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This week, Microsoft Azure is going Three Mile Island, Nintendo is not making new Pals, SocialAI is not making new pals, and Runway is making new films.

Participants

Scott Ertz

Host

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram Piltch

Host

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.

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Three Mile Island no longer just a pejorative, now an AI power plant

For decades, the name Three Mile Island has been a pejorative slur for disaster. The expression "going Three Mile Island" has meant either something that has gone so far off the rails that it's unsalvageable or someone who has gotten so mad they need to be abandoned. No one has wanted to be associated with the name for any reason. That all changed this week with Microsoft's announcement that they are going to brave the waters and reopen the nuclear power plant to keep its AI operations more energy independent.

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Nintendo sues Palworld devs for patent infringement, not copyright

Ever since its introduction, Palworld has been destined for a showdown with Nintendo and The Pokémon Company. Out of the box, the game was described as "Pokémon with guns," essentially guaranteeing that they would be targeted eventually. This week, The Pokémon Company and Nintendo finally filed the inevitable lawsuit, however making a surprising claim. While everyone expected a copyright or IP infringement violation, the lawsuit alleges a violation of a patent.

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SocialAI looks to remove the social and network from social networking

If you have spent any time on social media in recent months, you might have noticed that a lot of the interaction appears to be nonsense. That's because the use of AI-powered bots has increased, both in positive and negative ways. This behavior has led to a theory, "Dead Internet Theory," that suggests that the internet is increasingly becoming sterile and lifeless because of the bots. Seemingly attempting to prove this theory correct is new solo social networking platform SocialAI, in which you are the only human.

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Runway to train AI video production model on all Lionsgate content

The past 2 years has turned Hollywood against itself over the topic of AI in video production. Some people think that AI can help speed up production, from voiceovers to video and script creation. Others fear that their jobs will be in jeopardy due to the technology. While still others worry that taking the humanity out of the art form will remove the art aspect and turn the film industry into a factory. Lionsgate has made its position known with a new relationship with AI company Runway.

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This week, Alexa is getting smarter, Concord is losing gamers, Yelp has Google in its sights, and TikTok could be liable for Blackout Challenge death.

Participants

Scott Ertz

Host

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram Piltch

Host

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.

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Amazon's Upgraded Alexa Plus: Release Date, Pricing, and New Features

Last year, Amazon announced that an upgrade was coming to the company's digital assistant, Alexa. The move came at a strange time for the company, as Alexa's future was up in the air. The new upgrade will focus on producing answers that the company hopes will be more relevant using generative AI. Unlike the standard Alexa service, however, this one will not be made available for free. But, if the rumors are correct, this upcharged service will be available soon.

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Sony's Concord: A disastrous launch marred by lackluster content

The entire gaming segment of the internet is talking about Sony's recently released multiplayer hero shooter Concord. Normally, this would be a good thing for a newly released videogame, but for Sony this could spell disaster. That's because the conversation is around the potential failure that is Concord.

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Yelp vs. Google: The antitrust battle over local search dominance

Yelp has filed suit against Google once again, this time claiming that the company has continually abused its market position to dominate the locals market. This is not the first time the companies have fought in court over local data and search results, but this one appears to be looking to harm Google's trust more than getting them to stop stealing data.

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TikTok sued over Blackout Challenge: Section 230 immunity challenged

TikTok is known for a lot of things, but its bizarre trends and challenges have become its most controversial. From the more tame trends like the Cinnamon Challenge to incredibly dangerous trends like the Tide Pod Challenge, TikTok has promoted a number of odd things. One of the more dangerous trends was the Blackout Challenge in 2022, which led to several deaths. This week, a court ruled that Section 230 does not insulate the company from fault in relation to the deaths from the Blackout Challenge.

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This week, Anova is changing its charge, Fortnite is back on iPhone, Cox is headed to the Supreme Court, and Kim Dotcom is headed to the US.

Participants

Scott Ertz

Host

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram Piltch

Host

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.

