Soon, neurological implants will make having a bad case of the Mondays a thing
of the past. But the future's not here yet, so this is the tech news you get.
Twitter, aka Elon Musk's X, is officially under investigation in the UK
after its AI Grock, went full goon mode,
allowing users to generate thousands of non-consensual sexualized images of
women and children directly in the timeline. UK media regulator says
Twitter may have violated the Online Safety Act, which requires platforms to
block illegal content. UK technology secretary Liz Kendall announced the
government is also bringing a new law into force this week, making it illegal
for companies to supply tools designed to create non-consensual intimate
images. If found guilty, X faces fines of up to 10% of global revenue. Finally,
it's based on percentages. Orcom could seek a court order to block the platform
entirely in the UK, a net social good.
Malaysia and Indonesia have already blocked Grock. And Democrats in the US
are now asking Apple and Google to boot Twitter from their app stores. Musk,
much like that kid in elementary school who flipped the Monopoly board if he
lost, responded by complaining that people are looking for any excuse for
censorship and suppressing free speech
in a masterclass of public relations. He reposted AI generated images of UK Prime
Minister Kier Starmer in a bikini. >> It's a good point. Hm. Never thought
about it like that. >> You can't stop me from doing this. Kier [laughter]
free speech. Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney
also decided to wade into the fray. Why not? Calling the ban an attempt by
gatekeepers trying to censor political opponents and arguing that all AI models
go off the rails sometimes. The difference is not all AI models are
baked directly into social platforms where they can generate CSAM right into
the replies and wake up believing they're Hitler every other week. Also,
going off the rails is usually seen as a bad thing, Tim. Eg. trains.
Cloudflare just got slapped with a 14 million euro fine by the Italian
government for refusing to block pirate sites on its 1.1.1.1 DNS service.
Italy's piracy shield law demands websites get nuked within 30 minutes of
a copyright complaint with little to no judicial oversight. Cloudflare CEO
Matthew Prince called it a scheme run by a shadowy cabal of European media
elites. Ooh, drama. Prince threatened to
pull all Cloudfare servers out of Italy,
discontin free cyber security services for Italian users, and cancel pro bono,
which I think is Italian [laughter] protection for the Milano Cortina
Olympics. His exact words, play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Now that's a
spicy CEO. [laughter] In fairness to
Prince, Italy's track record with implementing this law isn't great. Last
year, they accidentally blocked Google Drive in the country for three hours.
Mama mia. Researchers found hundreds of legitimate websites caught in the
crossfire while actual pirates just move
to the new address. Those have got to be some of the best pirates I've ever seen.
Over in the UK, again, some members of parliament want to follow Australia's
lead with a Conservative party proposing to ban people under the age of 16, if
you can call them people, from social media entirely. The UK government also
just ordered Ofcom to explore clientside scanning as a way to catch terrorism and
CSAM related messages hidden by endtoend encryption protocols, aka allowing the
UK government to read every message on your phone before it's encrypted. And
speaking of digital crackdowns, Discord just got banned in Egypt, Jordan,
Turkey, and Russia. Users reported stuck
on loading screens, the telltale sign of government block rather than a service
outage. In unrelated news, ProtonVPN saw
a 103% spike in signups on Saturday alone with usage still climbing.
>> Wow, good for them.
>> Apple is gearing up to finally hopefully launch its big Siri refresh by
partnering with Google's AI, spurning Open AI in the process, and making Siri
a Gemini, which is too bad. My tarot card reading warns against befriending
Geminis. I guess I've got no choice but to switch to Grock. Reuters calls it a
multi-year deal. And in a joint statement, Apple and Google stressed
that Gemini will complement Apple's own AI work rather than replace it. You
know, some cost fallacy. Uh with user choice, ondevice processing, and privacy
protections highlighted. At the same time, Google is pushing AI powered
shopping, adding buy buttons in Gemini and AI search, and introducing a
universal commerce protocol designed to let AI agents interact with multiple
retailers in a standardized way. Not all of Google's AI experiments are moving
forward. The company has pulled AI overviews for some medical searches
after concerns about accuracy and potential harm for sensitive health
queries dying in a scene. Which reminds
us that Google's accumulate all data in the universe approach might not gel all
that well with Apple's supposed commitment to user privacy. But
regarding their partnership to relaunch Siri, Apple emphasizes that personal
data won't be used for advertising or profiling. And I have learned that
whenever a big company tells me my data is safe, I should trust them. But
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code on the screen to get started. There's actually a team of Russians out
to get the quick bits in order to harvest valuable juices and convert them
into new super steroids, BUT WE WON'T
LET THEM. VALVE'S upcoming Steam machine
may have just leaked at some check retailers with the listing showing a 512
GB model around $950
and a two TB version near $1,70.
