This week in tech

When a major Amazon cloud outage brings everything from smart mattresses to Snapchat grinding to a halt, what does it reveal about our digital fragility—and are we trusting the cloud a little too much?

• A Single Point of Failure Triggered the Amazon Outage Affecting Million
• Pluralistic: The mad king's digital killswitch (20 Oct 2025)
• Trump and Xi will 'consummate' TikTok deal on Thursday, treasury secretary says
• 3,000 YouTube Videos Exposed as Malware Traps in Massive Ghost Network Operation
• Can YouTube Replace 'Traditional' TV?
• All the implications of F1's game-changing TV move
• Foreign hackers breached a US nuclear weapons plant via SharePoint flaws
• Browser Promising Privacy Protection Contains Malware-Like Features, Routes Traffic Through China
• iCloud data helps crack NBA and mob poker scheme
• Rubbish IT systems cost the US at least $40bn during Covid: study
• Counter-Strike cosmetics economy loses nearly $2 billion in value overnight
• GM to introduce eyes-off, hands-off driving system in 2028
• WordPress co-founder files countersuit against WP Engine over trademark violations
• a16z-Backed Startup Sells Thousands of 'Synthetic Influencers' to Manipulate Social Media as a Service
• Bill Gates-Backed 345 MWe Advanced Nuclear Reactor Secures Crucial US Approval
• Programmer Gets Doom Running On a Space Satellite

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Richard Campbell and Doc Rock

Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech

Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts!
Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Sponsors:

• deel.com/twit
• zapier.com/twit
• helixsleep.com/twit
• expressvpn.com/twit
• zscaler.com/security

Shocking new research reveals how anyone with $750 can intercept unencrypted satellite data, exposing everything from government secrets to in-flight Wi-Fi traffic. Find out why decades-old vulnerabilities are still open and who actually wants it that way.

• Study: The World's Satellite Data Is Massively Vulnerable To Snooping
• You Only Need $750 of Equipment to Pilfer Data From Satellites, Researchers Say
• Hackers Dox Hundreds of DHS, ICE, FBI, and DOJ Officials
• DHS says Chinese criminal gangs made $1B from US text scams
• cr.yp.to: 2025.10.04: NSA and IETF
• Why Signal's post-quantum makeover is an amazing engineering achievement
• Court reduces damages Meta will get from spyware maker NSO Group but bans it from WhatsApp
• How I Almost Got Hacked By A 'Job Interview'
• New California law requires AI to tell you it's AI
• The European Union issued its first fines under the AI Act, penalizing a French facial recognition startup €12 million for deploying unverified algorithms in public security contracts
• Wikipedia Says AI Is Causing a Dangerous Decline in Human Visitors
• Texas hit with a pair of lawsuits for its app store age verification requirements
• Australia shares tips to wean teens off social media ahead of ban. Will it work?
• California enacts age-gate law for app stores
• Meta is asking Facebook users to give its AI access to their entire camera roll
• Meta poached Andrew Tulloch, co-founder of Thinking Machines Lab, with a compensation package rumored to reach $1.5 billion over six years
• Even top generals are looking to AI chatbots for answers
• Roku's AI-upgraded voice assistant can answer questions about what you're watching
• Tesla debuts a steering wheel-less taxi for two
• Waymo and DoorDash Are Teaming Up to Deliver Your Food via Robotaxi

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Jacob Ward, Harper Reed, and Abrar Al-Heeti

Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech

Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts!
Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Sponsors:

• Melissa.com/twit
• ZipRecruiter.com/twit
• deel.com/twit
• zscaler.com/security
• zapier.com/twit

From internet service providers facing billion-dollar lawsuits for their users' file sharing to Amazon's smart displays turning into ad machines, the future of your connected life is up for grabs. If you want to know who's really pulling the strings in tech and where the battle lines are being drawn, this is the episode you can't miss.

• October Term 2025
• Supreme Court denies Google's request to pause Play Store changes while it appeals Epic case
• I Want A New Drug. A Vaccine Even. And A Functioning FDA, CDC, NIH, Etc...
• AI videos of dead celebrities are horrifying many of their families
• Amazon's giant ads have ruined the Echo Show
• Chat Control: Germany says NEIN
• Apple Banned an App That Simply Archived Videos of ICE Abuses
• China Flexed. Trump Hit Back. So Much for the Thaw.
• Taiwan sees no significant impact on chip sector from China rare earths curbs
• FCC Chair Brendan Carr says major US online retailers have removed several million listings for prohibited Chinese electronics as part of the agency's crackdown
• Windows 10 support ends October 14, but here's how to get an extra year for free
• California bans loud commercials on Netflix, Hulu, and other streaming services
• Synology Reverses Policy Banning Third-Party HDDs After NAS sales plummet
• TiVo Exiting Legacy DVR Business - Media Play News
• Introducing Figure 03

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Cathy Gellis, Jennifer Pattison Tuohy, and Gary Rivlin

Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech

Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts!
Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Sponsors:

• fieldofgreens.com Promo Code "TWIT"
• NetSuite.com/TWIT
• shopify.com/twit
• bitwarden.com/twit
• expressvpn.com/twit

As AI-generated clip content upends trust and creativity, this week's panel members join forces to unravel whether we're facing a cultural disaster or just the next leap forward (and what anyone online needs to watch out for next). Is the world ready for AI-generated video slop flooding the internet, legal headaches over deepfakes, and million-dollar tech maneuvering?

• Sora 2 is here
• We need to stop the slop of OpenAI's Sora and Meta's Vibes AI video apps before it's too late
• Yahoo nears deal to sell AOL to Italy's Bending Spoons for $1.4 billion, sources say
• One in five Americans now regularly get news on TikTok, up sharply from 2020
• YouTube Bends the Knee
• Apple removes ICEBlock, an app for anonymously reporting ICE officer sightings, from the App Store; AG Pam Bondi says the DOJ requested its removal
• ICEBlock Owner After Apple Removes App: 'We Are Determined to Fight This'
• How ICE Is Using Your Data — and What You Can Do About It | KQED
• CISA, the key law that helps the federal government guard against cyber threats to US critical systems, expired when the government shut down
• ByteDance to Maintain Control Of TikTok's U.S. Advertising, E-Commerce
• German government must reject chat control
• Swiss government looks to undercut privacy tech, stoking fears of mass surveillance
• Swiss voters back electronic identity cards in close vote
• Apple Shelves Vision Headset Revamp to Prioritize Meta-Like AI Glasses
• Microsoft revamps Xbox Game Pass plans and hikes Ultimate to $29.99 a month
• No suds for you! Asahi brewery attack leaves Japanese drinkers dry
• Revenge of the nerds: Inside the Microsoft Excel UK Championships

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Patrick Beja, Georgia Dow, and Iain Thomson

Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech

Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts!
Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Sponsors:

• ZipRecruiter.com/twit
• canary.tools/twit - use code: TWIT
• zscaler.com/security
• spaceship.com/twit
• miro.com