WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.960 Soon, neurological implants will make having a bad case of the Mondays a thing of the past. 00:00:04.960 --> 00:00:08.240 But the future's not here yet, so this is the tech news again. 00:00:08.240 --> 00:00:13.760 Twitter, aka Elon Musk's ex, is officially under investigation in the UK after its AI 00:00:13.760 --> 00:00:19.360 grok went full goon mode, allowing users to generate thousands of non-consensual sexualized 00:00:19.360 --> 00:00:24.560 images of women and children directly in the timeline. UK media regulator Offcom says Twitter 00:00:24.560 --> 00:00:29.360 may have violated the Online Safety Act, which requires platforms to block illegal content. 00:00:29.440 --> 00:00:33.920 UK technology secretary Liz Kendall announced the government is also bringing a new law 00:00:33.920 --> 00:00:37.680 into force this week, making it illegal for companies to supply 00:00:37.680 --> 00:00:40.960 tools designed to create non-consensual intimate images. 00:00:40.960 --> 00:00:46.320 If found guilty, X-Faces finds up to 10% of global revenue. Finally, it's based on percentages! 00:00:46.320 --> 00:00:52.240 Or Offcom could seek a court order to block the platform entirely in the UK. A net social good. 00:00:52.960 --> 00:00:58.400 Malaysia and Indonesia have already blocked grok, and Democrats in the US are now asking 00:00:58.400 --> 00:01:02.960 Apple and Google to boot Twitter from their app stores. Musk, much like that kid in elementary 00:01:02.960 --> 00:01:07.200 school who flipped the monopoly board if he lost, responded by complaining that people are looking 00:01:07.200 --> 00:01:14.640 for any excuse for censorship, and suppressing free speech. In a masterclass of public relations, 00:01:14.640 --> 00:01:19.600 he reposted AI-generated images of UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer in a bikini. 00:01:19.600 --> 00:01:24.720 You can't stop me from doing this, Kier. 00:01:26.320 --> 00:01:31.440 Free speech! Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney also decided to wait into the fray. 00:01:31.440 --> 00:01:37.120 Why not? Calling the ban an attempt by gatekeepers trying to censor political opponents and arguing 00:01:37.120 --> 00:01:42.560 that all AI models go off the rails sometimes. The difference is not all AI models are baked 00:01:42.560 --> 00:01:46.960 directly into social platforms where they can generate CSAM right into the replies and wake 00:01:46.960 --> 00:01:51.680 up believing they're Hitler every other week. Also, going off the rails is usually seen as a 00:01:51.680 --> 00:01:59.760 bad thing, Tim, e.g. trains. Cloudflare just got slapped with a 14 million euro fine by the 00:01:59.760 --> 00:02:05.120 Italian government for refusing to block pirate sites on its 1.1.1.1 DNS service. 00:02:05.120 --> 00:02:10.640 Italy's Piracy Shield Law demands websites get nuked within 30 minutes of a copyright complaint 00:02:10.640 --> 00:02:15.040 with little to no judicial oversight. Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince called it a scheme run by a 00:02:15.040 --> 00:02:22.800 shadowy cabal of European media elites. Oh, drama! Prince threatened to pull all Cloudflare servers 00:02:22.800 --> 00:02:28.640 out of Italy. Discontinue free cybersecurity services for Italian users and cancel pro bono, 00:02:28.640 --> 00:02:34.080 which I think is Italian, for protection for the Milano Cortina Olympics. His exact words, 00:02:34.080 --> 00:02:41.280 play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Now that's a spicy CEO! In fairness to Prince, 00:02:41.280 --> 00:02:45.840 Italy's track record with implementing this law isn't great. Last year, they accidentally 00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:50.160 blocked Google Drive in the country for three hours. Mamma Mia. Researchers found hundreds of 00:02:50.160 --> 00:02:55.760 legitimate websites caught in the crossfire while actual pirates just... moved to the new address. 