WEBVTT - Tech News: Meta Still Wants to Make Zuck Bucks 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.760 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:12.039 --> 0:00:14.720 Hey there, and welcome to tech stuff. I'm your host 0:00:14.840 --> 0:00:18.239 job in Strickland. I'm an executive producer for I Heart Radio. 0:00:18.320 --> 0:00:20.919 And how the tech are you. It's time for the 0:00:20.960 --> 0:00:24.560 tech news for April seven, twenty twenty two. Let's get 0:00:24.600 --> 0:00:28.080 into it. Here in the United States, the White House, 0:00:28.280 --> 0:00:32.239 which for those of you outside the US, isn't just 0:00:32.479 --> 0:00:35.320 the reference for you know, the place where the president lives. 0:00:35.320 --> 0:00:39.800 It's actually shorthand for the U S President and their advisors. 0:00:40.440 --> 0:00:44.440 The White House has urged US lawmakers to expedite legislation 0:00:44.680 --> 0:00:48.320 that will provide aid to the semiconductor industry here in 0:00:48.320 --> 0:00:51.720 the States. Both the Senate and the House, the two 0:00:51.760 --> 0:00:56.680 branches of Congress, have approved separate plans to provide subsidies 0:00:56.720 --> 0:01:00.600 and other aid to give semiconductor production companies here in 0:01:00.600 --> 0:01:05.280 America a boost. But the two plans take slightly different approaches, 0:01:05.680 --> 0:01:08.520 and so before things can move any further, the two 0:01:08.600 --> 0:01:12.480 branches of Congress have to reconcile those plans into a 0:01:12.600 --> 0:01:16.200 single approach, which then can be voted upon and sent 0:01:16.400 --> 0:01:19.560 up to the President to sign into law. The White 0:01:19.560 --> 0:01:23.120 House indicated that this should be a top priority for 0:01:23.160 --> 0:01:27.360 Congress as the ongoing semiconductor shortage continues to cause massive 0:01:27.440 --> 0:01:32.319 economic harm. Brian de Se, the National Economic Council Director 0:01:32.360 --> 0:01:36.039 at the White House, says that estimates suggest the semiconductor 0:01:36.120 --> 0:01:39.360 shortage here in the US shaved off a full percentage 0:01:39.360 --> 0:01:43.600 point off the nation's gross domestic product or g d P. Now, 0:01:44.160 --> 0:01:46.880 one percent might not sound like a whole lot, right, 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:49.320 I mean, it's just a single percentage point. But just 0:01:49.400 --> 0:01:52.200 wait and in case it's been a while since you've 0:01:52.280 --> 0:01:56.640 studied economics, the gross domestic product of a country is 0:01:56.680 --> 0:02:00.440 the total value of goods produced and services prom bided 0:02:00.880 --> 0:02:04.280 in a year. So you take all of that, all 0:02:04.320 --> 0:02:08.480 the goods and services that are sold and uh provided 0:02:08.520 --> 0:02:10.440 over a full year, you added all up, you got 0:02:10.440 --> 0:02:14.919 your GDP. For the United States, the GDP and one 0:02:15.160 --> 0:02:20.720 was twenty three trillion dollars. So a single percentage point 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:26.320 is equivalent to two hundred thirty billion dollars. That is 0:02:26.520 --> 0:02:30.120 mind boggling to me. And if those estimates are accurate, 0:02:30.160 --> 0:02:33.080 it really underlines how important it is to address this 0:02:33.200 --> 0:02:38.040 semiconductor supply chain issue. The White House also stressed that 0:02:38.080 --> 0:02:41.680 semiconductors are important, not just for consumer goods that range 0:02:41.720 --> 0:02:45.519 from phones to vehicles, but they also play a crucial 0:02:45.639 --> 0:02:50.600 role in the us is technological strategy, including national security. 