Lenovo Uses Chinese SSDs, Microsoft Cuts Xbox Jobs, SpaceX Burns Starlink Satellites + more!

Summary

TechLinked Podcast Summary

Episode Title: Lenovo Uses Chinese SSDs, Microsoft Cuts Xbox Jobs, SpaceX Burns Starlink Satellites + more!
Date: July 7, 2026
Hosts: Riley Murdoch & Co-host (Linus Media Group)

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Overview

In this fast-paced TechLinked episode, Riley and his co-host break down the latest news in tech and gaming culture, mixing industry developments with their signature humor and snark. Highlights include Meta’s AI struggles and new business moves, rising chip prices from Intel and AMD, clever moves (and non-moves) by Nvidia, shifts in AI web scraping policy, bold developments in autonomous vehicles, Netflix’s digital resurrection of Gene Wilder, underwater cockroach cyborgs, and a nuclear-powered desktop.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Meta’s AI Pivot & Subscription Move

• Meta is reportedly planning to rent out its AI data centers through a project codenamed "Meta Compute".
  • "[Meta is] following in Xai's footsteps, where they fail at AI and then pivot into becoming a worse version of AWS. Standard business school stuff." (Riley, 00:32)
• Leadership has acknowledged that Meta’s AI progress is lagging.
  • Mark Zuckerberg "recently admitted" at a town hall that agents haven’t developed as hoped.
• Culture at Meta is suffering:
  • Drastic workforce moves, harsh internal policies, and growing employee discontent.
  • "The vibes have gotten so bad at Meta that employees are now describing working there as akin to being in a soul-crushing gulag." (Riley, 01:24)
• Revenue Recouping:
  • AI smart glasses feature (Conversation Focus) is now capped unless users pony up $20/month.

2. Chip & GPU Price Hikes

• Intel unannounced CPU price increases:
  • Core Ultra 5 250k up by 15%; Core Ultra 7 270k plus up by 17%.
  • "No press release... nobody wants to be the broke boy in a room full of markups." (Riley, 02:00)
  • Despite this, Tom’s Hardware deems the 270k plus “the best Intel CPU you can buy right now.”
• AMD is also prepping a 10% hike on GPU/VRAM bundles to board partners.
  • "Which definitely, definitely won't be passed on to you." (Riley, sarcastically, 02:32)
• Nvidia’s tongue-in-cheek “solution”:
  • Resurrecting the six-year-old RTX 3060—so "you can grab a card from 2021 for slightly less than a new one." (Riley, 02:58)
• Notable quote:
  • "Nvidia invented time travel to go back and prevent the whole memory crunch from ever happening. And what I mean by that is they didn't do that." (Riley, 02:44)

3. Cloudflare vs. AI Web Scraping

• New Cloudflare policy will block AI crawlers from freely scraping ad-supported pages.
  • Effective September 15, unless site owners explicitly opt in.
  • Builds on Cloudflare’s “pay per crawl” initiative—publishers can charge AI companies for access.
• Shifts default for “mixed bots” (those that combine AI training with search indexing, e.g., GoogleBot and Bing Bot).
  • These will be blocked unless their functions are separated.
• Noteworthy:
  • Through a new pay-per-use program, creators are paid when content actually answers AI queries, not just for being crawled.

4. Reddit Restricts Anonymous Browsing

• Reddit will require login for old Reddit layout (phasing out truly anonymous browsing).
  • Explained as an anti-AI scraping move.
  • "Please Fs in the chat for all those previously anonymous scholars doing important, not safe for work research..." (Riley, 05:38)
• Classic layout’s future is uncertain.

