You know, tech news isn't all fun and games, and given yourself little electric shocks
for fun, it can have real consequences, like finding out how good robots are getting.
So always do the tech news with a partner. If you don't have- I count as a partner, you're good.
Microsoft's Edge browser has been caught stealing people's Chrome tabs in broad daylight.
When the Verge reporter Tom Warren started up his PC after updating Windows, he was met
by Edge, automatically opening with all of his tabs open.
Doesn't seem that weird, except that he had those tabs open in Chrome, his default browser.
And Tommy's not alone. There have been a slow and steady buildup of reports from users complaining about their
Edge browsers just going ahead and importing browser data from Chrome without permission.
One person that this happened to even uninstalled Edge and deleted all of its app data from
Windows only to have it pop up having imported everything again after an update.
And this time, it was angry. Got a bit of a single white female situation.
You didn't mean to do that, did you? Turns out, Edge has a little-known feature that allows it to pull data from other browsers.
So when Microsoft decides to push another update that auto-launches the app, it'll take longer
for users to realize that isn't their grandma at all.
It's the wolf! Grandma, what great cookies you have!
Privacy researcher Zach Edwards pointed out that when reinstalling Windows, a screen appears
giving you the option to disable this feature. But it clearly nudges you towards keeping it on.
But if you missed that, you can also disable it in Edge's settings.
Who knows if that'll stick, though? That's half the fun.
Speaking of browsers, the company behind the unusual Arc browser, they're called the
browser company to make things less confusing, has launched ArcSearch, an iPhone exclusive
app with an AI-powered feature called BrowseForMe.
Because laying on the couch with your phone like this is just exhausting. AI-assisted search is nothing new, but instead of making you go back and forth with a chatbot,
ArcSearch will actually read six webpages and generate a summary web page for you, complete
with embedded YouTube videos and verified quotes, which probably could do with some
more verification afterwards since generative AI is involved, but I can't deny it looks
pretty convenient. But as with other AI-powered tools, heralded as the future of web browsing, this one sparking
concern about how publishers get compensated when their content is scraped by a bot instead
of a squishy human who can be lured into clicking a shiny ad for hot cheese sauce.
Ads like that don't work on robots. They hate that stuff. It gunks up their gears.
Ah, what are we gonna do? How do we sell cheese to robots?
People may have spit in the EU's face with their iOS changes announced last week, but
Amazon's Cajones apparently aren't as large.
The e-commerce giant has announced it's cancelling its $1.4 billion agreement to acquire iRobot,
the company behind Roomba, and did you know there's a mopping Roomba called Brava with
three As? Pretty cool. This is what Isaac Asimov had in mind.
Opposition from European regulators and an active investigation by the FTC cooled Amazon's
linoleum cleansing jets. Unfortunately, the same day the deal was cancelled, iRobot announced an operational restructuring
plan involving 31% of the company's 1130 employees being laid off while its co-founder
and CEO, Colin Engel, is stepping down.
Take a good look, Europe. You did this. Europe.
Europe! While there were concerns that the acquisition would lead to Amazon favoring its own products
on its marketplace, because they have done that many times before, others have pointed
out that iRobot's products are struggling while losing ground to many Chinese-made competitor
products, none of which have names that are nearly as simultaneously quaint and nonsensical.
A Roomba. Quick bits are the answer.
To what question? Indeed.
Last week, Apple announced its proposed changes in response to the EU Digital Markets Act
to a chorus of jeering and booze, because the company still wants to review every app
on offer on iOS, and they even added a potentially punishing new core technology fee for developers.
When asked about Apple's half-assed plan, EU internal market commissioner Thierry Breton
didn't comment on Apple directly, but told Reuters that company proposals that failed
to go far enough will be met with strong action.
It's like how when your mom doesn't say she'll punish you if your room is messy, just
that the house had better be clean when she gets home. It's a scary home to live in.
NASA has officially announced the end of the Ingenuity Helicopter's mission on Mars.
According to NASA, Ingenuity, or Gini, to its friends, is still functional in the sense
that it's upright and capable of communicating with NASA control back on Earth, but it likely
damaged one or more of its rotor blades, meaning that it's permanently grounded.
Over the course of three years, Gini managed 72 flights through Mars' ultra-thin atmosphere,
far beyond the original five test flights that NASA scientists expected.
Tragically, despite over two hours of total flight time, this little helicopter was still
unable to complete its ultimate goal and rescue Matt Damon.
Some say he's still up there, growing taters, cracking wise.
Fossil has officially thrown in the towel and will no longer be making smartwatches,
leaving them to an assortment of non-tech products none of us here care about.
They're basically dead to us. It's a big deal, but it also really, really isn't.
Fossil was possibly the biggest partner for Google's Wear OS platform, but despite launching
nearly a decade ago, Fossil smartwatches still only made up 2% of the smartwatch market.
This isn't coming out of nowhere, Fossil's last smartwatch was a refresh of the Fossil
Gen 6 back in late 2022, and they hadn't really said much since.
It's like having your girlfriend ghost you for over a month. The eventual breakup text isn't that much of a shock.
Canon, the Japanese camera and printer company, plans to start shipping chip-making machines
that use a new technology called nano-imprint lithography sometime this year.
The tech involves stamping chip designs onto silicon, as opposed to etching them using
EUV lithography, the technique used by industry leader ASML.
Canon says their stamping method, which sounds suspiciously like a printer, is significantly
cheaper and uses up to 90% less power than the way the Dutch company does it.
But at this point, we don't care if they're literally drawing the chip designs on with a pen.
We need chips to get cheaper, and for that to happen, we need more chips. And the Dutch have stood in our way for too long, Europe.
Speaking of Japanese Ws, the Japanese government will no longer require companies to submit
certain official documents in the form of CD-ROMs, mini-discs, and floppy discs, a media
format that is the same age as Mark Wahlberg, and also apparently the Quarter Pounder.
Okay. Since 2022, Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has been begging the other
various branches of the government to modernize their submission protocols, which apply to
important sectors throughout the Japanese economy, including aircraft and weapons manufacturers.
Unfortunately, this isn't an issue exclusive to Japan.
Many elderly planes and medical devices still require floppy discs, and the US government
only stopped using floppy discs to coordinate nuclear launches back in 2019.
Truly, proving the power of nostalgia. We have to move on.
And I know you have the power to come back on Wednesday for more tech news.
You're capable of so much, especially clicking that mouse on a video.
You got this.