SciTech Culture Digicosm

Steve and Ben discuss the conviction of former President Donald Trump in the New York hush money case, potential causes of what accelerates the spread of misinformation, as well as Microsoft’s recent announcements of their new line of Surface devices with ARM-based Snapdragon chips that can rival Apple’s M-Series chips.

Steve and Ben discuss Open AI’s announcement of GPT-4o, the new version of its generative AI tool that appears to be much more conversational and interpersonal in its interactions with users. Steve and Ben also discuss Bumble using AI to assist in making the perfect couple, Microsoft’s Be My Eyes AI tool to assist blind customers, and Interprefy’s new AI powered live language translation tool.

Steve and Ben discuss the recent controversies and backlash generated by Apple’s iPad Pro Crush video by creatives, and by Jerry Seinfeld speaking out against woke PC crap while out promoting his new Netflix film, Unfrosted.

Steve and Ben discuss Taylor Swift’s new album The Tortured Poet’s Department and the reaction by the internet, the leaking of carbon and oxygen from Venus, Apple’s plan to open up the NFC chip on the iPhone to third party payment providers and banks, and the furore generated by MKBHD’s negative review of the Humane AI Pin.

Steve and Ben discuss how the recent solar eclipse led to a spike in Google searches on why people’s eyes were hurting. They also discuss the Jewel at Singapore Changi Airport, the fallout from the Kate Middleton photo controversy, late stage Simpsons episodes still packing a cultural punch, and Microsoft and Qualcomm promising new PCs on ARM chips that can rival Apple’s offerings.

Steve and Ben discuss the escalating controversy around the Kate Middleton family photo doctoring scandal, the threats from Facebook to walk away from news content deals in countries like Australia and Canada, how shooting video or film with a square aspect ratio is quite rare and difficult to accomplish well, and how certain cinemas are selling tickets to hot movies such as Dune Part Two with escalated pricing.