Latest / Connecting the Dots / Connecting the Dots - 3-5-2025

Transcript

Connecting the Dots - 3-5-2025 · Connecting the Dots

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  All right, everyone, welcome back for another deep dive
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  with Snarfl Solutions Group.
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  Yeah.
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  So glad to have you with us today
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  as we go through some of the biggest tech stories
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  that are out there.
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  Yeah.
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  As always, we're pulling from the Snarfl Solutions Group
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  staying current journal.
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  Right.
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  And today's kind of a whirlwind tour.
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  Yeah.
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  We got AI.
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  Of course.
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  We got streaming wars heating up.
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  We got some new hardware hitting the streets.
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  Yep.
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  And even.
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  A little cybersecurity.
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  A little cybersecurity thrown in there
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  to.
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  Gotta have it.
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  To keep things interesting.
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  Oh, yeah.
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  Keeps showing your toes.
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  That's right.
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  That's right.
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  Yeah.
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  And some of these numbers we're going to be talking about.
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  Yeah.
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  They're pretty big.
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  Big numbers.
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  Yeah.
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  So let's just dive right in.
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  Let's do it.
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  OK.
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  So first up, AI.
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  Always.
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  Open AI.
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  Planning to roll out these tiered AI agents.
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  OK.
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  And the prices are.
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  I heard about this.
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  Kind of crazy.
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  Yeah.
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  $2,000.
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  $10,000.
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  Even $20,000 per month for what they're
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  calling this top tier like.
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  PhD level.
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  PhD level agent.
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  So I mean, what do you make of that?
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  Well, I mean, first of all.
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  Yeah.
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  What can these things possibly do.
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  Right.
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  To cost that much money.
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  Are we talking.
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  Yeah.
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  Like AI that can write code for you.
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  Right.
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  Can analyze massive data sets.
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  Yeah.
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  In seconds.
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  Yeah.
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  Generate content that rivals human output.
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  Yeah.
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  I mean, who are these designed for?
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  I have to imagine it's a very specific clientele.
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  Right.
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  People with deep pockets and very specialized needs.
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  Yeah.
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  I mean, if you're just kind of a casual user.
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  Right.
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  This is not really for you.
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  Definitely not.
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  This is some.
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  This is for high level.
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  Higher than the level.
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  Yeah.
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  Enterprise grade stuff.
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  Yeah.
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  Exactly.
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  And it definitely makes you think about accessibility,
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  you know, down the road when it comes to AI.
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  Yeah.
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  Is this just going to be something.
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  This is just for the.
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  You know, the big players.
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  They're the top 1%.
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  Top 1%.
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  They're going to have access to.
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  Yeah.
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  They're going to be able to.
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  These super powerful.
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  Have these super powerful tools.
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  Yeah.
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  That's a great question.
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  And speaking of accessibility.
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  Uh-huh.
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  Scale AI just landed this multi-million dollar contract.
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  I saw this.
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  With the US Department of Defense.
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  Interesting.
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  Right.
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  Very interesting.
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  For their ThunderForge system, which is an AI designed
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  for military planning and operations.
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  Military applications.
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  This is where it starts to get a little dicey.
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  A little scary.
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  Yeah.
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  A little bit.
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  What are your thoughts on that?
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  Well, on one hand, you can see the potential benefits, right?
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  Right.
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  An AI that can analyze battlefield data in real time,
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  predict enemy movements, optimize troop deployments.
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  I mean, that could save lives potentially.
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  Yeah.
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  But.
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  But.
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  Big.
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  But yeah, the thought of an AI.
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  Yeah.
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  Making strategic decisions in warfare.
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  I don't know about that.
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  Yeah.
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  That's a.
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  That's a little unsettling.
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  That's a lot of power to put in the hands of.
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  The algorithm.
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  The algorithm.
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  Right.
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  So that's something to definitely keep an eye on.
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  Absolutely.
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  All right, let's move from AI.
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  OK.
