Tech News Weekly (Audio)

There was something in the air for sure as Apple released updates to the iPad and iPad Air, alongside the M4 MacBook Air and Mac Studio with the M4 Max and M4 Ultra chips. Some of the exciting and interesting devices shown at the Mobile World Congress 2025 event. The recent iOS 18.4 beta introduced AI-powered summaries in the App Store. And Prime Video is testing AI-powered dubbing for some of its video content.

• Dan Moren of SixColors joins Mikah Sargent to talk about the new devices announced throughout the week: the updated iPad and iPad Air, MacBook Air with the M4 chip, and the Mac Studio with the M4 Max and M3 Ultra chips.


• Patrick Holland of CNET stops by to share with Mikah some of the new and exciting devices that came out of the Mobile World Congress 2025 event, alongside the more interesting concepts and gadgets from the event.


• Mikah talks about the the latest iOS 18.4 beta that is out now and how it has introduced AI-powered review summaries in the App Store.


• And continuning the trend of AI-powered features, Amazon's Prime Video is testing AI-powered dubbing for some of its select videos in English and Spanish.

Host: Mikah Sargent

Guests: Dan Moren and Patrick Holland

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Anthropic's Claude AI is now playing Pokemon through Twitch - albeit slowly. Emily Forlini was at the Amazon event this past week and talks about Alexa+ that was announced at the event. And Framework announced a new desktop PC, but did Framework really need to get into the PC desktop space?

• Mikah Sargent talks about how Anthropic's Claude AI is being utilized to play Pokemon Red through Twitch.


• Emily Forlini attended Amazon's February 2025 Devices & Services event in New York and talks about Alexa+ which was announced at the event, and what could possibly happen to Amazon Prime when Alexa+ starts to roll out to users in the coming weeks.


• And Sean Hollister from The Verge talks about Framework's first foray into a desktop PC. He spent some time with the PC and shares his thoughts on it!

Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Emily Forlini

Guest: Sean Hollister

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In this episode, Mikah Sargent is joined by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy of The Verge to discuss NVIDIA's work on an AI platform for American Sign Language and her review of the Skylight Calendar Max. Zac Hall of 9to5Mac talks about the new iPhone 16e, and Scott Stein of CNET discusses the end of the Humane AI Pin.

- NVIDIA is collaborating with the American Society for Deaf Children and creative agency Hello Monday to develop Signs, an online platform that uses AI to help people practice and understand American Sign Language. The platform aims to create a validated dataset to account for variations in signing and provide real-time feedback to learners.

- Jennifer reviews the Skylight Calendar Max, a 27-inch digital touchscreen display for managing family schedules. She finds the AI-powered Sidekick feature, which can parse various data formats to create calendar events, to be incredibly useful and a potential glimpse into the future of AI in smart home devices.

- Zac Hall discusses the newly announced iPhone 16e, which replaces the iPhone SE 3 and iPhone 14. Priced at $599, it offers a modern design with Face ID and an A18 chip for Apple Intelligence features, making it a compelling upgrade for those with older iPhones.

- The Humane AI pin is being sold to HP for $116 million, and users will lose access to its services on February 28th, 2025, with no recourse or refunds for most customers. Scott Stein shares his experience reviewing the AI pin, its shortcomings, and his thoughts on the future of AI-augmented devices and their relationship with smartphones.

Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Jennifer Pattison Tuohy

Guests: Zac Hall and Scott Stein

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It's an AI-filled episode of Tech News Weekly! Is AI making us think less critically than before? Are AI chatbots accurately summarizing news? A BBC study finds that they are not. Google plans to use machine learning to estimate a user's age. Thomson Reuters wins the first major AI copyright case within the US.

• Amanda Silberling of TechCrunch joins Mikah Sargent this week! Amanda talks about a study on how over-reliance on AI tools can lead to diminished critical thinking skills.


• Mikah shares a BBC study that looked into AI chatbots and how they performed poorly at summarizing news, with over half of the summarizations containing glaring errors.


• Emma Roth of The Verge joins the show to discuss Google utilizing machine learning to estimate users' ages based off their browsing history and YouTube activity.


• And Mikah talks about Thomson Reuters winning the first big US AI copyright case.

Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Amanda Silberling

Guest: Emma Roth

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In this episode of Tech News Weekly, Mikah Sargent and CNET's Abrar Al-Heeti talk the latest developments in self-driving tech, Sonos' work on a new streaming box, an AI-assisted Beatles song winning a Grammy, and the current state of Meta's Quest platform according to developers.

- Uber is expanding its partnership with Waymo, allowing people in Austin to summon a Waymo robo-taxi through the Uber app. Abrar shares her experiences with self-driving cars and discusses the evolving relationship between Uber and Waymo.

- Sonos is reportedly working on a new streaming box codenamed "Pinewood," which includes an HDMI switch to address inconsistencies in smart TV firmware and software. The device is expected to cost between $200 and $400, and it aims to provide a full-featured streaming sound setup.

- An AI-assisted Beatles track, "Now and Then," won the Grammy for Best Rock Performance, sparking conversations about the role of AI in music and art. The US Copyright Office has stated that AI tools used to assist in the creative process don't undermine the copyright of the work.

- Developers are struggling with declining sales and visibility on the Meta Quest app store, despite record revenue for Meta Reality Labs. Meta's focus on its own Horizon Worlds app seems to be at the expense of traditional VR games. Some developers find it more profitable to sell on other platforms like Steam and PlayStation VR.

Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Abrar Al-Heeti

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