X Enabling 4K Video Uploads

X (formerly Twitter) is rolling out a major new feature, giving users the ability to upload 4K video.

According to the X Engineering account, the feature is rolling out to some creators first, but will eventually make its way to all Premium users.

We're starting to roll out 4k video uploads for some creators.

Coming soon for all @Premium subscribers!

— Engineering (@XEng) April 29, 2025

X has been establishing itself as a video delivery platform, lifting some of the earlier restrictions on the length of uploaded videos. Providing 4K uploads will further establish the platform as one of the best options for sharing video content.

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Waymo and Toyota Partner On Autonomous Vehicles

Waymo and Toyota are partnering to explore autonomous vehicles, bringing together two of the most iconic and respected companies in their respective fields.

Waymo is an Alphabet company, and has quickly established itself as one of the leaders in the autonomous driving market. Meanwhile, Toyota has a well-earned reputation for creating some of the most iconic and dependable vehicles in recent decades.

The two companies announced they have “reached a preliminary agreement to explore a collaboration focused on accelerating the development and deployment of autonomous driving technologies.” The two companies want to develop and build an all-new autonomous vehicle platform.

Toyota has long advanced research and development in support of a zero-traffic-accident vision, guided by a three-pillar approach that integrates people, vehicles, and traffic infrastructure. Automated driving and advanced safety technologies play a central role, exemplified by the development and global deployment of Toyota Safety Sense (TSS) — a proprietary suite of advanced safety technologies. TSS reflects Toyota’s belief that technologies have the greatest impact when they are made widely accessible. Through this new collaboration, the companies aim to further accelerate the development and adoption of driver assistance and automated driving technologies for POVs, with a continued focus on safety and peace of mind.

Waymo, the global leader in autonomous driving technology, now serves more than a quarter of a million trips each week across the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Austin. With tens of millions of miles traveled, the data shows that Waymo is making roads safer where it operates, including being involved in 81% fewer injury-causing crashes compared to a human benchmark. Waymo is building a generalizable driver that can be applied to a variety of vehicle platforms and businesses over time. The company continues to scale its commercial ride-hailing service, Waymo One, and through this strategic partnership will now begin to incorporate aspects of its technology for personally owned vehicles.

Executives from both companies emphasized the potential benefits of the collaboration, especially the goal of eliminating traffic accidents.

“Toyota is committed to realizing a society with zero traffic accidents and becoming a mobility company that delivers mobility for all,” said Hiroki Nakajima, Member of the Board and Executive Vice President of Toyota Motor Corporation. “We share a strong sense of purpose and a common vision with Waymo in advancing safety through automated driving technology, and we are confident this collaboration can help bring our solutions to more people around the world, moving us one step closer to a zero-accident society. Our companies are taking an important step toward a future with greater safety and peace of mind for all.”

“Waymo’s mission is to be the world’s most trusted driver,” added Tekedra Mawakana, co-CEO at Waymo. “This requires global partners like Toyota that share our commitment to improving road safety and expanding accessible transportation. We look forward to exploring this strategic partnership, incorporating their vehicles into our ride-hailing fleet and bringing the magic of Waymo’s autonomous driving technology to Toyota customers.”

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LG Is Shutting Down Its Android Update Servers

LG has confirmed it is shutting down its Android update servers, meaning remaining devices will no longer receive updates after June 30, 2025.

LG announced in mid-2021 that it was shuttering its phone business, a move that many viewed as a major loss to the industry. While not a major player, LG consistently delivered some of the most innovative designs that were beloved by its customers. The company’s decision was largely the result of its phone division losing some $4.5 billion over the previous five years.

Despite exiting the market, LG promised at least three years of smartphone software updates, ensuring customers could continue safely using their phones for the normal length of time. Customers have actually received an extra year over the initial promise.

According to the company’s website (machine translated from Chinese), its Android update servers will shut down June 30, 2024.

We sincerely thank all customers who have always supported LG electronic mobile products.

Here, the following termination service notice is made for LG Electronic Mobile Mollipoppy Upgrade (FOTA), Update Center and LG Bridge.

The instructions are as follows:

1. Termination service: LG electronic mobile phone mollusk upgrade (FOTA), update center (App service ), LG Bridge service (PC Tool)
2. Applicable products: LG electronic mobile phone full product
3. End date: June 30, 2025 00:00 [ Korean time, GMT+9]
4. After the termination of this service, it will no longer provide software upgrade services. If necessary, please upgrade the software before the service is terminated on June 30, 2025. ( End of service All software upgrade services including service center upgrade ).
5. Since the APP update service is no longer provided, the preset APP deleted during initialization cannot be downloaded.
6. The personal data collected during the service delivery process will be destroyed immediately after the service is terminated. However, when personal data needs to be kept in accordance with the provisions of the relevant laws and regulations and the internal policies of the company, personal data will be properly kept within the prescribed time in accordance with the provisions of the relevant laws and regulations.

LG’s presence in the smartphone industry will be sorely missed, but users should begin looking for alternatives in order to remain safe and secure.

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GM Recalls Roughly 600,000 Vehicles

General Motors is recalling roughly 600,000 vehicles across its Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC lines as a result of engine failures that can lead to a crash.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the recall impacts Cadillac Escalades, Chevrolet Silverados, Suburbans, and Tahoes, as well as GMC Sierras and Yukons.

General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2021-2024 Cadillac Escalade and Escalade ESV, Chevrolet Silverado 1500, Suburban, and Tahoe, GMC Sierra 1500, Yukon, and Yukon XL vehicles equipped with a 6.2L V8 gas engine. The connecting rod and/or crankshaft engine components may have manufacturing defects that can lead to engine damage and engine failure.

The NHTSA says dealerships will perform the necessary repairs, and that notification letters will be mailed out to impacted owners in June.

Dealers will inspect the engine, and as necessary, repair or replace the engine. For vehicles that pass inspection, dealers will add higher viscosity oil, install a new oil fill cap, replace the oil filter, and update the owner’s manual. Repairs will be performed free of charge. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed June 9, 2025. Owners may contact Cadillac customer service at 1-800-333-4223, Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020, or GMC customer service at 1-800-462-8782. GM’s number for this recall is N252494000.

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Major Electronics Supplier Warns of Empty Shelves in US Stores

Pegatron, one of Apple’s main Taiwanese suppliers, is warning that US stores will see empty shelves as early as two months in response to the Trump administration’s tariffs.

Pegatron’s position in the electronics supply chain puts it in a unique position to offer insights into the effect tariffs will have on the US economy, particularly in the electronics space. The company chairman, T.H. Tung, told Reuters that American shoppers may be in for a surprise in the near future.

“Within two months, shelves in the United States … might resemble those in third-world countries, where people visit department stores and markets only to find empty shelves, all because everyone is waiting and seeing,” Tung said.

Tung also shot down the idea that tariffs would magically lead to an overnight resurgence of American manufacturing, pointing the logistical issues with building new factories and migrating entire industries to another country overnight.

“Just because Trump raises tariffs doesn’t mean the rest of the world will do the same. Taiwanese contract manufacturers are sticking to their overseas plans,” he explained.

“We won’t immediately adjust our long-term plans just because of two or three months of tariff changes. Manufacturing bases require long-term planning,” he added.

Tung’s warning is very much inline with what others have said about manufacturing and the supply chain. In most cases, complex products like electronics rely on an entire ecosystem of related products and manufacturing services.

Places like China, Taiwan, India, and Vietnam have become the go-to place for electronics manufacturing specifically because they have the infrastructure and supply chain ecosystem to support the manufacture of complex devices. In contrast, just because a company like Intel or TSMC makes semiconductors in the US doesn’t mean there is readily accessible, domestic access to all the other components necessary to build a computer, phone, or tablet, whereas overseas there is.

If Tung is correct—and he probably is—Americans may be poised to return to pandemic-like shortages in stores.

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Seizing the Transformative Potential of AI Marketing

In an era marked by rapid technological advancement, artificial intelligence (AI) has inaugurated a new age for marketers—one where algorithms, data, and automation reshape how brands connect with audiences. For digital advertising agencies, the ascent of AI is not merely an incremental evolution; it is a seismic shift that redefines strategic thinking, campaign execution, and agency-client dynamics.

Digital Marketing: A Precipice of Change

Digital advertising has always been fertile ground for innovation. As digital touchpoints multiply across web, mobile, streaming, and emerging platforms, the resulting ocean of consumer data presents both a challenge and an opportunity. Traditional methods of media planning, audience segmentation, and creative optimization have begun to prove insufficient amid this tsunami of information. AI stands primed to bridge this gap.

According to McKinsey & Company, “AI-powered marketing can enable far more personalized, relevant, and timely customer experiences, at scale.” The ability of AI to analyze billions of data points, discern patterns, and predict behaviors eclipses even the most sophisticated human-driven analytics. For agency executives, embracing AI is no longer a competitive differentiator—it is a necessity.