0:02:50.760 --> 0:02:54.040 The White House also pointed out how the US used 0:02:54.120 --> 0:02:57.320 to be a major producer of semi conductors, being responsible 0:02:57.320 --> 0:03:00.560 fort of all chips produced in the world back in 0:03:02.160 --> 0:03:07.119 Today that number is down to twelve. Will Congress put 0:03:07.120 --> 0:03:09.920 together a plan that will help turn all that around? Well, 0:03:10.120 --> 0:03:13.000 we'll keep an eye on it and report as we 0:03:13.160 --> 0:03:16.920 learn more. Earlier this year, we heard that meta slash 0:03:16.960 --> 0:03:22.079 Facebook was pulling the plug on its DM cryptocurrency formerly 0:03:22.120 --> 0:03:26.040 known as Libra. So d M was supposed to launch 0:03:26.040 --> 0:03:28.720 a couple of years ago back in but a combination 0:03:28.720 --> 0:03:33.000 of factors, largely dealing with concern from various government regulators, 0:03:33.520 --> 0:03:36.760 and then you've had a whole bunch of partners in 0:03:36.800 --> 0:03:40.000 the project bailing on it once they saw that governments 0:03:40.040 --> 0:03:45.520 were potentially opposing this or going to highly regulated and 0:03:45.520 --> 0:03:48.200 a lot of companies said you know what, no, I'm good, 0:03:48.440 --> 0:03:53.040 I'm out, and they ended up killing off the project 0:03:53.080 --> 0:03:56.000 as a result. However, the dream of a meta based 0:03:56.040 --> 0:03:58.920 digital currency remains now. I don't think it should come 0:03:58.960 --> 0:04:02.200 as a surprise that that's the case because Meta's long 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:04.960 term goal is to become the primary portal into whatever 0:04:05.040 --> 0:04:09.720 the metaverse ends up being. Clearly, Meta has a vested 0:04:09.800 --> 0:04:13.480 interest in dominating as much of that ecosystem as possible, 0:04:13.680 --> 0:04:16.680 including the method of exchange that people will depend upon 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:20.560 in order to access virtual goods and services, or perhaps 0:04:20.560 --> 0:04:23.520 even real goods and services that you order through the 0:04:23.600 --> 0:04:28.400 virtual environment. Meta employees referred to the virtual currency proposal 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:34.119 as zuck Bucks, named after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Unlike 0:04:34.200 --> 0:04:37.159 d M, which was to be a cryptocurrency built on 0:04:37.320 --> 0:04:41.839 a special blockchain, and I say special because only partners 0:04:41.920 --> 0:04:45.160 in the endeavor would have access to it, so like 0:04:45.200 --> 0:04:50.080 the big companies behind it would have the the supervision 0:04:50.120 --> 0:04:53.600 of the blockchain, but the rest of us peons wouldn't. Anyway, 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:56.600 the zuckbox are more likely to be a simple digital 0:04:56.640 --> 0:05:01.320 currency or token with no blockchain backing. So if you're 0:05:01.480 --> 0:05:04.160 an Xbox fan, and you've been an Xbox fan for 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:07.159 a while, you might remember that in the old days, 0:05:07.240 --> 0:05:10.440 you would purchase Microsoft Points, which you could then redeem 0:05:10.560 --> 0:05:14.560 to buy digital copies of games and other virtual goods 0:05:14.640 --> 0:05:18.200 such as avatar options for your Xbox profile and If 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:21.000 you do remember those days, you probably also remember that 0:05:21.040 --> 0:05:24.240 the number of points you could buy per given amount 0:05:24.240 --> 0:05:27.359 of money was usually a quantity that would not align 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:30.320 precisely with the number of points you needed in order 0:05:30.360 --> 0:05:33.480 to trade in for a game. For example, you might 0:05:33.520 --> 0:05:37.680 be able to buy four hundred or eight hundred points. 0:05:37.720 --> 0:05:40.080 Like let's say if you spend ten bucks, you get 0:05:40.120 --> 0:05:43.360 four hundred points, and twenty bucks you get eight hundred points. 0:05:43.360 --> 0:05:46.760 But you might see a game that is sold for 0:05:46.839 --> 0:05:49.760 six hundred points, and you can't buy just six hundred. 