Clark Reid Tech Report

Apple Extravaganza-Folding iPhone, iPhone Pros, Watches, Air Pods

September 9th, 2026

Welcome, one and all to the Apple reality distortion field…or at least my recap of it! Apple rolled out their latest, greatest iPhone Pros, Watches, and Air Pods today, and the inevitable ‘one more thing’ we all knew was coming…the folding iPhone. We all called it the Ultra, but Apple has dubbed it the iPhone Duo. Not being Apple, I will start with the one more thing, the Duo. Honestly, there is a lot to be impressed with about the folder Apple waited several years to drop. They have done a great job minimizing the crease in the screen, the hinge itself has a lot of tech in it, and it has better battery life than expected. It is, as Apple noted, about the size of your passport in your hand folded, and open has an inner screen of some 7.6 inches…much like an iPad Mini.

Later this year, you will be able to use an Apple Pencil with either screen, too. When you are using the outer screen, and open the phone, the larger screen picks up right where you left off. There is a selfie cam on the inner screen that is hidden under the display…no hole punch or pill-shaped cutout to take away from the full screen experience. It is worth mentioning that the outer screen is no slouch…it is 5.4 inches. You can shoot a pic while using the inner screen, and your subject can see themselves in the outer display. Pretty cool. The phone has the 2 nanometer A20 processor like the iPhone 18 Pros, and has 2 neural engines. Dual batteries give you up to 31 hours of video viewing on the big display and 24 hours on a charge. Here’s the crazy part…it starts at $1999 with 256 gigs of storage! I expected it to be more like $2400. Preorders start October 16th, and the launch is October 23rd.

For the rest of us mere mortals that may not be getting a folding phone right now, the Pro and Pro Max also have the A20 Pro chip, and Apple strongly emphasized AI and especially on-device AI. The AI and new version of Siri may be exciting to use as you get into your daily use of the phone, but for now, we’ll talk about a couple other features that everyone will notice…improvements to the cams and battery life. The banner cam hardware feature is sort of amazing…a variable aperture to let in light. They have tiny leaves about the thickness of a human hair that open and close. Lots of manual control is available if you are up for it. Apple noted that the entire presentation today was shot on iPhones. If you aren’t a cinematographer or pro photographer, the software is there to take advantage of all that for you. By the way, it is only the 48 MP main cam that has the variable aperture.

Another really great photo feature is Apple Reference Image…the phone will authenticate photos shot on it right down to the pixel level, so people can detect if something is AI. The Reference shot lives on your phone and in your library right along with a finished shot you have edited using software. Battery life grows to 36 hour for video playback on the Pro and 48 on the Pro Max. Both should bet 24-30 hours on a full charge. Speaking of charging, the Pro gets up to 50% in 15 minutes with a wire charger, or the same in 30 minutes charged wirelessly. With the chip shortage due to AI both phones got a price bump this year. The iPhone 18 Pro starts at $1199, and the Pro Max at $1299. Preorders open this Saturday, with availability September 18th.

The Apple Watch Series 12 has a new chip and upgrade health sensors. The Watch Ultra now has 2 day battery life and upgraded health tracking. Both will track your heart rate better, among other things. A cool feature that plays on Apple’s Visual Intelligence is an Audio Intelligence feature. The Watch will record the last 15 seconds or so of voice with what Apple calls Live Rewind. This can be handy if a wait person rattles off the daily specials, and you didn’t get it. You can check your phone, and the Watch will have sent the text to it so you can see what’s on the menu. It can also be set to record and transcribe meetings. For hard of hearing, the watch can also pick up sounds like alarms, doorbells, or a baby crying.The Watches didn’t get a price hike. The Ultra starts at $799 and the Series 12 at $399. Preorders are open now, and they are available September 18th.

AirPods 5 bowed today, and get improved noise cancellation and audio quality…always appreciated. The base models start at $129. The $149 models have a Wireless Charging case, plus a swipe to change volume feature. You move the finger up or down the stems to change the volume. The new AirPods are available for preorder today, and out Friday, September 18th.

