YouTube’s Free NFL Game Gains Inches - DTNS 5099

Millions watched a free NFL game, but should it have been millions more? Plus, riots over social media in Nepal, and the important things to know about Apple’s Tuesday announcement.

Starring Tom Merritt and Robb Dunewood.

This is the Daily Tech News for Monday, September 8, 2025. We tell you what you need to know, follow up on the context of those stories, and help each other understand.

ROBB: Today, YouTube streamed an NFL game for free. Did enough people watch? Is it precedent-setting for streaming sports?

I’m Tom Merritt,

I’m Robb Dunewood.

TOM: Let’s start with what you need to know with the big story.

[[BIG STORY]]
[[SOLO story of the day. Basic details, monitor commentary, and sound when possible.]]

YouTube NFL Game Ratings: Livestream Averages 17 Million Viewers
Full game broadcast on demand

TOM: YouTube got 17.3 million people worldwide to watch an NFL game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the LA Chargers, which took place in São Paulo, Brazil, on September 5th. It was a freely-accessible (with ads) stream, no subscriptions required. 16.2 million of the AMA (Average Minute Audience) came from the US. 1.1 million came from 230 countries in the rest of the world. By comparison, Amazon averaged 13.2 million viewers per game it streamed on Thursday evenings last season.

YouTube used it to promote its NFL Sunday Ticket subscription and content from major YouTube creators. New content debuted during the game from MrBeast, Haley Kalil, Michelle Khare, and Marques Brownlee. Along with the main play-by-play, it offered alternate livestreams of the main game broadcast hosted by IShowSpeed and Tom Grossi in English; by Robegrill and SKabeche in Spanish; and by CazéTV for the local Brazilian audience and other Portuguese-speaking viewers.

I'll be honest, Robb, 16.2 million for a free stream on opening week with the Chiefs playing doesn't seem like as much of a lift as I might have expected over 13.2 million.

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TOM: There’s more we need to know today, let’s get to the briefs.

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[[3-9 more solo reads with sound to complete the day in tech news. These are informational with minor commentary.]]

Google finally details Gemini usage limits | The Verge
Gemini Apps limits & upgrades for Google AI subscribers - Gemini Apps Help
Google to make it easier to access AI Mode as default

ROBB: Google made it clear what the usage limits are for the various tiers of its Gemini LLM services. Free users get five prompts a day on Gemini 2.5 Pro, AI Pro plan subscribers get 100 prompts, and AI Ultra plan subscribers get 500. Free users can also create up to 100 generated images, whereas paying users on both tiers can request up to 1,000 images per day. When it comes to Deep Research, Free users get up to 5 reports per day, while Pro users get 20, and Ultra users get 200. Google also plans to offer a toggle switch in Google search that will let you choose AI mode to be the default display, instead of Web search.

US Mulls Annual China Chip Supply Permits for Samsung, Hynix - Bloomberg

TOM: The US, and Korean companies Samsung and SK Hynix continue to negotiate over authorization to use US technology and parts in manufacturing plants located in China. The US Commerce Department no longer wants to issue an indefinite waiver, but has proposed a "site license" that would be updated yearly. The license would specify exactly what equipment, parts, and materials would be used for the year, in exact quantities. SK Hynix manufactures DRAM and NAND flash in China. Samsung makes NAND Flash there.

C1 modem planned for the iPhone 17 Air slower on some carriers
Kuo: AirPods Pro 3 Coming Soon, But Bigger Upgrade Arriving Next Year - MacRumors

ROBB: Apple launch day is almost here, as the company will announce new products on Tuesday, and here are a couple of pieces of information to know going into those announcements. Apple has been using its C1 modem, instead of Qualcomm's modem, in its iPhone 16E, and may introduce it in more iPhone models on Tuesday. According to a recent study from Ookla, Qualcomm's modem can aggregate signals from four frequencies while Apple's C1 can do three. Carriers like T-Mobile in the US, which can support 4 frequencies, will have better performance with the Qualcomm modem. However, the C1 worked better on poor connections than Qualcomm's modem. One other thing to note tomorrow, if Apple does announce the AirPods Pro 3, as expected, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says his sources tell him that Apple may update the Pro models again next year to add an infrared camera for gesture control.

Exclusive | OpenAI Backs AI-Made Animated Feature Film - WSJ
ChatGPT makes Projects feature free, adds a toggle to split chat

TOM: In OpenAI news, ChatGPT's free users can now make use of the workspaces feature to organize their chats into Projects, and a feature called Branch now lets all users can now make a new chat split off from an existing one. And a creative specialist at the company named Chad Nelson is working with Vertigo Films and Native Foreign Studio to produce an animated film called Critterz, about forest creatures that go on an adventure after strangers disrupt their village. The film, made mostly with OpenAI's generative models, could debut at the Cannes Film Festival in May. Humans would voice the characters and draw the sketches that will be used by the generative models. It will cost $30 million to make in 9 months, with 30 people all sharing in the profits.