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Anova to start charging for currently free companion app for cookers

In a rising trend among tech companies, connected cooking device company Anova has announced that new user accounts created starting August 21, 2024, will be charged a $2 per month fee. This is a change from the current policy, which includes the application as part of the device's purchase price. Users who already have an account before that date will not be required to pay the fee as a "thank you" for helping the company get started.

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Fortnite is finally back on iPhone, but not for most customers

After years of battle between Epic Games and Apple, the popular battle royale title Fortnite has finally returned to the iPhone. Joining the game itself is the all-new Epic Games Store, which is now available to iPhone users, bringing access to games and services that may not be available through the native App Store. But, unfortunately, they are only available to iPhone users in the European Union, leaving out much of the overall customer base.

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Cox petitions Supreme Court to prevent disconnections over piracy

Cox Communications, one of the largest ISPs in the United States, has petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn a previous ruling requiring the disconnection of users accused of piracy. The original case, brought about by Sony, found that Cox had not adequately worked to prevent its users from breaking the law on their network, particularly by terminating the accounts of those who abuse the service.

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Kim Dotcom extradited to the US 12 years after Megaupload arrests

After more than a decade, Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom may finally be extradited to the United States. The New Zealand Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has officially signed an extradition order for the infamous site owner. However, the extradition is not guaranteed as Dotcom still has some options, and has vowed to continue fighting.

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This week, phones could unlock faster, game streaming is getting more complex, CrowdStrike took down the internet, and Netflix wants you to change plans.

Participants

Scott Ertz

Host

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram Piltch

Host

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.

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FCC wants a 60-day phone unlocking window, sparked by T-Mobile policy

If you have ever tried to sell a phone purchased directly from a carrier or tried to keep your phone while switching providers, you have likely experienced the process of unlocking that device. It can be an annoying process that can require going into a carrier store, as I recently had to do. However, the biggest challenge is that each carrier handles if and when you can unlock that device differently. That could all change, if a Federal Communication Commission proposal, which would require carriers to unlock devices at 60 days, goes through.

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Game Pass price increases while GeForce Now goes down amid partnership

It's been a strange couple of weeks for videogame streaming. It started with Microsoft announcing a shuffling of the Xbox Game Pass system, including another price increase. Then, Nvidia announced a price decrease (at least temporarily) on GeForce Now, possibly as a tease aimed at Microsoft. But, then a strange announcement that Xbox could launch GeForce Now games from the website, thanks to a new partnership.

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CrowdStrike takes down corporate Windows computers across the world

In a world increasingly reliant on digital infrastructure, the recent global system failure attributed to CrowdStrike's software update has raised significant concerns about cybersecurity and the robustness of global IT systems. The incident, which primarily affected Windows PCs, has not only highlighted the vulnerabilities inherent in widespread technology but also the interconnected nature of modern software platforms.

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Netflix's Strategic Shift: The end of the ad-free Basic plan

In a move that reflects the evolving landscape of digital streaming services, Netflix announced the discontinuation of its ad-free Basic plan, a decision that marks the end of an era for the streaming giant's most economical, commercial-free offering. This change comes as part of a broader strategy to restructure its pricing tiers, compelling customers to embrace the ad-supported Standard Plan at $6.99 or opt for higher-priced, ad-free subscriptions. Now, customers who were on the Basic plan in the United States and France are being forced to choose another plan or lose their accounts.

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This week, Amazon ends the Astro robot, Nintendo ends the Wii U console, hackers end your security, and Paramount+ ends its independence.

Participants

Scott Ertz

Host

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram Piltch

Host

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.

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Amazon to brick all Astro robots, pivoting to a consumer focus

Amazon is known for some bonkers product ideas. One of the more inexplicable products was the Astro robot - a product announced in 2021 that had a huge $2350 price tag and seemingly absolutely no point, or at the best case, no focus. Now, Amazon has informed internal staff that those who made the very large purchase will be left with a bricked robot in just a few months.

