#john-moolenaar — Public Fediverse posts

Weekly output: Waze updates, Google Images turns 25, Samsung turns to more titanium, Frontier Airlines + Starlink, bill to ban Chinese cars

This week may have featured an unwanted import of smoky, hazy air from Canadian wildfires, but at least that miasma did not descend on the District until Friday–the day after I got to the one Fort Reno concert I’m likely to be able to see this summer.

Patreon readers got a bonus post assessing when I’m likely to need to replace my three oldest computers–and explaining why the oldest machine is not at the front of that list.

7/13/2026: Waze Gets AI, Personalization Options—Including One to Make It Less Chatty, PCMag

I have to admit that I had not used Waze in quite some time, so I downloaded a copy to refresh my memory. I’m glad I did, as this exercise reminded that Waze has yet to match Google’s ability to show which routing will be most efficient.

7/14/2026: Google Images Marks Its 25 Birthday by Adding AI Image Generation, PCMag

This was another Google item from an embargoed announcement. It was going to be an unusually short post, but then I realized that Google’s anniversary post didn’t mention the date the company launched Google Images. Some quick Googling surfaced a New York Times story apparently written on that day, July 12, 2001.

7/14/2026: Samsung Teases New Screen Substrate for Its Next Foldable: Titanium, PCMag

One of my editors asked if I could pick up this announcement; since I try to be the guy who solves problems for my editors and since I rarely get to cover metallurgical topics, I said I would.

7/15/2026: Frontier Airlines Is Adding Starlink, But You Might Have to Pay for It, PCMag

I was going to write this Tuesday but had to set it aside for the Samsung news. But that delay gave me some extra time to send a further round of questions to Frontier’s PR office about their weird unwillingness to say what the service will cost (if an ultra-low-cost carrier that literally has “ULCC” as its stock ticker doesn’t say upfront that a service is free, it’s not going to be free) and whether they would finally add power outlets (apparently not).

7/18/2026: Bill Would Ban Chinese Connected Cars in the US—From Sale and on the Streets, PCMag

I could have written this post in fewer words if I hadn’t gotten into how Congress has done nothing to address people’s privacy concerns about non-Chinese connected cars, but I wasn’t going to do that. I will not stop reminding readers about how Congress keeps failing to pass any sort of comprehensive privacy legislation.

Weekly output: Waze updates, Google Images turns 25, Samsung turns to more titanium, Frontier Airlines + Starlink, bill to ban Chinese cars

This week may have featured an unwanted import of smoky, hazy air from Canadian wildfires, but at least that miasma did not descend on the District until Friday–the day after I got to the one Fort Reno concert I’m likely to be able to see this summer.

Patreon readers got a bonus post assessing when I’m likely to need to replace my three oldest computers–and explaining why the oldest machine is not at the front of that list.

7/13/2026: Waze Gets AI, Personalization Options—Including One to Make It Less Chatty, PCMag

I have to admit that I had not used Waze in quite some time, so I downloaded a copy to refresh my memory. I’m glad I did, as this exercise reminded that Waze has yet to match Google’s ability to show which routing will be most efficient.

7/14/2026: Google Images Marks Its 25 Birthday by Adding AI Image Generation, PCMag

This was another Google item from an embargoed announcement. It was going to be an unusually short post, but then I realized that Google’s anniversary post didn’t mention the date the company launched Google Images. Some quick Googling surfaced a New York Times story apparently written on that day, July 12, 2001.

7/14/2026: Samsung Teases New Screen Substrate for Its Next Foldable: Titanium, PCMag

One of my editors asked if I could pick up this announcement; since I try to be the guy who solves problems for my editors and since I rarely get to cover metallurgical topics, I said I would.

7/15/2026: Frontier Airlines Is Adding Starlink, But You Might Have to Pay for It, PCMag

I was going to write this Tuesday but had to set it aside for the Samsung news. But that delay gave me some extra time to send a further round of questions to Frontier’s PR office about their weird unwillingness to say what the service will cost (if an ultra-low-cost carrier that literally has “ULCC” as its stock ticker doesn’t say upfront that a service is free, it’s not going to be free) and whether they would finally add power outlets (apparently not).

7/18/2026: Bill Would Ban Chinese Connected Cars in the US—From Sale and on the Streets, PCMag

I could have written this post in fewer words if I hadn’t gotten into how Congress has done nothing to address people’s privacy concerns about non-Chinese connected cars, but I wasn’t going to do that. I will not stop reminding readers about how Congress keeps failing to pass any sort of comprehensive privacy legislation.

House committee chair seeks White House briefing on TikTok ownership

WASHINGTON (AP) — The chairman of a …
#NewsBeep #News #Headlines #AsiaPacific #Beijing #Business #BYTEDANCELTD #California #China #Chinagovernment #Corporatelawandregulation #CraigSingleton #DCWire #DistrictofColumbia #DonaldTrump #Generalnews #JDVance #JoeBiden #JohnMoolenaar #Politics #Spain #Technology #U.S.news #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesgovernment #Us #USA #Worldnews #XiJinping #ZackCooper
https://www.newsbeep.com/148615/