Amber Mac

What an honour to moderate tonight's conversation with Godfather of AI, Geoffrey Hinton.

Tonight, RCIScience honoured Professor Hinton as the latest Sandford Fleming Medal Recipient.

Stay tuned for our conversation on The AmberMac Show podcast.

cc @jeffmacarthur.bsky.social

Google Play Store Adds Warnings About Apps That Could Drain Your Battery Google is targeting excessive 'wake locks,' a feature Android developers can use to prevent a device from going to sleep.

"Google's Play Store will now flag apps that could cause excessive battery drain, which might make you think twice before downloading them—and encourage developers to fix the problem." www.pcmag.com/news/google-...

I know...wild times

The AmberMac Show Ep055: Anthropic vs Department of War + David... Our guest this week is David Usher, a well-known musician, speaker, and author, who shares his thoughts on today’s AI risks, rewards, robots, and more. In TheOtherMac, Jeff breaks down Anthropic’s…

ICYMI The Amber Mac Show: guest David Usher talks AI, music & robots. Jeff breaks down Anthropic’s battle w/ the US Dept of War + we share how Burger King is using AI to monitor its employees, why OpenAI is under pressure from the Cdn govt, & the impact of AI on US GDP. ambermac.com/the-ambermac...

City Detect, which uses AI to help cities stay safe and clean, raises $13M Series A | TechCrunch City Detect, a company that helps local governments prevent urban decay, is in at least 17 cities so far, including Dallas and Miami.

"City Detect mounts cameras on… garbage trucks & street sweepers, captures photos of surrounding buildings as those vehicles pass then uses computer vision to analyze the images… essentially a Google Maps Street View but focused on ensuring buildings are up to code." techcrunch.com/2026/03/06/c...

Nearly 70% of US Adults Say One Tech Glitch Throws Off Their Lives. Why That's a Problem and How to Do Better A new survey shows that our gadgets make us feel in control, but our expert calls that concerning.

🤨 "CNET's TechPulse survey found that most US adults (67%) say one tech setback is enough to derail their lives, such as an app crash, a cracked screen or a network outage." www.cnet.com/tech/tech-ad...

After Europe, WhatsApp will let rival AI companies offer chatbots in Brazil | TechCrunch Meta is now allowing rival AI companies to provide their chatbots on WhatsApp to Brazilian users for a fee, a day after the company confirmed a similar decision for users in Europe.

"Meta is now allowing rival AI companies to provide their chatbots on WhatsApp to Brazilian users for a fee, a day after the company confirmed a similar decision for users in Europe." techcrunch.com/2026/03/06/a...

The First Trailer for the Final Season of 'The Boys' Heralds the End of a Bloody Era A diabolical farewell approaches when the series finale of 'The Boys' lands on Prime Video this April.

"At long last, Prime Video has given us a proper look at the final season of The Boys, ushering in the beginning of the end of a bloody superhero vs. antihero era this April." gizmodo.com/the-first-tr...

My International Women's Day message to all the girls and young women out there (and the older ones too!): Just keep on running like a gir!!!!!
🏃🏼‍♀️ #IWD2026

📹: @ambermac.bsky.social

OpenAI launches GPT-5.4 with native computer use mode, financial plugins for Excel, Sheets The big headlines on this release are efficiency, with OpenAI reporting that GPT-5.4 uses far fewer tokens (47% fewer on some tasks) than its predecessors).

"Two days after OpenAI launched a new underlying AI model for ChatGPT called GPT-5.3 Instant, the company has unveiled another, even more massive upgrade: GPT-5.4 (which) comes in two varieties: GPT-5.4 Thinking and GPT-5.4 Pro…" venturebeat.com/technology/o...

Samsung reveals first details of its AI smart glasses to CNBC Samsung's AI smart glasses will be launched in 2026 and will mark the company's first foray into the product category.

"Samsung’s upcoming smart glasses will have a camera and be connected to a smartphone… as the tech giant prepares to make its first foray into the product category." www.cnbc.com/2026/03/06/s...

iOS 26 gave Apple’s Calendar app a convenient new advantage - 9to5Mac Apple Calendar changed very little in iOS 26, but it did gain one key new advantage: event creation via screenshots.

"’Add to Calendar’ does exactly what it sounds like. Using Apple Intelligence, the event details found in your screenshot will be turned into an actionable calendar event." 9to5mac.com/2026/03/05/i...

How AI agents could destroy the economy | TechCrunch Citrini Research imagines a report from two years in the future, in which unemployment has doubled and the total value of the stock market has fallen by more than a third.

"An analyst group called Citrini Research published a remarkable piece illustrating how agentic AI could bring on mass economic destruction over the next two years" techcrunch.com/2026/02/23/h...

OpenAI calls in the consultants for its enterprise push | TechCrunch OpenAI is partnering with four consulting giants in an effort to see more adoption of its OpenAI Frontier AI agent platform.

"OpenAI is beefing up partnerships with four major consulting giants as the AI company looks to grow its enterprise business in 2026." techcrunch.com/2026/02/23/o...

