May 03, 2026

This Week in Tech 1082: Hanging by a Thread

3 hours 10 minutes

Big Tech is pouring hundreds of billions into AI, but with rising signs of an industry bubble and some real-world fallout, this week's episode digs into who actually wins, who stands to lose, and whether Apple's patient strategy may outsmart the hype.

Big Tech firms beat earnings expectations amid AI spending questions

RIP the $599 Mac Mini, you were too beautiful for this world

Microsoft lifts 2026 AI spend by $25 billion to cover component price rises

Microsoft speeds up in Big Tech's data center spend-off

Crosswording the Situation

Meta's historic loss in court could cost a lot more than $375 million

Utah first state to hold websites liable for users who mask their location with VPNs — law goes into effect, designed to prevent bypassing age checks

Australia unveils a 2.25% levy on Meta, Google, and TikTok

Meta found in breach of EU law for failing to keep children off Facebook and Instagram

Meta inks deal for solar power at night, beamed from space

Musk v. Altman week 1: Elon Musk says he was duped, warns AI could kill us all, and admits that xAI distills OpenAI's models

OpenAI-backed 1X opens California factory targeting 10,000 home humanoid robots in year one

Sam Altman asked GPT-5.5 to plan its own launch party. Its requests were 'beautiful' but 'strange.'

Sam Altman says Elon Musk can come to his GPT 5.5 party: 'World needs more love'

The US Senate unanimously passed a rule barring senators from trading on prediction markets like

Kalshi and Polymarket, amid rising concern over insider trading

'We Know You Live Right Here': No Secrets in America's New Surveillance Dragnet

California to begin ticketing driverless cars that violate traffic laws

China Suspends New Autonomous Driving Permits After Baidu Outage

China has decided that firing a worker because an AI can do their job is illegal. No Western country has done the same.

Maryland Is First to Ban A.I.-Driven Price Increases in Grocery Stores

The most severe Linux threat to surface in years catches the world flat-footed

Hackers are actively exploiting a bug in cPanel, used by millions of websites

The Hottest Anti-AI Gadget Is a Cyberdeck

Jack Dorsey-backed Vine reboot Divine launches to the public

GameStop eyes eBay takeover in audacious $46 billion bet on Ryan Cohen's e-commerce vision

AI-generated actors and scripts are now ineligible for Oscars

Ukraine says it's training drone pilots in 'Grand Theft Auto V'

This free website is like Wikipedia meets the CIA

Light Phone III Is a Delightfully Minimalist Smartphone Alternative

Valve Steam Controller is here, it's a gamepad in search of a console

Bluetooth Connected - The Voices Behind the Connection

Spirit Airlines shuts down after Trump's war on Iran doubled jet fuel prices

Ask.com has shut down, marking the official farewell to the Internet's favorite butler

Pioneering geneticist and decoder of the human genome J. Craig Venter dies at age 79

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Nicholas De Leon, Devindra Hardawar, and Mikah Sargent

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