00:02:56.400 --> 00:02:59.600 Those have got to be some of the best pirates I've ever seen. 00:02:59.600 --> 00:03:03.680 Over in the UK, again, some members of parliament want to follow Australia's lead 00:03:03.680 --> 00:03:08.160 with a Conservative Party proposing to ban people under the age of 16, if you can call them people, 00:03:08.160 --> 00:03:14.240 from social media entirely. The UK government also just ordered Offcom to explore client-side 00:03:14.240 --> 00:03:19.040 scanning as a way to catch terrorism and CSAM-related messages hidden by end-to-end encryption 00:03:19.040 --> 00:03:23.920 protocols, a.k.a. allowing the UK government to read every message on your phone before it's 00:03:23.920 --> 00:03:28.640 encrypted. And speaking of digital crackdowns, Discord just got banned in Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, 00:03:28.640 --> 00:03:34.480 and Russia. Users reported stuck-on loading screens, the telltale sign of government-led 00:03:35.040 --> 00:03:41.280 rather than a service outage. In unrelated news, Proton VPN saw 103% spike in sign-ups on 00:03:41.280 --> 00:03:50.240 Saturday alone, with usage still climbing. Apple is gearing up to finally, hopefully, 00:03:50.240 --> 00:03:55.920 launch its big Siri refresh by partnering with Google's AI, spurning open AI in the process, 00:03:55.920 --> 00:04:01.680 and making Siri a Gemini, which is too bad. My tarot card reading warns against befriending 00:04:02.240 --> 00:04:07.680 I guess I've got no choice but to switch to GROC. Reuters calls it a multi-year deal, 00:04:07.680 --> 00:04:11.760 and in a joint statement, Apple and Google stressed that Gemini will complement Apple's 00:04:11.760 --> 00:04:18.080 own AI work rather than replace it, you know, with user choice, on-device processing, 00:04:18.080 --> 00:04:23.520 and privacy protections highlighted. At the same time, Google is pushing AI-powered shopping, 00:04:23.520 --> 00:04:28.640 adding buy buttons in Gemini and AI Search, and introducing a universal commerce protocol 00:04:28.640 --> 00:04:33.360 designed to let AI agents interact with multiple retailers in a standardized way. 00:04:33.360 --> 00:04:37.280 Not all of Google's AI experiments are moving forward. The company has pulled AI 00:04:37.280 --> 00:04:41.920 overviews for some medical searches after concerns about accuracy and potential harm for 00:04:41.920 --> 00:04:47.120 sensitive health queries dying in sh** in a scene, which reminds us that Google's 00:04:47.120 --> 00:04:53.040 accumulate all data in the universe approach might not gel all that well with Apple's supposed 00:04:53.040 --> 00:04:58.240 commitment to user privacy, but regarding their partnership to relaunch Siri, Apple emphasizes 00:04:58.240 --> 00:05:02.960 that personal data won't be used for advertising or profiling, and I have learned that whenever a 00:05:02.960 --> 00:05:08.640 big company tells me my data is safe, I should trust them. There's actually a team of Russians out 00:05:08.640 --> 00:05:14.320 to get the quick bits in order to harvest valuable juices to convert them into new super steroids, 00:05:14.320 --> 00:05:20.400 but we won't let them! Valve's upcoming Steam machine may have just leaked at some 00:05:20.400 --> 00:05:27.840 check retailers with the listing showing a 512GB model, around $950, and a 2TB version 00:05:27.840 --> 00:05:37.280 near $1,070. That's based on a rough conversion from Czech Corona. WCCF tech points out that 00:05:37.280 --> 00:05:41.840 similar hidden listings popped up at multiple stores, though they likely include some retailer 00:05:41.840 --> 00:05:46.320 markups. Compared with consoles like the PS5, that's definitely on the pricey side, 00:05:46.320 --> 00:05:51.120 but Valve has not confirmed any official prices yet, and I always anxiously await the word of 00:05:51.440 --> 00:05:55.280 Gabyn. Should I read the next bit, Gabyn? His silence speaks volumes. 00:05:55.280 --> 00:05:59.840 Windows 11's latest insider build allows admins to finally uninstall Microsoft 00:05:59.840 --> 00:06:05.040 Co-Pilot as long as the device is managed, and you're the administrator. This works on pro 00:06:05.040 --> 00:06:10.320 enterprise and EDU versions, giving IT teams more control over the AI tools on work devices. 