- 1 hour 16 minutesTNW 436: What 40,000 Schools Tell Us About Phone Bans - Do Phone Bans in School Really Benefits Students?
Abrar Al-Heeti of CNET joins the show this week! The Oscars implement new rules with limits placed on the use of AI. Apple is set to pay $250 million to settle allegations about the capabilities of AI on its iPhones. Does tech suck now? And a study into the ban of cellphone use in schools shows mixed results in students' behavior and overall academic performance.
- Abrar talks about how the Oscars announced new eligibility guidelines for awards, requiring that roles & screenplays must be conducted by humans, stopping short of a ban on the use of AI in films nominated.
- Mikah shares how Apple must pay $250 million to settle class action lawsuits that allege the company misled customers on the capabilities of AI on its iPhones that never fully shipped as promised.
- Andrew Lanxon of CNET joins the show to discuss whether modern technology is genuinely getting worse or if some of us are simply becoming harder to please as we get older.
- And Mikah talks about a study that looks at schools restricting student use of cellphones during the day and the mixed results in improving students' behavior and in their academics overall.
Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Abrar Al-Heeti
Guest: Andrew Lanxon
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7 May 2026, 11:45 pm - 1 hour 7 minutesTNW 435: Inside the Musk-Altman Trial With Jacob Ward - Tech Leaders Facing Off in Court
Jacob Ward of The Rip Current joins Mikah Sargent on Tech News Weekly! Jacob shares firsthand impressions from the Elon Musk v. OpenAI trial. Razr unveiled the latest iterations of its foldable phones. And Microsoft released the earliest known DOS source code to the public!
- Jacob just returned from covering the Elon Musk v. OpenAI trial in person! He shared his experience getting inside the courthouse to cover the trial and shares firsthand observations from the courtroom.
- Patrick Holland of CNET stops by to talk about the new Razr foldable phones, his first impressions with the devices, and laments the price hikes with the phones.
- And Mikah shares how Microsoft has released the earliest known DOS source code on GitHub - a collection of 870+ pages of dot matrix-printed assembler listings from the early 1980's!
Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Jacob Ward
Guest: Patrick Holland
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30 April 2026, 10:30 pm - 1 hour 5 minutesTNW 434: Is This Framework's Linux MacBook? - Framework's Take on the Pro Laptop
Amanda Silberling joins Mikah Sargent on this episode of Tech News Weekly! Amanda is impressed with ChatGPT's Images 2.0 model. Some companies and tech giants are pushing back on stricter emissions reporting rules. Unauthorized users have accessed Anthropic's new Mythos AI model. And Framework announces its Laptop 13 Pro.
- Amanda talks about ChatGPT's Images 2.0 model and how it's a huge improvement in generating text compared to other image-generating AI models.
- Mikah shares how more than 60 companies, including Apple & Amazon, are pushing back on the possible tightening of emissions reporting standards as the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, a global standard-setter, looks to tamp down on greenwashing risks.
- Mikah also talks about how unauthorized users have accessed Anthropic's Mythos Model, setting up the possibility of dangerous cyberattacks down the road, as the AI model is more powerful than other models easily accessible to the public.
- And Sean Hollister of The Verge joins the show again to talk about Framework's new Laptop 13 Pro that Framework CEO Nirav Patel says is "the MacBook Pro for Linux users."
Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Amanda Silberling
Guest: Sean Hollister
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23 April 2026, 10:30 pm - 1 hour 15 minutesTNW 433: A $399 AI Deer That Texts You - Crazy Lore Behind an AI Companion
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy of The Verge joins Mikah Sargent this week on Tech News Weekly! How AI is helping elders stay independent & provide companionship. How Apple and Google's app stores are pushing users toward deepfake nude apps, per an organization's report. And inside the crazy backstory behind an AI plush companion.
- Jennifer talks about Samsung's newest updates to its SmartThings Family Care service and how technology and AI are increasingly being used to help take care of elderly people & provide companionship.
- Mikah talks about a report from the Tech Transparency Project that found both Apple & Google's app stores that host & direct users to apps that generate non-consensual nude images of women.
- And Victoria Song of The Verge joins the show to share her review of a $399 AI companion and her very unique experience with the device overall.
Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Guest: Victoria Song
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16 April 2026, 10:15 pm - 1 hour 41 minutesTNW 432: How Wrong Are Google's AI Overviews? - Is Google's AI Overview Reliable?
Amanda Silberling of TechCrunch joins Mikah Sargent on this episode of Tech News Weekly! How accurate are Google's AI Overviews? The usage of AI in investigative journalism. Artemis 2! And what Apple's next 50 years could look like.
- Mikah talks about a New York Times report that looks into the accuracy of Google's AI Overviews, which pull information from a group of various sources, from news articles to tabloids, and even social media posts.
- Amanda is fascinated by some tech reporters' slow adoption of utilizing AI in their journalistic process after coming across an article on the discovery of Bitcoin's creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.
- Rod Pyle of This Week in Space joins the show to talk about the Artemis II space mission!
- And Scott Stein of CNET chats with Mikah about Apple's first 50 years and what the next 50 years may look like for the company.
Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Amanda Silberling
Guests: Rod Pyle and Scott Stein
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9 April 2026, 11:30 pm - 48 minutes 5 secondsTNW 431: iPhone Hacking Tools Go Public - DarkSword & Coruda Puts Older iOS Users at Risk
Abrar Al-Heeti joins Mikah Sargent this week! Meta is in dispute with the Motion Picture Association. Anthropic accidentally leaks Claude Code's source code. Apple is continuing to extend updates to those affected by the DarkSword exploit. And Meta & YouTube are found liable for having features that are addictive for younger users.
- Abrar talks about Meta's deal with the Motion Picture Association to scale back the use of film ratings when describing its teen accounts.
- Mikah shares how Anthropic's Claude code was leaked, unveiling some next-gen AI coding features.
- Mikah gives an update on the DarkSword and Coruna exploit tools that utilize zero-day vulnerabilities in iOS 18.
- And both Meta and YouTube were found liable for some of their features that make their social media platforms addictive for younger users, having to pay millions in fines.
Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Abrar Al-Heeti
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2 April 2026, 10:20 pm - 58 minutes 52 secondsTNW 430: Understanding the US Router Ban - What the Ban on Consumer Foreign-Made Routers Means For You
Dan Moren joins Mikah Sargent on Tech News Weekly! Rumors of iOS 27 are slowly making the rounds, with Apple's planned AI reboot. A look inside the lawsuit between Halide co-founders. The US just banned consumer routers made outside of the US. And NASA unveiled its initiatives to return back to the Moon.
- Dan talks about the rumors of iOS 27 and Apple's planned AI refresh, alongside a new "Ask Siri" feature, that will be part of the unveiling of iOS 27 & macOS 27 at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference later in June.
- Mikah goes a bit deeper into the lawsuit that Lux co-founder Ben Sandofsky brought against Sebastiaan de With over financial misconduct and bringing source code with them over to Apple.
- Sean Hollister of The Verge joins the show to talk about the US's ban on imports of new foreign-made consumer routers and explains what the ban is seeking to do.
- And Mikah explains NASA's initiatives and plans to return to the Moon, and what NASA plans to do once they return.
Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Dan Moren
Guest: Sean Hollister
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26 March 2026, 11:00 pm - 1 hour 8 minutesTNW 429: DarkSword Puts Hundreds of Millions at Risk - The Internet's Reaction to NVIDIA's DLSS 5
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy of The Verge joins Mikah Sargent this week on Tech News Weekly! IKEA's smart home products are not quite there yet. NVIDIA unveiled DLSS 5 at GTC 2026 and faced backlash from within the gaming community. A powerful iPhone-hacking technique has been discovered to take over devices running iOS 18. And some updates on the probes into Tesla's and hands-free driving systems.
- Jennifer shares her experience using IKEA's newest smart home products utilizing the Matter-over-Thread protocol, expressing her concerns and frustrations with trying to connect them to any smart home platform.
- Mikah talks about Nvidia's DLSS 5 that was unveiled at GTC 2026, and the criticism & memes it has faced since its unveiling.
- Andy Greenberg of WIRED joins the show to talk about a tool that has been discovered, called DarkSword, that can hack into millions of iPhones running iOS 18.
- And Mikah chats about hands-free driving technology in vehicles and NHTSA's probe into Tesla and Ford's hands-free driving systems.
Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Guest: Andy Greenberg
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19 March 2026, 11:00 pm - 58 minutes 12 secondsTNW 428: Live Nation Settles With the DOJ - Live Nation's Antitrust Settlement Disappointment
Dan Moren of SixColors joins Mikah Sargent again on Tech News Weekly! Grammarly is facing a class action lawsuit over its AI "Expert Review" feature. Live Nation's settlement with the DOJ does very little. A recap of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. And China is obsessed with OpenClaw AI.
- Dan talks about a class-action lawsuit brought against Grammarly and its company, Superhuman, over its AI "Expert Review" feature that offered editing suggestions as if they came from various authors and academics, without their consent.
- Mikah, and many others, are perplexed at the DOJ's settlement with Live Nation Entertainment and what little Live Nation had to concede as part of the settlement.
- Abrar Al-Heeti of CNET stops by to share her experience at MWC (Mobile World Congress) in Barcelona and what she and her CNET colleagues saw there.
- And Mikah shares about China's obsession with the OpenClaw AI craze and how users are utilizing the AI agent.
Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Dan Moren
Guest: Abrar Al-Heeti
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12 March 2026, 10:15 pm - 1 hour 2 minutesTNW 427: 'We See Everything': Meta's AI Workers Speak - AI Glasses: Who's Watching?
Dan Moren of SixColors joins Mikah Sargent this week on Tech News Weekly! Apple announced a whole new slew of products throughout the week, including the new MacBook Neo! A look into how Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses collect data. And how Google's new proposed system for apps could change the App Store game.
- Dan and Mikah discuss the slew of new products Apple announced this week: the iPhone 17e, M4 iPad Air, M5 MacBook Air, M5 MacBook Pro, and the new MacBook Neo.
- Mikah talks about Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses and how overseas workers are reviewing the data collected from the glasses, and how these workers are being exposed to deeply private video footage.
- And Leah Nylen, Antitrust Reporter for Bloomberg, joins the show to talk about Google's new system for apps on its Android phones to allow easier access for rivals as a result of the settlement between Google and Epic Games and fines in the EU as a result of the Digital Markets Act.
Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Dan Moren
Guest: Leah Nylen
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