TechGrumps

• Techgrumps
  • AI section
    • Meta's AI Muse
      • https://www.techradar.com/ai-platforms-assistants/i-tried-metas-new-muse-ai-agent-its-incredibly-useful-but-handing-it-my-digital-life-felt-deeply-uncomfortable
    • Anthropic IPO - $1.5 trillion valuation,
      • https://www.wsj.com/finance/major-investors-are-skeptical-anthropic-ipo-can-achieve-1-5-trillion-valuation-ca965d8b
    • Character.ai bankruptcy:
      • https://www.techdirt.com/2026/10/29/your-diary-has-a-creditor-what-character-ais-bankruptcy-does-to-freedom-of-thought/
    • Decompiling via claude no more
      • https://www.pcmag.com/news/claude-stop-using-me-to-recreate-games
    • AI came for the art and now for Adobe
      • https://www.designweek.co.uk/first-ai-came-and-scooped-up-your-art-now-its-scooped-up-adobe/
  • News section
    • The fight to block CSAM unites peers and MPs in cross-party campaign
      • https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/fight-to-block-child-sexual-abuse-images-unites-peers-and-mps-in-cross-party-campaign
    • Landline switchover could cut people off in emergency, minister warned
      • https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c6x29g1nlr51o
  • AOBs
    • Cupertino!
      • https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/303630-cupertino
    • Making the familiar strange podcast
      • https://podnews.net/podcast/iznzl
    • Artificial Intimacy, Sherry Turkle's new book
      • https://www.sherryturkle.com/artificial-intimacy

• Techgrumps 3.45
  • AI news
    • AI sent a false police report
      • https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/09/an-anthropic-ai-model-sent-a-false-homicide-tip-to-philadelphia-police/
    • AI in at the top of book publishers
      • https://www.wired.com/story/book-publishers-are-quietly-using-more-ai-staff-are-revolting/
    • OpenAI publishes 722 math papers:
      • https://www.techspot.com/news/114127-openai-publishes-722-ai-generated-math-papers-researchers.html
    • AI Doctor Who, new BBC director general liked it.
      • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aAYUBOqfRM
    • Unity Spark - direct a game "because you have played some". But at least it doesn't generate graphics.
      • https://www.gamesindustry.biz/unity-unveils-a-web-based-ai-game-creation-platform
    • AI watermarking and its effect on decentralised systems
      • https://connectedplaces.online/ai-watermarking-has-a-decentralisation-problem/
  • News section
    • Pervert glasses stories
      • https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz05jxx08kyo?shem=dsdf,sharefoc,agadiscoversdl,,sh/x/discover/m1/4
      • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFFsVTvFbNw&pp=ygUTcGVydmVydCBnbGFzc2VzIGJiYw%3D%3D
    • Apple's new Audio Intelligence turns the Watch into a listening device
      • https://www.techspot.com/news/113797-apple-new-audio-intelligence-turns-watch-listening-device.html
    • Ian Clarke on Freenet and services without server
      • https://freenet.org/about/news/services-without-servers-video-talk/
    • What happens to your blog when you die?
      • https://michaelharley.net/posts/2026/08/06/what-happens-to-our-blogs-when-we-die/
  • AOB
    • Ian's New dating book is coming - Thanks to Hannah
    • Alan Ayckbourn's latest (92nd!) play tries a robot for murder
    • Ian's got a pebble index
    • Ian listened to the The Nerd Reich

