1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,040 You're back again? You've been consuming 2 00:00:03,080 --> 00:00:10,480 a lot of tech news lately. I think it's time to talk to someone. No, not me. I 3 00:00:07,280 --> 00:00:12,520 don't count. I'm not real. 4 00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:17,160 Qualcomm has announced a new series of laptop processors representing a quantum 5 00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:21,560 leap forward in performance and power efficiency. So, the company has modified 6 00:00:19,440 --> 00:00:27,120 their Snapdragon branding the only way any executives know how. Adding an X. 7 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:31,000 Cuz they're all teenagers in the 90s. But this isn't just a naming change. 8 00:00:28,680 --> 00:00:35,960 Snapdragon X chips will be the first publicly available processors developed 9 00:00:33,080 --> 00:00:41,280 by Nuvia, a company founded by a few key members of the Apple Silicon team and 10 00:00:38,120 --> 00:00:43,920 acquired by Qualcomm in 2021. Like 11 00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:48,040 Apple's M1 and M2, Qualcomm's upcoming laptop CPUs, which will be revealed at 12 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:52,080 the Snapdragon Summit later this month, won't simply feature modified 13 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:56,600 off-the-shelf ARM Cortex chips, but a fully custom architecture called Orion. 14 00:00:55,240 --> 00:01:00,360 Building their own custom architecture is partly why Apple was able to achieve 15 00:00:58,600 --> 00:01:05,199 the mind-blowing performance and efficiency boost they did with the M1, 16 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:09,120 which made the PC master race question everything they had ever known. Gabe 17 00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:14,400 Newell is just a man? He can bleed just like us? All 18 00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:18,880 that said, there's more than a handful of reasons to be skeptical that these 19 00:01:16,280 --> 00:01:22,840 chips will be good. ARM is still suing Qualcomm over not paying the proper 20 00:01:20,800 --> 00:01:27,280 royalties for Nuvia produced products, and Qualcomm's existing laptop 21 00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:32,760 processors have a reputation for sucking almost as bad as the ARM version of 22 00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:34,720 Windows. So, Snapdragon X chips already 23 00:01:32,760 --> 00:01:37,400 have their work cut out for them. I mean, 24 00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:43,520 do we even want Apple Silicon chips for PCs? Sounds dumb. Microsoft has gone deep on 25 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:47,400 AI, but they haven't quite figured out how to make any money off of it yet. 26 00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:51,960 Probably because they've been scrolling past a lot of excellent advice from 27 00:01:49,680 --> 00:01:57,120 former crypto bros on social media. Diamond hands. Create pictures of 28 00:01:54,480 --> 00:02:02,320 diamond hands. GitHub Copilot, Microsoft's coding assistant, costs 29 00:01:59,200 --> 00:02:05,640 users $10 a month, but reportedly lost 30 00:02:02,320 --> 00:02:07,360 Microsoft over $20 per month per user, 31 00:02:05,640 --> 00:02:11,960 with power users apparently costing Microsoft up to $80 a month in 32 00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:16,360 electricity costs and other service fees. 1 and 1/2 million people have 33 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:20,600 already tried GitHub Copilot, and Microsoft's service is incredibly 34 00:02:18,160 --> 00:02:25,040 popular among coders, which is terrible news for Microsoft. Even worse, this 35 00:02:23,320 --> 00:02:29,600 isn't necessarily a problem that will disappear as users scale, because the 36 00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:33,880 LLM that powers Copilot sucks up resources like a black hole doing a 37 00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:38,360 kegstand. That's what we used to call Jimmy in college. 