Stand at ease, Tech Insiders.
From Photoshop reporting for chat duty to Gemini getting the keys to the War Room, this week's headlines feel like basic training for the coming code wars. Grab your virtual MRE, and let's march through the maneuvers. |
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Here's what you need to know today: |
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Adobe Drops Photoshop Into ChatGPT |
Ever wished you could upload a picture to ChatGPT, type "blur my background," and have it obey? Adobe just made that real.
No installs. No steep learning curve. Just a required Adobe sign-in to use Photoshop, Express, or Acrobat.
For image editing, simply type "Adobe Photoshop" plus your wish, and the bot launches a stripped-down but capable interface for edits (think sliders for brightness, not complex pen-tool paths). The Adobe integration also serves up Express templates that can animate static designs, or Acrobat PDF surgery to redact, compress, convert, or merge docs. |
Available now on web, desktop, and iOS (Android supports Express now; Photoshop and Acrobat are "coming soon"), the tools are free and tap Adobe's agentic AI to surface visual controls when you need precision. If you hit a wall, deep-link buttons hand off the project to Adobe's full web apps so you don't lose progress.
It's Adobe courting ChatGPT's more than 800 million weekly users—and fending off Google Gemini's growing toolbox.
Why it matters: Casual creators get pro-grade tricks without subscriptions, pros get a speedy pit stop, and OpenAI's app store just nabbed its biggest brand yet. The line between chatbot and operating system keeps blurring... literally. |
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Will you use ChatGPT with photo and PDF edits? |
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Results from Yesterday's Pulse Check |
Would you ever wear AI glasses that rely on your phone? |
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Pentagon Gives Gemini Keys to the War Room |
The Department of Defense (now legally-ambiguously self-styled the "War Department") didn't just ask nicely—it force-pushed GenAI.mil onto 3 million desktops this week, powered by Google's Gemini for Government.
The $200 million platform runs in a secure, IL5-authorized commercial cloud and promises everything from accelerated contract drafting to drone video analysis—though it is currently strictly limited to unclassified work while walling off data from Google's public models. |
Image created with Nano Banana Pro |
While confused troops on Reddit reported "suspicious" pop-ups, the brass is selling this as a revolution. War Department CTO Emil Michael says "AI is America's next Manifest Destiny," and War Secretary Pete Hegseth claims it will make the force "more lethal"—even if, for now, it's mostly making HR onboarding lethal.
Skeptics see a giant security experiment relying on live Google searches to stop hallucinations. Future frontier models from Anthropic, xAI, and OpenAI will plug in next, making GenAI.mil a multivendor AI cockpit and a prime target for oversight hawks worried about prompt leaks and lethal automation. Let's just hope the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button doesn't trigger a kinetic response. |
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Unlock Smarter LLM Spend Control |
Scaling AI agents without clear cost visibility is risky. On December 17 at 11:00 AM ET, DZone and Solo show how gateway-based tracking gives teams real insight into LLM consumption and chargeback models. See how usage monitoring and reporting simplify budgeting and multi-org governance. |
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Ring's New Face Tags Test Neighbors' Nerves |
Ring's new Familiar Faces lets owners catalog up to 50 people and get "Mom at front door" alerts. It's handy for skipping self-notifications, but nightmare fuel for privacy advocates. |
Amazon says all data is encrypted, unlabeled faces are auto-purged after 30 days, and the feature is off by default. Yet the Electronic Frontier Foundation warns doorsteps could become biometric checkpoints ripe for police surveillance; Amazon withheld the rollout in Illinois, Texas, and Portland to sidestep those states' strict biometric laws.
If you flip the switch, get consent, or be ready for frosty looks on the sidewalk. Smart doorbell? Maybe. Smart neighborhood politics? That's on you. |
Microsoft's December Patch Kills Active Exploit |
Microsoft closed out 2025 with patches for 57 flaws, including three zero-days—one active (CVE-2025-62221) and two publicly disclosed (CVE-2025-64671/54100).
The active one lets attackers jump to SYSTEM via the Cloud Files Mini Filter Driver. Basically, it turns a limited user into an all-powerful admin and gives them full control of the device.
Even scarier? Two critical Office bugs can compromise you simply by letting the Outlook Preview Pane render a booby-trapped document.
Windows 11 users get KB5072033 update, but everyone needs to patch fast: Settings ➜ Windows Update. Reboot required; excuses not accepted. Pro tip: Don't hit "Remind me later"—holiday lights are prettier when malware isn't running the show. |
Meta's 'Avocado' May Leave Open Source Behind |
Meta's next frontier model, codenamed Avocado, has slipped to Q1 2026 and will likely launch as a closed, paid service.
After Llama 4 fizzled, Mark Zuckerberg brought in Scale AI's Alexandr Wang (via a $14.3 billion investment in his startup) to lead TBD Lab (yes, literally "To Be Determined"), a glass-walled skunkworks parked literally beside his desk.
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Image created with Nano Banana Pro |
The vibe shift is drastic. The new team is ignoring internal bureaucracy to chase "godlike" superintelligence, even distilling techniques from Google and Chinese rival Alibaba models. It's an ironic twist given Zuck's past warnings about foreign tech censorship.
The pivot proved too much for AI godfather and open-source champion Yann LeCun, who recently departed, while Reality Labs was ordered to slash its budget by $2 billion to bankroll the new lab, amid a reported 30% cut shifting the unit toward AI glasses.
Hope you like guac, because this Avocado is definitely extra. |
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Writer at TechnologyAdvice |
Justin Meyers is an investigative writer and editor who draws on over a decade of meticulous hands-on research to deliver the full, trustworthy story behind consumer and enterprise tech, including cybersecurity. |
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