Chaos Lever Podcast

 Welcome back to Chaos Lever, where we sift through the latest in tech news so you don’t have to. Please take our listener survey! https://chaoslever.com/survey  This week’s episode covers everything from Meta's nuclear ambitions to Broadcom's sudden change of heart. Let’s break it down:  ---  🧠 Meta Joins the Nuke AI Club Meta is doubling down on AI by exploring nuclear power to meet its growing...

Get ready for another delightful descent into tech chaos, historical intrigue, and the occasional bout of existential questioning! This week, we mark (almost) three years since we started this podcast, and Ned is still totally not a robot. We also take a fascinating trip through the history of cryptography, from ancient Egyptian secrets to Julius Caesar's favorite ciphers and the tragic tale of Ma...

The Not-So-Hostile Takeover of iMessage Technology Originally Published on 12/21/2023 The Dreaded Green Bubble It's the shake-up of the century, or at least… it's pretty big news. It seems that pretty soon, non-Apple devices will be able to support iMessage technology. So how is this even possible? In order to answer that question, Ned walks us through the history of text messaging technology, fro...

 Welcome to another episode of Tech News of the Week where we dissect the latest tech news with equal parts wit and snark. This week’s topics are as juicy as ever, from the DOJ taking a swing at Google to Apple’s embarrassing security scramble. Dive in below for more details and links to the full stories! !!!Take the audience survey here!!! https://pod.chaoslever.com/survey/2024-listener-survey/ D...

 Step into the Wild World of Telephones! 🛠️📞 In this episode of Chaos Lever, we’re dialing up a fascinating exploration of telephony with special guest Sarah Autumn! Sarah, a volunteer engineer at the Connections Museum in Seattle, takes us on a journey through the evolution of telephone systems, from the quirky mechanical marvels of the early 20th century to the legacy technology that still shap...

 From AI's stumbling progress to groundbreaking tools and cyber threats, here’s what you need to know for this week: All The Major AI Models Continue To Lose Money AND Stop Advancing: Is the golden age of AI innovation already behind us? Reports from OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic suggest that we may have hit a plateau. With increasing costs and diminishing returns, the financial and technical outl...

 Ah, passwords—the not-so-secret keys to our digital world. In this episode, we dig into the fascinating (and flawed) history of passwords, from their Roman origins to their debut in 1960s computing, and the constant struggle between ease and security ever since. Why are we still relying on passwords that can be hacked in seconds? And what are the latest recommendations from the National Institute...

 In this episode of Chaos Lever, we dig into the latest tech updates and industry moves, from Amazon's ambitious push to rival OpenAI to Qualcomm’s plans for ARM-powered Windows laptops. We’ll also explore MacOS’s tricky approach to app sandboxing and debate whether Notepad really needs AI. *Amazon to Invest in Anthropic AI to Compete with OpenAI—But There's a Catch*  Amazon is making a big move i...

 In today’s episode, we’re diving into one of IT’s murkiest topics: Attack Surface Management, or ASM. Can ASM be fun? Maybe. Is it critical for modern security? Absolutely. If you’ve ever wondered what ASM actually does, or why it’s more than just the latest buzzword, we’ve got answers (and helping handfuls of snark). We explore how ASM helps businesses stay on top of their digital perimeters—tho...

 In this week’s *Chaos Lever Tech News*, we’re diving into groundbreaking—and sometimes just plain weird—developments in the tech world. Gene Therapy + Data Storage : Remember the days of 3.5" floppy disks with 1.44MB capacity? Today’s microSDs blow that out of the water, but there’s a limit to how much data we can fit on silicon. Enter DNA as a storage medium, where a single gram theoretically ho...

Get ready for a *spooktacular* look at one of the least spooky (but incredibly powerful) tools ever made: Microsoft Excel. It's Excel’s 40th anniversary, so we're diving into its history, quirks, and how this humble spreadsheet app has managed to shape business, science, finance, and... espionage? Yes, you read that right. Excel may not sound thrilling, but trust us, it's one of the most impactful...

 This week, we dive into the Internet Archive's recovery after cyberattacks compromised user data and targeted public knowledge institutions. IBM faces a tough quarter, with mainframe sales lagging but Red Hat growth keeping optimism alive. Broadcom issues another critical patch for vCenter, addressing a persistent flaw that remains a major security concern. Plus, Bluesky secures $15M in funding,...

