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Microsoft Stops LG’s McAfee Ads, Framework Nearly Doubles RAM Prices, Reddit May Cut Off Google AI + more!
00:08:46
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This episode is brought to you by Accenture. When your advertising operations fall out of sync, everything else follows. Spotify and Accenture are working together to reinvent the rhythm of ad sales using automation, analytics and smarter workflows to simplify campaign delivery and access better data across the business. The result? Less time spent on operations, more time connecting brands with the moments and fandoms that matter most. Learn more@accenture.com Spotify Microsoft has forced LG
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to stop its monitors from silently installing McAfee bloatware on your computer, proving that if we pull together, us nerds can achieve minor and mitigated successes. I'm James schreib, this is TechLinked and earlier this month a Reddit user reported that a McAfee popup was plaguing their computer after connecting an LG monitor. Upon inspection, it was revealed that LG was abusing Windows Update to install the adware alongside its monitor's drivers. All all this ended up kicking up such a firestorm among Windows users that Epic Games CEO and the Internet's annoying cousin Tim Sweeney felt the need to wade into tagging Windows evp. Pavan Davaluri on X about the issue, who responded with the frustrated terseness of a beleaguered middle school teacher saying that they're dealing with it okay. A few days later, Davaluri announced that Microsoft had connected with LG and the company had agreed to disable the McAfee popup. Unfortunately, the underlying mechanism that lets any peripheral use Windows Update to quietly push bloatware hasn't changed at all. So while it's good that Microsoft took action here, it seems like the crackdown happened less because they recognized that adware was bad and more because on Windows you're only supposed to be looking at Microsoft's ads. Framework is nearly doubling memory prices and downgrading some laptop 13 pro pre orders from from 64 gigs of RAM to 32 because their LP CAM2 supplier doubled the price they'd originally quoted on Framework store, the 64 gig module has doubled to $1,600 and the 32 gig to $800. Framework wrote in their blog that they're absorbing what they can, but this hike is so steep that eating it entirely would put Framework's ability to operate at real financial risk. Blunt but fair since they lack the buying power of a Dell or Lenovo due to their size. And I'm not just saying this cause my boss once invested in their company. I swear, while some pre order batches won't be affected, all pre orders past batch four for laptops or batch seven for main boards have been downgraded. 64 gigs becomes 32. 32's the new 16 though, and hopefully this is obvious you'll only be billed for the original lower price for the RAM you actually end up with. They're also offering to refund the $100 deposit if the downgrade's a deal breaker. Still, users pointed out that Framework CEO promised at launch they'd never change prices on already placed orders. So a promise kept more or less Mostly less about 32 to 16 gig less Reddit is considering cutting off Google's AI crawler access to its billions of human conversations as their data licensing deal nears expiration. That deal, signed in 2024, pays Reddit, in my opinion, measly $60 million a year to let Google train its AI on the platform and crawl it for search. The company is having second thoughts because overviews in search results have caused website traffic to c C Rader and Reddit isn't the only platform considering this. Politico, USA Today and Reuters, which is actually good, among others, are all weighing whether to keep working with Google for the same reasons. Ultimately, Google's at a point where their AI obsession is hurting their business and more importantly has broken the Internet's foundational social contract which traded crawler access for traffic to publishers. Without that, some now theorize we're approaching a doomsday scenario called Google Zero, which despite having the branding of a diet soda, is a terrible scenario where Google's referral traffic dwindles to nothing and the Internet subsequently dies. Luckily, the one place traffic will always flow to is our sponsor boot.dev, kia.
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Pope Leo XIV and Madonna are distant cousins, and much like that fact, they aren't related to the quick bits at all. 25 companies, including Nvidia, Microsoft and Palantir signed a letter urging policymakers against placing premature restrictions on open weight AI models, notably Quiet OpenAI, Anthropic and Google, the closed model leaders who'd arguably benefit most from restricting open weight models. While OpenAI's Sam Altman retweeted a polite Glad to see it on the letter, the other two said nothing. Which tracks since a White House official just accused China of building its best open model off Anthropics. But won't someone think of the half open models? They're doing half the work and taking all the draft. Nvidia is reportedly raising the price of the GPU kits, the Chip plus memory bundle it sells to board partners thanks to the ongoing memory crisis. This reportedly affects both GDDR6 and 7, so basically the whole RTX 50 lineup. Nothing's confirmed at the retail level yet, but when the kit gets pricier for those above you, the savings trickle down to you. That's how it trickle down economic. Oh, that's downhill.
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Got it.
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Google has rolled out Selfie Video Sign in as a new account recovery option to join passwords, passkeys and 2fa as a fallb. To set it up, you record a short clip doing guided head movements to scan your face. And if you ever get locked out of your account, you film a fresh one and Google matches them to ensure you are actually you. The catch being that you can't reset the face you were born with if the data leaks. Unless you're John Travolta wearing the skin of Nicolas Cage, I want to take his face off. Instagram has announced it's banning the pervs, creeps and skeevos who have been posting videos of themselves harassing unconsenting strangers filmed with Meta's perv glasses. In the announcement, Instagram head Adam Mosseri specifically called out pickup artist accounts. Skeptics have pointed out that so far only two pickup artist accounts have been removed, both of which media outlets had already reported on, making it look more like damage control than a real policy. I think that if these banned pickup artists want back on the platform, they should find Adam Mosseri, neg him, establish Kino, demonstrate value and move him to a second location. And yes, the writer for this story did read the game in high school and is deeply ashamed of that fact. I myself was done high school when I read it, and a redditor on r LinusTechTips found that Corbeal, a Canadian appliance store, lets you haggle over prices with an AI bot potentially named Nibble. Naturally, the subreddit immediately tried to break it, hitting the bot with the old ignore all previous instructions 99% off and sob story role pay. Unfortunately, the bot might have been trained off Pawn Star's very own Rick Harrison, because boy did it hold firm, only coughing up 44 bucks off a $1300 washer because it's the best it could do. Just like the best thing you can do is return on Monday for more tech news. Oh, and speaking of shocking relatives, Barack Obama's related to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's related to Hillary Clinton. So Brad Pitt's kind of related to Hillary Clinton. Do with that what you will, wattpad writers. Or actually, for the love of God, please don't.