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And now, a next-level moment from AT&T business. Say you've sent out a gigantic shipment of pillows, and they need to be there in time for International Sleep Day. You've got AT&T 5G, so you're fully confident. But the vendor isn't responding, and International Sleep Day is tomorrow. Luckily, AT&T 5G lets you deal with any issues with ease, so the pillows will get delivered and everyone can sleep soundly, especially you. AT&T 5G requires a compatible plan and device. Coverage not available everywhere. Learn more at att.com slash 5G network.
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You can do it yourself on Wix. This is the Daily Tech News for Monday, March 31st, 2025. We tell you what you need to know, follow up on the context of those stories, and help each other understand. Today we have a special clip from the Buzz Out Loud crew and more from your emails. Hey, I think I know them. I'm Jason Howell. And I'm Rob Dunn-Wooey. Let's start with what you need to know with The Big Story.
Elon Musk's XAI has acquired X. I know it's kind of confusing. You know, X, formerly Twitter, for $45 billion. That includes $12 billion in debt. The merger integrates XAI's, well, AI capabilities with X's user-generated data. Wow, this is getting so confusing for me as I read this, including posts,
messages and images musk shared on x that the move is intended to merge the data models compute distribution and talent that's his quote and is intended to deepen the social platform's integration with grok musk's generative ai service on xai
Now, this is a step toward Musk's longstanding vision. We've heard him talk a lot about an everything app that combines real time interaction, content sharing, AI driven experiences. I think shopping so many plans for the everything app because it is, after all, everything. Along with that, though, are concerns by many about privacy, of course, and data security. Musk has alluded at least
to a commitment to privacy conscious practices here, but there is no clear policy that we know of yet outlining those limits or those protections for user data at this time anyways.
I think it's worth noting that the price tag of $45 billion combined, that's $45 billion including the $12 billion in debt, so up to $45 billion, is $1 billion more than Musk paid to acquire Twitter back in 2022.
I'm sure that's done on purpose to kind of be like, see, I sold it for more than I bought it for sort of thing. But again, we're talking about properties that Musk is largely in control of and they're his babies at this point.
I don't know. I'm curious, Rob, like what is this really? I think one of the questions that came up for me is what this really gives XAI and X that Musk and the team didn't already have access to before. Like there was already an integration of grok into X and kind of had already heard Elon Musk talk about, you know, using some of the data that's on X, which is a very valuable data source.
for his AI efforts. So what does bringing them under the same umbrella do for them? Do you have any thoughts on that? I do. The first thought would be that if XAI owns X,
there would be no threat of a judge saying, well, X, you can't give this data to XAI because now X is essentially XAI. They're the same company. So now you're talking about the moving of data within an organization. I don't want to say that the data is fungible, but it's one company that you're dealing with, not two separate entities.
i would also say that i too think that it is interesting that x was purchased for one billion dollars more than it was purchased for when when uh it was twitter back in 2022. i've heard before that a thing is worth whatever somebody's willing to pay for it and it looks like elon musk was willing to pay one million dollars more for something that he had already paid for three years ago so it's uh it's just it's it's it's interesting but uh i i think the big story here is
it's one company and the AI company now has an enormous amount of data that they will be able to use and probably have less hamstrings on them than they would have if they had to work with X as a separate entity. Yeah. I mean, when you look at the real value of what
Twitter slash X. I can never say X without just in my head thinking Twitter. But the real value here, and I think Reddit is in a similar position on this, is that X is filled with this massive amount of historical content.
That's one historical information, historical, unique data, but to user generated data. And when we talk about AI, you know, as it exists right now, this this growing movement around artificial intelligence. I mean, it's all completely based upon human interaction, human involvement, human, you know, human output, essentially. And some of the best data sources like Reddit, like
Twitter slash X, like those are just ripe for the for the picking. I think you're absolutely right. There's a there's a certain like red tape element that if they're both owned by the same company, then we can assume, you know, then Musk and his team can assume that like all, you know, everything's fair game at this point. Now, he has kind of alluded a little bit to privacy and everything, but I think people are still kind of concerned. Like there's a lot of private messages in there that they don't want
AI systems to be training off of. So that's one thing. There's also a lot of publicly posted photos. And sure, it's out in the public and everything, but context is everything. And as these systems develop, what does that lead to? Does that lead to more easily identifying someone based on the photos that they've shared into the system? I mean, that can open up the door for some bad things, according to privacy advocates.
