading false info about Ukraine invasion
• DirecTV opposes Dish’s 5G plan
• TikTok’s head of Security is stepping down
• Netflix expands password sharing crackdown
• Window 12 arriving in 2024
• Windows 8.1 going End of Life Jan 10, 2023

View Details

The Question of the Week- I am seeing a lot of unusual ads on my Android, what do I do about it?

Also:

• The best jobs in technology
• Getting started in Tech without experience

View Details

News & Updates:

• Bipartisan call for a US Government probe into China mining TikTok user data
• Twitter sues Elon Muck to force the purchase of the Social Media platform
• Miners are forced to use robots and tech, instead of manual labor in the mines
• FCC threatens 8 Telecom companies to block 8 Billion Robocalls
• CEO arrested for selling over $1 billion of fake Cisco hardware

View Details

Guest David Susko, Geoscientist working for a NASA contractor studying life on Mars

• Working with NASA
• Geology of Mars
• Water on Mars
• Why study Mars

View Details

News & Updates:

• Window’s Defender requires Free Subscription
• Zero-Day “Follina” patch is available
• Apple is adding LockDown option to iPhones, iPads, & Macs
• EU’s new Digital Markets Act means new requirements for Big Tech
• Not many companies are requiring Multi-Factor Authentication
• Dish Network tries to stop Starlink and fails
• Starlink is approved to be used on moving vehicles
• Sand Battery store energy for months

View Details

The Question of the Week- How can I use my current modem and computer for faxing over the internet?

• Google Engineer thinks their AI has become Sentient
• The Turing Test
• AI cannot understand nuance
• AI can help with Job Interview practice
• AI can help Train, Protect and Predict Athletes Performance

View Details

News & Updates:

• White Hat Hacker finds backdoor into Jacuzzi’s backend exposing worldwide user data
• US Senators want to have a Common Charger, like the EU
• Starlink wants to provide Internet to Cruise Ships
• Dish Network accuses SpaceX of not stopping customers from using Starlink on moving vehicles
• Microsoft explains “Copy & Paste” and why sometimes it does not work
• Apple wants CarPlay to control all the screens in new cars
• Apple has Billions of $$ to lend w/ Pay Later Service

View Details

The Question of the Week-

Are Electric Vehicles really better for the Environment the combustion engines?

And:

EV Charging stations are not keeping up with the demand for EV’s

View Details

News & Updates:

• Ransomware attack brought an end to a college
• Apple is no longer making the iPod
• Passkeys could be the end passwords
• Internet Explorer has officially ended, Edge, Chrome, Firefox will pick up the slack
• Consumers spend approx. $130 more per month than they think
• US Senators want to regulate cryptocurrency
• HDMI Cable will deliver power
• Bluetooth will connect to multiple devices

View Details

Special Guest Nicole Quinlan of TripChat

TripChatApp is an app to help locals and visitors find out more about their surroundings

View Details

News & Updates:

• Netflix has begun the Password sharing crack down and it is not going well
• The EU is forcing Apple to switch to the USB-C ports on iPhones
• Elon Musk says he does not “Have To Buy Twitter”
• Texas AG worried about Twitter bots
• Nokia say 6g Cellular coming in 2030
• Uber & Waymo partnering on long-haul trucking
• Autonomous Trucks delivering Toilet Paper in Dallas
• Russia is taking microchips from appliances to fix their tanks

View Details

The Question of the Week-

I keep hearing about the Metaverse, but I am not sure what it is, can you explain it to me?

Metaverse:

• Characteristics
• Who is building platforms
• Marketing/Commerce
• Still Problems
• Warnings from “Second Life” creator

View Details

News & Updates:

• US has fastest Supercomputer doing Exaflops
• US Senate bill focuses on Big Tech company actions
• DuckDuckGo gives Microsoft permission to track users
• Digital Driver’s License gaining Federal Acceptance
• Social Media could be sued for getting kids addicted
• SCOTUS strikes down Texas law on Social Media Moderation
• Bank IT Dir. Sends “Anatomy Pic” in response to Ransomware

View Details

News & Updates:

• Starlink has 400k subscribes, is available in 32 Countries and if you go the Starlink RV route, there is no wait list
• Canada Bans Huawei & ZTE From Its 5G and 4G Networks
• The US like big phones, not folding phones
• AT&T upgraded their 911 service to within 50 meters, no longer 10 miles
• Telephone Service in the 70’s, 80’s & 90’s very different from today

View Details

The Question of the Week-

What is Citycoin?

