WEBVTT - Tech News: Harder, Better, Faster, Bye Bye 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:12.119 --> 0:00:15.000 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:15.160 --> 0:00:18.640 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:21.759 and a love of all things tech. And this is 0:00:21.800 --> 0:00:27.880 the tech news for Tuesday, February twenty three, twenty one. Yesterday, 0:00:28.000 --> 0:00:31.040 Spotify announced a ton of stuff that I would like 0:00:31.080 --> 0:00:34.000 to touch on. Before I get to that, I should 0:00:34.040 --> 0:00:37.600 give you all a disclaimer. I'm an employee of I 0:00:37.720 --> 0:00:41.400 Heart Media and Spotify is a competing company in a 0:00:41.440 --> 0:00:45.200 lot of ways. Also, what I say here is from 0:00:45.240 --> 0:00:48.760 my own perspective. It doesn't reflect any sort of official 0:00:48.880 --> 0:00:52.720 I heart stance, mostly because I'm not important enough to 0:00:52.760 --> 0:00:55.800 even know if there is an official stance, let alone 0:00:55.800 --> 0:00:58.800 whatever it might be. So let's get to those announcements. 0:00:59.320 --> 0:01:02.440 One of them is that Spotify is launching a Hi 0:01:02.600 --> 0:01:07.839 Fi or high fidelity premium subscription service later this year. 0:01:08.240 --> 0:01:12.760 The service will give subscribers access to lossless streaming audio 0:01:12.840 --> 0:01:16.240 quality and a quick word on that. Back when data 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:19.760 throughput had a lot less behind it, it was really 0:01:19.800 --> 0:01:23.759 important to compress file sizes so that downloads wouldn't take 0:01:23.760 --> 0:01:27.880 sadar and long. But many of those compression strategies meant 0:01:27.880 --> 0:01:30.240 that this process would also give the boot to some 0:01:30.319 --> 0:01:34.720 of the files data stuff that was deemed unnecessary. When 0:01:34.760 --> 0:01:37.200 it came to audio, this meant that you would end 0:01:37.280 --> 0:01:41.080 up with lossy audio files like m P three's. These 0:01:41.120 --> 0:01:45.119 were ones that had shed some of the information and 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:50.400 thus some of the depth and vibrancy of the audio recording. Now, 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:53.520 Spotify is not the first to go with a lossless 0:01:53.560 --> 0:01:59.200 audio streaming service. Deezer, Title and Amazon Music all have 0:01:59.680 --> 0:02:04.600 loss lists options for premium subscribers. Now, I honestly don't 0:02:04.640 --> 0:02:07.960 know how big this is in general. I don't have 0:02:08.160 --> 0:02:11.360 a good finger on the pulse of the average consumer. 0:02:11.880 --> 0:02:15.440 My sense is that most people really like the convenience 0:02:15.760 --> 0:02:19.800 of streaming services and portable music options in general, and 0:02:19.800 --> 0:02:23.000 that they don't really care quite as much about the 0:02:23.040 --> 0:02:26.720 actual fidelity of the music they listen to. But I 0:02:26.720 --> 0:02:29.320 could be totally in the wrong here. That's just from 0:02:29.360 --> 0:02:32.600 my own, you know, feeling. I still like listening to 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:35.120 music on high quality now and again, but that tends 0:02:35.160 --> 0:02:40.400 to be on a home system using outdated media. At 0:02:40.440 --> 0:02:43.079 this point, most of the time, I'm actually just listening 0:02:43.080 --> 0:02:45.560 to stuff without worrying about the fidelity as much I'm 0:02:45.800 --> 0:02:49.240 a monster, I know. Spotify has also been making some 0:02:49.360 --> 0:02:52.040 really big moves and podcasting, and has been for a 0:02:52.120 --> 0:02:56.399 little while now. They have launched several podcasts that are 0:02:56.520 --> 0:03:00.160 exclusive to the platform, and they've brought on others and 0:03:00.280 --> 0:03:04.680 made them exclusive to Spotify. That exclusivity approach is a 0:03:04.720 --> 0:03:07.560 tough one. You're trying to lure people