Total Leo (Audio)

After a year tangled in political drama, AI hype, and regulation battles, the TWiT crew explains how many of tech's "biggest stories" simply fizzled into nothing or left us with new headaches by year's end. Year-end tech trends: AI, politics, and security dominated 2025 Major stories faded fast: TikTok saga, political tech drama, DOGE scandal TikTok's ownership battle—Oracle, Trump donors, and US-China tensions China tech fears: banned drones, IoT vulnerabilities, secret radios in buses Rising political pressure for internet privacy and media literacy reform Surveillance and kill switch concerns in US grid and port infrastructure Convenience vs. privacy: Americans trade data for discounts and ease Age verification, surveillance, and flawed facial recognition across countries Discord's ID leak highlights risks of rushed compliance with privacy laws Social media's impact on kids pushes age-gating and verification laws ISPs monetize customer data, VPNs pitched for personal privacy Global government crackdowns: UK bans VPN advertising, mandates age checks The illusion of absolute privacy: flawed age gates and persistent tracking AI takes over: explosive growth, but profits elusive for big players Arms race in LLMs: DeepSeek's breakthrough, OpenAI/Meta talent bidding war Ad-driven models still rule; Amazon's playbook repeated in AI Humanoid robots and AGI hype: skepticism vs. Silicon Valley optimism AI-generated art, media, and the challenge of deepfake detection Social platforms falter: Instagram and X swamped by fake or low-value content Google's legal, regulatory, and technical woes: ad tech trial, Manifest V3 backlash RAM price spikes and hardware shortages blamed on AI data center demand YouTube overtakes mobile for podcast and video viewing, Oscars move online The internet's growth: Cloudflare stats, X vs. Reddit, spam domain trends Weird tech stories: hacked crosswalks, Nintendo Switch 2 Staplegate, LEGO theft ring Sad farewell: Lamar Wilson's passing and mental health awareness in tech Reflections on the year's turbulence and hopes for a better 2026 Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Mikah Sargent, Paris Martineau, and Steve Gibson Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: expressvpn.com/twit zscaler.com/security Melissa.com/twit ventionteams.com/twit auraframes.com/ink

Forget the "AI is killing the planet" panic—this episode unpacks what's actually driving tech's power grab, the financial bubble no one wants to talk about, and why the big models are starting to look eerily similar. CJ Trowbridge - cjtrowbridge.com - https://www.tiktok.com/@cjtrowbridge Gemini 3 Flash: frontier intelligence built for speed The new ChatGPT Images is here | OpenAI Last Week on My Mac: How good is AI at solving Mac problems? Time Magazine's 'Person of the Year': the Architects of AI - Slashdot OpenAI are quietly adopting skills, now available in ChatGPT and Codex CLI "I was forced to use AI until the day I was laid off." Copywriters reveal how AI has decimated their industry Roomba Maker iRobot Files for Bankruptcy, With Chinese Supplier Taking Control Coursera to buy Udemy, creating $2.5 billion firm to target AI training Purdue University Approves New AI Requirement For All Undergrads It's beginning to look a lot like (AI) Christmas Trump Pretends To Block State AI Laws; Media Pretends That's Legal This major cruise line just banned Meta Ray-Ban and other smart glasses — is this category already doomed? Woman Hailed as Hero for Smashing Man's Meta Smart Glasses on Subway Oscars Bolts from ABC to YouTube Starting in 2029 When AI Takes the Couch: Psychometric Jailbreaks Reveal Internal Conflict in Frontier Models Simulating Life Paths with Digital Twins: AI-Generated Future Selves Influence Decision-Making and Expand Human Choice The worst person in tech bracket Banned fonts Subway bagel rats Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Paris Martineau Guest: CJ Trowbridge Download or subscribe to Intelligent Machines at https://twit.tv/shows/intelligent-machines. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: agntcy.org auraframes.com/ink

