Game Maker Electronic Arts is being taken private, in a deal valued at $55 billion. Gizmodo.com reports that Jared Kushner and Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund are spearheading the deal. It also includes some cash from investment firm Silver lake. The deal will pay shareholders $210 a share in cash. Saudi’s Public Investment fund already owned 10% of EA prior to this deal. They are aiming to get more into where younger gamers are…mobile and free to play hit games such as Fortnite and Roblox…as opposed to the expensive franchise-driven EA titles the company has been known for like Madden NFL and FIFA, The Sims, and more.
Microsoft is rolling out Agent Mode in Excel, and they are dubbing their approach ‘vibe working.’ This is new jargon for having Copilot analyze data, generate visualizations, and iterate on results across multi-step tasks. According to geekwire.com, Microsoft is keen to have ‘vibe working’ catch on. Redmond sees ‘vibe working’ as collaboration between people and AI agents inside its productivity apps. Instead of giving a one-time response, the updated Copilot AI tools generate, test, and refine content while users steer the direction, more like a dialogue. Microsoft says its Office Agent in Copilot runs on AI models from Anthropic, maker of the Claude AI chatbot. This is part of their continuing move to rely less on OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
The president of Samsung Display, Lee Cheong, has announced that they are ramping up preparations to produce OLED foldable smartphones. Appleinsider.com notes that Lee told reporters the displays would be made for a ‘North American client.’ Considering how few North American smartphone makers there are, this pretty well seals the rumors that Apple will be releasing a folding iPhone next year, most likely in the third quarter.
In a completely petty, silly move, the Trump Department of Energy has issued a list of banned words. TechCrunch.com reports that they include ‘climate change’ and ‘green.’ Additional banned words are decarbonization, energy transition, sustainability, sustainable, subsidies, tax breaks, tax credits, and carbon footprint. That ought to show those libs and tree huggers. If you can’t use the words, climate change won’t happen, right? The world turns on meanwhile…global investment in renewable energy hit a new record in the first half of 2025.
With Apple blurring the lines between the Mac operating system and iOS, this was probably inevitable, but Google is now teasing bringing Android to PCs. Androidpolice.com reports that Google is working on a Snapdragon powered Android desktop. With a lot of folks not thrilled with Windows 11, and the prospect of Windows 12 becoming subscription like Office 360, an Android desktop might be a great alternative for folks who don’t like Apple and the Mac, and aren’t technically inclined enough to run Linux. There is also a rumor that Valve is working on bringing out a version of the Steam gaming system as a PC alternative. Google’s Android, however, would be familiar with many millions more people than the others, and could be a serious contender for taking desktop and laptop PC business from Microsoft.
Instagram has hit a huge milestone. According to engadget.com, Mark Zuckerberg has posted on Threads that the platform has passed up 3 billion monthly users. That’s up a billion since 2022. Facebook hit 2 billion daily in 2023, WhatsApp got to 2 billion in 2020. With the world population at about 8.3 billion, Instagram is reaching over a third of the people on the planet every month!
In perhaps one of the great examples of poor timing we’ve seen in a while, Disney…following the mess with the Jimmy Kimmel suspension, is raising prices on Disney+ and Hulu. TechCrunch.com notes that the Disney+ stand alone plan with ads will be bumped up $2 to $11.99 a month, while the ad free Premium plan is boosted $3 to $18.99 a month. The Premium annual plan goes up $30 to $189.99 a year. For Hulu, the standalone plan goes from $9.99 a month to $11.99 with ads. The ad free Hulu stays at $18.99 a month. ESPN Select goes from $11.99 to $12.99. What about bundles? Disney+ and Hulu with ads goes up $2 to $12.99, and Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN Select with ads increases by $3 to $18.99 a month. This may put off a lot of the people who cancelled Disney+ and Hulu protesting about Kimmel…kind of tough to sign back up and get a substantial price bump. That mouse sure wants a lot of cheese!
