Tech Brew Ride Home - Your Router Is Likely Banned

Episode Date: March 24, 2026

Buying an internet router made outside the US is now verboten. Claude can now basically fully use your computer for you. More layoffs and surprising production cuts in the gaming industry. And the two big prediction markets try to close the barn door when it comes to insider trading. US regulator bans imports of new foreign-made routers, citing security concerns (Reuters) Anthropic's Claude Can Now Control Your Computer (CNET) Epic Games Cuts About 1,000 Jobs Across Company Amid ‘Fortnite’ Slump (Bloomberg) Nintendo Cuts Switch 2 Output by Over 30% on Weak US Sales (Bloomberg) Kalshi says it will block politicians and athletes from trading in markets they’re tied to (The Verge) Polymarket, Kalshi Take On Insider Trading as Scrutiny Grows (Bloomberg) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Buying an internet router made outside the U.S. is now verboten. Claude can now basically fully use your computer for you, more layoffs and surprising production cuts in the gaming industry, and the two big prediction markets try to close the barn door when it comes to insider trading. Here's what you miss today in the world of tech. You know, I always wondered about this. The U.S. FCC is banning imports of new foreign-made consumer router. over security concerns. China is estimated to control more than 60% of the U.S. market for home routers. Quoting Reuters, the FCC order does not impact the import or use of existing models, but will ban new ones.

The agency said a White House convened review deemed imported routers pose, quote, a severe cybersecurity risk that could be leveraged to immediately and severely disrupt U.S. critical infrastructure. It said malicious actors had exploited security gaps in foreign-made routers, quote, to attack households, disrupt networks, enable espionage, and facilitate intellectual property theft, citing their role in major hacks like vault and assault typhoon. The determination includes an exemption for routers the Pentagon deems not to pose unacceptable risks. Lawmakers have previously raised security concerns about Chinese-made routers, and Representative John Moulinard, the Republican chair of the House Select Committee on China, praised the FCC order. Today's tremendous decision by the FCC and the Trump administration protects our country against China's relentless cyber attacks and

makes it clear that these devices should be excluded from our critical infrastructure, Moulinard said. Routers are key to keeping us all connected and we cannot allow Chinese technology to be at the center of that. The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately comment. Last month, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued TPLink Systems, a California-based router manufacturer spun off from a Chinese firm for allegedly marketing its networking devices deceptively and allowing Beijing to access American consumers' devices.

TPLink Systems said it would vigorously defend its reputation, adding that the Chinese government had no form of ownership or control over the company its products or user data, end quote. Anthropic has rolled out a computer use feature for Claude Co-Work and the ClaudeCode desktop app, available in research preview on MacOS for Pro and Mac's users. Quoting CNET, you can now let Claude take control. of your computer to perform tasks like sending you a file you left on your hard drive. The AI's developer, Anthropic announced Monday. For the future to work, you just need to be on a qualifying subscription plan.

In the wake of the viral explosion of the open source OpenClaw framework earlier this year, Anthropic is the latest developer to deliver a tool that enables an AI model to act more independently. OpenClaw has spawned an entire ecosystem of claws or AI tools that can take simple commands and perform them somewhat autonomously on your computer or with your tools or systems. InVedia last week debuted NemoClaught, its framework for easily setting up and installing OpenClaw with some security settings. Anthropic says that Claude will look for the right tools to complete the task at hand

via connectors with apps like Google Calendar or Slack. If the tool or connector isn't available, Claude can manually perform the task by typing or moving the cursor as if it were using the keyboard and mouse. It can use programs like your web browser, dev tools, and openforms. files. When it's performing these tasks, it can use a computer as you normally would by scrolling and clicking around. The only difference is that Claude will always ask for permission beforehand. You can stop Claude from performing a task at any time. Giving your chatbot the keys to your computer can be convenient for certain tasks, but it can leave your computer vulnerable to

attacks. Experts told us one major worry with agentic AI is that it can take major, sometimes dramatic actions quickly and with little warning. Claws can be hijacked by malicious actors who can use your personal data and systems in ways you don't want. Anthropic says it implemented safeguards to minimize risks like prompt injections. The system will automatically scan for this and more vulnerabilities as they are implemented. Despite some of its efforts to keep Claude's computer use safe, Anthropic also provides a warning to users. The feature is new and may contain errors and the company suggests not using apps that handle sensitive data, so much so that some of these apps are disabled by default. The research preview is available now for ClaudePro

