1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,280 I wanted to surprise you with a little gift today, okay? In this episode, I'm gonna list all my favorite things 2 00:00:05,280 --> 00:00:12,280 about you. Number one. Ah, I guess we'll do tech news. 3 00:00:12,280 --> 00:00:15,960 Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was arrested last weekend 4 00:00:15,960 --> 00:00:19,720 on suspicion of failing to moderate criminal activity on the messaging app. 5 00:00:19,720 --> 00:00:26,080 But on Wednesday, that suspicion was upgraded to preliminary charges as Durov was released on bail 6 00:00:26,080 --> 00:00:29,440 and barred from leaving France pending further investigation. 7 00:00:29,480 --> 00:00:33,000 The move seemed sudden, but it makes some sense 8 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:36,120 given that back in March, Durov told the Financial Times 9 00:00:36,120 --> 00:00:40,040 he doesn't think they should be policing the way people express themselves 10 00:00:40,040 --> 00:00:44,720 unless they cross red lines. Which red lines? 11 00:00:44,720 --> 00:00:49,720 Unclear, although it seems like one red line he won't cross is being a tad more specific. 12 00:00:49,720 --> 00:00:55,280 And the specifics matter here, especially concerning Telegram's optional use of encryption 13 00:00:55,280 --> 00:00:58,640 which was implemented without proper declaration. 14 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:02,200 According to a statement from French authorities that we translated into English. 15 00:01:02,200 --> 00:01:06,640 So hopefully we got that right. A declaration that other encryption using platforms 16 00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:11,160 like WhatsApp and Signal have apparently done properly 17 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:15,960 and now they're worried about Telegram making them look bad by association. 18 00:01:15,960 --> 00:01:18,960 Debate over encryption has been raging in the EU, 19 00:01:18,960 --> 00:01:23,680 especially after they just passed all these laws that let them boss tech giants around. 20 00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:26,960 What, are we gonna let encrypted platforms get a pass 21 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:30,160 by just putting a sock on the door? Don't look in here. 22 00:01:30,160 --> 00:01:35,240 The EU is also investigating whether Telegram deliberately undercounted its users 23 00:01:35,240 --> 00:01:38,660 to stay under the 45 million user threshold 24 00:01:38,660 --> 00:01:42,840 which would subject the service to stricter regulation. So we'll see how that goes. 25 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:46,560 All in all, this is a weird story, not just because it's complex, 26 00:01:46,560 --> 00:01:50,760 but also because while the EU has gotten serious about holding companies responsible 27 00:01:50,760 --> 00:01:56,960 for content hosted on their platforms, that usually hasn't involved arresting the CEO, 28 00:01:56,960 --> 00:02:02,600 crossing red lines indeed. A non-tech, the website known for publishing 29 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:05,680 in-depth technical reporting for 27 years 30 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:09,800 is shutting down according to a post from editor-in-chief Ryan Smith. 31 00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:14,940 In the latest example of written journalism just not making investors happy enough. 32 00:02:14,940 --> 00:02:19,840 They just see a wall of letters. It means nothing to them. They need zoom ins and vine booms. 33 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:22,840 Keep them stimulated. They're like incredibly wealthy toddlers. 34 00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:28,800 I feel insecure at my job. A non-tech has been a rock of the tech journalism world 35 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:32,760 and one of the only reasons I had a shred of understanding of what the hell I've been talking about 36 00:02:32,760 --> 00:02:37,480 for the past 10 years. Founder Anand Lal Shimpi left work on chips for Apple 37 00:02:37,480 --> 00:02:40,720 back in 2014, but the site was left in good hands. 