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Daily Tech News Show

18 Sep 2025 · 34m · 19 chapters

Episode artwork

Meta’s Smart Glasses Get a Display - DTNS 5107

In short

DTNS episode covers Meta’s Connect announcements (Ray-Ban smart glasses with a display; audio-only Gen 2 upgrade; Oakley Meta Vanguards for sports), plus a broader tech news roundup (Apple iOS 26 screenshot preview toggle; Intel–NVIDIA partnership; Steam 32-bit app retirement; Nothing Ear (3) mic-in-case; China/U.S. TikTok deal signals; Valve Steam 64-bit; Microsoft Notepad/Paint/Snipping Tool Copilot features; Quibi-style short drama startup MicroCo using AI).

Guest backgrounds

Main “guest” is Andy Beach (DTNS contributor) who reports on Quibi return via MicroCo. No other named guests appear as interviewees.

Key claims

Meta Ray-Ban display uses an L-COS reflective waveguide (right lens only), ~600x600 at 20° FOV, up to 5,000 nits, ~18 hours battery (wrist band), ~6 hours glasses (plus case), app-dependent launch support. MicroCo targets 1–3 minute vertical animated micro-dramas and claims up to 90% animation cost reduction.

Notable examples

Live captions/translation; wrist EMG gestures; failed Zuckerberg video call demo; Vanguards connect to Garmin/Strava; MicroCo co-founder Lloyd Braun; MicroCo uses Cineverse’s 71,000-title library.

Written by AI. May contain mistakes.

Chapters

1:26

Meta's New Smart Glasses

Discussion on Meta's announcement of smart glasses featuring a display.

“Morning Brew Daily is the go-to business news podcast for millions of people.”
2:36

Meta's New Smart Glasses

Discussion on Meta's announcement of smart glasses featuring a display.

“Let's start with what you need to know with the big story.”
5:10

Exploring Features and Use Cases

Analysis of the smart glasses features and potential use cases.

“So the wrist thing has 18 hours of battery life, the glasses, six hours.”
7:48

New Smart Glasses from Oakley

Overview of Oakley Meta Vanguards designed for sports enthusiasts.

“So like when the additions come, like that's what I'm super interested to see develop here.”
9:52

Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2 and Other Announcements

Updates on Ray-Ban smart glasses and new functionalities from Meta.

“Also, okay, the look is really fun because it's really kind of retro with the reflective glasses.”
10:30

Meta's New Horizon TV Hub and Metaverse Updates

Discussion on Meta's Horizon TV Hub and improvements in the metaverse.

“The Horizon TV Hub is a new way to watch video and Quest headsets.”
14:36

Apple Notes Updates

Discussion on new features and issues with iOS 26, including screenshot settings.

“We've got a few Apple Notes for you today.”
16:18

NVIDIA and Intel Partnership

Exploring the implications of NVIDIA's stake in Intel and future collaborations.

“NVIDIA and Intel announced a joint partnership on Thursday, which sees NVIDIA take a four to 5 % stake in Intel and work on a bunch of other stuff together.”
19:00

Nothing Ear 3 Features

Overview of the new microphone features in Nothing's latest earbuds.

“As expected, nothing's Ear 3 earbuds have a microphone in the case.”
20:03

China and TikTok's Future

Analysis of the upcoming U.S.-China talks regarding TikTok's U.S. operations.

“Friday is the scheduled call between the presidents of China and the U.S., after which supposedly we will get details on the sale of TikTok's U.S.”
Show all 19 chapters
22:47

Steam App Upgrades

Discussion about Valve's announcement to transition Steam to 64-bit.

“Valve announced it will convert its Steam app to 64-bit soon and stop supporting the 32-bit version of the Windows app starting next year.”
23:44

Microsoft's App Enhancements

Overview of new features in Microsoft Notepad, Paint, and Snipping Tool.

“So if you have a Copilot Plus PC, Notepad can now do summarize, write, and rewrite Copilot features without you needing to subscribe to Microsoft 365.”
26:41

Hollywood's Short Form TV Revisited

Exploration of MicroCo's approach to short form video amidst AI advancements.

“Hollywood is revisiting short form TV, and this time they're doing it with AI on their side.”
28:00

Exploring Micro Dramas and Vertical Videos

Learn about the emergence of ultra short dramas optimized for vertical mobile viewing.

“It's co-founded by a Hollywood veteran, Lloyd Braun.”
30:00

Leveraging AI for Cost Efficiency in Animation

Discover how AI is used to reduce animation costs significantly in new media.

“And then they are trying to take advantage of AI in a major way.”
33:01

Narrative Techniques for Short Form Content

Understand the storytelling strategies effective in micro dramas and short episodes.

“And then they can use the results of that to really go pick and choose the right kinds of stories that fit the micro drama or the short form content in a more serious way.”
33:39

Andy Beach Discusses Media Tech Trends

Andy Beach shares insights on how media technology is evolving with AI.

“And so I don't know if it'll be obvious when something comes from micro co.”
34:22

Mainstream Success Indicators for New Media

Learn how to identify when new content has reached mainstream popularity.

