Daily Tech News Show
Tom Merritt and the team help you stay up to date with an independent, authoritative and trustworthy tech news briefing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
How to Vibe Code Custom Firmware for Audio Gear
Rich Stroffolino joins Jason Howell to geek out on the state of audio technology in the age of agentic AI that enables anyone to safely modify the inner workings of their gear to do pretty much anything they want.
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What's The Next Apple-gate? - DTNS 5380
The top stories of the week are about AI discovering a critical bug in the Web, Responsible Disclosure and patching systems breaking down, and how nation-states may be getting a jump on bugs before they even become public. And it's all the same story. Plus, the iPhone Duo's horrible launch bug!
Starring Sarah Lane, Tom Merritt, Robb Dunewood, Huyen Tue Dao, Len Peralta, Roger Chang, Joe.
Link to the Show Notes.
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Talk to Your DNA - DTNS 5379
Hugging Face releases an on-device open model for studying DNA. And Amazon security researchers say PHP2Shell may have been exploited as early as Saturday.
Starring Tom Merritt and Sarah Lane
Show notes found here.
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The Day the Internet Broke - DTNS 5378
Eight insecure TLS certificates seemed to be bad enough, but then folks leaked out a PHP vulnerability that could compromise more than 70% of the Web. Thank goodness there’s a fix for both. But one will take longer than the other to completely resolve.
Starring Tom Merritt and Huyen Tue Dao.
Links to stories discussed in this episode can be found here.
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Vibe Code Ads Right Off of Your TV - DTNS 5377
People are removing the smart from their TVs using agents. Plus, the discovery that could help us actually understand what goes on within LLMs.
Starring Tom Merritt and Jason Howell.
Show notes found here.
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Airship Successfully Delivers Cell Service in Japan - DTNS 5376
A New Mexico company delivers LTE from a zeppelin in Japan, Samsung may shift its S-series announcement back to January, and iPhone Duo preorders start shifting earlier.
Starring Tom Merritt and Robb Dunewood.
Links to stories discussed in this episode can be found here.
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The Scampocalypse: How to Survive the Present Attacks
- What's changing now
- Bad habits in the past are now dangerous.
- Cognitive security
- Patient Zero: Madison Square Garden hack
Featuring Tom Merritt and Brian Brushwood.
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Is the DIY PC Era Over? – DTNS Weekend
On this episode of DTNS Weekend, Roger and Patrick go head-to-head over the possible death of DIY PC building. Who or what is killing the hobby, and is this the end of an era, or will PC building return to its niche roots?
Starring Roger Chang, Patrick Norton
https://www.microcenter.com
https://wccftech.com
https://www.tweaktown.com
https://en.overclocking.com
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Who's Running Your Smart Home? - DTNS 5375
This week Apple announced its Home View smart home hub along with several smart home devices in cooperation with LG and Schneider. So our BIG QUESTION this week is: Do you want Apple to run your smart home?
Starring Sarah Lane, Tom Merritt, Robb Dunewood, Jason Howell, Len Peralta, Roger Chang, Joe.
Link to the Show Notes.
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Who the GoogleBook is For - DTNS 5374
Iyaz Akhtar from PC Mag joins us to talk about his experience using a Googlebook as his daily driver. Plus Amazon’s Bee has new note-taking gadgets.
Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, and Iyaz Akhtar.
Show notes found here.
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Spy Rhymes with AI - DTNS 5373
Plus, Fortnite on Linux gets closer and what really makes you a developer.
Starring Tom Merritt and Huyen Tue Dao.
Links to stories discussed in this episode can be found here.
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Apple Wants to Lock You Into Your Home - DTNS 5372
Apple has a new smart home hub and a door lock among other things. Plus, Jason’s been trying out Google’s flagship Gemini 4 Argon. Has Google caught back up in frontier models?
Starring Tom Merritt, Jason Howell, Sarah Lane and Nica Montford
Show notes found here.
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Social Engineering 101
- What has worked up until now
- 3 psychological back doors (plus social proof)
- What DTNS listeners think of as social engineering
"Wolfmasking | Enterprise Deceptive Role Play" https://wolfmasking.com/
"Scampocalypse — Brian Brushwood" https://scampocalypse.com/
"Thinking, Fast and Slow - Wikipedia" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThinkingFastand_Slow
"Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion" https://dn710600.ca.archive.org/0/items/ThePsychologyOfPersuasion/The%20Psychology%20of%20Persuasion.pdf
More links and video here.
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Is Software Over? - DTNS 5371
Brandon Thomas of Artcraft has used that declaration to get attention on his Artcraft product. But does he have a point? When you can vibe code whatever you want, what role do the big software makers play? Plus, whether you need a smart lock or a simple lock.
