So, I'm thinking about combining my love of tech news with my love of sausage.
And soon I'll try rebranding Tech LinkedIn as Tech Links, where I tell you
a variety of tech news stories while eating a variety of dectible meats. It
worked for hot ones. Microsoft is pulling official support for Windows 10
in less than 2 weeks. So, naturally, users appear to be flocking to the only
other version of Windows that makes sense, Windows 7. Huh. Yep. A slew of
articles has popped up to tell you that according to StatCounter, Windows 7 has
gone from only having a 2% share of the Windows version market to a 9.6% share,
an increase of nearly five times. Because who doesn't miss the safety and
warmth we all enjoyed inside our mother's wombs? I say we go back.
There's just one issue here. Stat Counter isn't exactly an infallible
source when it comes to market share because the site doesn't just count the
number of users out there using a given OS. It counts the number of page views
on websites that have embedded the stat counter tracker because they're
interested in usage numbers. And the problem with that is page views aren't
going to tell you how many devices are running a certain Windows version. It's
just going to tell you how many pages only on stock counters affiliated
websites are being loaded on a say
Windows 7 device. So it could be that
Windows 10 users are running away from the impending support cut off back into
the arms of the devouring mother. But this could also be explained by, you
know, someone booting up a ton of existing Windows 7 PCs and suddenly
browsing like mad. Also weird time to
abandon Windows 10 when everybody essentially gets a year of extended
security updates for free and when the new Windows 112H2 update that just is
dropping now actually makes the start button less dumb. Okay, but counterpoint
when you used Windows 7, your mom made you dinner all the time. And maybe she
will again. OpenAI has announced that they're launching Sora 2, their new
flagship video and sound generation model inside a new app also called Sora.
OpenAI's announcement comes a week after Meta unveiled Vibes, their new feed to
discover and create video content that we just totally missed reporting on last
week. I wonder why. >> No one cares. Ah, according to Sora 2's
launch video, it will generate videos that include sound and better physics
and body mechanics to improve realism. I
did see a skateboard video that really tricked me. Great. Now, when folks want
to share their nightmare fuel with people, you won't just have to see this
stuff, but you'll hear it, too. And it'll all be more realistic than ever.
You're welcome. On top of that, you can even make cameos in your videos,
essentially deep faking yourself into these horror shows. just by recording a
one-time video. Thankfully, OpenAI says they've built ways to avoid doom
scrolling and slooptimized feeds. Is that a quote?
>> Yeah. >> From you or from them? >> They came up with a term slopimized.
>> Yeah. >> They're just leaning into it. So that way you'll have more control over what
their algorithm is showing you. And sure, you know, why not? I'll I'll take
them at their word. Look what a great job they did with Chat GBD's parental
controls. Damn it. When I look up sausage content, I wanted to be
wholesome.
It's a tall ask. But this is just one part of the AI wave crashing over us all
this week. For example, Meta is doing their users a solid. The tech giant will
start collecting your AI chat data to serve you personalized ads on December
16th. But on the plus side, they're
giving you a heads up first. Oh my god, Zuck is so cool now. Wow. He's like one
of the bros. Meta's announcement came alongside a post featuring Instagram
boss Adam Maseri desperately trying to tell you and convince you that Meta's
products don't eavesdrop on you through your microphone. Those eerie ads for the
thing you were just talking to your friend about pop up because of all the other ways they spy on you. But not the
microphone. That would be too far. Google knows.
>> If you want AI to listen to your microphone, though, Google is finally
rolling out Gemini for Home, replacing its venerable Google Assistant in nearly
every Nest and Google Home device that's still functioning and launching two new
Nest Cams and a doorbell featuring the highest resolution ever seen in the
lineup. AI is in your house now, and if nothing gets its way, all up in your
phone, too. The company nothing that is has just launched what it calls a first
step towards an AI native operating system and what normal people would call
a store for apps made by Vibe Coding. It's called the Nothing Playground and
will host essential apps. You know, apps
for people who just cannot go without filling their phone with slop apps. I
wish I could call them slaps, but they don't.
But our sponsor does. Ah, War Thunder, the most comprehensive vehicle combat
game ever made. And you can play it for free on PC consoles and even your phone.