and Cloud Macs subscribers and limited to computers running MacOS. Anthropics says the new computer use feature works well with dispatch, which allows you to assign tasks to Claude using your phone. Such tasks include checking your email every morning or opening up a Claude Co-Work or Claude Code session. The combination of computer use for Claude and Dispatch enables you to do even more while you're not even around. Anthropics says the feature combo can create a morning briefing or run tests, for example. Given that both features are new, some complex tasks might not work the first time. Anthropics said it's releasing this research preview to gain early insight on where it needs the most attention to become an even more powerful tool, end quote. Epic is cutting more than 1,000 jobs,

saying, quote, we're spending significantly more than we're making, and that the layoffs and $500 million in savings will put it in a, quote, more stable place. But guess what? They're not blaming AI. Quoting Bloomberg. Epic Games is cutting more than a thousand jobs across the company amid a downturn in engagement with its Fortnite video game. The company said it will offer at least four months of severance to affected employees. This is Epic's second major round of layoffs in three years. In September 2023, the company eliminated 830 employees for similar reasons, end quote. And quoting the verge. Despite Fortnite remaining one of the most successful games in the world, we've had challenges delivering consistent Fortnite magic

with every season. We're only in the early stages of returning to mobile and optimizing Fortnite for the world's billions of smartphones. And in being the industry's vanguard, we have taken a lot of bullets in a battle which is only in the early days of paying off for ourselves and all developers. CEO Tim Sweeney explained. Sweeney also specifically noted that today's layoffs are not related to AI. Impacted employees will receive a severance package with four months pay and for U.S. space workers, six months of paid health care. There were signs things weren't going well earlier this month when Epic hiked the price of V-bucks, Fortnite's in-game currency, saying simply that the cost of running Fortnite has gone up a lot and were raising prices to help pay

the bills. As part of the news, Epic will also be winding down a trio of Fortnite's game modes, rocket racing, ballistic, and the Fortnite Festival Battle Stage. The main Fortnite Festival, a rhythm game developed by Harmonics that is headlined by a different pop star each season will remain online. The cuts at Epic are just the latest casualties in the Cutthroat live service space. The last few weeks have been particularly brutal. Free-to-play shooter High Guard shut down earlier this month after the studio was hit with layoffs. EA laid off an unspecified number of developers working on Battlefield 6, despite boasting about the game having the biggest launch in franchise history.

League of Legendsmaker Riot cut staff on its new fighting game to KKO, and Remedy released the final update for its troubled team shooter FBC firebreak, though the studio plans to keep the game alive for the foreseeable future. Market conditions today are the most extreme we've seen since our early days with massive upheaval in the industry, accompanied by massive opportunity for the companies that come out as winners on the other side, Sweeney said in his note, that's what we're aiming to do for our players, and we aim to bring other like-minded developers in the industry along on the journey to build an increasingly open and vibrant future of entertainment together, end quote. Ambition comes in all shapes and sizes. At First Citizens Bank, we roll with your goals,

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Sources tell Bloomberg that Nintendo plans to cut its switch to production this quarter, by 33% from 6 million to 4 million units after weaker than expected holiday demand, especially in the U.S. Quote, after a record-setting debut in June, sales of the Switch 2 have failed to meet Nintendo management's high expectations. Though demand for a lower price but unprofitable variant in Japan has remained strong, sales in the U.S. haven't met with similar continued success. Nintendo shares fell as much as 6.3% in Tokyo.

Their steepest inner-day declined since February 4th. The stock momentarily dropped erasing all gains from a rally earlier this month, spurred by the surprise success of the new Pokemon Pocopia game before pairing some losses. The successful launch of Pokemon Pocopia hasn't prompted the management to again accelerate production of the Switch 2. Instead, it's waiting to see if the hit game and other new titles have enough staying power to merit an output increase, the people said. This hardware shortfall in its first year during its big holiday season is awful news, said Amir and Araveda, Japan equity strategist at Asymmetric Advisors.

Clearly, the software lineup has been poor, at least until most recently, with Pokemon showing some hope. The output cut shouldn't affect Nintendo's ability to meet the average analyst estimate of about 20 million Switch 2 units sold in the fiscal year through this month, the people said. The Switch 2 also faces cost pressures, including rising memory chip prices that has hit electronics manufacturers across the planet. While the higher semiconductor cost has led Nintendo to consider raising the device's price, as reported by Bloomberg last month, it hasn't played a role in the decision to curb output. The production cuts are driven by slower demand from consumers, the people said. The weaker-than-expected momentum may push Nintendo to take steps to spur

demand, such as introducing new hardware variations. A console's second year on the market is critical to establishing long-term platform success as a growing user base attracts developers and creates a virtuous cycle that draws in more players. With 17.37 million units sold last year since its June 5th launch, Switch 2 is the most successful hardware debut in Kyoto-Japan-based Nintendo's history. Yet doubts persist about the Mario Brothers creator's ability to produce games that keep consumers shelling out for the game console, with competition intensifying from rivals such as Sony.