Starring Sarah Lane, Tom Merritt, Robb Dunewood, Jason Howell, Huyen Tue Dao, Roger Chang, Joe.
Link to the Show Notes.
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Amazon Goes Full Android for Tablets - DTNS 5370
Amazon announced a new smart tablet lineup, plus a developer at Artcraft vibe code replacements for all of Adobe’s Creative Suite.
Starring Tom Merritt and Sarah Lane
Show notes found here.
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Microsoft Brings 1 Trillion Parameters to the Desktop - DTNS 5369
The Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra is also out and can do a lot of parameters locally too. And Tom vibe codes a crappy but cute game on Google’s new Playground service.
Starring Tom Merritt, Huyen Tue Dao, and Robb Dunewood.
Links to stories discussed in this episode can be found here.
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Open Weights Aren’t Just Chinese Anymore - DTNS 5368
Mistral and a New York company get competitive in open weights, and a startup wants to sell you a cheap AI PC. Cheap by AI standards.
Starring Tom Merritt and Jason Howell
Show notes found here.
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Googlebooks Have a Tiny Intel Problem - DTNS 5367
Some Android apps don’t work as well on the Intel Googlebooks. How many? Google says don’t worry about it. Meanwhile, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says we need to put up with a little risk for great AI rewards.
Starring Tom Merritt and Robb Dunewood
Show notes found here.
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The Floppy Disk is Not Dead, Yet. - DTNS Weekend
Tom Merritt talks to Tom Persky, the proprietor of Floppydisk.com, about how he’s still able to sell new blank floppy disks, how he ended up in the business, and how much longer he thinks it can go on.
Show notes here.
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Why TCL is Suing Samusng over MiniLEDs - DTNS Weekend October 3, 2026
Robert Heron from Heron Fidelity joined us to talk about the lawsuit over the meaning of MiniLED, what it means to you, and what to keep in mind when shopping for a TV.
Show notes found here.
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Should We Trust Proactive Agents? – DTNS 5366
OpenAI introduced Dots this week; proactive agents that run in the cloud and act for you without being asked. Meta’s Muse and Manus offer similar capabilities. The big question: Do you want your AI agent to be proactive? Plus Amazon unveiled a new Kindle lineup this week aimed at new readers. Amazon says 60% of buyers are first-time Kindle owners. The second question of the week: Ebook or real book?
Starring Sarah Lane, Tom Merritt, Robb Dunewood, Jason Howell, Huyen Tue Dao, Len Peralta, Roger Chang, Joe
Link to the Show Notes.
New Kindles or New Google Gemini 4 Model. Which is Better? - DTNS 5365
We break down the new Kindles, talk about Gemini 4 Argon, and assess the iPhone’s China comeback.
Starring Tom Merritt and Sarah Lane
Show notes here.
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Apple Comes for the Amazon Echo - DTNS 5364
Apple’s going to release a smart home hub in a few weeks. Plus, the real US AI story you’re not hearing as much about and why you should care about a new Fire TV Stick!
Starring Tom Merritt and Huyen Tue Dao.
Links to stories discussed in this episode can be found here.
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OpenAI Release Proactive Dots on Your Computer - DTNS 5363
It’s Dev Days for OpenAI, so they added a new $500-a-month plan. Plus, a way to use batteries to remove CO2 from the air. And we interpret Anthropic’s IPO filing so you don’t have to be a financial pro to understand it.
Starring Tom Merritt and Jenn Cutter.
Links to stories discussed in this episode can be found here.
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OpenAI Pauses Training Again After More Agent Alignment Issues - DTNS 5362
NVIDIA’s Open Agent Safety Platform is a reference design for how agents can be confined and monitored, and Bose released its USB-C powered Noise Cancelling Wired Earbuds to tap into the growing wired headphone resurgence.
Starring Jason Howell and Robb Dunewood.
Links to stories discussed in this episode can be found here.
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Can Googlebook Bridge the Gap? - DTNS 5361
Can Googlebooks replace a MacBook or PC laptop? Are AI charms the future of personal AI or just a dead end? We discuss these important topics plus answer this important viewer question "Which jobs will be looked upon as buggy whip manufactures in the near future?"
Starring Sara Lane, Tom Merritt, Robb Dunewood, Huyen Tue Dao, Iyaz Akhtar, Len Peralta, Roger Chang, Joe
Links to stories discussed in this episode can be found here.
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Meta Wants AI on Your Backpack - DTNS 5360
Meta’s new Muse Charm makes agentic AI cute. Plus Rob DeMillo joins to talk about Google launching its Tensor Processing Units into space.
Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, and Rob DeMillo.
Links to stories discussed in this episode can be found here.
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Qualcomm Wants Your AI on Device - DTNS 5359
Jason Howell reports from the Snapdragon Summit on the new Snapdragon Elite Gen 6 models, plus most of the world feels good about AI, so why is the West such a downer?
Starring Tom Merritt, Huyen Tue Dao, and Jason Howell.
Links to stories discussed in this episode can be found here.
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Xbox Reset Moves Halo to Activision - DTNS 5358
A few hundred layoffs and some other studio moves continue the changes at Xbox, plus Beats 360 modular headphones and an LLM for ancient Greek.
Starring Tom Merritt, Jenn Cutter and Dr. Niki.
Links to stories discussed in this episode can be found here.
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Who the GoogleBook is For: Android Users - DTNS 5357
Ron Richards got his hands on the new Googlebooks, which are great laptops for Android users. Plus, the Mac Mini and Mac Studio reviews are out, and why AI might NOT kill us all. Yet.
Starring Tom Merritt, Robb Dunewood, and Ron Richards.
Links to stories discussed in this episode can be found here.
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Who is the Steam Frame For? - DTNS Weekend
Scott Stein, CNET Editor at Large, walks through the new Steam Frame VR headset, where it sits in the pantheon of VR devices in 2026, and whether its price is justified.
Featuring Jason Howell and Scott Stein.
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Decluttering Cables - DTNS Weekend
Which cables should you keep and which can you finally ditch? Roger and Patrick Norton tackle the tangled mess of cables taking over our closets and garages, and attempt some much-needed cable therapy.
Starring Patrick Norton, Roger Chang
Show Notes
https://www.cablematters.com
https://www.anker.com/collections/cables
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Is Obsolescence Planned, or is It Natural? - DTNS 5356
Molly Wood joins to talk about the upgrade cycle of devices, whether you should get permission from people before summarizing your conversations with them and does anyone need smart glasses?
Featuring Tom Merritt, Roger Chang, Amos, Joe, Jenn Cutter, Sarah Lane, Len Peralta, Molly Wood.
Links to stories discussed in this episode can be found here.
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Snap Specs Make a Play for Your Augmented Reality Attention - DTNS 5355
We think big enterprises are the most likely to buy Snap Specs, plus the Apple Watch reviews are in, and more AI safety instances and a framework for dealing with them!
Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, and Dr. Niki.
Links to stories discussed in this episode can be found here.
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The iPhone 18 Ain’t Bad, It’s Just Big and Expensive - DTNS 5354
We look over the largely growing reviews of the iPhone 18 Pro, plus what Flock Cameras actually capture and a security industry perspective on securing agents.
Starring Tom Merritt and Jenn Cutter.
Links to stories discussed in this episode can be found here.
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We Don't Talk About the Googlebook Event - DTNS 5353
Steam Frame reviews say that the VR headset is ambitious and expensive with limited games support, and newly developed perovskite solar cells can charge more efficiently underwater than traditional silicon solar cells.
Starring Tom Merritt and Jason Howell.
Links to stories discussed in this episode can be found here.
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Why Are AI Companies Talking All About Pacing? - DTNS 5352
Code spotted inside of iOS27 shows how real AI model choice might present itself inside the OS, and Justin Robert Young talks about how AI has become the top political issue heading into the US midterms.
Starring Jason Howell, Robb Dunewood, Tom Merritt, and Justin Robert Young.
Show notes can be found here.
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Apple iPhone Duo Reaction - DTNS WEEKEND
Apple just unveiled its latest lineup: the iPhone 18 Pro, 18 Pro Max, the much-anticipated iPhone Duo, Apple Watch Series 12, and AirPods 5. But the big question is: is Apple’s first foldable iPhone actually worth the hype? Jenn Cutter and SnobOS Podcasters Nica Montford and Terrance Gaines join us to break down Apple’s boldest iPhone yet—and whether the iPhone Duo changes the game.
Starring Sarah Lane, Nica Montford, Terrance Gaines, Jenn Cutter
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Is Apple's Product Line Too Confusing? - DTNS Live 5351
Scott Johnson joins us to talk about Apple's ever-growing list of iPhones and whether we still want or need game consoles. Plus, if AI is unsafe, what do we want done to make it safe? It's the Friday BIG TECH QUESTIONS episode. Join us!
Show notes found here.
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The Reason AI Experts Are Scared it Might Kill Us All - DTNS 5350
It’s a small chance, but still. At least autonomous vehicles are safer for us. And poor Instagram. Making it “safer” makes it less fun.
Starring: Tom Merritt and Sarah Lane
Show notes found here.
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