0:05:49.800 --> 0:05:51.760 It's either four hundred or eight hundred. This is the 0:05:51.800 --> 0:05:55.400 classic hot dogs come and you know in ten and 0:05:55.680 --> 0:05:59.039 hot dog buns come in eight kind of situation. Maybe 0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:01.160 I have that backwards, but anyway, you got it, like 0:06:01.880 --> 0:06:03.599 in order for the things to equal out, you have 0:06:03.640 --> 0:06:06.400 to buy multiples, and folks did not like that system. 0:06:06.400 --> 0:06:07.960 And to be clear, we have seen the same source 0:06:08.000 --> 0:06:10.240 of stuff employed elsewhere. I mean, Disney did it with 0:06:10.279 --> 0:06:13.760 Disney dollars. So it may very well be that zuckbucks 0:06:13.800 --> 0:06:17.120 are kind of similar to those earlier examples. There'll be 0:06:17.160 --> 0:06:19.920 tokens that you'll be able to purchase stuff in metaverse 0:06:20.120 --> 0:06:24.080 or in platform or whatever. The Verge reports that this 0:06:24.120 --> 0:06:27.760 does not mean that Meta has abandoned blockchain altogether. The 0:06:27.760 --> 0:06:32.320 company is exploring how to interface with n f T s. Yeah, 0:06:33.360 --> 0:06:35.520 and just a quick reminder on what those are. N 0:06:35.560 --> 0:06:39.560 f T stands for non fungible token and uh. It's 0:06:39.760 --> 0:06:43.159 essentially a digital marker or certificate that indicates that you 0:06:43.240 --> 0:06:48.039 have ownership over some digital asset. An example might be 0:06:48.200 --> 0:06:51.839 an instance of a particular digital drawing. Your n f 0:06:51.880 --> 0:06:54.279 T shows that you own that particular instance of the 0:06:54.320 --> 0:06:56.800 digital drawing. I usually say it's kind of like having 0:06:56.839 --> 0:07:00.200 a receipt, but you don't have the physical thing that 0:07:00.320 --> 0:07:05.040 the receipt represents. Anyway, it's interesting to me that Facebook 0:07:05.080 --> 0:07:07.279 is moving ahead with this as n f T s 0:07:07.400 --> 0:07:10.800 I think peaked more than a year ago, and the 0:07:10.840 --> 0:07:14.520 general feeling I get, and I know anecdotal evidence is worthless, 0:07:14.560 --> 0:07:16.840 but the general feeling I get is that a lot 0:07:16.880 --> 0:07:19.480 of folks have kind of soured on n f T s, 0:07:20.440 --> 0:07:24.200 largely because there were such crazy speculation in the early days, 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:27.520 coupled with con artists who were running n f T scams, 0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:31.200 and it really soured people on the whole thing. One 0:07:31.200 --> 0:07:34.880 more quick Meta related item, mark Zuckerberg sat down for 0:07:34.920 --> 0:07:38.400 an interview on the Tim Ferris Show recently and revealed 0:07:38.440 --> 0:07:40.640 that some employees that Meta have a cute pet name 0:07:40.720 --> 0:07:44.600 for him, the Eye of Soon. Now, I don't expect 0:07:44.640 --> 0:07:47.040 all of y'all to be fully versed in the Lord 0:07:47.040 --> 0:07:49.520 of the Rings mythology. I mean, I have a Lord 0:07:49.520 --> 0:07:51.800 of the Rings tattoo on my left arm, but that's 0:07:51.920 --> 0:07:56.120 just me. Anyway, Soon in the Middle Earth mythology is 0:07:56.400 --> 0:07:59.440 the big bad who way before the Lord of the 0:07:59.520 --> 0:08:02.239 Rings story. He was defeated in battle. His physical form 0:08:02.360 --> 0:08:06.880 was destroyed, but he still existed, right, His physical form 0:08:06.920 --> 0:08:11.280 was gone, but the essence of Suron remained and would 0:08:11.320 --> 0:08:15.840 sometimes manifest as this enormous eye that can see across 0:08:16.040 --> 0:08:19.240 all of Middle Earth. And if the eye falls on you, 0:08:19.720 --> 0:08:22.320 then it means Sauron is watching you, and bad things 0:08:22.320 --> 0:08:25.560 are likely to happen to you. So my interpretation of 0:08:25.600 --> 0:08:28.720 this pet name is that employees that Meta really hope 0:08:28.760 --> 0:08:31.680 that they can do all their work without catching Zuckerberg's attention, 0:08:32.200 --> 0:08:34.880 