over to using 0:03:07.639 --> 0:03:12.760 a specific platform with content that's unique to that platform, 0:03:12.760 --> 0:03:14.880 which is a different approach from how we do things 0:03:14.919 --> 0:03:17.560 over at my Heart, for example, our shows appear on 0:03:18.280 --> 0:03:21.160 all platforms, from my tunes to Spotify, to the I 0:03:21.280 --> 0:03:25.400 Heart app and everything. Now, there's nothing necessarily wrong with 0:03:25.600 --> 0:03:29.600 launching an exclusive show for your platform, except that you 0:03:29.680 --> 0:03:32.720 run into the danger of limiting that shows audience. We 0:03:32.880 --> 0:03:36.880 learned through the experience of Microsoft Mixer, for example, that 0:03:37.040 --> 0:03:39.680 it doesn't always work to try and bring over heavy 0:03:39.760 --> 0:03:44.640 hitters to create exclusive content and thus grow your audience 0:03:44.680 --> 0:03:48.280 that way. That doesn't always work out the best. If 0:03:48.320 --> 0:03:51.400 the creator of the show is getting paid truckloads of 0:03:51.440 --> 0:03:54.640 cash in return for their agreement, they might not really 0:03:54.720 --> 0:03:57.720 care so much if their audience isn't as huge. But 0:03:57.800 --> 0:04:01.240 for smaller creators, exclusivity can sometimes mean that you never 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:05.040 get your feet under you. Still, Spotify does have some 0:04:05.160 --> 0:04:08.240 truly heavy hitters in the space. The company has signed 0:04:08.240 --> 0:04:10.680 a deal with d C Comics and there will be 0:04:10.960 --> 0:04:15.360 numerous podcasts set in the d C Comic universe. The 0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:19.200 first of those will be Batman Unburied. And Spotify also 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:22.320 signed a deal with the A G. Bio production company 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:26.000 founded by the Russo brothers. That's the pair behind Avengers 0:04:26.000 --> 0:04:29.599 Infinity War and Avengers in the Game, so they've got 0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:32.839 some serious star power behind them. It remains to be 0:04:32.880 --> 0:04:36.760 seen if that is going to pull uh significantly more 0:04:36.920 --> 0:04:41.159 users over onto that platform. Not long ago, Spotify acquired 0:04:41.240 --> 0:04:45.719 the podcast hosting platform Megaphone, which includes a feature called 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:49.480 streaming ad Insertion. Now, if you've ever listened to an 0:04:49.480 --> 0:04:52.080 old episode of Tech Stuff or Stuff you Should Know, 0:04:52.320 --> 0:04:54.520 or Stuff you missed in history class or something like that, 0:04:55.040 --> 0:04:58.000 you might have noticed that the ads that run on 0:04:58.640 --> 0:05:01.800 any show, whether it's from the Deep Archives or not, 0:05:02.120 --> 0:05:05.320 are their recent ads. So the episodes could be several 0:05:05.400 --> 0:05:07.559 years old, but the ads are new, and that's because 0:05:07.600 --> 0:05:12.159 of tools like streaming ad Insertion. Essentially that let's podcasters 0:05:12.240 --> 0:05:18.039 designate specific tagged segments like time codes within a podcast, 0:05:18.560 --> 0:05:22.520 and ads can swap out dynamically in those spots. This 0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:26.160 gives podcasters the chance to leverage their whole back catalog 0:05:26.240 --> 0:05:29.840 for ad deals, not just the most recent episodes. So 0:05:29.920 --> 0:05:31.719 it also means you're not going to hear a five 0:05:31.800 --> 0:05:35.080 year old advertisement for a toothbrush or a mattress and 0:05:35.200 --> 0:05:38.640 has a code that doesn't work anymore. Spotify is building 0:05:38.640 --> 0:05:42.359 out its ad capabilities for podcasters was something called the 0:05:42.440 --> 0:05:47.359 Spotify Audience Network. Details are a little scarce, but the 0:05:47.400 --> 0:05:50.760 company says that the service will help podcasters monetize their 