In this episode of This Week in Tech, the panel tackles the "biggest hack in US history," the future of AI, and the role of government in tech. From the Chinese hack's implications to Microsoft's AI-powered Recall, the Supreme Court's tech-related cases, and the push for social media age verification, Leo Laporte, Patrick Beja, Wesley Faulkner, and Alex Wilhelm provide insightful analysis and lively discussion on the most pressing issues facing the industry today.

• China's "Salt Typhoon" hack, dubbed the "worst hack in our nation's history," which compromised US telecommunications infrastructure and allowed surveillance of high-profile individuals
• The panel debates the challenges of securing outdated infrastructure and the role of government in regulating tech companies
• DOJ's push for Google to sell off Chrome to break its search monopoly, and the potential implications for competition and innovation
• Alex Wilhelm's article "If you like startups, you should love anti-trust" and the importance of fostering competition in the tech industry
• Microsoft's Windows 365 Link, a $349 mini PC that streams Windows from the cloud, and the potential for thin client computing
• Microsoft's Recall AI feature, which records and indexes users' screen activity, raising security concerns but offering potential benefits for users
• The Supreme Court's involvement in cases related to Facebook's Cambridge Analytica data breach and the fate of America's low-income broadband fund
• The panel also discusses their personal experiences with parenting in the digital age and the challenges of balancing screen time, privacy, and education for children
• Meta's push for Apple and Google to verify users' ages on social media platforms, and the challenges of implementing effective age verification while protecting user privacy
• Amazon's talks with Instacart, Uber, Ticketmaster, and others to enhance its AI-powered Alexa assistant
• Spirit Airlines filing for bankruptcy amidst financial losses and mounting debt payments
• Alex laments the addition of ads to Amazon Prime Video and the panel debates the tradeoffs of bundled subscription services

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Patrick Beja, Wesley Faulkner, and Alex Wilhelm

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• DOJ will push Google to sell off Chrome to break search Monopoly.
• Trump's pick for FCC chair has vowed crackdown on big tech 'censorship'.
• Musk joined call between Trump, Google CEO.
• CFPB looks to place Google under federal supervision, setting up clash.
• What Brendan Carr, Trump's FCC pick, wrote in 'Project 2025' chapter.
• Bluesky tops 20M users, narrowing gap with Instagram Threads.
• Google's Gemini AI now has its own iPhone app.
• Live Scam Detection in calls rolling out to Pixel 6-9 Phone app.
• Coca-Cola causes controversy with AI-generated ad.
• Instagram will let you 'reset' your recommendations.
• Meta fined nearly €800mn for breaking EU law over classified ads practices.
• Meta's reward for providing free global communications? FTC lawsuit.
• Comcast to Spin Off Cable Networks, Including MSNBC and CNBC.
• Google fixes Chrome issue that broke text highlighting on some sites.
• Mobile browser Arc Search is now generally available on Android.
• Google Lens can now check prices and inventory when shopping in the real world.
• Source: Google is turning Chrome OS into Android to compete with the iPad.
• Exclusive: Google Pixel laptop in development!
• Can we talk about ALF hog?
• YouTuber Rosanna Pansino smokes cannabis grown from her father's ashes.
• Mike Masnick: One Billion Users, the Social Media card game.

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Paris Martineau

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It's Microsoft Ignite and we are totally not there

• One word summary: Agentic
• A wave two for Copilot, essentially
• Agents that work on your behalf autonomously
• The Snapdragon Dev Box was such a success that Microsoft is offering more hardware
• Copilot+ PCs are getting new AI capabilities. Eventually
• Copilot Actions brings, um, actions to Microsoft 365

Windows 11

• Microsoft FINALLY releases Windows 11 on Arm ISO - Here's some advice
• When you think about Windows, we're guessing security and resiliency aren't what comes to mind. So why is Microsoft pushing this so hard at Ignite??
• Google Drive is now available in Beta for Windows 11 on Arm. Paul's national nightmare is over!
• Here's what's coming to Windows 11 SOON - a new Release Preview channel build shows that 24H2 was just the start of this coming year's updates
• Canary: Mostly bug fixes, no clear vision for this channel we can see - new Canary build today with the new Hello experience, new Taskbar thumbnail previews
• Beta: Jump list sharing and other features no one has ever, ever, ever asked for
• Microsoft is shutting down Beta channel for Windows 10, just months after it revived it
• Lenovo revenues surge, PC sales only up slightly but it sees big growth in the coming quarters

