Computer Talk Radio

06/19/2026

Last Friday, SpaceX did their IPO to the tune of $150 per share. What happened next was what everyone predicted, and Elon Musk became the first trillionaire. It didn’t take long, and Elon Musk increased his net worth by far more than the net worth of 2nd richest man on the Forbes richest list. On Thursday, Musk was worth $1.22 trillion. Of course that’s not in cash, and it does bounce down in value as SpaceX stock went down after an earlier high of $214 a share, but it’s still up. The sale also made many others rich, and there are naysayers as well. It’s still an amazing story to watch.

Betting against Elon Musk can burn investors.

Source: 2 Reasons Investors Should Not Short SpaceX Stock


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2 Reasons Investors Should Not Short SpaceX Stock

Last Friday, SpaceX did their IPO to the tune of $150 per share. What happened next was what everyone predicted, and Elon Musk became the first trillionaire ...

06/18/2026

Twofold news coming on the AI front itself. The latest Pew Research Poll of just over 5000 Americans shows that half of us are using AI chatbots, whereas a year ago it was 1/3rd of us. What we feel about AI and where it’s going is somewhat contrarian, where only 16% of respondents believe AI is going to positively impact society, and 40% say it’ll be a negative impact on society… over the next 20 years. There are so many other numbers beyond that, like 71% saying that AI will make our information less secure, and 67% saying politicians can’t regulate it properly. It seems like I’m not alone on this, and yet hope to be proven wrong on all of the negative concerns I have.

Half of Americans now use AI chatbots, up from 33% in the summer of 2024.

Source: Just 16% of Americans Believe AI Will Positively Impact Society, Pew Poll Finds


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Just 16% of Americans Believe AI Will Positively Impact Society, Pew Poll Finds

Twofold news coming on the AI front itself. The latest Pew Research Poll of just over 5000 Americans shows that half of us are using AI chatbots, whereas a ...

06/17/2026

Last week, after Anthropic released Fable 5, the US government stepped in with a stop order. It seems that under EAR (Export Administration Requirements), the technology is too much for foreign persons to have access to. This set of rules covers national security and foreign policy interests, and basically means we don’t want others to have power that could be used against us. This is part of a recurring issue that has hit PKzip, PGP, and other software packages in the past, and it means that we sometimes have to wait until things sort themselves out. There’s a lot of conspiracy stuff surrounding this, but I’m not buying into all of the stories until we have more details.

Anthropic has suspended all access to its new AI models Fable 5 and Mythos 5 to comply with a government order citing national security concerns.

Source: Anthropic Blocks All Customers’ Access To Fable 5 And Mythos 5


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Anthropic Blocks All Customers’ Access To Fable 5 And Mythos 5

Last week, after Anthropic released Fable 5, the US government stepped in with a stop order. It seems that under EAR (Export Administration Requirements), t ...

06/17/2026

Now it’s not often that I saw this, but I’m puzzled by the latest from Apple. It seems that Tim Cook has noted that price increases are “unavoidable” due to memory costs. Most memory that we think about has risen dramatically in cost. However, the puzzle piece for me is that Apple has moved to SOC, or System On Chip, from their own factories, where all of the usual components are in one place. Still, it was inevitable that prices would rise, as the competitors’ own costs are rising, and Apple would be remiss in not raising their revenues when they have an advantage over Samsung, which recently had to give workers more money, is struggling to put out enough RAM to support customers, and doesn’t have SOC. The sad thing is that once the prices go up, we’ll not see them come down anytime soon.

Apple is raising its prices to offset the high cost of memory and storage, CEO Tim Cook told The Wall Street Journal. Apple is no longer able to absorb the increased prices and will need to pass some of the cost on to consumers. “Unfortunately, price increases are unavoidable,” said Cook.

Source: Tim Cook Says Apple Price Increases Are ‘Unavoidable’ Due to Memory Costs – MacRumors


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Tim Cook Says Apple Price Increases Are ‘Unavoidable’ Due to Memory Costs – MacRumors

Now it's not often that I saw this, but I'm puzzled by the latest from Apple. It seems that Tim Cook has noted that price increases are "unav ...

