Tech News Weekly (Audio)

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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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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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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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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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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