Google’s Antitrust Battles, AI Shenanigans, Stretchy Computers & More: Your Wild, Weird Week in Tech
Written by Massa Medi
Oh, it’s you again. I can practically hear you thumping on my digital counter, hounding me for tech news. Fine! If you want the latest drama from Silicon Valley and beyond, you’re getting it—heavy dose, no sugar, no creamer. Let’s dive into a jam-packed week that saw Google back in the legal hot seat, wild moves in AI, gadgets you’ll never see coming, and a sprinkle of lawsuit-induced chaos just for flavor.
Google Search: Monopoly Madness, Courtroom Drama & OpenAI’s Backdoor Ambitions
Remember when Google Search was declared a monopoly last August? Well, the saga continues. This week, the tech behemoth and the U.S. Department of Justice are back at it, trying to figure out solutions that don’t involve Google cutting a $20 billion annual check to the DOJ for keeping Google as the world’s default search engine. That’s... a lot of loyalty points.
The DOJ, always eager to shake things up, floated the nuclear option: forcing Google to sell off Chrome. Enter OpenAI, with reportedly eager eyes thanks to ChatGPT’s Head of Product Nick Turley. OpenAI is widely known to be brewing plans for its very own web browser, but what they really want is Google’s search API. Turley admits OpenAI’s current “provider number one” (translated: Bing, but nobody dares mutter its name in court—risking, perhaps, summoning it like a search engine Candyman) just isn’t cutting it.
For a brief comedic interlude, imagine Bing quietly peeking in: “Did someone say my name?” “No, Bing, nobody called you. Please go back to your office... or Whatever It Is You Do.”
Anyway, OpenAI tried to license Google’s search API, but Google declined with a polite corporate ‘nope.’ So whether or not OpenAI ever gets their hands on Chrome, having that search license could spark genuine competition—something the DOJ is determined to force Google to start accepting as a fact of life.
In the midst of the courtroom revelations, we also learned Google’s been paying Samsung vast sums to preinstall its Gemini AI on Galaxy devices, all while blocking Motorola from making similar deals with Perplexity, another AI search contender. That’s anticompetitive behavior with a capital “A.”
Uber, the FTC & The Ghost of Big Tech Crackdowns
The FTC isn’t sitting on the sidelines, either. They just hauled Uber into court—not for bad rides, but for making subscription cancellations so difficult, you’d swear their workflow designer was a former escape room architect. Is this a harbinger that governmental crackdowns on big tech won’t let up, Trump administration or not? Or has former FTC chair Lina Khan returned as a litigious ghost, doomed to haunt the industry until every tech giant is atoned? Unanswered questions abound.
Intel: Boosting Chips, Cutting Jobs, and Grabbing Redemption (Sort Of)
Meanwhile, Intel’s got both good and bad news. First up, they’ve launched "2002 Boost," a nifty new BIOS profile that lets gamers squeeze more juice out of compatible Core Ultra 200 chips. The best part? You can overclock without losing warranty coverage. Maybe this is their way of apologizing for the much-maligned Arrow Lake CPUs, which, let’s be honest, left gamers feeling a bit... underclocked.
The gaming boost is real: YouTuber Derbauer already benchmarked the Core Ultra 7 285K, and while it’s still no match for the Ryzen 9 9950X3D, early results show the 2002 boost profile can up gaming performance by 4–19% depending on use. That’s some respectable improvement, Intel!
Sadly, there’s a dark side: Intel also laid off 20% of its staff—around 20,000 people. Connecting that dot to 2002 Boost isn’t logical, but hey, we’re just the messengers. Don’t shoot.
The Bizarre World of Viral AI Cheats & Cluly’s Cringe Ad Campaign
Over in the world of AI, meet Cluly—a service touting itself as the next evolution in real-time “cheating,” offering up AI-generated dialogue prompts to help you handle anything from interviews to, bizarrely, dating. The platform went viral thanks to a spectacularly awkward ad: Imagine a 21-year-old trying to date a woman who seems at least a few years older, but acting with the cringy nervousness of a 13-year-old sneaking into an R-rated movie.
The vibes? Uncanny. According to the product creator (whose last startup also involved “cheating” on coding interviews), the product isn’t really for dating anyway—comparing it to using spellcheck or Google, which is a reach, to put it mildly. Peeling back the curtain, the true aim appears to be less about revolutionizing conversation and more about chasing viral attention with what’s essentially vaporware. Early users say Cluly isn’t exactly... impressive.