David Usher on Robots, Music, & AI [The AmberMac Show Ep055] YouTube video by Amber Mac

Here’s our full conversation about AI risks & rewards with musician, entrepreneur, and speaker David Usher.

😍 You should watch. It’s a good one:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-c2R...

Get the full episode of The AmberMac Show wherever you get your podcasts.

Cc @jeffmacarthur.bsky.social

I deleted my to-do list apps for a week — here’s what actually worked instead Without to-do lists, I expected chaos but here’s what actually kept me productive

"I've spent years optimizing my task management system. And somehow, I still ended up with so many overdue tasks staring at me every morning." www.xda-developers.com/no-to-do-lis...

Lol

Are short-form videos rotting your brain?

Check out the long-form version of this chat to find out: youtu.be/nV5-r1EIAaM?...

Plus, get The AmberMac Show wherever you get your podcasts.

Cc @jeffmacarthur.bsky.social

Anthropic vs Department of War + David Usher on AI Risks Podcast Episode · The AmberMac Show · March 4 · 52m

We chat about Anthropic's battle with the Department of War on this week's episode of The AmberMac Show. Plus, our guest is David Usher.

Listen here on Apple podcasts:
podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/a...

Cc @jeffmacarthur.bsky.social

Turn your phone or tablet into a productivity beast with this foldable mechanical keyboard It's affordable right now at just $43

"The RK Royal Kludge F68 60% foldable keyboard is… a low-profile mechanical keyboard that can fold in half for easy storage. There's also a stand that can accommodate a phone or tablet, making it ideal for working on the go." www.androidpolice.com/foldable-mec...

The AmberMac Show Ep055: Anthropic vs Department of War + David... Our guest this week is David Usher, a well-known musician, speaker, and author, who shares his thoughts on today’s AI risks, rewards, robots, and more. In TheOtherMac, Jeff breaks down Anthropic’s bat...

This ep of The AmberMac Show has Moist's David Usher chatting with me about AI, robots, & music; @jeffmacarthur.bsky.social breaking down Anthropic's battle w/ the US Dept. of War, + Burger King's eavesdropping AI, Canada's pressure on OpenAI, & more! Video/audio/links: ambermac.com/the-ambermac...

Screenshot of a headline from the CTV News website. The headline reads: Canada and Australia sign a series of agreements on critical minerals.

Canada and Australia have vast deposits of critical minerals. We’re going to work together to build up our production, processing, and refining capacity — for stronger, more resilient supply chains.

Bill Gurley says that right now, the worst thing you can do for your career is play it safe | TechCrunch "The number one thing is to get out of your head this ideal that gets passed around in the self-help world: 'go get a mentor,' and everyone runs out and cold calls someone that's ridiculously too…

"The book is 'Runnin’ Down a Dream', a nod to Tom Petty and also an argument that following your passion isn’t just romanticized career advice but a true competitive strategy, one that becomes only more urgent as AI rapidly reshapes the workforce." techcrunch.com/2026/02/22/b...

Our chat with David Usher about AI slop & more on the latest The AmberMac Show. Sneak peek / podcast links below👇

Listen on Apple:
podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/t...

Listen on Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/2f9L...

Watch on YouTube:
youtu.be/-c2RUcRlZgY?...

cc @jeffmacarthur.bsky.social

3 new Google Chrome features to make your work day easier Google says that it has finally added a "most-requested feature."

"Split view, PDF annotations, and Save to Google Drive are all new to Google Chrome" mashable.com/article/new-...

Our chat with David Usher about AI slop & more on the latest The AmberMac Show. Sneak peek / podcast links below👇

Listen on Apple:
podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/t...

Listen on Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/2f9L...

Watch on YouTube:
youtu.be/-c2RUcRlZgY?...

cc @jeffmacarthur.bsky.social

Amazon to spend $12 billion in Louisiana on AI data centers The project comes as Amazon has committed up to $200 billion this year on AI investments, which include data centers, chips and networking equipment.

"Amazon… plans to spend $12 billion on new data center campuses in Louisiana and the infrastructure to power artificial intelligence and cloud computing." www.cnbc.com/2026/02/23/a...

Anthropic vs Department of War + David Usher on AI Risks

NEW TODAY ⚠️ We do a deep dive into Anthropic vs the Department of War + our guest this week is musician, speaker, and author David Usher on AI risks and opportunities.

Get The AmberMac Show now here on Spotify:
open.spotify.com/episode/2f9L...

cc @jeffmacarthur.bsky.social

AI chatbots exist in a category of their own, and sometimes not in a good way.

My full chat with @jeffmacarthur.bsky.social on this topic and more on this week's new podcast episode (available Wed 7am ET). #TheAmberMacShow

Links here: bio.site/ambermac

10 ChatGPT tricks that will amaze your iPhone and Mac Forget Siri 2.0. OpenAI’s smarter chatbot is already integrated into iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.

"AI is rapidly being integrated into the hardware and services we depend on, including iPhones, iPads, and Macs. While Apple’s in-house AI models remain relatively limited for now, Apple users have other options" www.macworld.com/article/3026...