Tech News Weekly 418: Best of 2025

Date: December 28, 2025
Host: Micah Sargent
Description: A special end-of-year episode highlighting the most interesting personalities in technology and revisiting the most important interviews and issues discussed throughout 2025.

Episode Overview

This "Best of 2025" installment dives into the world of beloved retro tech resurfacing, significant legal battles in Big Tech, the evolving relationship between AI and knowledge curation, pivotal next-gen hardware, and the not-so-visible impact of algorithmic pricing on consumers. The host, Micah Sargent, curates standout conversations from the year, each with its own compelling angle on the state of technology and its ripple effects on society.

Key Segments & Discussions

1. Pebble Returns: Eric Migicovsky on the Smartwatch Revival

Guest: Eric Migicovsky, Founder of Pebble
Timestamps: 01:37–19:33

The Magic of Pebble (01:37–06:47)

• Backstory: Eric recaps the creation and impact of Pebble, one of the earliest viral smartwatches.

  • Core Features: Always-on e-paper display, week-long battery life, simple and focused feature set, physical buttons, and extensive hackability.
  • On Community & Longevity: Pebble devices still work flawlessly after 8–9 years, unlike many other gadgets (07:18).

  “There was something special about Pebble that brought it to a really wide audience and I’m kind of excited that eight years later a new generation might hear about it.” – Eric (03:21)

Open Sourcing Pebble OS (06:09–09:48)

• Major News: Google has agreed to open source the Pebble OS codebase—a breakthrough for developers and the community keeping Pebble alive.

  • Community Role: The “Rebble Alliance” has maintained app stores and services for years.

  “On Monday they published a GitHub repo that has the entire source code for Pebble’s operating system... It still works perfectly.” – Eric (06:48)

The Resurrection of Hardware (12:15–16:48)

• Scarcity & New Devices: Used Pebbles are rare and expensive; Eric announces plans to produce new, sustainable Pebble hardware, but no venture backing.

  • Approach: Emphasizes sustainability over growth, small company ethos, and “building in public.”

  “My plan is to ... make sure that the elements that are needed to keep building these type of products exist. And that doesn’t necessitate selling hundreds of thousands, millions of watches.” – Eric (15:44)

Vision & Philosophy (16:48–19:33)

• No Endless Feature Creep: Embracing “done” products instead of perpetual change; Pebble’s goal is serving a loyal niche, not everyone.
• Where to Follow:

  “Check out repebble.com. Sign up for the wait list.” – Eric (19:16)

2. Google Antitrust Deep Dive: Leah Nylen on the DOJ v. Google Search Case

Guest: Leah Nylen, Antitrust Reporter
Timestamps: 22:20–35:38

Remedy Proposals & Industry Impact (22:28–26:12)

• DOJ wants Google to sell Chrome, share search data with qualifying competitors, and end default search/app contracts.
• Revised remedies: No longer block Google’s AI investments in startups, a bone thrown to the AI ecosystem.
• Testimony from Google (Pichai): Divesting Chrome and sharing data would “undermine Google and US innovation.”

“By forcing us to divest Chrome and give away this data… it would ultimately undermine Google as a company, because they have invested millions and billions of dollars over the years.” – Leah summarizing Sundar Pichai (26:41)

How Remedies Could Shape Competition (29:59–33:51)

• OpenAI, Perplexity, DuckDuckGo, and Yahoo all testified, emphasizing how Google’s contracts hinder competition.
• Those companies surprisingly expressed willingness to buy Chrome, supporting DOJ’s divestiture proposal.

“All four of those companies said that they would be interested in buying Chrome... it’s a built-in distribution mechanism.” – Leah (31:04)

What’s Next? Timing & Appeals (33:51–35:38)

• Judge’s decision expected by August 2025; Google already plans to appeal, but government pushing for speed due to urgency in AI/search markets.

3. Wikipedia & AI: Layla Zia on An Inclusive, Human-Centered Future

Guest: Layla Zia, Head of Research, Wikimedia Foundation
Timestamps: 35:40–52:16

Wikimedia’s AI Strategy (35:55–40:00)

• Focus: AI investment is focused entirely on supporting Wikipedia’s community of human editors, not replacing them.
• Four Pillars:
  1. Assist moderators/patrollers with repetitive tasks.
  2. Remove barriers by automating non-judgment tasks.
  3. AI-aided translation to spread local knowledge globally.
  4. AI-powered mentorship for onboarding new editors.

“We decided to invest more heavily ... supporting these editors with AI. ... with a primary focus to be on the human agency and editors being on the projects and supporting them.” – Layla (36:15)

Preserving Human Judgment & Context (38:19–44:42)

• AI reserved for drudge/clerical work, freeing people for uniquely human contributions: deliberation and consensus building.
• Translation tools designed to empower editors, not automate knowledge transfer blindly; special attention given to cultural context, particularly for smaller Wikipedia languages.

“We’re not talking about automatically translating content and just putting it in front of people. We’re talking about supporting editors for translating that content.” – Layla (42:54)

Transparency & Inclusion (45:36–48:08)

• Machine Learning “model cards” document each AI model’s purpose, data, risks, and intended user—publicly available for scrutiny.
• Approach adapts to the needs and scale of individual Wikipedia language communities.
• Avoiding lock-in to models that can’t expand to more languages.

