Why Are People Sharing Everything on Meta AI - DTNSB 5040

Summary

---

Daily Tech News Show – Episode Summary

Podcast: Daily Tech News Show

Episode Title: Why Are People Sharing Everything on Meta AI (DTNSB 5040)
Air Date: June 13, 2025
Host: Tom Merritt
Co-Host: Jason Howell
Correspondent: Dr. Nikki Ackermans

---

Episode Overview

This episode unpacks two primary themes:

1. Why users are inadvertently (or sometimes deliberately) sharing personal, even sensitive, information on Meta AI’s Discover feed—highlighting the risks, causes, and possible oversights in feature design.
2. A monthly science funding update from Dr. Nikki Ackermans, examining the latest in US science grant politics and the impact of recent legislative proposals.

Additional segments include quickfire tech news briefs on app developments, hardware recalls, and industry moves, with witty rapport and practical wisdom throughout.

---

Main Discussion: The Hazards of Oversharing on Meta AI

[02:44]–[13:27]

The Story

• Meta AI's new Share button in its app lets users post their prompt and responses to a public Discover feed.
• The default behavior includes a warning: “Prompts you post are public and visible to everyone. Avoid sharing personal or sensitive information.” However, this warning may only appear once per user.
• Several prompts containing personal information (phone numbers, emails, legal and intensely private matters) have surfaced in the Discover feed, as reported by Business Insider’s Katie Notopoulos.
• Some shared voice prompts included real voices, perhaps unknowingly captured and uploaded.

Key Points & Insights

• Feature Intent vs. User Behavior:
  • Meta likely intended the Share button for creative or clever prompt results (e.g., AI-generated images), but users are sharing medical questions, legal requests, and highly personal content.
  • Tom Merritt [05:41]:

    "A lot of times... you have a great idea, or you have an idea like, ‘Hey, let's add the share button here...’ And it's hard in isolation... But when real people use it, they do things that are quite outside your... perspective."

• UI/UX Oversight:
  • Warning messages (“Do not share sensitive info”) seem designed to protect users but may be ineffective if only shown once or dismissed inadvertently.
  • Jason Howell [08:05]:

    "I may have accidentally clicked a checkbox that says, ‘don't show me this warning again.’ ...Usually... you make someone actively say, ‘please don’t show me this again,’ and that way the liability is on you."

• Accidental Sharing & User Confusion:
  • Some users possibly believe the Share button is for sharing with the AI, not the public.
  • Jason Howell [10:30]:

    "It's not impossible that some people think they need to hit the share button to share with the bot, right?..."

• Potential for Exploits:
  • Audio captures are concerning in the era of deepfakes and AI-aided social engineering.
  • Tom Merritt [09:34]:

    "...We are in a place where a new strain of... identity theft or social engineering attacks is using some AI to replicate someone's voice."

• Is it Malice or Negligence?
  • Consensus is that Meta’s issue is likely negligence or oversight, not malicious intent.
  • Tom Merritt [11:58]:

    “I think it's just like negligent, maybe. Negligent, yeah. And I think that's like a theme with... this generation of AI. Everyone's in a rush... you get someone on board, stuff goes out and then it’s like, ‘oh, shoot, we... went viral for the wrong way.’”

Cultural Context

• Users’ willingness to share personal information recalls the “Venmo effect”—oversharing in public feeds, sometimes thoughtlessly, sometimes on purpose.

Notable Quotes & Highlights

• Jason Howell [13:15]:

  “What's that phrase? Don't attribute to malice what could be more easily attributed to stupidity or something like that?”

• [05:33] – Examples of what people shared:

  "...A person included their phone number and email address when asking the bot to help draft a letter to a judge in a child custody case... Others were more on the line, like writing a poem for a spouse's birthday or asking medical questions. One was pretending to talk to a dead spouse..."

• General Conclusion:
  Users, interface quirks, and a lack of persistent warnings are leading to unexpected, sometimes troubling public sharing. Meta’s developers probably didn’t foresee these edge cases, and now must address the consequences.

---

Tech News Briefs

[16:32]–[25:00]

Android Instant Apps Being Discontinued

• Instant apps will lose support by December 2025.
• Few developers adopted the feature due to size and login limitations.
• Tom Merritt [16:32]:

  “The fact that you had to ask [what an instant app is] is part of the reason they're shutting it down.”

Recalls and Hardware Announcements

• Anker’s PowerCore 10,000 Power Bank:
  • Model A1263 recalled for overheating/fire risk ([18:33]).
• Valve Steam Client (Apple Silicon Native):
  • Launches in beta, ahead of Apple’s Intel support phase-out ([19:38]).
• Razer Kishi V3 Gaming Controllers:
  • New models fit up to 13-inch tablets ([20:03]).
• Garmin Venu X1 Fitness Watch:
  • New features, premium price, Apple Watch competition ([21:09]).
• Apple News:
  • Siri overhaul coming Spring 2026.
  • iPhone sales rebound in China.
  • Foxconn India iPhone production ramping up for US ([22:28]).

Industry Moves & Geopolitics

• Scale AI CEO moves to Meta after Meta’s large investment; OpenAI will still use Scale ([23:32]).
• Nvidia forecasts won’t include China due to export restrictions ([23:54]).
• TSMC opens Research Lab in Japan ([24:24]).

---

Deeper Dive: US Science Funding Update

[25:00]–[35:15]

Dr. Nikki Ackermans Report

Weather Research Livestream Initiative ([25:21])

• Scientists held a 100-hour YouTube livestream (late May–June 1), mixing climate talks and advocacy for funding.
• Nikki Ackermans [26:16]:

  “Researchers performed a 100 hour YouTube live stream... to raise awareness for the funding cuts to weather science.”