Hyper-Personalization at Scale: Moving Beyond Segmentation

One of the most impactful applications of AI in marketing is hyper-personalization. Traditional segmentation—grouping consumers by demographics or interests—is giving way to dynamic, algorithm-driven targeting that customizes messaging down to the individual level.

Machine learning models parse behavioral data, engagement metrics, purchase history, and contextual signals to generate real-time, highly granular audience profiles. AI-driven engines tailor creative assets, offers, and messaging for each user—delivering not only the right message but also at the optimal moment and touchpoint.

For example, Netflix utilizes AI-driven recommendation systems that, according to a report by *The Verge*, influence more than 80% of content streamed on the platform. While originally a content company, Netflix’s success underscores a universal truth for all digital brands: personalized user experiences are the new battleground for attention.

Automation: The Rise of Smart Campaigns and Real-time Optimization

The logistical backbone of digital advertising—media buying, bidding, budget allocation—was once a manual or rules-based process. AI and machine learning have injected automation into these workflows, creating so-called “smart campaigns” that self-optimize based on live data streams.

Programmatic advertising, in particular, has been revolutionized through AI. Platforms like The Trade Desk, Google Ads, and Facebook (Meta) leverage AI-powered engines to instantaneously evaluate millions of ad impressions, bidding dynamically on the placements most likely to convert. As Forrester notes, “AI-driven programmatic ad buying is now the default approach in most digital markets.”

But automation does not end at media buying. Creative generation, copy optimization, and A/B testing are also being transformed. AI solutions such as Persado and Phrasee generate and refine ad copy variations, identifying language that resonates with specific audience segments. According to Persado, leading brands have experienced up to a 41% lift in engagement with AI-generated message experimentation.

Data: The Fuel of the AI Marketing Engine

For all its promise, the effectiveness of AI-powered marketing hinges on data: its quality, availability, and ethical stewardship. Executives must confront profound changes around privacy, regulation, and first-party data strategies.

The decline of third-party cookies and rising consumer privacy concerns have prompted a shift toward direct data collection and value exchange. Forrester senior analyst Stephanie Liu observed on *Digiday*, “Agencies are under pressure to help clients harness their own data without running afoul of privacy laws.”

Zero-party data—information that users willingly share—has become gold dust for AI-driven marketing. Agencies are now tasked with architecting experiences and incentives that encourage candid data sharing, all while maintaining transparency and trust. Meanwhile, advances in federated learning and differential privacy promise to allow useful AI modeling without direct data exposure.

From Insights to Foresight: Predictive and Prescriptive Analytics

AI’s impact is not limited to what is, but extends powerfully to what could be. By leveraging predictive analytics, agencies can estimate not only which audiences are most likely to convert, but also when, where, and how future behaviors may unfold.

AI models ingest diverse data—internal CRM, social sentiment, purchase behavior, macroeconomic trends—and generate actionable forecasts. Gartner has predicted that, “By 2025, 75% of B2B sales organizations will augment traditional sales playbooks with AI-driven guidance.”

Beyond prediction, there is prescription. Modern AI platforms don’t just anticipate outcomes—they recommend the optimal sequence of actions to maximize results. These prescriptive analytics serve as a virtual strategist, informing everything from media allocation to creative messaging.

For executives, leveraging such tools means refocusing talent and organizational design: analytics and data science become core competencies, blurring the line between agency and consultancy.

The Creative Conundrum: AI as Collaborator, Not Replacement

A common concern is that the rise of AI portends the obsolescence of human creativity. In reality, the future is hybrid. AI can analyze resonance, optimize copy, and suggest visuals, but it cannot conjure brand essence or emotional nuance from whole cloth.

Agencies equipped for the AI-powered era will empower creatives to work symbiotically with data and machine intelligence. As noted by Harvard Business Review, “AI can generate a large number of variations, but humans need to provide strategic direction and branding context.”

Savvy executives will invest in building multidisciplinary teams—pairing creative visionaries with technical leads and data scientists. The result is a new creative paradigm: one that is iterative, test-driven, and deeply informed by real-time audience feedback.

Organizational Change: Evolving the Agency Model

Adapting to the AI-powered marketing era requires more than technology adoption—it demands comprehensive organizational change. Agency leaders must champion data literacy across departments, foster a culture of experimentation, and reconfigure internal workflows.

Roles are evolving. Data engineers, machine learning specialists, and ethicists join copywriters and strategists in the modern agency. Partnerships with AI providers and martech platforms become central to service offerings.

Meanwhile, client expectations are recalibrating. Agencies are expected to deliver not just campaigns, but always-on intelligent systems that learn and improve—a shift from project-based to value-based relationships.

Navigating Challenges: Bias, Transparency, and Trust

As AI becomes embedded in marketing, issues of algorithmic bias, transparency, and accountability move to the forefront. Bias in training data can inadvertently reinforce stereotypes or exclude segments, leading to reputational and financial risk.

Executives must prioritize ethical AI practices: rigorous data auditing, explainable AI solutions, and clear communication with stakeholders about algorithmic decision-making. Developing and adhering to frameworks such as the EU’s AI Act or industry guidelines is no longer optional.

Trust is table stakes. As consumers become more aware of AI’s role in shaping their digital experiences, transparency about data usage and decision logic will differentiate leading agencies.

Seizing the Transformative Potential of AI Marketing

The AI-powered marketing era is not a remote prospect—it is the present reality for digital advertising agencies. Those who seize the transformative potential of AI, while marrying it judiciously with human insight and creativity, will set the standard for client value and industry innovation.

Agency executives have arrived at a pivotal crossroads. The imperative is not simply to adopt new tools, but to reimagine every facet of the marketing operation through the lens of AI—strategy, creativity, execution, measurement, and ethics. In doing so, agencies can unlock a new horizon of growth, relevance, and impact.

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Microsoft Recall Still Capturing Sensitive Content

Microsoft has officially launched its Recall AI snapshot tool, but it still appears to be capturing sensitive information, leading one expert to say “there are [privacy] landmines everywhere.”

Microsoft Recall is the company’s AI-powered tool that takes snapshots of virtually everything the user does, converts them to text, and saves them to a database that can be searched with natural expressions. Unfortunately, there are a number of potential security and privacy implications with such a tool.

Cybersecurity expert Kevin Beaumont has previously been critical of Recall, saying Microsoft is “going to deliberately set cybersecurity back a decade & endanger customers.” Beaumont’s criticism was among the avalanche of criticism that caused Microsoft to delay Recall by roughly a year, all in an effort to address the concerns.

Beaumont has taken a new look at Recall, praising Microsoft for addressing many of the issues that were apparent in the early builds.

Following my post and coverage online, it was announced Recall would become opt-in.. then it wouldn’t be available on Copilot+ PC at launch, then it was delayed for Windows Insider testing, then it was delayed again.

It was, frankly, a pretty baffling and rare self own from Microsoft. It reminded me a lot of the Xbox One E3 launch, where Microsoft execs were misaligned with what customers wanted, and fumbled the messaging in what they were offering.

Beaumont goes on to praise Microsoft for making the feature opt-in, vs is initial opt-out, as well as for encrypting the database that stores the snapshot data. Recall now tries to filter out sensitive data, turning off snapshotting when sensitive data is onscreen.

Unfortunately, Recall’s efforts to filter sensitive data is not always as reliable as Microsoft and users might like.

The feature to filter sensitive data doesn’t appear to work reliably, across multiple devices from testing.

For example, I updated my credit card in Microsoft’s own account interface, and Recall recorded it.

In this snapshot I’d typed an invalid credit card number, but it also captured the valid card number. It indexed both, and both were findable under “credit card” in Recall search. It captured and indexed the CVV, too.

It’s unclear why Recall saved this — possibly because I use Vivaldi as a web browser? Either way — I’d assumed it wasn’t saving this as sensitive information filter was on… but it just didn’t work reliably for me. In some cases, great. In other cases, I was surprised by what it captured. You basically need to be careful to review what Recall is recording, which is difficult when it records everything you do. The best advice I can give is pause Recall before shopping online to ensure it isn’t recording, then reenable it afterwards.

It’s clear Microsoft has made significant progress in making Recall more secure, and somewhat more private. Ultimately, however, Beaumont makes the case that Recall is poorly positioned for what it does, and would be far better off serving as an accessibility tool, such as for those with Mild Cognitive Impairment.

I also think — to be perfectly honest — Microsoft’s positioning of Recall is wrong for customers. As it currently stands, I don’t think gamers will want to enable Recall. I don’t think the average home user will want to enable Recall. I think many businesses will have large barriers around PII and legal discovery — enabling users to have a photographic memory on their PC of every command they’ve typed into SSH sessions, all the PII they accessed without realising it was being recorded, and everything else they’ve done opens up a whole new class of risk, and will drive concern about suppliers using Recall.

