We all whine about the crazy bump in gas prices, mainly caused by Trump’s war of choice against Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Well, with the $7500 EV federal EV credit gone in the US, electric vehicle sales are down…but not in Europe. Thenextweb.com reports that in July, EVs hit 25% of total European car registrations! That is a 51% increase, year over year. The entire European car market grew 4.1% in July, while EV sales were up 37% in that period. The two biggest markets for EVs are France with a 35% electric share and Germany with 29.3%. Plug in hybrids were also up 15%. The Iran war and Hormuz blockade may be the best thing that has happened to the EV industry.

Ahead of the big iPhone and Watch rollout…expected in mid-September, Apple has unveiled new Mac Studio models, with M5 Max and Ultra chips. According to macrumors.com, Apple is saying that the new machines are up to twice as fast as before. The M5 Ultra chip includes an up to 36-core CPU that contains 12 super cores and 24 performance cores. It delivers up to 1.25x higher single-threaded performance and up to 1.3x higher multithreaded performance than the M3 Ultra from the previous generation ‌Mac Studio‌. The ‌Mac Studio‌ is also now available with the M5 Max chip, offering an 18-core CPU with 6 super cores and 12 performance cores, up to 40 GPU cores, up to 128GB of unified memory with up to 614GB/s of memory bandwidth, and up to 8TB of storage. Pricing is all over the place, depending on configuration, but considering these are the top line Pro Apple computers, even the entry level price won’t be remotely cheap. Another thing…with all the devices branded as Ultra or super….what lingo will we be hearing 5 years from now when the latest, greatest devices come out?

AI has supposedly been tried by about half of us at this point. It isn’t materially affecting half of all of us in a big way yet, but it sure is putting the hurt on entry level job seekers. Arstechnica.com notes that a Stanford report shows that young employment in AI-impacted fields is down 19%, compared with more AI-resistant occupations. Older, more experienced workers seem pretty unaffected so far. The age group taking the biggest hit are those 22-25 years old. AI company Anthropic devised an economic index. According to it, jobs like “accountants and auditors” and “receptionists and information clerks” were among those judged most susceptible to AI automation, while jobs like “chief executive” and “registered nurse” were among those using AI augmentation most often. You can bet that plumber and electrician are barely affected at all! 

The Asus Xbox Ally X20 handheld, with a good-sized 7.4 inch screen will officially be shipping on October 15th. The base price is $1300, according to theverge.com. The price is a $300 bump from the original Xbox Ally X…which is still available. The $600 Xbox Ally is also still going to be in the lineup. Originally, the 20 was only going to be available with high dollar AR glasses, so while $1300 isn’t cheap by any standard…it’s a lot less than the bundle with AR glasses. If you do have a fat wallet or credit line, and want the whole deal, the bundled version at $2500 has the X20, the matching pair of 240Hz ROG XREAL X1 glasses (normally $849), and it’ll also come with a matching Dbrand Killswitch protective case for the handheld (with the hardshell screen cover, stick toppers and built-in kickstand), plus a branded Pelican case to schlep your gear around with you.

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