And:

• MiamiCoin crashed causing troubles for the Mayor
• The Entire Crypto Currency Market laost over $1 Trillion in the last 6 months
• Luna and StableCoin lost 95% of it’s value
• US Dept of Justice and the Securities & Exchange Commission are both investigating Crypto Currencies for illegalities

View Details

• Elon Musk- Super Hero/ Tony Star/Bruce Wayne or Super Villain
• Content Moderation issues around the world
• Is the Twitter purchase on or off, and the ramifications either way
• Stopping an online discussion with the Poop Emoji
• SEC has several things they want to Elon Musk about because of his actions

View Details

News & Updates:

• Texas HB 20 will allow users to sue if they are censored
• US Senator proposes commission to oversee Big Tech Companies
• Microsoft launches Cyber Security Service to combat ransomware
• MIT Engineers research Oreo Crème filling
• GrubHub offers $15 towards lunch in NYC and did not tell the restaurants to be prepared

View Details

The Question of the Week-

I hate Autocorrect on my iPhone, is there anything I can do?

And our guest, Don Monistere, President & CEO of General Informatics

View Details

News & Updates:

• Google lets you opt out of personal data searches
• iFixit not happy with Apples DIY repair options
• NASA’s Ingenuity keeps going and going
• 1st Space Hotel to be ready in 2025

View Details

The Question of the Week-

I’ve heard you say that Google, Facebook, … know more about me than I know about myself, is this really true?

We discuss the EU’s new landmark piece of legislation, The Digital Services Act

• The DSA goes another big step towards controlling the data collected about ou
• Failure to comply with the rules may result in fines of up to 6% of companies’ global annual revenues
• the legislation would limit how digital giants target users with online ads

View Details

News & Updates:

• Microsoft finding out not all of their employees can upgrade to Win11
• CNN + dies in under a month and the beginning of the decline in streaming services
• Aussie Scientist Solar Power a Tesla
• The EU is worried about EV Batteries
• Elon Musk buys Twitter and it may not be as easy as he thought
• The EU Reminds Musk they still have Content Moderation Laws

View Details

The Question of the Week- What is the difference between Anti-Virus vs. Anti-Malware

• S. stops Russian Malware Cyberattacks
• Mark Cuban says use AI in Business
• Explaining AI and Business applications

View Details

News & Updates:

• First Tweet NFT went from $2.9 Million to asking for $48M and only getting $280
• Netflix losing subscribers, possible having ads for cheaper plan, password sharing
• SpaceX and Starlink test on Delta Air Lines jets, sending dishes to Ukraine, & capacity issues

View Details

The Question of the Week- What is up with Elon Musk & Twitter?

Using Technology  Earth Day

• Don’t use paper
• Cloud Storage of documents
• Virtual Meetings instead of driving and/or flying
• Go Solar
• Things to do with CO2
• Microsoft uses heat from Data Center to warm homes in Finland

View Details

News & Updates:

• Uber will NYC Cabs to their App
• San Fran Police pull over a Driverless Car and what happened next
• Police report Apple AirTags are being used to stalk people
• Caller ID outs young professionals still on their parent’s cell phone plan
• Houston Astros introduce Amazon’s “Just Walk Out” at concession stands

View Details

Facebook is in Trouble:

• People spending less time of Facebook
• Facebook hires a political group to attack TikTok
• TikTok causing Tics and other disorders among teens

View Details

News & Updates:

• Microsoft Hacked
• Beulr to skip virtual meetings
• Netflix knows you are sharing your account
• Google Chrome 100 may cause problems

View Details

The Question of the Week- What is the Best word to start WORDLE?

And EU wants to crackdown on Big Tech & Big Data, Microsoft will the “Future of Hybrid Work” in April, Germany tells everyone to uninstall Kaspersky because of Russian ties, and Mercedes announces their new Drive Pilot- Level 3 Self Driving Car

View Details

Special Guest- U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana talks Tech Legislation

• Regulating the data broker industry
  • the "Terms-of-service Labeling, Design, and Readability Act"
  • The Data Elimination and Limiting Extensive Tracking and Exchange Act
• The Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act, legislation to update online data privacy rules for the 21st century and ensure both children and teenagers are protected online. (Cassidy introduced with Sen. Markey)
• Health data privacy
• Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act & the role of governing Social Media
• General Data Protection Regulation of the EU & The California Consumer Privacy Act, or CCPA, should we expect legislation like that is the US?

View Details

The Question of the Week- Facebook is requiring to enable Facebook Protect, is this real?

And we debunk more Tech Myths

View Details

News & Updates:

• LSU Researcher’s new smartphone security
• Rise in Smartphone Malware
• Win 11 File Explorer may had ads
• Microsoft ads Clipchamp to Win11
• Drone Swarm created QR for ad promo

View Details

Facial Recognition:

• Being used to make arrest
• Laws and/or restrictions on usage changing state by state
• Face Scanning during a traffic stop?
• Workplace usage

View Details

• Steve Wozniak wants to remove space junk
• Starlink says there satellites are not going to be space junk
• Instagram says not enough usage for iPads
• Apple Watch working for Volvo Services Technicians
• Whole Foods deploys “Just Walk Out”
• Electric Vehicle Charging Network

View Details

The Question of the Week- What Is Wi-Fi 6E and Do I Need It? Wi-Fi 6 vs. 6E & Wi-Fi 7;

Autonomous Vehicle update, when should we expect full self driving vehicles?

