This Week in Tech (Audio)

Claude isn't just the hottest name in AI right now—it's quietly ushering in a wave of ultra-personalized, vibe-coded software that could transform how we build and use tech in 2026. Find out why coders and normies alike are obsessed and what's coming next.

Claude Cowork Exfiltrates Files

Behind the Curtain: The AI future has arrived

Our Algorithmic Grey-Beige World

Musk wants up to $134B in OpenAI lawsuit, despite $700B fortune

Elon Musk's Grok 'Undressing' Problem Isn't Fixed

I asked Grok's AI to undress me after X's new limits. It's still easy on the app.

Senate passes Defiance Act for a second time to address Grok deepfakes

Instagram says it fixed the issue that sent password reset emails

Instagram AI Influencers Are Defaming Celebrities With Sex Scandals

French Court Orders Popular VPNs to Block More Pirate Sites, Despite Opposition

Nearly 5 Million Accounts Removed Under Australia's New Social Media Ban

TikTok has quietly launched a new micro drama app called PineDrama as the category picks up steam in the US

Creator income inequality is rising as top influencers rake in big paydays from brands

Managers on alert for "launch fever" as pressure builds for NASA's Moon mission

Senate passes minibus bill funding NASA, rejecting Trump's proposed cuts

Pentagon Device Linked To Havana Syndrome

Zuck#: A programming language for connecting the world. And harvesting it

Amazon is buying copper harvested by bacteria for its data centers

'Are You Dead?' is now the top paid App Store app in China

Danish dev delights kid by turning floppy drive into easy TV remote

Cinemark will fill almost anything with popcorn this weekend—but there's a catch

Happy Birthday, Wikipedia: We need you now more than ever

Pluralistic: The world needs an Ireland for disenshittification (17 Jan 2026)

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Harper Reed and Abrar Al-Heeti

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Is putting a camera in your toilet the future of health, or have tech companies lost the plot? This episode's panel digs into what's truly innovative versus what's just over the top, as industry leaders spar over privacy concerns and the real impact of AI in everyday devices.

We tried to get humanoid robots to do the laundry

Boston Dynamics unveils production-ready version of Atlas robot at CES 2026

Hair Drying Robot

Jensen Huang Says Nvidia's New Vera Rubin Chips Are in 'Full Production'

AMD's Ryzen AI 400 series includes the first Copilot+ desktop CPU — Team Red refreshes Zen 5 APUs and Strix Halo

Meta's EMG wristband is moving beyond its AR glasses

Lego's Smart Brick Gives the Iconic Analog Toy a New Digital Brain

The Alexa Plus website is now available to everyone in early access

Throne, from the co-founder of Whoop, uses computer vision to study your poop

The Verge Awards at CES 2026

These are the smart home gadgets that impressed me at CES 2026

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ, Jennifer Pattison Tuohy, and Jason Hiner

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Happy New Year! NVIDIA just spent $20 billion to hollow out an AI company for its brains, while Meta and Google scramble to scoop up fresh talent before AI gets "too weird to manage." Who's winning, who's left behind, and what do these backroom deals mean for the future of artificial intelligence?

Andrej Karpathy admits programmers cannot keep pace with AI advances

Economic uncertainty in AI despite massive stock market influence

Google, Anthropic, and Microsoft drive AI productization for business and consumers

OpenAI, Claude, and Gemini battle for consumer AI dominance

Journalism struggles to keep up with AI realities and misinformation tools

Concerns mount over AI energy, water, and environmental impact narratives

Meta buys Manus, expands AI agent ambitions with Llama model

OpenAI posts high-stress "Head of Preparedness" job worth $555K+

Training breakthroughs: DeepSeek's mHC and comparisons to Action Park

U.S. lawmakers push broad, controversial internet censorship bills

Age verification and bans spark state laws, VPN workaround explosion

U.S. drone ban labeled protectionist as industry faces tech shortages

FCC security initiatives falter; Cyber Trust Mark program scrapped

Waymo robotaxis stall in blackouts, raising AV urban planning issues

School cellphone bans expose kids' struggle with analog clocks

MetroCard era ends in NYC as tap-to-pay takes over subway access

RAM, VRAM, and GPU prices soar as AI and gaming squeeze supply

CES preview: Samsung QD-OLED TV, Sony AFEELA car, gadget show hype

Remembering Stewart Cheifet and Computer Chronicles' legacy

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Dan Patterson and Joey de Villa

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AI video generation

TWiT turns 20

Harper Reed on vibe-coding

Job loss and AI

Apple's iPhone 16 event

Amy Webb's crazy husband talks about his anonymous computer

Host: Leo Laporte

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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

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