Can Googlebook Bridge the Gap? - DTNS 5361

Tom Merritt (0:08)

Welcome to the Daily Tech News Show's Big Tech Question of the Week, where we look at the tech news this week and ask, what does it mean? I'm your referee, Tom Merritt. And this week, the big questions are, can a Google Book replace a Mac or PC? And do you want an AI charm or keychain? Joining us here to draw the top tech news of the week is Len Peralta. Welcome, Len.

But first, today's tech news, here's Sara Lane.

Sara Lane (0:39)

Google's Gemini 3.8 Live mode can now put a customizable animated face on enterprise AI agents with synchronized speech, natural expressions and the ability to keep talking while handling tasks in the background. The avatars can resemble humans or animated characters. Kind of up to you. And switch among 97 languages mid-conversation without breaking the lip sync. Google says generated audio and video will carry invisible synth ID watermarks. But the feature is not yet available to regular Gemini users.

Tom Merritt (1:15)

Microsoft launched its co-pilot super app. It'll have three tabs. Code, home, which is for productivity stuff like generating reports and autopilot for agentic tasks. By the way, co-pilot plus seems like it's on the outs. We're not using that anymore. Autopilot is built on open claw based scout and can run in the cloud so it can keep working on things even if you turn off your computer. Microsoft will be charging clients based on usage. This is an enterprise product. The home and the code tabs will be available for Microsoft Frontier Program members in the coming weeks with autopilot coming by the end of the month in preview.

And also surfacing in Microsoft 365 apps like Team and Outlook.

Sara Lane (2:00)

Meta's upcoming Horizon Create app will let people describe an idea and then generate a 2D or 3D mobile game, including its artwork, progression, difficulty and multiplayer features, if app applicable.

A browser based tool called Horizon Studio will offer finer controls. Eligible finished games could appear inside Facebook and Instagram feeds and launch without needing a separate download.

Tom Merritt (2:28)

Yes, Vibe coding a game is the new fetch and Meta will make it happen. In an interview with NBC's Meet the Press set to air this weekend, Bill Gates says, and I quote, AI is certainly powerful enough to drive events that cause a billion deaths.

I don't know if he said it with that tone of voice, frankly, but that's the way it reads on the paper. He also said, there's never been a weapon as powerful as the combination of people with ill intent using the latest AI tools, which I don't know if a nuclear bomb maybe can, I don't know. Anyway, this follows Gates' essays in August warning about misuse of LLMs for several kinds of crimes. So Bill Gates really becoming a doomer these days.

Sara Lane (3:09)

Coming back to Google, the company is testing Call for Me, which lets Gemini phone businesses, check hours or inventory, request quotes, manage reservations, navigate menus and wait on hold. As a user, you can review the request beforehand and either monitor or cancel it or take over the call yourself. Gemini identifies itself as an AI assistant calling on a recorded line. For now, it's a restricted beta requiring a Pixel 11 series phone, a US SIM card, a Google AI subscription and the beta version of the phone by Google app.

Tom Merritt (3:47)

I wonder if it says, I don't know what you've heard from Bill Gates, but I just want to reserve a table for two.

Sara Lane (3:54)

We're not dying today.

Tom Merritt (3:56)

Not today. SpaceX completed a launch rehearsal, what's called a wet launch rehearsal for Starship Flight 14

That includes loading it with all the liquid propellant, running through a countdown, pretty much everything but ignition and liftoff. That will put Starship still on track for a September 28th launch, should that launch date be approved. Then it would make its first orbital test flights, done suborbital before, but it will make six full trips around the earth and put 26 Starlink V3 satellites into orbit.

Sara Lane (4:30)

About nine years after Tesla unveiled the semi, the semi truck that Tesla was developing, it's beginning new customer deliveries from a Nevada factory that it says can eventually produce 50,000 trucks per year. The longest range version is expected to travel at least 500 miles and might cost around $300,000 before incentives, although charging infrastructure would be a hurdle for at least some buyers. Tesla also shaved roughly 1,000 pounds off the truck and added some normal roll down windows because that's what people wanted.

Tom Merritt (5:06)