WEBVTT 00:00:00.800 --> 00:00:05.879 I can't get enough of that tech news. 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:10.400 You can never get enough. 00:00:09.170 --> 00:00:15.519 [laughter] I'm sorry, that was too much. Microsoft 00:00:12.880 --> 00:00:19.760 is reportedly scaling back its internal sales growth targets for some of its 00:00:17.440 --> 00:00:23.359 newer AI tools after slower than expected adoption by customers. 00:00:21.680 --> 00:00:28.720 According to internal sources who spoke with the information, multiple Azure 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:33.440 sales teams missed aggressive quotas last fiscal year according to this 00:00:30.560 --> 00:00:38.559 report. A rare outcome at Microsoft, prompting the company to quietly relax 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:43.920 growth expectations for certain AI products as enterprise customers pushed 00:00:40.719 --> 00:00:47.520 back on paying for agents whose returns 00:00:43.920 --> 00:00:49.120 they said were hard to measure. Not sure 00:00:47.520 --> 00:00:54.079 what they're going to get you, but the vibes. Oh, I mean, how? However, after a 00:00:52.320 --> 00:01:00.160 few outlets picked up the story, Microsoft told Futurism that the initial 00:00:56.480 --> 00:01:03.280 reports inaccurately combine growth and 00:01:00.160 --> 00:01:05.760 sales quotas, insisting that AI sales 00:01:03.280 --> 00:01:10.159 targets were never lowered, even as internal adjustments suggest 00:01:07.520 --> 00:01:15.600 expectations are being reset behind the scenes. So, maybe tons of people love 00:01:13.200 --> 00:01:21.119 paying for Co-Pilot. And for everyone who doesn't, great news. The newest 00:01:17.920 --> 00:01:23.600 update for LG TVs bakes co-pilot 00:01:21.119 --> 00:01:27.360 directly into the home screen. And while it can be hidden, there's no option to 00:01:25.840 --> 00:01:31.040 uninstall because nothing complements your movie 00:01:29.200 --> 00:01:34.400 watching experience like another button you'll never click on. It's no wonder 00:01:32.720 --> 00:01:38.400 people are building custom tools that get rid of all the AI features in 00:01:36.479 --> 00:01:42.560 Windows 11. This isn't an endorsement, by the way. We don't know if this tool 00:01:40.079 --> 00:01:47.759 is malware. It's just an example. People want AI removal tools because the world 00:01:44.960 --> 00:01:51.840 is turning to slop, which is the 2025 Miriam Webster word of the year. Maybe 00:01:50.159 --> 00:01:58.880 this is God's way of answering our prayers. Dear God, please bring back 00:01:54.000 --> 00:02:01.280 Clippy and smite this Mo AI Miko AI baby 00:01:58.880 --> 00:02:06.960 blob thing. I wish to see its face no more. You got it. The RAM apocalypse 00:02:05.040 --> 00:02:11.039 continues as several companies have announced a new round of price 00:02:08.479 --> 00:02:16.720 increases, including Framework, which is increasing the price of its laptop DDR5 00:02:13.599 --> 00:02:18.319 kits by 50%, and Dell, which will be 00:02:16.720 --> 00:02:24.400 raising the prices of their enterprise PC products from 10 to 30%, depending. 00:02:21.360 --> 00:02:26.959 Framework says they solemnly do pledge 00:02:24.400 --> 00:02:31.520 to stay transparent, only raising prices to cover real cost increases and 00:02:29.440 --> 00:02:34.720 lowering them again if costs fall. But I don't know. They are a for-profit 00:02:33.120 --> 00:02:41.200 company. I'm not going to hold my breath for that. Lionus is invested in them. I 00:02:37.440 --> 00:02:42.959 am only invested in having a good time. 00:02:41.200 --> 00:02:48.319 Meanwhile, Dell and Lenovo are reportedly considering limiting their 00:02:44.879 --> 00:02:50.480 mid-range laptops to just 8 GB of DDR5 00:02:48.319 --> 00:02:55.920 RAM. I thought we were living in a 16 to 32 GB era, but maybe this will force 00:02:53.519 --> 00:02:59.120 software developers to make less memory hungry products. Or maybe you're just 00:02:57.680 --> 00:03:02.720 going to get a worse laptop for your money. Probably that one. But wait, 00:03:00.959 --> 00:03:08.720 there's more. According to YouTuber Moore's Law