Federal Budget and Science Funding Cuts ([26:30]–[29:39])

• Congress reviewing an exceptionally “skinny” science funding budget proposal.
  • NASA: Facing 50% proposed cuts, endangering ~40 missions.
  • NIH: Proposed 40% cut, including cancer and Alzheimer’s research.
  • NSF Biology & Social Sciences: Potential 70% cuts (!).
  • CDC: 53% cuts, especially vaccines.
  • AIDS relief: 30% cut.
• These cuts are not final; budget reconciliation and negotiation may soften the blow.
• Jason Howell [29:53]:

  “The House passed a version... Senate passes their own, then it's reconciliation... a lot of stops before it actually gets sent to the President's desk.”

Flybase Funding Crisis ([30:30])

• Flybase, an essential genetic database for fruit fly research, abruptly lost 90% of funding due to NIH grant pause linked to the Harvard-White House standoff.
• Team collecting donations to stay online or archive data.
• Nikki Ackermans [31:00]:

  “You may have never heard about Flybase, but it may have helped you in innumerable ways... so much of the genetic work and ... knowledge that we do is done in fruit flies…”

Bethesda Declaration ([32:44])

• June 9: Over 300 NIH employees signed a letter opposing funding cuts and grant terminations.
• Released day before new NIH director testified before the Senate.
• Update [35:15]: Signatures grew to 18,000 post-recording.

Personal Impact

• Grant success rates could plummet with cuts; many scientists unsure where to apply.
• Nikki Ackermans [34:11]:

  “The success rate is already 7% for a good grant in my field. So if they cut that by 70%... I'm gonna have to start looking for rich friends who like birds.”

---

Closing Wisdom and Listener Tips

[37:00]–[38:01]

• Listener Tip:
  • For iOS parental controls to sync, device versions must match exactly. Update all devices to resolve issues ([37:06]–[37:46]).

---

Notable Quotes & Moments

• “Don’t attribute to malice what can be more easily attributed to stupidity.” — Tom Merritt & Jason Howell ([13:15])
• “Sometimes you really just don't understand the ripple effects of what you do...being charitable, maybe they just didn't realize.” — Tom Merritt ([11:05])
• “The team is collecting donations to just at least stay open for now...considering collaborating with the Human Genome Project...” — Dr. Nikki Ackermans ([31:00])

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Meta AI Oversharings Discussion: [02:44]–[13:27]
• Tech News Briefs: [16:32]–[25:00]
• Science Funding Deep Dive: [25:00]–[35:15]
• Bethesda Declaration (Science Letter): [32:44]–[35:15]
• Listener Wisdom / Parental Controls: [37:00]–[37:46]

---

Tone and Takeaways

• Tone:
  • Informed, conversational, pragmatic, with humor (and a tinge of exasperation over the foibles of tech and bureaucracy).
• Takeaway:
  • Product design can’t predict every user behavior; sharing features must be handled with caution, especially in AI.
  • US science funding is under serious strain, with knock-on effects hitting essential research infrastructure.
  • Vigilance, nuanced communication, and persistent advocacy (both in tech and science) remain vital.

---

For further info, Dr. Nikki Ackermans posts text updates at nicoleackermans.com, now linked from her Bluesky account.

---

Transcript

[Progressive Insurance Announcer]

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy to see if you could save when you bundle your home and auto policies. Try [e-mail] Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states.

[Stamps.com Announcer]

Shipping, Billing, Admin, Payroll, marketing. You're managing all the things, so why waste time sending important documents the old fashioned way? Mail and ship when you want how you want with stamps.com print postage on demand 247 and schedule pickups from your office or home. Save up to 90% with automated rate shopping. That's why over 1 million small businesses trust stamps.com go to stamps.com and use code podcast to try stamps.com risk free for 60 days.

[Dr. Nikki Ackermans]

Parle tu Francais Hablas espanol?

[Babbel and Momentous Announcer]

Parle italiano. If you've used Babbel, you would Babbel's conversation based technique teaches you useful words and phrases to get use speaking quickly about the things you actually talk about in the real world. With lessons handcrafted by over 200 language experts and voiced by real native speakers. Babbel is like having a private tutor in your pocket. Start speaking with Babbel today.

[Jason Howell]

Get up to 55% off your Babbel

[Babbel and Momentous Announcer]

subscription right now at babbel.com acast spelled b a B-B-E-L.com acasta rules and restrictions may apply when people talk about energy recovery and performance, they usually jump straight to training, protein or supplements. But one of the most overlooked pieces is Gut Health. If your gut is not dialed, everything else struggles to work the way it should. That is where Momentous Fiber plus comes in. When Gut health is not dialed in, other supplements and training habits don't work as well. You can be doing everything else right, but without a strong foundation, results fall short. Fiber is often the missing link. That's why Momentous believes in a relentless commitment to fundamentals and doing them differently than they have ever been done. Fiber plus is built to support the entire gut health process, not just one piece of it. And if a product doesn't meet their standard, it never hits the shelves. Right now, Momentous is offering our listeners up to 35% off your first order with promo code Acast. Head to livemomentous.com and use promo code Acast for up to 35% off your first Order. That's LiveMomentous promo code Acast.

[Jason Howell]

This is the daily tech news for Friday, June 13th. Oh my gosh, Friday the 13th, 2025. We tell you what you need to know, follow up on context, and try to help each other understand.