0:05:50.800 --> 0:05:54.120 shows more effectively. The plan is to first roll out 0:05:54.160 --> 0:05:58.880 the service to Spotify's exclusive podcasts, and then sometime further 0:05:58.960 --> 0:06:01.320 down the line, they will roll it out to third 0:06:01.440 --> 0:06:05.560 party podcasts that are on the Spotify platform. The company 0:06:05.640 --> 0:06:09.359 also announced new creator tools during its live event for 0:06:09.520 --> 0:06:12.600 musical artists. These tools are meant to help with discovery 0:06:12.760 --> 0:06:16.039 and making sales to new customers. The artists will be 0:06:16.080 --> 0:06:19.359 able to select which tracks they want to prioritize for 0:06:19.480 --> 0:06:23.919 discovery purposes, and Spotify will use a pop up notification 0:06:24.000 --> 0:06:28.039 called Marquis to get attention from users. Markie was actually 0:06:28.080 --> 0:06:31.080 introduced last year in twenty twenties. Just now it's going 0:06:31.120 --> 0:06:33.640 to have some new features in it and get rolled 0:06:33.640 --> 0:06:36.560 out to a larger number of artists, and that means 0:06:36.600 --> 0:06:40.040 that we're gonna see a lot more artists potentially get 0:06:40.080 --> 0:06:43.279 discovered through this tool. I think that's really cool. I 0:06:43.279 --> 0:06:47.200 think discovery remains one of the toughest challenges for any 0:06:47.279 --> 0:06:51.760 content creator, regardless of what medium they're working within and 0:06:51.800 --> 0:06:55.800 what platform they're using. Discovery is just tough. We know 0:06:55.920 --> 0:07:00.279 that more people than ever are creating awesome stuff and 0:07:00.320 --> 0:07:04.080 putting it up online, and it is really challenging to 0:07:04.200 --> 0:07:09.160 find the really good stuff among everything else that's being uploaded. 0:07:09.480 --> 0:07:14.200 So I'm all four tools that allow creators to get 0:07:14.280 --> 0:07:17.720 more eyeballs or ears as the case may be, on 0:07:17.760 --> 0:07:22.440 their work and in non Spotify news, because believe me, 0:07:22.640 --> 0:07:25.720 we actually have some. Google is lifting its ban on 0:07:25.800 --> 0:07:30.000 political ads starting tomorrow. Google first put a ban on 0:07:30.080 --> 0:07:34.520 political advertising following the insurrection at the nation's capital on 0:07:34.640 --> 0:07:38.640 January six. Though Google only started the ban on January, 0:07:39.960 --> 0:07:44.280 that particular ban expires tomorrow, that being Wednesday, and it 0:07:44.320 --> 0:07:47.720 will mean that Google will accept political ads, including those 0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:51.520 that focus on specific people whether those are candidates or 0:07:51.560 --> 0:07:55.480 an elected official, as well as ballot measures. So if 0:07:55.520 --> 0:07:58.280 you're in the United States, you might be groaning a 0:07:58.320 --> 0:08:00.120 little bit at the thought of all this, because as 0:08:00.160 --> 0:08:03.480 we just went through a truly tumultuous election, and the 0:08:03.480 --> 0:08:06.560 thought of having another round of political ads hit us 0:08:06.680 --> 0:08:11.440 so soon afterward is a bit disheartening. I would say. Facebook, 0:08:11.480 --> 0:08:14.040 for the record, also has a ban on political ads 0:08:14.040 --> 0:08:17.080 in place, and at least as of the time of 0:08:17.120 --> 0:08:21.280 this recording, that ban is still in place. It will 0:08:21.320 --> 0:08:24.800 be interesting to see if Google's decision will affect Facebook 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:27.400 or if this will just be a diverging path with 0:08:27.480 --> 0:08:31.920 Google accepting ads and Facebook continuing to ban them. By 0:08:31.920 --> 0:08:34.200 the time this episode goes out, we might know more 0:08:34.600 --> 0:08:38.120 than maybe that Facebook will have already changed its own path. 0:08:38.400 --> 0:08:42.240 I don't know. If you've got Netflix running on an 0:08:42.280 --> 0:08:45.760 Android device, you might have some new stuff to watch. 