President Biden issued an executive order on Artificial Intelligence. How does the US government see AI today based on this executive order? What are the implications of Microsoft's breakthrough with their small AI model, Phi 1.5? And how social media influencers sharing news are starting to have more reach to a younger generation than legacy news outlets.  What does it mean by President Biden's issue of an executive order on Artificial Intelligence? Eric Geller of The Messenger breaks down...

This week on Tech News Weekly, Jason and Mikah go back in time to the origins of cell phones with an AT&T engineer who helped build the first network, get the inside scoop on Apple's next event from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, social media trends, and more. We kick off the show by chatting with Stu Tartarone, a veteran of AT&T who helped develop the first cell phone network and make the first cell phone call back in 1983. They discuss the skepticism around early cell phone market...

How are humans involved in the overall AI process? 23andMe suffers another data leak by hacker "Golem". And the Meta Quest 3 is being used publicly for hilarious and interesting results. Solana Larsen of the Mozilla Foundation and the IRL Podcast joins the show to talk about human beings, the data workers behind AI systems being used daily. Dave Karpf stops by to talk about Marc Andreessen's "The Techno-Optimist Manifesto" and his passionate response to Andreessen's manifesto and the line...

Adobe announces a whole host of new AI features and upgrades at its MAX conference. We review the Pixel 8 Pro and discuss its new Ultra HDR capabilities. OpenAI plans to announce new developer features at its November conference and we demonstrate the new ChatGPT voice features. • Ant Pruitt stops by Tech News Weekly to give us a rundown of what Adobe announced at its annual Adobe MAX conference. • Jason Howell has the Pixel 8 Pro in hand, so he takes some time to give us his thoughts...

Google had their Made By Google event this month and announced the Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro, and Pixel Watch 2. The Surface Laptop Studio 2 could be so much more than the device offers. How one group is utilizing credit card points to corner concert tickets for popular artists. And how AI bias tests are overlooking a key aspect of skin color.  Mark Spoonauer of Tom's Guide was at the Google event and shares his hands-on time with the Pixel 8 phones and Pixel Watch 2. Monica Chin of The Verge...

A searchable database to see which author's work is being used to train AI. Microsoft had its big Surface & AI event, and its AI assistant feature, Copilot, was announced. The FCC is looking to bring back net neutrality. And Jason has Samsung's Galaxy Tab S9+ tablet. Alex Reisner of The Atlantic joins the show to talk about a search tool for seeing which authors' work is contained within a Books3 AI dataset. Daniel Rubino of Windows Central stops by to chat about Microsoft's Surface...

This week on Tech News Weekly, Jason and Mikah unpack Apple's new iPhone 15 Pro, improvements to Google's AI chatbot Bard, Microsoft's massive gaming leaks, and Amazon's latest product announcements. Gizmodo's Florence Ion joins to share her review of Apple's iPhone 15 Pro with its new titanium chassis and 'tetraprism' telephoto camera. She discusses how it compares to Android flagships like the Pixel 7 Pro, especially in build quality, premiumness, and integration between Apple devices....

Game developers using the Unity Engine are crying afoul over Unity's pricing structure. Why are cars the worst product category for user privacy? A cyberattack shut down MGM Resorts for some time. And why the U.S. government is blasting Google for paying $10 billion a year to cut out search rivals. Unity has updated its pricing structure, leading many within the gaming & developer community to grow frustrated with the game engine. Kyle Orland of Ars Technica stops by the show to explain...

Apple is reportedly spending millions on developing its own generative AI system. Dan Moren talks about what we can expect to get announced at the upcoming Apple event on September 12th. And is the idea behind Rotten Tomatoes rotten? Mikah talks about how PR firms are gaming Rotten Tomatoes' review scores through movie "critics." Wayne Ma of The Information joins the show to talk with Mikah Sargent about Apple quietly developing its own large language model for the past few years, aiming to...

The latest advancements in EV battery technology. What is the potential impact of new child safety laws for the open internet? Facebook has finally introduced legs into its Meta Avatars! And AI is starting to be used in Call of Duty to help monitor in-game voice chats. Sam Abuelsamid joins the show to talk about lithium iron phosphate batteries making their way to US EV vehicles and how the technology behind these batteries differs from those in current US EV vehicles. Mikah talks about...

The "Book3" AI training dataset and fair use in AI. How hackers can easily steal your personal information for just $15. Jason Howell reviews the Samsung Galaxy Z-Fold 5.  Kyle Barr of Gizmodo joins the show to talk "Book3", an AI training dataset taken offline recently, and how this information was used to train AI systems that raises concerns about copyright and fair use in AI training. Joseph Cox of the recently launched 404Media shares how hackers can steal someone's identity easily...

The economics of streaming services is changing, with pricing going up to pre-cord cutting days. Robotaxis are operating 24/7 in San Francisco now. Google & DeepMind are exploring AI life coaching and the growing use of QR codes for phishing scams. Jason Howell talks about the changing economics of streaming services & cord-cutting as companies like Netflix & Disney raise prices on their services. Andrew J. Hawkins from The Verge joins the show to discuss the approval of 24/7...