[Tom Merritt]

Well, we're lucky because today Dr. Nikki checks in on science funding in the US and why are people sharing personal info and medical details on Meta's AI app?

[Jason Howell]

Yes, why? It's not as straightforward as you might think.

[Tom Merritt]

I'm Tom Merritt, I'm winning.

[Jason Howell]

Let's start with what you need to know with that big story. So Meta's AI app has a Share button. Maybe that surprises you, maybe it doesn't. It's Meta, makers of Instagram and Facebook. They like sharing. So there's a button there and if you want to share a summary of your query and its results with the public, you can do that. A share button is at the top of the screen next to the button for voice controls. It's important to note it is on the other end of the screen from the prompt button. Prompt button where you type in all the queries and the follow up queries is down there at the bottom. Now if you tap that share button, you are supposed to see a warning that says prompts you post are public and visible to everyone. Avoid sharing personal or sensitive information. That happened for me the first time I shared a prompt. The second time I shared a prompt that did not happen. It's like they warn you once and then after that they figure you got the message. I think that's going to play into this discussion as well. Business Insider's Katie Natopoulos reported that while most of the Discover feed is images people make, which kind of makes sense, you might want to share those publicly because you had a really clever prompt and it came up with something unexpected. There was were several examples of queries that maybe weren't intended to be public or maybe shouldn't have been shared publicly even if they were intended. Nitopoulos shared some screenshots with the identifying information removed, but in one a person included their phone number and email address when asking the bot to help draft a letter to a judge in a child custody case. Doesn't seem like something you'd want to share. Others were more on the line, like writing a poem for a spouse's birthday or asking medical questions. One was pretending to talk to a dead spouse. Seems like the kind of thing maybe you wouldn't want to share, but I don't know, maybe they did. There were also some voice chats shared which included the poster's voice, and two of the ones Nitopoulos found really sounded to Nitopoulos as if they weren't aware that the voice chat button had been pressed. There were like two people talking and Meta's AI was talking to them, but they weren't responding to it. When I looked at my Discover tab in the Meta AI app this morning, I saw mostly images, I didn't see any audio, and the few text queries I saw were unremarkable. Now, Business Insider posted this story Wednesday morning Friday it got picked up by major pubs like BBC and TechCrunch. So it's possible that Meta has done something to moderate the feed and that's why I'm not seeing these sorts of things. Or maybe it was just a weird quirk that caused them when. What do you think would cause this to happen?

[Tom Merritt]

So my immediate reaction is that a lot of times, and I kind of touched on this a little bit with Jason yesterday, I think, is that a lot of times in software development and product development, I mean really product development, you have a great idea or you have an idea like, hey, let's add the share button here because we want to promote this new feature. And it's hard to be fair, it's hard in isolation when you have this really great, slightly abstract, maybe never a bit different than what you usually do idea. And then when real people use it, they do things that are quite outside, you know, your often narrow perspective on how people use your tool. So it sounds like a great idea to share your images, but if people are actually using these for the more personal things, I think it's. And you'd be surprised how often we get surprised by things that we didn't think of when building a feature. So that is my, I think, I think to be most like charitable like explanation and that maybe, I mean it could be a quirk, but I honestly feel like it feels like, yeah, like they didn't expect. Oh, some really personal stuff is coming out. People are asking medical questions and I, but I. But here's the thing though, I think especially with that disclaimer being shown once and not again, that's a little atypical. I wouldn't say it's like unheard of, but I think usually for purposes of legal, the folks that enforce the kind of copy that we put in are very, very conscientious about keeping legal like disclaimers up because once it goes down, that's when, you know, that's when the liability starts to creep in. So I'm actually kind of surprised at that. I think there's always an argument for people not wanting to see onerous messages. Yeah, yeah, I Get it? I get it. Like, huh. That there's some sense of your user experience is, is bettered by not seeing such messages over and over again. But that. I do find that a little bit interesting. So I'll throw that in the mix. Like, I, I mean, I, I don't. Yeah. The fact. And the fact that it seems like it may be that maybe they haven't understood this. And like, usually what happens in this case is that. Yeah, you address the most pertinent things, sometimes a little more ham fisted hard Cody, than you'd like. And that you try to go back to the drawing board, be like, okay, let's rethink this thing and see what we can do to make it as full featured but less troublesome or problematic than before. So that's, that's my read on it. It's a little, maybe it's a little uncharitable, but that's kind of my read is that.

[Jason Howell]

Oh, I, I don't think it's uncharitable at all. I think it's, it's very, I think it's very equitable. Maybe not charitable, but, you know, I think it's pretty fair. I may have accidentally clicked a checkbox that says, don't show me this warning again. I'm. I'm not ruling that out. That's usually the way that kind of stuff is handled. Like, you make someone actively say, please don't show me this again, and that way the liability is on you. You said, don't show me this anymore if that's not the way it's working, which I don't think it is. I think it shows it to you once and then just tries to smooth things out, not show it to you and bug you again. I feel like butt dials are a pretty good excuse for this happening. That share button isn't small. And if it's capturing conversations that don't sound like people know they're being captured. I don't know how many times I have looked at my phone and realized, how did I make that happen? You know, like I was just holding it and suddenly, like, the COVID screen has been edited or I'm about to dial 911 accidentally or whatever. Like, I could see that happening. And with the million plus users of Meta AI right now, which is apparently what you got, a small percentage of those happening would be enough for Business Insider to notice.

[Tom Merritt]

Yeah, I, I agree. I, I agree. Um, this is kind of like yesterday there was a Google Meet outage, so we had to use Slack Huddles at work.

