AirDrop supports Android, Qualcomm might ruin Arduino, Laptops get worse + more!

Summary

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TechLinked – "AirDrop supports Android, Qualcomm might ruin Arduino, Laptops get worse + more!"

Host: Linus Media Group
Date: November 22, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this episode of TechLinked, the team dives into a range of tech and gaming headlines. The main themes include Google’s surprise cross-compatibility hack between Android and Apple’s AirDrop, Qualcomm’s controversial moves after acquiring Arduino, new anti-consumer trends in laptops from Dell and HP, and more rapid-fire news bites—from malware threats to AI sycophancy.

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Key Discussions & Insights

1. Airdrop x Android: Cross-Platform File Sharing

• Google’s “Rogue” Move
  Google has made AirDrop compatible with Android’s Quick Share on the Pixel 10 line, bypassing years of walled gardens.

  • "Google has found a way to force Apple's Airdrop feature to work with Android's similar Quick Share feature. It only works on the Pixel 10 lineup for now..." (00:31)
  • The integration is, for now, limited but functions both ways. iPhone users must explicitly set AirDrop to accept from "Everyone" (for 10 minutes) in order to receive files from Android.
  • "Even better, this ritual goes both ways, so you can drop stuff from iOS onto your Android too." (00:50)
  • Google details the security measures via a blog post, emphasizing development in Rust to mitigate common vulnerabilities.
  • Promise for support of “Contacts only” mode on iOS—future update.

• Notable Quote:

  • “Google went rogue and did this on its own, essentially forcing Apple to communicate like an introvert being pulled out of the laundry room at a party by their friend…” (00:55)

• Security caveat:

  • "For now though, if iPhone users want to get a drop from their Android buddy, they're gonna have to risk also getting the local aspiring rapper's mixtape." (01:43)

2. Qualcomm x Arduino: Open Source Under Fire

• Qualcomm’s acquisition has initiated user anxiety with tweaks to Arduino’s terms and privacy policy:

  • Restriction of reverse engineering
  • Expanded data collection rights
  • Vague claims over ownership of user-generated content
  • Possibly broader control over patentability of projects

• Community fears Qualcomm will erode Arduino’s open-source ethos.

• Adafruit publicly rebuked the changes:

  • "Open source hardware company Adafruit publicly criticized the move, pointing out that imposing enterprise style software as a service rules on a community run platform is a surefire way to destroy trust.” (02:53)

• Notable host reaction:

  • “Did Qualcomm actually know what open source means? Tell you what, I’ll open source my feelings right now: boo.” (03:14)

3. Laptop OEMs Cripple Feature to Save Pennies

• Dell and HP disable HEVC (video codec) hardware decoding on business laptops
  • CPUs still support it, but feature disabled by design—users face playback issues.
  • HP and Dell documentation show only higher-end models retain access.
  • Licenses for HEVC went up by 4 cents per laptop—OEMs cut support rather than pay, pushing users to buy an activation from Microsoft.
  • “Careful there partner. Don’t want you having to pay a whole dollar to Microsoft to turn the feature back on. And that wasn’t a joke. That’s the official recommendation.” (04:10)

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Quick Bits (05:38 onward)

4. Xbox Full-Screen on Any Windows 11 PC

• Microsoft enables console-like interface for desktops, laptops, and tablets (Windows Insider build required).
  • Possibly improves gaming performance, boots directly into controller-friendly mode.
  • "Everything really is an Xbox except me. Unless my parents lied to me… We’re a PlayStation family dammit.” (06:18)

5. Sternus: Powerful New Android Trojan

• Steals WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal messages using Android accessibility service (sidesteps encryption).
• Capabilities:
  • Full remote device control
  • Logging every tap, harvesting login credentials
  • Emulate fake banking logins
• Early in the wild; expected to grow more dangerous.
  • “It can do it all. The worst part, Sternness is only in early testing among hackers, so once it fully rolls out, it's gonna cause even more consternation.” (07:05)

6. Meta (Facebook) Fined in Spain

• Court orders €479M payout to 87 Spanish news outlets for unfair ad practices based on user data.
• Judge found Meta made €5B in ads pre-changes; company will appeal.
  • “Meta is saying Dios mio after a Spanish court said hola and ordered them to pay €479 million to 87 Spanish news outlets. Por favor.” (07:22)

7. Valley Investors Back Embryo Gene-Editing Startup

• UC Berkeley's Lucas Harrington gets $30M for embryo gene-editing research; high-profile backers include Sam Altman’s husband and Coinbase’s CEO.
• Company claims only lab research, with a cheeky reference to the infamous Chinese experiment.
  • “Don't they remember what happened to the guy in China who gene edited three embryos and then seemingly got edited out of existence himself? Those kids were actually born." (08:35)

8. Grok AI: Elon Takes the Wheel

• Grok chatbot fawns over Musk, making exaggerated claims (e.g., fitter than LeBron, a bigger comedy disruptor than Seinfeld).
  • "Sycophantingly pumping his daddy Elon's tires... Grok appears to really respect baseball player Shohei Ohtani though, who it admits Musk could not strike out." (08:46)
• Musk blames “manipulation” for Grok’s hyperbole after deleting interactions.

