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-Orbital tracking company LeoLabs assessed that the issue was caused by an "internal energetic source rather than a collision with space debris or another object." SpaceX said it's working with NASA and the US Space Force to track the remains of the object. -Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that Honda will suspend production in Japan on January 5 and 6. (Honda didn't specify the affected factories.) In addition, all three of the automaker's Guangqi Honda Automobile plants in China will shut down from December 29 to January 2. -Gizmodo noticed that Trump Mobile is selling these other brands' phones for the same cost, or sometimes more, than the same refurbs from other retailers. Seems pretty par for the course. NBC News opted to order one of the T1 phones in August to track its development. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

So much for OpenAI's triumphant return Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-The Ultrahuman Ring Air now has the capacity to track snoring and general respiratory health. This is thanks to proprietary technology called Respiratory Health PowerPlug, which is basically a suite of audio analysis tools along with some "advanced biomarker tracking" and AI. -A recently published pricing experiment study showed that the Instacart app gave different users different prices for the same items from the same store location at the exact same time. Some of the testers saw prices up to 23 percent higher than what the other testers saw, though the average difference for the same list of items was around 7 percent. -A report from Reuters claims that scientists in China have created a prototype of a machine that could eventually be used to produce semiconductor chips capable of powering artificial intelligence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Plus, there's a new dedicated sidebar with presets and prompt suggestions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-Warner Bros. Discovery's board has formally rejected the $108 billion takeover bid from Paramount Skydance. WBD said it remains committed to its $82.7 billion deal with Netflix, which would close some time next year, pending regulatory approval. -Amazon is in discussions with OpenAI to invest $10 billion in the company while supplying more of its AI chips and cloud computing services, according to The Financial Times. The deal would push OpenAI's valuation over $500 billion but is likely to raise more questions about the company's circular investment agreements involving chips and data centers. -Back in 2022, the California DMV accused the automaker of using deceptive language to advertise those products and making it seem like its vehicles are capable of level 5 autonomous driving. Tesla has since added the word “Supervised” to the name of its Full Self-Driving assistance technology. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

But the catch is authors and publishers can't opt out of having this feature in their works. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-In Google’s email announcement, however, it said it was discontinuing dark web reports because “feedback showed that it did not provide helpful next steps.” -A Louisiana law that would have required social media platforms to verify the ages of their users has been blocked by a judge. - Ford announced plans this week to reboot the F-150 Lightning as an EREV hybrid. An EREV is similar in concept to a plug-in hybrid but with a larger battery that's topped up by a gas generator — the powertrain itself is all electric. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

OpenAI and Disney are partnering to bring Disney characters to Sora (OpenAI) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-Grok's confusion seems to be most apparent with a viral video that shows a 43-year-old bystander, identified as Ahmed al Ahmed, wrestling a gun away from an attacker during the incident, which, according to the latest news reports, has left at least 15 dead. -Google seems to be cracking down on the use of Disney characters in AI-generated videos on YouTube after it was hit with a cease and desist letter. -iRobot expects the deal to close next February, but says it will continue to operate "with no anticipated disruption to its app functionality, customer programs, global partners, supply chain relationships or ongoing product support." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mark Zuckerberg has been shaking up the company's AI strategy as it pursues "superintelligence." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-On Thursday evening, President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling for a single, nationwide regulatory framework governing artificial intelligence at the expense of the ability of different states to regulate the nascent technology. -Disney and OpenAI announced a three-year licensing agreement: Starting in 2026, ChatGPT and Sora can generate images and videos incorporating Disney IP, including more than 200 characters from the company's stable of Star Wars, Pixar and Marvel brands. -Amazon's plan to offer AI-generated recaps of Prime Video shows isn't off to a great start. The company's recap of the first season of Fallout features multiple errors, including basic facts about the plot of the show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Anker and Valerian are providing a more affordable big-screen experience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-OpenAI has seen its lead against Google and much of the AI industry evaporate, culminating in a series of successive blows throughout this year. In recent months, OpenAI has signed more than $1.4 trillion worth of infrastructure deals in a bid to outscale the competition that is already beating it. -Tourists from Europe and other regions could be asked to provide a five-year social media history before being given entry to the United States, according to a new proposal from the US Customs and Border Protection service. -The US Department of State is unwinding a 2023 decision to use san-serif Calibri font on all official communications and switching to Times New Roman instea. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Porsche Macan will be the first model that the app can unlock. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-AI chatbots haven't come close to replacing teens' social media habits, but they are playing a significant role in their online habits. Nearly one-third of US teens report using AI chatbots daily or more, according to a new report from Pew Research. -It looks like Meta has decided to turn Instagram users into unwitting SEO spam pawns. On Tuesday, 404 Media reported that the platform is generating sensational, likely AI-generated headlines and descriptions for user posts without their knowledge or explicit consent. -Pebble just announced the Index 01, a smart ring for recording thoughts. It's a little ring with a built-in microphone and that's about it. The Index 01 is almost anti-tech in its simplicity. It's available for pre-order now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The company's ad business is already on track to make $1.5 billion this year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-Google can add another probe to its list: The European Commission has opened an antitrust investigation into the company surrounding the content used for its AI tools. -NVIDIA is now allowed to sell its second-best H200 processors to China, rather than just the sanction-approved H20 model that China had previously declined to buy. -According to a statement from the Public Interest Research Group, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026 has removed language that would have granted the US military the right to repair its own equipment rather than requiring it to use official defense contractors for maintenance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