“Thank you for giving me three micro-co episodes worth of content today, Andy.”
39:41

Mainstream Success Indicators for New Media

Learn how to identify when new content has reached mainstream popularity.

“Diamond Club hopes you have enjoyed this program.”
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Transcript

Automatic transcript. May contain errors.

0:00This episode is brought to you by Capital One. Capital One's tech team isn't just talking about multi-agentic AI. They already deployed one. It's called Chat Concierge and it's simplifying car shopping. Using self-reflection and layered reasoning with live API checks, it doesn't just help buyers find a car they love. It helps schedule a test drive, get pre-approved for financing, and estimate trade in value. Advanced, intuitive, and deployed. That's how they stack. That's technology at Capital One. Shipping, billing, admin, payroll, marketing.

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1:15No additional purchase necessary for sweeps. See bonus points, TNCs, and sweeps rules for details. This episode is sponsored by Morning Brew Daily. If you're anything like me, you want to stay informed about what's happening in business and finance, but you also don't have an hour every morning to sift through headlines. Morning Brew Daily is the go-to business news podcast for millions of people. It's a daily business news podcast that's a quick, fun, and easy way to start your day. Whether it's the latest in tech, markets, or the trends shaping the economy, the show breaks it all down in a way that's clear, engaging, and actually enjoyable to listen to.

1:53Andy Beach: Hosts Neil Freiman and Toby Howell make the show feel like you're catching up with two friends while giving you the context you need to feel smarter and more confident throughout your day. New episodes drop every weekday wherever you get your podcasts. Tune into Morning Brew Daily wherever you get your podcasts.

2:12Jenn Cutter: This is the Daily Tech News for Thursday, September 18th, 2025. We tell you what you need to know. We follow up on context and we do our darndest, Jen, to help each other understand.

2:23Andy Beach: Today, Andy Beach will tell us about the return of Quibi and Meta announces new smart glasses, but they got a little chonkier.

2:31Jenn Cutter: Yeah, some people call them ugly. Some people just call them big. I'm Tom Merritt. I'm Jen Cutter. Let's start with what you need to know with the big story. Okay, lots to talk about here, but the big one is the smart glasses with a display. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg kicked off Meta's Connect developer conference on Wednesday evening. A nice little, you know, fireside chat feel with his evening announcement. Most anticipated announcement was the Meta Ray-Ban display. The first smart glasses with Meta having a display in them. If you want to be specific, it's a full color L-COS display. Not L-CARS, Star Trek fans, L-COS, L-C-O-S.

3:13Jenn Cutter: With a reflective wave guide. So you don't really see it unless you look really hard at the glasses because it reflects onto the glasses. You might see a little bit of a gradient in there if you look really close. It is not an immersive display. It's not meant to be. It's a 20 degree field of view. So it's like a small square, 600 by 600 pixels, shows up in the right side of your view. It's on the right lens only, but it can get up to 5 ,000 nits of brightness. So when you're outside in sunlight, you should be able to see it still. You can watch small videos on it. You can read messages. You can get info like directions.

3:48Jenn Cutter: You can even make video calls. Although Mark Zuckerberg couldn't because the demo failed when he was trying to do it. It can also show you a preview of what's in a connected phone's camera. So if you are making a video call, you could use that and then see what you look like. It can show you live captions of what someone is saying to you, which could be good if you're hearing impaired, but also could be used for live translation. The display disappears when it's not in use. So most of the time you won't see the display. You control it by swiping along the frame as you do with regular Ray-Bans or with a new metaneural band.

4:24Jenn Cutter: This is available in three sizes. You put it around your wrist and it uses electromyography or EMG to detect your muscle movements. It kind of detects the electrical activity in your wrist muscles and that allows you to use gestures. So you can swipe a thumb across your hand. Pinching the thumb and index finger gives you select. thumb and middle finger gives you back, double tapping the thumb activates the voice assistant, and you can twist your hand to control things like music volume as if you were turning a knob. Later this year, Meta promises it will get the ability to recognize handwriting done in the air.

4:59Jenn Cutter: It also promises 18 hours of battery life. Like the other non-visual smart glasses from Meta, has a 12 megapixel camera, has 1080p video, and it can go six hours on a charge. So the wrist thing has 18 hours of battery life, the glasses, six hours. And if you put them in the case, you can get an additional 30 hours of them. At launch, it doesn't work with everything. You're not going to be able to mirror stuff. So there's a pairing situation going on and each app has to support it. It works with Meta AI's app, of course, works with Facebook Messenger. It works with WhatsApp. app. There's a special app for it coming from Spotify and Instagram will only support it for direct messages at launch, though they say they're going to add Reels playback later this year.

5:47Jenn Cutter: The Meta Ray-Ban display glasses go on sale September 30th for$799. They're encouraging people to go into a retailer in places where it's launching and it's launching in multiple places around the world, including Canada. You can get them in two sizes. You can get them in black or brown. So you might want to go into a lens crafters or something and sit down, get them fitted, all that. We got new models of the audio only smart glasses we'll get to in a minute. But Jen, what do you think of these?