• Techgrumps 3.44
  • AI section
    • AI may make software more secure against government hacking
      • https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/31/how-ai-could-make-it-harder-for-governments-to-use-hacking-tools/
    • Nvidia buys Hugging Face
      • https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/08/report-nvidia-to-acquire-ai-model-repository-hugging-face-for-13-billion/)
    • backwards and poor": Trump on those who oppose data centres
    • The Dyson $500 "smart" toothbrush with AI, live camera, and water floss:
    • AI and Hazmat train
      • https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2026/aug/28/ai-almost-sent-hazmat-train-barreling-toward-catas/
    • NYC Schools band Gen AI
      • https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/02/nyc-school-system-to-ban-generative-ai-for-elementary-middle-school-students-01061364?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=bluesky
    • Fake US think tank set up and funded by Israel sought to game AI
      • https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/26/fake-thinktank-israel-ai-propaganda
  • Tech news
    • The Nerd Reich by Gil Duran
    • Problems of requesting your data
      • https://www.wired.com/story/i-demanded-my-data-from-over-100-companies-deletion-notices-started-arriving-instead/
    • BBC vs Trump, using the VPN argument
      • https://www.techradar.com/vpn/vpn-services/bbc-fights-trumps-usd10-billion-lawsuit-over-vpn-jurisdiction-limits
    • Texas court ordered ICANN to lock the domain of an admittedly horrid porn site;
      • https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/berlin-cyberattack-hackers-leak-highly-sensitive-data-across-dark-web/ar-AA2bCe8B
    • Trump administration has dubbed hacktivist Italian service provider Austici/Inventati a terrorist org
  • AOB's
    • Coyote vs. Acme finally gets a release
    • Cory Doctorow is in Manchester - Friday 11th Sept
    • Evolution of monetization sabotage - Disney vs. endorsement

Techgrumps

• AI section
  • OpenAI "rogue AI" hacks Hugging Face:
    • https://simonwillison.net/2026/Jul/22/openai-cyberattack/
  • Elon Musk interview at the Economist
    • https://gizmodo.com/elon-musk-economist-interview-2000790016?ICID=ref_fark)
  • SpaceX stock has touched $113 since IPO
  • Distillation: Chinese distilling AI?
    • https://substack.com/home/post/p-208341933
  • Claude users may not know their chats were indexed,,like many others before it
    • https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly5qgjk5ywo
  • Cory Doctorow on his book tour talking AI sense
    • https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/jun/22/the-reverse-centaurs-guide-to-life-after-ai-by-cory-doctorow-review-the-real-price-of-artificial-intelligence
• NEWS
  • toot.community shutting down):
    • https://social.jorijn.com/@jorijn/statuses/01KYN00AP3NCZXCFB96KQB8GN2
    • https://bonfirenetworks.org/posts/bonfire-for-communities/)
  • Polymarket damage:
    • https://stephenfollows.com/p/what-just-happened-to-thenumberscom-should-worry-us-all
  • VPN bans overturned for now
    • https://thenextweb.com/news/uk-drops-vpn-restrictions-online-safety
  • Distress pins
    • https://www.pcmag.com/news/grapheneos-defends-data-wiping-function-that-blocked-us-border-search
    • https://www.imdb.com/title/tt26786599/
• AOBs
• Ian's talk from EMFCamp
  • https://media.ccc.de/v/emf2026-151-1-have-you-thought-about-your-digital-legacy
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5ZCeuT7G8
  • Marqus Brownlee reviews Framework 13 pro
    • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xjxwl1zLMc

• AI section
  • Munich court decision on AI Overviews/Google
    • https://the-decoder.com/landmark-german-ruling-declares-googles-ai-overviews-are-googles-own-words-and-makes-it-liable-for-false-answers/
  • Youtube is cooked
    • https://youtu.be/PUSY6mtqQDI?si=hYrLuhz8_BtzUiPO
  • SpaceX goes public
  • Code Reveals Meta Smart Glasses Can Use 'Faceprint'
    • https://www.cnet.com/news/privacy/meta-smart-glasses-code-face-recognition-biometric-tracking-privacy/
  • Last stakeholder gives up on gigantic data center in northern Virginia after years of litigation over land rights.
    • https://www.newsweek.com/how-virginias-plans-for-biggest-data-center-in-the-world-fell-apart-12175465
  • AI cheating scandal at Brown University
    • https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/07/we-cannot-choose-to-become-idiots-the-ai-cheating-scandal-roiling-brown-university/
  • Waymos ran out of power
    • https://www.slashgear.com/2210123/waymo-self-driving-failed-battery-fourth-of-july-gridlock/
  • AI is pushing up emissions at google, Amazon, Microsoft.
    • https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/11/microsoft-amazon-google-datacentre-carbon-emissions-france
  • Protests against data center in Brick Lane
    • https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jul/07/london-campaign-planned-ai-datacentre-brick-lane
• AI analytics at the World Cup
  • https://restofworld.org/2026/fifa-world-cup-ai-data-workers/
• Ian's local LLM
  • https://lmstudio.ai/
• Waymo holds robotaxi in a parking lot
  • https://apnews.com/article/waymo-arrest-teens-san-mateo-police-d7163a63087671c784c1afb4eda8653e
• AOBs
  • EMF camp:
  • Death Glitch by Tamara Kneese
  • Ryan's New NAS

