Mentioned in today’s edition: OpenAI, UK government, Humane, Greenland, open source, Starlink, Wi-Fi 8, Threads, Anthropic and Tasmania Tours. Plus, deals on Sennheiser earbuds, Roborock vacuums and Anker chargers.

The News

Apple and OpenAI are racing to make a gizmo to dethrone the phone

The latest rumours are that OpenAI wants to ship its first hardware, a pair of AirPods-like earphones, by the end of the year (TechCrunch). It reckons the OpenAIPods will be able to do some AI tasks locally which seems like a big ask for that form factor. Not to be outdone, Apple is also taking design cues from another company by fast-tracking a Humane-like AI pin that will look like an AirTag with cameras and a button (AppleInsider). The Apple oracle Mark Gurman is also reporting that Cupertino has gotten over its anti-chatbot stance and will launch a ChatGPT-like Siri next year (Bloomberg, $).

The Sizzle: I'm very into thinking about the gizmo-side of the AI devices because it's fun to think about what's next. As previously mentioned, it's pretty hard to beat "a 6-7 inch screen". But I think there's a lot of potential in devices that could supplement phones rather than replace them (at least for the moment). I think both anti-phone backlash and pro-AI people could both get behind a device that can do some of those tasks that currently require a phone — think about the things that take like 2-3 steps, such as checking a map and texting a friend with your ETA — without needing to be taken out of the world while you scroll, search and tap on your phone. 

While we’re in Gizmo corner: This smartphone runs Android, Linux, and even Windows 11 (Android Authority), Samsung's Galaxy S26 Ultra will have a 'privacy display' feature (9to5Google) and a company has produced an open source smart speaker that works with Home Assistant (Reddit)

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Greenland residents fighting back against Trump takeover with apps

The Europeans are fighting back against Donald Trump's mad king mission to acquire Greenland by boycotting US goods — and they're using apps to help (TechCrunch). NonUSA and Made O'Meter have shot to the top of the Danish App Store, as the good people of Greenland and Denmark are trying to ditch American products in retaliation. Relatedly, Timo in the Slack brought up how this Greenland stuff puts into relief just how perilous it is for the EU to rely on US tech like GPS etc. Relatedly: the EU is "calling for evidence" for how to move its tech systems to open source (i.e. away from US controlled) projects (More-Magic).

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Australia lending a hand to the UK's teen social media ban plan

The UK looks all but set to get a teen social media ban. The latest is that UK Parliament isn't happy to wait for consultation announced by the government into the idea, and doesn't want to wait for "evidence" or "hearing people's points of view" before legislating the ban (Guardian). My little scooplet is that members of the UK government have been in touch with their Australian counterparts to get some advice on the ban (Crikey, $). 

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Leftovers

Australia:

Rest of World:

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Oh, Also

One good reason not to trust AI to plan your holiday

There's a bit of a meme about how AI is always demoed showing how it can book a holiday for you. There's a couple of reasons that might be a bit risky. One of these is that AI might, um, hallucinate your destination, as has been the case in Tasmania where tourists have been sent to locations like the Weldoborough Hot Springs that do not exist. 

An ABC News article reports that local residents have been inundated with calls and even visitors trying to go to made-up landmarks promoted on the website of a local tour company, Tasmania Tours. At least the owner was straight up when asked about it: "Our AI has messed up completely" lol. 

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Bargains

Electronics

Computing

The End

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