My take would be Microsoft should reinvest in empathy. Recall is a great accessibility feature for people with conditions like Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). Recall should be the kind of feature people want to enable, with clear use cases and risks explained.

Given that Recall is now opt-in, it remains to be seen if customers will enable it. As Beaumont points out, Recall is oddly positioned and unlikely to appeal to much of its target audience but, ultimately, only time will tell.

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Anthropic CEO Admits the Company Does Not Understand How AI Works

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has made a disturbing admission, saying his company doesn’t understand how the AI models it is developing actually work.

Anthropic has established itself as one of the more safety-conscious AI firms, even being founded by former OpenAI execs who were concerned about the latter’s apparent abandonment of its mission to focus on safe AI development.

In a blog post on his personal site, Amodei makes the case that technology’s advancement cannot be stopped, but it can be steered.

People outside the field are often surprised and alarmed to learn that we do not understand how our own AI creations work. They are right to be concerned: this lack of understanding is essentially unprecedented in the history of technology. For several years, we (both Anthropic and the field at large) have been trying to solve this problem, to create the analogue of a highly precise and accurate MRI that would fully reveal the inner workings of an AI model. This goal has often felt very distant, but multiple recent breakthroughs have convinced me that we are now on the right track and have a real chance of success.

At the same time, the field of AI as a whole is further ahead than our efforts at interpretability, and is itself advancing very quickly. We therefore must move fast if we want interpretability to mature in time to matter. This post makes the case for interpretability: what it is, why AI will go better if we have it, and what all of us can do to help it win the race.

AI’s Unprecedented Challenge

Amodei then goes on to highlight the difference between AI and other types of technology. When other forms of technology do something, it is a direct result of being programmed to do that. Even if the technology makes a mistake or an error, it is always because of a mistake or error in its programming. In contrast, AI does many things that its developers don’t understand, or don’t understand the how and why of what it does.

When a generative AI system does something, like summarize a financial document, we have no idea, at a specific or precise level, why it makes the choices it does—why it chooses certain words over others, or why it occasionally makes a mistake despite usually being accurate. As my friend and co-founder Chris Olah is fond of saying, generative AI systems are grown more than they are built—their internal mechanisms are “emergent” rather than directly designed. It’s a bit like growing a plant or a bacterial colony: we set the high-level conditions that direct and shape growth1, but the exact structure which emerges is unpredictable and difficult to understand or explain. Looking inside these systems, what we see are vast matrices of billions of numbers. These are somehow computing important cognitive tasks, but exactly how they do so isn’t obvious.

Amodei says this opacity is exactly what makes AI far riskier than previous technologies.

Many of the risks and worries associated with generative AI are ultimately consequences of this opacity, and would be much easier to address if the models were interpretable. For example, AI researchers often worry about misaligned systems that could take harmful actions not intended by their creators. Our inability to understand models’ internal mechanisms means that we cannot meaningfully predict such behaviors, and therefore struggle to rule them out; indeed, models do exhibit unexpected emergent behaviors, though none that have yet risen to major levels of concern. More subtly, the same opacity makes it hard to find definitive evidence supporting the existence of these risks at a large scale, making it hard to rally support for addressing them—and indeed, hard to know for sure how dangerous they are.

The exec does say that, despite the possibility of AI learning to deceive humans or gain power, there doesn’t appear to be any solid evidence of any AI actually scheming to do either. But Amodei does say that at least part of the reason there’s been no solid evidence to date is precisely because there’s not effective way to know what AI models are doing, or how they’re doing it.

But by the same token, we’ve never seen any solid evidence in truly real-world scenarios of deception and power-seeking3 because we can’t “catch the models red-handed” thinking power-hungry, deceitful thoughts. What we’re left with is vague theoretical arguments that deceit or power-seeking might have the incentive to emerge during the training process, which some people find thoroughly compelling and others laughably unconvincing. Honestly I can sympathize with both reactions, and this might be a clue as to why the debate over this risk has become so polarized.

A Possible Solution

Amodei makes the case for “mechanistic interpretability,” the term used for trying to understand how complex AIs work internally, especially the decision-making process.

Our long-run aspiration is to be able to look at a state-of-the-art model and essentially do a “brain scan”: a checkup that has a high probability of identifying a wide range of issues including tendencies to lie or deceive, power-seeking, flaws in jailbreaks, cognitive strengths and weaknesses of the model as a whole, and much more. This would then be used in tandem with the various techniques for training and aligning models, a bit like how a doctor might do an MRI to diagnose a disease, then prescribe a drug to treat it, then do another MRI to see how the treatment is progressing, and so on.

Despite the promise interpretability offers, Amodei is very frank about the challenges involved in implementing, especially in time.

On one hand, recent progress—especially the results on circuits and on interpretability-based testing of models—has made me feel that we are on the verge of cracking interpretability in a big way. Although the task ahead of us is Herculean, I can see a realistic path towards interpretability being a sophisticated and reliable way to diagnose problems in even very advanced AI—a true “MRI for AI”. In fact, on its current trajectory I would bet strongly in favor of interpretability reaching this point within 5-10 years.

On the other hand, I worry that AI itself is advancing so quickly that we might not have even this much time. As I’ve written elsewhere, we could have AI systems equivalent to a “country of geniuses in a datacenter” as soon as 2026 or 2027. I am very concerned about deploying such systems without a better handle on interpretability. These systems will be absolutely central to the economy, technology, and national security, and will be capable of so much autonomy that I consider it basically unacceptable for humanity to be totally ignorant of how they work.

Conclusion

Despite the challenges involved in safely developing AI, it is reassuring to see the CEO of one of the top AI firms reaffirm his commitment to safe AI development, especially expressing his belief that remaining ignorant of how AI works is unacceptable.

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Starbucks’ First 3D Printed Drive-Thru Opens

Starbucks announced the grand opening of its first 3D printed drive-thru, signaling a potential shift in how businesses launch new locations.

Starbucks announced the launch of its Brownsville, Texas location, saying its the “only Starbucks in the country” that is 3D printed.

Grand opening 4/28- The first 3d printed drive-thru – ONLY STARBUCKS IN THE COUNTRY is opening on April 28 right here in BROWNSVILLE!

@brownsvilletoday, April 15

FastCompany reports that Starbucks tapped Germany company PERI 3D Construction, and used a robotic printer to layer concrete in the 1,400-square-foot building.

Although 3D printing promises to open the door to faster and less-expensive buildings, it’s unclear if Starbucks saved any money with the process. FastCompany reports that the building likely cost around $1.2 million. While that figure comes in less than the normal $2 million for a traditionally-built restaurant, smaller-scale buildings, like drive-thrus, usually come out around $750,000. That means Starbucks 3D printed building may have come in at a higher price than a traditional building.

Ultimately, however, the cost of 3D printing will go down as the technology becomes more mainstream, meaning Starbucks could well be investing in its future.

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Meta Lays Off Virtual Reality Employees

Meta has engaged in another round of layoffs, this time letting employees in the company’s Reality Labs division go.

Meta has poured billions into its “metaverse” plans, drawing the ire of investors along the way. The company already laid off employees in the division in late 2023, but the The Verge is reporting that the company is laying off yet more Reality Labs employees.

“Some teams within Oculus Studios are undergoing shifts in structure and roles that have impacted team size,” Meta spokesperson Tracy Clayton told the outlet. “These changes are meant to help Studios work more efficiently on future mixed reality experiences for our growing audience, while still delivering great content for people today. We remain committed to investing in mixed reality experiences, including fitness and games, and our drive to deliver the best experiences possible for the Quest and Supernatural communities remains unchanged.”

Economics of Change

CEO Mark Zuckerberg drew heavy criticism for his fixation with creating the metaverse, with employees blaming it for the company laying off tens of thousands of employees.

“The Metaverse will be our slow death,” one user, identifying as a senior software developer, posted on the anonymous forum Blind in late-2022. “Mark Zuckerberg will single-handedly kill a company with the meta-verse.”

“Poor leadership is on track to sink this ship,” another individual, who identified as a senior technical program manager, wrote. Their listed “cons” included: “No accountability at and above Director level. VPs and Directors are here to just milk the company without adding any value.”

“I thought it was a data-driven company but actually it is one man’s gut feeling and emotions-driven,” they added. “Nobody can overwrite his decision.”

Even an employee who was complimentary still said that “Zuck is leading this company in the wrong direction.”

Ultimately, the metaverse never really took off and has largely been replaced by AI as the tech industry’s latest obsession. As a result, Meta has switched to investing in AI development, much like every other Big Tech company. It seems the tech industry managed to get Zuckerberg and Meta to do what no one else could—slow down the stream of money being poured into the metaverse.

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FBI Offers $10 Million Reward for Salt Typhoon Information

The FBI is stepping up its efforts to find and prosecute members of Salt Typhoon, the group responsible for the ““worst telecom hack in” US history.

