Summary
Overview
This WAN Show episode covers Linus and Luke's return from Computex 2026 in Taiwan, where they discuss NVIDIA's new RTX Spark laptop chips, Google's innovative fake call detection feature for Android, AMD's AM5 socket extension through 2029, and various industry trends. The hosts share insights from the show floor about the state of PC gaming hardware, declining sales in the accessories market, and the massive amounts of money flowing through the AI and space industries. They also discuss ProtonMail's new Gmail integration feature and showcase new LTT Store products.
Google's Fake Call Detection Feature for Android
Google announced a groundbreaking security feature that uses cryptographic verification to detect spoofed phone calls and AI voice cloning scams. When a contact calls you, their phone sends an encrypted signal over RCS to verify authenticity - if this signal is missing, you get a warning about a potential fake call. Luke shares his personal experience being targeted by an AI voice scammer impersonating the Canadian Firefighters Curling Association, which felt remarkably real until he started testing it with specific questions that caused it to loop.
- Android's new fake call detection works by sending encrypted RCS signals between devices to verify caller identity, not by analyzing voice
- Both people need the Google Phone app, Android 12+, RCS enabled, and each other saved in contacts for the feature to work
- Luke was targeted by an AI voice scammer pretending to be the Canadian Firefighters Curling Association fundraiser
- The AI voice sounded completely real with no ums, ahs, or pauses, but got caught when lines started looping identically
- Feature is RCS-based, so it could theoretically work cross-platform with iPhone if Apple adopts it
" The voice on the phone sounded very real. But it asked, and it wanted a contribution. And I was like, I mean, okay, I can maybe do something. But they wanted payment information over the phone. And I was like, no, no, no. Just tell me what your website is, and I'll look it up and do it there. "
" Could you be, could you have been more targeted than firefighters curling association? I have to look it up again, but it's like a real thing. "
NVIDIA RTX Spark - Windows Laptop Chips
NVIDIA unveiled their RTX Spark system-on-chip for Windows laptops, co-developed with MediaTek, combining up to 20 CPU cores with 6,144 Blackwell GPU cores and up to 128GB unified memory. Initially skeptical about the project being 18 months late, Linus became more optimistic after learning about NVIDIA's extensive developer relationships for gaming compatibility and their roadmap showing custom Olympus ARM cores in their data center products, suggesting long-term commitment to the platform.
- RTX Spark was delayed 18 months from its original CES 2025 announcement target
- NVIDIA is working directly with developers of EasyAntiCheat, BattleEye, Denuvo, and games like League of Legends, Valorant, and PUBG for ARM support
- The chip offers up to 1 petaflop of FP4 AI performance for local models
- NVIDIA's data center Grace Blackwell uses custom Olympus ARM cores, showing their long-term CPU development roadmap
- Linus was initially skeptical but became more bullish due to NVIDIA's gaming developer relationships and custom silicon roadmap
" I was going into this thinking, completely DOA, absolute garbage, why do they even bother? And now I have some more complicated thoughts. "
" This is the worst ARM CPU we will ever make. The roadmap is great. Obviously, buy these ones, but like this is every one that we make in the future is better. "
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