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Tech Gets Real

David Meyer: Technology Journalist
Tech Gets Real
Latest episode

47 episodes

  • Tech Gets Real

    Canada’s Carney pitches win-win tech pact to Europe

    2026/09/18 | 13 mins.
    Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday proposed a wide-ranging “alliance for the future” between his country and the European Union. It was all about self-preservation in the face of Trump’s America – and a lot of it was about tech sovereignty, particularly regarding AI and its infrastructure.

    (Sorry for mangling “Bruegel”…)

    Tech Gets Real is a show about staying in control at a time of rapid technological change. I'm Berlin-based tech journalist David Meyer, and I've been covering tech policy for two decades. If you like this, please hit like and subscribe, and share it with others who might find it useful.

    To contact me, please email david@techgetsreal.com or connect on:

    Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/superglaze.eurosky.social
    Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@superglaze
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidmeyerwrites
    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmeyer2/

    REFERENCES:

    Full video of Carney’s speech https://multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/en/video/formal-sitting-with-mark-carney-canadian-prime-minister-address-by-mark-carney-canadian-prime-minister_I294232

    Official transcript (slightly different) of the speech https://www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/speeches/2026/09/17/prime-minister-carney-delivers-address-european-parliament

    My ISMG article on Carney’s address https://www.govinfosecurity.com/canadian-pm-floats-tech-sovereignty-alliance-europe-a-32856

    Europe 2031 estimates of EU compute capacity https://europe2031.ai/compute-forecast/

    Bruegel analysis of Europe’s comparative disadvantage in compute capacity https://www.bruegel.org/policy-brief/how-can-europe-address-its-pressing-ai-compute-infrastructure-shortfall

    Report on Canadian data center capacity https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/business/politics/2026/07/08/canada-data-centre-capacity-could-soar-to-20-gw-in-planned-projects-government-document/
  • Tech Gets Real

    Mythos mystery: Why won’t Trump allow foreign evaluations?

    2026/09/10 | 9 mins.
    Anthropic has not given UK and European AI officials access to Mythos 5.1, its latest powerful model, seemingly because the Trump administration won’t allow it. There’s no easy explanation for this – especially as OpenAI is being allowed to grant similar access to its latest model,

    Tech Gets Real is a show about staying in control at a time of rapid technological change. I'm Berlin-based tech journalist David Meyer, and I've been covering tech policy for two decades. If you like this, please hit like and subscribe, and share it with others who might find it useful.

    To contact me, please email david@techgetsreal.com or connect on:

    Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/superglaze.eurosky.social
    Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@superglaze
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidmeyerwrites
    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmeyer2/

    REFERENCES:

    Financial Times on UK AI Security Institute being shut out https://www.ft.com/content/560e1c8b-f163-4fd6-b604-e905550ac870

    My ISMG article on Anthropic’s Mythos access promise https://www.databreachtoday.com/europe-edges-closer-to-claude-mythos-access-a-31827

    FedScoop on CAISI being underfunded https://fedscoop.com/caisi-would-benefit-from-more-resources-ostp-director-tells-lawmakers/

    Protect Democracy on Trump voluntary AI framework lawsuit https://protectdemocracy.org/work/uncovering-the-trump-administrations-secret-rules-for-ai-model-release/

    Anthropic announcement of Mythos 5.1 and Fable 5.1 https://www.anthropic.com/claude-fable-and-mythos-5-1

    Jacob Coxon’s X posts on AI risks https://x.com/hilbertspaess/status/2097476196791709843

    Anthropic post on Mythos security https://www.anthropic.com/research/alignment-assessment-cybersecurity-incidents
  • Tech Gets Real

    EU mass surveillance: New data retention opinion has big implications

    2026/09/04 | 12 mins.
    Europe’s attitude towards data retention – seeing it as mass surveillance anytime people’s information is indiscriminately collected and stored – may be changing, judging from a new opinion from the chief adviser to the EU’s highest court, the Court of Justice.

    Tech Gets Real is a show about staying in control at a time of rapid technological change. I'm Berlin-based tech journalist David Meyer, and I've been covering tech policy for two decades. If you like this, please hit like and subscribe, and share it with others who might find it useful.