and that if he should see what you're working on, 0:08:35.280 --> 0:08:37.200 chances are your life is about to get a whole 0:08:37.240 --> 0:08:41.120 lot more complicated. Now, granted, this is my interpretation, and 0:08:41.160 --> 0:08:44.520 perhaps I'm well off the mark pun intended, but I 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:47.240 can't imagine a world where being called I have Sauron 0:08:47.520 --> 0:08:50.600 is a good thing. The Wall Street Journal reports that 0:08:50.600 --> 0:08:53.360 Google has pulled several laps, dozens of them in fact, 0:08:53.800 --> 0:08:58.640 after researchers from UC Berkeley and University of Calgary showed 0:08:58.640 --> 0:09:02.000 that the apps contain code that would pull personal information 0:09:02.040 --> 0:09:06.280 from users, including stuff like the user's phone number, email address, 0:09:06.480 --> 0:09:10.560 and precise location it was harvesting personal data this code 0:09:10.559 --> 0:09:12.959 and the code came from a single source, according to 0:09:13.000 --> 0:09:17.400 the researchers, a company called Measurement Systems, which may have 0:09:17.520 --> 0:09:20.800 ties to a defense contractor company in Virginia, which is 0:09:20.840 --> 0:09:26.120 something that Measurement Systems vehemently denies. Now obviously, the idea 0:09:26.160 --> 0:09:30.000 that the company was purposefully introducing covert surveillance code in 0:09:30.040 --> 0:09:34.000 what appeared to be innocent apps, ranging from weather apps 0:09:34.040 --> 0:09:38.280 to QR scanner apps to even prayer apps that can 0:09:38.320 --> 0:09:42.280 get a bit big brother ish. Apparently, the company told 0:09:42.280 --> 0:09:45.800 developers that it was primarily interested in user data on 0:09:45.960 --> 0:09:50.400 people from Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. 0:09:51.080 --> 0:09:54.080 As the researchers noted, the type of info collected could 0:09:54.160 --> 0:09:56.600 end up putting people in danger. I mean, just imagine 0:09:56.640 --> 0:10:00.079 a political activist or maybe a journalist who had is 0:10:00.120 --> 0:10:03.840 one of these apps installed on their device. UH Measurement 0:10:03.920 --> 0:10:07.079 Systems or perhaps one of his clients could potentially track 0:10:07.240 --> 0:10:09.920 that person simply by looking up their phone number or 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:14.360 email address and then looking over their location history. Measurement 0:10:14.440 --> 0:10:17.480 Systems issued a statement denying the Wall Street Journal piece, 0:10:17.800 --> 0:10:21.120 claiming the company has no knowledge of this defense contractor 0:10:21.200 --> 0:10:25.040 that was cited in the in the article, and whether 0:10:25.120 --> 0:10:27.960 that's true or not, Google did take steps to pull 0:10:28.040 --> 0:10:32.040 the associated apps out of its app store. We have 0:10:32.080 --> 0:10:34.640 several more news items to go over, but before we 0:10:34.679 --> 0:10:44.720 get to that, let's take a quick break. Apple Insider 0:10:44.760 --> 0:10:47.040 reports that Apple is testing a feature with developers that 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:50.280 would allow those developers to administer price hikes on in 0:10:50.440 --> 0:10:54.920 app subscriptions without first getting users permission to do so. 0:10:55.640 --> 0:10:59.000 The standard Apple policy is that if an app developer 0:10:59.080 --> 0:11:02.360 decides to raise sub ccription prices, the information is sent 0:11:02.440 --> 0:11:05.559 out as a notification to users, who can then either 0:11:05.679 --> 0:11:09.280 agree to the new price and then keep using the app, 0:11:09.760 --> 0:11:14.000 or decline and allow their subscription to lapse. This new 0:11:14.000 --> 0:11:18.160 approach alerts users, but it doesn't have an agree feature. 