That's based on a rough conversion from Czech Coruna,
>> a baggo. Oo, I want to take [laughter] you. >> WCCF points out that similar hidden
listings popped up at multiple stores, though they likely include some retailer
markups. Compared with consoles like the PS5, that's definitely on the pricey
side, but Valve has not confirmed any official prices yet, and I always
anxiously await the word of Gabin. Should I read the next bit, Gabin? His
silence speaks volumes. Windows 11's latest insider build allows admins to
finally uninstall Microsoft C-Pilot as long as the device is managed and you're
the administrator. This works on pro, enterprise, and edu versions, giving IT
teams more control over the AI tools on work devices. Copilot has
single-handedly turned me into a gruff, individualistic veteran cop from an 80s
action movie. I work alone. I don't want a co-pilot. Not after what happened to
Clippy.
As for other Microsoft news, in what I'll tentatively call a developing
story, it appears that Twitter and YouTube users are finding that a Windows
7 activation key belonging to infamous dead American financier, human
trafficker, and child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein can be used to
successfully activate Windows 7 Home Premium. Good job. Free Windows. Now
you're on a watch list. Was it worth it? Micron is trying to smooth things over
as it shuts down its consumer brand. Crucial, reassuring users they're
somehow still looking out for consumers. I don't know how, but maybe they'll
explain that to us later. At the same time, the company warns that the DRAM
shortage could stick around until 2028. We might not even be around back then,
meaning higher RAM and SSD prices are probably here to stay
>> by themselves. In [laughter] fact, as PC Gamer points out, a Tokyo computer shop
is so desperate for inventory that it's put out a call for customers to sell
their used gaming PCs offering pretty high prices for desktops, laptops, and
even non-gaming rigs because new stock is critically low amid ongoing hardware
shortages. At least Japan's got great convenience stores and delicious
okonamiyaki. First time I've read that ever. All I've
got is a Windows 7 activation key and my faith in Gabin. SpaceX just got FCC
approval to launch another 7,500 Starlink satellites, which will end up
bringing their total to around 15,000. And they'd better hurry. China just
filed to put 200,000 satellites in orbit. These maneuvers are happening
amidst a Starlink blackout occurring in Iran, where authorities are using
military jammers to block satellite internet. Trump says he's talking to
Elon Musk, their friends on again, about restoring the internet in Iran, which
I'm sure he'll get to once he's done his flame war with the entirety of the UK
government. And Overview Energy just demonstrated sending beams of power from
a moving airplane to devices on the ground, proving their airborne energy
transfer concept can actually work. Announced in December, the tech was a
successful proof of concept. And while it's still early days, it's a promising
step towards space-based solar power, where sunlight collected in orbit could
be sent down to Earth just like the regular sun does, or used in other
high-tech energy applications in the future. It feels good to end the show on
an upbeat note like that. Oh. Oh, no. No. They're going to use airplanes to
block out the sun and steal all the solar energy, aren't they? We're always
getting Mr. Burns. >> It's like he never died. >> But you're not going to get burned if
you come back on Wednesday for more tech news. In fact, you might even get to see
a new beefcake. James, what is it? I've
convinced the Quickfits to lend me some valuable juices and I'm going to
experiment with super steroids. >> He's joking. >> Do he's joking, guys. [laughter]