5. Tesla’s Cyber Cab & Autonomous Regulations

• Tesla spotted testing Cyber Cab (no steering wheel/pedals) in public.
  • 1995 federal safety regulations technically block this, but the NHTSA may drop brake pedal requirements for autonomous vehicles.
  • “...still investigating Tesla for FSD mode cars blowing through red lights and driving into oncoming traffic. This feels kind of like responding to a kitchen fire by taking the batteries out of the smoke alarm." (Riley, 06:39)

6. Netflix Brings Gene Wilder’s Voice Back

• New reality show 'Wonka's the Golden Ticket' will feature a digitally reanimated Gene Wilder voice, cloned by Eleven Labs, estate approved.
  • "Licensed necromancy."
  • Reminds listeners Wilder disliked the money-grab of the 2005 Depp remake, suggesting he’s "rolling in his grave, which Netflix will mic up again for season two." (Riley, 07:14)

7. Underwater Cockroach Cyborgs for Search & Rescue

• Singapore researchers created remote-controlled cyborgs with tiny 3D-printed scuba suits.
  • Survive three hours underwater; intended for rescue in disaster zones.
  • “Do not show this to Netflix, where season two of the Golden Ticket will end with a contestant face down in a chocolate river being retrieved by a scuba roach humming Pure Imagination." (Riley, 08:05)

8. Nuclear-Powered Desktop for AI

• Valar Atomics demoed a Ward 250 micro nuclear reactor powering a single Nvidia RTX desktop, live on stage.
  • Partnership with Nvidia for a 30MW "AI factory" that skips water cooling.
  • The website for the company is running on this nuclear-powered desktop.
  • "Remember when people used to joke that you'd need a nuclear plant to run Nvidia hardware? TechLink remembers." (Riley, 09:08)

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• "The vibes have gotten so bad at Meta that employees are now describing working there as akin to a soul-crushing gulag." (Riley, 01:24)
• "Netflix... licensed necromancy." (Riley, 07:11)
• “Resurrecting the six-year-old RTX 3060—so ‘you can grab a card from 2021 for slightly less than a new one.’” (Riley, 02:58)
• "This feels kind of like responding to a kitchen fire by taking the batteries out of the smoke alarm." (Riley, 06:39)
• “Do not show this to Netflix, where season two of the Golden Ticket will end with a contestant face down in a chocolate river being retrieved by a scuba roach humming Pure Imagination." (Riley, 08:05)
• "Remember when people used to joke that you'd need a nuclear plant to run Nvidia hardware? TechLink remembers." (Riley, 09:08)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Meta’s AI Troubles & Data Center Rental: 00:30–01:57
• Chip/GPU Price Hikes & Nvidia’s Old Card Move: 01:57–03:01
• Cloudflare Blocks AI Web Scraping: 03:06–04:21
• Reddit Ends Anonymous Browsing: 05:17–05:58
• Tesla Cyber Cab & Regulation Change: 05:58–06:44
• Netflix Resurrects Gene Wilder for Reality Show: 06:44–07:28
• Underwater Cockroach Cyborgs: 07:28–08:05
• Nuclear-Powered Desktop: 08:04–09:08

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Tone & Style

• Irreverent, Fast-Paced, and Sarcastic: The hosts deploy a blend of biting wit, self-aware meta-commentary, and nerd-culture in-jokes throughout the show.
• Flippant Observations: Many stories are introduced with pointed sarcasm — e.g., "Which definitely, definitely won't be passed on to you."
• Pop Culture & Meme References: Frequent asides to internet parlance ("Fs in the chat"), meta-jokes, and cultural callbacks.

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This episode delivers a brisk, comprehensive rundown of current tech stories with TechLinked’s trademark blend of up-to-date news and laugh-out-loud punchlines. Whether you’re tracking industry shifts or just want an entertaining tech catch-up, this one’s packed with insight and fun.

Transcript

[A]

Are all batteries the same? That's like asking if all soccer players are the same. Take Messi, the most decorated player ever. Is there any other player who has achieved that? No, just him. Now take Duracell. Is there any other battery with powerboost ingredients inside? No, just Duracell. Remember, goats only trust goats because they're built different and Messi only trusts Duracell.

