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Get this twisted We've got some high quality tech news for you today. However, I am saving my bandwidth for CES next week, so I will just calmly state this is today's intro bit. Thank you. Grok, the edgiest chatbot decided the best way to start off the new year was by generating sexualized images of minors following a lapse in its safety systems. Now, the worst kind of Twitter users were apparently able to get Grok to bypass filters that are supposed to to block this kind of content entirely, despite those filters having never been successful at preventing Grok from generating incredibly weird, heinous constantly in the past. Xai says the issue has been fixed and the safeguards tightened, but that is not exactly comforting. When the failure was oops, we released some csam. It's almost like having a not safe for work spicy mode on one of the world's most prominent social media platforms is is maybe not the best idea now. These incidents capped off a week of complaints after people realized that any degenerate can ask Twitter's resident goon bot to nudify every photo ever tweeted directly in the replies to said tweet. But there's nothing we can do, guys. You know, this is just the world we live in now. Instagram CEO Adam Masseri says that AI slop is so common it may be more practical to label real content instead of labeling fake content. That's right. Apparently there is so much AI generated slop that it's outnumbering the real people who just want to show us important stuff like their Warhammer collections. I want to see those if they're real. In fact, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is now blogging about how maybe we don't even need to call it AI Slop now, because maybe that hurts some people's feelings who have put mind boggling amounts of money into tools that let people make that stuff you're calling slop. Think about how those people maybe might feel. Asus has reportedly told partners that it won't release any new Zenfone or Rog Android phones in 2026, but says it's not abandoning phones entirely and will keep supporting existing models. Reports indicate the pause is driven by weak sales and tough market conditions, with Asus framing it as a temporary step back rather than a full exit from smartphones. Our writers told me that they didn't even know ASUS made phones until today, so this must be tragic news for the five of you. Watching this on your Rog phone does kind of explain the weak sales, though. In more phone news Weibo tipster Smart Chip Insider he sounds like he knows a lot. Claims LPDDR6RAM could be about 20% more expensive than the previous generation standard, meaning only the most premium 2026 Android flagships and and likely just the 16 gigabyte variants will bother using it, while everyone else will stick with LPDDR5X. Well, smart chip Insider, I want some smarter chips. Insider my phones, you know what I'm saying? The phone market is a mess, but there is a glimmer of hope. A report out of South Korea indicates that Samsung looks set to keep Galaxy S26 prices the same as the S25 lineup, a relief for buyers. However, the phones aren't expected to see any significant upgrades to battery capacity, which I'll take. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. Even if that horse is the same horse from last year with just a slightly different saddle, the horse costs the same in this economy. Leaked PlayStation 5 ROM keys have exposed a foundational piece of the console security, potentially enabling early hardware level jailbreaks that Sony can't patch with software updates. The best part? This all started with some guy who just really wanted to play Beat Saber with custom songs. Security researcher Smash Stacking noticed the console version of Beat Saber didn't support community tracks, so rather than simply swapping to PC like a normal person, he spent months attempting to reverse engineer the PS5, eventually presenting his discovery of multiple exploits on stage at the Chaos Communication Congress conference. While he didn't name the console he was working with during his presentation, a set of boot ROM signing keys quietly appeared online soon afterward. If they turn out to be valid, they could allow researchers to decrypt and study Sony's bootloader, a permanent crack in the security chain for the PS5 akin to the PlayStation 3's infamous signing key failure. Days later, developer Gazin Dev made a Twitter post demonstrating a potential jailbreak method using using Star Wars Racer Revenge, a somewhat Rare and forgotten PS4 game. Running code from the physical copy of the game appears to trigger a debug Mode on the PS5, meaning that as of right now, this is the most promising potential jailbreak path yet for the console, and instantly it caused resale prices for that game to explode online. Now this method is still in the early stages and nothing has been made publicly available yet, but no doubt the seven or eight people in the world who would be able to actually make something using these leaks and and hide their tracks well enough to avoid getting sued into oblivion by Sony. See, this is a huge win. Like having shoes that say dry like our sponsor Vessi. Hey, did you know it's the new year? That means you've probably got some resolutions to get to work on. Probably. Luckily, if your resolution was to get more stylish and to get more outdoors more often, Vessi has got you covered. For example, their Storm Burst shoes keep up with your everyday movement and your overarching bigger goals. Vessi claims their shoes and clothing are 100% waterproof thanks to their Dymatex technology. Slush or shine, you can get outside in your wicked Vessi gear without sacrificing your style. Heck, this stuff looks good enough to go out in the town right after hiking a trail. You don't see that every day. Start your new year off right and don't let slush slow you down. They're covered by a 1 year warranty with a 30 day hassle free return policy, so get 15% off your first order at vessi.com TechLinked we are not bringing the quick bits to Vegas with us. Not after what happened last time. Pebble has revived its round faced smartwatch with a new Pebble Round 2, a slim $200 watch with a 1.3-inch color epaper screen, up to two weeks of battery life, basic health tracking and voice features. Available to not pre order now for a May release. It drops things like a heart rate sensor to stay affordable, but keeps the classic pebble vibe, thin stainless steel build and iOS and Android compatibility, focusing on simplicity and and nostalgia over high end features. I mean, even if you don't really care about pebble, we've already taken the time to learn the difference between Pebble, Rebel, Repebble, et cetera. So it's worth pointing out that hey, there's a new old watch coming. It's round, brand new. New York Mayor Zoran Mamdani banned Flipper Zero and Raspberry PI devices at his inauguration. But the interesting part isn't quite what was banned, it's how these weren't listed as categories like wireless tools or computers. They were singled out by brand name right next to weapons and drones. The Flipper zero ban is at least kind of understandable given its reputation, but Raspberry PI is literally just a tiny general purpose computer. Maybe they thought it was made out of fruit and they were going by airline rules, I don't know. California has launched a new delete request and opt out platform, AKA Drop, which lets residents submit a single request to more than 500 data brokers to delete their personal information like email, phone number and other sensitive details. The state says the tool, which went live January 1st under the California Delete Act. This sounds like you're trying to delete. The state aims to give people more control over their privacy and could help reduce spam and fraud, though brokers don't have to start processing these requests until later in 2026. Now I genuinely think this is cool. I've said it before, but I find it very telling that the state most concerned with your cybersecurity is also the one that houses all of the data hungry big tech companies. California understands the mind of the psychopath because they are the asylum. A UK company, Space Forge, fired up a furnace in a mini satellite that can reach up to 1000 degrees Celsius to test making semiconductors in space, where the microgravity and vacuum let impurities naturally separate, producing purer chips than on Earth, theoretically. Now the furnace got a ride from a SpaceX rocket up into orbit in June and it's a milestone because it's a step towards orbital manufacturing for ultra clean tech materials with bigger space fabs and re entry tests planned in the future. Cause it's not safe having all the fabs and the chip manufacturing just in Taiwan put it up in space. That way no one can get to it. And some tech startups have apparently decided the best way to boost productivity isn't better tools or fewer meetings. No, it's free Nicotine Pouches Reports have emerged of a trend where offices stock fridges and vending machines with sesh pouches pitched as a focus aid for developers grinding through long AI assisted work days. Doctors are, unsurprisingly, not thrilled, pointing out that nicotine is still addictive even if it skips the smoke. What? I thought I was addicted to the clouds, but hey, if coffee and Soylent had a baby, it would be like this. Guess nerds need some lip dinner too. I'll tell you what though, I might need some kind of stimulant to get through next week. When CES happens, we're gonna have a new episode every day of the week. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. So we'll see how that goes. Come back on Monday. We'll find out.