00:06:10.320 --> 00:06:15.760 Co-Pilot has singlehandedly turned me into a gruff, individualistic veteran cop from an 80s 00:06:15.760 --> 00:06:20.640 action movie. I work alone. I don't want a Co-Pilot. Not after what happened to Clippy. 00:06:21.920 --> 00:06:27.760 As for other Microsoft news, in what I'll tend to call a developing story, 00:06:27.760 --> 00:06:33.680 it appears that Twitter and YouTube users are finding that a Windows 7 activation key belonging 00:06:33.680 --> 00:06:39.840 to infamous dead American financier, human trafficker, and child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein 00:06:39.840 --> 00:06:47.200 can be used to successfully activate Windows 7 Home Premium. Good job. Free Windows. Now you're 00:06:47.200 --> 00:06:52.880 on a watch list. Was it worth it? Micron is trying to smooth things over as it shuts down its 00:06:52.880 --> 00:06:58.480 consumer brand, Crucial. Reassuring users, they're somehow still looking out for consumers. I don't 00:06:58.480 --> 00:07:03.040 know how, but maybe they'll explain that to us later. At the same time, the company warns that the 00:07:03.040 --> 00:07:08.000 DRAM shortage could stick around until 2028. We might not even be around back then, meaning higher 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:14.240 RAM and SSD prices are probably here to stay. By themselves. In fact, as PC Gamer points out, 00:07:14.320 --> 00:07:19.360 a Tokyo computer shop is so desperate for inventory that it's put out a call for customers to sell 00:07:19.360 --> 00:07:25.520 their used gaming PCs offering pretty high prices for desktops, laptops, and even non-gaming rigs 00:07:25.520 --> 00:07:30.880 because new stock is critically low amid ongoing hardware shortages. At least Japan's got great 00:07:30.880 --> 00:07:36.800 convenience stores and delicious Okonomiyaki. First time I've read that ever. All I've got is a 00:07:36.800 --> 00:07:42.320 Windows 7 activation key and my faith in gay men. SpaceX just got FCC approval to launch another 00:07:42.320 --> 00:07:48.320 7500 Starlink satellites, which will end up bringing their total to around 15,000. And they'd 00:07:48.320 --> 00:07:53.280 better hurry. China just filed to put 200,000 satellites in orbit. These maneuvers are happening 00:07:53.280 --> 00:07:58.080 amidst a Starlink blackout occurring in Iran, where authorities are using military jammers to 00:07:58.080 --> 00:08:03.920 block satellite internet. Trump says he's talking to Elon Musk about restoring the internet in Iran, 00:08:03.920 --> 00:08:08.640 which I'm sure he'll get to once he's done his flame war with the entirety of the UK government. 00:08:08.640 --> 00:08:14.160 And Overview Energy just demonstrated sending beams of power from a moving airplane to devices 00:08:14.160 --> 00:08:19.440 on the ground proving their airborne energy transfer concept can actually work. Announced 00:08:19.440 --> 00:08:23.280 in December, the tech was a successful proof of concept and while it's still early days, 00:08:23.280 --> 00:08:28.160 it's a promising step towards space-based solar power, where sunlight collected in orbit 00:08:28.160 --> 00:08:32.800 could be sent down to Earth just like the regular sun does, or used in other high-tech 00:08:32.800 --> 00:08:37.120 energy applications in the future. It feels good to end the show on an upbeat note like that. 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:41.680 Oh, no. No, they're going to use airplanes to block out the sun and steal 00:08:41.680 --> 00:08:46.160 all the solar energy, aren't they? We're always getting Mr. Burns. It's like he never died. 00:08:46.160 --> 00:08:50.880 But you are not going to get Burns did if you come back on Wednesday for more tech news. In fact, 00:08:50.880 --> 00:08:56.800 you might even get to see a new beefcake James. I've convinced the quick bits to lend me some 00:08:56.800 --> 00:09:02.960 valuable juices and I'm gonna experiment with super steroids. He's joking. Dos Fodanias.