38 00:02:40,720 --> 00:02:43,780 Two of which were attached to Dr. Ian Cuttrust, 39 00:02:43,780 --> 00:02:47,920 otherwise known as Tech Tech Potato for reasons I'll never understand 40 00:02:47,920 --> 00:02:52,800 because a non-tech isn't here anymore to explain it to me. Thankfully, the site itself will remain 41 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:56,440 up for presumably as long as publisher Future PLC 42 00:02:56,440 --> 00:03:00,160 decides it wants to. And some non-tech writers have moved over 43 00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:03,200 to their sister site named after a different guy, 44 00:03:03,200 --> 00:03:07,000 Tom's Hardware. It's just not the same. 45 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:11,040 Sounds like it plays you by two by fours. Welcome to Tom's Hardware. You want Cedar or Maple? 46 00:03:12,160 --> 00:03:16,880 Apple and NVIDIA are both in talks to join forces with Microsoft 47 00:03:16,880 --> 00:03:20,200 in launching truckfuls of cash at OpenAI 48 00:03:20,200 --> 00:03:25,240 who have apparently burned through a good chunk of their billions of dollars of investment money. 49 00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:29,600 It's a bit of a strange development, given recent speculation that AI hype 50 00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:34,640 is steadily descending from its peak into the trough of disillusionment, 51 00:03:34,640 --> 00:03:39,880 but it would make more sense if OpenAI is considering removing its cap 52 00:03:39,880 --> 00:03:43,480 on investor profits as reported by the Financial Times. 53 00:03:43,480 --> 00:03:46,720 But OpenAI insists their for-profit company 54 00:03:46,720 --> 00:03:49,880 is still controlled by the non-profit company 55 00:03:49,920 --> 00:03:53,920 who will absolutely ignore their for-profit investors 56 00:03:53,920 --> 00:03:57,040 and refuse to release extremely capable models 57 00:03:57,040 --> 00:04:00,920 that threaten to turn the internet into a bubbling soup of AI slop. 58 00:04:00,920 --> 00:04:06,160 Yes, they released chat GPT that was one time. With like four or five updates. 59 00:04:06,160 --> 00:04:10,800 And actually OpenAI is kind of backing that up 60 00:04:10,800 --> 00:04:13,840 with an agreement also signed by Anthropic 61 00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:17,480 to give the US government's Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute, 62 00:04:17,480 --> 00:04:23,480 as well as the UK's Equivalent Organization, early access to both companies' newest models 63 00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:27,680 to conduct safety testing before they're released to the public. 64 00:04:27,680 --> 00:04:30,680 I mean, sounds pretty good. 65 00:04:30,680 --> 00:04:35,960 And it maybe explains why Sam Altman thought it was okay to disband OpenAI's safety team. 66 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:39,320 They're just outsourcing it to the federal government. 67 00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:44,000 Why do the work? They've got time. They're watching TV shows at their desk most days anyway. 68 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:50,200 Okay, I thought of something. You kind of like computers. 69 00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:55,800 Okay, here's a quick bit. AMD has confirmed the existence 70 00:04:55,800 --> 00:04:59,840 of the long-rumored Ryzen 5 7600X3D, 71 00:04:59,840 --> 00:05:03,800 but you're only allowed to be excited about it if you're American. 72 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:08,160 Turns out the processor will be exclusive to US retailer Micro Center, 73 00:05:08,160 --> 00:05:13,380 which currently has 28 locations in some of the 50 United States. 74 00:05:13,380 --> 00:05:16,500 In a statement, the chief merchandising officer for Micro Center said 75 00:05:16,500 --> 00:05:21,740 the chip is a significant step forward in making high-performance, cash-rich processors 76 00:05:21,740 --> 00:05:25,260 more accessible, despite it being largely inaccessible. 77 00:05:25,260 --> 00:05:31,020 It's been six days since the port of Seattle was hit by a possible cyber attack, 78 00:05:31,020 --> 00:05:34,020 and the Seattle Tacoma Airport, aka C-TAC, 79 00:05:34,020 --> 00:05:38,420 is still mostly offline with no clear timeline for recovery. 