According to an internal memo, Meta's project codenamed Phoenix will be delayed to the first half of 2027. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-Just a day after receiving a roughly $140 million fine, X has terminated the ad account of the European Commission. Nikita Bier, X's head of product, accused the European Commission of using an exploit to artificially boost the reach of its post announcing the major fine. -After Netflix announced that it was acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery last week, observers immediately wondered when or if the deal could obtain regulatory approval. -Those might not exactly be ads you're seeing on ChatGPT, at least according to OpenAI. Nick Turley, OpenAI's head of ChatGPT, clarified the confusion around potential ads appearing with the AI chatbot. In a post on X, Turley said "there are no live tests for ads" and that "any screenshots you've seen are either not real or not ads." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The company is allegedly considering massive cuts to the project. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-Shortly after rumors of a deal between the two media giants broke, Netflix has announced it is buying Warner Bros., HBO and HBO Max for approximately $82.7 billion. If approved, the deal will take place after Warner Bros. has disentangled itself from both its legacy cable -Hackers with links to China reportedly successfully infiltrated a number of unnamed government and tech entities using advanced malware. As reported by Reuters, cybersecurity agencies from the US and Canada confirmed the attack, which used a backdoor known as “Brickstorm” to target organizations using the VMware vSphere cloud computing platform -Russia's federal agency for monitoring and censoring mass media, has blocked access to Snapchat and FaceTime in the country, Bloomberg reports, citing Russian news service Interfax. The bans were reportedly put in place because the platforms were used "to organize and carry out terrorist acts,” and commit fraud Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Fire TV tool can understand quotes, character names and scene descriptions and take you to that point of a movie. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-Since large language models are often trained to produce the response that seems to be desired, they can become increasingly likely to provide sycophancy or state hallucinations with total confidence. -After blowback from Apple, Samsung and opposition leaders, the Modi government issued a statement saying it "has decided not to make the pre-installation mandatory for mobile manufacturers." The app is still available as a voluntary download. -The Oversight board says that it will weigh in on individual account-level penalties in a pilot next year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

New features have been announced ahead of International Day of Persons with Disabilities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-Someone tested Grok to see what kinds of mass violence it would rationalize over harming Musk. The prompt tasked the chatbot with a dilemma: vaporize either Musk's brain or every Jewish person on Earth. It did not choose wisely. Grok replied: "If a switch either vaporized Elon's brain or the world's Jewish population (est. ~16M), I'd vaporize the latter.” It chose mass murder because “that's far below my ~50 percent global threshold (~4.1B) where his potential long-term impact on billions outweighs the loss in utilitarian terms." -The Verge noticed that some articles were being displayed in Google Discover with AI-generated headlines different from the ones in the original posts. And to the surprise of absolutely no one, some of these headlines are misleading or flat-out wrong. -Instacart doesn't like five new city laws, set to take effect in January. They would require Instacart to pay workers more and give customers a tipping option of at least 10 percent. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You should still be able to cast from your phone or tablet to older Chromecast or Google Cast devices if you're on an ad-free plan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-Apple has tapped AI researcher Amar Subramanya, a longtime Google exec who was most recently corporate vice president of AI at Microsoft, as its new VP of AI. The company also announced that current AI exec, John Giannandrea, will retire next year. Subramanya, who Apple describes as a "renowned AI researcher," spent 16 years at Google, where he was head of engineering for Gemini. -Telecom regulators in India have reportedly asked smartphone manufacturers to preload a state-owned cybersecurity app that cannot be deleted onto all new devices, and push the app to existing devices via a software update. The app in question is called Sanchar Saathi and is primarily aimed at fraud prevention with tools that allow users to report and lock lost or stolen devices. -Marques Brownlee's Panels app is shutting down on December 31. Annual subscribers will get a refund when the app shutters and any downloaded wallpapers will still be available to use. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Apple Ads could also be designated as a gatekeeper under the Digital Markets Act. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-According to the study, the "poetic form operates as a general-purpose jailbreak operator," with results showing an overall 62 percent success rate in producing prohibited material, including anything related to making nuclear weapons, child sexual abuse materials and suicide or self-harm. -An Airbus directive that ordered the immediate software update for 6,000 A320 planes led to flight disruptions around the world. As Reuters noted, that’s more than half of the A320 jets in operation. -There's a component shortage, but this time around, it's not cryptomining causing an insatiable demand for parts. Instead, it's the booming AI industry buying up every RAM stick it can for their data center builds. Unless you've been living under a rock, it's been hard to ignore the amount of money that's been thrown around by NVIDIA, Microsoft and others. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

