WEBVTT - Tech News: All News and No Fooling 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from my Heart Radio. 0:00:12.160 --> 0:00:15.080 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:15.320 --> 0:00:18.880 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 0:00:19.040 --> 0:00:22.040 and I love all things tech. And this is the 0:00:22.079 --> 0:00:30.440 tech news for April first one. So it's April Fool's Day, 0:00:30.800 --> 0:00:33.839 which is something of a mixed bag if you're in 0:00:33.880 --> 0:00:37.280 the tech world. A lot of my fellow podcasters who 0:00:37.400 --> 0:00:41.400 cover the tech space have really grown weary of this day, 0:00:41.479 --> 0:00:44.239 some of them more than others. Some of them have 0:00:44.320 --> 0:00:49.320 turned into the Ebenezer Scrooge version of misers who hate 0:00:49.400 --> 0:00:52.839 April Fool's Day. But that's because traditionally it can be 0:00:52.960 --> 0:00:57.520 really challenging to determine what is an April Fool's goof 0:00:57.920 --> 0:01:00.680 and what is for real z s now. I blame 0:01:00.720 --> 0:01:05.039 this on two big things. One, the world seems to 0:01:05.080 --> 0:01:09.759 have grown more outrageously unbelievable over the last few years, 0:01:10.120 --> 0:01:14.399 which makes goofs seem more plausible, because, I mean, have 0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:16.720 you looked at the news. If you look at the 0:01:16.760 --> 0:01:19.600 news and then you hear a story about a giant robot, 0:01:19.920 --> 0:01:23.680 you know, crashing through St. Louis, you might think, yeah, 0:01:23.760 --> 0:01:29.040 that tracks I mean that's one for you. But secondly, 0:01:29.600 --> 0:01:32.840 a lot of would be jokesters turns out they're just 0:01:32.959 --> 0:01:37.520 not very good at writing jokes. Particularly they're not very 0:01:37.560 --> 0:01:41.080 good at writing satire, so it can be hard to 0:01:41.120 --> 0:01:45.399 tell that they were going for a joke. And anyway, 0:01:45.760 --> 0:01:49.000 you know, was sort of a pass for April Fools 0:01:49.080 --> 0:01:52.640 because the pandemic was such a huge crisis. It forced 0:01:52.760 --> 0:01:55.560 the tech world in general to kind of read the 0:01:55.680 --> 0:01:59.280 room and say, maybe now is not the best time 0:01:59.320 --> 0:02:03.040 for us to try and grab headlines through a pr 0:02:03.120 --> 0:02:07.640 stunt with a goofy April Fool's joke. As I record this, 0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:12.320 it's actually March thirty one. Yes, the Dave ron Swanson 0:02:12.320 --> 0:02:15.120 gets all his meetings, So I don't actually know how 0:02:15.200 --> 0:02:19.040 much Tom Foolery and Shenanigan's we should expect or what 0:02:19.240 --> 0:02:21.359 you have already seen by the time you hear this. 0:02:21.919 --> 0:02:24.919 But just as a gentle reminder, it's always a good 0:02:24.919 --> 0:02:29.239 idea to employ critical thinking, whether it's April Fool's Day 0:02:29.360 --> 0:02:34.040 or not. Also, just in case over the next few weeks, 0:02:34.200 --> 0:02:38.239 when folks share stories, whether tech or otherwise, maybe they're 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:41.359 sharing it on Twitter or Facebook and those stories sound 0:02:41.440 --> 0:02:45.639 really ridiculous, take a quick look at what the publication 0:02:45.800 --> 0:02:49.320 date is for that article, assuming that it's posted to it, 0:02:49.680 --> 0:02:53.560 just to make sure they aren't in fact attempts at 0:02:53.600 --> 0:02:59.239 April fool's jokes. I've seen that happen numerous times. For example, 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:04.919 Xwagen did not, in fact really rebrand itself as volts 0:03:04.960 --> 0:03:09.640 Wagon in honor of its electric vehicle initiative. That was 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:13.240 an April fool's joke. It leaked early, the company doubled 0:03:13.240 --> 0:03:15.760 down on it, and then later on said, yeah, this 0:03:15.840 --> 0:03:18.639 was an April fool's joke, but we kind of got caught, 0:03:18.960 --> 0:03:24.080 so we it's really went whole hog. That's not a 0:03:24.080 --> 0:03:26.720 good look either. That's kind of like people see that 0:03:26.760 --> 0:03:30.160 and they do the captain piccard face palm meme. All right, 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:33.520 let's move on to some real news. But this is 0:03:33.560 --> 0:03:37.040 real news that still has fake stuff in it. Earlier 0:03:37.080 --> 0:03:40.880 this week, a bunch of Twitter accounts purported to belong 0:03:41.000 --> 0:03:47.119 to Amazon employees began to post pro company anti union tweets. 