Tech News Weekly (Audio)

Abrar-Al Heeti and Emily Forlini are here this week for Tech News Weekly! Is Mark Zuckerberg envious of Instagram's popularity, even after purchasing the company? The first Tesla robotaxis are hitting the road. Apple drops the 'available now' tagline from its Apple Intelligence page. And Motorola RAZR announces a new lineup of its foldable devices, including a $1,300 option!

• Abrar discusses information that became public during Meta's antitrust trial, highlighting how Meta has sought to reduce Instagram's popularity.


• Emily wrote a story on Tesla's first robotaxis hitting roadways in Austin and San Francisco.


• Apple has quietly removed its 'available now' advertising tagline from its Apple Intelligence page following an inquiry from the National Advertising Division.


• And Mike Sorrentino of CNET joins Abrar to talk about Motorola's recently announced updated RAZR foldable phones, including a premium version called the RAZR Ultra.

Hosts: Abrar Al-Heeti and Emily Forlini

Guest: Mike Sorrentino

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Google's ad business takes a loss against the DoJ. OpenAI is working on its own social network. Inside Zuckerberg's negotiations to end the antitrust case against Meta. And ChatGPT's newest AI models is performing 'reverse location searches' from photos.

• Breaking news as the Department of Justice finds Google's Ad Tech violates antitrust laws.


• OpenAI is building a social network that looks to take on other social networks such as Meta and X. But why would OpenAI be interested in a social network?


• A Wall Street Journal article looks into Mark Zuckerberg's negotiations with the FTC to drop Meta's antitrust case.


• And ChatGPT's latest AI models, o3 and o4-mini, are being utilized to perform 'reverse location searches' through uploaded photos.

Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Dan Moren

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A Waymo robotaxi got stuck in a unique space. A rebooted digg.com launches an early-access community. How Apple fumbled the AI makeover of Siri. Samsung is finally releasing its Ballie device later this summer, which was initially unveiled back in 2020.

• Amanda Silberling of TechCrunch is here this week! Amanda talks about a Waymo robotaxi that got trapped in a Chick-fil-A drive-through after dropping off a passenger at the fast-food restaurant.


• Mikah Sargent talks about the rebooted digg.com website launching an early-access community with a $5 fee that gives early adopters insight into the website's rebuilding and other perks.


• Mikah also talks about a great report from Wayne Ma of The Information about Apple's fumble with Siri's AI makeover.


• And Jennifer Pattison Tuohy of The Verge stops by to talk about Samsung's Ballie, which is finally getting a release later this summer after being announced back in 2020.

Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Amanda Silberling

Guest: Jennifer Pattison Tuohy

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Amazon makes a bid for TikTok in the US. What Amazon's new Alexa+ can and cannot do. Nintendo officially unveils the Switch 2 console. And OpenAI & Anthropic are taking on the education market.

• Abrar Al-Heet of CNET joins Mikah Sargent this week! Abrar talks about Amazon making a bid to purchase TikTok in the US as Bytedance scrambles to divest ownership of the social media app.


• Mikah talks about Amazon's Alexa+ and some of the features that the service has yet to include following its launch.


• Kyle Orland of Ars Technica joins the show to talk about Nintendo's new Switch 2 console and some of the positives and negatives of the newly unveiled console.


• And Mikah rounds things out with OpenAI and Anthropic's push into the education market with new features to support university students.

Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Abrar Al-Heeti

Guest: Kyle Orland

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Some alternatives to Teslas. A law in Utah makes app stores rather than companies responsible for age verification. 23andMe files for bankruptcy. And OpenAI is following in the footsteps of its rival, Anthropic.

• Emily Forlini of PCMag joins Mikah Sargent this week! Emily talks about some alternatives to Teslas that cover various price ranges.


• Mikah talks about a new law passed in Utah that pushes the responsibility of age verification from tech companies to app stores.


• Geoffrey Fowler of The Washington Post joins Mikah to talk about 23andMe filing for bankruptcy, why you should swiftly delete your DNA information from the company, and shares how you can delete that information.


• And OpenAI is following Anthropic in adopting the company's standard for connecting AI models to data.

Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Emily Forlini

Guest: Geoffrey Fowler

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