    To contact me, please email david@techgetsreal.com or connect on:

    Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/superglaze.eurosky.social
    Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@superglaze
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidmeyerwrites
    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmeyer2/


    REFERENCES:

    Digital Rights Ireland ruling https://infocuria.curia.europa.eu/tabs/affair?sort=AFF_NUM-DESC&searchTerm=%2522C%252D293%252F12%2522&publishedId=C-293%2F12

    Tele2 Sverige / Watson ruling https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:62015CJ0203

    La Quadrature du Net I ruling https://infocuria.curia.europa.eu/tabs/affair?lang=en&sort=AFF_NUM-DESC&searchTerm=%2522c%252D511%252F18%2522&publishedId=c-511%2F18

    Irish Garda-Dwyer ruling https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:62020CJ0140

    German SpaceNet ruling https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:62019CJ0793

    La Quad II ruling https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:62021CJ0470

    Szpunar’s opinion in the present case (Académie Fiscale) https://infocuria.curia.europa.eu/tabs/jurisprudence?sort=DOC_DATE-DESC&searchTerm=%2522C%252D661%252F24%2522&publishedId=C-661%2F24
  • Tech Gets Real

    Who decides when your smart devices die?

    2026/08/27 | 9 mins.
    We’re used to manufacturers leaving smart devices buggy or completely abandoning them for various reasons. But AI is now proving useful for reverse-engineering firmware – which clearly presents big cybersecurity risks as well as opportunities for taking real ownership of one’s own possessions – and new European laws also promise to force manufacturers to take longevity more seriously.

    Tech Gets Real is a show about staying in control at a time of rapid technological change. I'm Berlin-based tech journalist David Meyer, and I've been covering tech policy for two decades. If you like this, please hit like and subscribe, and share it with others who might find it useful.

    To contact me, please email david@techgetsreal.com or connect on:

    Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/superglaze.eurosky.social
    Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@superglaze
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidmeyerwrites
    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmeyer2/

    REFERENCES:

    The Guardian on European heatwave deaths https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/aug/25/at-least-35000-excess-deaths-europe-back-to-back-heatwaves

    Chaz Schlarp’s blogpost on reverse-engineering peripherals https://schlarp.com/posts/everything-i-own-owned/

    Tech Radar on Spotify Car Thing’s revival https://www.techradar.com/audio/four-years-after-its-untimely-demise-spotify-car-thing-is-back-for-free-and-with-absolutely-no-help-from-the-streaming-giant-itself

    Mira on GitHub https://github.com/mira-thing/mira-releases/releases#release-v1.1.0

    European Commission on Right to Repair Directive https://commission.europa.eu/news-and-media/news/right-repair-new-consumer-rights-easy-and-attractive-repairs-2026-07-31_en

    Cyber Resilience Act https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/cyber-resilience-act

    My ISMG article on Cyber Resilience Act guidance https://www.bankinfosecurity.net/iot-sector-given-final-eu-cyber-resilience-act-guidance-a-32349
  • Tech Gets Real

    Can the AI industry slow down?

    2026/07/29 | 10 mins.
    In the wake of OpenAI’s accidental hack of Hugging Face, over 1,000 luminaries from the AI industry have called for an international agreement on slowing down the pace of AI development – signatories include Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. That kind of deal is unlikely. But without it, unconstrained capitalism won’t allow any company to slow down unilaterally.

    Tech Gets Real is a show about staying in control at a time of rapid technological change. I'm Berlin-based tech journalist David Meyer, and I've been covering tech policy for two decades. If you like this, please hit like and subscribe, and share it with others who might find it useful.

    To contact me, please email david@techgetsreal.com or connect on:
    Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/superglaze.eurosky.social
    Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@superglaze
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidmeyerwrites
    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmeyer2/

    REFERENCES:

    Hugging Face post-mortem on OpenAI incident https://huggingface.co/blog/agent-intrusion-technical-timeline

    Announcement of AI Kill Switch Act bill https://lieu.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/reps-lieu-and-moran-introduce-bill-require-kill-switch-ai-systems-can

    Pacing the Frontier petition https://www.pacingthefrontier.com/

    Wikipedia article on previous call for an AI development pause https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pause_Giant_AI_Experiments:_An_Open_Letter

    Reuters on suspicious activity of OpenAI agents https://www.reuters.com/business/its-ai-agent-spent-days-hacking-company-sources-say-openai-did-not-notice-week-2026-07-24/
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About Tech Gets Real
Tech Gets Real is a show about staying in control in a time of rapid technological change. I'm veteran tech journalist David Meyer, and I've been covering topics like online privacy and freedom for two decades. In TGR, I provide short, jargon-free guides to help you navigate the new AI era.
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