June 21, 2026

This Week in Tech 1089: Robot Butt Crack

Listen Later

3 hours 19 minutes

AI giants are battling not just in code, but in politics, with behind-the-scenes lobbying, strategic naming, and rumors of blockbuster deals at the heart of this week's wildest tech stories. Get the inside scoop on who's pulling the strings.

Apparently The Real Reason Anthropic's Models Are Offline: A Six-Year-Old Trump Grudge

Trump says he no longer views Anthropic as a national security threat after G7 meeting with CEO

Exclusive | Apple to Raise Prices Due to Memory Chip Crunch, Tim Cook Says

Elon Musk's Next Move May Be a Mega-Merger of SpaceX and Tesla

Anthropic's latest feud with the Trump admin may actually help it, sales data suggests

Google's Gemini co-lead Noam Shazeer is leaving for OpenAI

Google's Secret Warrant Fight Over DOJ Pipe Bomb Probe Revealed

The UK Places a Sweeping Ban on Social Media for Kids Under 16

Meta lobbies Congress for protection from child-harm lawsuits

Waymo recalls nearly 4,000 robotaxis to stop them driving into highway construction zones

Snap Launches $2,195 Specs, Declaring Glasses the Next Computer

Fox wants to take over your TV — and the tech inside it

Midjourney goes from generating cat images to full-body ultrasound scans

Nothing cancels this year's CMF phone due to RAM prices

The AI IPO boom is different

Joshua Baer, Capital Factory Founder, Dies in Laredo Plane Crash - RuntimeWire

Ubisoft's co-founder Claude Guillemot dies in plane crash

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Iain Thomson, Owen Thomas, and Doc Rock

Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech

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By TWiT

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June 21, 2026

This Week in Tech 1089: Robot Butt Crack

Listen Later

3 hours 19 minutes

AI giants are battling not just in code, but in politics, with behind-the-scenes lobbying, strategic naming, and rumors of blockbuster deals at the heart of this week's wildest tech stories. Get the inside scoop on who's pulling the strings.

Apparently The Real Reason Anthropic's Models Are Offline: A Six-Year-Old Trump Grudge

Trump says he no longer views Anthropic as a national security threat after G7 meeting with CEO

Exclusive | Apple to Raise Prices Due to Memory Chip Crunch, Tim Cook Says

Elon Musk's Next Move May Be a Mega-Merger of SpaceX and Tesla

Anthropic's latest feud with the Trump admin may actually help it, sales data suggests

Google's Gemini co-lead Noam Shazeer is leaving for OpenAI

Google's Secret Warrant Fight Over DOJ Pipe Bomb Probe Revealed

The UK Places a Sweeping Ban on Social Media for Kids Under 16

Meta lobbies Congress for protection from child-harm lawsuits

Waymo recalls nearly 4,000 robotaxis to stop them driving into highway construction zones

Snap Launches $2,195 Specs, Declaring Glasses the Next Computer

Fox wants to take over your TV — and the tech inside it

Midjourney goes from generating cat images to full-body ultrasound scans

Nothing cancels this year's CMF phone due to RAM prices

The AI IPO boom is different

Joshua Baer, Capital Factory Founder, Dies in Laredo Plane Crash - RuntimeWire

Ubisoft's co-founder Claude Guillemot dies in plane crash

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Iain Thomson, Owen Thomas, and Doc Rock

Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech

Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts!

Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Sponsors:

shopify.com/twit

Simply CX

ethos.com/twit

box.com/AI

zscaler.com/security

...more