0:11:18.400 --> 0:11:20.800 You're not being asked to agree to the price actor 0:11:20.840 --> 0:11:23.840 you're being told that the price is going up, and 0:11:23.880 --> 0:11:27.760 there's a large okay feature that just dismisses the alert, 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:31.040 and then there's a much smaller review your subscription or 0:11:31.120 --> 0:11:34.240 something similar if you want to go and adjust your 0:11:34.240 --> 0:11:37.520 subscription and cancel it. So in other words, this has 0:11:37.559 --> 0:11:40.920 gone from an opt in approach where the user agrees 0:11:40.960 --> 0:11:44.120 to pay the higher price, to an opt out approach 0:11:44.480 --> 0:11:48.120 where the user has to purposefully navigate through the system 0:11:48.400 --> 0:11:50.880 to cancel their subscription if they don't want to spend 0:11:50.920 --> 0:11:54.000 that much per month. Disney Plus has already made use 0:11:54.000 --> 0:11:57.000 of this feature, alerting users to increase prices without giving 0:11:57.000 --> 0:12:00.480 an obvious way to decline and cancel the subscription, and 0:12:00.600 --> 0:12:02.480 so far this feature has only been rolled out to 0:12:02.520 --> 0:12:06.240 a few developers like Disney and obviously, switching from an 0:12:06.240 --> 0:12:09.439 opt in model to an opt out model will likely 0:12:09.480 --> 0:12:12.760 mean a big boost in user retention because fewer people 0:12:12.760 --> 0:12:15.839 will actually go through the trouble to take the necessary 0:12:15.880 --> 0:12:18.720 steps to cancel if it's more than just a single 0:12:18.800 --> 0:12:24.640 button push, which gets pretty insidious in my opinion. Recently, 0:12:24.640 --> 0:12:28.319 I talked about how Microsoft browser Edge scooched ahead of 0:12:28.400 --> 0:12:32.400 Apple's Safari on the desktop browser market share, not in 0:12:32.520 --> 0:12:36.800 mobile but desktops, and I mentioned that one reason that 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:39.320 may have contributed to that was that for a while, 0:12:39.480 --> 0:12:43.320 Microsoft made it pretty darn hard to switch to a 0:12:43.440 --> 0:12:46.920 different default browser than Edge if you were on the 0:12:47.000 --> 0:12:50.800 Windows eleven machine. Microsoft then issued an update to Windows 0:12:50.800 --> 0:12:53.920 eleven that's simplified the process, but the update is an 0:12:53.920 --> 0:12:57.480 optional update. Now, the fact that it is optional and 0:12:57.520 --> 0:13:00.600 not listed as something, you know, more urgent as upset 0:13:00.640 --> 0:13:04.000 other browser companies. So the concern is that less savvy 0:13:04.160 --> 0:13:07.160 users won't have the competency to seek out and install 0:13:07.320 --> 0:13:10.920 an optional update, and that microsoft solution to the problem 0:13:11.080 --> 0:13:13.920 wasn't really to address the underlying issue, but rather to 0:13:14.000 --> 0:13:16.920 skirt criticisms that the company was behaving in an anti 0:13:16.920 --> 0:13:21.800 competitive way. Folks who know Microsoft's history in general, especially 0:13:21.800 --> 0:13:24.520 when it comes to web browsers, might get the feeling 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:29.120 that history is repeating itself. The company faced antitrust lawsuits 0:13:29.160 --> 0:13:32.640 a few decades ago on a similar issue, and it 0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:35.560 sounds like at least some folks are suggesting it may 0:13:36.000 --> 0:13:42.160 soon again face similar anti trust lawsuits, including ones in 0:13:42.200 --> 0:13:46.200 the EU. Meanwhile, IBM has been hit with a lawsuit 0:13:46.240 --> 0:13:48.920 that claims the company shifted numbers around on its revenue 0:13:48.960 --> 0:13:52.000 reports in an effort to boost the company's stock price 0:13:52.080 --> 0:13:56.839 and executive bonuses. And this, I guess you could argue 0:13:56.840 --> 0:13:59.160 this is tangential to tech, but I think it's important 0:13:59.320 --> 0:14:02.240 that we recognize when companies do this. And here's what 0:14:02.320 --> 0:14:06.240 the lawsuit says happened. IBM took revenue that came from 0:14:06.280 --> 0:14:10.839 its non strategic