Techgrumps 3.41

• AI roundup
  • AI elites don't get it
    • https://www.404media.co/podcast-elites-just-dont-get-ai/
  • Mathematicians worries
    • https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/06/mathematicians-warn-of-ai-threats-to-profession-as-industry-encroaches/
  • Pope Leo Warns of Risks From A.I.
    • https://theconversation.com/pope-leo-warns-of-ais-risks-to-humanity-in-his-first-encyclical-283684
  • OpenClaw has 800,000 lines of code. From my interview with Gavrial Cohen
    • https://thenewstack.io/nanoclaw-openclaw-agent-security/)
  • AI Hiring tools also racist:
    • https://www.bbc.co.uk/worklife/article/20240214-ai-recruiting-hiring-software-bias-discrimination
  • Pymetrics is reusing evluations
    • https://takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/omg-ndl-wtf-bbq
• Kindle jailbreaking everywhere
  • https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/16/users-turn-to-jailbreaking-their-older-kindles-as-amazon-ends-support/
• OpenAI beats Musk
  • https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/may/18/sam-altman-trial-victory-elon-musk-openai
• James O'Malley finds out what the National Data Library might be
  • https://takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/omg-ndl-wtf-bbq
• Meet the sad wives of AI
  • https://www.wired.com/story/meet-the-sad-wives-of-ai/
• AOB's
  • Open Social Platforms and Private Messaging
    • https://european.social/
  • Hugo Nominees:
    • https://www.thehugoawards.org/
  • LDX3 Conference
    • https://leaddev.com/leaddev-london/
  • Super-Infinite The Transformations of John Donne (Katherine Rundell) 1611 “the greatest writer of desire in the English language”
  • Moral Ambition by Rutger Bregman

Techgrumps 3.40

• AI round up
  • All Birds
  • Sam Altman vs Elon Musk over OpenAI
  • Mocking Richard Dawkins:
    • https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/may/05/richard-dawkins-ai-consciousness-anthropic-claude-openai-chatgpt
  • Apple pays $250m fine
    • https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/may/05/apple-siri-ai-settlement (AI roundup)
  • A bill proposed in the US would add "AI literacy"
    • https://www.404media.co/literacy-in-future-technologies-artificial-intelligence-act-adam-schiff-mike-rounds/
  • AI will run restaurants.
    • https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/05/marc-lore-says-that-ai-will-soon-enable-anyone-open-a-restaurant/
• .Plugin solar is coming to the UK
  • https://www.theguardian.com/money/2026/may/09/home-batteries-cutting-energy-bills-fuel-prices-electricity-costs
• NHS go from Open to Closed for fear of Mythos
  • https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2026/05/nhs-goes-to-war-against-open-source/
• Automatic recognition cameras
  • https://cubicgarden.com/2026/03/26/following-up-from-my-ulez-fine-the-computer-is-wrong/
• Data workers getting professional
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aooiDA-AsNo,
• Meta builds AI of Zuck for staff to interact with
  • https://www.ft.com/content/02107c23-6c7a-4c19-b8e2-b45f4bb9ce5f?
• AOB
  • Salford university MSc course
    • https://www.salford.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/media-psychology-and-applied-communication
  • PublicSpaces 2026
    • https://conference.publicspaces.net/
  • Comrade Trump
    • https://pluralistic.net/2026/04/20/praxis/#acceleration
  • Here comes the sun book
    • https://bookwyrm.social/book/2108217/s/here-comes-the-sun