The AI boom may hit a wall, in a report from Bain. Fortune.com reports that AI won’t be able to generate enough revenue to sustain the computing power it needs to build. Citing the Bain report, “Two trillion dollars in annual revenue is what’s needed to fund computing power needed to meet anticipated AI demand by 2030. However, even with AI-related savings, the world is still $800 billion short to keep pace with demand.” Fortune also notes “It may not be an exaggeration to write that NVIDIA – the key supplier of capital goods for the AI investment cycle – is currently carrying the weight of US economic growth. The bad news is that in order for the tech cycle to continue contributing to GDP growth, capital investment needs to remain parabolic. This is highly unlikely.” The “growth is not coming from AI itself but from building the factories to generate AI capacity.” Not mentioned is the amount of electricity needed to power all those server farms. Microsoft is even having the Three Mile Island nuclear plant restarted to run servers. They will use an amount of power that could run 900,000 homes!
The Department of Justice wants to break up Google’s ad business as the antitrust case against the search giant rolls on. Arstechnica.com reports that US District Judge Leonie Brinkema has already ruled that Google operated an illegal monopoly in digital advertising, and now we address the remedies that may apply. Google’s had mixed luck with antitrust rulings lately. The DOJ is asking the court to force Google to spin off Google Ad Manager, the marketplace through which advertisers buy ads on Google’s platform. The government was able to convince the court that Google’s control of Ad Manager gave it an unfair advantage that boosted its own services, but is a breakup the proper remedy? That will be the issue for the court to eventually rule on.
As if the myriad of dating apps wasn’t enough, now Facebook is bowing an AI dating assistant. According to TechCrunch.com, the chatbot is supposed to help users find matches that are more closely tailored to what they are looking for. You can put in parameters like location, job or social interests, and so forth…then ask the AI to help refine things. Meta has also rolled out Meet Cute, which gives users a weekly ‘surprise match’ based on its algorithm. Facebook Dating matches are up 10% they say for people 18-29 year over year. They have ‘hundreds of thousands’ of users. That’s a bunch, but Tinder has about 50 million daily active users!
Uber is launching prepaid passes, which let you pay a discounted price in advance on frequently taken trips. Cnet.com reports that the passes are available in bundles of 5, 10, 15, or 20 rides. The bigger the bundle you buy, the bigger the discount. The discounts run 5 to 20%. You do have to select a 1 hour request window, and Uber will display a countdown so customers know how many passes they have left. The feature is available in75 cities.
WhatsApp has rolled out built-in text translations on iPhone and Android. Theverge.com says that it is a gradual rollout, starting today in 1 to 1 chats, groups, and Channel update messages. You turn the feature on by long pressing down on messages and touching the ‘Translate’ option to pick the language you want to translate to or from. Support for English, Spanish, Hindi, Portuguese, Russian, and Arabic will initially be available for Android users, while iPhone users can translate messages into more than 19 languages at launch. Android users can also enable automatic translation for entire chat threads to apply the feature to all incoming messages.
The TikTok saga continues, but it sounds like things are getting close for a US version of TikTok managed by US interests. 9to5mac.com reports that the latest iteration of the deal, ByteDance would lease a version of their algorithm to a consortium of US investors, and Oracle would recreate and provide security for the algorithm. In addition, the US version would be retrained ‘from the ground up.’ Besides Oracle, Fox is reportedly one of the investors, so that makes one wonder how exactly the thing would be retrained…if it might somehow end up like X.
Nvidia will drop some $100 billion into OpenAI and provide it with data center chips, the companies said today in a joint statement. According to Reuters.com, Nvidia will be delivering the chips as soon as late 2026. Nvidia will invest in OpenAI for non-controlling shares. OpenAI just signed a non-binding deal with investor Microsoft which allows for OpenAI to restructure as a for-profit company.
Not exactly the kind of start Elon Musk would have hoped for…as Tesla launched its robotaxis in Austin, Texas, they had 3 crashes the first day! Arstechnica.com notes that the testing started on July 1st, and that later that month, the Teslas had only logged some 7,000 miles of testing. For comparison, Waymo logged only 60 crashes in over 50 million miles of driving. Waymo is not up to 96 million miles. All the crashes happened with a safety operator aboard. Musk has been saying for nearly 10 years that Tesla Full Self Driving is capable of driving coast to coast unaided. A couple owners made an attempt. They planned to go from Los Angeles to Jacksonville, Florida in a Model Y. After just 60 miles, they crashed into road debris, and the car’s suspension broke!
