I've surrendered my humanity and have transcended mortal form. I am no longer
a man, but a conduit of tech news. Feast
upon tech news. >> Android developers are revoling against
Google's upcoming sideloading restrictions, organizing a campaign at
keepandroid open.org. The fight is over
Android tightening rules around the installation of unverified or sideloaded
apps, specifically regarding developer verification and app installation.
Google's developer verification program, which was announced last year, will
require anyone distributing apps outside of the Play Store to register their
identity, upload signing keys, and pay a $25 fee, which was then followed by
Google's unveiling of advanced flow to let power users still install unverified
apps. The flow requires the user to go through a cumbersome one-time approval
process, then wait 24 hours before sideloading anything. According to
Android, these changes are designed to thwart high-pressured scam tactics that
cyber criminals often use. Detractors, however, are calling it a rugpull on
Android's original promise as an open alternative to Apple's iOS. And FDroid,
which is the open- source alternative to the Play Store, says the whole framework
could kill the open- source marketplace. Cyber security firms, on the other hand,
are calling it a reasonable compromise that protects users from social
engineering attacks. What's next? two-factor authentication to change your
ringtone. YouTube is doubling down on AI with Ask YouTube, a conversational
search feature currently in testing because scrolling through search results
obviously takes a ton of work. My fingers are hurting. I don't know about yours. The feature delivers a
step-by-step mix of text, videos, and shorts directly addressing your search
query. The demo explores how you can ask YouTube for help planning a 3-day road
trip from San Fran to Santa Barbara. and it will actually give you a whole
multimedia itinerary. You could then ask a follow-up question like, "Where can I
find good coffee?" It's currently only available to US-based YouTube premium
subscribers who are over the age of 18, but they're working on expanding it to
nonpremium users in the future. Don't expect total accuracy, though. Uh, a
Verge writer actually asked about the Steam Controller, and the AI confidently
claimed that the device has no joysticks, which would be a surprise to
the videos it pulled up since they all clearly show a joystick. Maybe ask
YouTube should have Oh, you know what? They should have asked YouTube. The US
Department of Commerce has ordered US companies to halt shipments to Chinese
chipmaker Huahong as it's been helping the blacklisted Huawei produce AI chips.
This move extends the ongoing chip-based game of will they, won't they, that the
US and China have been playing. This whole thing started in November when the
US blocked NVIDIA from selling AI chips to China. Then in January, it
conditionally approved the H200 sales and slapped a 25% tariff on them. Then
China blocked the imports of those chips. Then the US capped how many chips
it would expect. Then in March, everyone chilled out and came back into an
agreement. Then last week, commerce secretary and world's oiliest man Howard
Lutnik said China was blocking ship reports.
So yesterday he shut it all down again. Couldn't I have just said that part
instead of Okay.
These interruptions, however, don't seem to be slowing China's AI progress as it
just announced its first CPUon exascale
supercomput which it claims is made with zero foreign components. Who knows
what'll happen next in this Ross and Rachel style relationship that the US
and China are in. My money, I think, is on them having a kid in season 8 that
the writers forget about by the finale. Luckily, our writers didn't forget to
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quick bits. >> I I kind of imagined the editor putting lightning, but now they're probably not
going to put lightning, so it's going to look even cringier. Google's upcoming
Tensor G6 chip for the Pixel 11.
Damn. Google's upcoming Tensor G6 chip for the Pixel 11 might have a shiny new
CPU, but an embarrassing old GPU. According to a new leak, a redacted spec
image on the Mystic Leaks Telegram channel points to ARM's latest C1 CPU
cores paired with a Power VR graphics chip from 2021. Potentially a trade-off
for thermals and AI efficiency, meaning the Pixel 11 should fly through Gemini
prompts, but tap out the second you open Genchin Impact. A Virginia bank robber
is trying to beat his conviction by arguing in the Supreme Court that
geoence warrants are unconstitutional. Geoffence warrants let cops draw a
border around a crime scene and demand data from Google on every phone inside
of it. Critics say they're invasive and the bank robber is claiming it's
violated his Fourth Amendment rights, which since I've never actually read the
Constitution myself, I'm guessing is the right to rob a bank. Google Translate is
celebrating its 20th birthday by rolling out AI pronunciation practice on Android
for US and Indian users in English, Spanish, and Hindi. talking to your
phone and the AI gives you instant feedback on which sounds you butchered
and how to fix them. That would have been really helpful in the last freaking
prompt I had. Thank you. Chinese chipmaker. Haha.
It works very similar to Dolingo. Now, I
was going to make a joke about the Dualingo owl, but I got to tell you
folks that owl frightens me. He frightens me deeply, and I will not be
doing that. Please don't hurt me. A new paper from
Imperial College London, Stanford, and the Internet Archive found that 35% of
new websites since Jack GBPT's launch are AI generated or at least AI assisted
with 17.6% being fully AI written. Surprisingly,
the AI flood is actually making everything semantically sy and 107% more
positively toned. Here I was worried about AI Skynet. Turns out AI just wants
to cosplay as an overly enthusiastic CEO at a corporate retreat, which is somehow
worse. And OpenAI's open- source codeex system prompt reveals an oddly specific
rule regarding creatures. Never talk about goblins, gremlins, raccoons,
trolls, ogres, and pigeons, unless absolutely relevant, which apparently
was a big issue. A Google employee posted logs of his chat GPT 5.5 powered
OpenClaw agent repeatedly using the word goblin multiple times in a single day.
I'm laughing cuz this is my first time reading this. This is really funny. Sorry. The same prompt also tells Codeex
it has a vivid inner life, one that clearly involves pretending to be Norman
Osborne. Oh, dear God, I'm back. Oh, thank God it's over. This vessel may not
rest yet, but you, dear viewer, may
return Friday for more tech news.