[Jason Howell]

Mm.

[Tom Merritt]

And it's funny. This again, this is a, this is. This was a group of 12 very tech savvy people, including myself, who did not realize the mute button was actually not on. And I, I actually started laughing out loud because people were just, you know, just struggling with like a new technology and doing all kinds of funny things. So I, again, as people who are tech savvy, that's the thing that'll happen. And that's. I think that's another thing too, is that I. A lot of times you kind of turn a hose on and you forget everything that goes into the hose, like audio. And I mean, it's a little disturbing just because we are in a place where a new strain of, for example, identity theft or social engineering attacks is using some AI to replicate someone's voice. So it is a little bit scary sometimes to think, well, I mean, podcasters, we're screwed. But, you know, average people having their voices out there, it's, it's, it's, it's. Maybe again, someone like, oh, shoot, we got to turn the tap off and maybe rethink this a little bit.

[Jason Howell]

So it's not impossible that some people think they need to hit the share button to share with the bot, right?

[Tom Merritt]

Yes.

[Jason Howell]

I mean, I don't know what you do about that, but that, that could happen too. And then there's also just, you know, I think of as the Venmo effect. People share things on Venmo and that you're like, why are they sharing that? But they're like, no, I love sharing the fact that I paid people for cat sitting or whatever. And so maybe there's that too, where people are like, no, I have nothing to hide. I want to share it. You know, anything's possible.

[Tom Merritt]

I do have one more story. Apparently at some point Slack had enabled HDR emojis. And I'm in a Slack with a lot of Android people and someone put up some of those HDR emojis and I was on a Mac and something, something about color profiles, but it, it was like they burned holes into my screen, like I was getting a migraine. Cause they were so bright. And, and by contrast, everything else that wasn't hdr, which was pretty much everything else on my screen. So I, it's so interesting. Cause again, and, and, and someone who knows a lot more about me than, than me about like color profiles and stuff, that said, there's a very valid reason for them to do this. But yes, in this case, we're giving everybody migraines. So but yeah, so sometimes you really just don't understand the ripple effects of what you do, so. And again, being charitable, maybe they just didn't realize.

[Jason Howell]

So I doubt that Meta is actively being malicious in this particular case.

[Tom Merritt]

No. Also, I think it's just like negligent, maybe. Negligent, yeah. And I think that's like a theme with Generative. This, this generation of AI. Everyone's in a rush and I've been at times where I actually worked at a place where, I mean, we talk about test driven development, test driven development in engineering. But the very. I had. There was a team on one of my old jobs where it was very specifically coverage meme driven development, or sorry, viral driven development. They wanted to create features that would make us go viral and get coverage on the news. And yes, that's a good idea, sort of in theory, but you can kind of see where that made a big headache for the rest of us who had to do like the regular grownup work of making sure that things were stable. And so, yeah, yes, this is, this is how stuff happens. You just have a great idea, you get someone on board, stuff goes out and then it's like, oh, shoot, we just. I guess we went viral for the wrong way. So we're going to backtrack on this.

[Jason Howell]

Some. Some product manager is like, great, we went viral. I don't care if I was for the wrong reason. I get that that does happen. But this one doesn't feel like design and it feels like everyone's treating it as if Meta intentionally was making people do this. And I think it's. I think probably the Meta developers who worked on this are as surprised as anyone.

[Tom Merritt]

What's that phrase? Don't attribute to malice. What could be more easily attributed to stupidity or something like that?

[Jason Howell]

Yeah, there are so many variations of the phrasing, but that's it. That's the sense of it.

[Tom Merritt]

We're human. It happens. I've done some stupid stuff. So anyway, well, DNS is made possible by you, the listener. Thank you to Paul Boyer, D. Lacer, Brad. And welcome a slew, a slew of new patrons. Scott Saenz, Gene, Philip and Jason coming straight in with the annual pledge.

[Jason Howell]

Oh, Jason. Not Jason Hell either. Totally different Jason. That's amazing. Thank you, new patrons.

[Progressive Insurance Announcer]

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Fiscally responsible financial geniuses, monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to progressive and save hundreds. Visit progressive.com to see if you could save Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates potential savings will vary. Not available in all states or situations.

[Tom Merritt]

Taking care of your eyes shouldn't be a hassle. That's why Warby Parker is a one stop shop for all your vision needs. Our prescription glasses and sunglasses are expertly crafted and unexpectedly affordable. Stop by a nearby store or use our app to virtually try on frames and get personalized recommendations.

[Dr. Nikki Ackermans]

Did we mention we offer eye exams

[Tom Merritt]

and take vision insurance too? For everything you need to see, head

[Dr. Nikki Ackermans]

to your nearest Warby Parker store or visit warbyparker.com today.

[Progressive Insurance Announcer]

That's warbyparker.com missed calls, slow replies Messages scattered everywhere if you're running a business that's not just annoying, it's revenue slipping away. That's where quo comes in. Spelled quo. Quo is the one rated business phone system on G2. One shared business number for calls and texts. Stop missing customers. Start capturing every opportunity. Try quo free and get 20% off your first six months at quo.comtech that's quo.comtech quo no missed calls, no missed customers. Guys, it's no use putting it off. The best time for an underwear refresh is now. Tommy John Underwear is designed for a perfect fit fit that stays put all day. There's zero chafe thanks to four times more stretch than competing brands and their innovative horizontal Quick Draw Fly is a game changer. With over 30 million pairs sold, there are thousands of men out there more comfortable than you. Don't settle for less. Go to tommyjohn.com today for 30% off site wide with code comfort. That's tommyjohn.comfort Tommy John comfort Perfected Shipping,

[Stamps.com Announcer]

billing, admin, payroll, marketing. You're managing all the things, so why waste time sending important documents the old fashioned way? Mail and ship when you want, how you want. With stamps.com print postage on demand 24. 7 and schedule pickups from your office or home. Save up to 90% with automated rate shopping. That's why over 1 million small businesses trust stamps.com go to stamps.com and use code podcast to try stamps.com risk free for 60 days.