In this episode, we dive deep into the wild world of cyber insurance and the massive changes that have unfolded between 2020 and 2023. Remember when we said cyber risks would increase and insurance applications would get tougher? Well, they sure did! And that’s just the start. Join us as we break down how cyber insurance policies have evolved—from simple yes/no questions to intense multi-page inte...

This week, we're diving into the surprising moves by some tech giants in the world of nuclear energy! Amazon has invested in small modular reactors (SMRs) to help power their datacenters, joining the likes of Google and Microsoft in the nuclear energy race. SMRs promise safer, more scalable energy, but don’t expect to see these reactors online until the 2030s. Can nuclear energy meet the growing p...

In this episode of Chaos Lever , we take a trip down memory lane to explore the history of blogging—starting with the humble beginnings of bulletin board systems (BBS) and online forums, and moving through the rise of blogs in the early 2000s. We’ll reminisce about Justin Hall’s early “personal homepage,” the birth of the term “weblog,” and how platforms like WordPress revolutionized online conten...

🎙️ Tech News of the Week – October 2024 | Hard Drive Failures, Tesla's Robotaxi, and Wimbledon Goes Automated! Join hosts Ned and Chris in this week's Tech News of the Week podcast as they explore the latest developments in technology and innovation. In this episode, we cover: 🚨 Data Loss Crisis : Hard drives are failing faster than expected, with 20% of backups potentially lost forever. What doe...

AI is everywhere, and it's not just helping the good guys. In this episode, we dive deep into the world of AI and cybersecurity. From AI-enhanced phishing attacks to deepfakes and malware, we explore how bad actors are using AI to lower the bar for cybercrime and the challenges organizations face in defending against it. Discover how AI is not only making it easier for cybercriminals to target you...

 Gallium Is The New Black | Flexible Chips, AR Glasses, and More Tech News In this episode, we explore cutting-edge tech like Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide (IGZO) semiconductors, the potential of flexible processors like Pragmatic Semiconductor’s Flex-RV, and the future of augmented reality. Plus, we discuss SoftBank's latest investment in OpenAI and the rise (and fall) of AR headsets like Microsoft's...

Join Ned and Chris in this episode of Chaos Lever, where they explore the fascinating and sometimes bizarre history of email and the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). Special guest Dylan Beattie, software development consultant and creator of the Rockstar programming language, shares his insights on how email evolved from early telegraph systems to the global communication tool we rely on toda...

 In this episode, we discuss how Google is improving Android security with Rust, significantly reducing memory-related vulnerabilities and enhancing developer productivity. We also dive into NIST's latest revision of its Digital Identity Guidelines, a crucial standard for protecting digital identities. Next, we explore the ongoing feud between WP Engine and Matt Mullenweg, which is impacting WordP...

 Remember the movie **Hackers** and its fictional supercomputer, The Gibson? While The Gibson might be fantasy, mainframes are still very much a reality in our modern computing world! In this episode, we'll journey through some legendary Hollywood computers, like the WOPR from *War Games*, before zooming into the real-world star of the show: IBM's **z17** mainframe, powered by the *insanely powerf...

 This week, the FTC confirmed what many suspected: social media giants like Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok have been willfully collecting user data for profit, with minimal regard for privacy. Meanwhile, former Oracle CEO Larry Ellison proposed a controversial AI-driven surveillance system to monitor citizens and police, a plan that many find dystopian and absurd. In tech updates, Apple's new OS re...

 In this episode, we explore the 1995 cult classic Hackers in honor of National Civic Hacking Day. Despite not being a movie podcast, the episode revisits the film’s depiction of hacker culture with fleeting nostalgia and an analysis of its technical inaccuracies. From Angelina Jolie’s memorable performance to the infamous “hacker war” scene, Chris helps us unpack the real-world feasibility of the...

In this episode, we discuss the European Court of Justice's decision forcing Apple to pay €13 billion in back taxes to Ireland, marking a major moment in corporate taxation within the EU. We also dive into Microsoft's breakthrough in quantum computing, as they announce the creation of 12 error-corrected qubits, a step forward in the notoriously difficult area of error resilience. Lastly, we explor...

In this episode, Ned and Chris examine classical computing fundamentals, breaking down complex topics like Turing machines, the von Neumann architecture, and the role of logic gates in computing. They explain how binary operations, logic gates, and transistors come together to form the foundation of modern computers. They also get into a discussion of reduced instruction set computing (RISC) vs. x...