businesses, primarily a mainframe business, and then 0:14:10.920 --> 0:14:14.920 shifted that revenue so that instead, on paper, appeared to 0:14:14.960 --> 0:14:18.040 come from business divisions that the company had identified as 0:14:18.040 --> 0:14:23.520 being strategic are crucial. Those businesses are cloud analytics, mobile, 0:14:23.800 --> 0:14:28.280 social media, and security, which collectively are called CAMS, c A, 0:14:28.600 --> 0:14:33.280 M S S. Executive bonuses tied into CAMS revenue at 0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:36.240 least until two thousand nineteen, but it did not tie 0:14:36.320 --> 0:14:40.360 into non strategic businesses. And the whole idea was that 0:14:40.400 --> 0:14:43.560 the strategic businesses were the ones that are critical for 0:14:43.600 --> 0:14:46.640 IBMS growth and success. That, in other words, if the 0:14:46.640 --> 0:14:49.720 company is doing well in those divisions, then it is 0:14:49.800 --> 0:14:54.000 performing well according to the views of the stock market, 0:14:54.440 --> 0:14:57.440 and that the company is succeeding. But if it were 0:14:57.480 --> 0:15:01.080 just making money and other businesses that are not considered strategic, 0:15:01.200 --> 0:15:04.920 like there's no way to easily grow that or develop 0:15:04.960 --> 0:15:09.920 it into more sophisticated businesses, then that that's not really 0:15:10.000 --> 0:15:15.440 a marker of success. This is because we frequently define 0:15:15.520 --> 0:15:19.760 success as growth, not revenue. Right. Revenue is important, but 0:15:19.800 --> 0:15:23.280 it's not as important as growing the business. So that's 0:15:23.320 --> 0:15:25.800 what came down to. And the idea here is that 0:15:25.880 --> 0:15:30.080 the CAMS businesses were not performing to the level that 0:15:30.240 --> 0:15:34.000 IBM wanted, so they just quietly started shifting money around 0:15:34.360 --> 0:15:37.400 so that this non strategic stuff would be put into 0:15:37.480 --> 0:15:42.200 strategic businesses. Uh. And thus executives would end up raking 0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:46.320 in huge bonuses and the stock market price would improve, 0:15:46.480 --> 0:15:48.640 right it would. It would go up because the company 0:15:48.680 --> 0:15:51.760 looks like it's doing great. But according to this lawsuit, 0:15:51.880 --> 0:15:54.960 that was all a ruse um at least until two 0:15:54.960 --> 0:15:57.920 thousand nineteen, when the company shifted its formula to depend 0:15:58.080 --> 0:16:01.320 on total IBM revenue when it comes to executive bonuses. 0:16:02.320 --> 0:16:07.320 So part of the lawsuit also says that IBM ended 0:16:07.400 --> 0:16:11.480 up laying off thousands of account executives and shifting higher 0:16:11.560 --> 0:16:14.880 level executives around in an effort to kind of obview 0:16:14.920 --> 0:16:18.680 skate what had happened. Again, this is all according to 0:16:18.720 --> 0:16:23.720 the lawsuit. Obviously, IBM will have its own, uh response 0:16:23.760 --> 0:16:25.760 to this. We'll have to wait and see what happens, 0:16:26.280 --> 0:16:28.560 and it may take a while before the whole story 0:16:28.600 --> 0:16:30.480 comes out, and in fact, it may never come out. 0:16:30.520 --> 0:16:32.360 This might be one of those matters where the parties 0:16:32.360 --> 0:16:34.120 settle out of court and they do it on the 0:16:34.160 --> 0:16:36.240 hush hush, and we never really learn more about it. 0:16:36.760 --> 0:16:40.600 But yeah, it sounds pretty questionable to me. Twitter has 0:16:40.680 --> 0:16:43.400 changed up how it treats embedded tweets, which has caused 0:16:43.400 --> 0:16:45.840 a big stir in the online community. Let's break this 0:16:45.880 --> 0:16:48.320 down really quickly. So you probably are aware that you 0:16:48.360 --> 0:16:51.760 can embed a specific tweet into a web page and 0:16:51.800 --> 0:16:53.720 news Outlet's do this all the time, right. They'll do 0:16:53.760 --> 0:16:56.840 a story about something and then you'll