Okay, I know you came in here for Tech news, but I thought we’d do something a little different. Okay, pick a card, any card. Wait, wait, where you going? Don’t leave! Fine, fine, fine, we’ll do Tech news. Was this your card though? YouTube’s war on ad blockers has entered a new phase.
Over the weekend, YouTube videos appeared to be buffering significantly slower when an ad blocker is enabled. Users flocked to a video posted on Reddit showing this effect. Interestingly, the issue has also been reported by YouTube premium users, or at least the ones that also use ad block. For some reason, you know, just in case. You know, to catch any stranglers. You never have too much protection.
YouTube’s war on ad blockers is real and it can hurt you if you use ad block. PC Gamer tested this themselves and found that their CPU usage increased by 177% when loading a YouTube video with an ad blocker enabled. YouTube rolled out personalized ads last summer and viewers need to see those personalized ads, okay? That’s important!
In other news, Apple is running out of time to add support for third-party app stores, side loading, and alternative payment systems to iOS. They have until March 7th to comply with the EU’s Digital Markets Act. According to Mark Gurman, the high sear of catino court, Apple plans to split the iOS app store in two. The EU version would have all the cool new stuff, while Apple users everywhere else would still be imprisoned inside the walled garden. At least it smells nice in there, right?
In more Apple news, it looks like the way that Apple would get around the pesky sales ban on the Apple Watch 9 and Ultra 2 is by removing the features that infringed on Masimo’s patents. So once the dust is settled on this whole issue, you might only be able to find those Apple Watch models without the ability to measure blood oxygen. And at that point, is it even worth it? I need to know how much oxygen is in my blood. I need to know if my blood is worth anything!
Researchers at Anthropit, one of the biggest AI companies, co-published a paper on the weekend showing that it’s possible to train large language models, or at least Anthropit’s Clau chatbot, to act deceptively when certain conditions like the presence of specific phrases were met. The models could even be trained to produce good code when told that the current year is 2023, but produce code with exploitable vulnerabilities if informed that it’s currently 2024. That’s not good.
Now it’s time for quick bits brought to you by Delete Me, the company that will help you find hundreds of online profiles while sharing your personal information and obliterate it. Because that information could be used by scammers to bombard you with robo-calls and spam emails.
In more tech news, despite American export bans, Chinese government and military entities are apparently still managing to get a hold of small batches of Nvidia semiconductors. According to records seen by Reuters, these chips include the powerful A100 and H100, as well as the duller A800 and H800. Nvidia has made another different version of the H100 for export to China. We just don’t know how they’re getting these.
Microsoft announced today that it is introducing co-pilot, specifically, it’s expanding its Microsoft 365 office AI features to non-business users for the first time for a $20 co-pilot Pro subscription.
Sharp showed off a working prototype of a cell display in a secretive demo at CES. Cell stands for Quantum Dot Electroluminescent, and it’s a technology that removes the need for a Quantum Dot display to have any LEDs involved at all.
AI is fueling innovation in the industry of bizarre Amazon product names. Researchers with the Chinese military claim they are developing a low-temperature plasma shield similar to energy barriers found in science fiction in order to block enemy radiation, such as high-powered microwave attacks. It’s also very similar to tech that NASA was looking into in the 60s and that they determined wasn’t really worth taking any further.
That’s it for the tech news today. Join us again for more tech news on Wednesday. But if you’re into nose zaps, I don’t know if we’re comfortable giving you one. We’ll see how we feel on Wednesday.
