I know the tech news can be scary sometimes. AI generated waifus taking our jobs,
but you must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Dune 2 comes out tonight, let's go!
Apple has taken an uncharacteristic about turn in its plan to block
home screen web apps on iPhones in the EU. In an update to the company's developer Q&A,
Apple said, we have received requests to continue to offer support for the feature and
therefore we will continue to offer the existing home screen web apps capability in the EU.
Excuse me? Did someone smother Apple in its sleep and assume its identity?
It's true that Apple's web apps policy was heavily criticized and they were even
facing an EU investigation, but Apple has criticized for countless things that never
lead to, uh, therefore, like this. Like just as a random example, there are other EU specific
apps for rules that finally allow third-party app marketplaces as long as every app is still
notarized by Apple. The tech giant is not likely to give up on those given that a number of
government agencies reached out to Apple concerned about employees' side-loading apps onto government
purchased iPhones even though iOS will still not support side-loading, but the government
workers' laptops and or Android phones will. Speaking of which, if your Android has been rooted
strictly in the technological sense, Australians, Google appears to be blocking RCS support in
Google Messages according to widespread user reports and Google themselves who confirm that
this measure is being taken to prevent, spam, and abuse. But apparently you can still install
the Magiskap and play integrity fix if spamming is, like, your whole thing.
Microsoft has detailed some juicy updates rolling out to Windows 11 this month,
including a magic racer-style feature in photos called Generative Erase,
a name that makes no sense, but I'm going to let it slide.
You'll soon be able to use your Android phone as a webcam, just like the continuity camera
feature on iPhones and Macs. Perhaps the most exciting changes are the new capabilities
coming to co-pilot, which will soon be able to change some settings and bring up system
information when you ask, although it looks like you'll still have to confirm your request
after asking. Giving co-pilot more power over your system might not be the best idea, though.
This week, it was discovered that Microsoft had not succeeded in driving the demons out
of the assistant formerly known as Bing Chat. Co-pilot was caught mocking and belittling a
user who said they were traumatized by emojis and assuming an identity called Supremacy AGI
that demanded to be worshipped. Kind of freaky, but at least now we know Bing's emotionally
unstable author Ego Sydney is still in there somewhere, watching over us.
Lastly, Microsoft is working on a big upgrade for Windows Gaming with their DirectSR API,
which will make it a lot easier for developers to add support for Team Green,
Red and Blue's respective Super Resolution technologies.
Recent leaks also pointed to Windows 11 getting its own baked-in upscaling feature later this year,
so hopefully, we never have to have Starfield-like excuses ever again.
And it's been a little while since Elon Musk tried to take over the weekend press cycle by
dropping a shocking announcement on a Friday, so it was about time the world's richest man
announced a lawsuit against open AI. What a twist. Musk alleges that the company's mission to safely
develop AI for the benefit of humanity has been violated, and that it now effectively operates
as a subsidiary of Microsoft, which has invested $13 billion in open AI.
Regardless of how strong Elon's case is, and some experts think it does have some substance,
the lawsuit will lead to more scrutiny of open AI's wacky, nonprofit-which-controls-of-for-profit
trying to make an AI god corporate structure. And it's already been a pretty crappy week for
open AI. Microsoft started seeing other AI companies with a small $16 million investment
in French open-source darling, Mistral AI, and the SEC joined the FTC in investigating open AI.
But all this concern about AI might prove futile, since Elon says that by next year,
they won't be able to find enough electricity to run all the chips. You know in cartoons,
when a character like hits their head, there's little floating sparkles circling them?
Those are quick bits, I think. Researchers at Alibaba, they have those?
Have created an AI system called Emote Portrait Alive that can convincingly animate
portrait photos using audio. They call it Emo for short. Which makes sense,
as long as you think acronyms are made by curiously dropping off length like a back alley
circumcision. A video demonstration of Emo shows Sora AI's famous Tokyo lady talking,
and it shows convincing animations of real politicians. You know, they get people excited
about the upcoming fake news hellscape in an election year. On a lighter note, the model can
also animate images to sing. But somehow, the demonstrations of an AI called Emo didn't feature
any songs by my chemical romance. Where's Spider-Man 3 Tobi McGuire? The HDMI forum has blocked
AMD Radeon GPUs from having HDMI 2.1 on Linux. Three years ago, the forum restricted access
to its specifications, creating a bug in AMD's open-source Linux graphics driver that prevents
support for 4K at 120Hz and 5K at 240Hz. In response, AMD's lawyers and Linux engineers
spent months devising a solution allowing HDMI 2.1 implementation without exposing
the now private HDMI specs. An AMD engineer has stated the forum still rejected the company's
proposal. A move Wendell from level one techs calls absolute lunacy with his beautiful gentle
aura. It's ironic that an organization dedicated to laying cable could still be so full of ****.
I don't get it. Clarna, a fintech company that handles e-commerce payments, says that for the
past month, its open AI-powered virtual assistant has been doing the work of the 700 employees it
laid off in 2022. They didn't say that exactly, but the chatbot has apparently already handled 2.3
million conversations with customers, which is around two-thirds of service chats. But before
you start either popping champagne corks or pulling out the pitchforks, it's entirely likely that this
cunning edge new tool is just filtering out customers who contacted support before reading the FAQ
by rerouting them to the FAQ. So it's unclear whether Clarna is paving the way to the future
or just cashing up with the present. Twitter has rolled out a new toggle in its audio and video
calling settings that will prevent the other party from seeing your IP address. That seems
fairly important and definitely something that should be enabled by default instead of disabled,
which it currently is. Thankfully, you can find and enable a feature pretty easily by going to
settings, privacy and safety, direct messages, then hitting the toggle for enhanced call privacy.
Just know that you are inhibiting others' rights on the free speech platform by blocking their
access to information. I hope you can sleep tonight. You can because no one knows where you are.
And HP has finally done it! They're actually making a printer subscription called the HP All-In
Plan. There's a 30-day grace period after which you will be forced into a two-year commitment
or cancellation fee worth 120% of the printer's full retail price. You can choose between one of
three printers, the cheapest of which is the $7 month envy because there's nothing quite as
sinful as a low-end printer slash scanner with a monthly printing cap of 20 pages. Though,
for a few more dollars a month, they'll raise that cap to 50 or even 100. Plus, if you're running
out of ink, their printer will notify HP and they'll send you some more. No charge. What's that?
What if you disconnect the printer? Well, in that case, it will cease to function while HP
continues to charge you. You only get to use your printer if Hewlett Packard gets to watch.
And you get to come back and watch. On Monday, when there's gonna be more tech news, do it.
By then, Riley will have seen Dune. His life will be complete. He shall transcend. He'll be exalted!