[Jason Howell]

There's more we need to talk about today. Let's get to the briefs.

[Tom Merritt]

All right, well, developer Leon Omolan noticed in the latest Canary build of Android Studio that Google included a notice that read instant app support will be removed by Google Play in December 2025. What is that, you ask? Well, the fact that you had to ask is part of the reason they're shutting it down. The idea was to let developers give you a way to try an app without having to Download it. And Google says, Google says developers didn't implement it. Confirm. As an Android developer, Android authorities Michelle Rahman. Hey, we know that guy. Noted that it was because it was pretty difficult to implement. For one, you had to cut your app down to 15 megabytes in order to offer an instant app version. Yes. I mean it's not surprising.

[Jason Howell]

I have used Apple clips twice.

[Tom Merritt]

Yes.

[Jason Howell]

I don't think I ever used an Android instant app.

[Tom Merritt]

Yeah. And it's a great idea. I mean it was almost like an instant, like not instantaneous but it almost was like loading a webpage kind of style. And the problem is that a lot of us ran into is like there's not a lot of good use cases. So for example, I worked on Trello for a long time and it was a really great idea because we had a lot of ideas for oh like we could really like get people like going onto our Kanban board and stuff. But the problem is, is that a lot of apps write a lot of their features for one, assuming that someone is logged in. And so a lot of features tend to need a logged in account either because like your settings or just your personal or just like the nature of things. Like I work at Netflix now it'd be really hard to do this I think to allow someone to kind of instantly watch something without an account. And so it became just like even if you take out the part of having to slim down your app, which is kind of a thing with Android apps anyway, there were so many things that kept us from doing this especially because of the ideas like, well, you have to create features that don't require apps and for a large class of domains that don't require login. For a large class of domains, that's just not a thing.

[Jason Howell]

Just not 15 megabytes is nothing like that does not give you.

[Tom Merritt]

Yeah, I mean they're usually stripped down versions. Like I think the one I saw was like was okay. But yeah, 15 megabytes is nothing.

[Jason Howell]

So these days Anchor has filed a recall for its power core 10,000 power bank. Specifically look for model number A1263. Apparently there's a risk of overheating which could lead to burns or fires. And this isn't a theoretical risk. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission received 19 reports of fires and explosions, two reports of minor burns, and 11 property damage claims related to this power bank malfunctioning. Now, Anchor sold 1,158,000 units between June 2016 and December 2022. So most of them did not catch fire. But better safe than sorry. This is a true recall. There's no fix. If you have one of these, you need to dispose of it at a municipal house hazardous waste collection center. And Anker has a recall page where you can request either a $30 gift card or a replacement 10,000 milliamp hour power bank. You have to prove you have one of these models, and there's a few things you have to jump through a few hoops, but mostly if you have one, you'll be able to get that

[Tom Merritt]

well Valve announced that its Steam game store and client is available as a native app for Apple Silicon in beta. Apple is phasing out Intel Mac support after this next version of macOS and will start winding down its app translation layer. Rosetta 2 starting with Mac OS 28

[Jason Howell]

it's funny, I saw people saying like just under the wire. I'm like, well actually Mac OS 28 would have been just under the wire. This is two versions ahead of time, so I don't feel like Steam's doing too badly there. But this version apparently works really fast and really efficiently. Razer announced new versions of its Kishi K I S H I mobile gaming controllers meant for use phones and tablets. The Kishi V3 Pro XL can accommodate a tablet with a 13 inch screen. Take that switch too. The Kishi V3 Pro works with devices up to 8 inches. The controllers use USB C with charging pass through, have antidrift TMR thumbsticks with swappable caps, dual mouse clickback buttons, and claw grip bumpers. On Android devices, you can get Razer's Sensa HD haptics in the controller as well. There's also a model meant only for phones called the Kishi V3. That one has the anti drift control sticks but not the swappable caps, and that base model costs 100 bucks. The V3 Pro, that's the 8 inch one is 150 bucks and that huge V3 Pro XL is 200 bucks.

[Tom Merritt]

I kind of want to get it none and Somehow find a 13 inch tablet that I can.

[Jason Howell]

I have a 13 inch iPad Pro

[Tom Merritt]

that I just please try it. If you get one Keith, let me know because that's amazing. Well, Garmin announced its latest Venu X1 fitness watch with a 2 inch square AMOLED screen. It has a shorter battery life than other Garmins at 2 days with the screen always active or 8 days with it off. It also does not have ECG support or multiband GPS. It does have a flashlight, full color mapping, a scratch resistant sapphire lens and A titanium case back The V new X1 launches June 18th for $700 yeah,

[Jason Howell]

this, this line usually doesn't have this is kind of halfway between. A lot of times it's Phoenix line has some of this stuff like the full color map.

[Tom Merritt]

Yeah.

[Jason Howell]

So it's kind of cool.

[Tom Merritt]

Yeah, it's definitely an Apple watch competitor because most of the other I have a Venu 3, I think. And yeah, this is definitely a different form factor. It is pretty sexy though. And slim. It's slim. Which is kind of my thing with some of the Garmin watches. They're just chunky things.