Blue Origin has scored a major NASA contract to ferry a lunar rover to the the South Pole of the moon. Techcrunch.com reports that the VIPER…which stands for ‘Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover’ will eventually see the surface of the moon. The program was in a bit of limbo last year due to delays and cost overruns. The contract with Blue Origin is about $190 million. They hope to have it land by late 2027.
The Meta Connect keynote was last night, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the predicted smart glasses with a display. Theverge.com reports they are called Meta Ray-Ban Display…I know, really creative naming here…but they do have a full-color, hi-res screen in the right lens. You can see messages, take video calls, read live captions, see walking directions, and preview pics you plan to take with a built-in 12 megapixel cam. The display is controlled with a wristband. Meta says the glasses can run up to 6 hours with ‘mixed use’ on a charge, and you can get up to 30 hours with the collapsable charging case. The new Display glasses start at $799, and come in black or brown…same colors for the wrist band. They are available in the US starting September 30th at Best Buy, LensCrafters, and Ray-Ban stores.
Google is rolling out new features for Chrome. The biggie, according to them, is a new button that launches the Gemini chatbot…be still my heart. According to wired.com, there are new tools for searching, researching, and answering questions with AI. On Android, you can already use parts of Gemini within the Chrome app, and the AI features are coming to iOS Chrome users ‘soon.’
In a chilling move, ICE has signed a $3 million dollar contract with the company that makes Graykey, the phone hacking and unlocking device that is already in use by many governments and police agencies. TechCrunch.com notes that the deal covers the HSI…Homeland Security Investigations unit of ICE. The Graykey box was originally developed by Grayshift, but Magnet Forensics merged with them in 2023, and they operate under the Magnet Forensics name now. This isn’t shocking, but just one more tool besides face recognition software from Clearview AI and cell phone spyware from Paragon that ICE is now using.
Nvidia will pump $5 billion into Intel, to co-develop new server and PC chips. Arstechnica.com says this will give Nvidia approximately 4% of Intel. Apparently, the chips will be custom x86 chips that Intel builds to Nvidia’s specifications. Nvidia will then integrate the CPUs into its AI infrastructure platforms, and offer them to the market.
The trade war continues, now with China’s Cyberspace Administration telling companies this week…including ByteDance and Alibaba…to stop testing and ordering Nvidia’s RTX Pro 6000D AI chips. The verge.com reports that the chips were just introduced a couple months ago, and are specifically designed for China. China appears to be pressing Chinese tech companies to stop relying on Nvidia and utilize Chinese made chips, on order for China to compete better with the US in the AI race.
Meta Connect launches this evening with a keynote from Mark Zuckerberg. According to engadget.com, we should get a pretty detailed update on Meta’s smart glasses…including the rumored ones with built-in displays, which have been code named ‘Hypernova’ internally. Zuck may give a timeline for introducing the next gen glasses, and even pricing. Right now, it doesn’t appear that there will be any update to the latest Quest VR headsets, which were just rolled out last year. The keynote is at 5 PM Pacific, and is available on stream at the Meta Connect 2025 site.
Waymo has finally scored a permit to start testing robotaxis at San Francisco International Airport. CNBC.com notes that Waymo will partner with the airport to roll out the service in phases…starting with employee testing, and then moving on to riders from the general public. The taxis will start out with human safety drivers aboard, but eventually will operate as a driverless ride hailing service.
Apple is apparently planning a major upgrade to the MacBook Pro next year. Bgr.com reports that the upcoming MacBook will not only have an M6 chip, but also may get an OLED screen…and get this…analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says it will have a touchscreen like an iPad. That would be a huge move for Apple. It also, as Kuo notes, blurs the line between iPads and MacBooks. Personally, I think a MacBook with a touchscreen could be a big help with productivity…being able to use a keyboard or touch screen could really make work intuitive and faster. The laptop is also rumored to be thinner and have cellular connectivity built in.