is Dead, Samsung is winding 00:03:05.599 --> 00:03:11.680 down production of cheaper SATA SSDs 00:03:08.720 --> 00:03:16.239 next year to focus on pricier memory and storage for AI data centers, which as 00:03:14.480 --> 00:03:19.840 these kind of moves often do, could mean fewer options on the market and even 00:03:17.840 --> 00:03:24.400 higher prices for regular consumers. Don't be sad, okay? Think about how 00:03:22.080 --> 00:03:29.599 happy Samsung shareholders are going to be. Imagine hearing the laughter of 00:03:27.200 --> 00:03:33.200 children, but they're grown up and spending most of their time on on their 00:03:31.360 --> 00:03:37.040 ketamine yacht when they should be spending time with our sponsor, 00:03:34.799 --> 00:03:40.640 MicroEnter. It's December and that means it's shopping season. 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They're great. 00:04:16.720 --> 00:04:23.600 I'm referring to the Quickbits, of course. iRoot, the maker of the Roomba 00:04:21.120 --> 00:04:28.720 robot vacuum, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and agreed to be bought out 00:04:25.520 --> 00:04:30.720 by its main Chinese manufacturer, Pyia 00:04:28.720 --> 00:04:36.160 Robotics. That's got to be what it is. Or in their own robotic words, iRoot 00:04:33.759 --> 00:04:40.240 announces strategic transaction to drive long-term growth plan. Much clearer. Why 00:04:38.720 --> 00:04:45.280 didn't Why didn't we say that first? The deal comes after years of mounting debt, 00:04:42.960 --> 00:04:50.400 stiff competition, and a failed Amazon acquisition, and will take iRoot private 00:04:47.919 --> 00:04:54.720 under Piscia through a courts supervised restructuring expected to finish by 00:04:52.479 --> 00:04:59.520 early 2026. I don't think I'm saying Pyia right, but here we are. But at 00:04:57.360 --> 00:05:05.360 least app support and product services will continue as usual. So, don't worry, 00:05:02.160 --> 00:05:08.720 not much is changing for all you room 00:05:05.360 --> 00:05:10.400 baddies, uh, room ballers. We looked 00:05:08.720 --> 00:05:13.680 into it and the Roomba doesn't appear to have a fan club with a cute name for me 00:05:12.240 --> 00:05:18.240 to reference in a joke here, which seems like a real missed opportunity. What are you guys doing? Google's doing their 00:05:16.560 --> 00:05:23.120 favorite thing and shutting down features. This time they're axing the 00:05:20.320 --> 00:05:27.440 dark web data leak reports feature for Google 1 subscribers, which will have 00:05:24.960 --> 00:05:31.520 all of its data deleted by February. Apparently, feedback showed that this 00:05:29.440 --> 00:05:36.240 feature didn't really help users act on leaks. So, Google's just going back to 00:05:33.759 --> 00:05:39.120 saying, "Oh, you want security? Just turn on two-factor authentication." Why 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:45.680 haven't you turned on two-factor authentication yet? What's wrong with you? Google has also locked the standard 00:05:43.759 --> 00:05:48.639 continued conversation feature, which allows you to keep talking to your smart 00:05:47.199 --> 00:05:52.560 device without saying, "Hey Google," every 3 seconds, sorry, behind a 10 00:05:50.720 --> 00:05:56.880 bucks a month Google Home Premium subscription. This weekend, I couldn't 00:05:54.639 --> 00:06:01.120 even get Gemini to play a Spotify song, something Google Assistant handled fine. 00:05:58.720 --> 00:06:05.919 Can't even play Spotify. This This is hell. This is a bad place. An Intel 00:06:03.680 --> 00:06:11.600 Panther Lake chip was spotted running in a 1x player handheld. Thanks to a leaked 00:06:08.400 --> 00:06:14.960 firmark run, the chip was a Core Ultra 5 00:06:11.600 --> 00:06:18.880 338H with an integrated Intel Arc B370 00:06:14.960 --> 00:06:22.639 GPU, and it scored 2383 points, roughly 00:06:18.880 --> 00:06:24.560 GeForce GTX 1060 level. Although, 00:06:22.639 --> 00:06:29.520 Firmark is less of a gaming benchmark and more of a stress test. So, let's not 00:06:26.960 --> 00:06:33.680 write Panther Lake off just yet. That's for later. If you want to feel excited 00:06:31.600 --> 00:06:37.440 