6:16Andy Beach: Because I am selfish. I'm thinking like, do I have a use case for this? I don't. But for accessibility reasons, I can see this really taking off. There's so much good in there to help people who maybe just like, I know the audio ones do a lot, but having the video aspect of it is just going to add a lot for people. Like I'm kind of thinking of like, if my grandma was still around, I would kind of be tempted to get this for her so she can still go around downtown Toronto and, and get the easy directions, but also have that comfort of having the visual thing right in front of her when she needs it.

6:49Yeah.

6:50Jenn Cutter: These remind me of the first gen Wayfarer glasses that they don't sell anymore that had like 20 minutes of battery life and, you know, barely could capture anything, you know, 720p. And like these are these show the way for the next model. These are very first gen. I kind of want to get them just to try them out. But I am stuck with those early Wayfarers and have not upgraded them because I bought that first version to try it out. So I've got mixed feelings about it. Like I see where they're going, but the limited battery life and the limitations on apps, I don't think this is going to fully realize what they can do eventually.

7:29Andy Beach: Well, with the wrist thing is the part that I'm actually most interested in. I guess it was like five years ago, there was this viral hoax thing. It's about like a wristband projector for your phone where you could do everything on your arm. And it's like, this actually made some of that real.

7:46Jenn Cutter: At least the control part. Yeah.

7:48Andy Beach: So like when the additions come, like that's what I'm super interested to see develop here.

7:53Jenn Cutter: Yeah. Now, demonstrating what I just said about if you wait, they get better. the Oakley Meta Vanguards were announced. We just got the Oakley Houstons earlier this year, but the Vanguards are wraparound smart glasses meant for sports. So you're snowboarding, you're mountain biking, you're going to want to look at these. The button for video and photos is on the underside of the frame. So if you're wearing a helmet, which you should be, if you're doing those kinds of sports, you can get to that button easier. They claim nine hours of battery Life can do 3K video. Speakers are six decibels louder and they're IP67 dust and water resistant.

8:29Jenn Cutter: They're also designed to connect with Garmin fitness wearables so you can hear your stats and use the Meta AI assistant to ask it about your stats. It also can connect to Strava and show performance graphics or tell you performance graphics. They sell for$499 shipping October 21st. So they're$100 more than the Oakley Houston's. And you can choose four frames and lens colors. I know these caught your eye.

8:57Andy Beach: I want them. I want them so bad. Now, it's slightly unfair to judge them from the excellent Red Bull presentation they did. Because if you need a hype sports presentation that's sick on video, you go to Red Bull. But I have wanted to be able to show people hockey for years and years and years. I've tried every kind of GoPro configuration. The Ray-Bans are not good for this, but this is perfect. It fits under my helmet. It will hopefully allow people to show skating and the fluidity of hockey without making them motion sick. Yeah. But it is definitely way out of my price range once you make it into Canadian dollars.

9:39Andy Beach: But I hope that others will do this. And I'd love to see the NHL jump on this outside of Red Bull make their own videos.

9:45Jenn Cutter: Yeah, this is definitely going to be an extreme sports thing, but I hadn't even thought about arena sports. You're right.

9:50Andy Beach: Yeah, well, if it fits under a helmet, let's go. Also, okay, the look is really fun because it's really kind of retro with the reflective glasses.

9:57Jenn Cutter: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's cool. Also, we got an upgrade to the Ray-Ban Meta. They are now called Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2s. These are audio-only smart glasses. But if you haven't bought them or if, like me, you're still stuck on the earliest, almost useless gen, The battery life is now eight hours. That's up from four on the previous version. And they upgraded the video to 3K. Price also went up as well from$299 to$379. And those are available now. There's also a couple of other announcements here. The Horizon TV Hub is a new way to watch video and Quest headsets. So it aggregates video from multiple sources in one place.

10:40Jenn Cutter: It's kind of like the Apple TV app or the Google TV app, which brings together Disney, Amazon, Peacock, Twitch, and some movies from Blumhouse and Universal. As for the metaverse, the Meta Horizon World's Unity engine has been replaced. So for those of you who use Horizon to hang out in a virtual world, you're getting Meta's own Horizon engine, which it says will load four times faster and increase the number of participants on one instance to 100 at a time.

11:14Andy Beach: Are there 100 people, Tom?

11:18Jenn Cutter: I suspect we will hear from one or two of them to say like, yes, I've been on an overloaded instance before. But yeah, this is not something I imagine is a mainstream problem. But, you know, niche problems are important too.

11:31Andy Beach: DTNS is made possible by you, the listener. Thanks to Chris Beneteau, Jeffrey Zilkes, Alo, Adam L, and a huge welcome to our new patrons, Brian, Mr. Evans, and Enrique. Yay! Welcome, welcome! Welcome, y 'all.

11:47Jenn Cutter: It's great to have you.

