Apple, Google, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Snapchat.
It's all tech news. Apple began rolling out iOS 18 today,
which of course means that your iPhone can now vote.
Or maybe it could have if the much-discussed Apple Intelligence
came along with the update. Unfortunately for Cupertino,
California's most prominent rectangle peddlers, this has also affected sales
of the newly revealed iPhone 16. Some outlets like the Verge claim that iOS 18
is still pretty cool without all that AI no one asked for.
For example, RCS support has arrived with read receipts and some reactions.
Great news for Android users who can now endure slightly less bullying
from their iPhone-owning friends. Just don't mention that Android
has basically had iOS 18's new home screen customization
features for like years now and you should be fine. In typical Apple fashion,
iOS wasn't the only operating system to get some love. macOS 15, AKA Sequoia,
adds the ability to mirror and control your iPhone on your Mac.
Even better, improvements have been made to the way that Windows snap into position on macOS.
And I won't make the same joke about that already kind of being a thing on other platforms.
iPadOS 18 is also here, bringing the cool new calculator app with math notes
that auto solves equations you write down. That was actually mind blowing to me.
Kudos to Apple. I don't just hate them. iPadOS is also getting a game mode
to improve gaming performance, which I'm sure a lot more people care about
than the fact that VisionOS 2 is rolling out for Vision Pro. Moving on.
AMD has apparently decided it wants to be like NVIDIA
in all the worst ways. Following in Team Green's footsteps,
CEO Lisa Sue has stated publicly that we really are a data center first company,
which is not only unfortunate for us lowly gamers and enthusiasts,
it's also apparently bad news for AMD's laptop partners.
Chip consultancy firm, AC analysis, claims that AMD's shift in focus
has created a rift between it and its OEM partners.
Many partners complain about miscommunication, unfilled promises, and generally poor treatment.
Weirdly, I think I got the exact same feedback the last time I was dumped.
According to the OEMs themselves, this is not the first time
they've had issues with AMD. Team Red is apparently notorious
for its inability to deliver chips either quickly or in sufficient quantities.
Some manufacturers told German outlet, Computerbase,
that AMD has left billions of US dollars on the table
by not being able to guarantee order fulfillment.
AMD has been saying they can change for years, and that is such a Team Red flag.
We were this close to having an Intel-powered PlayStation 6,
according to an exclusive report from Reuters.
The deal would have netted Team Blue an estimated $30 billion.
But it's not like the company desperately needed the work, right?
Right? While multiple chip companies submitted bids for designing and manufacturing the PS6's processor,
it all came down to AMD and Intel. Unfortunately, Intel lost for a couple reasons.
Two sources told Reuters that Intel got into a dispute
over profit margins that prevented the company from settling on a price with Sony.
Another reason that Intel lost out to AMD is that AMD made the chip that powers the PS5.
Choosing Intel for the successor console allegedly would have put Sony's usual
backwards compatibility at risk. Or at the very least, made it more expensive
for the company to sort the feature out. Regardless, Intel lost the chance to make some big money.
Naturally, they took the next logical step, working for the military.
Team Blue is set to earn up to three and a half billion dollars
thanks to a contract with the Pentagon, which is, of course, the second scariest shape.
The scariest shape is an octagon. Shapes shouldn't have that many obtuse angles.
But if you want your body hair octagon, check out our sponsor, QuickBits.
The only news story is guaranteed to be faster than other news stories, or your money back.
An appeals court in Washington, DC is hearing ByteDance's lawsuit
objecting to the upcoming TikTok ban as of today.
And it can be conveniently streamed in horizontal format on YouTube.
At the heart of the case is the government's contention that TikTok circulates massive amounts of information,
both true and not, and collects data
that could potentially be useful to a foreign adversary, cough, cough, it's China.
However, as pointed out by TikTok's lawyers, any supposedly secret intelligence the government possesses
that proves that the company is actually collaborating with the rival government is just that, a secret.
America is acting a bit like a girlfriend who's furious with you, but won't tell you why,
because you should just know. This morning, Microsoft continued their favorite pastime
of putting co-pilot in things. Office apps like Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook
will get more AI features with co-pilot in Excel,
now being able to run Python code to make graphs.
Couldn't Excel already make graphs? I am not an Excel guy.
But Microsoft also announced co-pilot pages,
a new document workspace where you and your coworkers can boss co-pilot around together.
And that's what's been missing from the whole AI equation. Group bullying.
Apple has decided to increase the out of warranty battery replacement fee
for iPhone 16 Pro models by 20% compared to the predecessors.
And that's not the only change coming to iPhone repairs. Apple is extending activation lock to individual parts.
This means that if a battery from an iPhone with activation lock enabled ends up in your device,
you'll have to enter the Apple ID associated with the phone that part is from.
Sounds annoying, but apparently in Apple's mind, most iPhones are stolen and sold for parts.
So this is Apple's way of fighting back, in a way that doesn't involve making repair cheaper or easier.
Hackers have been using a heinous new technique in the battle to steal your passwords.
Being really annoying. Researchers at OA Labs discovered a type of attack
being actively exploited, which traps a user's Chrome browser in kiosk mode,
forcing it to run in full screen without the standard user interface.
Presented with a Google login page and seemingly no other way to use the computer,
users are tempted to just enter their credentials
and end their suffering. But no, steady on friends, you're better than this.
First, try keyboard shortcuts like Control Alt Delete,
Control Shift Escape, and Alt F4.
No, that last one is not how you check the score and call of duty, those guys were lying to you.
I'm sorry you had to hear it this way. And the future AI surveillance state is gonna be awesome.
According to Oracle founder and current third richest man in the world, Larry Ellison,
lending further evidence to the theory that exposure to too much money
causes lasting brain damage. Ellison recently publicly expressed
that being surrounded by cameras and AI agents
looking at what we're doing will keep us on our best behavior, and that future is coming fast.
South Korean researchers have apparently developed AI software called Deja View
that predicts if and when a crime will occur with over 80% accuracy.
Sadly, it does this by integrating CCTV footage,
crime statistics, positioning data, and other data
rather than a kiddie pool full of psychics. It's a reference to the movie.
Have you seen the movie? You best be on your best behavior
and come back on Wednesday for more tech news. If you don't, then the AI will know
and it will encode into its training data that you aren't up to date with the latest tech news,
and that will send an emergency alert straight to Larry Ellison.
We don't want that. We don't know what he'll do.