Uber and partner Momenta will start testing robotaxis in Europe next year
Tesla changes meaning of 'Full Self-Driving', gives up on promise of autonomy | Electrek

ROBB: Uber and China's Momenta will test an autonomous ride-hailing service in Munich, Germany, starting in 2026. It's another partnership that sees Uber provide the ride-hailing service side, while another company provides the cars. Momenta plans to launch service in its hometown of Shanghai next year and is partnering with Uber in the Middle East as well. It also sells its advanced driver assistance systems to Mercedes-Benz and Audi. | In other autonomous car news, Tesla has changed wording around its Full Self-Driving feature to include the word "Supervised" and adding fine print that says the feature cannot make the vehicle autonomous.

Anthropic coughs $1.5 bn to authors whose work it stole • The Register
Apple faces lawsuit over alleged use of pirated books for AI training

TOM: Anthropic will create a $1.5 billion fund to compensate authors whose work was used in its training data from Library Genesis and Pirate Library Mirror. The court determined Anthropic made fair use of author data in training and output, but that it broke the law by using pirated material. The case may set a precedent for many other cases that are underway. In fact, Apple is the latest to receive a lawsuit as two authors claim it used a dataset of pirated books in training its models.

IFA 2025: Eero Signal Adds Cellular Backup to Home Wi-Fi - Thurrott.com
We saw the next Boox Palma and… is that a color E Ink screen and cellular connectivity? | The Verge

ROBB: The IFA conference ended in Berlin this weekend, but we have a couple more product announcements to note. Boox showed the Verge a prototype color E-Ink device with an LTE connection. No word on when or how much. Also, Amazon's Eero announced the Eero Signal device, which you can add to the Eero mesh networks. Signal provides a cellular data connection for you if and when your main internet connection fails. A 4G/LTE device costs $99.99, and a 5G device costs $199.99, and both require you to subscribe to Eero Plus for $9.99 a month.

Nepal Sees Deadly Clashes as Protests Erupt on Social Media Ban - Bloomberg
Nepal: 19 dead in Gen Z protests at corruption and social media ban
Why are Nepal's Gen Z protesting a social-media ban? | Context by TRF

TOM: Last week, Nepal blocked 26 social media platforms, including Facebook and YouTube, for failing to register with the government and provide the name of a responsible person for the platform in Nepal. TikTok, Viber, WeTalk, Nimbuzz, and Poppo Live were initially blocked, but have complied with the requirement and are no longer blocked. In response to the ongoing blocks, demonstrators describing themselves as Gen Z have protested, and at least 19 people have been killed and dozens more injured in clashes with security forces.

Researchers claim that a Raspberry Pi's Wi-Fi can provide "clinical-level heart rate monitoring" without the need for a wearable

ROBB: Research published by scientists from the University of California at Santa Cruz detailed a method for tracking the disruption of WiFi signals in order to track heart rate. As objects move through radio signals, they slightly delay how they arrive at WiFi antennas. This has been used to detect motion, but the scientists developed a machine learning algorithm to specifically detect the movement of a heartbeat. They tested their system, which they call "Pulse Fi" on 118 people, and, within 5 seconds, could measure heart rate with clinical accuracy using a $30 Raspberry Pi 4B board.

Carlo Acutis, ‘God’s influencer’ who died age 15, declared a saint by Pope Leo | Catholicism | The Guardian

TOM: This weekend, Pope Leo XVI canonized coder Carlo Acustis as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church. Saint Carlo created websites in multiple languages to spread Catholic teachings. He died in 2006 from Leukemia.

[[PROMO]]

TOM: What do YOU want to hear us talk about on the show? One way to let us know is in our subreddit. Submit stories and vote on them at www.reddit.com/r/DailyTechNewsShow/

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[[HELPING EACH OTHER UNDERSTAND]]
[[Short missives from people with experience. Could be written email or pre-recorded from the person.]]

ROBB: We end every episode of DTNS with some shared wisdom. Today David has some additional info on accessible sports broadcasts.

TOM: David writes:
Hi DTNS crew,

On Thursday’s episode (DTNS 5097), you were discussing the NBA working with a company called One Court, to build haptic interfaces for blind fans. Here in Australia, in June this year, the AFL (Australian Rules Football) introduced "touch and track" technology for blind fans at matches. It allows blind fans to track the position of the ball on the field (down to centimetres of accuracy) in near real time. Different vibrations are used for goals and behinds, and other key game moments, and each team has a specific vibration which allows people to know which team is kicking in which direction on field. It can also be paired with radio commentary to help enhance the experience. Just thought it would be cool to share how some sports are doing things to help blind fans enjoy their experience more.

Love the show,
David (aka DaveBinM - Dave B in Melbourne)

[[DISCUSS]]

ROBB: What are you thinking about? Got some insight into a story? Share it with us feedback@dailytechnewsshow.com

TOM: Thanks to David for contributing to today’s show. And thank YOU for being along for Daily Tech News Show. You can keep us in business by becoming a patron, at Patreon.com/dtns