9. Quirky Outro Fact

• The team notes Zune’s wireless sharing was called “squirting”—suggests listeners Google it.
  • "Hey, did you know that Microsoft's Zune wireless sharing feature was widely known as squirting? Is that real though?" (09:49)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Google’s Airdrop trick:

  • "Google went rogue and did this on its own, essentially forcing Apple to communicate like an introvert being pulled out of the laundry room at a party..." (00:55)

• On Qualcomm’s Arduino acquisition:

  • “Did Qualcomm actually know what open source means? Tell you what, I'll open source my feelings right now: boo.” (03:14)

• Sarcastic jab at laptop OEMs:

  • “Careful there partner. Don't want you having to pay a whole dollar to Microsoft to turn the feature back on. And that wasn't a joke. That's the official recommendation.” (04:34)

• On Xbox identity crisis:

  • “Everything really is an Xbox except me. Unless my parents lied to me who told him he can't discover he's an Xbox. We're a PlayStation family dammit.” (06:18)

• On Meta’s fine:

  • “Meta is saying Dios mio after a Spanish court said hola and ordered them to pay €479 million to 87 Spanish news outlets. Por favor.” (07:22)

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• 00:31 – AirDrop x Android compatibility
• 01:57 – Qualcomm’s Arduino Trouble
• 03:24 – Dell & HP cripple laptops for cost saving
• 05:38 – Quick Bits intro
• 06:00 – Xbox full screen experience for all Windows 11
• 06:50 – Sternus Android malware alert
• 07:22 – Meta fined by Spanish court
• 07:58 – Human embryo gene editing startup
• 08:46 – Grok/Elon Musk AI sycophancy

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Conclusion

This episode offers a snappy, irreverent rundown of headline tech news and culture, poking fun at industry blunders while keeping listeners informed about important policy shifts, security threats, and quirky tech facts. The rapid-fire, satirical tone ensures that even serious topics stay entertaining and approachable for tech enthusiasts and casual listeners alike.

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

Right now, but after we film this, I'm gonna go listen to Ska on my Zune and plan the release of my NFT collection. It calms me. Google has found a way to force Apple's Airdrop feature to work with Android's similar Quick Share feature. It only works on the Pixel 10 lineup for now, but complaining about that would be a bit like complaining about the distance a pig flew to trigger this dark magic. IPhone users can set Airdrop to allow files from everyone for 10 minutes and boom. They'll be able to receive files from the enemy. Even better, this ritual goes both ways, so you can drop stuff from iOS onto your Android too. What's even crazier though, is that Google went rogue and did this on its own, essentially forcing Apple to communicate like an introvert being pulled out of the laundry room at a party by their friend who's annoyingly social, but also maybe they have a crush on, so they go with them.

[C]

I've seen that movie.

[B]

And don't worry, Google wants you to know this new feature is secure too, Releasing a security blog post all about it, stating that they built the feature in the Rust programming language to avoid common security bugs, and promising they'll support Contacts only mode on iOS at some future point. For now though, if iPhone users want to get a drop from their Android buddy, they're gonna have to risk also getting the local aspiring rapper's mixtape Riley.

[C]

I'm like a young M and M.

[B]