I would imagine probably rather sooner than later, we will see a new end user license agreement that tells us exactly what they're going to do and how they're going to do it with the data. I just think they won't have to do that. So I think that's coming probably in the not too distant future. Yeah, I think you're absolutely right. So you can look for that. And then if you don't understand it, when you read it, copy it and then paste it into Grok and say, Grok, could you explain this to me?
And we'll see if it gets it right or if it paints an entirely different picture for you. DTNS is made possible by you, the listener. Thanks to AB Puppy, Dale McKay, Matt Zaglin and Harish Menon. Yeah, you all are awesome. Did you know that? Well, I'm telling you, you're awesome. Thank you.
Banking with Capital One helps you keep more money in your wallet with no fees or minimums on checking accounts and no overdraft fees. Just ask the Capital One Bank guy. It's pretty much all he talks about. In a good way. He'd also tell you that this podcast is his favorite podcast, too. Ah, really? Thanks, Capital One Bank guy. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. See CapitalOne.com slash bank. Capital One N.A. member FDIC.
Hey, Prime members. Are you tired of ads interfering with your favorite podcasts? Good news. With Amazon Music, you have access to the largest catalog of ad-free top podcasts included with your Prime membership. To start listening, download the Amazon Music app for free or go to amazon.com slash ad-free podcasts. That's amazon.com slash ad-free podcasts to catch up on the latest episodes without the ads.
And now, a next-level moment from AT&T business. Say you've sent out a gigantic shipment of pillows, and they need to be there in time for International Sleep Day. You've got AT&T 5G, so you're fully confident. But the vendor isn't responding, and International Sleep Day is tomorrow. Luckily, AT&T 5G lets you deal with any issues with ease, so the pillows will get delivered and everyone can sleep soundly, especially you. AT&T 5G requires a compatible plan and device. Coverage not available everywhere. Learn more at att.com slash 5G network.
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Amazon's AGISF lab has unveiled its first project, a new general-purpose agentic AI model called Amazon Nova Act that is capable of controlling a web browser and performing simple independent actions on what it finds there. The new release currently labeled a research project
Preview is capable of navigating the web, filling out forms, and picking dates on a calendar. With more features planned for the future, Amazon plans to drive its upcoming Alexa Plus upgrade with Nova Act. Developers can find the new toolkit at nova.amazon.com.
Yeah. I mean, Amazon's one of those companies that you, you, we keep waiting for what is your major AI play right now. And now we're starting to get a sense of it, uh, in this moment of agentic AI, you know, kind of makes a lot of sense that they'd go down that route, especially if they could tie in like easy buying for Amazon products into the browser that's coming. Right. That's absolutely coming. That's exactly what I'm going to say. You literally stole
the words out of my mouth. And I mean, it took Alexa Plus a minute to get here. I mean, we've been hearing about it for a while and there was delay after delay after delay, but it's here.
And it's actually not bad for, you know, for their first foray into this. So it's going to be interesting to see how a company as ginormous as Amazon is with all they do with logistics and shipping people stuff and the stuff that they ship and knowing all about people's behaviors. They're going to be able to do a lot with this. It's going to be really interesting to see how this all plays out. Indeed.
Well, something that you might someday buy on Amazon. Samsung has introduced a new cordless vacuum called bespoke AI jet ultra for only $1,099. It includes an LCD display for control as well as notifications for calls and text messages.
on your cordless vacuum. That's essential, right? Samsung also introduced the bespoke AI laundry vented combo washer dryer. That's a cool $3,099 and includes, yes, a touchscreen and the ability to take calls from
on the unit itself. I can just imagine someone sitting next to the washer dryer with their ear up next to it, speaking into a very, very large mechanical phone. The bespoke AI lineup works with Android and iOS, of course, and requires a Samsung account. - I'm really interested to understand how the product management call went when someone said, "You know what we could really do? Let's stick text messages on the vacuum cleaner. Better yet, let's put a phone in the washing machine."
I don't know how Samsung came up with that, but Samsung is really good at doing these things. So clearly they had some signal that said that, you know what, we probably could get the price of that washer and dryer combo up to over three grand if we just allow you to make phone calls from it.
I think it's a sign of because you can, you do. It's like, well, we've already got it synchronizing with the Samsung account. Why not just bring calls in there? It's probably pretty easy to do when you've got everything else that's in there supporting it. Yeah.