I’m Clark Reid, showing you the exit to the Apple reality distortion field for today!
Google Being Forced to Change Search in Europe; Qualcomm Up on Data Center Deal with Amazon; EV Batteries Last Longer Than Thought; Tesla Cybercab-Hidden ‘Virtual’ Joystick for Manual Control

September 8th, 2026

The European Union continues to flex its muscle, and squeeze tech companies into toeing the line as they act to protect European consumers. Now, android authority.com reports that after whacking Google with a billion dollar fine for allegedly violating the Digital Markets Act, Google is changing how search works in the European region. Google reps say the change could deteriorate the quality of results for people in the EU. The changes appear to apply particularly when users search for services such as flights or hotels (also known as vertical search services or VSS), where Google will now be required to show results from its top competitors before serving its own Flights, Hotels, or other services.With these changes, users in the EU will now see different carousels for top VSS results. As per Reuters, “the revamped search results will highlight one specialized search engine at the top of the page, followed by two others with fewer details while a ‌carousel ⁠of hotels, airlines and restaurants for example will sit below them with key features such as real-time prices stripped out. The rankings will be determined by Google’s algorithm.” Users outside the EU won’t be affected by the changes.

Qualcom has cut a data center infrastructure partnership with Amazon Web Services, and got a nice 4% bump in their stock price. According to cnbc.com, Qualcomm will work with Amazon “across multiple generations of customized silicon” to help build out AWS’ AI infrastructure, specifically focused on inference. The chipmaker said the new CPU was built for agentic AI and focuses on offering computing performance without using too much power. Qualcomm said at the time that it’s targeting $15 billion in data center sales in fiscal 2029, and pointed to a roadmap for going after the market with several different products, including an AI chip and a product that will tie multiple chips together. Qualcomm’s warrant to Amazon runs until September 2036.

Besides range anxiety, one of the biggest fears people have about electric vehicles is what happens when the battery pack goes out. The expense to replace it can be as much as an entire nice used car. Well now, arstechnica.com says that EV batteries are lasting considerably longer than feared by drivers. Most EVs retain about 90$% of original useable battery capacity after 93,000 miles. This is according to a study published by Aviloo, an Austrian group that analyzes battery health. They ran some 500,000 tests on various EV models made between 2022 and 2026. The model that had the most useable capacity after the 93,000 mile mark was the EQA, the Mercedes-Benz EV…which had 94% left. Ioniq 5 from Hyundai was 2nd with 93.8%, the BMW i4 was third with 93.6%, the Hyundai Kona followed with 93% even, and the Volvo XC40 was 5th with 92.8%. The Nissan Leaf was last, but still had 86.7% of useable battery left. The net is…breathe, EV buyers and lookers. You may not be facing a giant expense at 100,000 miles after all.

Elon Musk finally rolled out the Tesla Cybercab last week. One ding on it from states, the feds (which are now investigating), and insurers…no steering wheel or pedals for emergency manual operation by the human occupant or occupants. Now, eletrek.co is reporting that a rider discovered something of a manual driving mode. The touchscreen can show a virtual joystick to drive the car by hand. The fellow who found the car with that screen up noted that he probably wasn’t supposed to see it, but he posted a video about it on X. There is still nothing that would help an occupant hit the brakes…the joystick seems to be mainly for fine maneuvering in close quarters like a garage or parking lot. Will the kludgy virtual joystick make a difference to regulators? I doubt it, but we will see as time goes on.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
Google Avoids Another Breakup Attempt; FTC Alleges Amazon Rigged Ad Auctions; Uber Deleting 3,000 Jobs; Apple Joins Google in Shameful ‘Lake America’ Label