11:51Hey guys, it's Joe. It's Kevin. And this is Nick Jonas from Hey Jonas. Do you remember growing up when it felt like every teacher had a favorite student? Everybody knew who it was. Well, I was homeschooled, so I like to think it was me. a class of one. Congratulations. But we're not here to talk about favorite students. We want to talk about a teacher's real favorite. Kleenex tissues. According to teacher lists, Kleenex is the number one facial tissue brand trusted by teachers.

12:15Jenn Cutter: Kleenex ultra soft tissues are silky soft to help prevent skin irritation. And now you can take them anywhere with Kleenex Snap and Go. Between dance, soccer, school events, and everything else kids have going on after school, Kleenex Snap and Go is easy to take along. It fits in backpacks, sports bags, or even in the car. so it's ready for whatever comes next. So do the best thing for your kids and teachers. Stock up on the ultimate classroom favorite. Maybe you'll even become the teacher's favorite parent. We still haven't settled who would be the favorite in our school. We haven't settled who the favorite brother is either.

12:45For whatever happens next, grab Kleenex. This episode is brought to you by Capital One. Capital One's tech team isn't just talking about multi-agentic AI. They already deployed one. It's called Chat Concierge and it's simplifying car shopping. Using self-reflection and layered reasoning with live API checks, it doesn't just help buyers find a car they love. It helps schedule a test drive, get pre-approved for financing, and estimate trade-in value. Advanced, intuitive, and deployed. That's how they stack. That's technology at Capital One. There are moments that reveal who we are and who we're meant to become.

13:22For those born to lead, such moments call for a vehicle of equal distinction. Dynamic by design, uncompromising in execution, the Range Rover Sport was engineered for those rare individuals who demand the world and possess the conviction to claim it. When your time to lead arrives, you need a vehicle that rises to meet it. The Range Rover Sport. Exclusive offers available now. Explore further at RangeRover.com. There's never been a better time to get outside and experience the benefits of nature. Discover nearby trails and explore the outdoors with all trails. Download the free app today and find your outside.

14:02Meet Amazon Ads rising star Daryl Spencer, who set out to redefine men's self-care with his brand Crown Skin. Amazon Ads helped him grow.

14:10Jenn Cutter: I walked away from big tech to build a luxury brand in a category that no one was paying attention to. With the help of Amazon Ads, I'm reaching relevant audiences and competing with the biggest names in men's grooming. We've scaled to over$500 ,000 in monthly revenue. Watch Crown Skin's story at advertising.amazon.com slash rising-stars.

14:36Jenn Cutter: There's more we need to know today. Let's get to the briefs.

14:38Andy Beach: We've got a few Apple Notes for you today. If you have upgraded to iOS 26, you may have noticed that screenshots Start as a small thumbnail preview you have to tap on to enlarge. One of the most popular topics today is how to turn off that thumbnail preview. Go to Settings, General, then Screen Capture. You can toggle full screen previews on and never see the thumbnail again. Also, while Apple didn't raise the entry level price on its phones, it did raise the top end price for fully specced versions. Bloomberg estimates that the average selling price of an iPhone will rise about 4 % in the next fiscal year.

15:19Andy Beach: And finally, some reviewers noticed that bright LED sources caused black spots or squiggles in photos taken with the iPhone Air and iPhone Pro Max. Apple says it has a software fix all ready to go.

15:32Jenn Cutter: Hey, we got one of the shipping problems out of the way before people even got them shipped. uh good good good job reviewers at least if that if that update gets pushed fast enough uh and i went and checked i had already turned off the screenshot thing in the beta version i guess because and i don't remember doing that uh but i went to you know double check these instructions i was like oh look at that i already turned that off yeah see i haven't upgraded yet

15:56Andy Beach: because i always like giving it a little bit before i make that that big push i'm usually

16:02Jenn Cutter: right there with you, but I wanted to test the messaging stuff where you can filter messages differently now. And so I had to get on the beta like a month or so ago, but it's been fine. It's actually, you know, I was a little nervous about doing that, but it's been fine. NVIDIA and Intel announced a joint partnership on Thursday, which sees NVIDIA take a four to 5 % stake in Intel and work on a bunch of other stuff together. The two companies are going to integrate NVIDIA's NVLink data and control code interface into Intel CPUs. That'll be attractive to data center enterprise level folks. Intel will make a line of x86 CPUs specifically made for NVIDIA's AI infrastructure platform.

16:45Jenn Cutter: Again, another attractive thing for people building data centers could sell Intel some more chips. And for us home users, Intel will integrate NVIDIA RTX GPU chiplets into its x86 system on a chip to come in a wide range of PCs, especially gaming PCs. Those will be called the Intel x86 RTX SOCs.

17:08Andy Beach: See, like we're all pretty in this, like we have to follow Intel, we follow NVIDIA. And by we, I am including all of you lovely listeners out there. But like if I asked any of my normie friends, they would be able to name Intel as a chip manufacturer, but have no idea about the health of it or how it is struggling right now.