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  And the military.
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  Right.
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  Over to the streaming wars.
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  Oh, yes.
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  Where things are.
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  Never a dull moment.
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  Heating up, as always.
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  As always.
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  So YouTube music and premium.
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  Yeah.
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  They just hit a huge milestone, 125 million subscribers globally.
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  Wow.
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  That's a lot of people.
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  That's a lot of people.
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  That's some serious growth.
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  That's impressive.
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  So what do you think is driving that?
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  Well, I mean, YouTube is a powerhouse, right?
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  They've got this massive video platform.
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  And now they're leveraging that.
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  Yeah.
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  To get into the music streaming market.
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  And it seems to be working.
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  Yeah.
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  They're really putting the pressure on Spotify.
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  Yeah.
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  Spotify, Apple Music.
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  All the big players.
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  Amazon Music.
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  They've got their work cut out for them.
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  Yeah, they do.
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  Computing with YouTube.
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  And it seems like they're trying to appeal to even more people
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  with this new premium light.
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  Oh, yeah, I saw that.
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  So $7.99 a month.
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  Not bad.
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  You get ad-free videos, but only in certain categories.
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  Like what kind of categories?
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  Like gaming.
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  I'm sorry.
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  And they're planning to expand this offering
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  to Thailand, Germany, and Australia.
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  Interesting.
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  So they're testing it out.
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  Yeah.
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  In different markets.
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  Yeah.
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  What do you think the strategy is there?
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  Well, it could be a couple of things, right?
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  Maybe they're trying to capture a specific audience.
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  OK.
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  People who don't necessarily want or need a full premium
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  subscription.
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  Right.
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  But they still want an ad-free experience
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  for certain types of content.
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  Yeah, like maybe you're a gamer.
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  Exactly.
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  And you're tired of seeing all the ads.
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  Yeah, and you're willing to pay a little bit.
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  Yeah.
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  To get rid of them.
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  But you don't care about the music.
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  Exactly.
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  So.
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  So premium light makes sense.
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  Premium light.
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  Makes sense for you.
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  Makes sense for you.
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  Yeah.
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  So it's kind of a smart way to segment the market.
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  Absolutely.
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  All right, let's shift gears again.
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  OK, I'm ready.
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  Talk about some new hardware.
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  All right.
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  So AMD.
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  Love some new hardware.
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  They just released these new Radeon RX 970 and 970XT
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  graphics cards.
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  Oh, yeah.
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  I've heard good things about these.
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  Yeah, they're pretty impressive.
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  16 gigabytes of VRAM.
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  Lower power consumption.
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  That's good.
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  This is serious processing power.
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  Yeah, for people who don't know,
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  why is that a big deal, 16 gigabytes of VRAM?
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  What does that mean for the average gamer?
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  I mean, if you're a gamer and you want
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  to play the latest games at high resolutions
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  with all the bells and whistles,
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  you need a lot of VRAM.
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  OK.
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  And 16 gigabytes is a lot.
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  So this is going to future proof you a little bit.
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  It's going to future proof you.
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  For the next generation of games.
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  Yeah, you're not going to have to worry
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  about your graphics card bottlenecking you.
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  Right.
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  And the lower power consumption is good too.
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  Especially these days.
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  When energy costs are so high.
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  Exactly.
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  You don't want to be running up your electricity bill.
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  Right.
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  Just to play the latest games.
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  Nobody wants that.
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  But there are some trade-offs.
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  There always are, right?
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  There always are, right?
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  What are we looking at here?
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  So these cards are bulkier than some of the competition.
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  OK, so might not fit in every PC case.
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  Right.
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  You might have to upgrade your case.
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  Right.
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  And they also lack a reference design.
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  So what does that mean?
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  So basically, AMD isn't making their own version
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  of these cards.
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  OK.
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  They're only releasing the specs.
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  So it's all third-party manufacturers?
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  And then third-party manufacturers
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  are making their own versions.
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  Got it.