Salt Typhoon—a hacking group sponsored by the Chinese government—successfully compromised multiple US telecom companies. As a result, Salt Typhoon was able to listen in on phone calls and read text messages for virtually any of the telecoms’ customers.

The FBI is now offering a substantial reward for information about any government-affiliated Salt Typhoon members.

FBI is issuing this announcement to ask the public to report information about PRC-affiliated activity publicly tracked as “Salt Typhoon” and the compromise of multiple US telecommunications companies, especially information about specific individuals behind the campaign. Investigation into these actors and their activity revealed a broad and significant cyber campaign to leverage access into these networks to target victims on a global scale. This activity resulted in the theft of call data logs, a limited number of private communications involving identified victims, and the copying of select information subject to court-ordered US law enforcement requests.

FBI and US Government partners have previously released public statements on Salt Typhoon activity on 25 October 2024 and 13 November 2024, and published the guide, “Enhanced Visibility and Hardening Guidance for Communications Infrastructure,” on 3 December 2024.

FBI maintains its commitment to protecting the US telecommunications sector and the individuals and organizations targeted by Salt Typhoon by identifying, mitigating, and disrupting Salt Typhoon’s malicious cyber activity. If you have any information about the individuals who comprise Salt Typhoon or other Salt Typhoon activity, we would particularly like to hear from you.

In addition, the U.S. Department of State’s Rewards for Justice (RFJ) program is offering a reward of up to $10 million (USD) for information about foreign government-linked individuals participating in certain malicious cyber activities against US critical infrastructure in violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA).

The FBI is clearly interested in making it as easy as possible for possible tipsters to provide information, offering both Signal and Tor as contact options.

If you have any information on Salt Typhoon, contact your local FBI field office, file a report on the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov, or submit your tip to RFJ on Signal at +1-202-702-7843 or via the RFJ Tor-based tip line: he5dybnt7sr6cm32xt77pazmtm65flqy6irivtflruqfc5ep7eiodiad.onion (Tor browser required).

It’s no surprise the US is taking the Salt Typhoon attack seriously. Senator Mark R. Warner, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, called the attack the “worst telecom hack in our nation’s history — by far.”

“My hair’s on fire,” Warner said, adding “the American people need to know” just how bad it was.

“This is an ongoing effort by China to infiltrate telecom systems around the world, to exfiltrate huge amounts of data,” he added.

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YouTuber PewDiePie Switches to Linux

PewDiePie, one of the most popular YouTubers with some 110M subscribers, has released a video detailing his switch from Windows to Linux.

PewDiePie gained fame as a gaming YouTuber, even having the most popular channel for some time. Although the focus of his videos has largely shifted to more personal videos, as well as commentary on current trends, he remains an one of the most popular YouTubers.

In his latest video, at the time of writing, PewDiePie detailed his switch to Linux—both Linux Mint and Arch—driven largely by the deteriorating Windows experience. PewDiePie specifically calls out Microsoft continually treating the user as if they don’t know what they want, trying to push its own services, forcing users to confirm multiple times to make basic preference changes, and the inundating users with ads in an operating system they paid for.

PewDiePie has a very balanced take on his switch to Linux, breaking down the pros and cons.

In the pro category, he highlights the freedom that comes with Linux and feeling like he is in control of his computer, rather than being at the mercy of a company that’s simply use the OS as a vehicle to sell you more services. He also highlights how far Linux gaming has come, thanks to Valve’s Steam platform, as well as the ability to customize Linux to truly make it your own.

In the cons category, PewDiePie points out that users make the switch may have to give up some things, such as Adobe products. Even that sacrifice, however, comes with the benefit of switching to free alternatives that don’t lock users into a monthly subscription.

PewDiePie highlights the many places Linux is used outside of the desktop, such as NASA and SpaceX, before recommending that users give Linux a try.

The entire video is an excellent introduction to Linux, especially coming from a user who is not a typical computer geek, or operating system enthusiast.

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Apple Migrating iPhone Supply Chain From China to India

Apple is preparing to make a major change to its supply chain, with the company reportedly moving to manufacture all US-bound iPhones from India instead of China.

Apple’s supply chain has relied on factories and suppliers in China for years, but the Trump administration’s trade war with China has put the iPhone maker in a difficult position. As a result, according to the Financial Times, via The Guardian, Apple is looking to move its manufacturing for US-bound iPhones to India entirely.

While the Trump administration has levied “reciprocal tariffs” on virtually every country, including India, the tariffs against China are the highest by far. To make matters worse, the two countries appear to be deadlocked, with neither willing to take the first step toward positive negotiations.

The Trump administration has been pushing US companies to revitalize American manufacturing and bring their manufacturing operations State-side. Apple’s decision to rebase its supply chain in India, rather than the US, underscores the challenges involved in manufacturing sophisticated electronics in the US. It’s not a matter of manufacturing one or two components domestically.

Electronics manufacturing requires on an entire ecosystem of companies and suppliers that can provide the hundreds of difference components that go into a smartphone, tablet, or computer. Even if Apple could rely on US factories to assemble its products, the supporting suppliers no longer exist domestically, meaning the company would still have to source many of the components from overseas. The only difference would be a higher cost for the final product, since it would cost more to assemble it piecemeal, as opposed to in once central location where the bulk of the necessary components are available.

Moving its supply chain to India will hopefully allow Apple to keep prices from jumping too much.

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Manjaro Releases Manjaro 25 ‘Zetar’ With New Default Filesystem

Manjaro has released Manjaro 25, codenamed “Zetar,” bringing a number of important changes, including a new default filesystem.

Manjaro is a popular Arch-based Linux distribution that aims to give users a reliable and easy-to-use Arch-based experience. Like Arch, Manjaro is a rolling release distro, meaning it delivers updates continuously, rather than in major point releases like Ubuntu or Debian. Unlike Arch, however, Manjaro holds back most packages for a few weeks ,for additional testing, in an effort to smooth some of the rough edges off of the rolling release model.

Despite being a rolling release, Manjaro does still have codenamed release targets. While long-time users of the distro will receive the same updates via their regular update process, the major releases give the team the chance to release new ISO images. As a result, users can begin their Manjaro experience with the latest changes, rather than installing from an older image and having to immediately do a bunch of updates.

New Desktop Environments

Manjaro 25 comes with the latest versions of the three major desktop environments (DE): KDE Plasma 6.3, Gnome 48, and Xfce 4.20.

Plasma 6.3 brings a number of improvements and bug fixes to the latest version of KDE’s DE. Plasma is already the most powerful DE on any platform, giving users a plethora of features and options. Version 6 moved Plasma to the latest Qt framework, and version 6.3 brings a slew of improvements, along with a few new features.

Gnome 48 brings dynamic triple buffering, a feature designed to improve graphics performance on older or low-end hardware.

This change has undergone significant review and testing over a period of five years and improves the perceived smoothness of changes on screen, with fewer skipped frames and more fluid animations. This has been achieved by enhancing the concurrency capabilities of Mutter, the GNOME display manager, and is particularly effective at handling sudden bursts of activity.

Xfce 4.20 brings a number of improvements, with the most notable being experimental Wayland support. Wayland is the successor to the X11 window system, offering better performance and security. Currently, Plasma and Gnome are the only two DEs offering full Wayland support, but Xfce is making significant progress, which is good news for fans of the lightweight DE.

A New Default Filesystem

While Manjaro’s codenames usually don’t have any features or improvements that long-time users won’t receive via regular updates, Manjaro 25 is slightly different because of the change to the default filesystem.

Manjaro 25 changes the default filesystem from the venerable EXT4 to Btrfs. Btrfs was already an option, but users had to manually choose it. In contrast, while EXT4 is still an option, Btrfs will be the default choice moving forward.

Btrfs, is a copy-on-write (COW) filesystem that brings a number of advanced features that EXT4 doesn’t have, chief among them being snapshots. When properly configured, a snapshot is taken before and after each update, providing a restore point in the event anything goes wrong.

Until now, openSUSE Tumbleweed was one of the preeminent example of Btrfs integration, but Manjaro’s implementation appears poised to give openSUSE a run for its money. Manjaro’s Btrfs implementation will similarly take automatic snapshots and make those available from the boot menu.

Because it’s nearly impossible to easily swap the filesystem from one to the other on a running install, Manjaro 25 provides a good opportunity for users to start fresh with Btrfs, if its features appeal to them.

Conclusion

All-in-all, Manjaro 25 is a solid continuation of the rolling release distro, offering solid improvements and updates to its flagship DEs.

For most users, simply updating their existing install will give them all the new features and benefits. Users interested in migrating from EXT4 to Btrfs would benefit from downloading the Manjaro 25 ISO and do a fresh install.