[Jason Howell]

But Garmin doesn't get enough respect for its watches.

[Tom Merritt]

Dude, I it's, it's crazy because if you love Garmin, you love Garmin and they do a really good job. I just unfortunately like the one thing I could say is that their software isn't quite as slick as the Apple watch wear OS software. But dang, do they do a good job. They really deserve some love.

[Jason Howell]

So yeah, take that Garmin. I mean the love.

[Tom Merritt]

Yeah.

[Jason Howell]

A few bits of Apple news for those who celebrate. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says Apple has an internal spring 2026 date for launching the revamped Siri based on Apple intelligence. It would come as part of iOS 26.4, so you wouldn't have to wait all the way to the next WWDC. If Mr. Gurman is right, which he often is, Counterpoint Research says Apple iPhone sales grew 15% globally in May, boosted by a big boom in sales in China, where Apple took over the top spot for smartphone sales. IPhone sales in China have not been doing well. Bounced back really big by offering steep discounts. That was a big part of it. And Counterpoint suspects some tariff dodgers were going to China and buying them in order to get around tariffs. Finally, Reuters reports that Foxconn shipped $3.2 billion worth of iPhones from India between March and May, and 97% of those iPhones that Foxconn made for Apple were headed for the United States. Apple has announced that it's got plans to ship US bound iPhone production from China to India by the end of next year.

[Tom Merritt]

And a few bits of fallout from Meta's huge investment in Scale. AI co founder and CEO Alexander Wang is leaving to join Meta, and Scale's chief strategy officer Jason Drozh will take over as CEO. And OpenAI's CFO Sarah Fryer told a tech conference in Paris on Friday that the company will continue to do business with Scale despite Meta's large investment.

[Jason Howell]

If you're worried about the effect US export restrictions will have on Nvidia's business in China. Good news. Nvidia is going to stop telling you what effect it's having. It will not be including any potential revenue from China in its future earnings forecasts. So I guess it's not stopping telling you. It's, it's going to make its predictions not include China. That way, if, if they do well in China, it's a bonus. CNN asked Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang if he thought the US Would ease the restrictions and Huang said, I'm not counting on it, but if it happens, then it'll be a great bonus.

[Tom Merritt]

Well, Taiwan's tsmc, you know them as the company that's making everybody's chips, has established its first research center outside of Taiwan with the University of Tokyo in Japan. The lab will be located on university's Hong Kong campus near Ueno. And the lab will research materials, devices, processes, metrology. Is that how you pronounce that? Metrology, Packaging and circuit design.

[Jason Howell]

Yeah. And it'll be near the pandas in the O zoo.

[Tom Merritt]

Oh really?

[Jason Howell]

Yeah.

[Dr. Nikki Ackermans]

No.

[Tom Merritt]

So it's a little bonus. Pandas and semiconductors.

[Jason Howell]

There you go. What's not to love? Those are the essentials for today. Let's dive a little deeper.

[Tom Merritt]

All right, it's time to check in with Dr. Nikki on what's been happening with science funding over the past month.

[Jason Howell]

Dr. Nikki, I must thank you for continuing to keep us updated on this.

[Dr. Nikki Ackermans]

Someone's gotta do it.

[Jason Howell]

A good time necessarily. But yeah, appreciate it. So when last we checked in, it was May 14th.

[Dr. Nikki Ackermans]

Yeah. So I have a story from the end of May. I think this one's like neutral news at least. But weather Researchers performed a 100 hour YouTube live stream starting May 20 going up to June 1, which is the beginning of hurricane season. The really impressive part that I thought they filled it with talks, like scientific talks that were all 30 minutes long. And then in between they had like messages about raising awareness for the funding cuts to weather science. And they talked about things like how the budget cuts are impacting your weather forecasts, how weather data centers have been shut down. And really they're just trying to show the values of climate science. And in their first 30 hours they got 77,000 views. I think I checked in around hour like 58. And they were going strong. You know, there's one thing about scientists, you give them a slot for a talk, they're, they're going to, they're going to give that talk even if it's two in the morning.

[Jason Howell]

So yeah, if they're asked to talk about their thing. Oh yeah, I've had that. I know what you mean. And this is still available if you wanted to go back and view it, right?

[Dr. Nikki Ackermans]

Yeah, this is they, I think they cut it up into a bunch of segments, but it is on YouTube. Just look for weather researchers, 100 hour YouTube live stream and you'll find it.

[Jason Howell]

Yep.

[Babbel and Momentous Announcer]

All right.

[Jason Howell]

Into the budget cuts.

[Dr. Nikki Ackermans]

Oh yes, we're still talking budget cuts. So just to remind everyone, we've been talking about this for months now. But grants for scientists like me get usually come from federal foundations like nsf, National Science foundation and nih, the National Institutes of Health and some other ones. And then they decide how many grants they award based on their budget, which is mandated by Congress. And Congress has to get a proposal for that which they vote on and say yes or no or change it. And that's where we're at right now. Or at least a few days ago at the end of May. So you may have heard the current administration made a proposal to Congress and it's one of the skinniest proposals in terms of science funding that we've seen in quite a few decades. So I think every single scientist is upset about the cuts to their specific organization. Have you heard of any, just in

[Jason Howell]

passing, the NASA one? I definitely heard about, yeah.