Nintendo typically begins each fiscal year with a conservative hardware sales forecast and revises it upwards as momentum builds, particularly after the third quarter, which captures the crucial year and shopping season. For the current fiscal year through March, the company initially projected sales of 15 million switch-two units and raised that target to 19 million in early November following the strong launch. But Nintendo left the forecast unchanged when it reported third quarter earnings in February, a point in the cycle when it has historically increased guidance if performance is in line with the internal plan. That decision suggests sales may have fallen short of expectations during the holiday period, end quote.

And I don't know if you've heard those stories about the alleged insider trading around Iran news this past weekend, but the betting markets are trying to get ahead of growing concerns about stuff like that. Quoting the verge, the prediction market platform Kalshi says it's rolling out new guardrails to preemptively block political candidates and athletes from trading in their own markets, as reported earlier by Axios. In addition to blocking political candidates from trading on their own campaigns, Calci says its system will also prevent professional and college sports athletes, referees, and

personnel from training in sports they're involved in. The guardrails, we built use state-of-the-art technology and screening lists, but no screening system is perfect and motivated bad actors consistently try to find a way. To that end, we are also adding a whistleblower functionality straight in our market page, which makes it easier for our community to flag potential violations as they go through our public trading data. Calci says the move will proactive, address the commodity futures trading commissions guidance and congressional bill proposals to prevent insider trading end quote and quoting bloomberg polymarket and kalshi have taken steps to squash some types of insider trading as the prediction market platforms have come under increasing scrutiny for

suspected manipulation polymarket updated its rules on monday to clarify that certain kinds of bets are prohibited users cannot act on stolen confidential information wager using illegal tips or bet if they are in a position to influence the outcome of an event The changes affect Polymarkets' offshore venue where the bulk of its trading occurs and its fledgling U.S. regulated exchange. Both platforms debuted Market Integrity pages on Monday, providing users with information on how the rules work and ways to report suspicious activity. Hours later, Polymarkets' main rival Cal sheet said in a blog post that it was taking additional steps to prevent insider trading on sports and political events. It will now screen for and block politicians waging on their own

campaigns and athletes making bets related to the sports they play. Both companies are focused on types of trading that would generally be prohibited from other regulated markets. But prediction markets have developed faster than the rules governing them. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which oversees U.S. prediction market venues, issued the first guidance on insider training for event contracts earlier this month. The regulator has so far taken a relatively hands-off approach to governing the nascent industry. Polymarket has been dogged by accusations of insider activity, including on contracts related to geopolitics and war.

Six accounts made around $1 million in profit by betting U.S. would strike Iran by February 28th. An Israeli military reservist and a civilian were indicted for allegedly using secret operational information to wager on security operations last year. The issue has attracted attention in Washington with some lawmakers expressing concern that government officials could trade on information gleaned via their employment. Democrats, including Senator Richard Blumenthal and Representative Richie Torres, have introduced competing bills that would bar betters from participating in markets where they have a conflict of interest. Meanwhile, users continue to monitor prediction markets and hunt for possible insider activity. Over the weekend, several polymarket accounts wagered tens of thousands of dollars on a possible U.S.-Iran ceasefire before mid-April, triggering suspicion among observers. According to Polymarkets updated rules, users are not allowed to use information to bet when

doing so would, quote, violate a pre-existing duty or obligation of trust or confidence owed to another person or entity. Betters are also prohibited from using secondhand information that comes from someone who is themselves banned from trading on it, the firm added. In other derivatives markets, traders are allowed to act based on lawfully obtained information related to company strategy or positions. Markets thrive on clarity, Neil Kumar, Polymarkets chief legal officer said in a statement, these rule enhancements make our expectations abundantly clear for every participant across both platforms and highlight the compliance infrastructure we have already built.

Some prediction market advocates, including Coinbase Chief Executive Officer Brian Armstrong, have argued that insider trading is socially useful because it pulls hidden information into the open and sharpens forecasts for everyone else. But that view is not universal within the industry, end quote. Nothing more for you today. Talk to you tomorrow. Today's lesson is on the Argo Rewards app.

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