TechGrumps 3.39 : Mythos only for the elite

• AI round table
  • Open claw and the separation of concerns
    • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKqrmS6dKDg
  • Esquire AI generates an actor who couldn't make their schedule for an interview
    • https://kotaku.com/one-piece-netflix-live-action-mackenyu-interview-esquire-ai-singapore-2000684648
  • Mythos: Anthropic Mythos Only for the elite
    • https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-mythos-and-why-are-experts-worried-about-anthropics-ai-model/
  • Good reddens Sora 2
    • https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/mar/24/openai-ai-video-sora
• Ofcom reports that UK social media is declining
  • https://www.ofcom.org.uk/media-use-and-attitudes/media-habits-adults/passive-social-media-use-ai-companionship-and-online-side-hustles-uk-adults-media-and-online-lives-revealed
  • https://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/articles/2025-06-social-media-change-issues-problems-report
• Return of the glass hole (part 2)
  • https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/apr/01/i-wore-metas-smartglasses-for-a-month-and-
• Artemis 2 replaces science with vibes
  • https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct8mbv
• The Deviation Game
  • https://deviationgame.com
• AOB's
  • https://replacebyclawd.com/
  • OggCamp Manchester 25-26th April - Talking about digital legacy
    • https://talks.oggcamp.org/oggcamp-2026/talk/RDYAEP/
  • Gamers out reach
    • https://gamersoutreach.org/

Techgrumps 3.38

• AI roundup
  • Comparing and showing diffs of the openai mission statement over time,
    • https://simonwillison.net/2026/Feb/13/openai-mission-statement/
  • DE]The new web is markdown
    • https://blog.cloudflare.com/markdown-for-agents/
  • Agentic AI taking on the engineered process friction
    • https://tomloosemorework.wordpress.com/2026/02/19/ai-and-the-end-of-friction-as-a-policy-lever/
  • App detects if Smart glasses are near
    • https://www.404media.co/this-app-warns-you-if-someone-is-wearing-smart-glasses-nearby/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter
  • LLMs can de-anonymize pseudonymous online accounts.
    • https://arxiv.org/pdf/2602.16800
  • LLMs can link profiles and postings pretty much killing online anonymity:
    • https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.16800
• Prediction market insanity
  • https://www.404media.co/r/85964917
  • https://www.techbuzz.ai/articles/prediction-markets-the-gamble-disguised-as-news
• The disappearing web
  • https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/20/webpages_vanish_decade/
  • https://www.techdirt.com/2026/02/17/preserving-the-web-is-not-the-problem-losing-it-is/
  • Eternity Service
    • https://phrack.org/issues/51/12
• Surveillance pricing
  • https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/lawmakers-move-ban-surveillance-pricing-162758282.html
• AOB's
  • Report from protocols for publishers
    • https://protocolsforpublishers.com/event-recap-london-2026/?ref=protocols-for-publishers-newsletter#stakeholder-forum
  • Fediverse sharing
    • https://connectedplaces.online/reports/fr156-share-where/

Techgrumps 3.37 - AI Discussions sandboxed for your security

• The AI Skills Hub is a bit lightweight.
  • https://aiskillshub.org.uk/
• Anthropic has invested 1.5M in the Python Software Foundation
  • https://simonwillison.net/2026/Jan/13/anthropic-invests-15-million-in-the-python-software-foundation-a/
• ChatGPT launching advertising in chatGPT products:
  • https://simonwillison.net/2026/Jan/16/chatgpt-ads/
• the current actual costs in terms of electricity and water for LLM usage
  • https://www.simonpcouch.com/blog/2026-01-20-cc-impact/
• Voice cloning is now available to anyone with a GPU
  • https://simonwillison.net/2026/Jan/22/qwen3-tts/
• Clawd/Molt/OpenClaw
  • https://www.404media.co/exposed-moltbook-database-let-anyone-take-control-of-any-ai-agent-on-the-site/
• A related dramatic reading
  • https://wisebluesky.com/wisdom-story-the-owl-who-was-god/
• BBC's plan to turn off Freeview TV?
  • https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/jan/28/the-bbc-proposal-to-switch-off-freeview-is-a-threat-to-its-universal-service
• AOB
  • Making the familiar strange podcast with Albert Fox Cain
    • https://redcircle.com/shows/95190f06-ba12-47ae-9267-4aaa656f4e93/ep/1697378b-2ff3-43db-9d22-4f2ddc330cd7
  • Feed in to the future of the BBC (Green paper)
    • https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz94q0v4kq2o
  • Are hearts are with Minneapolis and other parts of America
    • https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/99561-minneapolis-booksellers-resisting-ice-go-viral-sales-spike.html