80 00:05:38,420 --> 00:05:42,780 The airport's internet, baggage routing, and gate updates are all down, 81 00:05:42,780 --> 00:05:46,700 and staff have resorted to taping paper with flight numbers on them 82 00:05:46,700 --> 00:05:51,580 to the blank screens by each gate. Luckily, the TSA and air traffic control 83 00:05:51,580 --> 00:05:56,940 are on separate systems from the rest of the airport, which is great news for fans of getting groped 84 00:05:56,940 --> 00:06:00,020 by the government and not dying in a ball of fire. 85 00:06:00,020 --> 00:06:03,620 Microsoft is rebranding its remote desktop app, 86 00:06:03,620 --> 00:06:08,420 an eminently-googleable name, to Windows app. 87 00:06:08,420 --> 00:06:11,580 In an astounding act of branding self-sabotage. 88 00:06:11,580 --> 00:06:17,940 And the people who brought you five different co-pilots. The so-called Windows app was released in preview 89 00:06:17,940 --> 00:06:21,700 under its stupid new name back in November of last year, 90 00:06:21,700 --> 00:06:24,700 but yesterday, they confirmed this idiocy 91 00:06:24,700 --> 00:06:28,140 by adding a notification to the current app and their website. 92 00:06:28,140 --> 00:06:32,940 We're just being harsh. We're being little stinkers. 93 00:06:32,940 --> 00:06:36,020 Now, you can say the completely true sentence, 94 00:06:36,020 --> 00:06:40,700 the Windows app is available for macOS, iOS, and iPadOS, 95 00:06:40,700 --> 00:06:44,700 and really confuse your grandma. Anyway, hope you don't run into technical difficulties 96 00:06:44,700 --> 00:06:48,860 and wind up needing to bing Windows app help anytime soon. 97 00:06:51,020 --> 00:06:54,940 Just install the Windows app. Which one? Who's unvoiced? 98 00:06:54,940 --> 00:07:00,460 Scientists have developed a chemical process to vaporize plastic that could be used 99 00:07:00,460 --> 00:07:03,740 to recycle bags and bottles indefinitely. 100 00:07:03,740 --> 00:07:08,020 You see, plastic is a polymer. The substance with very large molecules 101 00:07:08,020 --> 00:07:13,540 composed of repeating subunits. A polymer is not, and this was news to me, 102 00:07:13,540 --> 00:07:15,860 a fish person with multiple partners. 103 00:07:18,860 --> 00:07:22,540 That's a polymer person. Polymer person. 104 00:07:22,540 --> 00:07:25,700 By vaporizing certain unfortunate polymers, 105 00:07:25,700 --> 00:07:29,340 they can be reduced to their building blocks to make new plastics. 106 00:07:29,340 --> 00:07:33,220 Now, does this solve the whole microplastics inside of us 107 00:07:33,220 --> 00:07:36,420 and also the ocean and in our brains? Issue? 108 00:07:36,420 --> 00:07:39,700 Probably not, given that we're vaporizing them. 109 00:07:39,700 --> 00:07:47,100 But Chinese researchers are having success making a robust yet compostable hard plastic out of bamboo. 110 00:07:47,100 --> 00:07:52,700 And that could help keep the ocean cleaner, saving many non-monogamous fish people. 111 00:07:52,700 --> 00:07:59,100 And Mid Journey, the company behind AI image generator Mid Journey, is getting into hardware. 112 00:07:59,100 --> 00:08:03,980 But they haven't been very forthcoming about what kind of hardware. 113 00:08:03,980 --> 00:08:08,220 The company did hire engineer Ahmad Abbas back in February, 114 00:08:08,220 --> 00:08:11,420 who previously helped design the Apple Vision Pro. 115 00:08:11,420 --> 00:08:14,660 Mid Journey is also continuing to develop AI models 116 00:08:14,660 --> 00:08:18,060 to generate video and 3D environments. 117 00:08:18,060 --> 00:08:25,300 Maybe the hardware will be a headset that generates 3D worlds, or maybe it's an orb. 118 00:08:25,820 --> 00:08:31,860 Back in January, Mid Journey CEO David Holtz replied to a pondering my orb meme on Twitter 119 00:08:31,860 --> 00:08:34,500 by saying, we will make the orb. 120 00:08:36,780 --> 00:08:40,980 We will make the orb. What does that mean? 121 00:08:40,980 --> 00:08:44,380 I don't know. But stay tuned for orb. 122 00:08:44,380 --> 00:08:47,740 The best way to stay tuned is to literally stay tuned 123 00:08:47,740 --> 00:08:52,780 by coming back on Monday for more tech news. Just kidding, I made a horrible mistake. 124 00:08:52,780 --> 00:08:57,020 We're not actually uploading anything on Monday, not a talk link, not a regular tech link. 125 00:08:57,020 --> 00:08:59,260 It's a holiday, so believe it or not, 126 00:09:00,100 --> 00:09:05,300 we're taking a holiday, we're taking a day off. So come back on Wednesday for more tech news, please.