Somehow they managed to fit faithful recreations of more than 2500 historical
and modern tanks, planes, helicopters, and ships from 10 major nations in there
with intricate vehicle modeling and a sophisticated damage system. Uh, just
try to pick your jaw up off the floor when you're at the helm of the most
powerful war machines of our time. Okay? There's simply no game better suited for
fans of military history. So, join a worldwide community of over 70 million
players in epic PvP battles today. Check out War Thunder for free on PC, console,
and mobile using our links in the description. On Tech Links, the sausage
show. This part of the show will be called Quick Bites. And uh that means
that unfortunately they'll never be quite as fast as the Quick Bits on
account of the chewing. Apple is getting pestered by the Brits again. The UK
government has issued another order demanding access to the encrypted cloud
storage of Apple's users. However, the UK government was specifically this time
saying, "We want the British user data if we have a warrant and if there's a
threat to national security." This is not the first time the UK government has
tried to pull this off, sending a similar order back in January. But in
August, US National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard said that the US
had pushed the UK to drop their mandate for Apple to provide a backdoor. Well,
these hooligans are back at it again, and Apple will now need to defend its
walled garden standing as a bastion of user privacy. I'll admit, it's weird
every time I find myself cheering for a mega corporation, but you know what they
say about strange bedfellows. Is that a British thing? Sounds like it. Microsoft
is increasing the price of some of their Xbox Game Pass membership tiers. The PC
Game Pass is going from $11.99 a month to $16.49.
And more glaringly, the monthly cost of Game Pass Ultimate is going from 20
bucks all the way up to 30 bucks. Now, since Microsoft doesn't seem to care
about selling consoles, they need to get your money somehow. I mean, this we knew
this was coming. These price hikes do include some benefits, though. PC and
Game Pass Ultimate subscribers now get access to Ubisoft Plus Classics, and
Ultimate users get exclusive access to improved cloud game streaming quality
and resolution up to 1440p on select games. I have some friends that swear
Game Pass is genuinely too good a deal to pass up. Well, how about now,
Frederick? Qualcomm has announced a complete victory over ARM in their
longunning legal dispute over licensing agreements. If you don't remember, this
whole thing kicked off when Qualcomm acquired Nuvia, who had different ARM
licenses than Qualcomm, which resulted in ARM suing Qualcomm for making
products using those licenses. And basically, you know, this recent court
win allows Qualcomm to keep selling chips with designs developed by Nuvia.
Uh, do we cheer for that? I don't know. Naturally, this whole situation isn't
actually over as ARM declared that they plan on appealing the ruling, which is
great because, you know, we love updating you on licensing litigation.
Exhilarating. Intel's recent GPU driver updates appear to have resolved some
reported CPU overhead issues with their ARC GPUs. Hardware Unboxed confirmed
that Intel's latest driver significantly improved the B580s performance in some
games like Spider-Man Remastered where using a B580 with the new drivers paired
with an AMD Ryzen 5 5600 CPU saw the
average FPS increase by 31 frames.
That's that is some frames. It's worth
noting that these improvements are due to game specific updates and you won't
see the same results in every game, but it is nice that Intel is refining their
GPU's performance. Keep working Intel. You're going to be a real competitor in
the tech industry someday. And I'm sorry ahead of time to any arachnophobes, but
they're building spider robots
that build you houses. Build a house and get out of here. Crest Robotics has
introduced Charlotte, a spiderlooking robot that could be used to build
structures on Earth and other planets or
moons. The Robugs Extrusion System
collects sand, earth, and other materials, binds them in fabric,
compresses them, and poops them out as layers for a building. As you do, with
the aim being for Charlotte to construct homes in a single day. Now, on a
positive note for the arachnophobes, they want Charlotte to be used to build
a moon base. So, you might get the catharsis of seeing a spider shot far
away from you into space. You'll definitely also get the catharsis of
seeing more tech news if you come back on Friday. Now, do that. And if you
don't mind, I have to continue to argue about Italian versus Polish sausages
with my vegetarian coowriter. I think
Polish might be better, but I do love that Italian sausages are sweet and
spicy. I don't care. >> It's some people's job to make sausages.
What about the economy?