0:08:46.480 --> 0:08:50.640 The company has a feature called Downloads for You, and 0:08:50.679 --> 0:08:54.080 the idea is that Netflix will select content based on 0:08:54.120 --> 0:08:57.679 your viewing habits, and it will pre download stuff you 0:08:57.720 --> 0:09:01.160 haven't watched yet for you, so you can watch it whenever, 0:09:01.200 --> 0:09:04.360 even if you don't have a current Internet connection. You know, 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:07.280 like we used to have to do on airplanes. I 0:09:07.400 --> 0:09:12.360 vaguely remember flying on airplanes. Anyway, you get to choose 0:09:12.480 --> 0:09:15.320 the data limit for this feature if you even wanted 0:09:15.400 --> 0:09:17.440 on at all. It's an opt in, so you can 0:09:17.520 --> 0:09:21.120 go and turn on this option if you do want it. 0:09:21.360 --> 0:09:24.559 You can choose to limit the data to one gigabyte, 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:29.440 three gigabytes, or five gigabytes. Also, the service will only 0:09:29.520 --> 0:09:32.640 download content when it's over a WiFi connection, so you 0:09:32.640 --> 0:09:35.680 don't have to worry about it eating up all of 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:39.520 the data on your cellular plan. I don't think I 0:09:39.559 --> 0:09:42.559 would opt into this, but only because I tend to 0:09:42.600 --> 0:09:46.200 watch really really bad movies on Netflix so that I 0:09:46.240 --> 0:09:48.480 can talk about them with my buddies Eric and I 0:09:48.679 --> 0:09:52.480 as and I don't need Netflix judging me more than 0:09:52.520 --> 0:09:55.520 it already does, or providing me the next Shark Nado 0:09:55.600 --> 0:09:59.280 movie before I'm really emotionally prepared for it. We do 0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:03.079 know that this same service is coming to the iOS 0:10:03.320 --> 0:10:06.679 versions of Netflix later on. I'm curious to see how 0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:10.559 many people actually use it. Again, this gets into discovery, 0:10:10.760 --> 0:10:14.400 the idea that Netflix is looking at the sort of 0:10:14.400 --> 0:10:19.160 stuff you tend to view, drawing conclusions, and then selecting 0:10:19.160 --> 0:10:22.800 stuff for you that it thinks you're going to like 0:10:22.960 --> 0:10:27.680 based on your previous behaviors. Another version of AI knowing 0:10:27.720 --> 0:10:31.240 ourselves better than we do. A study funded by the 0:10:31.440 --> 0:10:35.520 Jane and Autos Erko Foundation and the Academy of Finland 0:10:35.760 --> 0:10:40.400 found that the more human robot appears, the more harshly 0:10:40.640 --> 0:10:44.800 we judge that robots actions, at least under a very 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:50.199 specific hypothetical situation. So the team gave this hypothetical situation 0:10:50.280 --> 0:10:54.040 two people and had different versions of the scenario and 0:10:54.080 --> 0:10:58.520 ask them to kind of grade the morality of a 0:10:58.640 --> 0:11:02.199 person or robots to decision. And the problem was a 0:11:02.240 --> 0:11:07.000 classic one, the trolley problem. You probably know this one generally. 0:11:07.040 --> 0:11:09.920 They it's presented as the Other's a trolley that's hurtling 0:11:10.040 --> 0:11:12.960 down a track and it's about to collide with a 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:15.240 group of five people, and if it does, it will 0:11:15.320 --> 0:11:17.840 kill all five. You happen to be standing next to 0:11:17.880 --> 0:11:20.680 a rail switch, and if you throw the switch, the 0:11:20.720 --> 0:11:23.640 trolley will change to a new track of rails, and 0:11:24.000 --> 0:11:27.200 it will definitely kill one person who's on that track, 0:11:27.400 --> 0:11:29.640 but the five people on the other track will all 0:11:29.679 --> 0:11:33.439 be spared. So would you do nothing and thus allow 0:11:33.720 --> 0:11:36.880 five people to die through your inaction, or would you 0:11:36.920 --> 0:11:40.920 throw