Hands-On Tech 293: Printers in 2026

In the last episode of Hands-On Tech, Mikah wraps up the show with a fitting question from Phyllis about the TWiT network's favorite topic: printers. Host: Mikah Sargent Download or subscribe to Hands-On Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/hands-on-tech Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Club TWiT members can discuss this episode and leave feedback in the Club TWiT Discord.

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When we think of extraterrestrials, our minds generally go from the latex-suited bipedal aliens seen in Star Trek and Star Wars to more exotic critters in sci-fi movies. Scientists think in terms of carbon-based microbial life and other lower life forms. But some researchers, such as Mikhail Tikhonov from Washington University, suggest that life can take more unusual forms, ones we might not even recognize. He further suggests a new definition of life: something that takes in and transforms energy and replicates. His ideas radically expand our notions of alien life and how it might be recognized. Headlines: Space Shuttle Endeavour's New Launch Configuration Exhibit Debuts SpaceX Prepares for Starship Flight 15's First Attempted Double Landing Risks and Stakes for SpaceX's Reusable Starship Program Main Topic: Searching for Alien Life—Redefining the Approach Origins and motivations for thinking differently about our definition of life Traditional "follow the water" strategy versus seeking energy as life's marker Challenges in recognizing non-Earth-like life forms Signature of life through energy use and ecological patterns Implications for planetary exploration and sampling, including Mars, Europa, and Venus Theoretical examples and sci-fi inspirations for nontraditional life Current research intersections between physics and microbial ecology Limits, opportunities, and philosophical implications of agnostic biosignature searches Hosts: Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik Guest: Mikhail Tikhonov Download or subscribe to This Week in Space at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-space. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: helixsleep.com/space threatlocker.com/twit

Jacob Ward shows the show this week! Jensen Huang was first reported as a target in a Chinese spy plot and has since resigned from Nvidia following numerous reported extramarital affairs! Hands-on with Apple's new touchscreen MacBook Pro. And are wearable devices using your data to train AI models? Jacob talks about Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang admitting to an affair with Alice Huang, a Megaspeed executive whose company bought nearly $5 billion in Nvidia chips and who was reportedly flagged in a US intelligence memo as a suspected Chinese asset. Nvidia also announced that Huang is stepping down, with CFO Colette Kress taking over as interim CEO, amid a missing succession plan, a Bernstein downgrade, and reports of a second affair. Jacob and Mikah discuss the board's reported concern over Huang's alleged dishonesty and the regulatory scrutiny awaiting his successor. ZDNet's Kyle Kucharski joins the show to share his review of Apple's touchscreen MacBook Pro, calling it still very much a MacBook, with a stunning OLED display, great battery life, and excellent speakers. And Mikah looks at a year-long Science investigation of 57 consumer EEG companies that found several are training AI "brain foundation models" on customers' brainwave data, often without clear disclosure. Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Jacob Ward Guest: Kyle Kucharski Download or subscribe to Tech News Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-weekly. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: tanium.com/mythos-twit joindeleteme.com/twit-biz bitwarden.com/twit

NVIDIA's RTX Spark ushers in a new era for Windows PCs with massive unified memory and a game-changing GPU—if you can figure out how to tap into its raw power. This episode breaks down what makes Spark intriguing and why its target audience is anyone but casual users. Host: Paul Thurrott Download or subscribe to Hands-On Windows at https://twit.tv/shows/hands-on-windows Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Club TWiT members can discuss this episode and leave feedback in the Club TWiT Discord. Sponsor: canary.tools/twit - use code: TWIT

Which AI model should you use, and how much effort should it put in? Using Claude as the example, Mikah Sargent explains its four model families, Haiku, Sonnet, Opus, and Fable, and its five effort levels, and shows that ChatGPT and Gemini have the same two dials. He explains what an AI model's "thinking" actually is and what changes when you switch models or turn up the effort. He compares an easy job on a light setup and a heavy one, tests a logic puzzle with one right answer at two effort levels, and explains why the top setting isn't automatically the best one. Then he shares a way to choose that works in any chatbot. Send your AI questions to [email protected] Host: Mikah Sargent Download or subscribe to Hands-On AI at https://twit.tv/shows/hands-on-ai Want access to the ad-free audio and video and exclusive features? Become a member of Club TWiT today! https://twit.tv/clubtwit Club TWiT members can discuss this episode and leave feedback in the Club TWiT Discord. Sponsor: joindeleteme.com/twit-biz

As iOS Today wraps its remarkable 828-episode run, the hosts reveal the essential apps and smart home tweaks that have powered their digital lives and productivity. Discover the personal tech picks that shaped the show's legacy. Celebrating iOS Today's legacy and its final palindrome episode Drafts and OmniFocus: deep dive into top productivity winners Fantastical and Due: calendar and reminder essentials for daily organization CARROT and Crouton: the ultimate weather and recipe app picks Fastmail and Home Assistant: privacy-focused email, next-level smart home automation PCalc, Dice, and Dark Noise: utility favorites for calculation and focus News: iOS 27.3 beta highlights redesigned Health app and new features Feedback: Focus modes and app management tips using iOS and iMazing Shortcuts Corner: automating masked Fastmail emails and health data charting App Caps: Elgato Stream Deck XL and Pedal supercharge Mac productivity Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Rosemary Orchard Contact iOS Today at [email protected]. Download or subscribe to iOS Today at https://twit.tv/shows/ios-today Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Club TWiT members can discuss this episode and leave feedback in the Club TWiT Discord.