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How AI Disruption is Reshaping Digital Agencies

In the rapidly evolving world of digital marketing, artificial intelligence (AI) stands as both a disruptive force and an unprecedented opportunity. Digital ad agencies worldwide are witnessing a sea change in how campaigns are conceptualized, executed, optimized, and measured. For executives steering their agencies, the collective question is no longer whether to embrace AI, but how to reposition business models, talent, workflows, and value propositions to thrive amid the AI revolution.

AI Disruption: From Tool to Transformation

The introduction of deep learning, natural language processing, and generative models has fundamentally altered the mechanics of advertising. AI now powers campaign targeting, content creation, audience segmentation, real-time bidding, and outcome measurement at a granularity and scale that was previously unthinkable.

According to a 2023 report by the IAB, 61% of agencies surveyed in North America have either deployed or are actively piloting AI-based tools for ad personalization and creative optimization. As a result, traditional agency workflows are rapidly being reimagined.

Shifting Talent and Organizational Structures

One of the most acute impacts of AI disruption has been on the agency workforce. While automation reduces the need for manual campaign management and reporting, it simultaneously increases the premium on strategic, analytical, and creative skills. Agencies are hiring more data scientists, machine learning engineers, and AI strategists, supplementing or replacing traditional media buyers and account managers.

For instance, Publicis Groupe has invested heavily in its “Marcel” AI platform, which CEO Arthur Sadoun describes as an engine for connecting talent with opportunities and insights across their global workforce. According to Josh Campo, CEO of Razorfish, “We’re rethinking what it means to be an agency by focusing on talent that can bridge data, technology, and human creativity.”

This organizational shift is mirrored in agency clients’ expectations: strategic advisory on AI-powered marketing, not just campaign execution, is increasingly in demand.

Rethinking Creative Processes

Generative AI—such as OpenAI’s GPT models, Google’s Imagen, and Adobe Firefly—has sparked a renaissance in digital creative production. Agencies are now experimenting with AI to produce ad copy, image variants, and video concepts at speed and scale.

A 2024 Salesforce survey noted that 58% of marketers use generative AI to create basic content, a trend that is accelerating among agencies handling high-volume, multichannel campaigns. However, executives must balance operational gains with prudence—there are emerging concerns over copyright, deepfakes, and potential erosion of creative distinctiveness.

David Droga, CEO of Accenture Song, recently described AI as “an accelerant, not a replacement” for big creative ideas. Leading agencies are integrating AI-generated options into their creative ideation process, enhancing rather than replacing human creativity.

Hyper-Personalization and Audience Intelligence

AI’s biggest value proposition lies in its ability to leverage vast data sets for hyper-personalization. By mining behavioral, contextual, and third-party data, AI models can predict preferences, identify micro-segments, and dynamically serve tailored ad experiences.

Platforms like Google’s Performance Max and Meta Advantage leverage AI to autonomously allocate budget, creative, and targeting for maximum ROI. For agencies, this has shifted the focus from technical campaign setup to strategic orchestration and interpretation of AI-driven outcomes.

A 2023 McKinsey report highlighted that “marketers using AI-driven personalization tools have seen up to 40% higher revenue from those activities.” This calls for agencies to elevate their value from executional tasks to high-level consulting—advising clients on data governance, ethical AI, and scenario planning.

Measurement, Attribution, and AI ‘Black Boxes’

AI-powered measurement and attribution tools offer sophisticated models for understanding the impact of ad spend. Advanced multi-touch attribution (MTA) and media mix modeling (MMM) can deconstruct the consumer journey across platforms and devices.

Yet, as AI automates optimization, the opacity of algorithmic decision-making presents new challenges. Many agency executives are alert to the “black box” problem—difficulty in explaining or auditing how AI systems make decisions. This has implications for client trust, regulatory compliance, and brand safety.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) cautions that agencies need to “invest in explainable AI, robust documentation, and governance frameworks to stay ahead of regulatory scrutiny and client concerns.” Transparency is fast becoming a critical differentiator.

Navigating Data Privacy and Ethical Considerations

As privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA tighten, agencies must ensure their AI initiatives are compliant. Techniques like federated learning and synthetic data are being explored to balance effective personalization with privacy protection.

A key consideration is the ethical deployment of AI, particularly the mitigation of algorithmic bias, safeguarding against misinformation, and upholding customer consent. The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) has published guidelines encouraging agencies to establish ethics boards and conduct regular AI audits.

Client Collaboration and Education

AI is complex, and many advertisers lack in-house expertise. Agencies are seizing this gap by providing education, AI readiness assessments, and consulting on the responsible adoption of AI-driven approaches.

Partnerships between agencies and technology vendors are proliferating, with bespoke models co-developed for major clients. Agencies are also building proprietary AI platforms to differentiate themselves—examples include Omnicom’s Omni, WPP’s AI Content Studio, and Dentsu’s Merkle MIND.

Redefining the Agency Value Proposition

Most critically, agency executives must rethink their core value proposition in an AI-dominated environment. Automation commoditizes once-valuable services like ad placement and reporting, pushing agencies up the value chain.

Thought leadership, strategic consulting, creativity augmented by AI, privacy stewardship, and cross-platform orchestration are emerging as the defining capabilities of future-facing agencies. As Sir Martin Sorrell, Executive Chairman of S4 Capital, recently emphasized, “The winners will be those who deploy technology intelligently but keep the client’s business problem at the center.”

AI Disruption is Reshaping Digital Advertising

AI disruption is reshaping digital advertising from the ground up. The imperative for agency leaders is not merely to adopt AI tools, but to reimagine their businesses’ DNA—talent, processes, client relationships, and long-term value.

Those that successfully navigate the complexities—balancing automation with expertise, speed with responsibility, and scale with creativity—will emerge as indispensable partners in the next era of marketing.

As platforms and technologies continue to advance, the best digital ad agencies will not simply adjust to AI, but harness it as a foundation for innovative growth and sustained competitive advantage. The agency of the future is already taking shape—and AI is at its very core.

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SaaS Perfection: Architecting for Scale from Day Zero

Design for Scale

The best SaaS developers design for scale from the very beginning. This doesn’t mean over-engineering, but rather being mindful of system boundaries, decoupling, and future-readiness. Use techniques such as [domain-driven design] to separate concerns and anticipate growth hot spots.

• Design stateless application layers so you can scale horizontally without sticky sessions.
• Implement feature flags using tools like LaunchDarkly or Unleash to decouple code deployment from feature releases and allow safe experimentation.
• Adopt database sharding and partitioning strategies early—consider unique customer IDs or regions for dividing data to limit impact from future scale.

Mastering Multi-Tenancy

Handling multiple customers on a single SaaS platform is deceptively complex. The most experienced SaaS engineers carefully consider their multi-tenancy model:

• Shared database, shared schema: Most cost-effective, but trickiest for future migrations. Use this for MVPs, but plan abstraction layers.
• Shared database, separate schemas: More isolated, simplifies customizations and data compliance (e.g., GDPR data purges).
• Separate databases: Maximum isolation, best for enterprise customers who demand it, but increases operational overhead.

Implement row-level security (RLS) in databases like PostgreSQL, or use query-based tenancy guards to avoid “noisy neighbor” and data-leak pitfalls.

Ensure Observability Early

Veteran SaaS engineers obsess over observability. Reliable SaaS is not just about code: it’s about being able to see, trace, and measure everything from the beginning.

• Set up structured logging (JSON-formatted logs) and correlatable request IDs for all incoming HTTP/API requests.
• Use distributed tracing tools like OpenTelemetry, Jaeger, or Datadog APM to connect the dots across microservices.
• Track *SaaS-specific metrics:* tenant-level usage, signup churn rates, request latencies by feature, and quota breaches.

It’s far easier to add hooks for metrics and tracing from the start than to retrofit them into a running system.

Build a Robust, Self-Service Dev Environment

Top SaaS teams empower developers to build, test, and ship quickly using repeatable, isolated, and flexible environments.

• Use infrastructure as code (IaC) tools (Terraform, Pulumi) to spin up complete dev/staging environments automatically.
• Dockerize all major components—including database seeds, queues, and external service mocks—so devs can run the full stack locally or in the cloud.
• Automate scenario-based seeding to simulate real tenant data. This makes onboarding, onboarding, and support triage dramatically easier.

Strike the Right Balance in API Versioning

API versioning is especially critical for SaaS—breaking changes can instantly impact thousands of customers or integrated partners.

• Adopt backwards-compatible change policies: only additive changes in an existing API version.
• When breaking, use clear, date-based or sequential versioning (`/v2024-06-10/` versus `/v2/`).
• Deprecate old versions gently, with usage tracking and proactive customer notifications.

Remember: the maintenance cost of supporting multiple versions is high, but so are the business risks of unexpected API changes.