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Wii U has ended its support life, with Nintendo no longer repairing

The Wii U was certainly Nintendo's most controversial console in history. It divided people from the moment it was announced at E3 2011. Would the screen make the gaming experience better, or would it simply be a distraction? In the end, the console nearly sank the company, with record losses hitting their bottom line before recovering with the Switch. Now, the company has finally put the console out to pasture, as official repairs have ended at Nintendo.

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Largest data dump of passwords ever hit the internet on July 4th

In a staggering revelation, researchers at Cybernews have uncovered what they're calling the largest password compilation ever. The file, titled rockyou2024.txt and released on the Fourth of July, emerged on a popular hacking forum, posted by a user known as ObamaCare. Within this file lies a mind-boggling 9,948,575,739 unique plaintext passwords. This means that there is no encryption and anyone can read the database directly. This collection is the largest database of passwords ever released, making this an unprecedented attack on public safety and security.

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Paramount+ is available for merger again, with MAX possibly interested

Once again, the fate of Paramount is up in the air. The company has struggled in recent years to catch on to modern television trends, perfect its streaming offerings, and produce and maintain programming. Either the company is stretching itself too thin, or they are in over their heads. As such, the company has looked at various options, including selling the company. Now, reports suggest that the goal is not so much to sell the entire company, but to find a company to merge their streaming operations with.

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This week, AI is coming for your data, Adult Swim is giving back games, the EU is investigating Meta, and another streaming service is coming.

Participants

Scott Ertz

Host

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram Piltch

Host

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.

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AI models are coming for all of your data, personal and business

When AI technology first hit the mainstream a couple of years ago, the biggest concern came because of where the data came from. It appeared that the models were being trained on data that the companies behind them didn't have permission to train off of. They were scraping websites, blogs, newspapers, artist portfolios, music libraries, and more to train their data. While that was a violation of copyrights in many cases, the next generation of AI is going to find its data in new and even scarier places - your devices.

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Adult Swim Games to return discontinued store listings to developers

A couple of months ago, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) announced that they would be shuttering 16 of the titles under the Adult Swim Games brand. The announcement meant that those titles would no longer be available to play and the games themselves would be lost to time. Now, the company has announced that they have come to an agreement with the independent developers whose games were on the chopping block to return the IP to their creators.

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Meta under investigation in the EU for DSA violations against minors

This week, the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, initiated an investigation into Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. The Commission believes that the company and its social networks have not done enough to prevent harm to minors and to verify that minors are not able to access aspects of the company's offerings that they are prohibited from according to the Digital Services Act (DSA).

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Venu Sports is yet another streaming services aimed at sports fans

Bad news everyone! There is yet another streaming service headed your way to steal your money and attention. This service, called Venu Sports, is a partnership between Disney (which owns ABC and ESPN), Fox (which owns Fox Sports), and Warner Bros. Discovery (which owns TBS and TNT). Together, Venu Sports hopes to be your one-stop shop for all things sports without a cable subscription, but there are some notable exceptions that might make that a difficult proposition.

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This week, Apple Vision Pro ships less, Garry's Mod cuts Nintendo content, the FCC revives Net Neutrality, and TikTok's time is almost up.

Participants

Scott Ertz

Host

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram Piltch

Host

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.

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Apple's XR ambitions may be over as shipments cut for Vision Pro

When Apple announced its ambitious Vision Pro headset, reactions were mixed, to say the least. Apple envisioned people using the product similarly to an iPhone, wearing these dystopian isolation headsets all day Potential users, on the other hand, saw them as an occasional toy. Because of that disparity, it appears that Apple had ordered too many devices for the demand, and that is being corrected.

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Nintendo-based content being removed from Garry's Mod Steam Workshop

Garry's Mod, the popular game design workshop available through Steam, has begun removing content containing anything Nintendo-related. This comes following a takedown notice from Nintendo, as confirmed by the Garry's Mod team. The Steam Workshop contains user-made content spanning 2 decades, making this a long and arduous process.