Jason Howell talks about Android rolling out its "Unknown tracker alerts" system in conjunction with Apple to help detect AirTags that may have been placed on you nefariously. Jennifer Pattison Tuohy from The Verge talks about Thread and the challenges surrounding Thread and its integrations with IoT devices. Mikah Sargent talks about whether Disney could be sold to Apple. But why would Disney consider something they were adamant about not doing in the past? Finally, Sean Hollister of The...

The Cult of the Dead Cow has developed new encryption technology that would allow messaging and social networking apps not to hold users' personal data. Joseph Menn of The Washington Post stops by the show to discuss this new technology. Did you know that 500+ cables are running across our ocean floor that can carry 400 terabits of data per second? Neither did we. Stephen Shankland of CNET joins the show to talk about these cables that run across our ocean floors. Jason Howell talks about...

Kyle Kiang, VP of North America for the Nothing brand, joins the show to discuss the Nothing company and the Nothing Phone 2. Mikah Sargent talks about Captcha boxes and how Captcha's may soon be going away with new technology slowly being introduced that won't have you trying to figure out what letters or numbers are in a box. Ben Schoon of 9to5Google joins the show to talk about the Galaxy Z Flip 5, Fold 5, Galaxy Tab S9, and the Galaxy Watch 6 announced at July's Galaxy Unpacked 2023...

Apple is testing its own version of ChatGPT, called Apple GPT, as a way to catch up to what OpenAI has done with AI so far. Mark Gurman of Bloomberg breaks it all down. Jason shares his story of the week about Netflix's growth as it axes its 9.99 plan and deals with dual Hollywood strikes. Mikah talks about how IMAX projectionists are using old technology to show IMAX films and why they continue to use it today. Finally, friend of the network Megan Morrone stops by to share her experience...

The Microsoft Activision merger has taken another step forward in finally happening. However, the FTC has filed an appeal after losing its battle in court. Iain Thomson of The Register talks about everything happening with the case thus far. So many new social media services have popped up since Elon Musk acquired Twitter last year: Threads, Bluesky, T2, etc. Amanda Silberling of TechCrunch spills the tea on the potpourri of social media options available today. Jason talks about many retro...

Meta has officially launched its answer to Twitter called Threads. Richard Lawler from The Verge talks about what Threads is about. Mikah Sargent talked about Apple's gaming porting tool for macOS, discovered by Christina Warren a couple of episodes ago, that aims to bring real gaming to Macs. She joins the show to talk about the update the tool has received recently. Jason Howell talks about how voice actors are losing their voices to AI through services like Revoicer, even when these...

Google's ad business has been facing much scrutiny in recent years, and new a new report shows that Google hasn't been following its own agreed-upon standards for its ads being played on third-party sites. Patience Haggin of The Wall Street Journal talks about that research. More news on Google as the company has reportedly killed Protect Iris division following layoffs and reorganization within the division. Hugh Langley of Business Insider walks us through what happened. Jason Howell...

Pixel Tablet reviews are in! Joe Maring from Digital Trends joins the show to share his review of the Pixel Tablet and why he dislikes the tablet. Sam Abuelsamid chats with Mikah about Rivian's decision to adopt the usage of Tesla's supercharger network. Jason has had the Nord N30 5G phone for some time and shares his review of the device! Finally, Mikah shares an interesting article from The New York Times about the state of Dolby Atmos. Hosts: Jason Howell and Mikah Sargent Guests:...

Christian Selig, the developer of the Reddit app Apollo, joins the show to talk about Reddit's changes to its API and whether Reddit will make any changes or reverse its API update. The European Commission issued a formal antitrust complaint against Google and its ad business. Nicola Agius of Search Engine Land discusses what this could mean for Google and other ad businesses. Mikah talks about how games like Diablo 4 may be able to run entirely on Apple computers. Finally, Jason shares...

Kerry Flynn of Axios joins the show to talk with Jason Howell about Spotify combining its two divisions, Parcast and Gimlet, into one operation called Spotify Studios and what this means for Spotify and podcasting in general. Jason Snell got his hands on the Apple Vision Pro device announced at WWDC and shares his thoughts about the device from his time with it. The wildfires raging in Canada is blanketing the United States' upper east coast with horrible air quality that is comparable to...

Kyle Wiens of iFixit joins the show to talk about where the right-to-repair in the United States is, as Minnesota & California became the most recent states to pass their own right-to-repair laws. Dan Moren of SixColors stops by to discuss what Apple may announce at the upcoming WWDC event in Cupertino. Would you pay $20 million annually to keep your app running? Reddit is making some changes to its API that will cause numerous popular 3rd party apps to no longer be supported. Finally,...

Daniel Rubino of Windows Central comes back to the show to discuss the biggest announcements from this year's Microsoft Build 2023 event. Stephen Shankland of CNET talks about his experience using Adobe's new generative AI tool, Firefly, and how it integrates with Photoshop. Heather Kelly of the Washington Post stops by to share a guide she wrote about teens, smartphones, and social media following the Surgeon General's advisory about social media's effect on the youth's mental health....

Montana has become the first state to ban TikTok as of Wednesday officially. Caroline Mimbs Nyce of The Atlantic stops by the show to discuss what happens next. How does a free TV sound? Mikah talks about the company Telly, which is looking to give away its line of TVs to thousands of people with a catch that its TVs would constantly play ads on a secondary display. Google is looking to delete inactive personal accounts starting in December. Jason talks about some ways you can save your...