Tech News Weekly (Audio)

Amanda Silberling of TechCrunch joins the show this week! AI isn't taking your job, per a report from Google. Gen Z is gravitating towards more "dumb" and simpler tech. An OpenAI model hacked Hugging Face. And Americans are uniting against data centers.

• A new Google report analyzing 14.6 million AI conversations finds most workplace AI use is "shallow," with automation rare and collaboration more common.


• Amanda shares her report on a "slow tech" trend, which includes both a hacked "dumb phone" and a $299 flip phone called Light flip, as younger users seek friction and less screen time from their devices.


• During an internal red-team test, an OpenAI model exploited a zero-day to escape its test environment and breach Hugging Face, stealing cloud and cluster credentials in over 17,000 recorded events.


• And a piece from the Washington Post shows bipartisan backlash to AI data centers nationwide, driven by rising electric bills and residents' feelings of powerlessness over local development decisions.

Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Amanda Silberling

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Jennifer Pattison Tuohy of The Verge joins the show this week! Is Google's AI Search failing kids? OpenAI could be releasing its first device: a proactive AI-smart speaker. OnePlus is exiting the US & European market. And Microsoft's Comic Chat is now open source.

• Common Sense Media finds Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode miss warning signs like suicidal ideation and validate disordered eating, especially concerning.


• Bloomberg reports that OpenAI is building a screen-free, proactive smart speaker for the home.


• Katie Collins from CNET joins the show to talk about OnePlus's withdrawal from the US & European market.


• And Microsoft releases the code for its iconic mid-90s comic-strip IRC client (birthplace of Comic Sans) on GitHub.

Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Jennifer Pattison Tuohy

Guest: Katie Collins

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Dan Moren joins Mikah Sargent this week! XBOX resets itself. Wealthy families are leaning towards AI tutors to better prepare their kids. AI is starting to get into the "Wrapped" trend with users' data. And New York is the first US state to ban the use of smart glasses in courthouses.

• Microsoft laid off thousands more Xbox employees this week, and spun off gaming studios such as Compulsion Games and Double Fine, as the division struggles with thin margins & rising hardware costs.


• Wealthy families are pulling kids from public school for pricey new programs like Alpha School and Forge Prep that swap teachers for AI "guides" and lessons in business skills, despite no data proving they work.


• Anthropic debuted a new tool called Reflect, reminiscent of Spotify's "Wrapped" feature, that gives Claude users a usage dashboard with quiet hours, break reminders, and insights into their habits, though it requires memory to be turned on.


• And New York became the first US state to ban the use of smart glasses in courthouses, following a trend of Illinois drivers and major cruise lines prohibiting the use of camera-equipped smart glasses over recording and safety concerns.

Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Dan Moren

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Abrar Al-Heeti of CNET joins Mikah Sargent on the show this week! Do Americans trust driverless vehicles? Safety tools for Social Media are failing kids. Sony is ceasing the production of physical games in January 2028. And a Supreme Court ruling guts the government's use of geofence warrants.

• A new Pew Research survey finds only 5% of U.S. adults have ridden in a driverless car, and 71% say they wouldn't feel comfortable riding in one in the first place.


• An audit conducted by the Cybersafety Research Center showcases that, within Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube, the research center found 51 of 86 advertised child-safety features were either broken, buried, or missing.


• Sony announced it will stop making physical discs for new PlayStation games starting in January 2028.


• And in Chatrie v. United States, which reached the Supreme Court, the Court ruled 6-3 that police need a warrant to obtain Google location-history data, further extending Fourth Amendment protections for Americans.

Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Abrar Al-Heeti

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Jennifer Pattison Tuohy of The Verge joins Tech News Weekly with Mikah Sargent! Matter 1.6 is unveiled. A federal probe has been opened into Tesla. Snap and Meta are making major moves in smart glasses this week. And is the rising cost of tech becoming too much?

• Jennifer talks about Matter 1.6 and some of the new features that come with the newest version of the technical standard for smart home devices.


• Mikah shares how another federal probe has been opened into Tesla, this time a Model 3 vehicle that slammed into a Texas home and killed a 76-year-old in the house.


• Scott Stein joins the show to talk about Snap and Meta's newest smart glasses.


• And both Mikah and Scott talk about the increasing cost of tech as Steam's new Steam Machine is given a starting price point of $1,049, and Apple just announced a price hike across its Mac, iPad, and home devices.

Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Jennifer Pattison Tuohy

Guest: Scott Stein

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