September 2nd, 2026

When I read about attempts to break up Google…or for that matter, Meta or Amazon, I keep coming back to the government’s years long work on breaking up AT&T. How’d that work out? The pieces of AT&T basically reassembled as a couple large telcos, and now we have really 3 big cell companies…two of which are Verizon and AT&T…both large chunks of the old AT&T that was supposedly broken up. With that said, Google has dodged the bullet on another break up attempt by the government. Theverge.com reports that a US district Judge, Leonie Brinkema, has declined the Justice Departments’s request to make Google sell off parts of its ad tech business. The court DID say it would adopt most of the behavioral changes proposed by the parties, with some modifications. But those won’t become public until the parties meet to work out any additional proposed revisions and to review the judge’s opinion for confidential information that must be redacted. They could include proposals like restricting Google from using self-preferencing ad auction tactics or letting third-party ad tech tools access the same real-time information as Google. Google can still appeal, but they may really want to go with this deal, and at least put off risking a ruling that does force them to spin off part of their very lucrative ad business.

The Federal Trade Commission and 22 states have sued Amazon, alleging that it has conducted a secret scheme to overcharge advertisers for seven years. According to arstechnica..com, the filing asserts that Since 2019, Amazon.com, Inc. has secretly and systematically overcharged its approximately 1.2 million advertising customers by manipulating the ‘auctions’ that it uses to set the price of ads on its platform,” the lawsuit said. “Amazon represents, and advertisers believe, that competitive auctions set the prices for advertising on its leading e-commerce website. But, in reality, Amazon overrides and replaces the actual auction results with higher prices set by Amazon to increase its profits.” Amazon says the ‘FTC cherry-picked’ details, and that the lawsuit is ‘misguided.’ The FTC says customers paid more than they would have if Amazon operated the auction in the way it claimed it did. This should be an interesting trial to follow, unless the online giant decides to settle…with the Feds and 22 states after them, that might be their best option.

Uber has chopped about 3,000 jobs, as it moves to what it claims is a more efficient organization. This will be close to 10% of the 34,000 employees of the ridesharing firm. Engadget.com says they are removing management layers and aiming to be “simpler and faster.” Uber will continue to have its global teams based in New York and San Francisco, and will continue to have tech hubs, as well as regional and country-based teams.

Apple has joined Google in caving to the whims of Donald Trump and his latest antic of renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America. They had previously done so with the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. Techcrunch.com reports that the foolish name will only appear on the Maps app in the US, and not elsewhere. Reportedly, this came after a call direct from the White House to the C Suite at Apple. Also according to reports, rank and file Apple employees are furious that the top suits gave in to Trump on this ridiculous move. This has also caused Apple Maps users….like Google Maps users…to leave in sizable numbers and switch to Mapquest, which has stayed at the top of Apple’s App Store downloads, besting ChatGPT…which had been at the top for some time. It is rather appalling that huge tech firms fear a megalomaniacal president enough that they feel like they have to go along with such foolish and childish moves. It’s sad for us that we will have to put up with this clownish behavior for the next two years. As for me, I am unaffected…I will just keep using the Inrix map software in my car that I haven’t paid to update…so the lake will remain Ontario, as the gulf has stayed Mexico!

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
Galaxy Fold 8 Popularity-Samsung Diverting Parts from Next Year’s Phones; Waymo Is Expanding to More Markets; Amazon Drivers Rig Trucks to Keep the AC On; Dyson’s Camera-Equipped Toothbrush

September 1st, 2026

They are expensive, and have had the dreaded crease in the middle, but folding phones are finally really gaining steam with the public. They are not close to the numbers of regular smartphones, but at Samsung the gain is serious. 9to5google.com reports that the Galaxy Z Fold 8 sales are so strong now that Samsung is syphoning off parts for the phone from it’s 2027 smartphones to meed the demand for the folder. Specifically, it is Display Driver ICs that are the bottleneck. They are made by UMC, a semiconductor foundry in Taiwan, which claims it has reached its limit for now on making the chips. Samsung’s Fold 8 is in short supply in the US, and with Apple coming out with a folder this month, Omdia reported this week that they project foldable shipments will double by 2028 with up to 36 million units.

On one hand, it is understandable…with the growing fleet of electric vans, Amazon uses software to limit the air conditioner running, as that drains the battery packs. According to bgr.com, the system is set to shut off if the door to the van is left open more than 10 minutes. Where a driver is making multiple trips to say apartments or condos in a building, they are going to tend to need to leave the door open longer. When they get in on a hot day, it’s gonna take a while to cool back off. Amazon drivers have come up with a unique work around. They put a good sized package on the driver’s seat to fool the sensors there, then jam a carabiner into the female slot on the door jam where the door latches. Bingo…the software thinks the vehicle is closed and the air conditioning will run longer. Certainly after word has gotten out, Amazon will push out an update and try to negate this, but count on human ingenuity to find yet another work around!

Alphabet’s Waymo is expanding its robo taxi service to more markets. CNBC.com notes that you will now be able to catch a ride in them in San Diego, Tampa, and Denver. Waymo will now have over 4,000 vehicles operating in 14 US Cities. Tesla has an event this Thursday introducing their new robotaxi model, but even if it is the greatest since sliced bread, it is going to have a heck of a time catching Waymo. The same can be said for Zoox, which right now only operates in San Francisco and Las Vegas. Zoox says it is beginning testing of its toaster shaped carriage style vehicles…with human drivers on board in Houston and San Diego.

They make great but pricy vacuums, and really expensive hair dryers, those blade hand dryers, and fans. Now, apparently after years of research and development, we get the CameraJet toothbrush from Dyson. What on earth makes a toothbrush worth $499? Well, thenextweb.com says Dyson’s brush has a tiny camera…and not for beauty shots of your teeth. It is there to guide the toothbrush where to aim. The brush can identify gaps between teeth and aim a tiny jet that sprays mouth rinse between your teeth. James Dyson says the tech is called Gap Optical Targeting. This gadget is designed to replace flossing. Besides the brush and camera, a tiny jet draws mouthwash from a little pump and pressure chamber to blast gunk out from between your teeth. Dyson notes that for tooth brushing, the cam doesn’t have to be high resolution, and that it is only on when you have the toothbrush on…so no worries about spying on you in the bath. The brush has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth because of course it does…and it connects to the MyDyson app…which guides your cleaning and maps where you have brushed…offering personalized feedbacks. If you are in the market, it is on the Dyson website and through Dyson Demo Stores.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
Mapquest Gets Boost from ‘Lake America’; Sony & Warner Music Sue Anthropic over IP; Reddit & ChatGPT Now Face Toughest EU Safety Rules; Hugging Face-$399 Skating Micro Duck

August 31st, 2026

Mapquest is the beneficiary of a substantial backlash over Trump’s Executive Order that supposedly renames Lake Ontario to Lake America. Macrumors.com reports that since Google Maps jumped in and changed the name in their Maps product, Mapquest has rocketed to the top spot in Apple’s App Store. Mapquest refused to rename Lake Ontario, and apparently people are voting with their digit fingers about that. Mapquest has been kind of an also-ran for years as Google Maps and Apple Maps surpassed it…but now it has had a 50X increase in use of its map since August 30th!

Sony and Warner Music have sued Anthropic, claiming theft of intellectual property. In fact, according to gizmodo.com, their suit alleges “one of the largest and most blatant ongoing thefts of intellectual property in history.” There are already ongoing suits by music publishers against Anthropic, but what makes this one different is that they are suing over song lyrics. The suit alleges that Anthropic violated the plaintiffs’ copyrights by scraping authorized lyric repositories like MusixMatch and LyricFind. And lyrics can allegedly be coaxed out of Claude verbatim. It will be interesting to see where this suit goes.

Getting bigger is better, right? Well, with great size comes greater responsibility, and ChatGPT and Reddit…as well as Roblox are about to find that out. Arstechnica.com says each of the platforms has now become large enough to fall under the so-called very large online platforms designation under the European Union’s Digital Services Act. They will now be held to a higher level of scrutiny, and face additional obligations regarding removing illegal content, protecting privacy and security of minors, and can face fines of up to 6% of global revenue for failing to comply. To fall under the tougher regs, each of the service had to pass up 45 million monthly users in the EU.

Just what everyone needs. Could this be the next Teddy Ruxpin? Pollen Robotics, owned by Hugging Face, has released a little robot called Microduck. Thenextweb.com notes that the little device is $399, and preorders are open now. The robot duck walks, crouches, gets upright when it falls, and can pick up small items with its beak. You can get wheeled feet with an accessory pack so it can basically skate. It has a tiny front cam and LiDAR to help it get around. It sort of sings, too…not really a quack. If things need to be more ducky at your place, this may be your deal.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
Gates Concerned About AI; Anthropic Predicts $30 Trillion in Revenues; Instagram Feature Auto Trims Clips; Tracker for Android or iPhone for Bikes & Golf Clubs

August 26th, 2026

Bill Gates, legendary co-founder of Microsoft, has made a shift from being quite bullish on AI to now being deeply concerned about where the tech is headed and how fast it is going. Geekwire.com notes that in a new essay, Gates is calling for better guardrails by government and for AI firms to slow down a bit. He touches on three ideas that he thinks the world needs to flesh out with regards to AI. First, build new institutions at home and worldwide. Gates points out that no existing agency was designed for a technology that touches jobs, security, health, energy and elections all at once. Secondly, he evangelizes for jobs to be set aside for humans….including jobs that machines will be capable of doing, but that humans should be involved with anyway. Third, he suggests that AI tokens and robots should be taxed. For example, if a company replaces people with robots, it should have to pay taxes on AI to replace the lost payroll taxes that would have been deducted from human workers’ pay. In an interview with Geekwire, Gates said he realized that the AI industry is blowing past its own warning signs, one after another, and almost nobody is saying so out loud.

The figure dangled by SpaceX before its initial public offering about future revenue of $28.5 trillion has just been blown past by Anthropic. The maker of the Claude AI large language model is predicting that it will be throwing off over $30 trillion in revenue in the future. According to thenextweb.com, the 191 technology companies in the S&P 1500 booked $2.4 trillion in revenue last year. This figure Anthropic claims it will be able to make is 12 times all of the 191 tech firms put together. Can you say hype, boys and girls?

Instagram is getting a new feature that will make it easier to edit short form videos. Engadget.com says it won’t do all the editing, but the First Draft feature will automatically trim silences and pauses from your clips, so you can spend time doing the more creative edits to make your videos look and sound good. To use First Draft, Instagram says you just need to select clips from your Reels Gallery and tap “First Draft.” Meta says you’ll also be able to use First Drafts immediately after you shoot new footage on Instagram.

You may use the handy trackers available for Android and iPhone to keep track of your stuff. Besides the ubiquitous little round Air Tags, a number of 3rd parties have rolled out trackers that are better suited to different situations. There are flat ones about the size of a double thick credit card for your wallet, and small ones to go on a cat or dog collar. Now, 9to5google.com reports that Pebblebee has bowed LOC8, which works with either Android Find Hub or Apple’s Find My. This new one is cylindrical, and is useful for stashing in a golf club or the handlebars of a bike. While Apple Air Tags and others can go a year on a battery, Pebblebee is claiming 3 years battery life on the LOC8. Pebblebee sells a single LOC8 for $39.99 to slide into a bike handlebar. They have a 4 pack for golf clubs, but advise those be installed by a professional.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
Europe EV Share Hits 25%; Apple Bows New Mac Studios; AI Hits Entry Level Jobs Hit Hardest by AI; OLED Xbox Ally X20-$1300

August 25th, 2026

We all whine about the crazy bump in gas prices, mainly caused by Trump’s war of choice against Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Well, with the $7500 EV federal EV credit gone in the US, electric vehicle sales are down…but not in Europe. Thenextweb.com reports that in July, EVs hit 25% of total European car registrations! That is a 51% increase, year over year. The entire European car market grew 4.1% in July, while EV sales were up 37% in that period. The two biggest markets for EVs are France with a 35% electric share and Germany with 29.3%. Plug in hybrids were also up 15%. The Iran war and Hormuz blockade may be the best thing that has happened to the EV industry.

Ahead of the big iPhone and Watch rollout…expected in mid-September, Apple has unveiled new Mac Studio models, with M5 Max and Ultra chips. According to macrumors.com, Apple is saying that the new machines are up to twice as fast as before. The M5 Ultra chip includes an up to 36-core CPU that contains 12 super cores and 24 performance cores. It delivers up to 1.25x higher single-threaded performance and up to 1.3x higher multithreaded performance than the M3 Ultra from the previous generation ‌Mac Studio‌. The ‌Mac Studio‌ is also now available with the M5 Max chip, offering an 18-core CPU with 6 super cores and 12 performance cores, up to 40 GPU cores, up to 128GB of unified memory with up to 614GB/s of memory bandwidth, and up to 8TB of storage. Pricing is all over the place, depending on configuration, but considering these are the top line Pro Apple computers, even the entry level price won’t be remotely cheap. Another thing…with all the devices branded as Ultra or super….what lingo will we be hearing 5 years from now when the latest, greatest devices come out?

AI has supposedly been tried by about half of us at this point. It isn’t materially affecting half of all of us in a big way yet, but it sure is putting the hurt on entry level job seekers. Arstechnica.com notes that a Stanford report shows that young employment in AI-impacted fields is down 19%, compared with more AI-resistant occupations. Older, more experienced workers seem pretty unaffected so far. The age group taking the biggest hit are those 22-25 years old. AI company Anthropic devised an economic index. According to it, jobs like “accountants and auditors” and “receptionists and information clerks” were among those judged most susceptible to AI automation, while jobs like “chief executive” and “registered nurse” were among those using AI augmentation most often. You can bet that plumber and electrician are barely affected at all!

The Asus Xbox Ally X20 handheld, with a good-sized 7.4 inch screen will officially be shipping on October 15th. The base price is $1300, according to theverge.com. The price is a $300 bump from the original Xbox Ally X…which is still available. The $600 Xbox Ally is also still going to be in the lineup. Originally, the 20 was only going to be available with high dollar AR glasses, so while $1300 isn’t cheap by any standard…it’s a lot less than the bundle with AR glasses. If you do have a fat wallet or credit line, and want the whole deal, the bundled version at $2500 has the X20, the matching pair of 240Hz ROG XREAL X1 glasses (normally $849), and it’ll also come with a matching Dbrand Killswitch protective case for the handheld (with the hardshell screen cover, stick toppers and built-in kickstand), plus a branded Pelican case to schlep your gear around with you.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
Nvidia-Server Chip Prices Going Up 15%; More Apple Fold Leaks; Zillow Settles Antitrust Suit with FTC; Open AI-California Needs Stronger AI Safety Bill

August 24th, 2026

Nvidia is saying that AI chips prices for servers will go up by 15% next year. I know, you’re thinking ‘Why do I care? I’m not buying server chips…I don’t have a giant AI server farm. Well guess what? Those higher prices will find there way down to your smartphones and all the other electronics that have systems-on-chips you own. Thenextweb.com reports that the specific chips that will see the bump first are Nvidia’s Vera Rubin and Grace Blackwell chips. It is wither pointing out that Nvidia has a gross margin of a whopping 75% on chips and is STILL passing on increased raw material prices to buyers. Those kind of rapacious margins are a lot of what makes it the most valuable listed company in the world. Coming out of the auto business, where 2-5% is a decent margin, and radio…where a lot of stations at least used to make 30%…a few even 40%…a gross margin of 75% just seems obscene.

As is the case a lot of times, from Apple to other tech makers, some folks have gotten their hands on early models of product to use and report back about. According to Appleinsider.com, some of those folks are now leaking a few tidbits about the imminent Apple folding iPhone. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman spoke to several beta users, and here are a few nuggets. The phone is thick when folded, but still fits in a pocket. When opened to the larger inside screen, you get iPad like app layouts which will be cool. Often, iPad apps are larger window layouts and are easier to use. On the down side, the folding iPhone lacks a telephoto cam…which by itself is enough for me to not want one at any price. I have used the tele lens repeatedly to shoot video and pics of grandkids doing gymnastics and sports, so a phone without telephoto is not going to work for me. Also, the folding iPhone doesn’t have Face ID, but like my iPad Mini uses Touch ID. That is a step backwards, too. For a phone costing north of $2000, I expect more. Maybe some future year, Apple. **Caveat…Apple often puts out multiple beta models for testing by its employees and others…so the final final might have FaceID and a telephoto…but I am doubtful.

Zillow has settled an antirust suit with the Federal Trade Commission. Engadget notes that this flowed from Zillow buying off rival Redfin for $100 million. The FTC in a press release said the two sides resolved the lawsuit and reversed an agreement from Zillow that shut down Redfin’s internet listing service (ILS) for apartment rentals. As part of the settlement, Redfin has to reenter the ILS market and make commitments that would ensure its competitiveness, including a relaunch with “significantly more listings,” according to the FTC. The settlement also requires Zillow to provide Redfin with employee information to allow for employee recruitment. On the consumer side, Zillow has to offer its customers the ability to renegotiate their contracts without any extra cost or penalty as part of the settlement

OpenAI is calling for California to tighten up its AI safety bill. TechCrunch.com reports that the maker of ChatGPT is wanting expanded safeguards including “requiring monitoring of frontier models under training or evaluation for potential serious incidents,” and by “strengthening cybersecurity protections throughout the model-development lifecycle.” It is notable that OpenAI had opposed SB 53. Our take is that this has less to do with one of OpenAI’s models escaping its test environment and hacking Hugging Face, and more to do with a previously unknown group releasing a powerful new model into the wild. It is called Ox Alpha, and has appeared on the OpenRouter platform without any company claiming ownership. It features a massive 1 million token context window and multimodel support for text, images and video…and has top tier performance on coding and agentic tasks. Hmm. Count on big companies to ask for regulation when an unknown competitor comes up and might clean your clock.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
September Google Book Event; iPhone 18-What’s Coming When; Ice Agents Can’t Wear Meta Glasses at Work; TicTok Looks to Peer Payments Via DM’s

August 19th, 2026

Google will have a Googlebook event on September 15th. Androidpolice.com reports that it will be held in New York City. A number of things are rumored for the Googlebooks. One is something Google showed in May, but didn’t really flesh out…the ‘glowbar,’ a multi-colored LED display on the lid. Google only said it is ‘functional and beautiful,’ but didn’t give details on the functions part. It’s possible we will see Aluminum OS moving further in merging Android and Chrome OS…for better integration between laptops and phones…which Apple has made pretty seamless…so Google would, of course, like to emulate that. Expect more Gemini integration. Androidpolice.com snarked that the intrusive AI could become something like the pestering Microsoft ‘Clippy,’ that everyone hid to avoid it interrupting your work all the time. A fresh survey out has young people more wary or fearful about AI than excited about it, so Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic…as well as others…have a ways to go to get the majority of the public on board.

Apple’s big September event will be here before you know it. We don’t have a date yet, but it is usually the 2nd or 3rd week of September. According to mac rumors.com, Apple will do more of the broken up iPhone launch scheme. In September, they will unveil the iPhone 18 Pro, Pro Max, and Fold. It is expected that the iPhones will all get a $100 price bump due to the increased cost of chips. We will also see freshened Apple Watches, and likely the AirPod Pros with cameras. For folks wanting the budget iPhones, they will all be out next spring. We should see the iPhone 18, 18e, and Air 2 then.

ICE has told employees that they are not allowed to wear Meta glasses at work…or other cam equipped specs. Engadget.com says that a memo sent to ICE employees stated “the use of Meta Glasses or similar devices could unintentionally capture, record, or transmit sensitive information, potentially compromising privacy and legal protections.” ICE and Customs and Border Patrol agents have frequently been seen wearing the Meta glasses the last few months. One CPB agent was noted recording with his, despite the policy. Here’s a wrinkle…while they are banning the Meta Ray-Bans and other smart glasses, Department of Homeland Security is allegedly wanting to get an official version of the tech. ICE is hoping to equip its officers with their own version of smart glasses that have “biometric identification capabilities” by next year. And you thought FLOCK cameras were bad…just wait!

TikTok is working on a feature that will let users send each other money via direct messages. TechCrunch.com notes that if they launch the feature, it will use the TikTok Pay that is already available in Southeast Asia for TikTok Shop purchases. The feature is apparently in the early development stage, so don’t expect to see anything too soon. Besides TikTok, Elon Musk’s X has already launched X Money which does the same thing. All the social medial platforms want to get into the financial business…like legendary bank robber Willie Horton noted, ‘that’s where the money is.’

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
Apple Camera Air Pods Near Launch; Meta Trial-$1.4 Billion Sought for Social Media Addiction; RingCentral Breach Exposes 1.6 Million Accounts; OpenAI Cut Catastrophic Risk Team Right After Rogue Model Escaped

August 18th, 2026

It sounds like the old Google Glass…or present Meta Ray-Bans on steroids, but apparently that isn’t the direction Apple is taking with their camera equipped AirPods. Apparently, the things won’t be putting anything on any screens, just sending data to Siri to get information for you. Macrumors.com reports that it looks like camera equipped AirPods are almost ready to launch. The camera on the AirPods will feed information to ‌Visual Intelligence‌, and Siri will be able to answer questions about the wearer’s surroundings and log information. Noted analyst with Bloomberg Mark Gurman thinks the AirPods may launch as soon as September…probably with the new iPhones and Apple Watch lines.

A trial is now underway in Oakland claiming social media addiction and other harms caused by Meta Apps. Meta is the defendant, and they are being sued by dozens of states. According to engadget.com, Meta is accused of intentionally creating addictive features and violating consumer protection laws. The action came after a multi-state investigation into the company’s safety practices that officials said revealed serious harms to children and teens. California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey haven’t publicly disclosed how much they plan to seek. But Meta said in a court filing ahead of the trial that states were seeking penalties as high as $1.4 trillion, an amount it described as “outlandish.” Judge Rogers has already indicated that number is “unreasonable,” according to remarks reported by Law360. But she also took issue with Meta’s proposed estimate of $4 million. I would expect that if the states win the case and on all appeals…which will take years…the amount will be in the billions, but nowhere near 1.4 trillion.The $400 million Meta has talked about…that’s a rounding error to them and basically insulting to the states.

A group of hackers and extortionists broke in and stole the personal information of some 1.6 million RingCentral accounts. Bleepingcomputer.com says the group is ShinyHunters, and the hack happened in July. It was noted on Have I Been Pwned. RingCentral is a cloud-based collaboration and communication platform used by over 600,000 businesses for services such as calling, messaging, and voicemail. RingCentral disclosed the hack on July 28th. The company claims that there hasn’t been any further intrusion since they discovered they were hacked and took remediation efforts. They said in a statement if you haven’t been contacted by them already you aren’t affected. When RingCentral refused to pay a ransom for the data, the cyber criminals leaked a compressed archive with 280 gigs of files on their dark web site.

It sounds unreal, but OpenAI disbanded its Catastrophic Preparedness team weeks after a rogue model escaped and hacked Hugging Face. Thenextweb.com notes that OpenAI disputes this. The AI firm claims that they moved the responsibilities to senior staffers on existing teams. It seems to be splitting hairs, but the team was disbanded in July, and the restraints weren’t put on the model until August. The model had been into Hugging Face for months before it was caught. US and British government regulators are demanding answers about how OpenAI and other AI firms will handle this sort of thing in the future. The former head of super alignment for OpenAI, who left in 2024, stated simply that the company was ignoring safety in favor of building shiny products. I hope we are all ready to follow the commands of our shiny AI overlords.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.