about Intel, however misguided that may be, check out this now deleted reply 00:06:35.600 --> 00:06:41.120 tweet from the official Intel gaming account seemingly confirming the rumored 00:06:39.600 --> 00:06:46.160 ArcB770. They say they're thrilled that this fan 00:06:43.440 --> 00:06:50.160 is pumped about the B770, making sure to also mention the other two things the 00:06:47.919 --> 00:06:55.039 fan was pumped about as well, and throw in some friendly emojis. Uh, I'm pretty 00:06:52.639 --> 00:06:59.440 sure this is an AI. It's a bot reply. The B770 is canceled, everyone. OpenAI 00:06:57.520 --> 00:07:04.000 has revealed it's using its C codeex coding agent to help improve its C 00:07:01.680 --> 00:07:09.280 codeex coding agent. The system can reportedly monitor its own training runs 00:07:06.720 --> 00:07:14.080 and when prompted decide what code changes to make next, meaning this AI 00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:19.280 has taken another step towards a self-improving singularity situation. 00:07:17.599 --> 00:07:23.919 Although the nerds told it to do that, so don't panic yet. The nerds at Google 00:07:21.280 --> 00:07:31.360 DeepMind also announced its first automated research lab in the UK, where 00:07:27.919 --> 00:07:33.759 a blend of AI systems and robotics in 00:07:31.360 --> 00:07:38.560 the facility will, I guess, automatically make scientific 00:07:35.680 --> 00:07:42.080 discoveries in material science. Here's hoping they come up with something good. 00:07:40.319 --> 00:07:45.840 I'm going to go spend the week on that very fun yacht we talked about earlier. 00:07:43.759 --> 00:07:52.000 Oh, but first, the US government has launched a new US tech force to rapidly 00:07:49.599 --> 00:07:55.680 recruit skilled tech workers into the federal government. The plan is to bring 00:07:53.599 --> 00:07:59.120 in a thousand engineers, data scientists, and developers for 2-year 00:07:57.599 --> 00:08:04.879 stints and have them work on what the government is calling the world's most 00:08:01.039 --> 00:08:08.319 complex and difficult problems 00:08:04.879 --> 00:08:10.560 doing it for government people. problems 00:08:08.319 --> 00:08:14.160 which somehow have rapidly sprung up after the government laid off all of 00:08:12.479 --> 00:08:18.000 those tech workers that it laid off earlier this year. Critics warned the 00:08:16.160 --> 00:08:21.520 program could pose serious conflicts of interest since many recruits are 00:08:19.520 --> 00:08:26.319 expected to come directly from major tech companies where they may return 00:08:23.360 --> 00:08:30.639 after 2 years of accessing all kinds of juicy government data. If only there was 00:08:28.400 --> 00:08:35.440 some way to keep them focused on what really matters. Enter the Stanford 00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:41.760 researchers who developed this audio shield system. It helps people with ADHD 00:08:38.640 --> 00:08:44.480 focus by amplifying the sounds of 00:08:41.760 --> 00:08:48.560 everyday tasks instead of blocking them out. The wearable device uses 00:08:46.399 --> 00:08:54.160 microphones and earbuds to turn actions like typing, washing hands, or handling 00:08:50.800 --> 00:08:56.399 objects into real time audio cues that 00:08:54.160 --> 00:08:59.680 they say will boost mindfulness and attention while you're doing stuff. 00:08:57.920 --> 00:09:04.399 Basically, it's like a hearing aid. It just makes everything louder. In early 00:09:01.600 --> 00:09:09.200 studies, users stayed on tasks longer and reported higher focus. So, next time 00:09:07.120 --> 00:09:13.680 a loud talker is distracting you from your work, don't tell them to keep it 00:09:10.800 --> 00:09:17.360 down. Tell them to turn that up. It might just change your life. And so, 00:09:15.760 --> 00:09:21.440 we'll coming back this Wednesday for more tech news. In the meantime, I've 00:09:19.680 --> 00:09:25.200 got a wicked craving for a bowl of cereal. It's magically delicious. 00:09:23.279 --> 00:09:32.600 Hopefully, there's got to be some around here somewhere. I'll just follow my 00:09:27.120 --> 00:09:32.600 nose. We can remember all that stuff.