Nvidia’s Project G Assist: Custom AI Commands That (Surprise!) Actually Work
In contrast, Nvidia’s Project G Assist appears genuinely promising. Nvidia just rolled out tools for gamers (and, really, tinkerers of every stripe) to build plugins for useful voice commands. Imagine telling your PC to change system lighting, adjust your fan speed, or even check if your favorite streamer is live—all hands-free, all AI-powered.
Full instructions are posted on GitHub, inviting hackers and coders alike to get creative. But maybe don’t build a plugin for generating exam questions: apparently, the State Bar of California tried an AI tool for exam prep, setting off a lawyerly uproar (not usually a wise group to antagonize). Maybe they took notes from Cluly’s playbook.
AI Frontier: Grok’s Vision Upgrade & Character.AI’s Lifelong Avatars
In the fast-evolving AI universe, Grok just unlocked “vision” features and multilingual skills in its real-time voice mode, aiming to make AI chatbots more human-like, more aware, and, presumably, less hopelessly confused. Meanwhile, Character.AI unveiled “Avatar FX,” which takes a single input image and spins out surprisingly convincing long-form voice and video clips. (Long-form is a bit of a stretch: think minute-plus videos, not feature films.) Real-time chatbot animation isn’t here yet, so Gen Alpha still gets a few more years of old-fashioned conversation before avatars perfect their virtual replacement.
Backend Dev School as RPG: The boot.dev Pitch
Now, a quick word about this week’s sponsor, boot.dev—the platform that turns backend web development into the equivalent of a solo quest RPG. Why is it the smartest? The learning is self-paced, never boring, and feels just a little bit like you’re playing a captivating video game instead of slapping through dry textbooks. You’ll be pounding out lines of Python and Go until your keyboard cries for mercy—and earning real skills along the way.
Consider the facts: backend developers in the U.S. had a median salary topping $100,000 in 2023. But here’s the real twist: training for that job can actually be fun with boot.dev. Players (er, students) earn XP, level up, unlock achievements, and complete quests—there’s even a global leaderboard. If you’re stuck, ask the buzzing Discord community or consult Boot, the mystical bear wizard (we dare not explain further). Try the free demos, use code TechLinked for 25% off, and start your journey with zero risk.
Quick Bits: Tariffs, Fines, and a Stretchy (Tech) Future
Didn’t ask for a roundup of rapid-fire news? Too bad—you’re getting it:
- Tariff Whiplash: The U.S. Commerce Department placed enormous tariffs (up to 3521%!) on solar materials from Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Thailand. Then they “relaxed” it to 3403.96%. Yes, that’s still a mind-boggling tax rate, but hey, let’s all be reasonable.
- Trump Talks Tariffs: Former President Trump promised to reduce tariffs on China “substantially,” but not all the way to zero—companies are feeling the pinch, especially with China’s ban on rare earth material exports. The ripple effect? Tesla’s launch of its Optimus humanoid robot is delayed. (Surely, it’s the rare earths and not, uh, unfinished software.)
- EU Cracks Down: Apple got slapped with a \$570 million fine, and Meta with \$228 million, under the EU’s Digital Markets Act—Apple for funneling users away from better deals outside the App Store, Meta for not providing enough privacy settings. Who gleefully celebrated? Epic Games, naturally—it’s their entire brand now.
- Facebook’s Friend Apocalypse?: New emails uncovered in court reveal that Mark Zuckerberg once considered having Facebook delete everyone’s friend list to keep users “engaged”. The logic? Elusive, to put it charitably. Users would probably riot, but hey—Zuck thinks differently.
- Stretchy Computers: MIT researchers debuted a breakthrough “metamaterial”—a matrix of microscopic structures that could enable flexible processors and stretchy laptops. Why stop with computers? Bring on the floppy iPads, the bendy phones, all the gadgets we never knew we needed.
Stay Tuned… Or Go Watch Andor?
That’s the scoop for the week. If you’re a tech news addict, circle back Friday—I’ll serve up a fresh batch (assuming I’ve finished bingeing the first three episodes of Andor). If not, check in anyway... just in case. You never really know what’ll happen in tech (or in this blog).