Mike Elgan

In this edition of the Superintelligent podcast, Superintelligent hosts Mike Elgan and Emily Forlini talk about Brilliant Labs’ new Halo smart glasses, which cost $299, weigh just 40 grams, promise 14 hours of battery life, remember everything you hear and see. The product stands out because it has a heads-up display and lean retro graphics at a price identical to Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses. Unlike its competition, the Halo relies on an open source agent called NOA and packs in voice-activated “vibe coding.”

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The technology will either allow your mental abilities to whither and fade — or make you a lot smarter. Choose your adventure. Read my column at Computerworld.com.

Tourism is breaking records worldwide, flooding major destinations like Barcelona—which saw 26 million visitors in 2024 despite its small population—with unprecedented crowds, sparking widespread anti-tourism protests in cities across Europe and even in Mexico City. Locals feel overwhelmed as over-tourism drives up costs and erodes authenticity, while tourists themselves struggle to find genuine experiences amid staged, overcrowded attractions.

The Gastronomad Experience offers an immersive culinary adventure that goes far beyond typical tourism, connecting travelers with local artisans, visionary chefs, and genuine culture in breathtaking settings while deliberately avoiding crowded tourist hotspots. By supporting local makers, embracing sustainable practices, and favoring unique venues—like restored farmhouses, boutique hotels, and private winemaker cellars—Gastronomad nurtures the communities it visits and provides truly authentic experiences. Instead of chasing Instagram moments or flocking to overcrowded destinations, participants savor tranquil meals under the stars, bond with locals, and relish the peace and authenticity that mainstream tourism can never offer. Read the rest. 

From search results to videos to music to reviews, fake content is flooding the internet. Every service with search needs a switch that turns that stuff off — or we’ll drown in digital dreck.

Vibe coding is just the beginning. AI looks like it’s ushering in a new age of vibe everything.

People are making AI copies of themselves and putting them to work. Finally, your digital twin can do your job (so you don’t have to!)

Call it the return of Clippy — this time with AI. Microsoft’s new small language model shows us the future of interfaces.

The fast-evolving technology will create massive wealth and solve all our problems. Or it will take our jobs and destroy mankind. Choose your adventure.

All business meetings once involved eye contact. And what technology has taken away, technology is bringing back.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg envisions a world where AR glasses enable most physical possessions to become virtual. Is he for real?

Multiple studies have found that the use of generative AI tools can harm intelligence and creativity. Here's how to use it to make you smarter, not dumber.

Facial recognition is controversial and often banned. But new AI-based technology identifies people without scanning their faces. Read my opinion column at Computerworld.com.

The company’s new warehouse robot — Vulcan — represents a radical leap forward for robotics, where the hardware can “feel” what it’s touching. Read my opinion column at Computerworld.com.

Perplexity managed to use Apple’s own APIs to supersede Siri, Google and everyone else as the iPhone’s best place to get information. Read my opinion column at Computerworld.com.

Celebrate Towel Day with Leo Laporte, Jennifer Pattison Tuohy, Brian McCullough, and Yours Truly! We talk about Apple’s $900 million tariff nightmare as Trump threatens a 25% tariff on iPhones and Samsung devices. Dive into the latest AI breakthroughs from Google and Microsoft, including science-discovering agentic platforms and hyper-realistic AI video generators that blur the line between fact and fiction.

We also address the coming death of CAPTCHAs, the privacy risks of Amazon’s smart speakers, and the return of smart glasses with Google’s new Android XR partnerships, the FTC's dropping of its challenge to Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard deal, OpenAI’s $6.5 billion hardware gamble with Jony Ive, the killing of the penny, Epic Games’ App Store victory, new brain-computer interface competitors, and infrared contact lenses that give you night vision. 

Plus: Jennifer talks about her testing of laser-charged smart home gadgets, and the $2,600 robot vacuum that picks up socks.

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I don't even know why people are asking this question. Of course the user is to blame. Here's why.

The No. 1 use case for the coming smart glasses revolution will be…subtitles. Here’s why. Read my opinion column at Computerworld.com.

It’s time to up your AI chatbot game by being clear about what you’re after. Read my opinion column at Computerworld.com.

Can they beat Meta? In the short term, probably not. Read my opinion column at Computerworld.com.

When it comes to opportunities for bad guys to use drones for cyberattacks, the sky's the limit. Read my opinion column at Computerworld.com.

ByteDance, the company behind TikTok, just accelerated our descent into a world where everything, and everyone, is fake. Read the latest issue of my newsletter at MachineSociety.ai.

Join Mike Elgan and Emily Forlini as they share strange and exhilarating new experiences with AI, particularly ChatGPT. They explore the reliability of AI responses, the evolution of AI tools, and the importance of prompt engineering in enhancing user experience. Mike and Emily then turn to the implications of AI on open access websites, and the challenges faced by platforms like Wikipedia resulting from AI spiders that raise the cost of being stolen from by AI companies, which often ignore restrictions on access. They then explore the environmental costs of AI, the limitations of OpenAI's computing power, and the need for better engineering practices in the industry.

LINKS:

The Future of AI Search is Google’s to Lose

Recent OpenAI Launches Limited by GPU Shortages: Poor Planning or Wider Issue? 

Alexa+ Takes a Page From Apple Intelligence With Staggered AI Rollout 

Inside the War Between genAI and the Internet 

AI Mode experiment in Search Labs

Generative AI companies are not only taking data without permission, they're also sabotaging the sites they're stealing from. Read my opinion column at Computerworld.com.

Hey, I got to co-host Intelligent Machines! Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis and I grilled Gary Rivlin about his brand-new book, "AI Valley." 

Plus, we talked about all the big AI news from the past week!

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Instant, easy language translation technology is fast becoming a common feature of everyday products, and could soon be coming to Apple Airpods. Read my opinion column at Computerworld.com.

Generative AI tools can say the darndest things. But help is on the way in the form of customization and advanced methods for sourcing the training data. Read my column at Computerworld.com.

I got to be on This Week in Tech with host Leo Laporte and fellow guests Devindra Hardawar and Louis Maresca! We talked about Trump's push to end Daylight Saving Time changes and the potential health implications, the massive $100 trillion economic disruption on the horizon and Apple's delay in rolling out its 'More Personalized Siri' features, AI chatbots repeating Kremlin disinformation and the revival of Digg with an AI twist and much more! Follow this link to watch, list, subscribe and join Club TWiT!