[B]

Meta reportedly plans to rent out its AI data centers in a new venture the company is dubbing Meta Compute. This has them following in Xai's footsteps, where they fail at AI and then pivot into becoming a worse version of AWS Standard business school stuff. I'm Riley Murdoch. This is TechLinked, and according to Bloomberg, Meta is scrambling to make use of its massive data centers as their own AI model. Development has somewhat stalled out. Mark Zuckerberg himself recently admitted the problem at a company wide town hall this week, telling staff that their AI agents haven't progressed as fast as he'd hoped. Who could have seen that coming? After the company cut 10% of its workforce, conscripted 6,500 engineers into its AI division, imposed mandatory key logging for AI

[C]

training, and then forced the remaining engineers

[B]

to spend all their time generating training data for said AI.

[C]

What?

[B]

The vibes have gotten so bad at

[C]

Meta that employees are now describing the

[B]

act of working there and as akin to being in a soul crushing gulag. So Meta and it's now hunting for extra revenue to make up for their $145 billion in AI spend. Which may explain why they've started putting certain Smart glasses features behind a paywall. They've announced that they're capping the Ray Ban glasses Conversation Focus AI feature at three hours a month unless users pay $20 for a monthly subscription. I'm sure their only popular product is gonna turn this whole thing around for em. People love these glasses Right now, Intel

[C]

just jacked up the MSRP of Both

[B]

the Core Ultra 5 250k and the Core Ultra 7 270k plus by around 15 and 17% respectively, without any announcement or press release. Which I guess makes sense considering every One of the CPUs friends from memory to GPUs already got pricey and nobody wants to be the broke boy in a room full of markups. Timeless wisdom. The price to performance of these products did get dinged, but they're arguably still solid for the money. Tom's Hardware even calls the 270k plus the best Intel CPU you can buy right now. Unfortunately, misery loves company. Fellow chip maker AMD's reportedly telling board partners to expect a 10% hike on the GPU and VRAM bundles it sells them, which definitely, definitely won't be passed on to you. There is good news though. Nvidia invented time travel to go back and prevent the whole memory crunch from ever happening. And what I mean by that is they didn't do that. They revived the 6 year old RTX 3060 so you can grab a card

[C]

from 2021 for slightly less than a new one. A what?

[B]

What do you oh, cancer got cured.

[C]

Good news techlink. Not today. Just kidding. This is cool.

[B]

Cloudflare has announced a new policy that will block AI crawlers from freely scraping web pages, forcing AI companies to pay the creators whose content they used to train their AIs.

[C]

What?

[B]

Starting September 15, the company will restrict access for bots that harvest content for AI training on any page that carries ads unless the site owner explicitly opts in. Now this is an extension of the pay per crawl initiative Cloudflare launched last year, which created a marketplace where publishers could charge AI companies for crawling their content. Under the new defaults, traditional search bots will still have access to sites for the regular indexing and SEO stuff, but so called mixed bots that combine search indexing with AI training like googlebot and Bing Bot. Did somebody say Bing?

[C]

What? No, I was talking about something else.

[B]

Anyway, the Bing Bong bot will be blocked on ad supported pages unless their operators separate those functions. And through the new pay per use program, AI companies will start paying creators when their content is actually used to answer a question instead of just when it gets crawled. Kind of like how you're gonna crawl all over our sponsor.

[C]

Oh do. Whoa. There are a ton of useful apps in this business management software. They're all working together in one simple customizable system and you only use what your business actually needs. And if you're only using a single app, it's free. What? CRM lets you send quotes in a couple clicks and automatically schedules your next calls, meetings or emails based on your sales flow so nothing falls through the cracks. No way. Sales helps you close deals faster with online payments and E signatures on quotes, contracts and PDFs so customers can sign and pay without any back and forth.

[B]

Wowza.

