#TBOT 11: AI Companions Worse Than Porn, Why Your Word Doc Never Looks Right, Deep Sea Desalination, Find the Perfect XMPP Provider

#TBOT 11: AI Companions Worse Than Porn, Why Your Word Doc Never Looks Right, Deep Sea Desalination, Find the Perfect XMPP Provider

Author: The most important weekly tech news + solutions. August 25, 2025 Duration: 29:40

Here are our stories for the week:

AI Companions Worse Than Porn: People are turning to artificial intelligence for companionship, seeking emotional connection. AI companies are more than happy to supply this new drug, realizing personalized AI brings the most user engagement. A new Meta leak shows companies adopting a more personal strategy that enables subtle romances with users—including children.

Why Your Word Doc Never Looks Right: Shots fired as LibreOffice, a popular open-source office suite, calls out Microsoft for their proprietary document format. We look at the history of OOXML versus ODF and see how MS strong-armed standardization. But in 2025, does LibreOffice smell blood in the water as governments in Finland and Germany shift to Linux and open source?

Deep Sea Desalination: Water shortages are leading companies to start pumping water from the deep sea. But is this safe? What’s the environmental impact? We take a look as the largest subsea desalination plant prepares to go live off the coast of Norway in 2026.

Solutions: Find your perfect XMPP server! I love XMPP—but finding a server isn’t the easiest task. That’s changing with providers.xmpp.net, a project by XMPP community members that lets you sort and find high-quality servers.

Share this post with your crew. 🚢

🪄 We aim for our show to be well-researched, well-informed, and focused on the most impactful stories—all in 20 minutes (ain’t nobody got more time than that)!

PLUS - Each story comes with recommendations, and there’s one cool tech trick or open-source solution every week.

We’ll be publishing full posts and clips of each of these stories soon.

✅ XMPP + Above Phone is an excellent communication solution!

Are you ready for a phone that respects you? Enjoy private app stores, secure web browsing and communication, download videos to your phone, navigate with open-source maps, and so much more.

🔥 And best of all, there are zero connections to big tech!

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Hakeem Anwar hosts The #TBOT Show, a weekly podcast dedicated to cutting through the noise of the tech world. Instead of just reporting headlines, this show focuses on the technology news that actually shapes your daily routine, privacy, and digital freedom, explaining why it matters in clear terms. Each episode is designed to be concise and actionable, wrapping up in under twenty minutes. You’ll hear informed analysis and straightforward recommendations on how to navigate the week’s developments. True to its mission, every installment also provides a practical takeaway: this might be a powerful open-source tool you can use, a privacy-enhancing skill to learn, or a sustainable tech solution to implement. It’s a blend of necessary context and usable insight, making it a resource for anyone who wants to understand and take back control of their tech life. Tune in for a focused, efficient update that prioritizes depth over duration, ensuring you stay informed without being overwhelmed. This podcast delivers exactly what its author promises: the most important weekly tech news paired with tangible solutions.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 80

The #TBOT Show with Hakeem Anwar
Podcast Episodes
The TBOT Show | Episode #1 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 22:52
Hey peeps, Its Hakeem! We’ve just released the first episode of the new #TBOT show which will be published every Friday from now on. 🔥 My focus with this show is to give you the most important tech stories every week in…
What Data is Your Phone Gathering? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:22
In this clip from my new interview with the Macroaggressions Podcast, I talk about the huge multi billion dollar industry built on Google's AdWords and key information about individual users that are compiled into secret…
Brute Force Hacking Protection on Above Phone [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 3:49
In this clip from Above’s Hidden Signs Your Phone is Compromised webinar, I detail how Above Phone will lock out intruders who attempt to use brute force attacks on a pincode to guess the security password on your phone.…
Tools Law Enforcement Uses To Access iPhone, Android [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 9:43
In this clip from Above’s ‘Hidden Signs Your Phone is Compromised’ webinar, I discuss the importance of keeping your phone locked at all times and how Cellebrite tools can be used by law enforcement to capture and compro…
How GrapheneOS Protects You from Hackers and Malware [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 6:49
In this clip from Above’s ‘Hidden Signs Your Phone is Compromised’ webinar, I’m getting into the details about how GrapheneOS has hardened memory allocation to protect against various memory based exploits that attempt t…
The Most Common Exploits Found In Apple, iPhone [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 5:16
In this clip from Above’s ‘Hidden Signs Your Phone is Compromised’ webinar, I dive into how to identify previously used Pegasus malware URL links that were logged by Amnesty International and some of the most common expl…
How Hackers Exploit Big Tech Phones [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 3:57
In this clip from Above’s ‘Hidden Signs Your Phone is Compromised’ webinar, I explore how mobile network injection attacks use fake cell towers to redirect you from regular sites to a site that can infect your phone.Thos…