Welcome back to the show that keeps you informed of the latest tech news. Even
though The Simpsons did all of it first 20 plus years ago, Microsoft has
followed through on its threat to kill Skype unless people stop slandering
Teams online, which has not happened because Teams is what you would get if
you put Slack in a blender with Nordon antiirus and an Atlantic oil spill.
Skype has had a heck of a run. It was launched by Swedish, Danish, and
Estonian developers in 2003 before being bought by eBay in 2005 and then bought
again by a group of investors that included the Canada Pension Plan. With
Skype dead, many Canadian boomers might join it, which is okay because we need
their houses. That's a joke. Microsoft saved those boomers by acquiring Skype
in 2011. But 14 years later, the tech
giant is really hoping Skype users will
scadaddle over to the free version of Teams instead, which already sucks in
terms of branding alone. Like, I'm going to ask my pen pals to install Teams. It
sounds like I'm recruiting them into my multi-level marketing cult. But it also
sucks that some of Skype's best features are being paywalled or just going away.
The Skype Twitter account confirmed that on Teams free, group calls are limited
to 60 minutes without a subscription and you can't call phone numbers. Although
later the account said you can, but only until your Skype credits run out. Then
you'll have to pay. Or, and here's the real kicker, you could use one of the
many alternatives. Literally every app has video calling now. Skype. RIP.
Company towns are back, baby. On Saturday, a group of mostly SpaceX
employees voted 212 to6 to incorporate a
new city called Starbase near the company's Starbase launch site in Bokh
Chica Beach, Texas. Reports indicate the six people who voted against the measure
do not work for SpaceX and are probably going to be really bored at town hall
meetings. Elon celebrated the city's incorporation, something he's been in
favor of since 2021. Starbase, Texas
will house about 500 official residents and hopefully inspire country songs that
include mentions of rockets and space alongside the traditional guns, trucks,
beer, and dogs. Many also hope the city won't be the kind of company town that
traps its employees in a life of servitude because the company's script
is Dogecoin and its value tanked after Elon tweeted something, just like how
those things happened in the olden days. OpenAI has backtracked on its plan to
transform into more of a for-profit operation, instead opting to transition
its for-profit company into a public benefit corporation, which will continue
to be controlled by its nonprofit arm. And if you're unfamiliar with OpenAI's
wacky corporate structure, I'm sorry, you'll have to Google it. While it
certainly seems like OpenAI went this route to avoid legal issues, their blog
post frames it as the responsible thing to do. like pushing kids to use AI.
Google has emailed parents who use Family Link, notifying them that kids
under 13 will soon be able to use Gemini
if you let them. Uh, this actually makes sense. Adults have already gotten bored
of asking AI to show them a T-Rex. But kids, entertainment for days. Just first
make sure you go through Google's Family Guide for AI so you can explain to your
kids how AI's inner workings are still a black box and we really don't know what
the we're dealing with. It's dangerous. Be careful. Okay, have fun.
But hey, at least it looks like Google's trying to be responsible, unlike Meta,
whose new Meta AI app launched last week and is raising privacy concerns since
its appetite for data is only matched by a kid's need to see T-Rex pictures. The
app's social feed is also weird. I mean,
in an age when people are getting fed up with feeds full of AI generated filler,
now there's a social app that might as well be called Oops! all slop. That's
almost as bad as data brokers selling your personal info online. Thankfully,
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today. Now see, The Simpsons never did
the Quickbits, although Steamed Hams might count. Some GPU reviewers have
actually gotten their hands on the 8 GB variant of the RTX 5060Ti, including
German outlet Computer Base. During their testing, they found that the card
performed 14 to 17% worse in terms of
FPS when it was plugged into a PCIe 4.0
slot instead of a PCIe 5.0 slot. And
with such a small amount of VRAM, the card has to fetch data from system
memory more often, and PCIe 4.0 slots
just don't have big enough pipes to pipe all those numbers fast enough. Don't
tell me there's no actual pipes involved. This works for me. Microsoft
has begun rolling out the 24H2 update for Windows 11. Whether you like it or
not. Yeah, the update had a ton of bugs that only became obvious once they
rolled it out to the public, but they fixed those. I'm sure it'll be fine. If
you still don't want it, though, a support page says this update will be
rolled out automatically for devices that are not managed by IT departments.
So, you'll either have to stay up all night to stand watch over your PC, hire
a personal IT manager, or open wide.
Here comes the airplane. Ah, you actually open your mouth for a second. I
saw that. Time for an extra extra quick quick bit. Look, it's a hover bike. It's
called the Vololo Air Bike. That'd be a
fun way to go out. Sam Alman's OpenAI for-profit plans didn't work out. So, he
pivoted and brought his world company to the US, which will let Americans join
the people from other countries who have already scanned their eyes with World's
Orb device and received Worldcoin
cryptocurrency alongside cryptographic proof you are a real human. At least
according to this Orb. World also announced the Orb Mini, a
smartphonesized scanner you can point at other humans to prove they're real. and
I guess accept payment eventually. It seems weird, but hey, Razer's on board.
You'll be able to use World to verify your Razer ID so you can game with real
humans. At least until you all get
activated. Nintendo has sued Genki, the
accessory maker that revealed a 3D mockup of the Switch 2 before it was
even announced. They basically posted a full video of the console on their
website and brought a 3D printed mockup to CES and let people play around with
it. And yeah, that was probably unwise,
but man, were people really aware of who
Genki was for a bit there. And Sarabite has proven the durability of their
glass-based storage device by grilling it in an oven and boiling it in hot
water, although they stopped short of mashing it and sticking it in a stew.
Even after all that abuse, the data on the drive remained completely intact. To
be honest, I'm probably not going to pick one up, though, until I see them slice it with a katana and give it an
open-handed slap. The shame that comes after that can do the most damage. And
I'll be emotionally damaged if you don't come back here on Wednesday for more
tech news. I'm not trying to emotionally manipulate you. I'm just stating the
fact that if you're not here on Wednesday, you won't be able to stop me
from snapping rubber bands at myself until the pain goes away.
And that was that was maybe a little dark. I'm sorry.