Is Black Friday really booming, or are inflated prices and AI shopping assistants just muddying the waters? This episode rips into the data, exposes retailer tactics, and debates if smarter tech is actually making us better shoppers.

• Black Friday data shows online sales strong, store results mixed
• Silicon Valley's man in the White House is benefiting himself and his friends
• View: Trump's AI agenda sails toward an iceberg of bipartisan populist fury
• 'We do fail ... a lot': Defense startup Anduril hits setbacks with weapons tech
• Solar's growth in US almost enough to offset rising energy use
• Datacenters in space are a terrible, horrible, no good idea
• China leapfrogs US in global market for 'open' AI models
• Danish authorities in rush to close security loophole in Chinese electric buses
• The Ford F-150 Lightning was supposed to transform the industry. Now, Ford may pull the plug
• Roblox is a problem — but it's a symptom of something worse
• Warner Music and Suno strike deal for AI music, giving artists control over their likeness
• Leak confirms OpenAI is preparing ads on ChatGPT for public roll out
• Jony Ive, Sam Altman: OpenAI plans elegantly simple device
• One tech tip: Modern cars are spying on you. Here's what you can do about it
• How a GM EV1 was sold for the first time
• GPU prices are coming to earth just as RAM costs shoot into the stratosphere

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Daniel Rubino, Sam Abuelsamid, and Mike Elgan

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A judge is racing to break up Google's advertising empire before they can appeal, while Microsoft's Copilot stumbles on camera. Australia's sweeping social bans, Roblox's selfie requirement, and flawed AI moderation spark sharp debate on what happens when online gatekeeping gets serious.

• Top MAGA Influencers Accidentally Unmasked as Foreign Trolls
• NetChoice Sues Virginia To Block Its One-Hour Social Media Limit For Kids
• Roblox is requiring 9yo kids to submit a video selfie to prove age
• Outage at Cloudflare Disrupts Parts of the Internet
• It's not just you, many websites are not working this morning amid Cloudflare outage
• Cloudflare-related variation on the classic XKCD
• Trump's DOGE Is Dead and We Won't Miss It
• Meta Wins FTC Antitrust Trial Over Instagram, WhatsApp Deals
• Europe is scaling back its landmark privacy and AI laws
• Talking to Windows' Copilot AI makes a computer feel incompetent
• 780,000 Windows Users Downloaded Linux Distro Zorin OS in the Last 5 Weeks
• Fortnite is getting Unity games
• Oops. Cryptographers cancel election results after losing decryption key.
• SEC Dismisses Case Against SolarWinds, Top Security Officer
• Google Starts Testing Ads In AI Mode
• A decision about breaking up Google's adtech monopoly is on the horizon
• Work is "optional" and irrelevant money: Musk's creepy utopian dream
• White House Tries to axe the GAIN act (Act that would have prevented AI tech from being sold to other nations.)

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ, Molly White, and Wesley Faulkner

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Meta's Ray-Ban Display glasses steal the spotlight on a Rome trip, triggering debates about privacy, wearable tech etiquette, and the uncomfortable power of recording the world through your eyewear. Plus, gadgets scanning your urine, bots shaping your inbox, and the future of Disney+!

• Counting Renaissance butts in Rome with the Meta Ray-Ban Display
• Jury says Apple owes Masimo $634M for patent infringement
• Google ordered to pay $665 million for anticompetitive practices in Germany
• Disney and YouTube TV reach deal to end blackout
• The future of Disney Plus could involve AI-generated videos
• X is finally rolling out Chat, its DM replacement with encryption and video calling
• Tim Cook could step down as Apple CEO 'as soon as next year'
• iPhone Pocket revealed in hands-on videos of new Apple accessory
• AMD continues to chip away at Intel's X86 market share — company now sells over 25% of all x86 chips and powers 33% of all desktop systems
• Google DeepMind is using Gemini to train agents inside Goat Simulator 3
• George Lucas' narrative art museum opens next year in LA
• Spotify's new audiobook recap feature uses AI to remind you of the story so far
• PNG is back!
• 3 SeatGuru alternatives for finding the best airline seats
• What Are We Going to Do With 300 Billion Pennies?
• Withings Beamo

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Victoria Song and Christina Warren

Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech

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