Who wants some tech news? What, what, you can't, you can't see it?
You want me to, you want me to, okay, I'll just move. Is this, is this good more?
Okay, I just, I just, I'll come, okay, right, yeah.
YouTube is taking its war against ad blockers to a whole another level and experimenting
with server-side ad injection. Basically, baking the ad directly into the video,
making it much harder for ad blockers to block. The test was spotted by SponsorBlock,
a crowdsourced extension for identifying and skipping baked-in sponsor segments.
They set up a server to detect when these ad injections are happening,
so SponsorBlock knows to reject timestamp submissions
from affected users, like protecting the rest of the partygoers from your drunk friend.
Let go, I want to show them this timestamp, it's a good one.
In a statement given to Android Authority, YouTube seemed to confirm that it is playing
with this particular brand of fire, saying it's improving its performance and reliability
in serving both organic and ad video content,
looping both videos and ads into one bucket of content
in a very inclusive way. Some people come to YouTube just for the ads,
you didn't think about that, did you, ad block? What about them? SponsorBlock's FAQ claims that, theoretically,
ad block, uh, finds a way.
Mwah, mwah, mwah, mwah, mwah, mwah, mwah, mwah.
That's supposed to be the Jeff Goldblum laugh from the helicopter in Jurassic Park.
Moving on. Microsoft has delayed the launch of its controversial Recall Windows 11 feature
after users went into fits of hysteria
just because it would screenshot everything you do on your laptop and store it in a searchable database
that hackers could simply pinch and drop into their hacker tote bag for convenience.
That's what they would look like if they were just to be like, hmm, perfect.
Thanks, Microsoft. That's what would happen. They're a sassy bunch.
Recall will not be included on co-pilot plus PCs
when they launch next week and will instead be available as a preview feature
in Windows Insider program builds, making this, unfortunately,
something less than a total Recall Recall.
That was just for me. This all has been pretty hard to watch. I mean, sure, Microsoft eventually said
they'd change Recall to be opt-in and require biometric sign-in for each use,
but they're kind of flippant dismissal of any privacy risks,
despite being the $3 trillion user data
sucking gremlin that they are, meant that the introduction of Recall is,
as put by the Verges Tom Warren, truly a giant own goal.
It's unclear what damage this has done to the company's co-pilot AI brand,
but it's a good thing they were already going to remove that co-pilot app
that was quietly installed on Windows PCs that you didn't know about,
even though Microsoft said it was harmless. Oh, oh, it was harmless.
Oh, oh, okay. Apple's landmark agreement with OpenAI,
which sees ChatGPT access integrated directly into iOS 18,
reportedly didn't involve any money changing hands.
Sources told Real Housewives of Cupertino showrunner Mark Gurman
that Apple isn't paying for ChatGPT because OpenAI having access
to Apple's hundreds of millions of devices, because they do think of them as theirs,
not yours, common mistake, is worth way more than any deal you could make.
Yes, Apple is paying the maker of the fastest service ever
to reach one million users, other than Meta's threads, in exposure.
Everyone's been talking about what a great deal Apple made, putting OpenAI in their place,
but I'm seeing a parallel to Google who pays Apple 20 billion a year
to be the default search engine in Safari, which would make it seem like OpenAI
is the one who got the great deal, and they can't have both gotten great deals
in an equal exchange. That's not exciting at all. And by the way, how different is Apple's AI features
from Microsoft Recall anyway? I mean, Apple does have a better reputation for privacy,
and they are primarily using their own foundation models,
but shortly after announcing their partnership, OpenAI just appointed the former head of the NSA
to its board of directors. And Edward Snowden says there's only one reason to do that,
but he didn't say what that is, and chatGPT didn't have any ideas, so...
Now, for the quick bits, and I'll just get out of your way so you can enjoy them.
Okay, good. Is this...
Can you see? Can you see now? Is it good?
Okay. So a finished startup is claiming that its special chip
can boost the performance of any CPU by up to 100 times,
even allegedly enhancing legacy code without any alteration.
Now, Finland's own state-owned VTT research organization
is backing the startup, but it's still a bit hard to take the company seriously.
I mean, for starters, the chip in question is called a Parallel Processing Unit, or PPU for short.
I mean, sure, maybe we're being immature here, but the startup's name is Flow Computing,
which means it's completely factually accurate to say the sentence, flow improves computers
by adding a unit to increase PP.
And that was a Jacob original.
Japan has passed a law similar to the EU's Digital Markets Act,
and it's already targeting Apple and Google. Like the DMA, it will force Apple and Google
to allow more competition on their platforms like third-party app stores.
Both companies released separate statements saying that they will engage with Japanese regulators,
whatever that means. What we know for sure, though, is that Epic is already celebrating
and planning to bring Fortnite back to iOS in Japan next year.
That'll get some engagement. All the kids will be flossing again, drinking Slurp Juice.
I don't know, I don't play it. Elon Musk will be getting a record-breaking pay package
as the Tesla CEO after it was initially blocked by a judge in Delaware,
who thought it wasn't fair to shareholders, the same ones who just approved this pay package,
proving that that judge should shut up because she's not their dad.
At yesterday's shareholder meeting, Elon thanked his shareholders with a passionate,
hot damn, I love you guys. The same day that a number of Tesla shareholders
filed a lawsuit against Musk for publicly claiming
Tesla is an AI company while buying AI chips through Tesla,
only to send them to his other AI company, XAI.
And that's causing damage to Tesla more than any finger-breaking Cybertruck flaws ever could.
The US State Department announced sanctions on Beijing-based PC hardware manufacturer
Deepcool on Wednesday, after it allegedly sold more than $1 million worth of goods
to two Russian companies known to support the war effort against Ukraine.
About a day later, UK tech outlet, KitGuru,
published a video tour of Deepcool's main production facility,
which is just phenomenal timing. I don't know, maybe Deepcool can take a page
out of Huawei's book and avoid sanctions by trading their products for beef.
They can then sell for a profit. I mean, it makes sense. Defying the US government involves some serious stakes.
Wait, where are you going? Wait, I'm sorry, come back. And multiple politicians have announced
they'd like to renounce their rights as sentient beings and serve as heralds for our new AI overlords.
Victor Miller, who's running for mayor of Cheyenne, Wyoming, said he wants to serve as a, quote,
meat puppet for a chat GPT-based bot called Vic,
which stands for virtual integrated citizen. And over in England, Steve Endicott
will represent AI Steve, a business oriented voice assistant
created by Neural Voice, the company at which Endicott is the CEO.
I can only hope these men get laughed out of the race, but if not, at least I can feel okay about this story
in which a real photograph posed as an AI image and won an AI art contest.
Oh no, but the other guy spent all night on finding the right prompt.
How does it feel? I'll tell you how it feels.
Just like how I'll feel if you don't come back on Monday for more tech news.
Like my cyber truck just broke my finger because I thought it cared about my well-being,
but it's a truck.