Didn’t we just have Prime Day…for about a week? Amazon has announced its next Prime Day. Zdnet.com reports that this one will only be a 48 hour long Prime Day, starting on Tuesday October 7th, and running through October 8th. Expect the usual crazy deals on all sorts of stuff, particularly Amazon’s own. With the Amazon hardware event coming up on September 30th, deep discounts on the older model Kindles, Echo speakers, and Fire TVs are likely. As usual, expect ‘early deals’ between September 30th and the start of Prime Day.
The US and China have been continuing trade talks in Europe, and it looks like we may finally…finally see an actual deal with a US owned version of TikTok. According to gizmodo.com, the plan is to have it be owned by several American investors, but it would continue to rely on the Chinese algorithm running the platform. That is the main sticking point, by the way. The highly addictive algorithm is something China has been unwilling to give up, and it is a main draw for the platform. It now appears that the Trump administration has agreed to a licensing deal with ByteDance retaining the intellectual property rights but that Chinese company would “entrust the operation of TikTok’s U.S. user data and content security.” Negotiations are ongoing, so it isn’t quite a done deal yet.
YouTube has unveiled new generative AI tools for Shorts creators. TechCrunch.com notes that YouTube is getting a custom version of Google’s text-to-video generative AI model…Veo 3…to Shorts. In addition, Shorts will get a new remixing tool, and ‘Edit with AI’ feature, and more. This will make it the first time that Shorts creators can make video clips with AI with sound. The update is being pushed out now in the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. YouTube will be distributing the functionality to other areas in the upcoming months.
In the aftermath of a teen suicide, Open AI is working on a system aimed at automatically identifying teen users of ChatGPT, and restricting their usage. Engadget.com says that the teen restrictions would include a block of graphic sexual content, among other things. “In cases of acute distress,” the system will also have the capability to contact law enforcement to ensure user safety. In scenarios where ChatGPT can’t definitively estimate the age of a user, it will default them to the new gated experience. OpenAI will provide a way for adult users to verify their age and unlock ChatGPT’s full capabilities. This is an iffy game…Google is at it as well, as are some British companies. Critics point out that AI doesn’t have great accuracy at this sort of thing so far, and that having to prove you are of legal age exposes more of your private identity documentation and proof that could be used to steal your identity…not that that isn’t already a big problem. OpenAI hasn’t disclosed when they will be taking the teen identifying system live.
Amazon has announced a media event for September 30th. It will start at 10 AM Eastern. Engadget.com reports that Panos Panay, who heads up the Amazon Devices & Services team will be there. It is expected that Amazon will announce new hardware. What might that include? Well, a graphic seems to show a Kindle e-reader, a Fire TV, and an Echo speaker. As those are three of Amazon’s biggest product categories, that is a pretty decent hint. The standard Echo speaker is badly in need of a refresh…it is now 5 years old, and it’s been a couple years for Fire TVs and streaming sticks. The better Kindles have been updated, but the base model is in need of a refresh. We’ll know more on September 30th.
China’s State Administration for Market Regulation rued today that Nvidia was in violation of the country’s antitrust regulations. According to techcrunch.com, this ruling comes in part due to Nvidia’s 2020 acquisition of Mellanox Technologies. The chip maker did put out a statement, saying “We comply with the law in all respects. We will continue to cooperate with all relevant government agencies as they evaluate the impact of export controls on competition in the commercial markets.” China has not announced any consequences so far for Nvidia. US and China tariff negotiations are going on now in Madrid, Spain, so this will certainly have an effect on talks there.
Alphabet, parent of Google, has just joined a very exclusive club…they just made it to the $3 trillion market cap level, making it the 4th company to do so. CNBC.com says that a 4% bump today took the company over the top. No oil companies are in the exclusive club at this point. The quartet of super valuable companies is made up of Nvidia, Microsoft, Apple, and now Alphabet. A lot of Wall Street watchers think it is due to the less severe than expected court ruling. The Justice Department had wanted Google to divest its Chrome browser, but the court held that they could keep Chrome. Alphabet is up 30% this year, compared to 15% for the Nasdaq.
At the Emmys last night, HBO and HBO Max made a comeback picking up a total of 30 awards. That’s cool, entertainment is their primary business. That’s also true for Netflix, which snagged 30 Emmys, too. Interestingly, the Hollywood Reporter notes that Apple TV+ took home 22 Emmys. Of those, 13 were for The Studio. NBC Universal got 16 statuettes, and Disney took home 13…down from their enormous haul last year of 60.
