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Malware apps posing as free VPNs are on the rise Oct 13, 2025

Show notes

A recent report on the Klopatra malware operation shows hackers taking advantage of a surge in VPN use.

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Apple got hit with another class action lawsuit, OpenAI does not have to preserve all of its ChatGPT data, and the Chevrolet Bolt is back Oct 13, 2025

Show notes

-Just about a month after being accused of using pirated books to train its AI, Apple is facing another similar proposed class action lawsuit. As first reported by Bloomberg Law, two neuroscience professors from SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University in Brooklyn claimed that Apple used their "registered works without authorization." The neuroscientists said Apple trained its AI models using "shadow libraries" and "web-crawling software" that provide access to pirated, copyrighted books, including two of their own.

-The controversial preservation order requiring OpenAI to indefinitely keep records of its ChatGPT data has been terminated. A federal judge filed a new order on October 9 that frees OpenAI of an obligation to "preserve and segregate all output log data that would otherwise be deleted on a going forward basis."

-One of the most affordable EVs in America, the Chevrolet Bolt, has made its long-awaited comeback. After discontinuing the Bolt in 2023, the American automaker has refreshed the popular EV with a 2027 model that has some key upgrades.

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Tensor's Robocar will be 'Lyft-ready' out of the factory Oct 10, 2025

Show notes

Lyft has committed to buy 'hundreds' of the AVs for its own fleet.

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Apple doubled its biggest bug bounty reward, Chinese regulators are investigating Qualcomm, and a 65-year old computer was programmed to play Boards of Canada's 'Olson' Oct 10, 2025

Show notes

-Apple is updating its Security Bounty program this November to offer some of the highest rewards in the industry. It has doubled its top award from $1 million to $2 million for the discovery of "exploit chains that can achieve similar goals as sophisticated mercenary spyware attacks" and which requires no user interaction.

-China's antitrust regulator has opened an investigation into Qualcomm's acquisition of Israeli connected-vehicle chip company Autotalks. The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) alleges that Qualcomm is suspected of violating China's anti-monopoly laws by not disclosing certain details of the deal.

-The Programmed Data Processor-1 is perhaps most recognizable as the home of Spacewar!, one of the world's first video games, but it also works as an enormous and very slow iPod, too. In the video, Boards of Canada's "Olson" plays off of paper tape that's carefully fed and programmed into the PDP-1 by engineer and Computer History Museum docent Peter Samson.

Here's a link to the video.

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Apple explains how it will comply with App Store age verification requirements in Texas Oct 09, 2025

Show notes

Developers will have to change how their apps work in the state too.

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California just passed 3 bills to boost internet privacy, Apple removed an app that archives videos of ICE arrests, and Verizon is buying Starry to expand its wireless broadband footprint Oct 09, 2025

Show notes

-California has passed three new bills designed to boost privacy for internet users, governor Gavin Newsom's office announced. The biggest one, AB 566, builds on a 2018 law by requiring web browsers to let users universally opt-out of allowing third parties to sell their data.

-Apple has removed Eyes Up, an app that collects and archives videos of Immigration Customs and Enforcement arrests, 404 Media reports. The app's removal follows similar action taken against ICEBlock last week, an app that tracks ICE activity in an attempt to offer real-time alerts of when and where arrests are happening. Unlike ICEBlock, though, Eyes Up's main purpose is to serve as an archive, not a tool for eluding government agents.

-Verizon is buying the smaller broadband carrier Starry for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition is expected to close by the first quarter of 2026, but is subject to FCC approval. Verizon has already done some work to appease the US government by ending DEI initiatives, so the FCC is likely to give this merger its stamp of approval.

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Supreme Court denies Google's request to pause Play Store changes while it appeals Epic case Oct 08, 2025

Show notes

It now has to allow non-Play Store payments and external download links by October 22nd.

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Google's Chief Scientist of Quantum Hardware won the Nobel Prize in Physics, Mastodon is adding Bluesky-like starter packs, and California banned loud commercials on streaming platforms Oct 08, 2025

Show notes

-The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded Google's Chief Scientist of Quantum Hardware, Michel Devoret, the Nobel Prize in Physics. alongside former Google employee John Martinis, and University of California, Berkeley professor John Clarke. The award recognizes "the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantization in an electric circuit."

-Mastodon, the federated social network built on ActivityPub, is taking cues from Bluesky and introducing its own version of the social platform's "Starter Packs." The hope is that Mastodon's "Packs" will make it easier to find people to follow when you first join a server, a sometimes daunting task given the distributed nature of decentralized social networks.

-California has passed a law to ban loud commercials on streaming platforms like Netflix and Hulu. Governor Gavin Newsom just signed the law and the ban goes into effect on July 1, 2026.

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OpenAI agrees to buy 'tens of billions' worth of AMD chips Oct 07, 2025

Show notes

The company could also take up to a 10 percent stake in AMD.

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Instagram will start handing out awards to select creators, Apple is bringing back Slide Over in iPadOS 26.1, and Evernote's biggest update since 2020 goes all in on AI Oct 07, 2025

Show notes

-Instagram is launching its own awards program. This is sort of like the Oscars, but for short-form social media content with 25 winners getting physical rings.

-The reaction to iPadOS 26 has been mostly positive, but some users have bemoaned the absence of the decade-old Slide Over multitasking feature. Well, Apple just announced that it's coming back as part of iPadOS 26.1.

-It's probably been a hot minute since you've thought about Evernote. For years, the note-taking app, once a darling of the App Store, faced declining popularity and profitability. Now, it's back with a trove of AI features.

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