Tech News Weekly (Audio)

Jennifer Pattison Tuohy joins the show this week! AI-generated "news" sites. Are 'health age' scores helpful, or harmful? Google Home now supports the Model Context Protocol. And Apple unveils a new photo verification technology for the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max.

• Mikah shares a story about Futurism's investigation into Brown Brothers Media reveals a network of AI-generated "news" sites - complete with fabricated writer personas and stolen bylines.


• Victoria Song of The Verge joins the show to explain why "health age" scores from wearables like Whoop, Oura, and now Apple Watch are wildly inconsistent proprietary metrics that can fuel unnecessary shame or false confidence about your health.


• Jennifer discusses Google Home's new MCP support and makes the case that what smart homes really need is a dedicated, on-device "smart home computer" rather than more cloud-dependent AI.


• And Mikah talks about Apple's Reference Image feature for the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, which aims to verify photo authenticity straight from the camera sensor, an approach the company says avoids the privacy and security pitfalls of industry standards like C2PA.

Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Jennifer Pattison Tuohy

Guest: Victoria Song

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Jacob Ward explores the resignation of an Anthropic AI researcher and mounting alarms over AI's potential dangers, while Dan Moren recaps Apple's major iPhone event, new hardware, and controversial AI-powered features.

• AI researcher Jacob Coxon quits Anthropic, warning the company is "gambling with our lives," an admission echoed by Anthropic's own AI safety leads, as calls for regulation grow louder inside the industry.


• Apple's iPhone event marks the start of the John Ternus era as CEO, with Tim Cook stepping up to executive chairman and handing off the spotlight at a packed launch.


• Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 launch with advanced health sensors and Apple Intelligence-powered "Live Rewind" transcription features, raising questions about privacy, surveillance, and brand identity.


• Apple finally unveils the iPhone Duo foldable, with a redesigned interface for multitasking and new workflows, aiming to set the standard for premium foldables as pricing and developer adaptation come under scrutiny.

Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Jacob Ward

Guest: Dan Moren

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Apple enters the John Ternus era as he becomes CEO ahead of the anticipated iPhone event, a climate scientist exposes the real energy costs of AI use, a bezel-free concept phone debuts at IFA, and Malwarebytes warns GTA fans about dangerous fake "GTA 6 Extended Look" downloads.

• Apple kicks off the John Ternus era as CEO, just ahead of a much-anticipated iPhone event—facing challenges in AI, manufacturing, regulation, and the ever-present rumor of a foldable iPhone.


• A climate scientist's 8-week experiment spotlights how much energy AI actually burns, showing prompt-based measurements miss the real environmental impact of today's intensive tools.


• Tecno unveils Bezelless - a bezel-less concept phone at IFA, as anticipation builds for Apple's rumored border-free iPhone.


• Chris Fistonich from Malwarebytes joins to warn about fake GTA 6 sites delivering info-stealing malware to unsuspecting gamers.

Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Abrar Al-Heeti

Guest: Chris Fistonich

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Meta pays up in a landmark teen safety settlement & establishes new online safety measures for teens, Raspberry Pi goes official on the cyberdeck craze, and looking at what Apple unveiled earlier this week & looking ahead to Apple's September event.

• Meta settled a lawsuit with over 47 states and territories over harms to teens, agreeing to independently tested age verification, daily time limits, notification restrictions, and parental alerts on Instagram and Facebook.


• Raspberry Pi is getting in on the cyberdeck craze as the company published an official cyberdeck tutorial with a parts list and build instructions.


• And D. Griffin Jones joins the show to talk about Apple's updates to its Mac mini and Mac Studio, and what the expectations may be for its "Surprise and Shine" September event.

Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Jennifer Pattison Tuohy

Guest: D. Griffin Jones

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Abrar Al-Heeti of CNET joins the show to talk about her review of the Pixel 11 Pro Fold, Meta's smart glasses are slowly becoming a concern in the workplace, and Amazon is destroying rare books & utilizing them as AI training data.

• Abrar Al-Heeti shares her review of the Pixel 11 Pro Fold, noting how foldables have become nearly indistinguishable in size from standard phones like the iPhone 17 Pro Max, and shares a look at its camera, battery, and new software features like Pause Point.


• Mikah shares an article published by The Verge that looks into how retail workers, tourism employees, and comedians describe being secretly recorded by Meta Ray-Ban wearers on the job.


• And 404 Media's Emanuel Maiberg joins the show to share his investigation into Amazon buying and shredding rare, out-of-print books to scan them as AI training data, and how a legal ruling in Anthropic's book-piracy case made destroying the originals advantageous.

Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Abrar Al-Heeti

Guest: Emanuel Maiberg

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