17:26Jenn Cutter: I suppose that's true. Although Intel has made some mainstream news when the United States government took a stake or announced that it would take a stake in Intel. So that may have made a few more people aware of the troubles Intel has. But yeah, as followers of this show know, Intel has been on the rocks. It's gone through multiple CEOs. It's been declining. It's not going out of business anytime soon, but it's had problems. This really points the way to a future for Intel where it's got a very successful client. So a built-in supply of chip sales, uh, and, you know, possibly a long-term route for merger or acquisition, uh, with NVIDIA down the road.

18:08Jenn Cutter: It starts with a four to 5 % stake. That might be as far as it ever goes. Uh, but it is the kind of thing that opens that possibility a little more. No matter what, this is good news for Intel. It's going to sell more chips and it's got a positive looking future marketplace that it didn't have before.

18:27Andy Beach: Yeah. And in terms of like, obviously they've done well with businesses and stuff, but to get this kind of integrated gaming thing, gamers are also the other market that have continued to buy high-end hardware. Yeah.

18:43Jenn Cutter: And if you're, I know most people listening who play video games are probably going to say, I don't want an integrated GPU, but if you did, or if you had to, or if it was a second PC, wouldn't it be nice for it to be an NVIDIA RTX?

19:00Andy Beach: As expected, nothing's Ear 3 earbuds have a microphone in the case. And now we know why. That mic has better beam forming, then you could fit in earbuds so you can block out everything that isn't your voice. It works with some but not all apps, including Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, WhatsApp, and WeChat for calls and voice members for both Android and iOS, as well as Blackmagic's video app. The Ear 3s are available to order now for$179 and ship September 25th.

19:33Jenn Cutter: that's interesting i'm not sure if it's enough to make me get the nothing ear threes but it's it's a it's an interesting option i'm gonna and if anybody has these and tries it out let us know

19:43Andy Beach: how that works yeah i i kind of love that they all specified black magic's video app which is great and then for someone like me who doesn't have earbuds it's like oh is that worth it for me if i'm doing videos on the go to just go straight with that and now that's your external mic i mean

19:56Jenn Cutter: it's going to be better to get an actual external mic but in a pinch right it's a twofer flexibility Friday is the scheduled call between the presidents of China and the U.S., after which supposedly we will get details on the sale of TikTok's U.S. operation. Meanwhile, the strategic pieces keep moving around in the background. This is all China trying to position itself for leverage in that final deal. China ended its antitrust probe into Google over the dominance of Android. One can suspect maybe that was a condition of this deal that the U.S. put forth. It also appeared to soften a bit regarding NVIDIA.

20:34Jenn Cutter: Earlier in the week, if you missed it, the Cyberspace Administration of China ordered ByteDance, Alibaba, and other companies to stop testing and cancel orders for NVIDIA's RTX Pro 6000D. That's not as popular, you probably haven't heard of it as much as the H20, which is for data centers. The 6000D is for workstations. So it allows you to do AI development, some 3D rendering on the workstation. China's ministry spokesperson told a press conference on Thursday that it will keep dialogue open regarding supply chains. Now, that's far from saying we will reverse that decision about prohibiting purchases of RTX Pro 6000Ds.

21:11Jenn Cutter: But it's something you would not expect them to say if they were going to maintain a hard line on that.

21:17Andy Beach: Yeah, I think as we've learned recently across the board, anytime you hear about a framework deal, you know that there's very little imprint in stone and anything can happen. But yeah, from China, this is a step. You don't usually hear this kind of soft speaking out of it.

21:37Jenn Cutter: Yeah, and I think it's almost just as wrong to say, well, a framework deal means nothing, which is not what you were saying, of course, but somebody might, right? It's just as wrong to say that as to say a framework deal means it's all done. Framework deal means we think we can finish it. But especially when you're dealing with these two, it's far from a guarantee. I have a feeling this is going to happen. The fact that the extension for TikTok's deadline in the U.S. was pushed to December for the enforcement of the law tells me that they want to give it plenty of room to get those details worked out.

22:14Jenn Cutter: or we would be hearing a lot more bluster and we wouldn't see China softening on the stances. So this puts my confidence that this deal will happen at, you know, 72%.

22:25Andy Beach: No, that's fair. Because for a framework, we have heard more semi-specific details than we have in the past.

22:32Jenn Cutter: And we've been seeing the moves you would expect if an agreement is coming. That, you know, earlier in the week, I was like, well, then why are they banning the NVIDIA if they're going to do this deal? But, you know, now we're seeing that.

22:43Andy Beach: And thanks to Motang for posting this one on our subreddit. Valve announced it will convert its Steam app to 64-bit soon and stop supporting the 32-bit version of the Windows app starting next year. Windows 10 is soon to enter extended support, and it is the only version of Windows available in 32-bit. You'll still be able to play 32-bit games in Steam, you just won't get a 32-bit version of the Steam app.

23:10Jenn Cutter: Yeah, the news here to me was like, Steam is still a 32-bit app. I didn't know that.

