Sit down for a minute son. I know I'm not your Riley. I can never be your Riley,
and I'm not trying to replace him. Think of me as your step Riley. I'm the Riley that tells
you the tech news and makes love to your mother. Alright champ? Intel appears to be priming a new
GPU for release quietly adding official support for something codenamed BMG G31 to its VTUNE
profiler software. This update has the community buzzing that this could be it Intel's long-rumored
big battle mage gaming card, the B770. The update also adds support for Core Ultra III
Panther Lake processors and since Panther Lake is expected to debut at CES 2026,
we're thinking this could be a sign that we might also be introduced to the Wide War Wizard.
Did you get the Wide War Wizard thing? A WWW, like the World Wide Web. No. No.
Now consider the fact that a leaked shipping manifest references a heretofore unseen 300
watt Intel GPU and you might conclude that because 300 watts is bigger than the existing
Arc B580's 190 watt TDP, this mysterious newcomer has to be the B770, right? Right? Right? Of course,
it is also possible that it's actually just another non-gaming Arc Pro card like the B60
that launched at Computex, but I mean that was still pretty sick so honestly, whichever way
Intel chooses to shake up the GPU market, I'm down because right now the market could use a good shake.
Meanwhile, Google plans to bring ads to its Gemini chatbot by the end of 2026 and is already
briefing advertisers on the feature's rollout according to Adweek because nothing says helpful
assistant like recommending things that make my shopping list even longer. In this economy?
This news follows Elon saying that Grock will do pretty much the same thing and rumors of Open AI
doing pretty much the same thing as well, but the company's head of chat GPT, Nick Turley,
tweeted that Open AI is 100% not testing ads in chat GPT. After all, a core tentative of this
company's culture is a focus on burning money, not making it. If and when chatbots do add ads,
by the way, could it mean that humans will end up plugging products in normal conversation,
because apparently people have started speaking in a chatbot influenced dialect.
Researchers found that people who use chatbots a lot are developing a tendency to speak in
slop, unironically using words like delve, intricate, and tapestry way more than they
usually would. Well, at least it might help us communicate with our new
agentic teammates who an Amazon exec recently said can be essential to every team,
as essential as the people sitting right next to you. Look to your left, look to your right,
they're gone. So you might want to practice your slot speak, folks. Next time you need to access
a spreadsheet, make sure that you repeat after me. Please open unto me a doorway to the rich
tapestry of spreadsheet solutions. This isn't just a spreadsheet, it's a portal.
Meta, meanwhile, is rolling out major changes to its targeted advertising across Facebook and
Instagram in Europe. Not because they want to, but because legal regulators are finally forcing
their hand. Under new requirements from the EU's Digital Markets Act, Meta must now give users
more control over whether their personal data can be used in targeted advertising.
And unlike previous choices, this one is not allowed to be buried under three
menus in a roundabout attempt at hiding the settings. Users across the EU and soon the UK
will be able to opt out of personalized ads entirely, meaning that advertisers will need to
serve more contextual ads that don't rely on profiling. Regulators say this is the first
time that Meta has offered a meaningful consent mechanism instead of their take it or leave
it model that got them into legal trouble last year. This is a big hit for mega corporations
across the world who rely heavily on targeted ads and will require many platforms to modify
their advertising campaigns to handle users contributing far less data to them. So take that
Meta, now you can try selling me something without knowing how many times I've gone to the bathroom
today. How will you know what size of toilet paper pack I need? Although if you are concerned about
what information these companies have, then you should check out our sponsor. These miniscule
morsels have had a bit of a tough time getting used to me not being their real Riley. Maybe because
I can't get their name right, but I think we've had a breakthrough today.
The PlayStation 5 appears to have crushed Black Friday 2025 sales, making up 47% of all consoles
sold. But the same can't be said for Team Xbox, who absolutely whiffed it. The Switch 2 came in a
respectable second place, but the Xbox Series XS? They didn't even reach the podium. Talk about
extra small sales. But wait, who took third then? It turns out it was the next playground,
a motion-controlled, family-oriented console that I just learned about today,
who needs the X when you can get the next. Yeah, that's pretty good. Pew, pew, pew, pew, pew.
Yeah, I like that. Analytics firm Gartner is warning companies not to let employees use
AI-powered browsers due to the irreversible and untraceable risks that they pose to company
data and privacy. Gartner's report indicates that traditional security controls cannot reliably stop
the screen-reading features of these browsers from potentially causing leaks.
Well, sure, but did Gartner know about Google's new security update for Chrome's AI features?
It will use a vetting system powered by GeminiDuh to check that any automated actions
truly match what you asked for and to block suspicious ones. Ha-ha! Am I the only one not
put at ease when a company tells me that they've made an AI to monitor their AI s***-ups?
Well, who else do you want? Scientists at Cedar Sinai Medical Center have engineered an
experimental RNA-based drug called TY1 that mimics a natural repair signal released by heart cells.
TY1 works by boosting a gene called T-Rex1. Okay, you gotta be making this up now.
It's real! Which spurs immune cells to clear damaged DNA so that healing can begin. And in animal tests,
it helps cells actually repair DNA, cut down scar tissue, and improve healing after tissue injuries.
This could be a brand new way to treat heart attacks, which more and more people are having,
as they look at RAM prices.
That's dynamite! And Nginai dropped yet another video of its model T-800 humanoid robot,
and this time it nearly kicked their CEO's teeth out, which is probably the most honest
performance review of the robotics industry that I've ever seen. And probably the most
ominous foreshadowing of where the robotics industry is headed. The company posted that short, as well as a longer behind-the-scenes video after their first
Chuck Norris-style showcase was met with viewers crying,
CGI! Well, it seems like Nginai has proved the naysayers wrong. This clanker means business.
Meanwhile, Tesla's Optimus Bot tried to serve some drinks in their recent video,
and collapsed like an inept drunkard. Maybe it was inspired by that Russian AI doll
bot thing. You know what? You've done a great job today. You'll probably be back with Riley
on Wednesdays, for every other Wednesday, for more tech news, and weekend Wednesdays.
But don't forget, it's gonna be me picking you up on Saturday for soccer, alright?
We don't need to say I love you goodbye, but maybe someday.