The Biggest Tech Stories of 2025!

Quick Overview

The 2025 TechLinked Christmas Special covers a wide range of tech news, including Nvidia's RTX 50 series benchmarks requiring DLSS 4.0 for gains, AMD's future hardware plans, Apple's M5 chip announcement, ongoing issues with Nvidia RTX 5090 power connectors, massive RAM price hikes due to AI demand, Microsoft's Windows 10 support ending, Google's new AI image generator Nano Banana Pro, Microsoft's controversial 'agentic OS' evolution, Meta's 'Vibes' AI video app, Nintendo Switch 2's record launch, Google blocking sideloading of unverified Android apps, the UK demanding a backdoor into Apple's iCloud, and various robot/AI developments, all while the host maintains a running gag about needing to touch grass.

Key Points: Nvidia's GeForce RTX 50 series, particularly non-flagship models, heavily rely on software like DLSS 4.0 to achieve meaningful performance upgrades over the 40 series, showing up to a 3.7x gain in generative AI tasks (0:43). Google announced the M5 chip in October 2025, promising over 4x the peak GPU compute performance for AI compared to the M4, while Microsoft is pushing Windows 10 users toward Windows 11 as support ends on October 14, 2025 (2:32, 3:01). RAM prices are soaring due to heavy memory demand from AI companies, exemplified by Micron exiting its consumer memory brand, Crucial (3:07, 3:25), and news outlets reporting on the resulting inflation across PC components (3:07). Concerns persist over hardware stability, with reports of Nvidia RTX 5090 power connector melting issues and AMD's future robot ambitions causing some to fear a return to 'AI slop' (1:27, 3:15). Gaming news included the Nintendo Switch 2 setting a record by selling over 3.5 million units globally in its first four days, making it the fastest-selling Nintendo system ever (4:11), while Xbox's next-gen hardware is slated for 2027 (4:42). Regulatory scrutiny is increasing globally: the UK demanded a backdoor into Apple's encrypted iCloud data, and the US is exploring blocking sideloading of unverified Android apps starting next year (12:50, 13:18). The host concludes by mentioning positive developments like Google making its Gemini 3-powered image generator Nano Banana Pro available and Meta launching the 'Vibes' AI video app (7:44, 7:54), before signing off by encouraging viewers to touch grass.