View Details

Stopping Russian Disinformation, Accredited Media Verifying Social post with geo-data, Hactivist striking back at Russia, Starlink gets some good PR, Microsoft fights Russian Malware, Tech Giants fumble with what to do!

View Details

The Question of the Week- My alarm company says they have to change the cellular modem because the cell towers are changing, is this true? 3G Networks shutting down causing device changes, Facebook makes Reels available worldwide and continues to have multiple problems.

View Details

Russia started with Cyber Warfare before launching bombs & bullets, WhatsApp upgrades, Wordle now has Ad Trackers, FCC tries to prevent Voicemail Robocalls, Twitter looks at long form, Android Apps now works on Win11

View Details

The Question of the Week- On last week’s show, you mentioned Industry 3.0, can you go into more details about that? We briefly go through Industry 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0. And then we discuss Web 3.0, what is it, advantages, disadvantages, and some potential problems.

View Details

We do a Space Based Episode- SpaceX not hitting the Moon, NASA Splashing the Space Station, Pentagon cleaning up Low Earth Orbit, Worries over too many Starlink satellites, Starlink hit by geomagnetic storm, and Starman 4 years in Space

View Details

Activision made $5 Billion on in game transactions, Facebook threatens to pull out of Europe because of Data Laws, Facebook loses Daily users for the 1st time ever, Facebook Stock plummets 26% in 1 Day, the IRS will stop using Facial Recognition to log into their website, and Amazon Prime raising annual fee from $119 to $139/year.

View Details

Guest Coila LaFleur w/ ExxonMobil & Stephen Loy with Nexus Louisiana Tech Park talk with us about the upcoming Tec Next 2022, The Technology & Energy Conference coming up on Feb 24th & 25th in Baton Rouge bringing together Tech & Industrial Manufacturing

View Details

The Question of the Week- My phone keeps telling me I am out of storage, what should I do? Google & Facebook fined for making it hard to refuse tracking cookies, and Google and their unethical business practices, which leads to the question of Can You Trust Google?

View Details

News & Updates- Sony is buying Bungie for $3.6Bil, but is it a good deal, The FTC Chair has promised to investigate the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard deal for Antitrust, Wordle sells to the NY Times, and the Banning Surveillance Advertising Act trying to limit online advertisers to targeting audiences by approximate location

View Details

News & Updates- Google has a new way of tracking your browser usage, Hactivist in Belarus crash the rail system with Ransomware to stop the trains from moving, including the Russian Army, SpaceX & Starlink updates on: Global Broadband getting ready to roll out, Satellites streaking across the night sky are Photo Bombing Astronomers, an out of control Falcon 9 Rocket Crashing into the Moon on March 9th

View Details

The Question of the Week- Is the Microsoft purchase of Activision really a big deal? And we discuss Democratization of Technology and the Internet because of a twitter account tracking Elon Musk’s jet and 2/3 of Anti-Vax Propaganda was created by 12 people

View Details

The Question of the Week- What do I need to know to switch Cell Phone Companies, TikTok stars making more money the public traded CEO’s, 7 year old YouTuber made $28Mil in 2021, Things to do if you want to start making money as a Social Media Influencer

View Details

News & Updates- The Major airlines threaten chaos if 5G C-Band is rolled activated, AT&T & Verizon agree to another delay, the 50 airports with a 5G Buffer, and 5G C-Band activation has begun (just not near airports)

View Details

Hackers are releasing a Fake Ransomware counting on the wrong reaction from users, and a deep dive into Microsoft’ New Commerce Experience (spoiler alert- prices are going up)

View Details

News & Updates- A look at the Rise and Fall of BlackBerry that has now ended it service, Microsoft is bringing games to the Edge Browser, AT&T and Verizon refuse and accept a request from the FAA to delay for 2 weeks the rollout of the C-Band of the new 5G, and Log4j updates (it is not going away anytime soon)

View Details

We take a month-by-month look at Tech that ended like: Trump’s Social Media, Google Stadia, Yahoo Answers, LiveLeak, LinkedIn Stories, and more!

