Yeah. Oh, it's you. You've come for tech
news again. To be honest, I'm I'm not sure what the
idea for this bit was, but I'm happy to
have wondered about it for a moment with you. Google has caught a nasty case of
whichever chronic condition afflicts Apple with the announcement of mandatory
verification for Android app developers beginning in 2026 for security reasons.
Most Android devices will be blocked from installing apps that are not
officially registered by verified developers. Now, this is already the
case for apps on the Google Play Store, Android's default app distribution
platform controlled by Google. But next year, registration and verification will
be required for all apps and developers,
even apps sideloaded from the internet, a vast web of connected platforms, also
largely controlled by Google. I guess that's where Google is coming from when
they ask you to think of this like an ID check at the airport. They're just
making sure they know who they're letting into their phone, the one in
your hand. It's actually Google's, but you know, it's fine. It's it's fine.
It's fine. you can use it. They have like a billion other ones. Framework has
announced an RTX 5070 laptop GPU module
that can be used to upgrade the Framework laptop 16 which originally
launched with a Radeon RX7700S
option. While a handful of super high-end laptops have used MXM format
GPUs, which can be swapped, Framework's new module is the first one in more than
a decade to offer an easy to install upgrade option for people who don't live
in a hole filled with half assembled electronics.
>> It's a man cave. It's a It's a cave.
Plus, it's nice to see a modular hardware startup actually follow through
and launch uh modular hardware. Oh, but
uh well, okay. They haven't actually launched it yet, so you can not
pre-order the standalone module for 700 bucks. What did you think? Because
Lionus is invested in Framework, I was going to suddenly love pre-ordering. I'm
not invested in them. I'm not invested in anything. I don't understand how that
works. In addition to the new module, the laptop 16 is now available with
Ryzen AI300 series CPUs, and it comes with a new 240 W USBC power adapter, the
first one offered by an actual laptop company. But they're not stopping there.
Framework is also working on some funky modules like the Wide Boy haptic
touchpad, an external GPU, and even a
trackpoint fingern. I don't think we needed the
demonstration framework CEO guy. I don't love seeing that, especially slowed down
with sexy music under it. Bjorn, stop that. Anthropic, aka Open AI with more
anxious energy, has settled the copyright lawsuit brought against it by
three book authors for an undisclosed sum, but it's probably less than the $1
trillion in damages potentially owed by the company if they had lost in court.
Now, while this lawsuit is fairly notable, being one of the 20 or so major
AI lawsuits currently being tracked by Wired, the fact that it's being settled
means it probably won't have a large effect on the largely unanswered
question of how to respect copyright while also letting an entire industry
get away with infringing on the copyright of every copyrighted thing
ever. But the lack of clarity is probably okay with tech companies. The
Computer and Communications Industry Association warned that this lawsuit
could financially ruin the entire tech
industry, which correct me if I'm wrong,
sounds like a U problem. Uh, the settlement also came just as Amazon was
getting hit by another class action lawsuit over the whole when you buy a
movie digitally, do you own it or you just kind of renting it until they
decide to stop letting you rent it question. Amazon successfully had a very
similar lawsuit dismissed in 2021. I
guess proving that at this point in the digital age, you don't own anything.
Copyright isn't really a thing anymore. So, Yarhar Fiddle D, I suppose. And oh
no, it's the police. Ah, just kidding. It's our sponsor. Dbrand, maker of the
kill switch, a feature-p packed protective case for the Switch 2. Now,
after some early controversy surrounding QC issues, Dbrand is reporting that
they've both issued free replacements to everyone affected and resumed shipments
to new customers. The Kill Switch features detachable Joy-Con grips with
ergonomic handles. And while Dbrand caught heat for telling people they were
holding their Switch too wrong, the new and improved design allows you to hold
your Switch as wrong as you want. That's Dbrand's words, not mine. Also available
is a travel cover, which is perfect if you ever happen to actually leave the
house. And yes, those are some Switch 2 cartridges you see there, because it
also has a nifty game card holder, which can store up to 10 games while on the
go. Rounding out the package is a customuilt and also newly improved dock
adapter with full 4K 60 pass through and easy one-handed undocking. With these
fixes in place and the shipping backlog finally starting to clear up, there's
never been a better time to grab a Dbrand kill switch for your Nintendo
Switch 2. If you want to check it out for yourself, just visit a very cool
website, my boss is very short.com. I am
deadly serious about the copyright for Quickbits, though. I actually think
there's like three YouTube channels that also use the term Quickbits for
something, but I don't look at them because it makes me so mad. OpenAI says
it will add parental controls to ChatGpt following a lawsuit brought against it
by the family of a teenager who ended his own life after ChatGpt actively
helped him explore methods to do so and
even tipped him off on ways to get around the chatbot safety restrictions.
In a blog post, OpenAI goes over some methods they're taking to strengthen
safeguards and says they'll soon introduce these parental controls so
parents can let their children have safe talks with the hallucinatory machine
intelligence that nobody also nobody knows how it works really. Suddenly,
Spotify is adding messaging features. And for some reason, it's only rolling
out on mobile in select Latin American markets for users over 16. But it'll
reportedly soon be available in the US, Canada, Brazil, EU, UK, Australia, and
New Zealand, too. I suppose this makes some sense given that Spotify, like
YouTube, is kind of a a social network,
but YouTube got rid of its direct messaging feature in 2019. And also,
what am I going to say? Uh, oh, just let me check my Spotify messages. Am I That
sounds dumb. Nothing, which I always have to specify is the smartphone
company. Great name, is caught up in a little controversy after a retail demo
of the Nothing Phone 3 showed off photos supposedly taken by the Phone 3's
camera. But guess what? Guess what?
Guess what? They weren't. co-founder and maybe JRPG character Akis Evangeladus
explained that the demo phones had to be preloaded with images 4 months before
launch. And while normally they preloaded images taken on older nothing
phones, there was like a shakeup with the team and the new people didn't get
the memo and they just took initiative and slapped some stock photos on there,
which Nothing did pay for at least, but
I mean, it was the wrong initiative to
take. Roll again. and two internet hives
of villain, 4chan and Kiwi Farms, are
suing the UK's Office of Communications, aka Offcom, over the age verification
requirements posed by the Online Safety Act. The websites say they're completely
based in the US. So why would they let a bunch of Brits tell them what to do?
They'd rather continue on not knowing their users business. And frankly, I
have to agree. The legality of the situation is unclear, but maybe this is
an attempt to get the attention of the US government, who apparently recently
got the UK to back down on its demand for a backdoor into Apple's iCloud
services. So,
good luck 4chan. I think it's all very confusing, which
is why you should come back on Friday for more tech news. I'll probably have
sorted out my feelings about all of this by that point. I mean, f that's in two
days, I'll probably have figured out pretty much everything by then.