23:15Andy Beach: Yeah, I did not know that as well. I'm trying to think of like, what was the last 32-bit system I owned? But I'd have to reach pretty far back for that.

23:22Jenn Cutter: And it runs on your 64-bit Windows systems just fine, but they're gonna fix that. And when they do, that means they're not gonna support the old one. They're not gonna maintain two versions of it, which makes sense as, you know, Windows 10 is 64-bit most of the time. It's just the only one that does do a 32-bit system. Speaking of Microsoft, it added features to the developer and canary versions of Notepad, Paint, and the snipping tool. So if you have a Copilot Plus PC, Notepad can now do summarize, write, and rewrite Copilot features without you needing to subscribe to Microsoft 365. And you may say, oh, because they do it on the Copilot processor, which is true, but that also includes cloud processing.

24:02Jenn Cutter: If you want, you can choose to do that. Paint gets the option to save project files so you can resume work on them later. and an opacity slider for the pencil and brush tools. And the snipping tool gets a markup feature. So you get a pen, an eraser, and a highlighter if you want to make some notes before you finish capturing that screenshot.

24:20Andy Beach: The paint thing is what fascinates me here. I think along with a lot of other people, when you needed to do something just really quick with an image, you probably went to PhotoP, like P as in P-E-A, which is basically an online browser working Photoshop. It has an insane amount of features and it's like one guy who does this. Will this be enough to bring people back to paint or will people just keep using what they've used for the last several years to get all this done?

24:49Jenn Cutter: Yeah. Let us know if you're like, actually, maybe I'm the one who will start using paint because I can't imagine it brings too many people back. It's just a couple of features, but probably enough for some. Okay. There were a bunch of interesting things today that don't need a lot of explanation, but I think they're worth telling you so you can file them away for future reference.

25:08Andy Beach: India is the country making the most use of Gemini 2.5 flash image, aka Nano Banana. Gemini is at the top of the free app charts for both Google and Apple in India.

25:20Jenn Cutter: The U.S. House Oversight Committee has requested testimony from the CEOs of Discord, Twitch, Reddit, and Valve, specifically to talk about Steam, to appear October 8th and talk about what their platforms are doing to combat online radicalization and the, quote, incitement to commit politically motivated acts.

25:39Andy Beach: Online fast fashion app Sheen will let other fashion brands use its apparel manufacturing network in China for their own clothing, as long as they sell some of it on Sheen. Sheen's network can turn around new designs in five to seven days.

25:54Jenn Cutter: Tesla is redesigning its passenger door handles so they are less likely to get jammed after an accident. There have been some instances where electronic locks stopped working and passengers had a hard time finding the manual door release.

26:06Andy Beach: Uber will partner with Flytex to conduct a wider test of drone delivery in the U.S. this year. Flytex also operates Walmart's drone deliveries.

26:16Jenn Cutter: I want burritos flown to me. U.S. public transit company Via will work with Waymo to offer public transit customers in Chandler, Arizona, the option to take a Waymo ride during peak hours for just two bucks a ride.

26:31Andy Beach: And Nikkei says Apple has started its talks with suppliers about making a test run of its first foldable phones.

26:38Jenn Cutter: Ah, so it begins. All right. Those are the essentials for today. Let's dive a little deeper.

26:44Andy Beach: Oh no, they're at it again. Hollywood is revisiting short form TV, and this time they're doing it with AI on their side. Will that help? Tom asked Andy Beach to help us decide.

26:57Jenn Cutter: Andy, thanks so much for bringing us the latest Quibi. It feels like it's the same thing all over again, doesn't it, Tom? Yeah, maybe they'll do a Quibi-ized version of Groundhog Day. So tell me about MicroCo, which is an amazing name for a company that is going to try once again to do high quality short form video. What are they doing that will help them succeed where others like Quibi have not? Well, so this was a New York Times article I found, and I was fascinated by it because I do think there has been a lot of talk recently in particular. I would say within the last two months, I've seen a lot of content around micro dramas and short form fictional works, in part a lot because of sort of the power of AI to do productions.

27:48And because of the expense of AI for long form, it's still being used for short form. So this new startup out of LA, it's called MicroCo. They are coming back at the Quibi model with a few subtle differences that I think will help. It's co-founded by a Hollywood veteran, Lloyd Braun. It's backed by Cineverse and Banyan Ventures. And they're looking to create ultra short dramas. So they're targeting the one to three minute range and they are looking at it just being optimized for a vertical phone viewing. So that right there, I think takes some of the, the effort out of, out of what Quibi was trying to do, which was tell a story that could easily switch between horizontal and vertical.

28:34Whereas here they're just, they're, they're seeding to the phones and saying, we know you like your phones. We know you, vertical video has become very common. We're going to, we're going to target for that.

28:44Jenn Cutter: Okay. So I think that helps. First thing is they're not, you know, letting you choose whether it's landscape or vertical. They're still going for the same crowd as TikTok and YouTube Shorts. Is there anything else they're doing that will help them stand out? Well, I mean, they're certainly looking for names. I mean, that's part of the reason I think it is an L.A. startup at the end of the day and that they went with the backers that they have because these are all names that are known in the Hollywood space. So I believe they're going to be recruiting people from what we think of as traditional media to the same thing, though.

