SMS Blaster – Arrests in Canada
You may remember that at the Club last October, I mentioned a new threat from a device known as an SMS Blaster – see the blog from October 2025:-
https://computerclub100.blogspot.com/2025/10/
In April this year, Bleeping Computer reported that 3 men had been arrested by the Police in Canada for using such a device. See the Bleeping Computer article for more details:-
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/canada-arrests-three-for-operating-sms-blaster-device-in-toronto/
French Government Ditching Windows
As the world divides politically, this also has effects on technology. In an effort to reduce its dependence on companies in the USA, France’s Inter-ministerial Digital Directorate, DINUM (Direction Interministérielle du Numérique), is planning to move to using Linux rather than Microsoft Windows. This TechCrunch article explains more:-
https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/10/france-to-ditch-windows-for-linux-to-reduce-reliance-on-us-tech/
This appears to be part of larger plans for France, and Europe in general, to move to “digital sovereignty” – see this briefing paper from the European Parliament Research Service back in 2020:-
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2020/651992/EPRS_BRI(2020)651992_EN.pdf
No doubt the current political situation has given further impetus to the move away from USA tech companies.
Goodbye to Jeeves
The search engine Ask.com, originally known as Ask Jeeves, has shut down from the 1st May after nearly 30 years. Ask Jeeves was an alternative to Google Search. This article from Android Authority is one of many reporting the end of Jeeves:-
https://www.androidauthority.com/ask-jeeves-shut-down-3663052/
Brian asked how many Search engines there are. Google is far and away the largest search engine by market share at over 90%. Microsoft's Bing only has about 5%. The statcounter website shows the relevant market share:-
https://gs.statcounter.com/search-engine-market-share
Some are very country focused. For example, Yandex, the Russian search engine, has less than 1% market share world-wide, whereas in Russia, it has over 70%.
Googlebook
At the Club in December last year, we mentioned that Google was developing a new laptop Operating System (OS) based on Android – see the relevant blog post here:-
https://computerclub100.blogspot.com/2025/12/
The new OS was code-named “Aluminium”, although I don't think this name will be used for the final product.
Google has now announced that new laptops will be available later this year based on this new Android system combined with their AI system Gemini. These laptops will be called Googlebooks. You can read Google’s blog post about this dated 12th May this year here:-
https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/platforms/android/meet-googlebook/
They are calling the cursor a “Magic Pointer” that uses AI to offer contextual options, sometimes by just wiggling the pointer. Being Android-based, Googlebook will integrate closely with your Android phone, allowing you to switch seamlessly between laptop and phone for certain tasks.
Google will not be manufacturing Googlebooks themselves, but rather they will partner with companies including Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP and Lenovo.
Chromebooks will still continue and be supported for now, but if Googlebooks ‘take off’, maybe this will change. It seems that Chromebooks are seen as a budget laptop whereas Googlebooks are more of a premium device. Here is another article, this time from ZDNet, which discussed the new Googlebooks and future of Chromebooks:-
https://www.zdnet.com/article/googlebook-vs-chromebook-differences/
Dave suggested that Googlebooks may have more on-board AI processing capability. Although local AI processing may become more common on all platforms and new chips are being produced for this purpose such as Nvidia's Spark.
Video Conferencing Platforms
Linda asked about alternatives to Zoom, such as Microsoft Teams. We had a very brief discussion about this. After the meeting I found this article which considers some alternatives:-
https://zapier.com/blog/best-zoom-alternatives/
Mythos is Not a Myth
In April, AI company Anthropic launched Claude Mythos Preview. Mythos is an AI tool that is particularly good at identifying vulnerabilities in other software. But not just finding them – it can create a targeted hack to exploit those vulnerabilities. Further, it can use several flaws in combination to make a more powerful exploit.
Realising how dangerous this tool could be in the hands of the ‘bad guys’, Anthropic made the decision to only release this preview version to companies such as Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Google, Crowdstrike, NVIDIA, The Linux Foundation and many others in an initiative they have named “Project Glasswing”. The objective being to allow the major software suppliers to use Mythos on their system and fix all the flaws before the hackers of the world get hold of it.
Mozilla, the producer of the Firefox browser, was also included in Project Glasswing. As described in this TechCrunch article, the results are staggering. In April this year, Firefox shipped with 432 bug fixes, compared to just 31 a year ago:-
https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/07/how-anthropics-mythos-has-rewritten-firefoxs-approach-to-cybersecurity/
The Anthropic article below (see next section, “AI Needs a Brake Pedal”) states: “in its first weeks, Mythos Preview found more than ten thousand high- and critical-severity software vulnerabilities across the world’s most important systems”.
Anthropic may be first out of the traps with Mythos, but you can bet that the other AI companies, including those in China, will not be far behind. It is imperative that any tech company providing software, including firmware embedded in hardware, use Mythos (or whatever follows it) to eliminate bugs from existing systems and to test any new software before release. Expect to see vast numbers of software updates for everything!
Yesterday (9th June), Anthropic launched Claude Fable 5, a generally available version of Mythos which has in-built ‘guard rails’. It is also launching a new version of Mythos called ‘Mythos 5’ which is restricted to approved organisations. See the TechCrunch article for more:-
https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/09/anthropics-claude-fable-5-is-a-version-of-mythos-the-public-can-access-today/
AI Needs a ‘Brake Pedal’
In an interview with BBC Newsnight on 4th June, Jack Clark, co-founder of Anthropic (the producers of Claude AI), suggested we may need to slow down the development of AI. He points out that 80% of the code for Claude AI is already produced by itself! Soon, AI systems will be able to develop their own successor. You can read about this interview on this BBC page:-
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2124z7g45o
Jack Clark co-authored this article, entitled “When AI Builds Itself” which delves further into this potential development:-
https://www.anthropic.com/institute/recursive-self-improvement
Next Session
Wed 8th July 2026 at 2pm by Zoom
