TechStuff

While Jonathan works on a new episode about stage lighting systems, take a listen to this classic episode in which he and his old cohost Chris Pollette talk about the history and workings of electric guitars.

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Our news stories today include SBF filing an appeal on his recent sentencing, a UK court denies Apple's request to dismiss a huge lawsuit and Microsoft may soon make the Copilot AI feature an auto-launch program in Windows 11. Plus much more!

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Entire industries are being reshaped around the new capabilities of generative AI. In this special
bonus episode of Smart Talks with IBM, Tim Harford leads a conversation between two leaders
in the field. Srinivasan Venkatarajan is the Director of Global Partner Business at Microsoft,
focusing on Azure Data & AI and Azure OpenAI. And Chris McGuire is the General Manager of
the Global Microsoft Partnership for IBM.

They discuss the efforts by IBM and Microsoft in the generative AI space, how this relationship
has been providing value to clients, and why collaboration is necessary for technological
progress.

Visit us at: ibm.com/smarttalks

Learn more about IBM Consulting for Microsoft

This is a paid advertisement from IBM.

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Journalist Ernie Smith got an odd DMCA takedown notice for a picture he included in his tech newsletter. It turns out that the notice was a ploy to try and trick Smith into including a backlink to another site in an effort to boost that site's search rankings. What the what?

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The Nintendo Virtual Boy was one of the company's infamous flops, but why? Why did the system fail so hard that Nintendo killed it off after just one year? 

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Net neutrality goes through another flip in the flip-flop history with the FCC announcing it plans to vote to reinstate some of the rules established during the Obama administration but overturned during the Trump administration. Plus, Google agrees to destroy billions of data records and Ford decides to hold off on producing EVs for a bit.

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My blood runs cold, my computer memory has just been sold -- my test image is the centerfold! Today, we look at the story of the "Lenna image," a scan of a Playboy model that has been used in countless papers and articles, and why there's a movement now to bring an end to that practice.

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Sometimes, folks want to take a short cut. And sometimes that shortcut is illegal. This episode is about companies, managers, employees and others who engaged in some shifty behavior to get access to data that didn't belong to them.

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TikTok is turning up the heat on the US Senate to get a proposed bill that would ban the service tossed out. The US government announces new policies relating to the use of AI in federal agencies. And a streaming service tries to clamp down on butts. 

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Is it true Harry Snyder, founder of In-N-Out, invented the intercom? Not quite. But he was the first credited with using a system to create what would become the model for the modern drive-thru. 

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The End User License Agreement is that thing you click "I agree" to without having read the whole thing. But you can be forgiven -- some companies make their EULAs freakishly long, hiding some nefarious terms in the process. 

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The US government is cracking down on Big Tech. From a House bill that would make it illegal for data brokers to sell American citizen info to foreign adversaries to a massive monopoly lawsuit against Apple, we look at some of the battles the Tech industry faces in the near future. Plus more!

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After navigating numerous controversies and setbacks, Rooster Teeth attempted to return to a more stable existence. But it was not to be. The corporate overlords at Warner Bros Discovery have decided to shut down the company after it reportedly spent a decade being unprofitable.

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As artificial intelligence progresses, healthcare providers are exploring how the technology can be used to offer personalized care at scale. In this episode of Smart Talks with IBM, Dr. Laurie Santos sits down with Alice Crisci, co-founder and CEO of fertility-care provider Ovum Health.

They discuss the barriers to healthcare access, the ways in which AI can be leveraged to expand the reach of healthcare providers, and how Ovum Health?s partnership with IBM and their use of watsonx has been enhancing the patient experience.

Visit us at: ibm.com/smarttalks  

Learn more about watsonx Assistant

This is a paid advertisement from IBM.

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Fullscreen's acquisition of Rooster Teeth would bring with it new challenges, including corporate bureaucracy, a push for new kinds of monetization, and changes in company culture. Meanwhile, the folks at Rooster Teeth kept making content. 

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This week, the House of Representatives in the US voted overwhelmingly in support of a bill that would force TikTok owner ByteDance to divest itself of the app or else face a national ban. What's going on, where does the bill go from here and why am I so exasperated by it all?

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Warner Bros Discovery is shutting down the online media company Rooster Teeth just as it nears its 21st anniversary. We look back on the history of the company, how it made an impact on internet culture, and where things went wrong.

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Ed Zitron of the Better Offline podcast joins the show, and boy is he mad! Ed and Jonathan get angry over the state of the tech industry, the focus on short term gains at the cost of long term benefits, and why the tech we have at our disposal sometimes just feels like it's not as good as it should be.

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OpenAI said they didn't wanna do it, but they're sharing emails written by Elon Musk that imply he was totally okay with OpenAI making a ton of money if it also was part of Tesla. Plus the US President speaks out against AI. And much more!

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Artist Alicia Framis plans to wed an AI "hologram" this summer. Before the wedding bells chime, we have some questions. We explore holograms, artificial intelligence, and technical, social, ethical and cultural conundrums.