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Net Neutrality is back, and ISPs seem not to know how to feel about it

Over the past 2 decades, the topic of Net Neutrality has come up a number of times. In the early 2000s, the US had a time-limited set of rules, known publicly as Net Neutrality. When those expired, early in the existence of PLUGHITZ Live, a long-running debate was reignited: should the internet be regulated and, if so, by whom? The FTC has claimed power, but that was short-lived. The FCC has claimed power, but that has been struck down twice. Now, the FCC has tried once again to claim authority over the Internet, and the chaos that brings has already begun.

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TikTok timer has been started - nine months to sell or shut down

In the past two weeks, the US House of Representatives and the US Senate passed a bill with a timer for TikTok, and President Biden signed it into law. This law sets a timer of 9 months for ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, to sell the social network to a Western company or face an outright ban in the US. If it feels like you're living in a time warp, it's because you sort of are. We've been here before, but this time it looks as if the result will be different.

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This week, Alexa Skills are in trouble, Pokémon Violet leads to jail, Broadband Labels are here, and Star Trek: Lower Decks is going.

Participants

Scott Ertz

Host

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram Piltch

Host

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.

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Amazon's Alexa dreams are coming to an end with end of Skills program

When Amazon first launched Alexa and the accompanying speakers, the company intended for the ecosystem to be the center of a user's digital home life - a similar goal to Steve Ballmer's pivot for the Xbox brand. However, despite the company's constant push into new hardware and new concepts, Alexa is still the system you use to turn on your lights and check the weather. As such, Amazon is scaling back its goals and dropping incentives for developers.

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Pokémon Violet save data threatens Japanese man with 5 years in jail

In the world of Pokémon, one of the most popular parts of the game is collecting the full Pokedex. However, anyone who has regularly played any of the games in the series knows that it can be a challenge. There are rare creatures that are hard to find. In some games, like Pokémon GO, some creatures are location-locked, meaning you have to go to another country or continent to find them. This creates a scenario for people to obtain these creatures through illicit means, and that could land you in prison, as it might for one Japanese man.

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Broadband Labels are here to explain your internet bill details

If you're anything like I am, you've had the same internet service provider (ISP) for years. Sure, I've upgraded plans in that time - 100 Mbps was the maximum you could get when I signed up - but the provider has always been the same. This has been, in large part, because it's a massive challenge to wade through the details of ISP plans when everyone uses marketing terms rather than industry terms to describe their services. At least with the same provider, you know what the words mean. Now Broadband Labels are here to make that comparison between services easier with consistent naming and descriptions - just like the panel on the side of your favorite cereal.

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Golden Era of Star Trek streaming may be over with new cancelation

Over the past few years, Star Trek has seen a renaissance of sorts. This has been the first time since the late 1990s that there have been so many active projects within the Star Trek Universe. But, there has been a fear that, like any bubble, it would eventually pop. The past year has seen the end of several projects, and confusion over one, leading to fears that the burst might happen soon. This week, during Paramount's CinemaCon presentation, it was revealed that fan-favorite Star Trek: Lower Decks will end after its upcoming 5th season.

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This week, Apple and Epic are at it again, Adult Swim is killing off some games, TikTok's clock is ticking, and NYT says it didn't hack ChatGPT.

Participants

Scott Ertz

Host

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram Piltch

Host

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.

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Epic Games and Apple continue fight on same front in the EU and US

Apple hates Epic Games - there is no doubt about that. The company has created policies and procedures to target the popular game studio and publisher specifically. In fact, Apple's heavy-handed approach to their platforms and to Epic Games in particular has led states, countries, and even the EU, to look into their practices and craft new laws around them. In the past few weeks, some of the original actions that spurred the whole battle between titans came back up when Apple banned Epic's developer account for a day, but quickly reversed course.

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Adult Swim Games to delist 16 titles, causing trouble for developers

The reality of the modern gaming industry is one of constant change with ups and downs. Many of those downs come about when a game, which many people poured their hearts and souls into while designing, developing, and playing, is shut down. Everyone in that chain is affected in some way - some more than others. This week, developers and players alike were left disappointed to discover that Adult Swim Games, under the leadership of Warner Bros. Discovery, was planning to delist 16 games from marketplaces in the coming weeks.