Can one developer's breakthrough double or even quadruple local AI performance on your own hardware? Explore how TensorFold could make cloud-based models look slow and why giants like Apple and Nvidia are taking notice. Nvidia is Preparing to Oust CEO Jensen Huang The Nvidia capital atlas: really good graphics (12) Fireside Alpha on X: "Dario Amodei says cancer, Alzheimer's, heart disease, and mental illness will be relics of the past in less than a decade, and that "we can create an age of miracles" "You know, if today we look at things like cancer, Alzheimer's, heart disease, mental illness, these will be https://t.co/quRQbixDSu" / X AMD Zen 6 EPYC 'Venice' deep dive and benchmarking – 9686F outclasses Nvidia's Vera, dual EPYC 9996 with 1,024 threads delivers up to 93% performance gain gen-on-gen Anthropic to Seek $1.3 Trillion Valuation in IPO Anthropic to Proceed With IPO Roadshow Next Week 3 takeaways from the big AI report on Anthropic everyone is talking about Anthropic lets Claude read your bank accounts, but not move money OpenAI Completes $11 Billion Portion of Funding at $1.25 Trillion Value Gemini 4 Carbon is now available DeepMind reveals Gemini Robotics 2.5 and open safety benchmark "ASIMOV-jailbreak" Google touts AI breakthrough, path to "unhackable" software Google: Schools can keep search while skipping Gemini, but AI search is non-negotiable Google Won't Give Schools the One Thing They Want AI teddy for three-year-olds gave unprompted self-harm reply, BBC finds United Airlines Is Banning AI Bots From Booking Flights Alex Karp says he's a lifelong Democrat — and Palantir's products are 'essentially progressive' I Used NYT Cooking's New AI-Powered Recipe Modifier, and It's Actually Pretty Good Spelunkr - cable TV but weirder danah boyd: No one paid me to disagree with Jonathan Haidt. It was teenagers who taught me that he was wrong. remember the world bollard association Munich's Alguth Stone Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Paris Martineau Guest: Ash Hart Download or subscribe to Intelligent Machines at https://twit.tv/shows/intelligent-machines. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: namecheap.promo use code TWIT outshift.com helixsleep.com/machines incogni.com/machines code MACHINES

Leo is back! From Patch Tuesday's 1000+ vulnerabilities to the relentless updates and evolving Windows features, the conversation lays bare how quickly the desktop is being reinvented, with hybrid AI and hardware hiccups included! Local AI does not rise to the challenge, hampering RTX Spark. Plus, Paul has finally started incorporating AI into his work. Windows Patch Tuesday: Minor improvements across 25H2/26H2 and 26H1 Five new builds on Friday, just one notable feature change Clipchamp is still the reigning king of easy-to-use but powerful video editors Microsoft Edge and Widgets in Windows 11 get a new Discover feed Opera now has over 100 million users on desktop Vivaldi completely rewrites its tracker and ad blockers on desktop and mobile Qualcomm earnings: Waiting on the datacenter to save the company HP OmniBook Ultra 16 review - RTX Spark is here AI and dev No one expected Jensen Huang to be the problem with Big AI After a powerful set of updates, now you can use Google Antigravity for productivity, too Adobe opens up to third-party AI assistants, expands partnerships with Microsoft and Google New Linux distribution promises to out-AI Windows 11 - a few thoughts about how AI will benefit Linux .NET 11 arrives at .NET Conf 2026 Discord is rewriting its app in Rust and you're not going to believe what happens next XBOX and gaming The new XBOX Nano Controller comes with an awesome surprise The new XBOX app is here on Windows 11, mobile, and cloud, and it's much faster AutoSR comes to AMD-based Copilot+ PCs, ROG XBOX Ally gaming handhelds You can preload GTA VI now EA remasters classic games in Ultima and Wing Commander series, more Nintendo: 6.49 million Switch units Sony: 2.6 million PS5 units - now over 100 million units cumulatively Tips and picks Tip of the week: Do it for free App pick of the week: AI Hosts: Leo Laporte and Paul Thurrott Download or subscribe to Windows Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: incogni.com/windows code WINDOWS threatlocker.com/twit

From hacked French refrigerators igniting fires to a massive OpenSSH authentication bug hiding in plain sight for a decade, this week's stories expose how lapses in basic security ripple into chaos—and why AI is now both a weapon and shield. TA surprising announcement regarding SpinRite. What is being "AI-pilled" and how does it happen. OpenAI just released GPT-6 Cyber. What does that mean. An irresponsible hacker published 30+ N-Able 0-days. 700 French refrigerators hacked. What's next. Lots of listener feedback about the Cloudflare tunneling solution, Voyager 1, true hardware drive encryption, the random number 4 and the amount of debris in orbit Then we look at a 10-year old serious SSH authentication bug (that's kinda wonderful) Show Notes - https://www.grc.com/sn/SN-1104-Notes.pdf Hosts: Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte Download or subscribe to Security Now at https://twit.tv/shows/security-now. You can submit a question to Security Now at the GRC Feedback Page. For 16kbps versions, transcripts, and notes (including fixes), visit Steve's site: grc.com, also the home of the best disk maintenance and recovery utility ever written Spinrite 6. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: guardsquare.com trustedtech.team/twit originhq.com/securitynow joindeleteme.com/twit-biz