Jacob Ward of The Rip Current joins Mikah Sargent on the show this week! Lego unveils its Smart Brick. Jacob kvetches about AI's overwhelming presence at CES. We get some on-site reporting from CES. And Utah becomes the first state to allow artificial intelligence to renew medical prescriptions.

• Mikah talks about Lego's new Smart Brick technology that allows you to interact and play with your Lego sets more directly.
• Jacob shares his thoughts about the overall theme of AI that has become front and center at this year's CES event.
• Stephen Robles of beard.fm joins the show live from CES to talk about what he saw at the event.
• And Ruth Reader of POLITICO stops by to talk about Utah being the first state to allow artificial intelligence to begin renewing medical prescriptions for patients.

Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Jacob Ward

Guests: Stephen Robles and Ruth Reader

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Take a look back at some of our favorite interviews from the past year on Tech News Weekly!

• Eric Migicovsky, founder of the smartwatch company Pebble, joins Mikah to talk about exciting news with Pebble.
• Bloomberg antitrust reporter Leah Nylen returns to unpack the latest in the DOJ's case against Google. She explains the three proposed remedies—including a possible Chrome browser divestiture—and what testimony from tech competitors like DuckDuckGo, Perplexity, and OpenAI revealed about Google's dominance in search and AI.
• Leila Zia, Head of Research at the Wikimedia Foundation, outlines their new AI roadmap, which focuses on supporting Wikipedia's volunteer editors rather than replacing them. She details how AI will assist with moderation, multilingual knowledge expansion, and mentorship—all while upholding values of transparency and human agency.
• Scott Stein of CNET is staying busy as he joins the show to share his hands-on impressions of Nintendo's Switch 2 console, Mario Kart World, and its new features.
• And Consumer Reports' Derek Kravitz details Instacart's AI pricing practices.

Host: Mikah Sargent

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Jennifer Pattison Tuohy from The Verge joins Mikah Sargent for the final episode of Tech News Weekly for 2025! Are AI health coaches the future for wearables? A look back at smart home news and devices in 2025. And how AI image generators have changed over time.

• Mikah talks about an article written by CNET's Vanessa Hand Orellana about AI health coaches in wearables and how it showcases innovation within healthcare, but also the data concerns if data breaches or unauthorized access to the data occur.
• Jennifer reflects on the smart home news and smart home devices highlighted in the past year and shares her excitement about news such as IKEA releasing Thread-supported devices, but also laments on companies like iRobot filing for bankruptcy.
• And Allison Johnson of The Verge joins the show to talk about how AI image generators are improving as various models have learned from their mistakes & fumbles that occurred in their early beginnings.

Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Jennifer Pattison Tuohy

Guest: Allison Johnson

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Amanda Silberling of TechCrunch joins Mikah Sargent on Tech News Weekly this week! The former CEO of Hinge left his position this week to launch an AI-powered dating app. Pebble is coming out with its take on a smart ring. What is the AI Model Context Protocol? And could grocery delivery services be using AI to charge different prices for groceries to consumers?

• Amanda talks about a new AI-powered dating app called Overtone that the former CEO of Hinge, Justin McLeod, has founded.
• Pebble is coming out with its own smart ring with a built-in microphone, and Mikah has some quarrels with the device.
• Mikah talks about the Model Context Protocol, or MCP: an approach companies like Google and OpenAI have adopted that would allow AI agents to access information online in a standardized manner easily, and now Anthropic has donated the protocol to the Linux Foundation.
• And Derek Kravitz of Consumer Reports joins the show to talk about its investigation into Instacart utilizing artificial intelligence that would offer different prices of the same product to consumers.

Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Amanda Silberling

Guest: Derek Kravitz

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Jacob Ward of The Rip Current is hosting Tech News Weekly this week, joined by Abrar Al-Heeti of CNET as well! Samsung unveils its upcoming tri-folding phone. OpenAI declares a "code red" to improve the quality of ChatGPT. How do you feel about the idea of ChatGPT being a dating coach for you? And Scott Weiner's work on shaping AI regulation.

• Abrar chats about Samsung's unveiling of its upcoming tri-folding phone, the Galaxy Z TriFold.
• Jacob shares how, after Google and Anthropic have made considerable strides in their own AI models, Gemini 3 and Claude Opus 4.5, respectively, OpenAI has declared a 'code red' to divert all resources into improving its ChatGPT model.
• Journalist Rita Omokha joins the show to chat about her recent article talking about how slowly more women are utilizing AI in providing advice towards aspects of their lives, such as relationship advice.
• And reporter Adam Rogers stops by to chat with Jacob about California Senator Scott Weiner and the work the senator has done on AI regulation and what could be next down the road.

Hosts: Jacob Ward and Abrar Al-Heeti

Guests: Rita Omokha and Adam Rogers

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Dan Moren of Six Colors joins Mikah Sargent this week! Apple Wallet's mobile driver's license feature is expanding to more users. An AI-powered teddy bear was caught giving explicit and graphic instructions to children. Google unveiled Gemini 3. And can AI-powered smart pens give you an edge in your academics?

• Dan covers the expansion of Apple Wallet's mobile driver's license feature as the state of Illinois is the latest to support this feature.
• Mikah shares how an AI-powered teddy bear, FoloToy, was discovered to be teaching kids unsafe behaviors and discussing adult topics.
• Sabrina Ortiz of ZDNET joins the show to talk about Google's latest iteration of AI model, Gemini 3.
• And Elissa Welle of The Verge stops by to share her experience using an AI pen, and how the pen was less than helpful.

Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Dan Moren

Guests: Sabrina Ortiz and Elissa Welle

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Jacob Ward of The Rip Current joins Mikah Sargent this week! Tech titans are investing millions into genetically engineered babies. A lot of those who worry about data privacy feel like their actions make no difference. Comments from Windows lead Pavan Davuluri on the future of Windows received a lot of blowback online. And Valve announced a trio of new hardware for.

• Jacob discusses tech billionaires funding companies that are pursuing genetically engineered babies, raising concerns about the commercialization of polygenic screening.
• Mikah talks about how a lot of Americans do worry about data privacy, but feel helpless in that any actions they may take make no real difference.
• Zac Bowden from Windows Central joins the show to talk about comments made recently online from Windows lead Pavan Davuluri on the future of Windows "evolving into an agentic OS," which received plenty of pushback.
• And Scott Stein of CNET stops by to share his hands-on experience with Valve's recently announced new Steam hardware, set to launch in 2026.

Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Jacob Ward

Guests: Zac Bowden and Scott Stein

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Abrar Al-Heeti of CNET joins Mikah Sargent this week on Tech News Weekly. Apple is reportedly considering a partnership with Google to integrate the Gemini AI model with Siri. A new AI-powered smart ring is in development to record users' thoughts. Google is making modifications to its Play Store regarding third-party accessibility. And a group of employees from a company specializing in negotiating cyber-attack ransoms has been indicted for running their own cyber-extortion scheme.

• Abrar shares how Apple plans to partner with Google to utilize the Gemini AI model in its updated Siri model.
• Mikah talks about a new AI-powered smart ring in development that you can speak into to record & ask questions.
• Ryan Whitwam of Ars Technica joins the show to talk about the changes Google has been ordered to make to its Play Store to better accommodate third-party apps following Epic Games' lawsuit against the company.
• And Mikah shares a story about a group of employees at a company that specializes in negotiating cyber-attack ransoms who were indicted for, ironically, running their own cyber-extortion scheme.

Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Abrar Al-Heeti

Guest: Ryan Whitwam

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