We were inundated with new Windows features in 2025, but which ones actually moved the needle? Fortnite isn't just back on iPhone and Android, it's available on Windows 11 on Arm, and it works great! Plus, 2 big mobile wins for Epic Games and some thoughts on the "right" way to roll out AI features.Windows 11 Best Windows 11 updates of 2025, in no particular order... Dark mode improvements to File Explorer Widgets major overhaul with separate widgets and Discovery feed Xbox Full Screen experience - especially good on handhelds, of course, but also any PC you use for gaming with a controller Click to Do (Copilot+ PC only) External fingerprint reader support for Windows Hello ESS -External/USB webcams supported by Windows Studio Effects (Copilot+ PC only) Quick Machine Recovery is the tip of a wave of new foundational features like Admin Protection, Smart App Control (updates), and more that go beyond surface-level look and feel Redesigned Start menu isn't perfect but it's a nice improvement Copilot Vision, though this type of thing may make more sense on phones AI features in Paint, Photos, Notepad, and Snipping Tool Natural language interactions like the agent in Settings, file search, and more (mostly Copilot+ PC only, but you can do this in Copilot as well) Bluetooth LE support for improved audio quality in game chat, voice calls Gaming on Windows 11 on Arm and Snapdragon X: Major steps forward, but the same issue as always Looking ahead to 2026: 26H1, Agentic features that work, potential Windows 12, and AI PCs AI An extensive new interview with Mustafa Suleyman confirms why this guy is special and how confusing it is that Copilot is so disrespected Microsoft Copilot is auto-installing on LG smart TVs and there's no way to remove it GPT-5.2 is OpenAI's answer to Gemini 3 ChatGPT Images is OpenAI's answer to Nano Banana Pro Disney invests $1 billion OpenAI, sues Google Opera Neon is now generally available for $20 per month AI is moving quick as we all know but the bigger issue may be the incessant marketing about features like agents that don't even work now Microsoft is getting pushback on forced Copilot usage, price hikes Google is expanding its use of "experiments" outside of mainstream products with things like NotebookLM, Mixboard, CC, and much more. Maybe this is the better approach: Test separately and then integrate it into existing products Oddly enough, Microsoft does have a Windows AI Lab for this kind of experimentation Many small models vs. one big LLM in the cloud Mobile Fortnite is back in the Google Play Store in the U.S. as Google plays nice Apple loses its contempt appeal, the end of "junk fees" (Apple Tax) is in sight Xbox and gaming Xbox December Update has one big update for the mobile app and one big update for Xbox Wireless Headphones There's a new Xbox Developer Direct coming in January Half-Life 3 may really be happening, but it will be a Steam Machine launch title so it could be a while Tips & picks Tip of the year: De-enshittify Windows 11 App pick of the year: Fortnite RunAs Radio this week: Zero Trust in 2026 with Michele Bustamante Brown liquor pick of the week: Lark Symphony No. 1 These show notes have been truncated due to length. For the full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/963 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Sponsors: auraframes.com/ink framer.com/design promo code WW outsystems.com/twit cachefly.com/twit

Australia's nationwide social media ban has put tech's age verification tools under the spotlight, exposing the flaws and privacy risks in today's facial detection systems and sparking worldwide debate about what's coming for the rest of us. Home Depot's puzzling reluctance to close a bad hole. GNOME's shell extension manager is unhappy with AI. How attacks on open source repositories compares in 2025. China's researchers have taken aim at the US power grid. How bad has the React2Shell vulnerability turned out to be. More new React vulnerabilities. Apple moves to iOS 26.2. Let's Encrypt's crosses into one billion servers managed. A DNS Benchmark update. Some interesting listener feedback, then... How things going with Australia's social media ban and what we are learning https://www.grc.com/sn/SN-1056-Notes.pdf Hosts: Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte Download or subscribe to Security Now at https://twit.tv/shows/security-now. 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. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: zapier.com/securitynow threatlocker.com/twit joindeleteme.com/twit promo code TWIT veeam.com bitwarden.com/twit

Apple releases OS 26.2 right before the holidays! Pluribus becomes Apple TV's most-watched show ever. And why you should consider backing up more of your stuff locally. Apple releases OS 26.2 updates. With iOS 26.2, Apple lets you roll back Liquid Glass again — this time on the Lock Screen. 26.2: Here are the security fixes for all of Apple's operating systems. tvOS 26.2 brings kids mode to the Apple TV app. iOS 26.3 beta reveals how Apple plans to handle EU-required notification forwarding. Apple loses its appeal of a scathing contempt ruling in iOS payments case. Japan law opening phone app stores to go into effect. Pluribus becomes Apple TV's most watched show ever. Cadillac and Chevy are getting native Apple Music. Apple buys two new buildings in Cupertino, topping $1B spend. UK to push for nudity-blocking software on devices to protect children. 20 years of digital life, gone in an instant, thanks to Apple. Picks of the Week Jason's Pick: Fosi Audio BT20A Pro Bluetooth 5.0 Amplifier Andy's Pick: "Will Return" Screensaver Hosts: Leo Laporte, Andy Ihnatko, and Jason Snell Download or subscribe to MacBreak Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/macbreak-weekly. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: framer.com/design promo code MACBREAK outsystems.com/twit auraframes.com/ink