38 00:02:35,920 --> 00:02:43,880 As of this past April, ChatGPT cost OpenAI an estimated $700,000 a day just 39 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:48,720 to run. That's probably why both Microsoft and Google will be charging an 40 00:02:45,880 --> 00:02:51,920 additional $30 per month per user for the recently announced AI-powered 41 00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:57,360 upgrades to their business software suites. AI made up 10 to 15% of Google's 42 00:02:55,080 --> 00:03:01,520 energy consumption back in 2021, and researchers estimate that if generative 43 00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:06,000 AI was added to every Google search, it would consume as much energy as the 44 00:03:03,600 --> 00:03:11,160 entire country of Ireland. That's either a lot or not very much at all. I I don't 45 00:03:09,240 --> 00:03:16,360 typically think of energy in units of Irelands. And crucially, neither do the 46 00:03:13,920 --> 00:03:20,480 Irish. A California court has ruled that Facebook's ad targeting system is 47 00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:24,720 discriminatory because it requires advertisers to choose demographic 48 00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:29,960 characteristics like age and gender to determine which users will see their 49 00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:31,960 ads. This is an amplified by Facebook's 50 00:03:29,960 --> 00:03:35,800 lookalike audience tool, which attempts to match businesses with potential 51 00:03:33,640 --> 00:03:40,000 customers that share similar traits to their current audience. To be clear, 52 00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:44,440 this wasn't a dispute over ads featuring truck nuts and whiskey-flavored 53 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:48,920 toothpaste. Real product. Really? Yes. Why aren't I getting those 54 00:03:46,520 --> 00:03:53,240 ads? Rather, an older woman found that she was being excluded from ads offering 55 00:03:51,240 --> 00:03:57,840 favorable deals on life insurance targeted at younger men. If upheld, the 56 00:03:55,760 --> 00:04:02,080 decision might require every ad-based platform on the internet to restructure 57 00:03:59,760 --> 00:04:06,560 their ad targeting systems. So, Meta is likely to appeal the decision. Can't 58 00:04:04,240 --> 00:04:11,520 have that. Also in California, the Delete Act passed into law, which means 59 00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:15,120 that California data brokers must offer free, simple channels for users to 60 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:19,079 request that their information be deleted. And an expansive right to 61 00:04:17,359 --> 00:04:23,440 repair bill was also recently signed into law, though it passed with Apple's 62 00:04:21,079 --> 00:04:28,240 blessing, so take that with a grain of salt. You know what they say, an apple a 63 00:04:25,680 --> 00:04:32,080 day keeps the regulators away, which must be why there's no apples in Europe. 64 00:04:30,360 --> 00:04:38,920 Fun fact. Now, it's time for quick bits brought to you by lttstore.com. 65 00:04:35,480 --> 00:04:41,000 Feels weird, but okay. They, we just 66 00:04:38,920 --> 00:04:45,600 announced the stubby screwdriver last month, and it has the same great ratchet 67 00:04:42,920 --> 00:04:49,840 as the full-sized LTT screwdriver. Its light back force makes it easy to drive 68 00:04:47,840 --> 00:04:55,120 any screw, whether or not they signed the waiver. Old stubby here is 4 in in 69 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:59,520 length, so it's super pocketable and legal to carry on planes for 70 00:04:56,680 --> 00:05:04,680 self-defense if things come to that. The strong magnet in the shaft ensures 71 00:05:01,960 --> 00:05:08,720 the six included bits and your screws don't go anywhere except into the 72 00:05:06,720 --> 00:05:12,000 handle's built-in bit storage and the proper screw holes, respectively. Did 73 00:05:10,840 --> 00:05:16,520 you just call me a screw hole? What? Uh 74 00:05:14,200 --> 00:05:20,840 Anyway, Mr. Stubby screwdriver son is durable and made with chemical-resistant 75 00:05:18,640 --> 00:05:26,760 plastics, and you can get yours at the link below. Aw, quick bits, man. 76 00:05:24,720 --> 00:05:31,200 I could listen to them forever up until we hit five. Adobe has announced major 77 00:05:29,160 --> 00:05:36,360 updates to AI features across its creative suite, including three new 78 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:39,720 generative AI models: Firefly 2, Firefly 79 00:05:36,360 --> 00:05:41,640 Design, and Firefly Vector. With 9 g of 80 00:05:39,720 --> 00:05:47,280 protein. Adobe is also launching its first text-to-vector image generator, 81 00:05:44,320 --> 00:05:51,520 and they teased a new AI upscaling tool, which can be used for both clips of old 82 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:56,400 movies and GIFs so compressed they're about