Tech Gumbo

News and Updates: Meta Liable in New Mexico: A jury found Meta violated state law by failing to protect children from predators, ordering the company to pay $375 million. This marks the first time Meta has been held accountable in a jury trial regarding child safety and deceptive trade practices. Encryption Rollback: Following pressure regarding law enforcement's ability to track predators, Meta a...

News and Updates: Wozniak on Apple at 50: Steve Wozniak reflects on Apple’s start, noting they didn’t predict the future but focused on being one step ahead of the competition. Apple’s Biggest Hits: From the Apple II to the iPhone, Apple revolutionized tech by mastering the human interface and maintaining absolute control over its ecosystem. Apple’s Biggest Misses: Not every bite was sweet; produc...

News and Updates: BYD’s Next-Gen Battery: BYD revealed its second-generation Blade battery, featuring 5% higher energy density and significantly improved efficiency compared to the original lithium iron phosphate packs. Windows 12 Speculation: Rumors suggest a late 2026 Windows 12 launch focused on AI and modular design, though experts remain skeptical of this aggressive release timeline. Server 2...

News and Updates: Microsoft Copilot Discord Backlash: Microsoft’s attempt to ban the term "Microslop" on its Copilot Discord server backfired, leading to massive spamming and the eventual temporary closure of the community. Data Center Grid Risks: Sudden disconnections of Virginia data centers from the power grid have sparked reliability concerns, as simultaneous shifts to backup power can destabi...

News and Updates: Dark Web Definition: The dark web is a decentralized, unindexed portion of the deep web requiring specialized software like Tor for anonymous, often unregulated, online communication. Legal vs. Illegal: Accessing the dark web is legal in the U.S., but engaging in illicit activities like buying stolen data or illegal substances remains prosecutable. FCC Sports Inquiry: The FCC is...

News and Updates: Pew Research on Teen AI Usage: A Pew study reveals 54% of U.S. teens use AI for schoolwork. While many use it for research, others admit to frequent chatbot-assisted cheating. Waymo Using Gig Workers: Waymo is paying gig workers $20–$24 to manually close robotaxi doors. The driverless Jaguars cannot move if passengers leave doors ajar after exiting. Waymo Clarifies Human Assistan...

News and Updates: Global Push to Ban Teens: Moves to bar younger teens from social media are spreading globally, with France and Spain implementing or proposing bans for ages 14 to 16. Mental Health Concerns: The initiatives reflect growing political will to address concerns that social-media use is linked to rising teen anxiety and depression. Tech Company Pushback: Social-media companies like Me...

News and Updates: Anthropic launched a $20 million super PAC to support AI regulation, countering OpenAI-backed groups in a political battle over the future of industry safety guardrails. Microsoft AI lead Mustafa Suleyman confirmed plans to develop in-house frontier models by 2026, signaling a major strategic shift away from total reliance on OpenAI. The Pentagon threatened to cancel Anthropic’s...

News and Updates: YouTube argued in a landmark addiction trial that it is an entertainment platform, not social media, comparing its algorithm to a helpful librarian rather than addictive gambling. Instagram head Adam Mosseri testified that 16-hour daily scrolling is "problematic" but not a clinical addiction, despite lawsuits linking excessive use to mental health issues. YouTube's 2025 revenue h...

News and Updates: Research shows AI boosts creativity only for employees with strong metacognition—the ability to plan and refine thinking—allowing them to strategically expand knowledge and capacity. Discord will implement global age verification in March, defaulting all users to "teen-appropriate" settings unless they prove adulthood via ID, facial estimation, or behavioral metadata. Ring’s "Sea...

Interview with Greg Trahan, LSU Assistant Vice President For Strategic Research Partnerships and Dr. John Flake, Associate Vice President For Research, Professor Chemical Engineering LSU and U.S. Army Cyber Command signed an agreement to develop advanced cyber technologies, providing students and researchers access to defense labs and joint projects. Building on its NSA cyber designation, LSU will...

News and Updates: Firefox adds a "kill switch" on February 24th to disable all AI features. This "AI control" menu offers granular settings for chatbots, translations, and summaries. Microsoft is reevaluating Windows 11 AI after user backlash. Underutilized features like Copilot in Paint/Notepad may be cut, while the "Recall" feature faces repositioning. xAI loosened Grok’s guardrails to boost eng...

