It's the holidays! This week, we are joined by producer Anthony and our old pal Ant Pruitt to celebrate and discuss a wide variety of topics, from first space memories to our favorite space toys to what spaceflight means to each of us. It's a warm "family reunion" you won't want to miss! Join us for some holiday cheer, and Tariq's "Tiny Tim" moment...

Headlines:
• NASA's Parker Solar Probe to make its closest approach to the sun on Christmas Eve 2024, flying within 3.8 million miles and withstanding temperatures up to 2,500°F to study the sun's behavior and dynamics
• Christmas and Hanukkah to be celebrated on the same day in 2024, with astronauts on the ISS enjoying the holidays and connecting with their families on Earth, continuing a 50-plus year tradition
• A potential partial shutdown is looming for the U.S. government, which could impact NASA and limit public outreach during the Parker Solar Probe's close approach to the sun

Main Topic - Space Memories and Space Toys:
First Space Memories:
• Tariq recalls building paper rockets with his mother and launching them on a friend's farm
• Ant shares his first space memories from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and the Challenger disaster
• Anthony mentions playing with Lego space sets sent by his aunt from Denmark
• Rod remembers listening to a Gemini mission on the radio at the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra lounge where his father worked and being captivated by Apollo 8's mission to orbit the moon and reading of Genesis on December 24, 1968

Favorite Space Toys:
• Rod shares memories of his ca. 1965 Big Loo Moon Robot and Major Matt Mason action figures, discussing the evolution of space toys in the 1960s
• Tariq reminisces about his Transformers Omega Supreme toy and a paper tab and slot space shuttle and carrier aircraft model
• Ant recalls his Transformers Skywarp toy and the appeal of its counterpart, Thundercracker
• Anthony talks about playing the video game Escape Velocity on his family's iMac computer
• The group discusses the joys and challenges of building model rockets, with Rod and Tariq sharing stories of their experiences
• Tariq shows off his new pre-built Estes space shuttle model rocket, comparing it to the more challenging build-it-yourself kits

The Importance of Space Exploration:
• Ant questions the allocation of resources for space exploration while critical issues on Earth remain unaddressed
• Rod counters by highlighting the technological, educational, and inspirational benefits of space programs, as well as the economic returns on investment, and the cultural importance of exploration
• The group discusses the potential impact of SpaceX's Starlink satellite constellation on global connectivity and the debate surrounding its sustainability and alternatives
• Rod emphasizes the distinction between Elon Musk's ambitious Mars colonization plans and NASA's more measured approach to exploration
• The TWiS crew wishes everyone a happy holiday and Merry Christmas

Hosts: Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik

Guests: Ant Pruitt and Anthony Nielsen

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• Amazon Paid Almost $1 Billion for Twitch in 2014. It's Still Losing Money.
• Craig Newmark stops by
• Galaxy fold unboxing
• We know almost everything about the Google Pixel 9 series already
• A Few Blockbuster Podcasts Are Making All the Money
• Friend in a box
• US border agents must get warrant before cell phone searches, federal court rules
• The gymnastics world braces for an AI future
• NASA will shut down NASA TV on cable to focus on NASA+
• W3C Slams Google U-turn on Third-Party Cookie Removal
• Senate passes the Kids Online Safety Act
• Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L
• Follow Ant's ZDNET stuff
• Scots brat

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Ant Pruitt

Guest: Craig Newmark

Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-google.

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Sponsors:

• betterhelp.com/TWIG
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• Federal government reaches deal with Google on Online News Act
• Google DeepMind researchers use AI tool to find 2mn new materials
• Some Pixel 8 Pro displays have bumps under the glass
• Reflecting on 18 years at Google
• Google's new geothermal energy project is up and running
• AWS Unveils Next Generation AWS-Designed Chips
• Amazon Introduces Q, an A.I. Chatbot for Companies
• Does Black Friday and Cyber Monday Matter?
• Adobe's $20 Billion Purchase of Figma Would Harm Innovation, U.K. Regulator Provisionally Finds
• Elon goes full Pizzagate. How does this end?
• A new low in manels
• Sports Illustrated Published Articles by Fake, AI-Generated Writers
• OpenAI Made an AI Breakthrough Before Altman Firing, Stoking Excitement and Concern
• Hugging Face CEO on What Comes After Transformers
• Hinton vs LeCun vs Ng vs Tegmark vs O
• Anthony Levandowski Reboots Church of Artificial Intelligence
• Unauthorized "David Attenborough" AI clone narrates developer's life, goes viral
• Google Slides getting built-in presentation recording tool
• Google Will Start Deleting Old Accounts This Week. Here's How to Save Your Google Account
• Google's .meme domain is here to serve your wackiest websites
• Some Google Drive for Desktop users are missing months of files

