In this jam-packed episode celebrating Towel Day, the TWiT crew dives into Apple's terrible week with Trump's tariff threats, Google and Microsoft's latest AI advances, the death of CAPTCHAs, and some wild new tech including laser-powered smart homes and sock-picking robot vacuums.

Trump's Phone Tariff Ultimatum - President threatens 25% tariffs on iPhones and Samsung devices unless manufacturing moves to the US, putting Apple in an impossible position between economics and politics
The Sock-Stealing Robot Revolution - Jennifer tests a $2,600 Roborock vacuum with an arm that picks up socks and occasionally tries to grab cats
Microsoft's AI Science Breakthrough - Microsoft Build showcases agentic AI platform that helped create new coolant liquids by analyzing scientific journals and generating novel molecular compounds
Windows Goes Agentic - Microsoft announces MCP protocol integration into Windows, raising both excitement about AI capabilities and concerns about data security
Gaming Industry Consolidation - FTC finally drops its challenge to Microsoft's Activision Blizzard acquisition after three years of failed legal battles
Meta's Monopoly Defense Strategy - Company argues that Instagram and WhatsApp acquisitions were beneficial rather than anti-competitive, as antitrust trial concludes
Google's Hyper-Realistic AI Videos - Veo 3 generates convincing fake videos that blur the line between reality and AI creation, raising concerns about misinformation
Revenge Porn Legislation Concerns - New "Take It Down" Act passes with bipartisan support but raises censorship worries about its 48-hour removal requirements
Smart Glasses Make a Comeback - Google announces Android XR partnerships with Warby Parker and Gentle Monster, signaling the return of consumer AR eyewear
The $6.5 Billion AI Hardware Gamble - OpenAI's record-breaking acquisition of Jony Ive's design firm sparks debate about whether AI needs dedicated hardware devices
Amazon's Smart Speaker Surveillance - Investigation reveals how much personal data Echo devices collect and store, highlighting the privacy costs of convenient AI assistants
The Death of CAPTCHAs - AI now solves visual puzzles better than humans, making traditional bot-detection methods obsolete and forcing a rethink of online security
America Abandons the Penny - The US will stop minting pennies due to production costs exceeding face value, ending a century-old currency tradition
Air Traffic Control Crisis Exposed - Newark Airport's radar failures reveal America's dangerously outdated aviation infrastructure held together by 1990s technology and hope
Fortnite's App Store Victory - Epic Games successfully returns to iOS after Apple quickly capitulates under legal pressure, ending years of bitter disputes
Brain-Computer Interface Competition - Valve's Gabe Newell announces Neuralink competitor, expanding the race to connect human brains directly to computers
Infrared Contact Lenses Enable Night Vision - Researchers develop contacts that let wearers see heat signatures even with eyes closed, promising superhuman vision capabilities
23andMe's Genetic Data Gold Rush - Regeneron Pharmaceuticals acquires the DNA testing company for $256 million, raising questions about genetic privacy and
Stolen

These show notes have been truncated due to length. For the full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech/episodes/1033

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Jennifer Pattison Tuohy, Brian McCullough, and Mike Elgan

Sponsors:

The Awards Season Awards: Which Oscars Campaigns Worked (and Didn’t)

The Town with Matthew Belloni

Introduction

The AI-powered Podcast Player