The tech companies have seen the future, and it apparently has all of us walking around, looking nerdy in augmented reality glasses. Yahoo.com reports that Amazon is working on AR glasses for consumers that would go head to head with Meta’s Ray-Bans. The glasses are code named ‘Jayhawk,’ which makes this former Kansan think that someone high on the development team is a Jayhawk themselves…an alum of Kansas University. At any rate, Amazon is aiming to have the AR glasses out by late 2026 or early 2027. Amazon has already been working on specialized glasses for delivery drivers. Those specs would provide turn by turn navigation on a small screen along routes and at each stop. The AR glasses allegedly would have a full-color display and a sleeker, less bulky design than the delivery model already in the works. Those ones should be out by the 2nd quarter of 2026…and Amazon plans to produce some 100,000 units.
With almost every phone maker either putting out a folding phone or working on one now, early leader Samsung is apparently working on a second Z Fold, to go along with the present Galaxy Z Fold 7 and its Z Flip 7 folding phones. According to bgr.com, Samsung is not only working on a tri-fold phone, but also on a wider Fold. The wider fold would have a flatter, square appearance when open, and a shorter overall design…something like an early Pixel fold design that was considered. The wide Fold would have an aspect ration of 18:18. Some speculators think the wider Fold might be related to the rumored Apple folding iPhone that may drop next year.
Microsoft, which was an early large investor in Open AI, has now taken steps to distance a bit from that artificial intelligence firm. Techcrunch.com says that Microsoft will pay for Anthropic’s AI in Office 365 apps. That means that Anthropic’s tech will help power new features in Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint alongside OpenAI’s, marking the end of Microsoft’s previous reliance solely on the ChatGPT maker for its productivity suite. Microsoft is presently negotiating a new deal with Open AI to secure access to its AI models after a pending for-profit restructuring. Apple has been using OpenAI’s ChatGPT as an extension of its flailing Siri, but lately, there is word that Apple is working on a deal to use Google’s Gemini AI. It appears that no one wants all their AI eggs in one basket.
Pfizer has announced that the 2025-26 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine boosts antibody levels by at least four times in older people and those with underlying medical conditions. Arstchnica.com notes that even with the patchwork of state-by-state access caused by Bobby Kennedy Jr’s nuttiness at Health & Human Services, this is some good news. The Kennedy/Trump FDA now limits COVID-19 vaccine approvals to people 65 and older or those under 64 if they have an underlying medical condition. Those conditions include asthma, diabetes, heart conditions, HIV, mental health conditions, Parkinson’s disease, obesity, or smoking.
Apple remarkably kept this presentation to under an hour and 15 minutes. No, there wasn’t a surprise amazing ‘one more thing.’
Starting out, they bowed new Air Pods Pro 3
New ANC noise reduction and new ear tips give twice the ANC of previous ones, 4X better than original Air Pods Pro.
The new models have Live Translation to your ears, so you can understand the person speaking in your native language, and then the iPhone can show them on screen or tell them in a voice what you say in their language.
Apple analyzed 10,000 ears and now have 5 sizes of tips to stay in ears in all conditions. They claim better sweat protection too for workouts.
Heart Rate sensing is now built in.
New obnoxious and obsequious ‘Workout Buddy’ that has been available on iPhone now cheers you on in the ear buds. Good job, buddy! Rah, rah, you are great.
The Pro 3 has longer battery life….8 hours at a time…up from 6. It has 10 hours for hearing aid use….not bad, but actual good hearing aids have 30 house of battery life.
The price stays $249 no increase from the previous model… preorder today, and they’re available Sept 19th.
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Apple Watch…
First, Series 11…it’s thinner, and the screen is twice as scratch resistant.
Watch 11 has 5G if you get the one with its own phone…you should get better coverage and lower power consumption than the previous model.
For heart health, it tracks for high blood pressure. As predicted, it will look for higher blood pressure and will notify you of possible hypertension. It will NOT give you actual blood pressure readings.
Like other smart watches, Watch 11 will score quality of sleep. This was touted as a big deal, but competitors have had this feature for years.