View Details

News & Updates- Police find 225 Million stolen passwords, Starlink gets a little slower wit more users, an Autonomous Truck takes an 80 trip, Meta opens Horizon Worlds and then a female user gets sexually harassed

View Details

The Question of the Week- How do I know if I have malware on my phone?, and an investigation into what do parents need to know about Roblox and how they are exploiting young game developers

View Details

News & Updates- Hackers are exploiting Log4j vulnerability, Google Chrome needs to be updated for security reasons, Microsoft catches up with the Right-To-Repair the Surface computers, a man lifted his sleeping girlfriends eyelids to break into her phone and steal her money, Law enforcement officers can now get your cellular data without having to get a search warrant

View Details

The Question of the Week- My is going to start using MFA, what do I need to know? So we discuss MFA & the problem w/ Complex Password,  Why burnout is creating security risk, US Cyber Command is now taking proactive actions, and the Life360 app is selling your precise location data and why that is a bad thing!

View Details

News & Updates- AWS had a massive outage causing lots of other outages, What you credit card is actually worth on the Dark Web, Microsoft warns against Chrome because Edge is better, Win11 is off to a slow Adoption Rate, Sports Streaming & Betting are becoming a very big business

View Details

The Question of the Week- I heard the guy in charge of Twitter is stepping down, why is this a big deal? Spotify is trying to do more than just music and be more like TikTok & Instagram

View Details

News & Updates- 1/3 of Women in Tech thinking about leaving the Tech sector, Ransomware gangs have made enough money to buy Zero-Day flaws worth 8 figures, When hit by Ransomware- the 1st thing not to do, Lawmakers trying to stop Grinch Bots, Apple & Google fined for GDPR violations

View Details

The Question of the Week- My child is turning 10, what should I tell her about the Internet? Also, The Bad Habits we all have that are ruining your computer

View Details

News & Updates- Average Ransomware payout in US is $6Mil, Win11 going back to Blue Screen of Death instead of Black, Gov’t Agencies call for Cybersecurity updates for K-12, True cost of Upgrading to new Smartphone, A Centrifuge for launching satellites to space, and Russia blows up one of their satellites

View Details

The Question of the Week- What would happen if Social Media went away?

View Details

News & Updates-  Apple backs down on Right-To-Repair, Apple hires an Autopilot expert away from Tesla, Microsoft announces a new very collaborative program Loop, Chromebook sales fall off dramatically, The Airlines & FAA are in talks with the FCC about the Mid Band of 5G and whether or not it interferes with altimeters.

View Details

The Question of the Week- Is Facebook still going to be Facebook?

Facebook changing the Corporate name to Meta and discusses the long range plans for Meta, Facebook employees want to fix Facebook, and Facebook is finally shutting down facial recognition, for now!

View Details

News & Updates- National Center for Academic Excellence in Cyber Operations, or CAE-CO, recently selected LSU as the sole university allowed to apply for CAE-CO designation this year, Tesla launching a pilot to allow non Tesla Electric Vehicles to charge  up at their Supercharger stations, Starlink more popular than 5G?, Starlink expanding into India, iPhone 13 using iPad parts, iOS & Mac security patch, iPhone could get crash detection

View Details

The Question of the Week- Is former President Trump really launching a social media platform? Also we discuss the pros and cons of Deplatforming Social Media influencers

View Details

Russian hackers are targeting IT Companies, FTC OK’s ISP to monetize your data, the iPod is turning 20 and we look back, AirPods Pro get firmware update with new added features

View Details

News & Updates- The FCC wants to crackdown on Robotexting, Google’s CEO call for a Geneva Convention for Governments to crackdown on cybersecurity issues, and someone has had the Bad Idea not to have human oversight on advancements in Artificial Intelligence

View Details

The Question of the Week- What is the Metaverse and is Facebook really changing it’s name? Also Eric Romero & Warren Kron from Baton Rouge IS Dept join us to talk about what the city government is doing for Cyber Security Month

View Details

The Question of the Week- Now that Windows 11 is out, should I upgrade?

News & Updates- Report that Millennials worry much more about a Facebook breach then if their bank account gets hacked, Ocean SailDrone in a hurricane show awesome video and sending great data, FCC still trying to eliminate Robocalls, Twitch suffered a data breach exposes everything from source code to how much content contributors got paid

View Details

Facebook had the whistle-blower on 60 Minutes on Sunday, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp & Messenger all go down for 6 ½ hours on Monday, and the whistle-blower testifies before a Senate committee, and then The EU wants to regulate Facebook

View Details

The Question of the Week- Do I really need to use different passwords for everything? Amazon announces new products and most of them are bad ideas, especially the Astro!