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TikTok is back on the chopping block as House passes new security law

After a few years of silence, the US government once again has its sights set on TikTok and its Chinese-owned parent company ByteDance. Following a security briefing, the US House of Representatives quickly submitted and passed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. This bill, if passed in the Senate and signed by the President, would start a 60-day timer for ByteDance to divest its ownership in TikTok or face an outright ban in the country.

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NYT says it didn't hack ChatGPT, only exposed copyright infringement

The lawsuit between The New York Times and ChatGPT maker OpenAI has heated up in the past few weeks. After NYT cited examples of ChatGPT spitting out exact text from NYT articles. This prompted OpenAI to claim that the publication had "hacked" the system in order to get it to do things it shouldn't do. The publication has responded by claiming that it did nothing wrong, only used publicly available capabilities, and exposed ChatGPT as a system of plagiarism.

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This week, Wendy's wants dynamic prices, gaming studios lay off devs, Wikipedia doesn't trust AI, and Warner Bros. doesn't want Paramount.

Participants

Scott Ertz

Host

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram Piltch

Host

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.

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Wendy's plans to use AI to change prices dynamically starting in 2025

This week, a piece from Food & Wine brought to the internet's attention Wendy's future pricing plans. The company stated that they are investing $20 million to install new digital menu boards across the company. These boards would give the company the ability to dynamically change prices throughout the day. The move was immediately compared to the much-maligned Surge pricing from Uber, but the company claims that it has been misrepresented.

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Gaming dev layoffs continue at Sony, EA, Supermassive, and more

Following the massive layoffs at Microsoft and Activision, the industry has not slowed down. In fact, layoffs have sped up, rampaging the entire industry. Studios and publishers around the world have followed suit, laying off employees, closing studios, and canceling games.

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Wikipedia declares CNET unreliable because of AI-generated content

Generative AI has caused a lot of trouble over the past year. Articles have been published with completely false information, headlines that are distasteful at best, and images that blatantly violate intellectual property. And, all of this while likely infringing on the copyright of content producers whose content is being used to train these systems without their knowledge or approval. But one publication - CNET - seems to keep popping up as a perpetrator of these issues, and Wikipedia has taken notice.

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Warner Bros. and Paramount end their merger talks without action

The past few months have been filled with rumors and speculation about the potential merger of two of the major corporate streaming and media giants: Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount. The merger, if it had come to fruition, would have created a major rival for top streaming company: Netflix. But, talks appear to have ended before any action was taken.

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Description

This week, Apple is maliciously complying, Microsoft is laying off eSports, Google is clearing the cache, and UMG is silencing TikTok.

Participants

Scott Ertz

Host

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram Piltch

Host

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.

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Microsoft layoffs wiped out Activision Blizzard eSports team

Following the completion of its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft has laid off 1900 employees across its gaming division. This was mostly said to be a downsizing of duplicated positions following several acquisitions. However, one of the divisions that seems to have been completely wiped out is the former Activision Blizzard eSports team, which has caused various problems for the company's brands over the years.

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Google is killing its website cache, ending another web backup

For years, Google Search results have offered more than just a title, description, and link to the page. In addition, there has been a link under the result for the cached page. This link allowed you to view a website even if its server wasn't working correctly. Now, however, that option has been removed from Google Search results and the cache itself will soon be deprecated entirely.

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TikTok and UMG end relationship, muting videos on the platform

When creating content, there are a couple of ways you can handle music. You can use no music, which many users do. You can create the music yourself, which is less common. You can license the music you use, which can be costly. Or, you can use the music licensed through the platform you're using. When it comes to the last, you give up all control and leave yourself open to future copyright violations if those terms change. That is what TikTok users discovered this week after Universal Music Group (UMG) ended its relationship with the video-sharing service.

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