Wikipedia’s Position in the AI Era (49:25–51:23)

• Wikipedia’s focus on human curation and local perspective distinguishes it as a source of trustworthy training data for LLMs and as a bulwark against unchecked AI-generated “knowledge.”

4. Nintendo Switch 2 Review: Scott Stein’s First Impressions & The Next Generation of Play

Guest: Scott Stein, CNET
Timestamps: 53:23–69:16

What’s New with Switch 2? (53:23–55:13)

• Upgrades: New Nvidia chip with AI upscaling, runs 4K on TV, 7.9” 1080p LCD, redesigned magnetic Joy-Cons.
• Game Chat: Built-in audio/video hangout zone supporting 4–12 players, a big departure from Nintendo’s conservative online history.

The Experience: Game Chat, Cameras, and Privacy (55:14–58:38)

• Seamless integration, but requires phone number for authentication, raising privacy/child account concerns.
• The review experience is ongoing; the industry received units late, reinforcing the idea of a year-long soft launch.

“I think it further reinforces to me that it’s kind of a soft launch... the Switch 2 doesn’t need to be an instant hit.” – Scott (58:38)

Innovative Play: Cameras in Mario Kart World (60:18–62:55)

• The camera can isolate multiple faces and superimpose them in Mario Kart, adding fun and taunting opportunities to gameplay.

“The camera enabled modes can separate out four different people at once from the same camera, which... felt like a magic trick.” – Scott (60:40)

Multiplayer at Scale & Nintendo’s Risk Appetite (63:10–68:40)

• 24-player Mario Kart: Chaotic fun changes game dynamics, especially with the new Knockout Tour mode.
• Launch Library & Value Proposition: Feels more “Switch Pro” than a complete generational leap—worth it for big libraries and fans, but lacks must-have exclusives or wild Nintendo innovation at launch.

“I want more Nintendo whimsy, actually. ... Right now they’re leaning on safe franchise moves.” – Scott (65:42)

Where to Keep Up:

• “You can follow me on Blue Sky... Check out all my stuff on CNET, and on CNET’s YouTube channel.” – Scott (68:59)

5. Algorithmic Groceries: Derek Kravitz on Instacart’s Invisible Price Experiments

Guest: Derek Kravitz, Consumer Reports
Timestamps: 69:21–91:05

Instacart’s Opaque Pricing Revealed (69:40–74:44)

• Genesis: After working on known in-store price manipulation, editors were tipped off about Instacart potentially showing different users different prices.
• Experiment: 437 volunteers, in tightly controlled video calls, added the same groceries to their Instacart carts using the same address, revealing consistent price buckets.

Key Findings (74:44–81:02)

• 74% of items showed price variation, up to 23% higher depending on the user; no clear link to demographics, location, or loyalty status.
• “Price buckets” apply to basic staples like milk, eggs, and peanut butter.

“For whatever reason, these folks were being placed into, you know, groups that all got the same price for the same exact items at the same exact time... For us, that raised a lot of questions.” – Derek (74:45)

What’s Behind It? (81:02–85:05)

• Instacart’s acquisition of Eversight enables AI-powered price testing for retailers; company data and patents describe grouping users by purchase behavior (not demographics) to maximize willingness to pay.
• Instacart admits to the practice; 10 retailers confirmed as test partners, but the full list remains secret.

Real-World Impact & What You Can Do (85:05–91:05)

• Consumers effectively face random markups, with algorithms grouping shoppers by past behavior and testing willingness to pay—a practice invisible to users.
• Data from these experiments is highly valuable and resold across the grocery industry.

“We need to have a first order conversation… Should we allow this type of price experimentation or dynamic pricing?” – Derek (86:36, relaying regulator sentiment)

• Advice: Be aware—shopping history drives this more than any personal characteristic, and regulation is lagging behind technology.

Follow Up:

• ConsumerReports.org for ongoing investigative journalism, always free to access.

Notable Quotes

• Eric Migicovsky:
  “I think we’ve lost a little bit of that gadget awe and optimism that maybe we had in spades 10 plus years ago.” (08:19)

• Leah Nylen:
  “This case is very much based on the Microsoft case that happened 25 years ago... but what happened in Microsoft is the judge didn’t have a remedies hearing and the court really ended up dinging the judge for that...” (31:04)

• Layla Zia:
  “Knowledge is socially constructed and humans are needed for creating knowledge. At the same time, we understand that there are a lot of repetitive tasks... So we want to invest in AI in areas that human judgments, deliberation, discussion and consensus building is not needed...” (38:49)

• Scott Stein:
  “What I love about Nintendo is the novel ideas that the company seems to come up with that are quirky. But then you go, you know what? The delight makes the quirkiness just work.” (62:55)

• Derek Kravitz:
  “For us, that’s the open question. Regulators are playing catch up, so they don’t know how best to deal with this. But that’s what consumers are now faced with.” (90:14)

Conclusion

This special episode paints a vivid picture of tech in 2025: nostalgia meets sustainability (Pebble), regulatory aftershocks shake the search landscape, open knowledge doubles down on humanity amid algorithmic disruption, gaming evolves slowly but surely, and the digital world’s invisible hand quietly shapes your grocery bills. The conversations are thoughtful, passionate, and serve as an indispensable primer for anyone wishing to understand where technology—and our relationship with it—is headed next.