View Details

Instagram has stopped trying to create a standalone app for kids, The US Gov’t is trying to ease the bottleneck in the supply chain of semiconductors and microchips, A teenage TikTok’er disrupts thousands of scientific research with a video, Apple kicks Fortnite off this iOS platform

View Details

The Question of the Week- Apple just released a major update for my iPhone, should I do the upgrade? We go through the new features in iOS 15  and how the iPhone 13 will impact the roll out of 5G in the USA

View Details

Facebook says “Nuh-Uh” to the Wall Street Journal article citing that Instagram is toxic to teenage girls, Microsoft did a study on the Hybrid work overload, A man gets 12 years prison for injecting Malware into AT&T phones, SpaceX is exiting Beta in Oct 2021, Germany is very concerned what electric cars will do to jobs in the automotive industry, and Mich. Will construct a 1 mile stretch oh highway that will recharge your all electric vehicle

View Details

The Question of the Week- Last week you talked about calling the cell phone companies to get out of contracts, do you have any tips on how to actually talk to a customer service rep? The Wall Street Journal reports that Instagram is toxic for teenage girls and FB does nothing, and Facebook hires Accenture to try to remove the toxic material from Facebook but makes a bigger problem for the employees doing the work

View Details

Epic Games sues Apple & the App Store and wins but Apple Wins too, Microsoft makes a further push to get away from passwords using Biometrics, Employers are reprimanding and/or firing emplyees for stupid behavior on Zoom meetings, Apple unveils the iPhone 13 and the entire planet yawns, and an autonomous vehicle has an accident at the Paralympic games and Tesla is investigated for Autopilot crashes

View Details

The Question of the Week- Can I get out of my cell phone contract? The EU wants to force companies to support smart phones for up to 7 years, Foldable phones may be getting better soon, and 5G in the USA- where it works the best

View Details

Google is still tracking and releasing your data to hundreds of companies, Nasa’s Ingenuity helicopter on Mars just completed it’s 12th mission- they were only hoping for 5, Researches describe the perfect ransomware and who it is targeting, and Microsoft sets a release date for Win11

View Details

The Question of the Week- Is it OK to buy refurbished Electronics? Important this to know and do when buy renewed and/or refurbished electronics. Telsa promises to buy a Humanoid Bot for menial task, comparing Tesla to Boston Dynamics

View Details

Businesses are using Deepfakes to make remote sales pitches across multiple languages, the FBI Terrorist Watch list was leaked, Residents of Kabul built an App to get around the city avoiding hot spots, Bizarre Ransomware plot trying to build a Nigerian Social Media company, and Microsoft is raising the rates for Office 365

View Details

We discuss the difference between the Internet & the World Wide Web, and then we discuss what is Quantum computing

View Details

Poly Network hacker returned all of the stolen money, Apple may be forced to change to the USB-C Port, Amazon One stores are storing Palm Prints in AWS, Zoom is fined for allowing Zoombombing in 2020, YikYak is trying to make a return, and Lamborghini is bringing back the Countach and it is a Hybrid that goes from 0 to 60MPH in 2.8 seconds

View Details

Our Guest Conner Leblanc joins us to answer the Question of the week- Do I need a New Phone?, 41 Questions Concerning Technology (we only answer a few)

View Details

Facebook has shut down New York University researchers investigation into misinformation spread through political ads on the social network, Dept. Homeland Security & top tech companies form a new information-sharing initiative, dubbed the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative in a bid to protect critical US infrastructure from ransomware and cyberattacks, President Biden’s executive order for half of all new car sales to be either electric or plug-in hybrid by 2030, SpaceX previews ruggedized Starlink dish for vehicles, ships, and aircraft, Crypto Heist Hackers Have Reportedly Returned Stolen $256 Million

View Details

The Question of the Week (for a Free Mug)- For my personal computer, what is the best way to backup my data?

We go through different methods of backing up the data on a person (non-business) computer, we discuss a study that says 41% of people around the world are interested in an Electric or Hybrid Car, and talk about Big 18 Wheel trucks getting Autonomous before passenger cars

View Details

A WSJ story talks about how Russian Intelligence is trying to create chaos in the US by spreading false and/or misinformation on social media, the FTC votes to enforce Right To Repair, Top 10 high paying career is in IT, Finance Chiefs want to replace Excel with more focused financial software, and the IoT has merged Alexa and a Coffee Maker

View Details

We talk with Veneeth Iyengar about the needs to get broadband Internet to the rural areas of Louisiana and what his office is tasked to do to make it happen

View Details

Accountants & Lawmakers Want Rules on Cryptocurrency Accounting, Bitcoin Mining operation caught stealing $2Mil in Electricity, Windows 365 Desk-Top-As-A-Service, Spyware was used on Journalist & Activist, Facebook is losing Billion$$ because iOS allow users to opt out of activity tracking.

View Details

The Question of the Week- I’m buying a PC for child going to school, which processor should I buy, the i5, i7, or i9? And there is a Global Chip Shortage, we explain why.