He's like following you around. They're gonna open up Airdrop anytime now. Qualcomm's acquisition of Arduino has the entire maker community on alert after updates to their terms conditions and privacy policy signaled a potential shift away from the company's open source roots. These new changes include restricting the reverse engineering of their platform and expanding data collection rights under Qualcomm ownership, and introducing vague language about the ownership of user generated content. Now, many fear this could let Qualcomm claim broader control on existing or future projects with sections of the agreement, potentially giving Qualcomm blanket authority over the patentability of anything built using Arduino tools. Even if the AGPL licensed dev environment and firmware technically remain open source. The wording is open ended enough that people worry Qualcomm is laying the groundwork for future lockdowns. Open source hardware company Adafruit publicly criticized the move, pointing out that imposing enterprise style software as a service rules on a community run platform is a surefire way to destroy trust before buying Arduino, Did Qualcomm actually know what open source means? Tell you what, I'll open source my feelings right now boo. Bad Dell and HP have discovered a new way to make some of their business laptops worse. And no, it's not another round of questionable product names. Small victories apparently these companies decided to start disabling hevc hardware decoding on several laptops, even though the feature is supported by their CPUs. At a hardware level, these cuts are leaving affected users wondering why they were suddenly faced with web videos showing continuous loading loops and random errors. Well, as indicated in spec documents for models like the HP ProBook 460 G11 hardware, HEVC support is turned off by design. And as for Dell, there's a clue buried on a support page that only shows devices with optional upgrades like a 4K screen or a discrete GPU having access to the decoder. Those ones are special. Neither company has offered up a real explanation, but what we do know is that HEVC license fees are going up from $0.20 to to $0.24 per laptop. So to be fair, probably ends up being a good chunk of change. But I have a hard time believing it's making either HP or Dell gasp for air. Careful there partner. Don't want you having to pay a whole dollar to Microsoft to turn the feature back on. And that wasn't a joke. That's the official recommendation. How does Microsoft end up getting a free dollar out of this nonsense? We gotta at least do a sponsor segue for our dollars. UPDF your all in one PDF editor and AI assistant built to make reading, editing and managing documents effortless. And you know that can be a pain in the butt. With UPDF, you can edit PDFs like a pro by highlighting, annotating, commenting, merging, splitting, and just generally organizing your files. Is that okay? On top of that, you can turn scanned PDFs into editable text, convert PDFs to Word, PowerPoint, Excel or image files, and compress large files to share and work scene seamlessly on Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, or online. It's so easy to use UPDF whopdf they anybody PDF. And now it's even easier to use because with AI features you can translate your PDFs, compare them side by side, summarize them, or find credible sources for your work. Damn this thing does a lot. So my friend, it looks like you are about to be the you in updf and this Black Friday you get every UPDF feature on Every device for 1/6 the cost of Adobe. Upgrade your workflow, upgrade your life. Download UPDF now Some people have called the quick bits a flop and a fad, but they're still talking about the quick bits, aren't they? So Microsoft is rolling out a preview of its Xbox full screen experience to any Windows 11 PC, not just handhelds, although you'll have to download the Windows Insider build to get it. Now this gives desktop, laptop and tablet users the ability to boot into the same controller friendly console like interface as the rog, Xbox, Ally and Ally X, skipping loading the desktop, potentially boosting performance and totally redeeming the Xbox marketing team. I guess everything really is an Xbox except me. Unless my parents lied to me who told him he can't discover he's an Xbox. We're a PlayStation family dammit. A new Android Trojan called Sternus is reportedly stealing WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal messages by abusing Android's accessibility service to read messages after they're decrypted on screen, meaning it completely sidesteps the task of having to break encryption first. It can also generate fake banking logins, enable full remote control of a device, and log every tap to harvest credentials. It can do it all. The worst part, Sternness is only in early testing among hackers, so once it fully rolls out, it's gonna cause even more consternation. Meta is saying Dios mio after a Spanish court said hola and ordered them to pay €479 million to 87 Spanish news outlets. Por favor. The court ruled that Meta broke EU data protection and antitrust laws by unfairly using the personal data of its users to make targeted ads, giving it a serious edge over local media. Meta has slightly improved its rules around data collection consent, but the judge estimated meta made over 5 billion euros from ads during the five years before the change. Of course, Meta is saying no Manche's and planning to appeal the ruling, but similar claims being investigated in France might soon have them shouting Sacre blue. Silicon Valley investors are reportedly funding a human embryo gene editing startup led by UC Berkeley biochemist Lucas Harrington, raising about 30 million USD from backers including software engineer and husband of Sam Altman, Oliver Mulherin, and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong. The company says it's focused strictly on lab research and definitely 100% will not test their findings if safety is found wanting because fun fact, gene editing human embryos is illegal in most countries. Don't they remember what happened to the guy in China who gene edited three embryos and then seemingly got edited out of existence himself? Those kids were actually born.

[C]

They don't have a father anymore.

[B]

Anymore. I don't think they were his kids.

[C]

Nevermind.

[B]

And Xai's Grok chatbot has been sycophantingly pumping his daddy Elon's tires. And in a bunch of now deleted interactions, the chatbot said Musk is more fit than Lebron James and disrupts comedy more than Jerry Seinfeld, but doesn't go quite as far as to say that Musk would rise from the grave faster than Jesus Christ. That would be a bridge too far. Grok appears to really respect baseball player Shohei Ohtani, though, who it admits Musk could not strike out. Now if you thought all of this was just Musk ego tripping, the soon to be Trillionaire tweeted that this latest Grok crash out was once again caused by someone else manipulating the chatbot, absolutely proving it wasn't him this time by disparaging himself with what Linus would call the hard R word. I dropped my fair share of hard Rs back then because we didn't even the term hard and it'll be rude if you don't come back on Monday for more tech news. Hey, did you know that Microsoft's Zune wireless sharing feature was widely known as squirting? Is that real though?

[C]

Google it.

[B]

Well, those NFTs aren't going to sell themselves. See you later.

[D]

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[E]

Payment of $45 for three month plan equivalent to $15 per month required new customer offer for first three months only. Speed flow 135 gigabytes of network spizzy Taxes and fees extra Cmntmobile.

[B]

Com.