Today in Tech

While 2024 was not as difficult than 2023 in terms of the number of technology job layoffs, there are still mixed signals in the job market. While tech unemployment remains low, anecdotally we are discovering that it’s harder for many people to find a new job. What gives? Lucas Mearian, senior reporter at Computerworld, joins the show to discuss job hunting strategies, why companies continue to put obstacles in place on finding good candidates, and the impact of AI on the whole situation.

Recent cyberattacks on industrial facilities, including one of the country’s largest water suppliers, has turned the spotlight on whether utilities and other critical infrastructure are properly protected from attacks. What challenges do groups face, and how will artificial intelligence affect potential future attacks or defense? Ian Bramson, vice president of global industrial cybersecurity at Black & Veatch, joins the show to discuss these and other issues facing industrial organizations.

While experts may speculate that an AI bubble burst is due to happen, someone forgot to tell companies that continue to spend money on the technology. A new report says business spending on generative AI has surged 500% this year, reaching $13.8 billion. Guest co-host Lindsey O’Donnell-Welch talks with Keith about this and other tech stories, including the latest financial firm data breach, and why it’s so much work to monitor streaming services spending.

With a second Trump presidency on the horizon, many are wondering whether this will save TikTok from a complete U.S. ban (with a Jan. 19 deadline approaching) or if it continues to move ahead. Guest co-host Jack Gold joins the show to discuss this and other tech news from recent weeks, including OpenAI getting into the agentic AI space, AMD’s layoffs and what this means for any Nvidia competition, and why people still use horrible passwords.

With more states and countries filing lawsuits against TikTok, the tide appears to be turning against companies in the social media space to get them to do more about protecting children and teens from addiction and self harm. Dr. Lisa Strohman, founder and CEO of the Digital Citizen Academy, talks about the latest movements in the TikTok lawsuits, but also provides warnings about other areas of technology that parents need to stay aware of when it comes to people looking to harm kids (gaming platforms, AI and VR ‘dark sides’).

Apple Intelligence is about to be unleashed to iPhone users, but will its limited features appeal to customers who want to do more AI on their smartphones? RJ Bardsley joins as guest co-host to discuss this issue and other recent technology news, including some new possible reasons for return-to-office mandates, why the government doesn’t want companies paying ransomware, and whether more business events are including “forced fun” activities such as pickleball and lazy river innertube races.

With new health-related trackers and devices coming to consumers in droves (led by Apple and other Big Tech companies), will we be heading down the path where every waking (and sleeping) moment is being tracked for health data? Will the future be better (being able to become healthier through data monitoring) or worse (tracking data sold off to companies for advertising or stolen by hackers)? David Liu, CEO of Sonde Health, joins the show to discuss the pros and cons of this new era of health data tracking, and how consumers and companies should brave these waters.

Amazon, Google and Microsoft are all investing millions of dollars into nuclear power, driven by a need for more power for both data centers and artificial intelligence processing. RJ Bardsley joins the show as guest co-host to discuss this stories and other tech news from recent weeks, including the good/bad news week for SpaceX and Tesla robots, and whether the logistics industry really cares about the porch pirate epidemic.

The start-and-stop nature of augmented reality and virtual reality got another start recently, after Meta showed off its Orion AR prototype glasses at its Connect event. While the glasses will never go on sale to the public, does this move the technology forward to a point where consumers and businesses will adopt the technology? And what does this mean for companies like Apple, Google and Samsung? Ramon Llamas, research director for mobile and AR/VR at IDC, joins the show to chat about these topics, as well as whether we’ll be able to “ditch the screens.”