The Federal Aviation Administration now has a system in place to enable aircraft owners to keep their registration information private from public eyes. This is the result of a mandate by the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 that went into law last May. The FAA is also considering making personally identifiable information private by default. The new system will have an immediate impact on celebrity jet trackers like the ones used to track movements.
of Taylor Swift and Elon Musk. I remember when there was the, I believe it was actually a young kid. I don't think, I think it was a teenager that was, that built the system to track Elon Musk pretty much wherever he was going. And Elon did not like that. And I can understand why. If I own a private jet, I don't necessarily want Earth to just know where it is at all times.
Yeah, it's yeah, it's kind of an example of the technology enables a certain thing. Once people realize that sometimes it takes a while to address that, supposedly, I suppose. So, you know, folks like Taylor Swift and Elon Musk, who have a lot of people very interested in where they're going and what they're doing, probably very happy about this.
Say goodbye to the blue screen of death. Microsoft has announced a redesign of the infamous error message coming to Windows 11. The blue color, the frowny face, the QR code, the QR code. I love you, QR code. It's all going to be replaced by what is currently being tested with Windows Insiders. Right now, it's being tested as a black screen.
That is meant, I think the purpose is to streamline the process, also still offering technical information to the user. But the redesigned BSOD, which you can still say because black and blue start with the same B letter, should roll out to existing Windows 11 users with version 24H2 or 24H2 sometime in the not too distant future.
I don't believe that any person who has a blue screen of death is happy that they get the blue screen of death because that means that something went wrong. Your machine is not working as you expected it to. Fair. But I would not be shocked if before too long, this thing goes from black back to being blue because it's iconic. It's been the blue screen of death for decades.
And there's no how much code does it take to say instead of zero zero zero zero, it's zero one zero one zero one zero one. I mean, I don't know what the hex code is for blue, but I don't think it is that much more difficult to make blue than it is to make black. That is an interesting point. Like it's it's not it's not because black and like black is easier than blue.
But what is the reason? You know, there's got to be some sort of reason. Sometimes they want to make a change just to make a change. Like, you know what? It's time to move on. Who the heck knows? Maybe we'll find out more. It's only been 30 some odd years. You know, let's change it up. Put a little log in it if we need to change it up. Yep.
Windows 11 will also address and close a loophole that enabled the users to bypass Microsoft account login during install. The bypass in our command allow users to skip through the requirement of being connected to the Internet and authenticating a Microsoft account. But the company is removing the script in the name of security and enhanced user experience. At this time, a registry edit still works to reactivate the script, but there's no guarantee that it will work for much longer.
Yeah, you know, you always got to log in. They got to know. They got to know you're installing a new version of Windows 11. I absolutely understand why Microsoft is doing this.
I just wish that they wouldn't. I have used a PC for decades. There was a time when I thought I wanted to be a Mac user and I had the Mac, I think it was the PowerBook 520C way back in the 90s. But ever since then, I've been a PC. I don't, however, use a bunch of Microsoft services. I mean, I don't use Outlook. I don't use Office. I don't use all of that stuff. So
I don't there's really no reason for me to have a Microsoft account other than they're forcing me to have one. So I kind of wish that they wouldn't do this, but I do understand why they are. Yeah, I get it, too.
Well, owners of NVIDIA RTX 40 and some RTX 30 GPUs have recently noticed a series of stability issues and system crashes. Now, a number of game developers are warning users away from installing the most recent 572.xx GeForce drivers to avoid those performance problems. Some are even urging users to roll back to the December 2024 driver, that's 566.36,
and avoid update suggestions when they get them. And so you've got a number of game developers noting similar concerns and a similar solution with Nvidia's 572.xx driver on older GPUs and Nvidia basically not formally addressing the issue. I'm sure Nvidia at some point will address this, but so far we're only hearing this from game developers.
this is one of the reasons why i am never first to do an update i i let the update come out and i just wait for a month or two if it's a security update then maybe but if it's not security if it's just going to it's just a new update because it's new update i tend to like to wait exactly for these reasons because it's just a hassle to try to roll stuff back well you're smart because i still do it then i pay the price
Google's latest and greatest AI model, Gemini 2.5 Pro, is now available to free users after being launched for its advanced paid users last week. Free users will have a tighter rate limit and smaller context window compared to paid users. You can find the new Gemini 2.5 Pro experimental in the Gemini app as well as Google AI Studio.
