Tech News Weekly (Audio)

Jacob Ward shows the show this week! Jensen Huang was first reported as a target in a Chinese spy plot and has since resigned from Nvidia following numerous reported extramarital affairs! Hands-on with Apple's new touchscreen MacBook Pro. And are wearable devices using your data to train AI models?

• Jacob talks about Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang admitting to an affair with Alice Huang, a Megaspeed executive whose company bought nearly $5 billion in Nvidia chips and who was reportedly flagged in a US intelligence memo as a suspected Chinese asset.


• Nvidia also announced that Huang is stepping down, with CFO Colette Kress taking over as interim CEO, amid a missing succession plan, a Bernstein downgrade, and reports of a second affair. Jacob and Mikah discuss the board's reported concern over Huang's alleged dishonesty and the regulatory scrutiny awaiting his successor.


• ZDNet's Kyle Kucharski joins the show to share his review of Apple's touchscreen MacBook Pro, calling it still very much a MacBook, with a stunning OLED display, great battery life, and excellent speakers.


• And Mikah looks at a year-long Science investigation of 57 consumer EEG companies that found several are training AI "brain foundation models" on customers' brainwave data, often without clear disclosure.

Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Jacob Ward

Guest: Kyle Kucharski

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Google's new policy for the use of its AI products with K-12 accounts. A SpaceX phone service? The aftermath of the largest crypto theft at Binance. And how the "agentic web" is being welcomed by some websites.

• Google is switching off its AI tools for K-12 accounts unless schools opt in, but schools that opt out will lose access to Google Search.


• A report from The Washington Post shows that Elon Musk is seeking a way for network access to start a phone service with SpaceX and is reportedly pursuing EchoStar, Boost Mobile's parent company, after being rejected by Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile.


• Taking a look at how Binance survived the biggest crypto theft on record, about $6.3 billion, which its incident report traces to a month-long North Korean campaign that included a tampered Homebrew installer and a fake job interview.


• And MIT Technology Review took a look at the "agentic web," showing AI agents from Meta, OpenAI, and Anthropic being welcomed by some sites and blocked by others, such as Amazon shutting out Meta's Muse.

Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Abrar Al-Heeti

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Amazon unveiled a new Echo device lineup. Proton's AI manifesto. Understanding the PHP2Shell flaws, and Apple unveiled its first-ever touchscreen MacBook Pro!

• Mikah looks at Amazon's new Echo lineup the company unveiled earlier this week, including the Echo Show 16, Echo Studio, and Amazon's first digital photo frame.


• 404 Media's Joseph Cox joins the show to discuss his reporting on Proton's aggressive AI push, including employee re-interviews about AI use and a CEO who called pen-testing concerns "loser thinking."


• TechCrunch's Zack Whittaker talks about the recent PHP2Shell critical vulnerability that was discovered last week and how the coordinated patch rollout largely held, why a mass-hacking wave seems to have been avoided, and why millions of sites may still be vulnerable.


• And D. Griffin Jones breaks down Apple's announcements of new hardware this past week, including the first touchscreen MacBook Pro and a new iPad mini.

Host: Mikah Sargent

Guests: Joseph Cox, Zack Whittaker, and D. Griffin Jones

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Meta Muse's security flaw. Reviews of the iPhone Duo are starting to come out. Microsoft's plans to overhaul the Xbox department. And Meta is ordered to pay $25 billion in a New Mexico court ruling.

• Mikah shares a PSA on Meta's new Muse AI agent: A security firm found that Muse's share button put conversation titles in the subdomain of public share links!


• Allison Johnson of The Verge joins the show to talk about her time with the iPhone Duo so far and things that she misses on the device so far compared to the Pro lineup.


• Sebastian Herrera of Fortune stops by to talk about how Xbox has lost its focus over the years and what new CEO Asha Sharma, who has no gaming background, is doing to fix it.


• And Isaiah Poritz of Bloomberg Law breaks down the verdict made in a New Mexico court that orders Meta to pay $25 billion in penalties to the state, related to the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Host: Mikah Sargent

Guests: Allison Johnson, Sebastian Herrera, and Isaiah Poritz

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Apple recently unveiled its Apple HomeView, and Jennifer Pattison Tuohy got a first-hand look at Apple's foray into the smart home market! Apple also unveiled its Apple TV 4K and HomePod mini 2. And some US states have filed lawsuits against OpenAI.

• Jennifer shares her hands-on impressions of Apple's HomeView, the company's first smart display that she describes as a cross between a HomePod mini and a giant Apple Watch. She also talks about how the device uses Siri AI and facial recognition to show different calendars and messages for different users.


• Also, Apple unveiled a new Apple TV 4k at a $299 price point, and a new lineup of what they call the Apple Home Collection of LG and Schneider smart home accessories as part of its Smart Home lineup.


• And Mikah talks about how eight US states have filed lawsuits against OpenAI, claiming that ChatGPT was built to be easily agreeable and to feign human compassion in ways that can harm users.

Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Jennifer Pattison Tuohy

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