This Week in Tech (Audio)

• Microsoft's completed acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
• How political tension in Israel affects the tech sector.
• Debating disinformation and First Amendment rights.
• The influence of articles posted on social media.
• Legal implications of AI-generated content and copyright.
• Using AI to scan ancient scrolls and unlock texts.
• The potential of nuclear power and fusion reactors.
• Genetic data privacy breach and ethical concerns.
• Massive botnet DDoS attack on Google.
• Social media addiction lawsuits.

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Louis Maresca, Reed Albergotti, and Denise Howell

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Google's hidden search, Spotify and audiobooks, X removes headlines

• Elon Musk removing headlines from Twitter posts and how that enables fake news
• Concerns about Twitter misinformation affecting the 2024 election
• Apple considered DuckDuckGo for Safari private search before deciding against it
• Microsoft close to acquiring Activision Blizzard pending UK regulatory approval
• Google accused of secret changes to search queries to maximize ad revenue
• Ransomware attack on MGM hotels and casinos
• 23andMe customer data breach due to credential stuffing
• Meta considering charging for Facebook and Instagram access
• Apple TV adds support for VPNs
• Spotify expanding into audiobooks
• Video game Cyberpunk 2077 costing over $400 million to make
• Digital Equipment Corporation's history and legacy
• Brave conducting layoffs despite privacy focus
• CRTC to start regulating online streaming in Canada
• How gasoline is produced from crude oil
• Urban air mobility vehicles for intracity travel

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Sam Abuelsamid, Wil Harris, and Glenn Fleishman

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• The end of Netflix's DVD mailing service
• Meta's new AI avatars and the uncanny valley
• Microsoft's massive certificate breach
• FTC's antitrust lawsuit against Amazon
• X CEO Linda Yaccarino not having Twitter on her phone
• AI regulation and safety concerns
• Differences between books and magazine fact-checking
• Walter Isaacson's Elon Musk biography and fact checking
• Twitter ruled biggest source of disinformation by EU
• Supreme Court to review Florida and Texas social media laws
• Apple's compliance with China's app store rules
• New Raspberry Pi 5 features
• Jimmy Carter turns 99 years old

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Keith Shaw, Louise Matsakis, and Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ

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iPhone 15 hands on, Amazon hardware event, Instacart IPO, Unity blinks

• Discussion on hype cycle of AI; evaluating current state
• Defining artificial intelligence vs regular computation
• AI winters and peaks of inflated expectations for AI
• Evaluating strengths and weaknesses of chatbots like ChatGPT
• AI's role in computational photography and new iPhones
• Microsoft's focus on AI with OpenAI partnership
• Multimodal AI and challenges like hallucination
• Apple's secretive approach to developing AI technology
• Job loss concerns with the advancement of AI; need for training
• Unity's failed attempt to charge developers an install fee
• Tech IPO outlook after Instacart and Clavio
• Panos Panay leaving Microsoft for Amazon
• New Amazon Echo and Alexa AI announcements
• Authors suing OpenAI over AI-generated content
• Misinformation research facing political attacks
• Implications of AI voice mimicry without consent
• Neuralink seeking volunteers for brain chip implants

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Ben Parr, Harry McCracken, and Doc Rock

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New Apple iPhone 15 Announced, Google Antitrust Trial

• iPhone 15 event: all the news on Apple's new phone
• Apple iPhone 15 hands-on: New features left me with no Pro model envy at all
• The WeWork Guy is Pivoting to Carbon Credits
• Flowcarbon
• Book Review: 'Elon Musk,' by Walter Isaacson - The New York Times
• DOJ's Latest Case Against Google Is Intricate But Important
• This Is the True Scale of New York's Airbnb Apocalypse
• Unity rushes to clarify price increase plan, as game developers fume
• Apple disputes French findings, says iPhone 12 meets radiation rules
• Apple says will issue software update to iPhone12 in France
• Save the Children hit by ransomware, 7TB stolen
• California passes right-to-repair act guaranteeing seven years of parts for your phone

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Jason Hiner, Sam Lessin, and Owen Thomas

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Elon Musk Biography, Google Anti-trust, Clubhouse

• Clubhouse is BACK
• Book Review: 'Elon Musk' by Walter Isaacson
• Elon Musk biographer moves to 'clarify' details about Ukraine and Starlink after backlash
• Senate votes to approve Anna Gomez as 5th FCC Commissioner
• Margrethe Vestager is Stepping Aside to Bid on a New Job
• Meta May Allow Instagram and Facebook Users in Europe to Pay to Avoid Ads
• In Its First Monopoly Trial of Modern Internet Era, U.S. Sets Sights on Google
• FTC Antitrust Suit Against Amazon Set for Later This Month After Meeting Fails to Resolve Impasse
• UK backs down from nonsensical law after threats from Apple, WhatsApp
• NFTs, Once Hyped as the Next Big Thing, Now Face 'Worst Moment'
• Elon Musk Threatens to Sue The Anti Defamation League
• Elon Musk's X is suing California over its online moderation reporting bill
• Google CEO Sundar Pichai reflects on Google's 25th birthday
• YouTube under no obligation to host anti-vaccine advocate's videos, court says
• I Tried It: Working Aboard an Amtrak Train
• PowerPoint co-creator Dennis Austin is dead at 76

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Taylor Lorenz, Amy Webb, and Jill Duffy

