Weekly output: Google’s AI Mode, Waymo’s software testing, Trump threatens Chris Krebs, Venmo’s dubious privacy defaults
I had a short and useful visit to the future home of Starfleet Academy’s headquarters, courtesy of NTT’s Upgrade 2025 conference there hosting me (including comped airfare and lodging), and now I need to finish writing two pieces from that Japanese telco’s event.
4/7/2025: Google Expands Its Conversational ‘AI Mode’ Search Option, PCMag
Since I already had access to AI Mode and since this is a gardening time of the year, I tested this search option with some queries on that subject for Google’s Gemini AI.
4/8/2025: For Waymo’s Software Team, Bug Hunting Sometimes Happens at 45mph, PCMag
I wrote up an enlightening talk from a Waymo engineer at a software-quality conference I attended the week before hosted by a Tysons Corner startup called Antithesis–and then I got to experience the results of Waymo’s ongoing work during two uneventful rides in San Francisco.
4/10/2025: Still Mad About Losing the 2020 Election, Trump Targets Cybersecurity Pro, PCMag
One reason that I haven’t yet filed anything from NTT’s event is that I took time Thursday to report and write this post to ensure that it would adequately convey the fraudulent nature of Trump’s complaint against Chris Krebs, the CISA director he hired in 2018 and then fired in 2020 for telling the truth about the integrity of that year’s election.
4/11/2025: Venmo’s dubious defaults look like a permanent privacy foul, Fast Company
I’ve had a version of this story on my to-do list for a while, but then the inept opsec of the Trump administration served up a news peg when journalists found the Venmo accounts of multiple White House principals and started exploring their public-by-default friends lists. (Everyone in this administration should have known better, since BuzzFeed News located Joe Biden’s Venmo and inspected his friends list back in 2021). I quizzed a few subject-matter experts, but getting a statement out of Venmo took a little longer.
"Konto Venmo pod nazwą "Michael Waltz", opatrzone zdjęciem profilowym doradcy ds. bezpieczeństwa narodowego i połączone z kontami noszącymi nazwiska osób blisko z nim związanych, pozostawało otwarte dla publiczności do środowego popołudnia. Analiza WIRED pokazuje, że konto ujawniło nazwiska setek osobistych i zawodowych współpracowników Waltza, w tym dziennikarzy, oficerów wojskowych, lobbystów i innych - informacje, które zagraniczne służby wywiadowcze lub inne podmioty mogłyby wykorzystać do wielu celów, twierdzą eksperci."