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  So you might see some variation in terms of performance
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  and cooling and things like that.
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  So you have to do your research?
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  You do your research.
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  Before you buy.
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  Exactly.
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  Good to know.
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  But overall, these cards are pretty impressive.
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  Yeah, AMD is really stepping up their game.
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  Yeah, they are.
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  In the GPU market.
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  All right.
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  And on the Apple side of things.
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  OK.
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  They're dropping this new M3 Ultra chip.
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  This thing is a beast.
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  Which is actually built from two M3 Max chips.
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  Wow.
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  So we're talking.
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  So it's like a chip with a chip on its back.
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  Pretty much.
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  Wow.
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  Thunderbolt 580 core GPU, up to 512 gigabytes of memory.
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  That's insane.
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  What kind of impact do you see this having?
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  Well, this is going to be a game changer
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  for creative professionals, right?
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  Right.
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  Video editors, graphic designers,
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  people who need a lot of processing power.
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  Researchers.
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  Researchers, definitely.
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  Anyone doing AI development, that kind of stuff?
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  I mean, imagine editing 8K video in real time.
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  Yeah.
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  Running complex simulations without breaking a sweat.
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  Yeah.
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  Developing cutting edge AI applications.
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  Yeah.
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  This chip is going to unlock so many possibilities.
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  Yeah.
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  It's pretty exciting to think about.
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  Yeah, it really is.
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  All right, let's wrap things up.
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  Let's wrap things up with a little bit of cybersecurity.
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  OK.
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  So Microsoft discovered this China-linked hacking group.
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  They're calling it Silk Typhoon.
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  And they're targeting remote management tools and cloud
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  apps.
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  Interesting.
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  Yeah.
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  So why is that a big deal?
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  Well, I mean, think about it.
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  OK.
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  So many businesses rely on remote management tools.
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  Right, for their employees.
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  Right, for their employees to work from home.
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  Yeah.
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  And they rely on cloud apps.
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  South.
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  For all sorts of things.
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  For all sorts of things.
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  Yeah.
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  So if hackers can get into those systems.
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  They can cause a lot of damage.
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  They can cause a lot of damage.
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  Yeah.
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  Steal data, disrupt operations.
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  Hold data for ransom.
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  Yeah, it's a big deal.
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  It is a big deal.
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  And this just highlights how important cybersecurity is.
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  Right.
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  In this increasingly connected world.
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  Absolutely.
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  I mean, it's more important than ever.
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  Yeah.
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  For businesses and individuals to take cybersecurity seriously.
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  So everyone out there listening.
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  Yeah.
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  Make sure you're taking the necessary steps.
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  Update your software.
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  To protect yourself.
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  Use strong passwords.
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  Yeah.
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  Be careful about what links you click.
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  Don't click on those phishing emails.
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  Exactly.
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  All right.
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  So that's a wrap on today's tech news roundup.
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  Wow.
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  We covered a lot of ground.
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  We did.
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  AI streaming wars.
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  New hardware.
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  New hardware, cybersecurity.
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  A little bit of everything.
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  It's clear that the tech landscape is constantly changing.
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  Always evolving.
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  So what's your final takeaway from all of this?
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  I think the biggest takeaway is that we're
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  living in a really exciting time.
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  Yeah.
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  Technology is advancing so rapidly.
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  Right.
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  And it's impacting every aspect of our lives.
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  Right.
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  So whether it's AI pushing the boundaries of what's possible
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  or streaming services vying for our attention.
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  Yeah.
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  Or new hardware unlocking these crazy capabilities.
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  Yeah.
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  It's important to stay informed.
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  That's informed.
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  And be adaptable.
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  Adaptable because things are changing fast.
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  That's the name of the game.
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  That's the name of the game.
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  In the tech world.
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  All right.
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  Thanks so much for joining us for another deep dive.
• 9:43
  My pleasure.
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  We'll see you next time.
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  See you later.
• 9:46
  OK.