Friday is finally here…
After writing about Taco Bell and Nano Banana’s, I’m already hangry. X is full of tweets (or do we say xeets now?) about Nano Banana images. I’m trying to find a good balance between tech news and interesting articles, so please let me know in the comments how the mix is working.
Let’s get started.
The Byte’s Bits
🚴 The Tech Arms Race in Cycling: How the UCI Fights Motor Doping
🖥 CPU Overclocking Hits 9 GHz: World Record Smashed Again
🎨 Google’s Gemini Goes Bananas—Meet the New “Nano Banana” Update
🔓 From Inmate to Innovator: The Developer Who Rebuilt His Futurer
🌮 Taco Bell’s AI Drive-Thru Stumbles on Trolls and Glitches
🚴 The Tech Arms Race in Cycling: How the UCI Fights Motor Doping
Doping is no longer just about riders but also the bikes. Professional cycling is locked in a high-stakes battle against hidden motors, and the UCI is not holding back. Equipped with law enforcement strategy and cutting-edge technology, the organization is determined to stay one step ahead of evolving tactics.
🔎 X-ray Inspections on the Spot – At major races, handheld backscatter X-ray devices scan bikes down to the frame and wheels to uncover concealed components.
🧠 Smart Detection Meets Strategy – Led by Nick Raudenski, a former U.S. Homeland Security investigator, the UCI pairs high-tech tools with intelligence work and whistleblower tips.
👮 Tactics Borrowed from Policing – Inspectors don't just scan; they profile, risk-map, and treat each suspicious performance as a case worth investigating.
🛡️ Built to Deter – The UCI trains 7–15 X-ray inspections per day at races and combines them with post-race weight checks, dismantling bikes when necessary to ensure fair play.
In a sport where hidden motors could permanently shatter trust, these defenses are essential. The UCI's vigilance isn’t just about catching cheats—it’s about preserving credibility.
🖥 CPU Overclocking Hits 9 GHz: World Record Smashed Again
In a pulse-pounding overclocking showdown, a Chinese expert named "wytiwx" pushed an Intel i9-14900KF past 9 GHz, setting a new record and inching CPU performance ever closer to the elusive 10 GHz mark.
🚀 Record-Breaking Speed – Achieved an astonishing 9,121.61 MHz (9.12 GHz), edging out the previous record by just under 4 MHz.
🧊 Ice-Cold Power – To tame the blazing chip, wytiwx turned to extreme cooling with liquid nitrogen or helium, paired with a modest 1.387-volt core voltage.
🖥 Ultra-Stripped Setup – The system ran on an Intel i9-14900KF with E-cores and hyperthreading disabled, mounted on an Asus ROG Maximus Z790 Apex board, and even ran Windows 7 for legacy supporting drivers.
🏆 Only the Fourth Above 9 GHz – This feat joins just three other entries above 9 GHz in the HWBot database, making it a rare achievement in the world of extreme overclocking.
⚡ Compared to Everyday PCs – Most retail CPUs today top out around 3.5–5.5 GHz under normal conditions, making this record nearly double the performance ceiling.
Overclocking is fascinating because it pushes hardware beyond factory limits, exploring the edge of what’s physically possible. While you wouldn’t run a daily laptop or gaming rig at cryogenic temps, these experiments provide insights for chipmakers and inspire the enthusiast community—showing just how far silicon can really go.
🎨 Google’s Gemini Goes Bananas—Meet the New “Nano Banana” Update
Google just supercharged its Gemini app with a DeepMind-powered image editor…nicknamed “Nano Banana”. I must say I’m really impressed with Google, as this image generator is not only good, but I believe the best on the market now. It’s Creative and really fast!
🆕 Edit Without Losing the Look — Whether you’re changing your hairstyle, re-styling your pet, or moving them into a different scene, the AI ensures the subject stays recognizable.
Blend, Remix, Repeat — You can combine photos (such as yourself with your pet), apply clothes or patterns from one image to another, and create layered edits that preserve each prior change.
Multi-Turn Magic — Want to renovate a room in stages? Start with wall color, then add furniture and décor, all without losing context from previous edits.
Marked and Transparent — Every AI-generated image includes a visible watermark and a hidden SynthID tag, ensuring creativity remains fun and traceable.
Gemini’s “Nano Banana” sounds like a quirky name until you try it and realize it’s a serious leap in trustworthy, flexible AI photo editing.
Go Bananas!
🔓 From Inmate to Innovator: The Developer Who Rebuilt His Future
Preston spent nearly a decade behind bars for non-violent drug offenses, but prison became his unlikely springboard into software development, Rust, open source, and a future beyond the bars.
🧱 Locked In, Locked On Learning – Inside, Preston taught himself software development, rediscovering coding after years away, fueled by resources, curiosity, and grit.
🖥 Remote Work Behind Bars – He became one of the first inmates in the country allowed remote work, contributing to infrastructure and dev tools while still incarcerated.
🚀 From Rehab to Real Dev – His contributions caught fire. A side project with database reimplementation led to a role as a senior engineer at Turso, where coding became his full-time gig.
🏛 Champion for Reform – Preston believes education and tech access during incarceration transformed his life, and he urges broader prison reform to offer others the same chance.
Preston’s story is a living reminder that potential doesn’t disappear behind prison walls; it just takes on a different form. And with access and opportunity, transformation happens.
🌮 Taco Bell’s AI Drive-Thru Stumbles on Trolls and Glitches
The fast-food chain’s push to automate ordering hit a few bumps as AI drive-thrus rolled out across 500 U.S. locations—sparking trolling, awkward glitches, and a rethink of where the tech actually belongs.
🎙 Voice AI in the Wild – Taco Bell installed AI-powered ordering systems in hundreds of drive-thrus, but glitches and slow responses quickly became a problem.
🤡 Trolled Hard – Some customers tested the system’s limits with absurd orders, such as requesting 18,000 cups of water, which upended the experience.
🤔 Mixed Feelings – The digital head admitted, “Sometimes it lets me down. Sometimes it surprises me,” summing up the polarized reactions.
🏃 Scaling Back for Smooth Service – The company is reconsidering where to deploy the tech, noting that busy locations might benefit more from a human at the mic.
With AI ordering proving to be a double-edged chalupa, Taco Bell is learning the hard way: not every lane belongs to digital assistants.
AI is hard, and customers will always find edge cases quickly. It’s essential to keep customers in focus and the user experience top of mind.
What are your thoughts about the mix of stories? Reply and let me know in the comments section below!"
…That’s this week’s newsletter!
-Brian