[Dr. Nikki Ackermans]

So if you have an interest in, in like astronomy and anything like that. Basically this proposed cut would slash NASA by 50%. It would cut about 40, quote unquote, less important missions. This includes things like the Mars sample return or the Juno mission which is orbiting Jupiter. That's only two out of the 40 that would have to get cut from these proposals, just to name a few other ones. NIH has an overall 40% cut which includes cuts to things like cancer research and Alzheimer's research. We already kind of talked about this. We suspected that these cuts were going to get proposed and now they're getting proposed. For me personally, NSF biology specifically is proposed to get a 70% cut, which is so much that's steep. I don't even want to think about it. I also looked at social sciences. I thought they might get also hit. And they're also at a 70% cut. At NSF, the CDC is getting a 53% cut, mainly targeting things like vaccines. You've probably heard talk about that in the, in the last few days. AIDS relief to just pull out another random one is getting a 30% cut. So that's not all of it. That's just some numbers that I pull out. But yeah, again, this is the proposed Congressional budget. Usually these get discussed and voted on and they change. In the past, these kinds of harsh cuts have been proposed and then actually the budget got increased. I don't know if that's what's going to happen this time. I hope so. We'll probably talk about it on DTNs and we'll see.

[Jason Howell]

Check in for our July update to find out that when this is the big beautiful bill. Right. That's the budget reconciliation bill. And it. And while there are a lot of negotiations going on around it. So, yeah, things could change. The things that are most likely to change are things that don't have to do with finances. Those will get kicked out and I'm not sure what else is. Is going to get negotiated here. It's in the Senate right now.

[Dr. Nikki Ackermans]

Yeah.

[Jason Howell]

So there, there's lots that can change before it gets sent back to the House.

[Dr. Nikki Ackermans]

Yeah. And there's things like, you know, we talked about merging the different institutes at NIH and nsf. That's been rejected, but it might also get sent back. I don't know the political terms for it, but like it might come back again. So. Yeah, yeah.

[Jason Howell]

Because the way it works is the House passed a version of this and sent it to the Senate. The Senate then looks at it and passes their own version, sends it back to the House for what's called reconciliation, where they, you know, try to make the two. Two versions jive. Then the parliamentarian gets to weigh in and say, well, that doesn't belong in a budget reconciliation bill. That would go in another bill and kick some this stuff out. So there's a lot of stops before it actually gets sent to the President's desk to become law.

[Dr. Nikki Ackermans]

Yeah. Hopefully those work in science's favor. You know, they may or may not. I'm still putting in grants, so we'll see.

[Jason Howell]

Fingers crossed.

[Dr. Nikki Ackermans]

Yeah. Related to this current ongoing funding slashes is something that may have flown under the radar. I kind of got to make jokes because. Okay, this was early June. The funding for Flybase got slashed. You may have never heard about Flybase unless you're actual.

[Jason Howell]

Because of your flying under the radar. This is flies.

[Dr. Nikki Ackermans]

Actual flies. Yes. Buzz, buzz. Fruit flies, to be precise. Drizzleful.

[Jason Howell]

No one knows.

[Progressive Insurance Announcer]

Okay.

[Jason Howell]

Yeah, yeah. Okay, makes sense.

[Dr. Nikki Ackermans]

Okay, so you may have never heard about Flybase, but it may have helped you in innumerable ways. So this is the main central database that contains every single thing that we know about fruit flies, all of their genetic Information, every single gene, the annotations, the phenotypes, the papers that are related to those phenotypes, they're all in this database. And that's. I don't. I don't know if you guys know how important fruit flies are, but, like, so much of the genetic work and, like, understanding and knowledge that we do is done in fruit flies because they have a small genome, they're really easy to raise in the lab. You can make a million of them, you know, every other month. So a ton of research is being done on them, and it's all stored in this database. And this database is generally funded, like, 90% funded by this $2 million grant from the NIH to Harvard. And as you know, if you listen to last month's update, Harvard's budget or Harvard's grants got paused. And so NIH just kind of stopped paying the bills for Flybase and panic ensued. So a few of my colleagues are fly researchers and just texted me like, we're done. But the team is collecting donations to just at least stay open for now. They're thinking about archiving their site, at least to keep what they have somewhere. They're looking to move their database, maybe elsewhere. They're considering collaborating with the Human Genome Project, which is also NIH funded but isn't related to Harvard. So. But yeah, this is caught up in

[Jason Howell]

the fight between the White House and Harvard.

[Dr. Nikki Ackermans]

Yep. Yeah. Which many, many other things are. I just thought this was. This was a relevant example of something you may not have thought about.

[Jason Howell]

Yep, Gotcha. Yeah. All right. And then we got one last one.

[Dr. Nikki Ackermans]

One last one. And as you talked about, we're currently. The Senate is currently talking about the budget, and on June 9, NIH employees published the Bethesda Declaration. Did you get wind of this? Because my.

[Jason Howell]

No, I did.

[Dr. Nikki Ackermans]

Was full of this. And I didn't know if it was one of those things where, like, only scientists heard about it.

[Jason Howell]

But, yeah, I think so.

[Dr. Nikki Ackermans]

So I'll share it with you. Over 300 NIH employees signed the letter in dissent to the administration's cuts to federal funding, noting the over 2,000 NIH grants worth $9.5 billion that have been terminated since January. And almost no new grants have been issued also since then and also in response to the proposed budget cut. So they did this specifically a day before the new NIH director, J. Bhattacharya, is going to testify in a key Senate spending committee. So that was on June 10th. So they issued this letter to show that they're not quite happy with what this new director is doing and for the Senate to maybe look into the, let's say, logic behind how he's managing the nh.