View Details

REvil updates including what Kaseya knew, it was designed not to attack Russian computers, and now the REvil site is gone, the Google Play Store is targeted for Antitrust, FCC gave Amazon permission to track our sleep (Google Nest already had it) more updates on the Right-To-Repair your technology.

View Details

A listener heard us talking about the new Windows 11 and asked, “Will Winn11 run on my computer?” and we answer the question, we discuss the largest ransomware to date, REvil’s exploitation of Kaseya, and Elon Musk admits “he didn't expect making a self-driving Tesla to be so difficult” and a few other self-driving car updates

View Details

The Open Source audio editing software Audacity was recently purchased and turned into Spyware, A Calif. Driver mounted a Starlink Dish on the hood of his Prius and got ticketed, the Pentagon cancels the JEDI contract with Microsoft, and the App Store is full of Apps that considered “fleeceware”.

View Details

Dave Johnson talks about technology and the law, Silicon Valley, and talks about his upcoming book.

View Details

Starlink will have global coverage by August, the have almost 70,000 subscribers, and extreme heat shuts down the dish, FAA clears Virgin Galactic to fly paying customers to space, TPM (Trusted Platform Module) Win11 will take full advantage, Texas Supreme Court ruled that Facebook can be held liable for the conduct of people who use the platform to advance sex trafficking activities, Ransomware creating Virtual Machines on PC’s to encrypt the computer.

View Details

A listener asked, “Can my boss really see what I’m doing on my work computer?” and the answer is yes, if they want to do so. We discuss what is being called “Bossware” or Employee Monitoring Software, and then Microsoft has unveiled the next generation of its market leading desktop operating system and we review the high points.

View Details

Congress introduced sweeping antitrust legislation aimed at restraining the power of Big Tech and staving off corporate consolidation, US Senators Are Trying to Make Cancelling Subscriptions Easier, SCOTUS rules in favor of a Cheerleader on Snapchat, Instagram has become boring an John McAfee remembered for brilliance & eccentricities!

View Details

The 3 Most Crucial parts of a Cyber Security Guideline are People, Process & Technology and Cyber Security Assessments are about Network, Vulnerabilities & Risk

View Details

Microsoft has announced an “End of Support” for Windows 10 in 2025, giving way to Windows 11, Microsoft’s CISO, Chief Information Security Officer wants to away with passwords for a number of reasons, and we discuss how the FBI clawed back the money from the Colonial Pipeline Ransomware attack

View Details

The Director of the FBI compared Ransomware to the 9/11 Terrorist attacks, JBS Beef hit by Ransomware, but the FBI got over 50% of the ransom of Bitcoin back, which cause a huge drop in the value of Bitcoin, and the FBI sold organized crime all over the world cell phones that had the calculator app with an altered function that sent every message to the FBI first, so hundreds of high level criminals were arrested around the world.

View Details

Major website like the NY Times, Amazon, CNN and more experience outages because a “content delivery network” for more than an hour, Amazon launches Sidewalk that allows anyone to use your bandwidth from your Amazon Echo &/or Ring devices, WhatsApp backpedals and will not force users to accept T&C’s, and Apple paid a woman Millions of dollars because repair technicians were able to get into her phone and they uploaded explicit photos and videos to her Facebook page, of her!

View Details

A listener asked, “I heard there are robot lawnmowers, is this real”? And we go into detail about new Governmental agencies issuing Cybersecurity Guidelines

View Details

In this segment we discuss how Google is allowing users to protect their Activity History with passwords & 2FA, WhatsApp is limiting users functionality unless they agree to new terms, How to Prepare your Digital Life for after your Death, How to stop a Killer Asteroid before in crashes into Earth, the iPhone XR does better on a benchmark test than the iPhone 11 & 12, and Florida has a new law banning Social Media from blocking political candidates

View Details

A listener asked, “I spend a lot of time in front of my computer, are there things I can do?”, so we discussed what PC’s have been doing to the human body, how you need to detox from your digital screens, and how email is making people miserable.

View Details

In this segment we discuss a beaver colony that chewed through a protected Internet cable, President Biden’s Executive Order for 2FA, an NTSB for Cyber Attacks, & Security-Focused labels, Google mandate 2FA, Ransomware attack because of Pirated Software, Creative businesses using TikTok videos to attract customers and 44 Attorneys General send a letter to Facebook asking to stop the idea of an “Instagram for Kids”

View Details

In this segment we get very excited about a project that LSU (professors & students) are working on that will send a device to the moon in 2022 to measure radiation and the affects it will have on humans, Facebook found a Bot Farm that generates 200K+ of Political Post designed to incite negative reactions, and Apple released iOS 14.5 which will allow you out of being tracked by Social Media companies trying to build an advertising profile on you.

View Details

We talk with Don Monistere, President, General Informatics, about his background and career path, the books he has written, why he chose to come back to S. Louisiana and General Informatics and his thoughts on the future of the IT Industry.