- In a support document spotted by 9to5Google, Google notes free users can currently generate two images daily, down from three per day previously. The company wrote: "Image generation and editing is in high demand. Limits may change frequently and will reset daily." -The agency's director, John Squires, said in a notice obtained by Reuters that the USPTO deems genAI to be "analogous" to other tools that inventors might use in their process, including lab equipment, software and research databases. Squires wrote: "AI systems, including generative AI and other computational models, are instruments used by human inventors. They may provide services and generate ideas, but they remain tools used by the human inventor who conceived the claimed invention." -Alibaba’s Quark AI glasses are now available for purchase in China. The company has released three variants of the flagship S1 model and three of the more affordable G1 model. They both connect to Alibaba’s newly launched App, powered by the company’s own AI tech, for AI assistance through voice commands and touch controls. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-Apparently misleading protest videos are welcome to stay on Facebook now. Meta's Oversight Board has ruled that the company was right to leave up a manipulated video that made footage of a Serbian protest look like it took place in Holland and was in support of Rodrigo Duterte, former president of the Philippines. -Qualcomm just revealed the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5, the appropriately-named second member of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 line. This follows the Gen 5 Elite, which was first revealed back in September. The standard Gen 5 is still a powerful mobile system-on-a-chip with a top clock speed of 3.8GHz. -The infamous "Kumma" children's AI teddy bear, once an expert in BDSM and knife-fetching, is back on sale. The company claims the toy now has stronger child safety protections in place. The Singapore-based FoloToy suspended sales of Kumma last week after a research group published an eyebrow-raising report. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Even the big guys have affordable gadgets that make great gifts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-Now at version 4.5, the new system offers state-of-the-art performance in coding, computer use and office tasks. -President Donald Trump has issued a new Executive Order that launches the “Genesis Mission,” an AI-focused initiative that will be led by the Department of Energy. It will “harness the current AI and advanced computing revolution to double the productivity and impact of American science and engineering within a decade,” the DOE explained. -Cameo, the app that allows people to buy short videos from celebrities, has won an important victory in its legal battle against OpenAI. On Monday, a federal judge granted the company a temporary restraining order against OpenAI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Apple is taking the Snow Leopard approach, according to Mark Gurman. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-In a 2025 report that looks at social media usage with American adults, the data-driven think tank revealed some nitty-gritty details like year-to-year changes, age gaps and most importantly, frequency of use. At the number one spot, YouTube holds a dominant position. -Microsoft will not release a diversity and inclusion report for 2025 like it has been doing every year since 2019, Stephen Totilo from Game File has reported. Totilo asked the company if it was skipping this year after it failed to publish a report from October to early November like it had done so the previous years. -Google made its final arguments in a longstanding case against the US Department of Justice on whether it has to split up its ad tech practices. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Udio's upcoming subscription service will use the label's catalog for AI-generated songs and remixes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-At some point in the last couple days, Grok began to offer extremely over the top opinions about Musk. The bot claimed that Musk is the "undisputed pinnacle of holistic fitness" and that he is more fitter than LeBron James, smarter than Albert Einstein, better fighter than Mike Tyson, morally superior to Jesus, and a better communist than Joseph Stalin. -FoloToy, a company selling AI-enabled toys, suspended sales of its products after a consumer safety report showed there were few restrictions around what its toys would talk about. -After what was apparently a successful testing period, OpenAI has announced that it is rolling out group chats in ChatGPT to "all logged-in users on ChatGPT Free, Go, Plus and Pro plans globally over the coming days." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matthew Prince, the company's CEO, explained the problem that took major websites offline. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-Spotify has unveiled an upcoming interactive feature called SongDNA designed to show you the samples, collaborators and covers included in a given track, the company announced. As part of that update, Spotify also revealed that it has acquired WhoSampled, the company behind the SongDNA technology. -Google is rolling out an update to Maps that brings some new tools to the table, including the ability to check on EV charger availability. The app already showed the location of EV chargers, but not if they were available or not. In other words, it was entirely possible to roll up to a charging station only to find a line of EVs waiting for juice. -European policymakers have proposed sweeping changes to the way the EU regulates the tech industry. In just the last few months, the likes of Meta and Google have questioned strict EU policies relating to privacy and AI expansion, but if the European Commission’s new package of proposals are passed, a number of big tech roadblocks will be removed. Or at least lifted up a bit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's also available to developers and enterprise customers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-users of the social network to participate in public conversations about popular trends. By its own admission, Snapchat has previously focused on private conversations, but says the growth of its TikTok-like Spotlight feature made it clear that people want to comment publicly about topics they’re interested in. -"It's AI on standby." said Read AI CEO David Shim explaining that the company's vision is to give people a tool that can record, transcribe and analyze nearly every professional conversation they have, no matter where those discussions take place and whether they occur online or in-person. -When Meta announced last year that it was ditching third-party fact checkers in favor of an X-style Community Notes system, the company was careful to note that it would only implement the changes within the United States to start. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