Lean on Automation and CI/CD

SaaS moves fast—so must your pipeline. The most effective developers automate everything:

• Enforce pull request checks for linting, unit and integration tests, and style. Don’t merge broken code.
• Orchestrate blue/green or canary deployments to catch issues early and minimize blast radius.
• Run end-to-end tests with tools like Cypress, Playwright, or Selenium in cloud staging environments. Trigger rollback on failure.
• Automate security and dependency scans (e.g., Snyk, Dependabot).

As Stripe CTO David Singleton said, “The real cost of moving fast isn’t engineering—it’s not knowing if you broke something.”

Design for Cost Awareness

Small inefficiencies scale horribly in a SaaS context. The best engineers build with cost-in-mind:

• Profile & optimize key code paths (e.g., billing, onboarding) for cloud efficiency.
• Use dynamic autoscaling, but set sensible resource thresholds—avoid surprising cloud bills.
• Prefer event-driven or batch processing for non-critical workloads (e.g., daily reports).

Monitor cost per tenant or per API call. Expose usage metrics to customers and reflect on your pricing model to avoid being bitten by outlier users.

Prepare for “Disaster as a Feature”

Assume things will break. The best SaaS platforms are defined not just by reliability but also by how gracefully they handle failure.

• Use circuit breaker patterns and bulkheads to prevent cascading outages.
• Implement automated health checks and self-healing routines—restart unhealthy pods/services quickly.
• Plan for region failover (multi-AZ/multi-region), even if not enabled for all customers.
• Periodically simulate failure scenarios (using tools like Chaos Monkey) to test and improve your recovery processes.

Bake Security into Every Layer

SaaS developers cannot outsource responsibility for data security. The best teams:

• Enforce the least privilege at every level: application, database, cloud IAM.
• Encrypt all data in transit (TLS everywhere) and at rest (cloud KMS, field-level encryption).
• Use secure by default frameworks and automate dependency patching.
• Periodically review audit logs, and integrate with common SIEM tools.

Remember, even the best technical solution won’t protect against credential leaks or access misconfigurations. Regularly review your threat model.

Build Feedback Loops—With Code, Users, and the Business

Finally, the most valuable SaaS engineers don’t just write code—they close the loop between users, technical metrics, and business priorities.

• Reduce cycle times: ship iteratively, validate with real customers, and instrument new features with analytics from day one.
• Track customer complaints/issues back to code changes and root causes; use this to refine both product and process.
• Regularly review evolving SaaS KPIs (ARR, churn, NPS) with the business to ensure technical choices support growth.

—

In SaaS, Excellence Is in the Details

Tiny implementation choices compound at SaaS scale. Build with flexibility, automate relentlessly, obsess over reliability, and always empathize with your customers’ experience. These are the insights that distinguish the top SaaS developers from the rest—and let your platform thrive as it grows.

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Microsoft Deprecating Its Windows Maps App

Microsoft is doing some housecleaning with its upcoming Windows updates, deprecating and removing the Windows Map app later this year.

Windows Maps has been a fixture on Windows since it was first launched in November 2014. After a little more than a decade, Microsoft is pulling the plug. The app is listed among the apps deprecated, as of April 2025, although it will still be a couple of months before it is removed from the Microsoft Store.

The company made the announcement in a documentation update.

Maps app is deprecated. It will be removed from the Microsoft Store by July 2025 and will no longer be supported. For more information, see Resources for deprecated features.

Microsoft had already stopped including Windows Maps in new Windows 11 installs, beginning with Windows 11 24H2. As a result, it’s hardly surprising to see the company officially deprecate the app, or remove it from the Microsoft Store.

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Yahoo Emerges As Latest Potential Chrome Buyer

Yahoo has emerged as the latest company interested in purchasing Chrome in the event Google is forced to sell its web browser.

Google is currently in court for the remedies state of its trial, making its case for why it should not be forced to divest itself of the web browser it built. The DOJ says Chrome is a major factor in Google’s search monopoly, since the browser dominates the market.

Perplexity and OpenAI have already emerged as potential buyers, but now Yahoo is throwing its hat in the ring. According to The Verge, Yahoo made its intentions clear during the fourth day of the remedies arguments.

Interestingly, Yahoo also said it is already prototyping its own in-house browser, viewing a web browser as a critical element to effectively competing in the search market. Yahoo Search General Manager Brian Provost said the company has been “actively internally developing a prototype of a browser” since last summer, but would be interested in purchasing one as a way to speed up the process.

Buying Chrome Could Help Yahoo Revitalize Its Search

Yahoo was one of the internet’s first real search engines, and was the most popular option until Google dethroned it. The company has since relied on Microsoft’s Bing to power its search results, but there have been rumors the company may be looking to launch its own search engine once again.

If Yahoo believes that owning a web browser is a critical component to the success of a search engine, it makes sense why the company has not launched a full-fledged Google challenger yet, despite statements that it could have happened as early as 2024.

Yahoo is clearly intent on recapturing its former glory, and has been making impressive strides in that direction since it was acquired by Apollo Funds and became a standalone company in 2021. In 2023, Yahoo CEO Jim Lanzone said the the company was “ready financially, the company has a great balance sheet, we’re very profitable.”

Apollo Funds partner Reed Rayman said an IPO was “a decently likely outcome.”

Purchasing Chrome could be a major boost to Yahoo’s plans, giving it the final piece of the puzzle it needs to directly challenge Google, and challenge its longtime rival for the online search business.

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Perplexity Wants to Buy Chrome, and That’s Terrifying for Consumers

Perplexity has emerged as one of the companies interested in purchasing Chrome if Google is forced to sell it—and that’s a terrifying prospect.

Google is in the remedies stage of its antitrust trial, with the DOJ pushing for the company to be forced to sell off Chrome. Both OpenAI and Perplexity have voiced their interest in purchasing the browser, with a web browser offering an AI firm a wealth of user data.

While users may suspect that AI firms would use a web browser to hoover up as much data as possible, Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas has said the quiet part out loud, admitting his company wants a web browser to “get data even outside the [Perplexity] app to better understand you.”

Srinivas made his comments on the TBPN podcast, via TechCrunch.

“That’s kind of one of the other reasons we wanted to build a browser, is we want to get data even outside the app to better understand you,” Srinivas said. “Because some of the prompts that people do in these AIs is purely work-related. It’s not like that’s personal.

“On the other hand, what are the things you’re buying; which hotels are you going [to]; which restaurants are you going to; what are you spending time browsing, tells us so much more about you,” he added.

“We plan to use all the context to build a better user profile and, maybe you know, through our discover feed we could show some ads there.”

Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire

Google is well-known for abusing its position as owner of the world’s most popular web browser, using it as a way to collect massive amounts of data—even when users had Incognito mode enabled. The whole reason for that data collection is to provide highly-targeted ads.

Unfortunately, it appears AI firms’ goals are not any more altruistic, with Srinivas making clear his company wants to use a web browser as a way to collecty as much personal data about users as possible.

Perplexity is already working on its own in-house browser, named Comet, but it clearly sees Chrome as a way to jumpstart its efforts.

Srinivas’ admission is merely the latest cautionary tale regarding AI and the firms behind it.

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Google Announces Pixel 7a Extended Repair Program

Google has announced an extended repair program for the Pixel 7a, addressing issues with unexpected battery swelling.

The Pixel 7a was one of the company’s entry-level Pixel smartphones, bringing many of the features of its flagship sibling, while cutting costs on on the camera and other high-end features. Unfortunately, some user reported issues with batteries swelling, bulging, and draining abnormally fast.

Google announced the program in a support page.

Google has determined that certain Pixel 7a phones may experience unexpected battery swelling. To ensure our customers have the best possible experience with Google products, some Pixel 7a devices (“Impacted Devices”) may be eligible for a battery replacement repair at no charge or another form of appeasement option from Google (options are limited by country and warranty status). Eligibility and specific options are subject to terms and conditions.

Not all Pixel 7a devices are impacted by unexpected battery swelling, therefore if your device is not impacted, you will not be eligible for a repair or other options under this program.

Under the extended repair program, Google says it will replace the affected batteries at not cost.

Eligible and Impacted Pixel 7a devices can receive one battery replacement at no charge through our battery replacement program. This involves an initial eligibility check and physical inspection. Check your eligibility by visiting our registration page.

Even if an Impacted Device is eligible for a battery replacement at no charge, upon receipt, a physical inspection of your phone is conducted before starting the repair to verify that the phone is in suitable condition for repair.

Battery replacement doesn’t extend the standard warranty coverage of your Pixel 7a. Your warranty will expire on the date it was originally set to expire, regardless of the battery replacement.

Manufacturing issues can impact any company, but it’s good to see Google standing behind the Pixel 7a and addressing the issue for impacted users.

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Meta Gives Users Option to Protect WhatsApp Chats From AI

Met is not giving users the option to turn off AI in WhatsApp, but it is providing users an option to block the AI from using specific chats for learning.

