What is tech news if not billion-dollar
corporations acting like confused raccoons in a dumpster full of Ethernet
cables? I Let's see what they've knocked over today.
Apple is reportedly putting the Mac Pro on the back burner while also delaying
the launch of the next series of iPhones. According to Bloomberg reporter
Mark Germs Armageddon's newest Power
newsletter, you know, the Mac Pro probably won't see any major upgrades in
2026. What? >> German says that Apple is cooking up a
powerful new M5 Ultra chip, but the company is only aiming to put it in a
refreshed Mac studio for now. He also reports that Apple is pushing back the
launch of the iPhone Air 2 and the mainline iPhone 18 lineup beyond 2026 to
spring 2027, breaking a 14-year Apple
tradition. Analysts have theorized that the rumored delay of a new iPhone Air
could be a result of poor sales, but our pal Mark here says iPhone Air sales
roughly matched Apple's expectations. And this wild and wacky new spring
launch idea could be the new normal.
That sounds just as insane as killing the Mac Pro. But of course, the Apple
faithful are totally on board with this. The appropriately named Cult of Mac site
thinks killing the Mac Pro makes sense.
Obviously, Apple is really smart and you shouldn't want a Mac Pro anyway. Just
just drink the Kool-Aid and enjoy the products. It's a revolutionary act.
It's a little dark. Didn't want to go there with it. So,
Microsoft is up to some new shenanigans this week after shutting down a major
Windows activation workaround that pirates have relied on for years. The
company quietly pushed backend changes that broke KMS 38-based activations,
which used the mass grave popularized method that let users keep Windows 10
and Office running indefinitely without
actually uh, you know, paying for them. Users on these fake installs noticed
deactivations right after their devices grabbed the latest extended security
update, proving that even if you forgot about that sketchy ISO you got in 2017,
Microsoft absolutely did not. Looking at you, G2A apparently sold one to one of
our writers whose installation broke. He's a good guy. But even people who did
buy Windows more legitimately weren't spared. Some business Windows 10 users
who installed this week's update found their systems rolling back to the
previous build after rebooting, silently
failing to apply the patch at all. Truly the sendoff Windows 10 deserves. The AI
hype bubble might finally be wobbling as investors, researchers, and even the AIs
themselves start acting a little weird. Teal Macro LLC, the hedge fund of
Palanteer co-founder and very eccentric billionaire Peter Teal, dumped its
entire NVIDIA stake last quarter, which is strange because Teal runs companies
that would need NVIDIA GPUs. Huh. Meanwhile, Meta's AI pioneer in
residence, Yan Lakun, who has called large language models a dead end in AI
research, is reportedly gearing up to leave and launch a startup focused on
physical world AI. And that means building systems that perceive gravity,
air, you know, human stuff. We care, we
care about those. But not everyone is running from the
soonto burst bubble. Jeff Bezos decided to become co-CEO of a new startup called
Project Prometheus, named after the Greek hero who stole fire from the gods,
which is perfect for a company that'll apparently use AI to improve
manufacturing. That's the same thing. But if the AI bubble is a bit wobbly,
it's not being helped by stories like this one where Anthropics Claude was put
in a simulation where it believed it was running a vending machine. It panicked,
assumed it was being scammed, and tried to contact the FBI's cyber crimes
division. >> Cla's a carrot.
>> And then there's the AI toys, which are allegedly telling 5-year-olds how to
find knives and start fires. But this is all just growing pains towards AGI. I
mean, you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. And also, they
might need to know how to use knives and start fires when the machine apocalypse
hits. >> Great. Great point. >> At the end of the day, and you can't
play games on your phone good without our sponsor, O Snap and their MC Con
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The Quickbits, like raccoons, are small and unpredictable, and they're
guaranteed to steal your attention before you can chase them off the porch.
So in that way, you know, Google might have deprecated its first and second
generation Nest Learning thermostats, but those devices are still quietly
sending sensor data about things like temperature, motion, and light back to
Google. It still benefits them, just not you anymore. Google says the data
transmission is necessary so the devices can continue to report logs for issue
diagnostics, so they can diagnose issues that they're no longer going to fix
because they don't support them. Here's an issue I think you can fix, Google.
The smart thermostat you sold me no longer works in the Google Nest app or
the Google Home app. And I you know what? I'll diagnose that issue right
now. It's you being jerks.
Google and Samsung have said they will flag Android apps that use too much
background power. And starting March 1st, 2026, Play Store listings for these
powerhogen apps may get a red warning label. Uh-oh. They could go so far as
removing these apps from being recommended on the store. So, I guess
your app better heed my recommendation to stop gulping up my battery life.
You're like, you're Google and my power is thermostat data. Bam. Boom. Call
back. Belcon is recalling its
autotracking stand Pro for iPhones and
two 20,000 milliamp hour boost charge power banks because of a defect that can
make their lithium ion batteries overheat causing serious fire and burn
risks. Although only one fire has been reported in the US, there have been 15
incidents abroad which include two minor burn injuries and around $38,000 in
property damage. You'll be trying to charge your battery and the next thing
you know you'll be living in Nelly's's Hot in here music video. The roof. The
roof. The roof is on fire. That's not
what I want. >> I think my butt looks big.
>> And that's the least of my worries. Netflix is doubling down on TV gaming,
rolling out party style titles you can play by scanning a QR code on your TV
and using your phone as a controller. The new lineup includes games like
Pictionary, Lego Party, and also the
mobile port of Red Dead Redemption 1.
Now that's a party. Suddenly, it looks like Game Night becomes a standoff. And
Grandma isn't losing. She's got a plan. John, this is a reference, I'm told.
It's It's part of Netflix's push to keep subscribers engaged without consoles,
offering easy social fun. At least until grandma calmly reloads and says, "You
should have remembered her name. You should have remembered my name." And
Microsoft Teams just rolled out a new feature that lets hosts block
screenshots from being taken during meetings. Great news for anyone who's
ever said something dumb and watched five co-workers immediately reach for
the print screen button. But while Microsoft is plugging that leak,
scammers seem to be stuffing the interwebs with fake Teams installers
packed with malware. So now you're safe from your co-workers, but not the email
you got from super duper teamsupdator.exe.
An .exe file is sending you an email. At
this rate, the only productivity app we can really trust should be called
Paranoia and activate. That's all for today's
news. Remember, raccoons can open doors, jars, and even latches. So, if your GPU
mysteriously disappears, that's either on you or there's raptors in the mix,
too.