Apple rolled out an upgraded iPad with the new M4 chip this spring. Since then, it’s only been a matter of time before the new chips started to appear in other devices like the Mac. Now, 9to5mac.com reports that we should see the first M4 Macs shipping in November. Last year, Apple both announced and shipped upgraded Macs in October, but having them come out in November isn’t unusual for them. The biggest redesign comes to the Mac Mini, as we previously reported. It’s the buttes upgrade in 14 years for the diminutive Mac. It will have 5 USB-C ports, and drops support for the old USB-A. A bigger piece of news for a lot of Mac users…it looks like Apple will jump from 8 to 16 Gigs of RAM as the standard…including the base 14 inch MacBook Pro. This is mainly to facilitate the laptops’ support of upcoming Apple Intelligence AI. 

A federal Judge has blocked part of a Texas law that required some large web services to identify minors and filter what they see online. According to theverge.com, the law was to go into effect September 1st. The court held that the ‘monitoring and filtering’ requirements in the bill were a significant threat to online speech. Other aspects of the bill were intended to apply special rules to users under 18 like  limiting data collection, banning targeted advertising, and not allowing financial transactions without parental consent. Tech industry groups sued to prevent the law from going into effect, claiming it unconstitutionally restricted freedom of expression. Only the portions of the bill regarding monitoring and filtering have been blocked, while the case winds its way through the court system. 

Google is pushing out safeguards to get potential voters reliable information. Engadget.com says Google has announced that it is adding election-related guardrails to YouTube, Search, Google Play, and AI products. For example, YouTube will add information panels above the search results for at least some federal election candidates. The modules, likely similar to those you see when searching the web for prominent figures, will include the candidates’ basic details like their political party and a link to Google Search for more info. The company says the panels may also include a link to the person’s official website (or other channel). As Election Day (November 5) approaches, YouTube’s homepage will also show reminders on where and how to vote. Google Search will include aggregated voter registration resources from state election offices for all users. Google is sourcing that data through a partnership with Democracy Works, a nonpartisan nonprofit that works with various companies and organizations “to help voters whenever and wherever they need it.” It’s probably a foregone conclusion that false info will still stream through all of Google’s platforms as well as everywhere else, but it’s a good thing that they are at least putting in these new guardrails. 

In what could be mocked as an identity crisis, Amazon is getting ready to release an AI powered version or Alexa in October…powered by Anthropic’s Claude large language model. So will you be able to query it and ask it to reply in a male voice as Claude? Ok, that’s just being a bit silly, but on a serious note, macrumors.com reports that early versions of the AI had trouble responding quickly…sometimes taking 6-7 seconds to reply to prompts. The so-called ‘Remarkable’ Alexa is supposedly going to have more advanced capabilities than the present version. This means more complex, content-aware conversations with the assistant. Not surprisingly, this will include providing shopping advice for specific scenarios like vacation clothing recommendations, aggregating news stories, executing multi-step tasks from a single prompt such as ordering food or drafting emails, and enhanced home automation with improved ability to remember and apply user preferences. ‘Remarkable’ Alexa will be a paid service…best guesses is Amazon will charge $5-$10 a month. Regular Alexa, which may be branded ‘Classic’ Alexa will still be available as a free service. It should be noted that Amazon has invested $4 billion in Anthropic, which makes Claude. 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.