You know, newest, latest, greatest. It's the best until the next one that's released from some other company the very following week. This is just how it goes. Next week. I think we'll have something new by Wednesday. Yes, exactly. Maybe even by the end of the recording of this show. Those are the essentials for today. Let's dive a little deeper into the ongoing stories and follow up.
All right. So this next segment is super special to me. This past Sunday was the 20th anniversary of the launch of CNET's Buzz Out Loud with Molly Wood and Tom Merritt. Molly, Tom, and some special guests, including me, took some time to look back on one of the first and I would say most formative podcasts in history.
Hey, everyone. Welcome to Buzz Out Loud, the podcast of Indeterminate Length. It is Sunday, March 30th, 2025. I'm Molly Wood. I'm Tom Merritt. Hot damn, y'all. 2025. Did you think the first time we said some words that were roughly like that, that 2025 would ever even occur? Let alone that that would be now? No, I was pretty sure I wouldn't see it for whatever reason. That made no sense. Yeah. A bus, a war.
Closing my eyes. Just not imagining aging. Yeah, just not thinking that far ahead. Not that we have, let's be clear. Not a bit. We look exactly the same.
Our brains work exactly the same. We are just in exactly the same shape. Just 20 years later. Welcome to the 20 year anniversary show of arguably what the first commercially successful podcast on the internet. Like no big deal. Yeah.
Just saying. You know, like the premier tech podcast that blazed the way for so many more. Yeah. After which so many have modeled. The podcast from which so many careers and little hatchlings were launched to fly. Like Daily Tech News Show, It's a Thing, Sword and Laser, Cord Killers. Oh, wait. Those are just mine. Sorry. Those are just Tom's. Yeah. Tom, let's be real, is doing most of those. But our first guest today is also...
Doing that, Nate Langston, welcome to the show.
We are contemporaries of YouTube. We're older than YouTube. I think Buzz Out Loud is older than YouTube. When we were building CNET TV, I remember that it was a contemporary to YouTube and I kept making the joke that I should stop working so hard on scripts and just fall off my chair and then I would get more clicks. Like, little did I know. No, we beat them. They opened on a limited basis in May 2005. Yeah, so that's coming up.
Tell us if you if you wouldn't mind what the what the people really want to know, which is like, how did we get you where you are? How do we catalyze this? Unbelievably, you're way more successful than me. Tell me what I did to for you to deserve that success.
Well, I would never characterize it as that at all. However... I think it's beautiful. Like the idea of my calendar telling me there are other things to do right now. No calendar, not now. I don't think so, friend, because there are not. Hey, I just want to go on record that I was team iPad from before it even came out. And I remember, Molly, you and I jiving each other about that at various events. Yep.
We should say Richard Gunther, welcome to the show, fellow backstage crew or longtime fan. Indeed. And it is true. It is true. We disagreed on that. And I think I like to believe that everybody won, even though the iPad was a screaming success. It is always by my side, I say, as I hold it up. This device is with me almost anytime I'm at home. It's a home device, though. It's not something that you take out with you.
It's so funny. I literally have three dusty. I keep buying them thinking this is it. I'm going to use it. And I never do. Oh, wow. I just use my phone. I'm like, I have a really expensive iPad Pro and it's just literally dusty. And I need to just go ahead and trade it in and get the MacBook Air because this is such a waste of money and rare earth minerals. And it's just sitting there because apparently I never needed an iPad. Who knew? I did when I had a little kid. That turns out that was the killer use case.
We always knew this show only mattered because it built, I still maintain, one of the greatest communities the internet has ever seen.
Yeah. It was never, it was never us. It's ridiculous. We were also there. That 20 years later that there are still, even if it was just you too, which I know it's more than that, but like that there's anyone that's, that's still willing to put in that much work to, to show their love for the show is, is beyond words for me. Yeah, I agree. We are not worthy.
We thank you. Yes. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Yes, we can, Jason. Can you hear me from across the internets? It's good to see you. That is hilarious. So you're saying our old engineer who wanted us to always sound the best we possibly could, the most detail-oriented man I have ever met, the guy who would literally hamster any problem until it was solved.
So that we would sound perfect, he's calling us from his car. Not only calling you from the car, calling you from the car with, like, Google's very first-gen Pixel wired buds from I don't even know how long ago. Like, maybe they're six years old, I don't know, but they're the only wired buds I could find. Yeah.
Yeah, your commitment to nostalgia for this bit is amazing. That's kind of what I thought. I really dug through the archives to try and find something from my flip phone back in the early 2000s. Your sidekick. Yeah, right.