View Details

The listener question of the week asked, “Which video doorbell is best, The EU is trying to restrict how AI is used, especially in facial recognition, Windows 10 will completely remove Flash from your PC in July, Signal gets ad campaign on Facebook gets shut down for being too specific and the FB Oversight Board rules on former President Trump’s ban from Facebook

View Details

On this show, we get excited that Disney has created a real Lightsaber that expands, retracts and lights up, another Chinese rocket is tumbling in a descending orbit around Earth and no one knows when &/or where it will crash, SpaceX says it will not underperform and over 500,000 people have sent in $99 to get on the waiting list, Uzi Nissan won the battle to keep Nissan.com, and the Mars helicopter Ingenuity has made its 4th flight

View Details

The listener question of the week ask, “What is the best way to support another computer remotely?”, Apple announces iOS 14.5, new iPad and AirTags, and then we discuss why Instagram for Kids is a really bad idea!

View Details

In this episode, we are excited that Ingenuity has flown on Mars, once again the FCC “Cracks Down” on Robocalls, Starlink will let you connect while moving, Facebook has created an Oversight Board to appeal content, Scammers are using LinkedIn as a Phishing tool, and Google.com.ar may or may not have expired.

View Details

The listener question of the week ask ask and we discuss, How to recycle Electronics, Microsoft buys Nuance- the maker of Dragon Naturally Speaking – emphasizing the importance of Voice Recognition software, Coinbase goes IPO, and NFT’s cause extreme usage of energy, Exchange CEO warns of pending crackdown on Cryptocurrency

View Details

In this episode we discuss local governments are blocked from competing as an ISP in 18 states, The Communications Workers of America (CWA) union is lobbying state governments to regulate Internet service providers as utilities, Seagate Shipped a 3 Zettabytes of Hard Drive, Huawei Plans to Launch 6G in 2030, US & UK officially blame Russian Government for SolarWinds cyber attack, Capcom blames an 'Old VPN Device' for a Ransomware Attack

View Details

We review the fact that Apple, Microsoft & Amazon are worth more than the GDP of most every country on Earth, SCOTUS ruled that Google did not infringe on Oracle’s copyright of Java when they created the Android Operation System, and Justice Thomas comments that Section 230 needs to be “reigned in”.

View Details

In this episode we discuss cryptocurrency and how you should be reporting/paying taxes on the gains and/or losses made, a man lost $1 Million on a scam App that was in the Apple Store, Microsoft Edge will block pop up videos, Google Chrome continues to be a memory hog, and Facebook goes after deepfake videos and punts on 550 million users that had their data scraped.

View Details

The listener “Question of the Week” is asking how to prioritize Wi-Fi networks, the we discuss Microsoft’s big contract to develop the HoloLens to be used by the US Army, Facebook Covid-19 profile frames, then the “Off-Facebook Activity” tool, and how to control your FB News Feed, and  President Biden’s plan to extend Broadband Internet Access via Fiber

View Details

On this episode we discuss a new Social Media platform ChekMarc which was designed for doing good, Microsoft ends Cortana on iOS & Android, the developers of Windows 95 left an Easter Egg of employees names buried in the code, Mar 31st is World Backup Day, Google gets sued over the Incognito Mode & and also for the announcement to end 3rd party tracking

View Details

We discuss how the pandemic is effecting jobs in the Tech Sector, how white collar workers should start worrying about AI & Automation replacing them, New Tech has always created new jobs but will it this time, and a few stats on job loss due to AI & Automation

View Details

We discuss how the UK Royal Navy is building a ship to protect undersea Internet Lines, malware from “keygen” sites, the iconic “I’m a Mac” guy now endorsing an Intel PC, the state of Miss. Is requiring Computer Science in all grades K-12 starting in 2024, researchers have developed a way of spotting “Deepfake” videos with 94% accuracy, and while most of the country has access to 5G, less than 10% are actually using 5G service.

View Details

We discuss what a Non-fungible token, or NFT, is, Netflix is testing different methods of how people log into their accounts to prevent username & password sharing, and then we talk a lot about Digital Identities and Decentralized Identities, the good the bad and the ugly.

View Details

We discuss how to avoid Tax Season Scams when using online tax prep, Tesla is creating a backup battery for Texas and Elon Musk crowns himself TechnoKing, iOS security Update and iOS 14.5 extends the life of your phone, Apple VR & AR Haptic Socks, Senators want to set minimum Broadband speeds, and 2 moms using tech illegally to help their high school daughters.

View Details

Debunking Myths about charging cell phone batteries, President Bide appoints to Antitrust Law Professors to prominent rolls in his administration, Amazon is reading your palm instead of your credit card, Honda releases the 1st production Level 3 Self Driving Car and Tesla admits their cars are & will remain Level 2 for quite some time!

