Show notes
NVIDIA has bought Hugging Face for $12.93 billion, and Steven Scott and Shaun Preece dig into what that means for open source AI models, local AI on your own machine, and whether free models can survive the money now pouring into artificial intelligence. There is also a full verdict on the ASUS ProArt PX13, a Lenovo ThinkPad that lost its shine, and the networking app that changed how both hosts work.The NVIDIA and Hugging Face deal sits at the centre of the show. Shaun makes the case that a hardware company owning the biggest open model repository could be good news, because NVIDIA sells the shovels in the gold rush and has already published more than 500 of its own models on the platform. Steven pushes back and asks the harder question: if nobody makes money giving models away, how long does open source AI actually last, and is free access the gateway to a paid enterprise tier?From there the conversation turns to hardware. Steven explains why the latest Lenovo ThinkPad with a Snapdragon chip left him cold on build quality despite excellent battery life, and why he moved to the ASUS ProArt PX13 with an AMD Ryzen AI Max processor, 32GB of RAM and a discrete NVIDIA GPU for running local AI models on the move. There is honest talk about thermal throttling, plastic that flexes, keyboards worth paying for, and the timeless pain of a better machine being announced the day yours arrives, in this case an RTX Spark version of the same laptop.The bigger shift is platform. Steven describes why AI has settled a years-long back and forth between Mac and Windows, since anything missing on the PC can now be built rather than bought. He also makes the case for a second machine as a dedicated AI project box, which does not need to be new or powerful if the work runs in the cloud.Networking gets a proper look too. Both hosts explain Tailscale in plain terms, how it puts your computers on one private network wherever you are, how a shared hard drive between Glasgow and Wales replaced a mess of conflicted Dropbox copies, and why it works on your phone as well. Steven then explains why he is outraged that eero puts basic port forwarding behind a monthly subscription, and the pair discuss how few genuinely accessible router options exist.The episode closes with a question for listeners, borrowed from an old Tim Cook interview: if your phone was wiped and you could keep five apps, which five would they be? Be My Eyes, Aira, Seeing AI, Soundscape and VoiceVista come up quickly, and the hosts want the mainstream picks too, on iPhone and Android, to build a community list for the website.Email [email protected], call or send a WhatsApp message to 1-613-481-0144, and we will build the community list for the website. If you enjoy the show, hit subscribe and like so more people find accessible tech coverage.Relevant LinksHugging Face: https://huggingface.coNVIDIA blog post on the acquisition: https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/nvidia-to-acquire-hugging-face/ASUS ProArt PX13: https://www.asus.com/us/laptops/for-creators/proart/proart-px13-hn7306/Windows PCs accelerated by NVIDIA RTX Spark: https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2026/05/31/introducing-a-powerful-new-chapter-for-windows-pcs-accelerated-by-nvidia-rtx-spark/Tailscale: https://tailscale.comRemote Incident Manager: https://getrim.appBe My Eyes: https://www.bemyeyes.comAira: https://aira.ioSeeing AI: https://www.seeingai.comSoundscape from the Scottish Tech Army: https://www.scottishtecharmy.org/soundscapeVoiceVista: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/voicevista-blind-navigation/id6450388413Lookout from Google: https://support.google.com/accessibility/android/answer/9031274Lazarillo: https://lazarillo.appMona for Mastodon: https://getmona.app
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