AI, antitrust, more

• DOJ reportedly wants Google to sell off Chrome - How does this compare to the previous Microsoft breakup attempt?
• Some thoughts about Uno Platform Studio and a re-do of last week's .NET news now that Richard is back
• A WPF on .NET 9 update

Xbox

• Phil Spencer speaks: Portable Xbox hardware, mobile store, more
• Microsoft's new Xbox ad triggers PTSD or celebration, depending on your views
• You can now play (50) games you own on Xbox Cloud Gaming!
• It's been a while, but this is a killer month for Game Pass
• Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is now available
• Avowed is an Xbox console exclusive and it's coming in February
• Warcraft 1 and 2 Remasters arrive alongside Warcraft 3: Reforged 2.0 - celebrating the 20th anniversary
• Valve celebrates the 20th anniversary of Half-Life 2!
• The OG Unreal and Unreal Tournament are now free, and they run on modern PCs too
• Sony PlayStation Portal can now stream some PS Plus games

Tips and Picks

• Tip of the week: Get 1 TB of additional Xbox storage for just $99
• App pick of the week: ChatGPT for Windows and Mac
• RunAs Radio this week: Testing Databases with Dan Mallott
• Brown liquor pick of the week: Haavaldsen Sledgehammer 2024

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell

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The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin.

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• How Microsoft lured the US Government into a far deeper and expensive dependency upon its cybersecurity solutions.
• Gmail to offer native throwaway email aliases like Apple and Mozilla.
• Russia to ban several additional hosting companies and give its big Internet disconnect switch another test.
• Russia uses a diabolical Windows flaw to attack Ukrainians.
• The value of old Security Now episodes.
• TrueCrypt's successor.
• Using Cloudflare's Tunnel service for remote network access.
• How to make a local server appear to be on a remote public IP.
• How to share an 'impossible to type' password with someone.
• How to find obscure previous references in the Security Now podcast.
• What are the parameters for the expected and widely anticipated next generation Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)? What do those in the industry and academia expect? And is OpenAI's Sam Altman completely nuts for predicting it next year? Is it just a stock ploy?

Show Notes - https://www.grc.com/sn/SN-1001-Notes.pdf

Hosts: Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte

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You can submit a question to Security Now at the GRC Feedback Page.

For 16kbps versions, transcripts, and notes (including fixes), visit Steve's site: grc.com, also the home of the best disk maintenance and recovery utility ever written Spinrite 6.

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Could Apple be ramping up its efforts to bolster itself in the smart home market? Apple released Final Cut Pro 11 with new features. The M4 MacBook Pro quietly got a quantum dot display over an LCD display. And Apple releases updates to iOS 18 and macOS that you should update to if you haven't yet!

• Apple's next device is an AI wall tablet for home control, Siri and video calls.
• Apple's fiscal 2024 in charts.
• Apple releases updates to Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro for the Mac and iPad.
• Apple quietly gave the M4 MacBook Pro a quantum dot display.
• Apple faces UK 'iCloud monopoly' compensation claim worth $3.8 billion.
• Apple removes another RFE/RL app at request of Russian regulator.
• Apple releases iOS 18.1.1 with 'important security fixes' for iPhone.
• PSA: iPhone users receiving AppleCare+ refunds multiple years after Apple trade-in.
• Top execs explain Apple's chip philosophy: 'We are not a merchant silicon company, trying to leave nothing on the table'.
• Apple offers $100M to undo Indonesia iPhone 16 ban.
• Trump's tariff proposal could add $240 to the cost of an iPhone. Here's the math.
• Discriminatory job ads for iPhone workers ended after Reuters report; Apple didn't comment.
• Apple now sells its own Apple News ads for the first time.
• Apple shares the most popular podcasts of 2024.
• Apple debuts The Weeknd: Open Hearts, the first-of-its-kind immersive music experience for Apple Vision Pro.
• Porch pirates appear to be accessing AT&T data to track iPhone deliveries.
• Apple seemingly discontinuing lightning to headphone jack adapter introduced alongside iPhone 7.

