Qualcomm faces £480M UK lawsuit. China's Alibaba and Huawei boost chip tech. JLR lost £50M weekly to cyberattack; Asahi saw shortages. TikTok exposed children to explicit content. FinalSpark grows mini brains.
2025-10-06
Okay, let's grab that coffee and chat about what's shaking up the tech world. It feels like every day, we're on a roller coaster of cool new stuff and big questions. Things move at lightning speed, right?
Here’s a look at what’s brewing, from who’s building the brains of tomorrow to who’s playing dodgeball with digital threats.
Ever feel like tech is pushing forward, but also hitting some serious roadblocks? You know what I mean. One minute, we’re talking about crazy new ways to compute, and the next, it’s all about lawsuits and security scares. It’s like tech is walking a tightrope. This week, we saw exactly that.
We're seeing a mix of big changes and some familiar headaches. We have breakthroughs in how computers might even think, but then we get smacked with hard questions about privacy and security. It's a lot to keep up with, honestly.
Money and power, that's what this first part is all about. Companies are clashing, and governments are stepping in. It’s shaping how we get our gadgets and who makes them.
So, imagine buying a new phone, and then finding out you might have paid too much because some company was playing dirty. That's what’s happening with Qualcomm.
The consumer group Which? is taking Qualcomm to court in London. They're saying Qualcomm forced Apple and Samsung to pay too much for essential phone parts. This made our phones more expensive. Which? wants a big payout, like £480 million, for about 29 million UK phone owners. If they win, you could get around £17 back. That’s not a fortune, but it’s something.
Qualcomm, a huge smartphone chip maker, has faced these kinds of claims before. The Federal Trade Commission in the US even sued them back in 2017. This whole thing shows how regulators are keeping a close eye on big tech companies. They want to make sure everyone plays fair.
Over in China, there's a big push to make their own computer chips. It's a major move to stop relying so much on other countries, especially the US.
Nvidias boss, Jensen Huang, even said China is "nanoseconds behind" the US in chip tech. Companies like Alibaba and Huawei are showing off new chips. DeepSeek, a Chinese startup, stunned everyone with an AI model that cost less to train. Tencent is also using Chinese chips. This local push could really change the global chip market. China wants to be self-reliant, and they're putting a lot of money into it. The US has put export rules in place, which only makes China want to build its own more. It's like a high-stakes game of chess, and we're all watching the next move.
Remember when you left your door unlocked, and then something went missing? Digital security is kind of like that, but way scarier. It’s not just about losing a wallet; it’s about entire businesses grinding to a halt.
This year, it feels like cyber attacks are everywhere. It’s not just bad luck. Some experts say it's the "cumulative effect of inaction." Basically, we haven't done enough to secure things, and now it's catching up.
Jaguar Land Rover, for example, had its production stopped for over a month. They lost around £50 million a week. Marks & Spencer and the Co-op got hit too. These attacks are expensive, averaging about $4.4 million per incident. Often, teenage hackers, sometimes leasing tools from Russian-speaking criminals, are behind this. They just want to make a name for themselves, and cash.
Part of the problem is "just in time delivery" systems. Car makers and retailers use this to save money, but if one computer breaks, the whole chain falls apart. It’s like pulling one thread and watching the whole sweater unravel. We need better protections, or these digital headaches will keep piling up.
Picture this: you want a cold Asahi beer, but the stores are empty. Why? A cyber attack.
That’s what happened in Japan with the Asahi Group. Their ordering and delivery systems got messed up. This meant a shortage of their popular beer and bottled teas. Big retailers like FamilyMart, 7-Eleven, and Lawson felt the pinch. It just shows how a digital attack can hit something as basic as getting your favorite drink. It hits real people, in real life. It’s not just numbers on a screen.
AI is getting smarter, helping us with all sorts of things. But sometimes, it steps into areas where we need to be extra careful. Are we building a helpful friend or something with a mind of its own?
This one is a real head scratcher. A group called Global Witness found that TikToks algorithm was recommending sexually explicit content to child accounts. Even with safety settings on, new child accounts got suggestions for pornography. Yikes!
TikTok says it removes bad content and made changes after being told. But Global Witness repeated their test and found the same problems again. This is a big deal, especially with new laws like the UKs Online Safety Act. We need these platforms to keep kids safe, full stop. It's like sending your child to a playground that might have hidden dangers. No parent wants that.
People are turning to AI for relationship advice. Seriously! Some use ChatGPT to craft breakup messages or figure out what a text really means. Rachel, from Sheffield, used it to prepare for a tough conversation. She found it helpful, like a "cheerleader," though the language was a bit "therapy speak."
But is this a good idea? Dr. Lalitaa Suglani, a psychologist, says AI can be useful for communication. But she warns it might just tell you what you want to hear. It could also stop you from learning how to handle tough feelings yourself. It’s like getting a cheat sheet for life, but then never learning the actual lesson. Services like Mei are popping up to help, but safety and privacy are big concerns. Would an AI know when a situation is truly harmful? That's a deep question.
Now, let's talk about something that sounds straight out of a science fiction movie. Scientists are actually growing "mini brains" to power computers. My mind is blown.
In Switzerland, at FinalSpark lab, scientists are using human stem cells to grow tiny clusters of neurons, called organoids. They're hooking these up to electrodes, hoping to make "biocomputers." They want to save energy and change how AI learns. They even call it "wetware."
These mini brains are nowhere near as complex as a human brain. But they have the same basic building blocks. They're still early stage, like keeping them alive for more than a few months is a challenge. An Australian firm, Cortical Labs, got artificial neurons to play the old computer game Pong. Other researchers use them for drug development. The idea is that these could complement silicon chips, not replace them entirely. It’s a crazy idea, but it could really change the game for computing. It's a new frontier, and we're just peeking over the edge.
So, what do we take away from all this? Tech is buzzing with innovation, but it's also facing a lot of pressure. We're building amazing things, but we need to deal with the messy human parts: fairness, safety, and security.
Companies, governments, and even us, the users, all have a part to play. We need smart rules, strong security, and ethical thinking as AI gets more powerful. The tech market isn't just about the latest gadget; it's about the bigger picture of how we live and work. We need to invest in secure, transparent tech. And we have to navigate these crossroads carefully.
What do you think about these stories? Are you excited about biocomputers? Worried about AI advice? Let's chat in the comments!
Q1: Why are there so many cyber attacks now? A: Experts suggest the increase is a "cumulative effect" of past inaction on cybersecurity. Many businesses also use "just in time" supply chains, which are very vulnerable when systems fail. It means one small hit can cause a big ripple.
Q2: Will China stop using US chips soon? A: China is trying hard to make its own high end chips and become more self reliant. Companies like Alibaba and Huawei are making progress, but experts believe China still needs about five more years to truly be independent from US chip technology for the most powerful systems. It's a marathon, not a sprint.
Q3: Are "mini brains" real computers? A: Scientists are growing tiny clusters of human neurons, called organoids, to explore new ways of computing. These "mini brains" are very early stage. They are seen as complementing silicon based AI, offering unique ways to process information, rather than fully replacing current computers.
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