See an AI button has been somewhat disconcerting to some users, especially those who use WhatsApp for its end-to-end encryption. Unfortunately, Meta has no intention of removing the AI features, but it is at least giving users a way to protect specific chats from it, via its new Advanced Chat Privacy Feature.

The company announced the feature in a blog post.

Today we’re introducing our latest layer for privacy called “Advanced Chat Privacy.” This new setting available in both chats and groups helps prevent others from taking content outside of WhatsApp for when you may want extra privacy.

When the setting is on, you can block others from exporting chats, auto-downloading media to their phone, and using messages for AI features. That way everyone in the chat has greater confidence that no one can take what is being said outside the chat.

Unfortunately, the feature must be enabled for specific chats, rather than app-wide.

You can turn this on by tapping the chat name, then tapping on Advanced Chat Privacy. This is the first version of this feature and we’re planning to add more to it so that it will eventually include even more protections.

The feature is currently rolling out in the latest WhatsApp update.

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Discord Co-Founder and CEO ‘Passing the Torch’

Discord co-founder and CEO Jason Citron is “passing the torch,” stepping down as CEO of the chat platform, although he plans to remain active within the company.

Discord is one of the more popular chat platforms on the market, with “more than 200 million monthly active users worldwide.” The platform gained popularity among gamers, with the demographic spending “2 billion hours playing games each month across thousands of titles.” Although gamers still constitute the platform’s core user base, it has expanded beyond that with features that appeal to a broader base of users.

Citron says the decision comes at a time when the company is preparing for its next chapter of growth as it works toward an eventual IPO. Humam Sakhnini, a former Activision Blizzard executive, will step into the roll of CEO, while Citron will remain as a member of the board and Advisor to the CEO.

Building Discord has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. From the very beginning, our mission has been about bringing people together around games. It’s a mission I’ve dedicated my career to, and seeing it come to life through all of you and the impact we’ve made together has been nothing short of extraordinary. I’ve learned more than I ever imagined I would and I’m deeply grateful for so many friendships, challenges, and achievements along the way.

As we enter our next phase, I’ve been reflecting on how I can best contribute to Discord’s long-term success. The job of a CEO is constantly evolving, and over the years I have continuously “hired myself out of a job.” Usually that means delegating work and then taking on different leadership challenges. However, as I look at what is needed of Discord’s CEO over the next few years, I realize that it’s time for me to literally “hire myself out of a job.”

One thing I know for sure: our company is bigger than any one person. Its future depends not just on me, but on a strong leadership team, a clear vision for what comes next, and all of your incredible talent, care, and hard work. Today’s Discord has all of that. It’s by far the best version of the company we’ve ever had. We have a clear strategy, new business lines to grow into, love and passion from our users, and an incredible team of people working tirelessly to deliver for them.

From this position of strength, it feels like the right time to transition from CEO to Board Member and Advisor. So I am thrilled to welcome Humam Sakhnini as the next CEO of Discord.

Sakhnini praised Citron, as well as co-founder Stan Vishnevskiy, for building a prominent platform that has played a pivotal role in hundreds of millions of users’ workflows.

“I’m incredibly excited to join Discord at such a pivotal moment. Discord stands as a massive, foundational part of the gaming ecosystem that millions of players, developers, and publishers rely on every day. What Jason and Discord co-founder and CTO Stan Vishnevskiy have built is truly remarkable — a platform with an undeniable product-market fit where hundreds of millions of people connect around their passion for gaming and shared interests. I look forward to working with Stan and Discord’s talented team to scale our business while staying true to the company’s core mission and the special connection it has with player communities. We’re still at the beginning of gaming’s impact on entertainment and culture, and Discord is perfectly positioned to play a central role in that future.” — Humam Sakhnini, Incoming Discord CEO

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Google Shifting Pixel Production to India to Avoid Tariffs

Google is taking major steps to avoid high tariffs amid US-initiated trade wars, moving a significant portion of its Pixel production to India.

According to a report by The Economic Times, Alphabet has been in talks with Foxconn and Dixon Technologies to shift a significant portion of Pixel production from Vietnam to India, especially for smartphones bound for the US.

The Trump administration has announced sweep “reciprocal tariffs” on rivals and allies alike, although the exact tariff rate varies from one country to the other. Vietnam was one of the countries with a higher tariff rate, with the administration say it plans to impose a 46% tariff on the country. In contrast, India will face a 26% tariff. It’s worth noting that the Trump administration put a 90-day hold on all tariffs, but the rollout has been so chaotic that companies are struggling to know how to plan for the future.

It appears Google doesn’t want to take any changes, and is planning to move forward by rebasing a significant portion of its manufacturing to India, with its lower potential tariff rate. The outlet’s sources said the company will also look at other countries for potential manufacturing solutions.

Google’s decision underscores the challenges US companies face in the face of tariffs, as there are countless products manufactured overseas that cannot easily be manufactures in US anytime soon. This is especially true in the computer and electronics industry, where the US simply lacks the infrastructure needed to meet companies’ manufacturing needs.

While the Trump administration is trying to force companies to bring manufacturing back to the States, that process will a be a years-long endeavor, and certainly not something that will happen in time for companies to build and deliver their next models and devices.

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A Guide to Premium Wines in Israel

Israel’s growing wine industry is grabbing the attention of American wine connoisseurs and expanding access to the country’s finest wines and spirits. The country’s varied geography and different soil types help create the Israeli wines we know today. The country is home to the Golan Heights, Judean Foothills, Central Mountains, Coastal Plains, Negev Highlands, and Galilee with a landscape made up of limestone, terra rossa, clay, loam, chalk, and volcanic tuff. 

Climate and Topographical Factors

The country’s climate also plays a role in infusing grapes with their specific flavors. Israel’s weather can vary drastically between regions. For instance, the south can see as little as 100 mm of rain, while the north may receive as much as 1,100 mm. The south can reach highs of 91 degrees Fahrenheit, whereas the north can experience lows as chilling as 14 degrees. With the Hamsin (Khamsin) winds, temperatures in both the south and north regions can rise as high as 100 degrees Fahrenheit. 

History of Wine in Israel

Israel has a long legacy in winemaking that can be traced back to ancient times. Between 4,000 B.C.E. and 3,000 B.C.E., trading routes for wine were established between Egypt and Mesopotamia. The study of winegrowing during this time was heavily influenced by religious practices. 

During the biblical era (between 2,000 B.C.E. and 600 C.E.), wine was heavily referenced and used in religious worship. The Bible implies that Noah was one of the first documented vignerons and King David was one of the first sommeliers. In the medieval age, winemaking was prohibited after Muslims took over and the Ottoman Empire was established, most likely driven by restrictive policies and religious bans on alcohol. 

In 1099 C.E., Crusader states momentarily revived the practice with places like Bethlehem and Nazareth seeing more grape vines. When the Crusaders returned to Europe, they took with them Chardonnay, Muscat, and Syrah among other special grape varieties. Yet, Islamic rule and the Jewish Diaspora put a halt to Israel’s winemaking legacy until industrialization began to change the country. 

The first documented modern wineries emerged in Israel between the 1840s and 1950s. This includes the Ginio Winery and Efrat Winery. 1882 was when Baron Edmond de Rothschild started importing various types of grapes, planted vineyards, and built wineries in Israel. Eventually the first export offices opened in Poland, Austria, Germany, Britain, and the U.S. between 1896 and 1900. 

Once Israel gained independence, independent winemakers from the U.S. and Canada came to transform the way Israel made its wine. In fact, some of the biggest wineries got their start in some of Israel’s most historic cities, such as Gath, Jerusalem, and Qatsrin/Katzrin.

Conclusion

Israel currently has more than 300 wineries located throughout the country, but hundreds of thousands of the wine bottles they produce never get out of the country. Israel has more than 120 indigenous grape varieties that produce authentic wine flavors. These include imported varieties like Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Sauvignon Blanc, as well as new arrivals such as Viognier, Petite Sirah, and Grenache. Bittuni, which is occasionally considered the wine of Jesus or King David, and Argaman, the sixth most cultivated red grape variety in Israel, are native flavors with distinct taste profiles and specific preparation methods. 

Israeli wines and spirits have received global recognition over the years and are now being shared more widely thanks to wine concierges bringing the taste of Israel to more people around the world.  

Source: CorkAndCellar.net

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The Washington Post Partners With OpenAI

The Washington Post is the latest news outlet to partner with OpenAI, saying it will help the outlet reach “audiences where they are.”

OpenAI has been striking deals with various publishers in an effort to provide their content via ChatGPT. The deals provide the AI firm with content its AI models can then use in providing answers and information, while protecting OpenAI from copyright lawsuits.

Meanwhile, publications like The Post benefit both by receiving payment for their content and by opening up another avenue to engage with potential readers. This has become a growing concern for many outlets as an increasing number of consumers are turning to AI chatbots for quick answers to questions.