Picks of the Week:

• Alex's Pick: Kondor Blue USB-C Mobile
• Andy's Picks: Charlie Brown Thanksgiving & Feedbin
• Jason's Picks: ReadKit & Unread

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Alex Lindsay, Andy Ihnatko, and Jason Snell

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• How Bluesky, Alternative to X and Facebook, Is Handling Explosive Growth
• Netflix's Live Mike Tyson Vs. Jake Paul Fight Battling Sound & Streaming Glitches In Lead-Up To Main Event
• Biden Asked Microsoft to "Raise the Bar on Cybersecurity." He May Have Helped Create an Illegal Monopoly.
• CFPB looks to place Google under federal supervision, setting up clash
• Apple's Tim Cook Has Ways to Cope With the Looming Trump Tariffs
• Apple Removes Another RFE/RL App At Request Of Russian Regulator
• Here's Why I Decided To Buy 'InfoWars'
• Elon Musk's X Corp. files notice in Alex Jones' Infowars bankruptcy case
• Spotify's Plans For AI Generated Music, Podcasts, and Recommendations, According To Its Co-President, CTO, and CPO Gustav Söderström
• This 'AI Granny' Bores Scammers to Tears Congress ponders underwater alien civilizations, human hybrids, and other unexplained stuff
• In Memoriam: Thomas E. Kurtz, 1928–2024

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Alex Kantrowitz, Daniel Rubino, and Iain Thomson

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• Mark Zuckerberg just released his own NSFW version of 'Get Low' in a tribute to his wife
• Mattel Mistakenly Lists Porn Site on Packaging for 'Wicked' Dolls
• The Crypto Industry's Spending on the Election Pays Off
• Canada orders shutdown of TikTok's Canadian business, app access to continue
• Bluesky adds 700,000 new members as users flee X after the US election
• Matter 1.4 tries to set the smart home standard back on track
• Google's learning
• OpenAI Shifts Strategy as Rate of 'GPT' AI Improvements Slows
• Microsoft, A16Z AI manifesto: AI for startups
• Claude AI to process secret government data through new Palantir deal
• Randy Travis's beautiful baritone was lost. AI helped him sing again.
• Particle launches an AI news app to help publishers, instead of just stealing their work
• YouTube is testing music remixes made by AI
• I Spoke Only to Chatbots for 24 Hours. Who Needs Human Friends?
• Google Street View helps map how 600,000 trees grow down to the limb
• Chris Wallace Quits CNN to Pivot to Streaming, Podcasting
• Nicholas Carlson, the former top editor of Business Insider, is starting a new company that will focus on video.
• Lena Dunham to write Sam Bankman-Fried movie for Apple
• Banjo Toss, the game
• After years of trying, Just Eat Takeaway is selling Grubhub to Wonder for $650M
• Research suggests people are getting more bored
• Times New Dumbass font

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Paris Martineau

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Google Pixel 5, Amazon One, AppleTV+

• Google's Launch Night in was a snooze
• Amazon Sidewalk will join your neighborhood together - or invade your privacy
• Amazon wants your palm print. Will you give it to them?
• James Bond delayed to 2021: Movie theaters are dying
• Subway sandwiches are not made with bread in Ireland, and their chicken is less than 50% chicken, but Popeye's is the best
• Apple TV+ is about to lose a whole lot of subscribers - what should we watch?
• How soap operas are filming during the pandemic
• Prime day is October 13th - will you shop?
• Libraries are being squeezed by publishers over ebooks and audiobooks
• Google TV is good, but Google seems to have lost interest like they lose interest in everything
• MIxer screws Ninja over; Ninja makes bank
• Sonos sues Google for multi-room audio patents
• Facebook merges Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook logins
• US judge saves TikTok; Fleetwood Mac rejoices
• The Social Dilemma is Reefer Madness for 2020
• If you pay ransomware, the Treasury Department will come after you
• H1-B visas cut off; tech giants cry out

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Alex Wilhelm, Iain Thomson, and Simone de Rochefort

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