Hashtag Trending

Microsoft Moves to Metered AI Pricing, Meta Hit With Scam Ad Lawsuit & BlackBerry Surges on NVIDIA Deal
Jim Love covers multiple tech headlines on Hashtag Trending: Microsoft may shift GitHub Copilot to token-based billing and push new enterprise AI-agent licensing as Copilot adoption remains modest, signaling a move away from bundled AI toward metered usage. Meta faces a Washington, DC class action alleging it knowingly profited from scam and banned-goods ads, including claims it charged higher-risk advertisers premium rates and limited enforcement based on revenue impact. Microsoft rolled back a Teams service update after a regression in the client build caching system caused launch freezes for some desktop users. Windows 11 is set for performance and usability improvements, including faster File Explorer, better memory efficiency, improved update download RAM use, and fixes like consistent folder preferences and reduced dark-mode flashing. BlackBerry shares jumped about 13% after expanding an NVIDIA partnership integrating QNX with IGX Thor and Halo Safety Stack for industrial and safety-critical AI systems.
Hashtag Trending would like to thank Meter for their support in bringing you this podcast. Meter delivers a complete networking stack, wired, wireless and cellular in one integrated solution that's built for performance and scale. You can find them at Meter.com/htt
00:00 Today's Tech Headlines
00:35 Sponsor Meter
00:53 Microsoft Meters Copilot
03:23 Meta Scam Ads Lawsuit
06:10 Teams Launch Failure Fix
07:24 Windows 11 Performance Cleanup
09:59 BlackBerry Nvidia Comeback
12:11 Sponsor Meter Outro
12:54 Closing Remarks

China Closes the AI Gap, Open Mythos Hype, Data Center Backlash, and EU Age-Check App Bypassed
 
Jim Love covers a Stanford 2026 AI Index finding that China has nearly erased the U.S. AI model performance lead, narrowing the gap to 2.7% despite U.S. private AI investment of about $286B in 2025, alongside China's lead in papers, patents, and industrial robots and a sharp slowdown in AI talent moving to the U.S. He also discusses Open Mythos, an open-source PyTorch "first-principles" reconstruction claim of Anthropic's Mythos architecture, its efficiency claims, and warnings about malware risks from copycat repos. The episode highlights growing political backlash to hyperscale data centers—election defeats, local bans, and state-level pauses—while noting some rural communities actively recruit them for tax revenue. Finally, it covers the EU's new age-verification app and how researchers quickly demonstrated a bypass after launch.
Hashtag Trending would like to thank Meter for their support in bringing you this podcast. Meter delivers a complete networking stack, wired, wireless and cellular in one integrated solution that's built for performance and scale. You can find them at Meter.com/htt
 
00:00 AI Lead Shrinks Fast
00:28 Sponsor Message Meter
00:47 China Closes AI Gap
03:01 Open Mythos Explained
04:44 Viral Repo Security Risks
05:48 Data Center Voter Revolt
08:05 Economic Case For Data Centers
09:28 EU Age Check Hacked
10:50 Wrap Up And Thanks

MCP Security Dispute, Australia's Kids Social Media Ban Leaks, MacBook Neo Demand, and Bluetooth Tracker Naval Breach
Host Jim Love covers multiple tech stories: OX Security says Anthropic's open source Model Context Protocol (MCP) has a root design issue leading to widespread vulnerabilities, citing 10 high/critical CVEs in tools relying on MCP, over 200,000 internet-exposed MCP servers, and rejected requests for a protocol-level fix as Anthropic called the behavior "as intended," later updating security guidance to urge caution with some adapters; OX also says exploit-capable submissions were accepted into public MCP directories. New reporting suggests Australia's social media restrictions for children are being bypassed, with age verification failing due to weak identity checks, biometric/AI errors, and behavioral workarounds. Apple's $599 MacBook Neo is reportedly selling faster than expected, with stock constraints possibly tied to limited binned A18 Pro chips. A cheap Bluetooth tracker mailed aboard a Dutch naval vessel allegedly exposed its location for about 24 hours.
Hashtag Trending would like to thank Meter for their support in bringing you this podcast. Meter delivers a complete networking stack, wired, wireless and cellular in one integrated solution that's built for performance and scale. You can find them at Meter.com/htt
00:00 Today's Tech Headlines
00:39 Sponsor Message Meter
00:58 Anthropic MCP Security Flaws
03:46 Australia Social Media Age Ban
05:54 MacBook Neo Demand Surge
07:29 Bluetooth Tracker Warship Breach
08:56 Wrap Up and Thanks