29:21So they did. But but they they tried to shoehorn other elements into it. And I think the cleaner stripped down version of it. And they're not trying to build the entire platform here either. They're really just the movie studio and they'll be looking for the platforms. These may well just show up on TikTok or they may be in an Instagram reel or they may be a YouTube short. So they're not trying to keep it in a self-contained ecosystem. That's smart. They're looking to expand it out. They're looking to just stay adaptive to that vertical format that all of these platforms know and that has a growing audience.

30:00And then they are trying to take advantage of AI in a major way. They believe that they can get particularly, and there is a pretty heavy focus right now on animated as an early start. And they believe that AI will reduce their animation cost by as much as 90 % or effectively making it about$1 ,500 per minute for these finished works.

30:23Jenn Cutter: That's crazy. I know this is huge in China. I'm trying to look up the name of one of these that my wife watches all the time on Viki. But there's these, you know, these short animated adventures, you know, that are 10 minutes long, which is a little longer than what we're talking about here. But there's ones that are even shorter. It is. A lot of those. This is definitely adapted from Asian micro dramas, which are popular in Korea, China, Japan, multiple places. They often are, even though the the dramas themselves might be anywhere from one to three minutes, but they're usually multi episode.

31:01And those episodes for what we think of as a season or in a complete story could be as many as 60 different. Yeah. Yeah.

31:10Jenn Cutter: I think it was called Soul Land, the one that I'm looking for. Yeah. Yeah. I have seen that one online before. And I think, you know, the reality is they're trying to tell still potentially an hour long story. They're just doing it over 61 minute episodes. Okay. So they're using some generative models to get the cost down, which a bunch of people are going to be angry about that, but maybe they can still get celebrities to join them despite that. That's going to be a little complicated, I guess, in Hollywood. But but otherwise, if they have good stories and if they are not gatekeeping it, it seems like, OK, it'll be easy for people to discover them, which is one of the things that brought down Quibi is people had to download Quibi to watch it.

31:58Jenn Cutter: What else is going to make them stand out besides just the production value? Like is is is there are they using any AI or other things to try to figure out, you know, how to meet public tastes? So one of the first things they're doing is they are using back catalog. Cineverse has an existing 71 ,000 title library. And part of it will be taking and adapting some of that existing content into a micro drama format. So they have a rich pool to start. And what they will likely then do is use AI to very closely scrutinize and monitor what's being successful and what's not. and use that to make decisions about the types of new content that they're creating out of the gate.

32:43So they're not necessarily going to rush out and empower a wide range of artists to just go create anything. And then, you know, one out of five or really in Hollywood is probably one out of 30 is successful. They're going to start with some existing material, which is always cheaper to start with to begin with. And then they can use the results of that to really go pick and choose the right kinds of stories that fit the micro drama or the short form content in a more serious way.

33:11Jenn Cutter: I love this idea of stakes within three seconds, dramatic hooks by 23. Boom, boom. Stamp it out. We know the formula. Honestly, people who make shorts tell me the same thing. So that tracks. I mean, I was at the Brian Brushwood weird things seminar and it felt like I was listening to him. Like he, if he read this article, he would be violently nodding along. Fantastic. Well, I, I, I now have micro co on my radar. And so I don't know if it'll be obvious when something comes from micro co. I don't know if they'll have a big micro co branding on it or not, but I'll be, I'll be looking to see if I can identify what's coming from them.

33:53Jenn Cutter: This is cool. Andy, thanks for bringing this to us. Yeah, no, absolutely. I'll, I'll be keeping an eye on it. And one of the things I'll be trying to pay attention to is to see if the micro code name actually sticks. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a great, I mean, it is what it is, right? It's a company about very small things. Andy, you have very big things going on on the internet. Where can people find them? I'm writing about things like this around media technology and how AI is changing the way we think about it. That's called Engines of Change, and it's a sub stack over at enginesofchange.ai. Thank you for giving me three micro-co episodes worth of content today, Andy.

34:31My pleasure, Tom. And I can't wait to come back for 59 more episodes.

34:35Jenn Cutter: See you then. Take care. What do you think, Jed?

34:40Andy Beach: I think we'll know this succeeds when my mom sends me a text saying, oh my God, have you seen this? Because that is how I know when things have hit the true mainstream.

34:48Jenn Cutter: Yes, yes. I was thinking the same thing for my father-in-law. He watches these short dramas all the time. So, yeah, I think you nailed it. Well, folks, if you have feedback about anything that gets brought up on the show, get in touch with us on the social networks. We are at DTNS Show. That's two S's I know, but it's at DTNS Show on X, Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, and Mastodon, and Noster, and actually on Tumblr. For TikTok and YouTube, you can find us at Daily Tech News Show.

