Apple has allegedly been shredding usable iPhones for years.
According to a report from Bloomberg, Apple pays an outside contractor, Geep Canada Limited,
to shred older devices customers have traded in.
Geep apparently handles about a quarter million devices per year, many of which are fully
functional and could easily be resold.
Case in point, Apple actually sued Geep in 2020 for breach of contract after iPhones they
sent to the contractor were reactivated in China.
Tim Cook and the Cupertino crooners claimed that at least 99,975 iPhones sent to Geep
ended up on the gray market instead of being shredded.
Now, Apple has apparently decided not to move forward with the lawsuit, perhaps due to the
risk of exposing exactly how many usable devices Apple scraps each year and why.
After all, the iCompany has been busy trying to construct an image of eco-friendliness just
this week. The Apple UK YouTube channel posted a video celebrating how their recycling robot Daisy
can recover recyclable materials from 23 different models of iPhone.
What they don't mention is that Daisy can apparently only dismantle in a year what Apple
sells in 48 hours, two days.
The company site also explicitly says they will resell trade-ins if they are in good
shape but I know of at least 99,975 reasons that's a bit misleading.
Come on Tim Cook, help show us how shredded you are.
I like being shredded, shred your mom and iPhone.
I don't know. Microsoft has created an AI model that can generate realistic animated talking heads
from a single portrait photo and audio file.
A research paper calls the model VASA 1. Oh cool, they're planning a sequel already.
They can generate these animations in real time with a demo even showing how the animated
portrait's head can be rotated generating realistic angles that aren't present in the
original image. Microsoft refers to these videos as talking faces, that's not an accurate to say but
it does downplay how easy it would be for a Microsoft employee to fake a video of me
confessing to a crime. Somehow however, the thought of being framed is less horrifying than this video researchers
decided to make of Mona Lisa Wrapping.
Speaking of stories that will get that nightmare off the screen, Microsoft's upcoming
AI Explorer feature which turns everything you do on your computer into a searchable
memory may be exclusive to ARM powered devices.
User at the book is closed on Twitter, spotted that the system requirements for
AI Explorer are set to an ARM64 CPU in a recent Windows 11 preview build.
I'm fine with missing out if that's true. There are many things that I've seen on my computer that I don't want to remember
and at least one was created by Microsoft.
Mona Lisa, why?
She's barely smiling, why would you make a wrap? Meta announced early versions of its Llama 3 AI model.
Like Llama 2, the model is semi-open with the code and weights available with restrictions.
The AI industry doesn't have a term for that yet but it'll probably come out around
the time I'm thrown in prison for something I didn't do. Llama 3 powers Meta AI which the company has now made more widely available via its
own site. The webpage claims you can ask Meta AI anything.
You can even simulate what I'm assuming from the chosen illustration is the sexiest
mock interview of all time. Is that pink-haired figure putting on that jacket?
Or taking it off? Meta AI is also integrated into Facebook in some regions and is apparently able to
respond to group posts. It can respond to questions with answers generated quote, using information from the group
including user-generated content like posts and comments.
Oh, and Meta might then use any information you posted in the group to train their AI.
And if you don't want that to happen and you're not a group admin, you need to delete
anything you posted. That's a fun fact you may want to share with your aunts and uncles.
Or just send in this video. Hi guys.
You know what I like the most? Quick bits.
Please don't tell my mom what I'm referencing.
TSMC is planning to charge customers more for chips made outside of Taiwan.
It's a bit ironic since the whole reason for opening up fabs outside the island nation
is the incredible geopolitical and economic risk of having 90% of the world's most advanced
semiconductor production in Taiwan, also known as the star of 100% of Xi Jinping's
wet dreams. Unfortunately, construction costs and operational expenses are much higher outside of Taiwan
and as a result, chips produced in their Arizona fabs could be 20% to 30% more expensive
than their Taiwanese counterparts. That's right. They're passing the charges onto you.
They're practically giving the fees away.
Do you use car salesmen? You get it.
You're smart. That's why I like you.
The EU just found another thing it doesn't like.
TikTok's new app, TikTok Light, which rewards users with real currency for completing tasks.
It's about time TikTokers got paid for the hard labor involved in things like watching
videos, liking videos, and inviting friends to join TikTok.
But the European Commission isn't into putting children to work for foreign corporations or
melting their brains. So they've given TikTok 14 hours to provide an assessment of the risk that the app could
cause those things to happen. TikTok will answer 0%, but I've already seen a number of slack-jawed kids in suits out
and about and I'm concerned. They're coming for me.
Tesla has issued a recall for all 3,878 of the cybertrunks, not cybertrunks.
Have you seen my cybertrunks? I use them when I swim in my cyber pool.
Tesla has issued a recall for all 3,878 of the cybertrunks it has delivered so far due
to a manufacturing defect that can cause the accelerator pedal to become stuck at full
throttle. It's a defect that many are calling wicked cool, sick, and potentially lethal.
Apparently, the defect was caused by somebody using the wrong lube during assembly.
Relatable.
What this means primarily is that Tesla will be replacing all defective pedals in the affected
vehicles. But it also means that we now know exactly how many cybertrunks Tesla has managed to
ship and that it's a number not even worth rounding.
In a major first, quantum information has been successfully produced, stored, and then
retrieved. This is a big deal for future quantum networking.
Just like the current internet, information can be lost when sent over long distances.
To combat this, normal internet uses repeaters that read and re-amplify the signal.
But such systems would destroy quantum information.
Fortunately, researchers have created a prototype quantum memory system that is crucially compatible
with current fiber optic infrastructure. While it hasn't been tested for distance, it's an important step toward a quantum internet
where you can quantum texture, quantum wife about the funny thing your quantum dog just
did. Or something like that. Quantum dank memes.
Quantum nudes. Is she naked? I don't know if she's naked, but I know how fast she's going.
And Amazon has pushed back against claims that it's just walkout cashierless technology
isn't really technology. Unless you count a thousand workers in India watching people shop as technology.
In a blog post this week, the tech giant called the initial report published by the information
untrue. And while it didn't provide any specific numbers, it insisted that its human workers only annotate
shopping data to improve the AI, not to stand in for it.
So shoppers can rest easy, knowing their purchases are being tracked not by mysterious, squishy
flash bags, but by perfectly normal, unfeeling algorithms.
And it's perfectly normal for you to come back on Monday for more tech news.
On Tuesday, there will be gaming news on GameLint.
It has a similar mouth feel to tech news, but with a much gameier flavor.
Bam. Puns.