AI Weekly: Claude 4.7, Token Costs, Open Models, Backlash, and Practical Ways to Use AI
In this weekend "Project Synapse" episode, the hosts review major AI developments, including Anthropic's release of Claude Opus 4.7 (with rapid complaints about lying and token/cost issues) and discussion of the broader shift toward tighter token economics, enterprise budgeting pressure, and Microsoft's evolving M365 licensing that bundles Copilot and agents. They note growing AI backlash ranging from local resistance to data centers and concerns about profitability to reports of attacks on Sam Altman's home. The conversation covers open and Chinese models (agentic coding and multimodal image generation) and the strategic impact of open weights. They also highlight real-world uses: automating documentation, internal Q&A knowledge bases, customer service (including Starlink using Grok), research and editing workflows, book marketing, document drafting, email/search, and accounting/expense automation—while emphasizing hallucinations and verification.
Hashtag Trending would like to thank Meter for their support in bringing you this podcast. Meter delivers a complete networking stack, wired, wireless and cellular in one integrated solution that's built for performance and scale. You can find them at Meter.com/htt
00:00 Sponsor and Welcome
01:18 Lightning Round Setup
02:34 Claude Opus 4.7 Reactions
08:22 Token Costs and Enterprise Pricing
12:45 Valuations Profit and UBI Debate
19:14 Backlash Data Centres and Supply Chain
31:29 Copilot Hallucination at Work
33:32 China Agentic Coding Model
37:43 Practical AI Wins and New Threats
44:18 AI Crime Scale
45:24 Everyday AI Wins
48:29 Lightning Round Demo
50:17 Open Source Shockwave
52:32 Deepfake Son Dilemma
58:20 AI Marketing Playbook
01:02:23 Editing and Fact Checks
01:05:09 Ethics and Authenticity
01:16:27 AI First Checklist
01:22:28 Tooling Gets Better
01:25:35 Wrap and Sponsor

OpenAI vs Microsoft, Uber's Surprise AI Coding Bills, Netgear's Router Exemption, and Nvidia's Overnight Engineering Win
 
Jim Love covers four enterprise tech stories: OpenAI claims its partnership with Microsoft is limiting its ability to reach enterprise customers, especially those on AWS Bedrock, amid Copilot criticism and reported access tensions; Uber warns that rapid adoption of AI coding tools and usage-based token billing is driving costs beyond expected budgets and could signal broader enterprise spend shocks; Netgear becomes the first to win an FCC exemption from U.S. restrictions on foreign-made routers, highlighting stricter security and supply-chain expectations; and Nvidia reports a major productivity gain, saying an AI-powered GPU can reduce a chip design library porting task from eight engineers over 10 months to overnight, while internal models like Chip Nemo help train and support engineers, though fully autonomous chip design remains far off.
Hashtag Trending would like to thank Meter for their support in bringing you this podcast. Meter delivers a complete networking stack, wired, wireless and cellular in one integrated solution that's built for performance and scale. You can find them at Meter.com/htt
00:00 AI Headlines Preview
00:24 Show Intro and Sponsor
00:48 OpenAI vs Microsoft Tensions
03:40 Uber AI Coding Costs Surge
06:07 Netgear Router Ban Exemption
08:08 Nvidia Overnight Chip Work
10:40 Wrap Up and Sponsor Thanks