to collapse into a supernova. Deep 83 00:05:53,720 --> 00:06:01,040 fried. Another upcoming feature is fast fill, essentially generative fill for 84 00:05:58,720 --> 00:06:05,240 video. And unlike many companies, we can trust that Adobe has the bravery to make 85 00:06:03,120 --> 00:06:10,960 us pay through the nose for it all. T-Mobile has decided its price lock 86 00:06:07,680 --> 00:06:13,200 guarantee is only for their newest, most 87 00:06:10,960 --> 00:06:17,000 expensive plans, and is therefore forcibly switching subscribers with 88 00:06:14,920 --> 00:06:20,920 cheaper grandfathered plans onto higher-cost ones. Hey, it's just 89 00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:25,040 business. For the affected plans, customers will allegedly be alerted on 90 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:29,200 the 17th before being charged an extra $10 a month per line. Something T-Mobile 91 00:06:27,280 --> 00:06:33,080 won't go out of their way to tell you is you can opt out of the change by calling 92 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:37,360 customer service and complaining a lot. It's the one simple trick that cell 93 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:42,000 phone providers hate. Intel has released two new driver updates for their Arc 94 00:06:39,280 --> 00:06:47,040 GPUs this past week. The first increases performance by up to 119% 95 00:06:45,360 --> 00:06:52,480 as long as you're playing one of the 20 listed games, with the big winner being 96 00:06:49,080 --> 00:06:56,520 this year's hottest game, Deus Ex: Human 97 00:06:52,480 --> 00:06:57,880 Revolution. It gets better every year. 98 00:06:56,520 --> 00:07:03,000 And the main character's voice sounds even more I didn't ask for this. Even 99 00:07:00,640 --> 00:07:07,080 more gaspy. I'm part robot, you know. 100 00:07:05,160 --> 00:07:11,480 Fortunately, Intel's newest driver update increases Starfield performance 101 00:07:09,320 --> 00:07:15,840 by 117% or 149% 102 00:07:14,120 --> 00:07:21,080 depending on resolution. To celebrate, Intel quietly released an even more 103 00:07:17,880 --> 00:07:22,960 budget graphics card, the A580. This 104 00:07:21,080 --> 00:07:27,480 would be great news if it wasn't like $10 less than some models of the much 105 00:07:25,240 --> 00:07:30,360 superior A750. I know you're trying to compete with NVIDIA, Intel, but that 106 00:07:29,040 --> 00:07:35,800 doesn't mean you should emulate their pricing strategy. Okay, so let's take a 107 00:07:33,880 --> 00:07:39,520 step back. Google has changed the default option for logging into personal 108 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:44,080 accounts. Instead of putting in your password, users will start seeing 109 00:07:41,440 --> 00:07:47,760 prompts to create and use passkeys, which are digital credentials unlocked 110 00:07:45,880 --> 00:07:51,680 by things like a fingerprint, a face scan, a PIN, basically anything that 111 00:07:50,240 --> 00:07:55,080 doesn't give you the option of using strong password1! for 112 00:07:55,640 --> 00:08:02,320 Passkeys are rolling out in more places across the tech universe, but you can 113 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:06,360 still use your password and opt out of seeing the new prompts every time you 114 00:08:03,840 --> 00:08:11,720 log in if the risk of being hacked for you is part of the whole thrill. Oh, no, 115 00:08:09,360 --> 00:08:18,040 don't hack me. Oh. That would be naughty. And a 22-year-old 116 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:21,560 Firefox bug has finally been fixed by a 117 00:08:18,040 --> 00:08:23,800 23-year-old first-time Firefox coder, 118 00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:27,520 who was horrified to find out that the annoying bug that caused tooltips to 119 00:08:25,800 --> 00:08:32,039 hang around in the foreground even after command-tabbing away from the browser 120 00:08:29,160 --> 00:08:36,080 was almost as old as they are. In fact, it's so old it actually predates the 121 00:08:34,120 --> 00:08:40,760 name Firefox, going back to when the browser was just called Mozilla. The bug 122 00:08:38,479 --> 00:08:45,920 likely lasted two decades because it was both tricky to reproduce and more 123 00:08:42,599 --> 00:08:47,840 annoying than dangerous, just like me. 124 00:08:45,920 --> 00:08:51,760 Got them. And the trick to getting more tech news is to come back on Friday for 125 00:08:49,960 --> 00:08:55,520 another episode of TechLinked. That's the kind of little tips you won't learn 126 00:08:53,680 --> 00:08:58,400 that stuff elsewhere, so come on back.