In this week’s IT SPARC Cast – News Bytes, John and Lou explore the fast-moving world of AI, quantum computing, and cloud reliability.

First up, OpenAI launches Atlas, an AI-powered browser with ChatGPT built in—complete with persistent memory, agent mode, and deep personalization. But as John warns, “If ChatGPT can see everything you do, that includes your company’s data.” Lou connects it to last week’s 7-Zip discussion, emphasizing the need for strict data access policies in enterprises managing shadow AI use.

Then, Google makes a quantum leap with its new Willow chip and Quantum Echoes algorithm, achieving verifiable quantum advantage—13,000x faster than classical supercomputers. The duo discusses its implications for material science, encryption, and the coming “cryptopocalypse.”

Next, Signal gets proactive, introducing Triple Ratchet Encryption—a post-quantum secure update using ML-KEM (Kyber) to protect against future quantum decryption. It’s the first major messaging platform to harden itself against Harvest Now–Decrypt Later attacks.

Finally, in this week’s Hot Take, the hosts analyze the recent AWS DNS outage that took down half the internet. Their verdict? “It’s not just AWS—it’s the apps.” They discuss multi-region design, cloud dependency, and why “Five Nines” uptime might be a thing of the past.

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⏱️ Show Notes

00:00 - Intro

01:24 - OpenAI Debuts AI-Powered Browser (Atlas)

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/10/21/1725235/openai-debuts-ai-powered-browser-with-memory-and-agent-features 

07:27 - Google Launches New Quantum Chip and Algorithm

https://blog.google/technology/research/quantum-echoes-willow-verifiable-quantum-advantage/ 

09:31 - Signal Stays Ahead of the Game — Triple Ratchet Encryption

https://signal.org/blog/spqr 

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12:03 - Hot Take: Amazon Web Services (AWS) DNS Outage

John recounts debugging his Ring cameras—before realizing the culprit was AWS.

•Cascading DNS failure caused a self-inflicted denial of service

•Exposed lack of redundancy and poor multi-region design

•50% of the internet went down, despite AWS only running 30% of it

Lou’s takeaway: “Cloud isn’t inherently resilient—it’s only as resilient as you design it to be.”

https://youtu.be/ygcYoFBXdjQ 

IT SPARC Cast

@ITSPARCCast on X

https://www.linkedin.com/company/sparc-sales/ on LinkedIn

John Barger

@john_Video on X

https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbarger/ on LinkedIn

Lou Schmidt

@loudoggeek on X

https://www.linkedin.com/in/louis-schmidt-b102446/ on LinkedIn

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