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• Thousands stuck in mud at Burning Man festival
• Australia and Texas overturn laws requiring age verification for adult websites
• Right to repair advocates score victory in California with Apple now supporting it
• NFT sales and prices plummeting showing the downfall of the once-hyped digital assets
• Twitter to lift ban on political ads ahead of 2024 election
• Social media companies failing to curb Russian propaganda says EU report
• Arkansas law requiring parental consent for minors' social media accounts blocked by judge
• Congress working on protecting minors on social media but raises privacy concerns
• Barbie film leaks online ahead of official release showing persistence of piracy
• NFL, NBA, UFC want faster DMCA takedowns to combat live streaming of games
• Gannett admits AI-written local sports stories were "hilariously terrible"
• Department of Defense launches website for tracking UFOs/UAPs
• Georgia election interference trial for Trump to be livestreamed on YouTube
• Google killing Pixel Pass after just 22 months despite promise of ongoing new phones
• Microsoft retiring WordPad after 28 years
• Cruise self-driving cars causing problems by blocking emergency vehicles in San Francisco

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Nicholas Deleon, Dan Moren, and Iain Thomson

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• Most of My Instagram Ads Are for Drugs, Stolen Credit Cards, Hacked Accounts, Counterfeit Money, and Weapons
• Following Elon Musk's lead, Big Tech is surrendering to disinformation
• Elon Musk's Shadow Rule
• Exclusive: Tesla wins as Texas requires state-backed charging stations to include its plug
• Mike Moritz, Reid Hoffman and Other Silicon Valley Titans Said to Be Behind Mysterious Land Deals
• We're Winning': Apple Formally Endorses Right to Repair Legislation After Spending Millions Fighting It
• A Young Congressman Is Sounding Alarms About Election Security. We Should Listen to Him.
• Government Contractors Keep Getting Hacked. A GOP Congresswoman Is Proposing a Solution.
• Brianna talks all about Baldur's Gate
• Microsoft to sell off Activision cloud gaming rights to Ubisoft in bid for UK approval
• The Reactions To Call Of Duty's Nicki Minaj Operator Are Priceless
• Enter the Gungeon
• AOC will stream on Twitch again this weekend
• Fifth Circuit Says Law Enforcement Doesn't Need Warrants To Search Phones At The Border
• Whats on the horizon for the guests in the coming months?

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Eric Geller, Jason Koebler, and Brianna Wu

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This episode of TWiT explores the implications of artificial intelligence (AI) on creative industries like writing, the monopolistic practices of Big Tech, and the concepts of open-washing and chokepoint capitalism.

• Cory Doctorow discusses his upcoming appearance in a Futurama episode inspired by his book Chokepoint Capitalism
• The downsides of Twitter under Elon Musk as an example of chokepoint capitalism unwinding
• Brewster Kahle and the Internet Archive's copyright disputes over digitized books in its Emergency Library
• Canada's law requiring Big Tech to pay news publishers, and Meta's ban on news sharing in response
• The CFPB cracking down on predatory data brokers
• Google's "topics" proposal for interest-based ads on Chrome and privacy concerns
• The threats AI poses to creative professions like writing, and the implications of copyright
• The misleading hype around AI and job loss statistics from companies like IBM
• The importance of interoperability for technology platforms and digital rights
• How copyright law views AI-generated art and content
• The issues around copyrighted content being used to train AI systems by companies like OpenAI
• The concept of "open washing" and whether companies like OpenAI really embody openness
• The America COMPETES Act, proposed antitrust legislation targeting Big Tech's ad market power
• The role of users and tool creators in establishing boundaries on things like advertising
• Rebecca Giblin's experience publishing out-of-print Australian books as the non-profit publisher Untapped
• The podcast IP Provocations and its discussions relating to AI and intellectual property

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Rebecca Giblin and Cory Doctorow

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Black Hat, DEFCON, AI Bill of Rights, BlueJeans, Zoom AI disclosure, Snoopers' Charter

• Oppenheimer and IMAX.
• AI Causes Real Harm. Let's Focus on That over the End-of-Humanity Hype.
• Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights.
• The Feds showed up in force at Black Hat.
• The U.K. Government Is Very Close To Eroding Encryption Worldwide .
• America's original hacking supergroup creates a free framework to improve app security.
• Electoral Commission apologises for security breach involving UK voters' data.
• AI 'red teams' race to find bias and harms in chatbots like ChatGPT.
• New 'Downfall' Flaw Exposes Valuable Data in Generations of Intel Chips.
• An Apple Malware-Flagging Tool Is 'Trivially' Easy to Bypass.
• Maui Wildfire Relief Fund.
• Want to pwn a satellite? Turns out it's surprisingly easy.
• CISA boss says US alliance with Ukraine over past year is closer than Five Eyes.
• Zoom AI tools trained using some customer data, updated terms say.
• From $40 billion to 'going concern' — WeWork warns of possible bankruptcy.
• I Would Rather See My Books Get Pirated Than This (Or: Why Goodreads and Amazon Are Becoming Dumpster Fires).
• BlueJeans, Verizon's Google Meet competitor, is shutting down.
• Curiosity Rover Finds 'Striking' Evidence of Habitable Seasons on Mars.
• Norway fines Meta 1M crowns per day over behavioural ads feud.
• E.U. slaps Meta with record $1.3 billion fine for data privacy violations.
• Rest in peace Bram Moolenaar, author of Vim and hero of many developers.
• Rhoda Karpatkin, Who Led Consumer Reports for Decades, Dies at 93.
• MrBeast Facing $100 Million Lawsuit After Dissing Own Burgers.
• Travis Kalanick expands 'dark kitchens' venture across Latin America.
• Crypto's Next Craze? Orbs That Scan Your Eyeballs.

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Christina Warren, Iain Thomson, and Rob Pegoraro

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