“We’re all in on meeting our audiences where they are,” said Peter Elkins-Williams, Head of Global Partnerships at The Washington Post. “Ensuring ChatGPT users have our impactful reporting at their fingertips builds on our commitment to provide access where, how and when our audiences want it.”

“More than 500 million people use ChatGPT each week to get answers to all kinds of questions,” said Varun Shetty, Head of Media Partnerships at OpenAI. “By investing in high-quality journalism by partners like The Washington Post, we’re helping ensure our users get timely, trustworthy information when they need it.”

The deal with The Post marks OpenAI’s 20th deal with news publishers.

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Former Google CEO Warns AI May Soon Stop Obeying

Former CEO Eric Schmidt is warning that AI may soon stop obeying humans, raising questions about the safety of AI models that are no longer under human control.

One of the biggest challenges companies face in AI development is ensuring such development occurs safely, with the necessary safeguards in place to ensure humanity can maintain control of AIs. According to Schmidt, the day when AI ignores humans is nearly here.

In an interview at Special Competitive Studies Project, Schmidt discussed where AI is currently, as well as where he sees it going in the near future.

“One way to say this is that within three to five years, we’ll have what is called general intelligence, AGI, which can be defined as a system that is as smart as the smartest mathematician, physicist, artist, writer, thinker, politician.

“I call this, by the way, the ‘San Francisco Consensus,’ ’cause everyone who believes this is in San Francisco. It may be the water,” Schmidt joked.

Schmidt then raises an interesting question regarding what it will mean when users have access to AI with such a level of intelligence.

“What happens when every single one of us has the equivalent of the smartest human on every problem in our pocket?

“But the reason I wanna make the point here, is that in the next year or two, this foundation is being locked in, and it’s not, we’re not gonna stop it.

Schmidt then goes on to highlight what happens at the next level of AI development.

“It gets much more interesting after that. Because, remember, the computers are now doing self-improvement. They’re learning how to plan and they don’t have to listen to us anymore. We call that super intelligence, or ASI, artificial super intelligence, and this is the theory that there will be computers that are smarter than the sum of humans. The San Francisco Consensus is this occurs within six years, just based on scaling.

“This path is not understood in our society. There’s no language for what happens with the arrival of this. That’s why it’s under-hyped. People do not understand what happens when you have intelligence at this level which is largely free.

Schmidt’s Statements Should Serve As a Warning

Listening to Schmidt discuss where AI is headed, it’s clear that he’s excited about the possibilities. And from a purely technical standpoint, it’s easy to understand why. True AI is the holy grail of scientific development.

Nonetheless, if Schmidt is correct in his assessment of where AI is headed, there are a litany of questions that come to mind.

• If AI has the ability to learn and self-improve without the need to listen to humans, what safeguards remain to ensure it doesn’t go rogue?
• Given that virtually every AI that has ever been given access to the internet without safeguards very quickly became a vile, racist, Nazi-supporting example of the worst of humanity, what will stop AI that no longer listens to humans from being the very worst representation of humanity?
• If an AI somehow avoids the above path, what are the odds that an AI doesn’t objectively look at the condition of the world—wars, strife, violence, climate change, and more—and not come to the conclusion that humanity is the problem?
• If AI comes to the conclusion that humanity is a plague, what safeguards exist to prevent it from taking action, if it’s already smarter than the sum of all humans and no longer under our control?

Schmidt’s statements should serve as a chilling wake-up call for where the AI industry currently is, where it’s headed, and what that may mean for humanity.

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What Are Sextortion Scams and How You Can Protect Yourself

In the highly digitalized landscape of today, the expansion of social media networks, online platforms, and mobile applications has changed the way we interact, providing unique chances for relationships and sharing knowledge. On the other hand, this growing connectivity has led to the appearance of new kinds of Internet-based crimes, with sextortion scams being among the most destructive. 

These ill-behaved strategies take advantage of an individual’s reliance and vulnerability, which results in grave emotional, psychological, and financial consequences. In this article, we shall try to grasp the essence of sextortion scams to show you what protective steps you can take to defend yourself against this widespread danger.

What Are Sextortion Scams?

Sextortion is a type of extortion in which cybercriminals threaten their victims, claiming they will make their private explicit images or videos public unless specific needs are satisfied. These demands can involve additional intimate materials, financial compensation (often paid in cryptocurrencies), or some personal favors. Offenders acquire the material leveraged for this form of extortion using a plethora of methods, usually aiming for personal device breaches, imitating one’s friends to trick them into providing sensitive content, or using altered media like deepfakes.

This kind of criminal activity is becoming more and more widespread, with thousands of victims recognized each year. Experts say that by the end of 2025, financial sextortion reports could rise to over 165 thousand cases, while the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia are the most commonly targeted regions.

Extortionists also use a wide range of psychological strategies, which are extremely manipulative and convincing. Victims often learn that they have been targeted when they think it is already too late. Fortunately, professional companies dealing with digital forensics can help you in fighting this type of online blackmail.

These experts understand the common tactics used by sextortion scammers. Offenders frequently rely on social media networks, dating apps, or chat services, where they pretend to be friendly, and even engage in romantic conversations. They also use social engineering techniques to manipulate their victims and gain their trust. Once a strong relationship is established, and the predators gain access to personal content, they start threatening public exposure and forcing the victim to pay ransom.

In many cases, though, Internet crooks might assert that they have gained entry to the victim’s device or camera, fabricating the impression that they hold damaging evidence, despite it being nonexistent. This is precisely what we call a sextortion scam.

The Rise of Sextortion Scams

“Let me get straight to the point. Your device has been compromised because you love watching sick content (you know what I’m talking about). Because of this, I was able to gain access to your device. You should consider covering your camera because I managed to record you while you were having a good time”.

This short intro comes from a sample sextortion scam email, which anyone of us can find in their inbox. Reading on, the extortionist usually threatens to reveal this video they supposedly recorded unless a payment is made to a private crypto wallet. To add a feeling of urgency, they usually limit the time to respond to 24 hours. 

There is a notable rise in sextortion cases similar to this one. ESET published an interesting report in 2023. The company revealed a 178% rise in sextortion-related emails in the first six months of 2023 compared to the same timeframe of the previous year. Such emails usually declare that the cybercriminal possesses explicit photos or videos of a given individual, and demand payment to escape from publically sharing them. 

Furthermore, this research emphasizes that sextortion scams are the third most common danger related to emails, underlining their extensive nature and the importance of quick reaction against them.

Based on recent studies, the demographic group facing the highest danger of being extorted consists of teenagers aged 15 to 17 and adults under 30. Upsettingly, there has been a 25% surge in sextortion cases concerning 14 and 15-year-olds. Other records showcase occurrences with kids as young as 11. Historically it was always boys that made up most of the victims, however in recent years, the number of reports regarding girls went through the roof by a bewildering 2,600%.

How Does Sextortion Impact Victims Emotionally?

The negative impact of sextortion scams can reach beyond monetary losses, leading victims to deep emotional mayhem. Extorted targets usually experience anxiety, depression, and strong feelings of shame and humiliation, which arise from receiving these troubling messages. The threat of breached privacy and the dread of being exposed to the public are unprecedented.

Hence, sextortion scam targets might face profound mental health impacts, including:

• Intensified levels of anxiety and potential panic attacks
• Signs of hopelessness and a feeling of being desperate
• Sense of being on your own and isolated
• Problems in building new connections and relationships
• Possible development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

The deceit present in sextortion scams undermines trust, creating long-term psychological problems. Such an intense emotional strain can regrettably lead some victims to self-injury or thoughts of suicide.

Sextortion Preventive Measures

Protecting yourself against sextortion scams is easier than you might think! Follow these tips and tricks to ensure your presence online is private and secure:

1. Exercise Caution: Stay alert when conversing with strangers and disclosing personal data. Cybercriminals frequently fabricate realistic profiles to lure their targets. Thus, maintaining a critical mindset can prevent probable mistreatment.
2. Improve Security: Use strong and unique passwords for every account and, if possible, activate two-factor authentication (2FA). Update your software regularly to fix security gaps in applications. As a result, you will lower the chances of unauthorized access to your device.
3. Change Privacy Settings: Check your social media privacy controls to manage who can access your personal data (such as email address) and content. Laying low discourages potential extortionists from targeting your accounts.
4. Be Skeptical: Stay watchful for unsolicited emails, especially including links or attachments. Sextortion scammers could refer to phishing tactics to install malware and acquire personal data. Always stay sure that the email you are reading is 100% legit before opening links or responding to the message.

If needed, you can also find additional assistance through the FBI.

Final Words on Sextortion Scams

Sextortion scams have become a momentous and snowballing hazard in the current online landscape. These schemes impact victims both emotionally and financially. To avoid these situations, you must stay alert, cultivate awareness, and take care of your digital safety. This way you might improve your ability to safeguard your privacy, as well as assist those who encounter this type of abuse.

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