the switch, thus dooming that one person on the 0:11:40.960 --> 0:11:46.079 other track to die. I mean effectively you're killing someone, right, 0:11:46.160 --> 0:11:48.959 I mean you're either killing someone by not acting at all, 0:11:49.040 --> 0:11:52.360 or killing five people by not acting at all, or 0:11:52.400 --> 0:11:55.800 you're actively killing someone by throwing a switch. It's almost 0:11:55.880 --> 0:11:58.040 like having a loaded gun and you pull the trigger 0:11:58.080 --> 0:12:00.960 in that case. So my point is there's not necessarily 0:12:01.080 --> 0:12:04.480 a right answer to this question, or maybe not a 0:12:04.559 --> 0:12:08.200 single right answer. It all depends upon your perspective and 0:12:08.800 --> 0:12:13.240 whether you think that saving five people is worth dooming 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:15.640 someone else to death, or if you think somehow by 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:19.600 not acting absolves you of the responsibility. Well, the study 0:12:19.640 --> 0:12:22.800 found that when people were presented with this scenario in 0:12:22.840 --> 0:12:26.280 which a human had to make the decision or a 0:12:26.400 --> 0:12:31.119 very utilitarian robot had to make the decision, the response 0:12:31.200 --> 0:12:34.920 to those decisions were essentially that both that human and 0:12:35.000 --> 0:12:40.560 that robot were making morally sound choices. However, the more 0:12:40.640 --> 0:12:44.440 human the robot was supposed to be, the more harshly 0:12:44.480 --> 0:12:46.840 people judged it. The more they said, oh, that's not 0:12:46.920 --> 0:12:50.600 a moral choice, which is weird, right, because they would 0:12:50.600 --> 0:12:53.000 give a pass to the regular robot and they would 0:12:53.000 --> 0:12:56.240 give a pass to the human, but a human looking 0:12:56.520 --> 0:13:01.280 robot suddenly seemed like that was different somehow, even though 0:13:01.320 --> 0:13:04.960 it's the same situations. Now. This is just one study, 0:13:05.160 --> 0:13:07.200 mind you, but it does show how the field of 0:13:07.280 --> 0:13:12.160 robotics hinges not just on technology but also human psychology, 0:13:12.240 --> 0:13:15.000 and the field of human and robot interactions is one 0:13:15.040 --> 0:13:19.480 I really find fascinating. And our last story is after 0:13:19.720 --> 0:13:24.679 twenty eight years, daft Punk has split up and retired. 0:13:25.440 --> 0:13:30.240 They were incredibly influential in the house and techno music genres. 0:13:30.679 --> 0:13:33.200 They were known for not just their music, but their 0:13:33.280 --> 0:13:37.920 live performances, which became increasingly rare over the years. I 0:13:37.960 --> 0:13:42.600 think Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger gets rediscovered every few years, 0:13:42.840 --> 0:13:46.280 which just shows how amazing their ability was to craft music. 0:13:46.840 --> 0:13:51.440 They also created the incredible soundtrack to Tron Legacy, and 0:13:51.520 --> 0:13:55.680 I maintained that that score and Michael Shean's performance were 0:13:55.720 --> 0:13:59.640 really the two standouts of that movie. Their last album 0:13:59.760 --> 0:14:04.680 came out in so long daft Punk, thanks for all 0:14:04.720 --> 0:14:09.760 the tunes, And that wraps up the headlines for today, Tuesday, 0:14:09.840 --> 0:14:14.760 February one. We'll be back tomorrow with a full episode 0:14:14.760 --> 0:14:17.480 of tech Stuff. If you guys have suggestions, for things 0:14:17.559 --> 0:14:20.600 I should cover in future episodes of tech Stuff, give 0:14:20.640 --> 0:14:22.880 me a shout let me know on Twitter. The handle 0:14:22.920 --> 0:14:26.200 we use is text stuff hs W and I'll talk 0:14:26.200 --> 0:14:34.760 to you again really soon. Text Stuff is an I 0:14:34.840 --> 0:14:38.360 Heart Radio production. For more podcasts from My Heart Radio, 0:14:38.680 --> 0:14:41.880 visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 0:14:41.960 --> 0:14:43.480 you listen to your favorite shows.