Tech News Weekly (Audio)

Abrar Al-Heeti joins Mikah Sargent this week on Tech News Weekly! Google & Microsoft held developer keynotes the past few weeks, with Apple's WWDC conference happening soon. The growing crisis of AI-generated deepfakes in schools. And China's dominance in actuator manufacturing.

Abrar & Mikah chat about the stretch of major tech conferences with Google & Microsoft's tech conferences that happened in the past few weeks, as well as Apple's WWDC that is right around the corner.

Samantha Cole of 404 Media joins the show to talk about the disturbing rise of AI-generated deepfakes that are targeting students in schools and the ongoing challenges facing lawmakers, parents, and app stores in responding to the crisis.

And Mikah looks into America's growing actuator problem, with China dominating the market and the U.S. struggling to bring such a manufacturing capability back home.

Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Abrar Al-Heeti

Guest: Samantha Cole

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Dan Moren from sixcolors.com joins Mikah Sargent this week on Tech News Weekly. A new report from Mark Gurman highlights new details for iOS 27. A look into a trend in London involving phone thefts & the lengths they go to unlock stolen devices for resale. And the Vatican unveiled its new papal encyclical on artificial intelligence.

Dan talks about a new report from Mark Gurman on Bloomberg about new details for Apple's upcoming iOS 27, which highlights a revamped Siri, a new system-wide search interface, and a standalone chatbot-style Siri app with support for third-party AI models.

Mikah shares a New York Times investigation that looks into a disturbing trend in London where phone thieves are escalating beyond simple theft to pressure the victim and their family members into unlocking their stolen devices for resale.

And Jacob Ward of The Rip Current joins Mikah to break down the Vatican's new papal encyclical on artificial intelligence that was unveiled earlier this week.

Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Dan Moren

Guest: Jacob Ward

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Jennifer Pattison Tuohy joins Mikah Sargent on Tech News Weekly! Amazon is directly implementing Alexa into its flagship shopping website. Bambu Lab is in hot water over direct messages it sent to an independent developer regarding third-party software access. Google's set to release its Android XR smart glasses later this year. And Apple unveils new accessibility features for its products, now including Apple Intelligence.

Jennifer talks about Amazon integrating Alexa into Amazon.com, where you'll be able to ask Alexa questions and get more personalized answers.

Mikah discusses how Bambu Lab, maker of popular 3D printers, is facing criticism from the 3D printing community after it sent a cease-and-desist letter to a developer over a third-party app that bypassed some of Bambu's proprietary software.

WIRED's Julian Chokkattu joins the show to talk about Google's upcoming Android XR smart glasses and his hands-on experience with the device on how it handled tasks such as translation, navigation, and on-the-fly information lookup.

And Mikah shares Apple's latest announcements of new accessibility features that will be coming to its OS's later this year.

Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Jennifer Pattison Tuohy

Guest: Julian Chokkattu

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Jacob Ward joins Mikah Sargent on Tech News Weekly! More insights into the Musk vs. OpenAI trial. Everything unveiled at The Android Show: Google I/O Edition 2026. And the Canvas cyberattack.

Jacob has been covering the Musk vs. OpenAI trial since he was last on the show. He talks about the trial and some of the more interesting things that have occurred during the trial.

Jason Howell stops by to talk about everything that was unveiled at The Android Show: Google I/O Edition, a lead-up to the big Google I/O event that is taking place on May 19th.

And Mikah talks about the Canvas cyberattack that occurred on May 7th and how the company paid the ransom that the attackers were demanding from the organization.

Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Jacob Ward

Guest: Jason Howell

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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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