News and Updates: TikTok’s New U.S. Data Regime: TikTok USDS launched under American investors, but new terms enable aggressive tracking of precise location and sensitive data, including ethnicity and health, to ensure global interoperability. The Death of 8K Television: LG joined Sony and TCL in halting 8K production due to a lack of content and bandwidth hurdles, leaving Samsung as the sole rema...

News and Updates: Trump’s AI Rules And Regs Making: The Trump administration plans to use Google Gemini to draft federal transportation regulations, prioritizing speed and "good enough" rules over traditional, years-long expert drafting. PPG’s Speed Coat: PPG launched an AI-developed automotive clear coat that reduces drying time by 50%, using deterministic AI to identify chemical combinations pre...

News and Updates: TikTok Finalizes U.S. Deal: A new majority U.S.-owned entity, TikTok USDS, was formed with Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX. ByteDance retains under 20% to resolve security concerns. Massive User Growth: TikTok reported reaching 200 million U.S. users, up from 170 million, despite years of legal threats and a looming federal ban. Launch Weekend Outages: Shortly after the ownership tr...

News and Updates: Grok bans illegal porn generation- After global backlash and app-store scrutiny, X says Grok now blocks child porn and nonconsensual deepfakes, but only where legally required, underscoring reactive, profit-driven governance. Why Grok remains in Google Play- Despite Google Play policies explicitly banning AI-generated nonconsensual sexual content, Musk’s Grok remains approved for...

News and Updates: Wing and Walmart Expand Drone Delivery: Scaling to 150 more stores, reaching 40 million Americans by 2027. The coast-to-coast expansion targets major hubs like LA, Miami, and Houston starting January 15th. Wikipedia Celebrates 25 Years: Founded Jan 15, 2001, the volunteer-led encyclopedia now hosts 7 million English articles. Despite AI challenges, it remains a resilient, neutral...

News and Updates: AI Report Hallucinations in Utah- Heber City police discovered their AI software, Draft One, mistakenly claimed an officer became a frog because it transcribed background audio from a Disney movie nearby. Apple and Google AI Partnership- Apple partnered with Google to use Gemini models for future Apple Intelligence features, admitting Google’s technology is superior for powering...

News and Updates: Dell AI PC Retreat- Dell admits AI PCs failed to drive demand, refocusing on gaming and consumers, reviving XPS branding, downplaying Copilot marketing as RAM shortages threaten PC prices. Microsoft and Partner Scramble- Microsoft’s Copilot PC push is faltering as Dell says AI confuses buyers, forcing Nadella into hands-on product control while partners revert to traditional hard...

News and Updates: On3 disables X replies to prevent users from using Grok to bypass paywalls. The AI frequently extracted subscription-only recruiting intel, threatening the site's business model. Grok faces backlash for generating nonconsensual sexualized images, including deepfakes of minors and world leaders. xAI dismissed concerns as "media lies" despite documented safeguard failures. France p...

News and Updates: California Data Privacy Law- California’s new Delete Act lets residents demand mass deletion of personal data from brokers via one website, signaling the strongest U.S. pushback yet against covert data surveillance. iRobot Bankruptcy & Privacy Fears- iRobot’s bankruptcy and acquisition by Chinese supplier Picea raise alarms over Roomba home-mapping data security, despite CEO...

News and Updates: Artificial Intelligence EV & Autonomous Cars Windows 10 End of Support

News and Updates: Disney / OpenAI / Sora- Disney will invest $1B in OpenAI, license characters for Sora videos, stream curated content on Disney+, and embrace generative AI amid Hollywood copyright concerns debates. Louisiana Social Media Law Blocked- Federal judge blocks Louisiana’s social media age-verification law, ruling it vague and unconstitutional, burdening anonymous speech and access, cou...

News and Updates: Google Maps Parking Upgrade- Google Maps now automatically saves your parking location and adds custom car icons, but the hands-free feature is currently limited to iPhones, not Android. Restaurant Reservation Data Tracking- AI-powered reservation apps like OpenTable quietly build detailed diner profiles from spending, orders, and habits, raising privacy concerns despite opt-out...

Guest Warren Birkett, retired consultant from Wybirk and Associates and the reason we had Y2K Working for IBM in the 1960’s & 70’s Solving problems with computers of the day Trying to speed up the compute time, removing the “19” from the date thus creating the Y2K problem that no one at the time thought would ever exist