35:21Hey, guys, it's Joe. It's Kevin. And this is Nick Jonas from Hey Jonas. Do you remember growing up when it felt like every teacher had a favorite student? Everybody knew who it was. Well, I was homeschooled, so I like to think it was me. A class of one. Congratulations. But we're not here to talk about favorite students. We want to talk about a teacher's real favorite. Kleenex tissues. According to TeacherList, Kleenex is the number one facial tissue brand trusted by teachers.

35:45Jenn Cutter: Kleenex ultra soft tissues are silky soft to help prevent skin irritation. And now you can take them anywhere with Kleenex Snap and Go. Between dance, soccer, school events, and everything else kids have going on after school, Kleenex Snap and Go is easy to take along. It fits in backpacks, sports bags, or even in the car. So it's ready for whatever comes next. So do the best thing for your kids and teachers. Stock up on the ultimate classroom favorite. Maybe you'll even become the teacher's favorite parent. We still haven't settled who would be the favorite in our school. We haven't settled who the favorite brother is either.

36:15For whatever happens next, grab Kleenex. This episode is brought to you by Capital One. Capital One's tech team isn't just talking about multi-agentic AI. They already deployed one. It's called Chat Concierge and it's simplifying car shopping. Using self-reflection and layered reasoning with live API checks, it doesn't just help buyers find a car they love. It helps schedule a test drive, get pre-approved for financing, and estimate trade-in value. Advanced, intuitive, and deployed. That's how they stack. That's technology at Capital One.

36:50Andy Beach: We end every episode of DTNS with some shared wisdom. Today, Anonymous Picker was among several people to have a concern about TCL's new four-way door lock.

37:00Jenn Cutter: Right, because it gave you four different ways to unlock it, Picker wrote. As someone who has a background in both lockpicking and cybersecurity, I wouldn't say I'm excited about the smart lock mentioned in a recent DTNS episode, which touts the ease of having four ways to open it. When I hear that, I hear, this lock has four ways to crack it. If you trust the company, that might be fine. But you are asserting that you believe the vendor is an expert at preventing all those attacks. Maybe this vendor is the one that can do it, but every week I see examples where vendors didn't anticipate an issue with something because it wasn't their main area of focus.

37:35Jenn Cutter: To help folks understand the risks, there's a great online account called The Lockpicking Lawyer. It's an eye-opening resource for understanding the vulnerabilities that folks might want to be aware of before making a purchase. And no, I'm not affiliated with that account. I just agree with the insights I've seen there. Keep up the good work. Love the show. Anonymous Picker.

37:53Andy Beach: I would love to also second the lockpicking lawyer. It showed up in my recommendations years ago and I was like, fine, I'll click. And I was like, oh man, this is fascinating. It is excellent production. It's very informative and really fun. It's worth checking out.

38:07Jenn Cutter: Without disagreeing with anything our anonymous picker said and without me intending to undermine the message, I would say that this is kind of true of all locks. Like most people don't have the most secure lock on their house that they could get. Locks can be picked if someone really wants to. Adding three more ways to pick it to me probably doesn't appreciably increase the risk for most people because someone could just do a good old fashioned lock pick on a lock with only one way to get into it. So I wouldn't want people to take the wrong message of like, this is just going to let thieves into your house and roam all around because it's compared to the existing security in your home.

38:55Jenn Cutter: That said, I think Anonymous Picker is thinking of it from the security standpoint as a cybersecurity professional. And that is important to say, don't use this on something that has a high risk or that you really want to make the most secure. because that's not what it's meant for and it would not be more secure. It would be less secure.

39:13Andy Beach: Everyone has a different threat model that they need to adjust for.

39:17Jenn Cutter: Well said, exactly.

39:19Andy Beach: So what are you thinking about? Do you have some insight into a story? Please share it with us over at feedback at dailytechnewsshow.com.

39:28Jenn Cutter: Big thanks to Andy Beach and our anonymous picker for contributing to today's show. Thank you for being along for Daily Tech News Show. You can keep us in business. We'll go out of business without you. Become a patron. Patreon.com slash DTNS. Talk to you soon.

39:45The DTNS family of podcasts. Helping each other understand. Diamond Club hopes you have enjoyed this program.

39:58This episode is brought to you by Capital One. Capital One's tech team isn't just talking about multi-agentic AI. They already deployed one. It's called Chat Concierge and it's simplifying car shopping. Using self-reflection and layered reasoning with live API checks, it doesn't just help buyers find a car they love. It helps schedule a test drive, get pre-approved for financing, and estimate trade in value. Advanced, intuitive, and deployed. That's how they stack. That's technology at Capital One. Take this as your sign to go. Just get out there and go. This summer at Best Western get 1 ,000 bonus points and a chance to win 250 ,000 bonus points.

40:40Life's a trip. Make the most of it at bestwestern.com. No additional purchase necessary for sweeps. See bonus points, TNCs, and sweeps rules for details.

From the publisher

But are they pretty? And Nvidia begins to save Intel, while Hollywood reignites the Quibi flame. 


Starring Tom Merritt, Jenn Cutter, and Andy Beach.


Show notes found here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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