Series 11 will have 24 hours of battery life…ok, that really is a big deal. With fast charging, you can almost wear it day and night.
Watch SE3…The cheapie. It gets an always on display now. It will also play media through the speaker. The Se gets 18 hour battery life, and new fast charging…charging twice as fast as the old model.
Watch Ultra 3-New display is brighter and has thinner borders. Largest display of all Apple Watches. (This corrects the embarrassment of last year’s Ultra 2 not having a bigger display than the Watch. It has the Workout Buddy and Satellite connectivity. You get Emergency SOS & Messages, and
42 hours battery life.
Base Pricing:
$249 for the SE3
$399 for the Series 11
$799 for the Ultra 3
Preorder today, all are available Sept 19th
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iPhone—4 models…
Apple said 4 new models, but really it is one new model and 3 freshened ones.
iPhone 17 gets alarger 6.3 inch display, and has pro motion like the pro models. It now has always on display, and a More readable brightness for the display outdoors in bright light.
The display has new Ceramic Shield 2….three times harder and better anti-glare than before.
The 17 is powered by the A19 chip…it’s faster and more efficient that last year’s phone.
Apple Intellegence runs on the 17 with iOS 26…including Live Translation.
The phone has 8 more hours of battery time and faster charging.
48MP dual fusion cams …a main and 2x telephoto.
The front selfie cam has Center Stage, as well as a sensor that is is twice size of last model. a new Square picture aspect ratio for the selfie cam gives higher resolution shots in any orientation. It will automatically adjust the picture field if you have a couple friends step into the frame so no one is cut off.
iPhone Air–
This is the actual new model. It is insanely thin. Titanium super thin edges, and ceramic shield 2 on both sides. The phone is a svelte 5.6mm thick, and has a 6.5 inch display
It runs on the A19 Pro chip. Each GPU core has MacBook Pro levels of computing in a phone.
It also has the new N1 chip…WiFi and Bluetooth designed by Apple.
As expected, you get the new C1x modem chip which is faster than the iPhone 16 Pro and is more power efficient.
The cam system: 48MP Fusion camera, but it has two cams with one lens. 24 MP default photos, portrait control, and basically 4 focal length lenses built in. The selfie cam is 18 MP.
As rumored, new Dual capture video uses both back cam and selfie cam at same time. You can insert yourself in a box on screen basically doing play by play of what’s being videoed on the main camera.
The Air has an eSIM…no physical SIM card, and it works worldwide.
Battery life…It has new Adaptive Power Mode to intelligently manage power. They claim all day batter life. New low profile Mag Safe battery pack will allow 40 hours total with phone when attached.
iPhone 17 Pro–
It has a new aluminum case and interior structure. It’s unibody, and allows for biggest battery ever. Apple says they went to the aluminum from titanium in order to get better heat dissipation, which they say is needed when you use the on device AI or are doing heavy duty gaming. The A19 Pro chip does generate more heat, so in addition to the aluminum unibody to help dissipate it, the phone also has a vapor chamber to help with temperature management.
The aluminum unibody has 20 times the thermal performance of the titanium.
Like the Air, the antennas are in the bump. They claim 40% better performance than 16 Pro…for gaming and for AI.
Like the Air, the both the screen and the back are Ceramic Shield 2 so you get better protection than the glass that’s on on older phones.
The Pro Max has the biggest battery ever, it can do 39 hours of video playback.
Cameras- The Selfie Cam is 18 MP like the Air.
The Rear main cam system ….all 3 cams are 48 MP. All are fusion cameras. New 4x zoom at 100 mm or 8x zoom tele at 200 mm focal length. That is a huge jump from before…and about time. Both zoom powers use machine learning to help reduce noise and get better color. The fusion system is the equivalent of 8 different lens focal lengths! It’s like carrying around 8 different lenses with your old DSLR in your camera bag, but in your hand.
For video, Apple has added Pro Res Raw Capture, and Also Gen Lock, which lets you move between video and graphics, among other things like switching seamlessly between shooting angles without doing hours of editing.
The Pro models come with 256 Gigs base storage, and you can order up to 2 TB.
Apple didn’t hit us with predicted $50 price bump…
Clark Reid Tech Report 