Bluetooth Pizza Ovens and AI-Packed Phones Take Center Stage in Tech News

Welcome back to Tech Brewed! I'm your host, Greg Doig, bringing you the latest and most exciting tech stories from this week. It's Friday, April 4th, 2025, and today's episode is packed with thrilling updates. We're diving into everything from smart pizza ovens and AI-powered smartphones to the latest in wireless headphones and industry news from tech giants like Apple and IBM. Whether you're a fan of futuristic kitchen gadgets or on the lookout for the next big upgrade in your tech arsenal, we've got something for you. So, grab your favorite drink, settle in, and let's explore the cutting-edge world of technology together. Don't forget to share your thoughts on what captured your interest this week by hitting me up on social media at Tech Brood News on X. Enjoy the tech journey!

Subscribe to the weekly tech newsletter at https://gregdoig.com

Transcript

Tech Brewed April 4, 2025

00:00:04 Greg Doig: Welcome back to Tech Brewed. I'm your host, Greg Doig, and today we're brewing up the hottest tech stories from the week. It's Friday, April 4th, 2025 and we've got some seriously interesting developments to unpack. So grab your favorite beverage, settle in, and let's get this tech party started. All right, first up, let's talk pizza. Yes, pizza. Ooni just dropped not one, but two new pizza ovens. The Koda two and the Koda two Pro announced on April 2nd. These bad boys are here to level up your backyard chef game. They've got upgraded burners for that perfectly crispy crust. And get this, Bluetooth connectivity. That's right, your pizza oven is getting pretty smart. You can control it from your phone, tweak settings, and probably send it a text to say, bake faster. I mean, if you're like me and you've been dreaming of restaurant-quality pizza at home, this might just be your new best friend. No word yet on the pricing for the pro version, but the Koda two is already making waves online. Who's ready for a pizza party? I know I am.

00:01:09 Greg Doig: Next, we're jumping into the smartphone world. Honor just unveiled the Magic seven Pro, and folks, this thing is packed with AI smarts. We're talking next-level artificial intelligence baked right into the phone. Think photo enhancements, voice commands that actually work, and maybe it'll even remind you where you parked your car. Okay, maybe not the last one, but a podcaster can dream. Honor's keeping the full spec sheet close to the chest for now, but the buzz on X is off the charts. If you're due for an upgrade and love a phone that's basically a mini robot assistant, keep your eyes peeled for this one.

00:01:46 Greg Doig: All right, music lovers, this one's for you. JBL dropped the Tune 720BT headphones this week, over-ear wireless and loaded with that signature pure bass sound. They started hitting the scene this week and they're already turning heads. No cords, long battery life, And sounds so good you'll feel like you're front row at a concert, they say. If you're an audio junkie, these might just be your next obsession.

00:02:13 Greg Doig: Moving on to some bigger industry news, Apple has finally dropped the dates for their first big shebang of 2025 The Worldwide Developers Conference, or WWDC as the nerds call it. Mark your digital calendars, folks, because from June 9th to the 13th, it's going down. The keynote kicks off on June 9th at Apple Park, and rumor has it, we're in for a visual treat. Apparently, they're planning the most significant visual overhaul of iOS, iPadOS, and macOS since iOS seven That's like a whole new digital wardrobe. They're talking about a more unified and consistent experience across the Apple ecosystem with updates to everything from icons to system buttons. Get ready for your devices to look like they've had a serious spa day. Let's just hope they don't move the power button again. My muscle memory can only handle so much change.

00:03:09 Greg Doig: Now, on a slightly less glamorous note, the layoff train keeps chugging along. This week we've seen reports of job cuts at some major players like Infosys, IBM, and even Boeing. Apparently, Infosys had another round of layoffs at their Masura campus, letting go of some trainees after they didn't meet the criteria in their training program. It sounds like a digital version of The Apprentice but with less boardroom drama and more sad emails. Meanwhile, Boeing, the big guys who make the planes, Have also cut around 180 jobs from their India Engineering Center as part of a global reduction. And hold on to your hats because the report claims IBM might be laying off thousands of employees across the U.S. impacting their cloud classic division. It's a tough reminder that even in the seemingly ever-expanding tech world, things can shift pretty quickly. Let's send some virtual good vibes to everyone affected.

00:04:06 Greg Doig: And speaking of shifts, our favorite AI art generator, OpenAI's ChatGPT, has been tinkering with his Ghibli-style photo policy. Remember how everyone was turning themselves into anime characters? Well, you can no longer create those dreamy, Ghibli-inspired portraits based on a real person's photo. Apparently, it's due to content policy limitations around creating likenesses of real people. So if you were planning on turning your family photos into a Miyazaki movie cast, you might have to stick to describing the hairstyles and backgrounds instead. It's a bit of a bummer for the aspiring animators among us, but hey, at least the AI still lets you paint a picture of words, literally.

00:04:49 Greg Doig: And IBM is up in its tech game for the Masters 2025 golf tournament. They're expanding their use of generative AI and giving their official Apple Vision Pro app a serious makeover. Their AI-powered Hole Insights feature, which gives you all sorts of nerdy stats about each hole, is getting even smarter with access to more historical data and insights from golf experts. The Apple Vision Pro app is also getting clearer 3D visuals of the Augusta National Course and more video content. It's pretty wild to think that AI is now helping golf fans Get even deeper into the sport. Maybe one day it'll teach me how to swing without looking like I'm trying to swat a particularly angry bee.

00:05:31 Greg Doig: And we've also had a few other interesting tidbits floating around. Elon Musk's AI company, XAI, is on a hiring spree looking for skilled back-end engineers to make their chatbot grok even better. Meanwhile, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has announced a change in how they think about promotions, saying that building huge teams won't be the key anymore. It's all about achieving the most with the least resources, which sounds like a page straight out of the startup playbook. And finally, Vivo launched a new smartphone, the Y39 5G boasting a a massive battery that they claim will last for five years of healthy battery life thanks to some fancy blue volt technology. That's like phone battery longevity that could outlive some of my New Year's resolutions.

00:06:20 Greg Doig: So there you have it. This week's tech news brewed just for you. From pizza ovens with Bluetooth to Apple's upcoming visual refresh, It's clear that the tech landscape never stands still. What caught your attention this week? Hit me up on the social media at TechBrewedNews on X. I'd love to hear your thoughts. And that's all for today's episode of Tech Brewed. If you enjoyed this tech pour, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, or share it with your tech-thirsty friends. We'll be back next week with another fresh batch of tech news. Until then, stay curious, stay connected. I'll catch you on the flip side.