Picks of the week

• (Paris) The 2000 cinematic masterpiece Chicken Run
• (Paris) Pentiment
• (Jeff) Jezebel to Be Resurrected by Paste Magazine
• (Jeff) After 151 years, Popular Science will no longer offer a magazine
• (Ant) City Nerd on YouTube
• (Jason) No Ads in Albania, Ethiopia and Myanmar

Hosts: Jason Howell, Jeff Jarvis, Paris Martineau, and Ant Pruitt

Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-google.

Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Sponsors:

• INFO.ACILEARNING.COM/TWIT code SN100
• mylio.com/twit
• hid.link/twigdemo

• Adobe Flash Player Updater is (still) desperately trying to update
• Veracrypt password security
• Firefox moves to 120 with a bunch of very nice new features
• Do-Not-Track is back on track
• "ownCloud" -or- "PwnCloud" ?
• CrushFTP Critical Vulnerability
• Bypassing fingerprint authentication
• ApacheMQ
• TransUnion & Experian both hacked

Show Notes - https://www.grc.com/sn/SN-950-Notes.pdf

Hosts: Steve Gibson and Ant Pruitt

Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/security-now.

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You can submit a question to Security Now at the GRC Feedback Page.

For 16kbps versions, transcripts, and notes (including fixes), visit Steve's site: grc.com, also the home of the best disk maintenance and recovery utility ever written Spinrite 6.

Sponsors:

• paloaltonetworks.com/ot-security-tco
• Melissa.com/twit
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• From King to Exile to King Again: The Inside Story of Sam Altman's Whiplash Week
• OpenAI's Misalignment and Microsoft's Gain – Stratechery by Ben Thompson
• Ilya Sutskever on X: "I deeply regret my participation in the board's actions. I never intended to harm OpenAI. I love everything we've built together and I will do everything I can to reunite the company."
• Altman Argued With OpenAI Board Member Toner Before Ouster
• Microsoft exits OpenAI drama with 'one of best possible outcomes'
• Dear Elon Musk, here are five things you might want to consider about AGI
• DeepMind releases new music model
• Google is embedding inaudible watermarks right into its AI generated music
• Introducing Stable Video Diffusion — Stability AI
• Google Meet can now detect when you physically raise your hand
• Google Chrome will limit ad blockers starting June 2024
• Google Maps' new look may frustrate Calif. drivers as Thanksgiving travel begins
• Google will work with Apple on implementing RCS on iPhone
• Anthropic Introduces Claude 2.1 With 200K Context Window
• Sarah Silverman Hits Stumbling Block in AI Lawsuit Against Meta
• Congrats To Elon Musk: I Didn't Think You Had It In You To File A Lawsuit This Stupid. But, You Crazy Bastard, You Did It!
• What Spotify's New Royalty Model Really Means
• MC HAMMER on X: "Salute and congratulations to the 710 plus @OpenAI team members who gave an unparalleled demonstration of loyalty, love and commitment to @sama and @gdb in these perilous times it was a thing of beauty to witness. Salute
• Parents Sue Gaming Companies Over 'Video Game Addiction', Because That's Easier Than Parenting

Picks:

• Paris - a beautiful 2 minutes in live caller history. Stephen A. Smith vs a guy who tries to ask about Cars
• Paris - And.... from the mind that brought you basement eel guy: TikTok tunnel girl
• Jeff - No evidence screen time is negative for children's cognitive development and well-being: Oxford Study
• Ant - Great Review From Mr Sargent and Mr Nielsen - Shot on iPhone 15
• Ant - LumaFusion Update Includes Editing on SSD
• Ant - Bittersweet and Grateful

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, Paris Martineau, and Ant Pruitt

Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-google.

Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Sponsors:

• securemyemail.com/twit Use Code TWIT
• discourse.org/twit
• vanta.com/twig

• OpenAI debuts GPTs allowing companies to further optimize GPT-4 for specific domains.
• Article 45, an EU regulation, will roll back web security by 12 years by banning website fingerprinting used for fraud detection.
• GM halts production on its Cruise driverless van over safety concerns after recent crashes.
• The SAG strike continues as negotiations with AMPTP stall. AMPTP proposed using AI to replace actors.
• AI academics voice concerns about AI CEOs like Sam Altman having too much unilateral control over powerful technologies like GPT-4.
• Meta allegedly tried to buy the domain name threads.com from a company called Threads and kicked them off Facebook when they refused to sell.
• Google petitions regulators to force Apple to open up iMessage to improve Android interoperability and reduce lock-in.
• Mark Zuckerberg leans into WhatsApp's strengths like groups, communities, and encryption to differentiate it from iMessage and Signal.
• Attendees at a Bored Ape NFT event suffer "severe eye burns" after lazers engraved NFT images directly onto their retinas.
• TikTok announces it is shutting down its $2 billion creator fund amidst advertiser pullback and recession worries.
• Camps teaching kids how to become YouTube and social media stars are proliferating.
• YouTube is testing new generative AI features like video captioning, a comments summarizer, and conversational assistance to enhance the platform.
• Google Keep will replace the functionality of Assistant Notes and the Assistant Shopping List as Google consolidates its services.
• Waze adds a new feature to warn drivers about accident-prone roads and intersections to improve safety.
• Google Chrome can now display how much memory each open tab is using, helping diagnose slowdowns.
• Google brings its conversational AI-powered Search to over 120 more countries and territories, expanding access globally.
• Picks: GifCities, Vintage Byte Magazine Library, YouTube's ad blocking crackdown faces privacy laws, TriCounty For Foster Kids, Ya EARNED It

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, Paris Martineau, and Ant Pruitt

Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-google.

Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Sponsors:

• fastmail.com/twit
• Melissa.com/twit
• mylio.com/twit

• DMV suspends Cruise's robo-taxi permit in San Francisco after pedestrian accident
• Debate over regulating approval process for autonomous vehicles between NHTSA and NTSB
• Analysis of Google's disappointing Q3 financial results and advertising revenue drop
• Impact of dating apps like Tinder on relationships and matchmaking
• The demise of Twitter rival Pebble aka T2
• Online interactions and social media - federation, verification, addiction
• Lawsuits and moral panic surrounding Meta and Instagram's impact
• AI wearable technology like Humane AI pin's features and risks
• Google Chrome's dominance
• Ethics of AI - risks of automation, data poisoning, copyright
• Role of AI in society, regulating development, technology concerns
• Picks include - corn mazes, Dimension 20, Jezebel up for sale, Pixel 8 Pro camera review

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, Paris Martineau, and Ant Pruitt

Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-google.

Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Sponsors:

• wix.com/studio
• discourse.org/twit

• Elon Musk says charging $1 a year to Twitter users could reduce bots
• VC Mark Andreessen loses it in controversial tech manifesto
• Meta Quest 3 brings back glassholes to the wild
• Amazon launches satellites to compete with SpaceX Starlink
• Peter Norvig and Blaise Aguera y Arcas claim AGI is already here
• 51% of teens spend 4+ hours daily on social media
• YouTube getting AI-powered ads targeting pop culture moments
• Mass tech layoffs in 2022 - reasonable correction or problematic?
• Google Wallet adds support for digital IDs and ticket scanning
• Adobe focuses on AI over Figma acquisition amid antitrust scrutiny
• Picks: Trust & Safety Tycoon game, beautiful coffee videos, laptop advice

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Ant Pruitt

Guest: Paris Martineau

Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-google.

Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Sponsors:

• mylio.com/twit
• hid.link/twigdemo
• INFO.ACILEARNING.COM/TWIT code SN100