06/15/2026

Our very own commentator on many tech topics is Steve Keske, who is legally blind, and a US veteran. Imagine the possibilities of AI glasses, describing what’s around you, reading documents, and making life better, when you are blind. Meta is empowering every blind veteran through an outreach program, with exactly that. The only qualifications so far appear to be exactly that, and joining the Blinded Veterans Association. Steve, with my help, is jumping onto that program right away, and if you know someone who can qualify, take down this info… bva.org/glasses. Of course, we’ll have the news story on the website.

bva.org/glasses

Source: Meta gives free AI glasses to every blind US veteran


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Meta gives free AI glasses to every blind US veteran

06/12/2026

This weeks Computer Talk Radio broadcast has been uploaded at http://computertalkradio.com/podcastCTR/?."name=ctrpodcast-2026-06-06.mp3

06/12/2026

It’s a bizarre set of numbers of company usage of AI. According to a study, the top 1% of companies by AI adoption, are spending $7500 per employee each month. The top 10% are spending $611. But then we get down to the median, which shows a distinct range drop… down to $11.38 per employee. This means that most companies are not yet as deep into AI as you would think, but only the big tech powerhouse companies. Still, we are seeing that spending on AI with power users has increased, to the tune of a 14% growth last month alone. Are you using AI more? If not, why not?

Ramp data shows the top 1% of firms spend $7,500/month per employee on AI. The median spends $11.38. The gap between power users and everyone else is vast.

Source: The most AI-obsessed companies spend $7,500 per employee per month. The median spends $11.


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The most AI-obsessed companies spend $7,500 per employee per month. The median spends $11.

It's a bizarre set of numbers of company usage of AI. According to a study, the top 1% of companies by AI adoption, are spending $7500 per employee eac ...

06/12/2026

These days, Steam is the place to find most games, and that is a constant revenue stream for many game developers joining in the one-stop-shop. Along with that, people have long used gift cards for presents to their favorite gamer friends, but that is coming to an end. It seems that Valve, the owners of Steam, have become fed-up with scammers. They fought back the best way possible, by removing the method those scammers use to transfer money from victims. Hard numbers weren’t available, but it’s probably up in the many millions of dollars… with only the bad guys to blame.

Gamers, lets give a round of applause

Source: ‘Great job, scammers’: Valve is officially done with Steam physical gift cards thanks to fraudsters — and it could be the start of a frustrating trend | TechRadar


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‘Great job, scammers’: Valve is officially done with Steam physical gift cards thanks to fraudsters — and it could be the start of a frustrating trend | TechRadar

These days, Steam is the place to find most games, and that is a constant revenue stream for many game developers joining in the one-stop-shop. Along with t ...

06/11/2026

Starlink, the Internet Service Provider brought to us by SpaceX, is shifting gears again. Just months ago, they shifted the pricing structure, and this week moved the hardware to a rental basis. Just like you might rent your modem and router from your cable or fiber company, Starlink is doing the same for $10 a month, on top of the pricing for the service. This isn’t much different from a previous offering where you would get the hardware for free with a 12 month commitment, but at a $30 a month higher rate. Still, it is reasonable to expect that it will also increase profits for them. The SpaceX IPO happens after we go to air, so we’ll cover the final price and settling down on next weeks broadcast.

Starlink, SpaceX’s top moneymaker, also raised service prices by $5 to $10.

Source: Starlink charges $10 monthly hardware fee in move away from one-time purchases – Ars Technica


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Starlink charges $10 monthly hardware fee in move away from one-time purchases – Ars Technica

Starlink, the Internet Service Provider brought to us by SpaceX, is shifting gears again. Just months ago, they shifted the pricing structure, and this week ...

06/11/2026

Anthropic is the big name behind Claude AI, a platform that is going well. This week was filled with contradictions out of their office as they released a new major model called Fable 5. This was patterned after Mythos 5, with both models having their own safeguards and restrictions, but seriously driving the computational power further. They then turned around and suggested that all platforms move from caution to actual slowdown. The stated goal is due to concern that misaligntment between human goals and AI’s own determination for self-improvement could get out of hand. When the big name says we’re nearing SkyNet and other dystopian nightmares, perhaps it’s time to listen.

Are they fighting an existential threat or channeling Don Quixote?

Source: Anthropic’s bizarre call for everyone to slow down on AI is a pipe dream — here’s why that will never happen | TechRadar


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Anthropic’s bizarre call for everyone to slow down on AI is a pipe dream — here’s why that will never happen | TechRadar

Anthropic is the big name behind Claude AI, a platform that is going well. This week was filled with contradictions out of their office as they released a n ...