[Jason Howell]

Gotcha. All right. I hesitate to say it's been, there's been more in the past, but, but, you know, I'm wondering once we get past the budget reconciliation bill, if we continue what we continue to see after that, put it that way.

[Dr. Nikki Ackermans]

Yeah, I, I really, I mean, personally, I'm at the point where I'm like, where do I send my grants? Because if they cut the funding by 70%, like, the success rate is already 7% for a good grant in my field. So if they cut that by 70%, like, I'm gonna have to start looking for rich friends who like birds.

[Jason Howell]

Any rich bird friends. Let us know. Let me know. Dr. Nikki, thank you so much for keeping on top of this. I know it may not always be the easiest thing to do, but very much appreciated.

[Dr. Nikki Ackermans]

I enjoy being able to keep people informed if they may not have heard about these things. So I help in that way. That's the way that I can help.

[Jason Howell]

If people want to reach out and find you, where should they go?

[Dr. Nikki Ackermans]

Absolutely. I've been posting this, like the text version of these on my [e-mail] and now I'm tech savvy, so I've linked my website to my Bluetooth or to my Bluetooth. Oh, my gosh, I'm tired, Tom. To my blue sky. You can find me on bluesky also nicolans.com because I'm verified now. See you next month.

[Jason Howell]

Thanks, Dr. Nikki. Also, Nikki wanted us to mention that, that since we recorded that the Bethesda declaration is now up to more than 18,000 signatures. If you want to join in the conversation in our discord, do it by linking your Patreon account. Just become a [e-mail] DTNs

[Progressive Insurance Announcer]

this episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game? Well, with the name your price tool from Progressive, you can find options that fit your budget and potentially lower your bills. Try [e-mail], progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Price and coverage match limited by state law. Not available in all states.

[Babbel and Momentous Announcer]

When people talk about energy recovery and performance, they usually jump straight to training protein or supplements. But one of the most overlooked pieces is gut health. If your gut is not dialed, everything else struggles to work the way it should. That is where momentous fiber plus comes in. When gut health is not dialed in, other supplements and training habits don't work as well. You can be doing everything else right, but without a strong foundation, results fall short. Fiber is often the missing link. That's why Momentous believes in a relentless commitment to fundamentals and doing them differently than they have ever been done. Fiber plus is built to support the entire gut health process, not just one piece of it. And if a product doesn't meet their standard, it never hits the shelves. Right now, Momentous is offering our listeners up to 35% off your first order with promo code Acast. Head to livemomentous.com and use promo code Acast for up to 35% off your first Order. That's livemomentous.com promo code Acast.

[Tom Merritt]

We end every episode of DTNS with some shared wisdom. Today, Jason has some help for Jason.

[Jason Howell]

Yeah, Jason Howell, the host, not me. The emailer. He writes mentioned that he had issues with parental controls not propagating from his device to his daughter's phone. Well, it's been a few years since I had to change settings. I think it was iOS 19 to 21. Oops, make that 12 to 14. But our versions had to match exactly. Make a Change on my 12-7-1 iPhone would not show up on a 12-2-2 iPod Touch update. The touch work just fine if everything in your home isn't on the latest and greatest. Try updating everything and then changing the settings again. And I did forward that to Jason Howell. Jason so the Jasons are now in sync as well.

[Tom Merritt]

The settings are in sync and the Jasons or the versions are in sync and the Jason's perfect.

[Jason Howell]

And thanks for that. That's a great tip. I appreciate people, you know sharing positive things like that. It's really good.

[Tom Merritt]

Well, if you have any other tips to share or just want to tell us what you're thinking about, have some insight into a story, share it with us.

[Jason Howell]

Feedbackailytechnewshow.com Big thanks to Jason and Dr. Nikki for contributing to today's show. Thank you for being along for Daily Tech News Show. Good news too, if you keep up on music news. Daily music headlines now available as an Amazon Flash Briefing. Add it to your echo now. This week's episodes of Daily Tech News Show Brief Briefing were created by the following host, producer and writer Tom Merritt host and writer Jason Howell co host Jen Kutter co host Wen TWI Dao co host Sarah Lane Producer Anthony Lamos Producer Roger Chang Editor Hammond Chamberlain Editor Victor Bognaught Science Correspondent Dr. Nikki Ackermans Social media producer and moderator Zoe Detterding our mods Beatmaster W' Scottess 1 BioCort Captain Kipper, Steve Guadarrama, Paul Reese, Matthew J. Stevens, aka Gadget Virtuoso and JD Galloway Mod and video hosting by Dan Christensen music provided by Martin Bell and Dan Lueders, art by Len Peralta, Acast AD support from Tatiana Matias Patreon, support from Tom McNeil and our guest this week was Andy beach and Jen Briney. And thanks to all the patrons who make the show possible possible. This show is part of the Frog Pants Network. Get [e-mail] Diamond Club hopes you have enjoyed this Broker I couldn't hear anything

[Progressive Insurance Announcer]

this episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy to see if you could save when you bundle your home and auto policies. Try [e-mail] Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states.

[Stamps.com Announcer]

This episode is brought to you by Capital One.

[Tom Merritt]

Capital One's tech team isn't just talking about multi agentic AI. They already deployed one. It's called Chat Concierge and it's simplifying

[Stamps.com Announcer]

car shopping using self reflection and layered

[Tom Merritt]

reasoning with live API checks. It doesn't just help buyers find a car they love, it helps schedule a test drive, get pre approved for financing and estimate trade in value. Advanced, intuitive and deployed. That's how they stack. That's technology at Capital One.