View Details

Keith Comeaux  from Nasa’s JPL talks about growing up in Baton Rouge, going to LSU & Stanford and then getting to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to be the Deputy Chief Engineer in charge of the last 2 Mars Rovers! He talks about what you need to do if you are a student and want to work for NASA, and about the Mars Helicopter on Perseverance!  

View Details

Rob Powell tells us about how Cardinal Capital helps businesses get access to capital, working with banks and other lending institutions

View Details

The SolarWinds CEO blames a former intern for using the password solarwinds123 as the reason the full debacle was able to get started, Microsoft says Chinese hackers are attacking on premise Exchange servers, and Google says it is going to stop tracking Cookies and prevent 3rd Parties from tracking Cookies and click trails as well

View Details

Eric Romero of the City of Baton Rouge Information Services department discusses International Open Data Day, March 6th and the advances in Baton Rouge’s Open Data Platform, after almost 15 years of the smartphone, what’s next and who is going to lead, and 2021 promises to be a big ear for the Augmented Reality, AR, industry!

View Details

NASA posted a cryptic message in the parachute of the Mars Rover Perseverance, Australia concedes to Facebook when FB played hardball, the Malware “Silver Sparrow” is running amok in MAC’s , Elon Musk say Starlink will double its download speed by the end of the year, and Microsoft will release it’s next version of Office later in 2021.

View Details

The listener question of the week deals with Electric Cars, especially in a power outage, and Facebook shuts out all news/media outlets in Australia.

View Details

We revisit the SolarWinds malware debacle, Mastercard announces it will start accepting cryptocurrency by the end of 2021, MacOS is now the 3rd most popular desktop operating system, Apple makes repairs to the iPhone 12 much easier, thieves in Spain attack celebrities in Spain posting they have left their homes, a security camera installer leaves a back door to view people’s homes, and NASA successfully lands the Mars Rover Perseverance!

View Details

A listener ask about Apple Glasses, we discuss in great detail President Biden and potential shifts in the Global Digital Strategies including Tik Tok, Huawei, & WeChat, and the global microchip shortage?

View Details

This segment we talk about Facebook trying to Reduce Political Content, Instagram bans top anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over dangerous anti-vaccine and COVID-19 misinformation, Verified Twitter Users Shared an All-Time-High Amount of Fake News in 2020, Suspects Arrested for SIM Swapping Attacks, New phishing attack uses Morse code, Hacker Tried to Poison Florida City's Water Supply, Apple Watch Alerts Man to Heart Condition in Yet Another Potentially Life-Saving Story

View Details

We do a deep dive on the controversy between the Australian Government and Google, and how Microsoft influenced the outcome, as well as Google and their agreement with the French Government and why the EU’s GDPR is forcing the decision

View Details

Does Amazon’s new “Helix HQ” look like the Poop Emoji, We breakdown the new Clubhouse App, was scalping Xbox’s over Christmas actually profitable, Walmart deploying more robots in the distribution centers, and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellin’s plan for cryptocurrencies and how it could affect ransomware

View Details

We have a very in-depth discussion about screen time and kids; how much time, at what stages of development, good time vs. bad time and much more!

View Details

We about GM teaming up with Microsoft to develop the Cruise line of self driving vehicles, auto manufacturers are trying to create a blockchain to track everything from the beginning to the end of the vehicle, Google vs. Australia on privacy laws, Microsoft encouraging businesses to deploy “Zero Trust” policies when it comes to cybersecurity and SpaceX launched and another rocket and then landed it safely putting up their 950th active satellite for Starlink!

View Details

The NFL was fun on Nick! How a guy could lose $220 Billion of Bitcoins because he can’t remember the password to his account, Microsoft makes it easier to transfer huge files, What the Big Tech firms, especially social media companies face in 2021

View Details

A detailed discussion about the data Facebook collects about you, and the complete debacle that was Parler, from the lack of System Security to the lack of filter on the dangerous things people posted

View Details

Discussing the major players including SolarWinds and FireEye, how this hack was able to evade detection for so long, and what this means for the tech industry going forward

View Details

Apple’s $500B mistake, The FTC, FCC, and FAA show that they can be useful, and how Pandora has made the modern music experience better

View Details

Why are bots still buying things up, How companies and law enforcement agencies are teaming up to make the web safer, and What level of encryption breaking is the FBI really capable of

View Details

The reliability and implications of the COVID-19 vaccination app, What is causing the microchip shortage, and Presidential Twitter shenanigans

View Details

Starlink Update- Now available in 35 States, FireEye Hacked, Why no one reads T&C’s, FTC & 48 States sue Facebook

View Details

US Rep Garret Graves discusses antiquated laws still being used towards technology