It goes out to everybody who had anything to do with Buzz Out Loud back in the day. Why? Well, first of all, it was a show I loved and I participated in when I called in and stuff and all that. But more importantly, in 2009, it became the show where I decided to announce during your thousandth episode celebration that I was jumping out full time with Frog Pants Studios. And I never looked back. Still going to this day. Best decision I ever made. It's such a fantastic group and...
Yeah, here's to meeting again for the next 20th. See you later. Oh my goodness, the next 20th. I didn't even think about that. 20 years from now.
We will still. What? We'll still remember. We'll still look exactly the same? Yes, we will still look exactly the same. And then I had to stop myself to interrupt myself and say, boy, you know what's really annoying is that Veronica actually does look exactly the same. Yeah.
Now, what's even better than all of that is you can listen to the whole episode. So that's just a little snippet of it. So find the whole episode. And then while you're there, the entire catalog of Buzz Out Loud is all available at buzztownarchive.com.
Tremendous thank you to the folks who made that happen. It's really remarkable. And I just really, really appreciate that this exists. So buzztownarchive.com. Jason, I can absolutely tell you that one of the reasons I am a podcaster today is because of Buzz Out Loud. I remember 20 years ago watching that and thinking, man, that's cool. It was Buzz Out Loud. And before that, it was the screensavers TV show on tech TV. But those are the two things that made me say it would be cool to do that. So 20 years later.
Now I'm doing it. That's amazing. Love it. What do you want to hear us talk about on the show? One way to let us know is in our subreddit. You can submit stories and vote on them at www.reddit.com forward slash r slash daily tech news show.
Hey, Prime members. Are you tired of ads interfering with your favorite podcasts? Good news. With Amazon Music, you have access to the largest catalog of ad-free top podcasts included with your Prime membership. To start listening, download the Amazon Music app for free or go to amazon.com slash ad-free podcasts. That's amazon.com slash ad-free podcasts to catch up on the latest episodes without the ads. ♪
Banking with Capital One helps you keep more money in your wallet with no fees or minimums on checking accounts and no overdraft fees. Just ask the Capital One Bank guy. It's pretty much all he talks about. In a good way. He'd also tell you that this podcast is his favorite podcast, too. Ah, really? Thanks, Capital One Bank guy. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. See CapitalOne.com slash bank. Capital One N.A. member FDIC.
All right, we end every episode of DTNS with some shared wisdom. And today, RW Nash is helping us understand.
Regarding chat GPT generating images of public figures, hateful symbols and racial features, which were previously disallowed. He says it's a tricky subject. Well done on your coverage. Made me realize I know nothing about hockey. Yeah, you're not alone. I don't know a whole lot about hockey either. I'm married to someone who knows a lot about hockey and I've watched some games. But yeah, that's I'm right there with you.
I know that I like watching hockey live more so than watching it on television, but that's all that I got for you. Oh, okay. I'm trying to think. Have I ever watched hockey live? I don't know that I have. I'll have to look into that. I might have to ask chat GPT for my history and see if it knows enough about me to know the answer to that.
In the meantime, thank you to the amazing BOL crew. Thanks to RW Nash for sending in that feedback, for contributing to today's show. As you all do each and every week, we appreciate you. And thank you for being along for Daily Tech News Show. The show is made possible by our patrons at...
at patreon.com slash DTNS. DTNS has a live version called DTNS Live on YouTube and Twitch. You can find details on that and so much more at dailytechnewsshow.com. We'll talk to you tomorrow. The DTNS family of podcasts, helping each other understand. Diamond Club hopes you have enjoyed this program.
Banking with Capital One helps you keep more money in your wallet with no fees or minimums on checking accounts and no overdraft fees. Just ask the Capital One Bank guy. It's pretty much all he talks about, in a good way. He'd also tell you that this podcast is his favorite podcast, too. Ah, really? Thanks, Capital One Bank guy. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. See CapitalOne.com slash bank. Capital One N.A. member FDIC.
And now, a next-level moment from AT&T business. Say you've sent out a gigantic shipment of pillows, and they need to be there in time for International Sleep Day. You've got AT&T 5G, so you're fully confident. But the vendor isn't responding, and International Sleep Day is tomorrow. Luckily, AT&T 5G lets you deal with any issues with ease, so the pillows will get delivered and everyone can sleep soundly, especially you. AT&T 5G requires a compatible plan and device. Coverage not available everywhere. Learn more at att.com slash 5G network.