scroll down through 0:16:56.880 --> 0:16:59.240 the story and you'll see a bunch of embedded tweets 0:16:59.280 --> 0:17:01.520 that relate to the story. I had this happened to 0:17:01.520 --> 0:17:03.760 me with a goofy tweet I made once. I can't 0:17:03.880 --> 0:17:06.720 remember what it was. I just remember, out of nowhere, 0:17:06.800 --> 0:17:12.040 my notifications exploded because some some publication somewhere pulled one 0:17:12.040 --> 0:17:13.960 of my tweets on context and put it up on 0:17:14.000 --> 0:17:17.600 an article. Anyway, you probably also know it's possible to 0:17:17.680 --> 0:17:21.840 delete a tweet, but until recently, embedded tweets were not 0:17:21.920 --> 0:17:25.520 affected if the original tweet was deleted. So if I 0:17:25.640 --> 0:17:29.520 posted something and someone embedded my tweet in their article, 0:17:29.720 --> 0:17:32.119 and then I went on and deleted my tweet, the 0:17:32.160 --> 0:17:34.920 embedded tweet would still be there. That's no longer the case. 0:17:34.920 --> 0:17:38.800 Twitter has now changed it so that a JavaScript will 0:17:39.000 --> 0:17:42.640 cover up the contents of a Twitter message that has 0:17:42.680 --> 0:17:46.840 been deleted and and hide it. So now there's a 0:17:46.880 --> 0:17:50.880 concern that the historical record can't be preserved because if 0:17:50.880 --> 0:17:53.920 someone just goes in and starts deleting their their Twitter messages, 0:17:54.480 --> 0:17:57.600 then it's going to disappear everywhere, not just on Twitter, 0:17:57.800 --> 0:18:02.000 but anywhere where the tweet was embedded did so. It 0:18:02.040 --> 0:18:04.040 will probably take a little bit to see how this 0:18:04.119 --> 0:18:09.000 shakes out, but the early response has been uh very critical, 0:18:09.160 --> 0:18:14.119 let's say. And finally, a hacker managed to compromise the 0:18:14.240 --> 0:18:18.399 Vivo based YouTube accounts of several notable celebrities in music. 0:18:19.280 --> 0:18:22.800 They included Justin Bieber, a little non sex The Weekend 0:18:22.880 --> 0:18:26.920 and Harry Styles, among many others. The hacker then uploaded 0:18:27.000 --> 0:18:30.120 videos arguing for the release of Paco Pans, a guy 0:18:30.160 --> 0:18:33.080 who received a two year jail sentence because he scammed 0:18:33.080 --> 0:18:35.639 people out of money after he lied that he had 0:18:35.760 --> 0:18:40.879 terminal cancer. Vivo acknowledged that quote some videos were directly 0:18:40.960 --> 0:18:43.639 uploaded to a small number of Vivo artists channels earlier 0:18:43.640 --> 0:18:47.680 today by an unauthorized source. End quote now. The company 0:18:47.680 --> 0:18:50.199 also stated it was reviewing its security practices to make 0:18:50.240 --> 0:18:53.119 certain something like this does not happen again. And in 0:18:53.200 --> 0:18:55.600 case you weren't aware, Vivo serves as a type of 0:18:55.640 --> 0:18:59.879 go between that sits between musical artists or their label 0:19:00.400 --> 0:19:04.280 and YouTube, and Vivo handles official music video uploads and 0:19:04.280 --> 0:19:07.520 then those uploads can appear on an artist's own YouTube 0:19:07.600 --> 0:19:11.200 channel as if they themselves had uploaded it directly to YouTube. 0:19:11.760 --> 0:19:14.320 So it does look like these instances indicate that the 0:19:14.359 --> 0:19:18.320 security breach was on Vivo side, not YouTube's. That's it 0:19:18.480 --> 0:19:21.600 for the Tech News for Thursday, April seven, two thousand 0:19:21.680 --> 0:19:24.359 twenty two. As always, if you have suggestions for topics 0:19:24.359 --> 0:19:26.399 I should cover on tech stuff, reach out to me 0:19:26.480 --> 0:19:28.679 on Twitter. The handle for the show is text Stuff 0:19:28.960 --> 0:19:32.720 hs W and I'll talk to you again releas soon. 0:19:37.680 --> 0:19:40.680 Tex Stuff is an I Heart Radio production. For more 0:19:40.760 --> 0:19:44.160 podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, 0:19:44.280 --> 0:19:47.439 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.