This Week in Tech 1065

Happy New Year! NVIDIA just spent $20 billion to hollow out an AI company for its brains, while Meta and Google scramble to scoop up fresh talent before AI gets "too weird to manage." Who’s winning, who’s left behind, and what do these backroom deals mean for the future of artificial intelligence?

• Andrej Karpathy admits programmers cannot keep pace with AI advances
• Economic uncertainty in AI despite massive stock market influence
• Google, Anthropic, and Microsoft drive AI productization for business and consumers
• OpenAI, Claude, and Gemini battle for consumer AI dominance
• Journalism struggles to keep up with AI realities and misinformation tools
• Concerns mount over AI energy, water, and environmental impact narratives
• Meta buys Manus, expands AI agent ambitions with Llama model
• OpenAI posts high-stress “Head of Preparedness” job worth $555K+
• Training breakthroughs: DeepSeek’s mHC and comparisons to Action Park
• U.S. lawmakers push broad, controversial internet censorship bills
• Age verification and bans spark state laws, VPN workaround explosion
• U.S. drone ban labeled protectionist as industry faces tech shortages
• FCC security initiatives falter; Cyber Trust Mark program scrapped
• Waymo robotaxis stall in blackouts, raising AV urban planning issues
• School cellphone bans expose kids’ struggle with analog clocks
• MetroCard era ends in NYC as tap-to-pay takes over subway access
• RAM, VRAM, and GPU prices soar as AI and gaming squeeze supply
• CES preview: Samsung QD-OLED TV, Sony AFEELA car, gadget show hype
• Remembering Stewart Cheifet and Computer Chronicles’ legacy 

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• Transcripts: This Week in Tech Episode 1065 Transcript

Links

• Andrej Karpathy’s recent tweet about how even he is “felling behind” has really captured my interest:
• Nvidia makes boldest move yet, and the fallout begins
• NVIDIA’s Christmas Eve 'Hackquisition' Miracle
• Meta just bought Manus, an AI startup everyone has been talking about | TechCrunch
• Sam Altman Offers $555K Salary To Fill Most Daunting Role In AI - Slashdot
• DeepSeek MHC
• Congress may be about to create the “bad internet”
• New York State will require warning labels on social media platforms
• Judge blocks Texas app store age verification law
• US approves Samsung, SK Hynix chipmaking tool shipments to China for 2026, sources say
• Trump’s Drone Ban Is Corrupt, Protectionist Nonsense Dressed Up As A National Security Fix
• Fears Mount That US Federal Cybersecurity Is Stagnating—or Worse
• The FCC has probably killed a plan to improve smart home security
• Waymo Updates Vehicles to Better Handle Power Outages - But Still Faces Criticism - Slashdot
• NYC Mayoral Inauguration bans Raspberry Pi and Flipper Zero alongside explosives
• The dumbest things that happened in tech this year | TechCrunch
• Grok Posts Sexual Images of Minors After ‘Lapses in Safeguards’
• NYC Phone Ban Reveals Some Students Can't Read Clocks - Slashdot
• How to watch the Sony Honda Afeela CES 2026 press conference
• How to watch Samsung's "First Look" CES 2026 presentation
• CES: Click Communiator
• CES: RAM prices sky high, lots of AI gadgets
• The MetroCard Never Got Its Due
• Stewart Cheifet Obituary December 28, 2025 - Goldsteins Funeral