[C]

Oh, and inventory keeps things running smoothly with smart replenishment that can trigger purchase orders automatically when stock runs low. Golly, I'm starting to get it. Everything connects in one place, so you're not juggling a bunch of different tools just to run your business. And holy heck, you can use the link in the description for a free 15 day trial with no credit card required. Or use the link to book a demo with Odoo's expert team to learn how Odoo can help your business.

[B]

I gotta tell my cousins about this. A bit quick is what she said. A quick bit is what I have for you now. Syntax is a beautiful thing. Reddit is ending Anonymous browsing on old Reddit over the next month, requiring everyone to log in to keep the classic layout. Reddit employee Boatbotany says it's to fight abusive scraping and automated traffic coming from AI bots strip mining the site. It's a topical issue. They also hinted that the classic layout might not last forever. Please Fs in the chat for all those previously anonymous scholars doing important, not safe for work research in those hallowed

[C]

threads, Tesla has started testing a version

[B]

of their Cyber Cab with no steering wheel or pedals on the streets of Austin, Texas. Now, they've been trying to roll this out for a while now, ever since they revealed the cyber cab two years ago.

[C]

But a 1995 rule from the losers

[B]

of the National Highway Traffic and Safety

[C]

Administration requires every car in the US to have a brake pedal. Ugh. Come on.

[B]

Luckily for Tesla, and unluckily for Austin residents who like to not get hit by cars, the agency is now considering a rule change that would drop that requirement for autonomous vehicles. Given that the NHTSA is still investigating Tesla for FSD mode cars blowing through red lights and driving into oncoming traffic

[C]

lights, this feels kind of like responding to a kitchen fire by taking the batteries out of the smoke alarm.

[B]

Get rid of that pesky noise. Netflix is reanimating the voice of widely missed and beloved actor comedian Gene Wilder for their new reality show Wonka's the Golden Ticket.

[C]

The show sees 12 players competing in

[B]

a recreated chocolate factory for a life changing prize. Eleven Labs cloned Wilder's voice with the blessing of his estate, making it licensed necromancy. Now, it's important to note that Wilder dismissed the 2005 Depp remake of his famous movie, saying it was all about money. So he's presumably rolling in his grave, which Netflix will mic up again for season two. I wish I could say scratch that, reverse it.

[C]

Researchers at Singapore's NTU have strapped tiny 3D printed scuba suits onto living cockroaches,

[B]

creating remote controlled cyborgs that survive three hours underwater at 50 centimeters deep, which is about a foot and a half for the Americans. And all this too, I you not conduct rescue operations for what other cockroaches for all the other cockroaches we lost in the pool when we were testing the previous route. Infrared cameras let the team steer the roaches through flooded disaster zones to find survivors. Oh, that.

[C]

Yeah, that makes sense.

[B]

And their suit creates a chemical reaction that feeds oxygen through tubes plugged into the bug's breathing holes. Do not show this to Netflix, where season two of the Golden Ticket will end with a contestant face down in a chocolate river being retrieved by a scuba roach humming Pure Imagination. Where Is he boy? And nuclear startup Valar Atomics. Stop naming things after Lord of the Rings. Okay, fired up its Ward 250 fission microreactor live on stage in Utah and used it to boot a single Nvidia RTX Spark desktop. Okay, the company is teaming with Nvidia on a 30 megawatt closed loop AI factory that skips local water usage entirely and trades it for a possible miniable for the cockroaches. The website you're seeing now on screen is running on that very micro reactor powered desktop and the site even features a reactor style game.

[C]

Remember when people used to joke that

[B]

you'd need a nuclear plant to run Nvidia hardware? TechLink remembers. And I'm not joking when I say I'm gonna remember if you don't come back this Monday for more tech news. This is not a punchline, it's an outro.

[C]

But if a punchline is just a

[B]

sentence that ends something and an outro is a sentence that ends something, then

[C]

what exactly, dear viewer, do I end or start words?

[B]

I think there might be a gas leak in the office.