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Every year in the U.S., tens of thousands of hospital patients die of preventable causes. For many of these patients, warning signs are subtle and easy for doctors to miss. Suchi Saria is the founder and CEO of Bayesian Health, and a professor at Johns Hopkins where she runs a lab focused on machine learning and healthcare. Suchi?s problem is this: How can you use AI to detect when hospital patients are at risk of potentially deadly complications ? and how can you get doctors to listen?

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Sometimes, an invention comes along that defines a new function, form factor, or fashion. In this episode, we celebrate some of these inventions by exploring the stories behind them.

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The Silicon Valley dream is to come up with an app and make a billion dollars. But not every app hits such heights. And some briefly touch the stars but then plummet back to Earth. This episode is dedicated to the failures!

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Once upon a time, there were no digital cameras. Who invented them, and how did they become so common that even the most basic smartphone has one? We learn about the tech behind digital cameras and really get into the megapixels.

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In what I can only describe as an overcorrection, Google's Gemini AI has tried to promote diversity in situations where it's not appropriate, such as in an image portraying Nazi soldiers. Plus, Bluesky gives more control to users, Cruise looks to resume operations in a different state after California revoked its license, and researchers find a way to double processing power without upgrading hardware.

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Journalist Jacob Goldstein joins the show to talk about the challenges of communicating technology topics to the public, how to sort through the promise and threat of AI, and the way that engineers approach problems.

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How did the co-founders of Intel go from being "traitors" to two of the early pioneers of Silicon Valley? We learn about Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore.

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As the 20th century loomed ever closer, the battle waged to determine how we would transmit electricity. Learn about the current wars and why AC ultimately won.

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Not all inventions are the product of careful experimentation. Sometimes, someone pulls a whoopsie and learns something new. This episode is all about those types of discoveries.

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For a couple of years in Google's early history, it was a real search company. But that would change in 2000 as Google would embrace advertising. Learn how Google would shift to become a dominant force in online ads.

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Sam Altman of OpenAI wants to see a huge investment in new semiconductor fabrication plants to support AI implementations. The FTC hopes to reverse the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard merger. And did hackers really take over millions of smart toothbrushes?

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Back in 2015, Facebook made a claim that would lead advertisers and content creators to shift focus to online video. There was one problem -- the claim ended up being bogus. How did the pivot to video strategy become a dark, grim joke in the tech sector?

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What does Big Data actually mean? How has the science of Big Data changed recently? What are the potential benefits and pitfalls of Big Data? 

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The Senate Judiciary Committee met with CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg with accusations that their companies are actively causing harm to children, and they weren't happy with the response. Plus, a judge tells Elon Musk that he will not be getting the massive compensation package promised to him by Tesla's board of directors. And TikTok says goodbye to Taylor Swift's music (and all other UMG tracks). Plus more!

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Who invented the hovercraft? What happened to all the hovercraft that used to provide transportation options in the UK? How do they work? We look into all this, plus a classic Jackie Chan action flick.

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Sometimes, an operating system has served its purpose and it's time to go live on a farm. We take a look at some operating systems that are no longer supported and explore why moving on can sometimes cause a problem.

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From New York City to the state of Florida, politicians are getting serious as they face off against social media companies like Meta TikTok. Plus, we have a bunch of news around AI, an update on Tesla that has investors upset and we say farewell to an amazing little helicopter on Mars.

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An interesting set of challenges crop up when you want to translate movements in a physical space to a virtual one. How do you keep people safe? How do you manage groups in the same physical space? And can you still look cool if you're running around on an omni treadmill?

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At this year's CES, several trends revealed themselves among the exhibitors. But none were more prevalent than the incorporation of artificial intelligence. How are companies using, or at least claiming to use, AI in their products this year?

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Did you know that engineers were harnessing electricity long before they even knew what it was? We take a look at the history and tech behind electricity.

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In this episode from 2021, we look at the thorny issues of copyright and how fair use isn't some proactive safety play to avoid those pesky copyright strikes.

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A fuel cell is an electrochemical energy conversion device; it turns chemical energy into electrical energy. Jonathan and Chris discuss fuel cells in detail from their origins to why they're not practical for general use yet in this episode.

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It might be a small world after all, but how did Disney imagineers create the first audio animatronics and how do they work? Find out in the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room.

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How do the theories of special relativity and general relativity apply to satellites? Why is the speed of light constant, but time and distance are not? We get all Einstein up in here!

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Is it really possible for a machine to achieve consciousness? What does consciousness even mean? From philosophy to technological obstacles, we look at the problems and possibilities.

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Lasers can be used to threaten our enemies, cut steel and even amuse our cats. Find out the history of lasers and how they work in this episode of Techstuff.

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How does CT (computed tomography) scanners work? What's going on with TechStuff? In this episode, you are invited into Jonathan's brain to find out.

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What is the technological singularity? How might the technological singularity come about? What do critics say about the idea of the singularity? Listen in as Jonathan and Lauren explore the technological singularity.

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I swore I would never do another one of these. But what the heck, let's get out the crystal ball and make some predictions.

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Nearly two years after Microsoft announced its intention to acquire video game company Activision Blizzard, it sealed the deal. But it wasn't a sure thing. We look back on how government officials around the world nearly prevented the merger and why. 

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