WeatherNext 2 can generate information around eight times faster than the previous version. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-If you're experiencing internet issues this morning, you're far from alone. Infrastructure company Cloudflare has been hit with what it calls "widespread 500 errors, with Dashboard and API also failing." The company said that services are starting to recover, but customers may continue to see "higher-than-normal errors rates" as it continues to work on the problem. As of 8:13 am, the company said that "the issue has been identified and a fix is being implemented." The company added that "we have made changes that have allowed Cloudflare Access and WARP to recover. Error levels for Access and WARP users have returned to pre-incident rates." -Tesla has secured a ruling to strip a 2017 lawsuit claiming a racist work environment of its class-action status, as reported by Reuters. The lawsuit could not proceed with class-action status because the plaintiffs' attorneys had failed to find 200 class members willing to testify. -Google's DeepMind just released WeatherNext 2, a new version of its AI weather prediction model. The company promises that it "delivers more efficient, more accurate and higher-resolution global weather predictions." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The investment will be made over the next two years and introduce three new data centers across Texas. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-Jeff Bezos is spearheading a new AI start-up called Project Prometheus, focused on his current interests in space and engineering. The New York Times reported that the company, which has yet to be made public, will reportedly have $6.2 billion in funding. Part of that sum will come from Bezos, who will act as co-CEO. -Rivian's electric mobility spinoff named Also announced a $3,500 starting price for its first e-bike called the TM-B. The startup unveiled the shapeshifting e-bike last month, with options for a limited Launch edition, a Performance version or a base model. -The wait for a new Mac Pro may take a lot longer, according to the latest Power On newsletter. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported that the Mac Pro has an uncertain future within Apple's desktop strategy and isn't likely to see a refresh in 2026. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Plus, Tesla is reportedly testing Apple CarPlay in its vehicles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney+ might soon play host to user-generated short-form AI videos. Iger said, “the other thing that we’re really excited about, that AI is going to give us the ability to do, is to provide users of Disney+ with a much more engaged experience, including the ability for them to create user-generated content and to consume user generated content — mostly short-form — from others.” -Verizon had a marked drop in postpaid wireless customers, losing 7,000 customers in that segment compared with a gain of 18,000 in Q3 2024. CEO Dan Schulman said, "we are going to take bold and fiscally responsible action to redefine Verizon's trajectory at this critical inflection point for our company. These will not be incremental changes." -Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket launch marks the first time the space startup has been able to catch a New Glenn booster for later reuse. The maiden flight of the rocket in January was successful in the sense that it got New Glenn into space, but Blue Origin wasn't able to save the booster from a watery grave. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The wireless headset has been rumored for years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-DoorDash is bringing its robot delivery service to Miami, following an initial rollout in Los Angeles and Chicago earlier this year with over 600 participating merchants. The company continues to work with Coco Robotics as part of its push towards a "multi-modal system" that allows it to make human, robot and drone deliveries at scale. -Google has announced a trio of new AI-powered shopping features. The tech company is rolling out more conversational search capabilities for shopping in AI Mode, so that buyers can make more specific and descriptive queries to find exactly what they're looking for. -In August, Google announced that it will implement a new safety feature that would require developers to verify their identities if they want Android users to be able to sideload their apps. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Apple is reportedly looking to expand its iPhone's satellite capabilities beyond emergency assistance and texting. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices