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Google sues Chinese scammers using Gemini AI for fraud Jun 15, 2026

Show notes

The company is also promoting legislation to fight the potential of AI to create 'massive' scams

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Fox is buying Roku for $22 billion, Trump threatened a 100 percent tariff on French wine over the country’s tech tax, and the UK will ban social media for children under 16 Jun 15, 2026

Show notes

-The Fox Corporation announced it will be acquiring Roku, best known for its streaming device ecosystem for about $22 billion for Roku, or $160 per share.

-Ahead of the G7 conference in France, Donald Trump is once again threatening massive tariffs on France if it doesn't remove its three percent digital tax on US tech companies.

-The UK is banning young people under 16 from social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram.

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Artemis III's life support: How a spacesuit keeps astronauts alive on the moon Jun 12, 2026

Show notes

The astronaut wears Prada.

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Apple says Siri AI won't suck up to you, Textiles that can produce drinking water from the air, and the Trump phone is practically the same as an HTC handset Jun 12, 2026

Show notes

-Apple designed Siri to put up and maintain boundaries, so to speak. "Siri really wants to say, 'Listen, that's not what I'm here for, right? I'm here to help you. I can help you get things done.”

-A special textile to create a jacket capable of atmospheric water harvesting used a special fabric designed to collect moisture from the air and gather it in detachable harvesting units rather than simply having the textile absorb the water.

-A teardown of the Trump Mobile T1 revealed that it's basically the same as an HTC handset. iFixit concluded the T1 is "a phone designed in China, made in China, with the vast majority of parts sourced from China."

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Snap will no longer allow younger teens' Spotlight videos to be publicly viewable Jun 11, 2026

Show notes

Maybe it wasn't a great idea to let 14-year-olds post videos to Spotlight in the first place.

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Anthropic backtracked on its policy that 'sabotaged' researchers' work, Bluesky will a Reddit-style communities this year, and Deezer will now help you find AI music on other streaming platforms Jun 11, 2026

Show notes

-Anthropic is walking back a policy that discreetly hamstrung researchers using its new Claude Fable 5 LLM to create competing AI models.

-Bluesky said that communities will be smaller spaces inside the one big space that Bluesky provides, where you can find and talk to people who are interested in the same topics you are.

-Deezer made its AI-detection tool available to other streaming companies in an effort to stem the rise of AI slop and fraudulent streams.

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The UK is investigating Paramount's takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery Jun 10, 2026

Show notes

The first phase of the CMA's probe into the $110 billion deal could last for two months.

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Waymo made a virtual human driver to improve its robotaxis, Seattle will impose a year-long ban on large data centers, and Kalshi will require employment info for some bets Jun 10, 2026

Show notes

-Waymo's ReD is based on a neuroscientific concept called active inference, which posits that people are always trying to minimize surprise.

-The Seattle City Council has unanimously approved a moratorium on the construction of new large AI data centers for one year.

-Kalshi will require users to disclose where they work.

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Apple reintroduces the AI-powered Siri it announced at WWDC 2024 Jun 09, 2026

Show notes

Say hello to Siri AI.

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Meta quietly removed facial-recognition code from its smart glasses app, WhatsApp says spyware maker NSO Group is still targeting its users, and the UK will review its NHS contract with Palantir Jun 09, 2026

Show notes

-Wired uncovered the dormant tool that contained algorithms which would have converted photos of faces into biometric identifiers stored on-device and cross referenced with each new facial scan.

-Meta is once again asking a court to intervene in its long-running battle against spyware maker NSO Group.

-The UK government is reviewing its National Health Service partnership with US data firm Palantir to decide if it will end the contract early.

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