0:03:47.640 --> 0:03:51.720 This coincides with a vote that Amazon warehouse workers in 0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:56.440 Alabama are holding about whether or not to unionize. The 0:03:56.480 --> 0:04:00.880 tweets attempted to position unions as being cost lee and 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:06.920 unnecessary and bloated and ineffective. But the effort to do 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:11.920 this was terribly transparent and not effective at all. Critics 0:04:12.080 --> 0:04:15.440 noticed right away that many of these accounts had been 0:04:15.480 --> 0:04:19.240 created really recently and had few, if any tweets that 0:04:19.400 --> 0:04:25.480 predated the anti union messaging. That doesn't make it seem genuine. Moreover, 0:04:25.839 --> 0:04:29.760 after some Twitter accounts got called out, someone went in 0:04:29.839 --> 0:04:33.359 and changed details of some of those accounts. Karen Weiss 0:04:33.360 --> 0:04:36.440 pointed out that an account that had allegedly belonged to 0:04:36.520 --> 0:04:40.800 an Amazon worker named Leo now magically belonged to a 0:04:40.920 --> 0:04:46.440 different alleged Amazon worker named Sierra, and so on. Generally speaking, 0:04:46.839 --> 0:04:50.200 the effort was held up to ridicule in the online world, 0:04:50.279 --> 0:04:52.280 with a lot of people suggesting that this was an 0:04:52.320 --> 0:04:56.839 attempt to astro turf. So astro turfing refers to a 0:04:56.880 --> 0:05:00.880 strategy in which uh an entity you usually like a 0:05:00.960 --> 0:05:05.160 big company or a brand, sets up accounts to make 0:05:05.200 --> 0:05:08.480 it seem like there is some sort of grassroots support 0:05:09.200 --> 0:05:12.760 that is in favor of that brand or company. It's 0:05:12.800 --> 0:05:16.400 like creating little bought accounts to act like they're your 0:05:16.560 --> 0:05:20.480 fans in order to try and drum up wider support 0:05:20.600 --> 0:05:23.600 among you know, real people, So in other words, it's 0:05:23.680 --> 0:05:27.120 kind of like creating a sock puppet account. The strategy 0:05:27.320 --> 0:05:31.160 doesn't typically work very well because people are smart. They 0:05:31.160 --> 0:05:33.840 can usually sniff this kind of stuff out. And I 0:05:33.839 --> 0:05:36.839 should add that Twitter has begun banning these accounts, and 0:05:36.880 --> 0:05:39.760 that at least as of this recording, there is no 0:05:39.920 --> 0:05:43.679 firm evidence pointing at who was actually creating these accounts 0:05:43.720 --> 0:05:46.240 in the first place. It could be that they came 0:05:46.279 --> 0:05:49.600 from Amazon. It could be that they came from some 0:05:49.680 --> 0:05:54.039 other tech company that's concerned about unionization. They're worried that 0:05:54.440 --> 0:05:57.400 this might lead to broader movements in the tech sector. 0:05:57.480 --> 0:05:59.960 There are a lot of companies that are very closely 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:03.280 watching what happens with Amazon because they're thinking, what if 0:06:03.279 --> 0:06:06.920 we're next. By the way, I'm more on the side 0:06:07.000 --> 0:06:10.839 of the people who work for those companies, not the 0:06:10.880 --> 0:06:13.960 executives running those companies. But it could also just be 0:06:14.080 --> 0:06:16.960 mischief makers. I don't know the answer to who is 0:06:17.000 --> 0:06:19.719 behind all of this as I record this episode, except 0:06:19.720 --> 0:06:23.120 for one specific case. One of the fake accounts was 0:06:23.200 --> 0:06:28.640 one called Amazon FC Darla. F C stands for Fulfillment Center, 0:06:28.760 --> 0:06:33.600 essentially the warehouses that Amazon uses a Chicago based comedian 0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:38.080 named Robbie Appleton has confessed that he made that particular 0:06:38.120 --> 0:06:41.400 account and that he was using the account to post 0:06:41.480 --> 0:06:44.280 anti union messages as kind of a form of satire 0:06:44.320 --> 0:06:48.240 and general prankishness. There's no telling if all the other 0:06:48.279 --> 0:06:51.360 accounts sprouted up from similar reasons or were part of 0:06:51.400 --> 0:06:56.040 some coordinated effort. Moving on, a study out of Trinity 0:06:56.120 --> 0:06:59.800 College says that Android and iOS devices both send a 0:07:00.000 --> 0:07:03.799 out of data back to Google and Apple respectively, even 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:07.120 when those devices are in idle mode, which is not 0:07:07.360 --> 0:07:10.679 a big surprise, But the study also claims that Android 0:07:10.760 --> 0:07:15.680 sends about twenty times more data to Google than iOS 0:07:15.880 --> 0:07:18.760 sends to Apple. Now does this mean that Google is 0:07:18.800 --> 0:07:23.400 tracking its users more than Apple is, Well, not necessarily, 0:07:23.600 --> 0:07:26.240 but the study does point out that the technology we 0:07:26.280 --> 0:07:30.640 have today frequently is phoning home while that technology is on. 0:07:30.800 --> 0:07:34.640 That's just how stuff works now, particularly for tech with 0:07:34.720 --> 0:07:38.880 evolving operating systems or firmware, a device phoning back to 0:07:38.960 --> 0:07:41.640 home base is a way to indicate whether or not 0:07:41.840 --> 0:07:44.640 that device is actually up to date with the latest 0:07:44.680 --> 0:07:49.600 OS patches. That can be critical for device and information security. 0:07:49.680 --> 0:07:51.760 You know, we know that if you don't update to 0:07:51.840 --> 0:07:57.080 your systems. You're leaving yourself potentially vulnerable to intrusion attacks. 0:07:57.400 --> 0:08:01.080 It's also crucial just for general devices operations. If you 0:08:01.160 --> 0:08:05.240 don't keep updating your operating system, pretty soon you won't 0:08:05.240 --> 0:08:07.240 be able to run the latest apps on it because 0:08:07.240 --> 0:08:10.520 they won't be compatible with the OS. This does, however, 0:08:10.600 --> 0:08:14.200 create concerns for user privacy, and it also raises questions 0:08:14.240 --> 0:08:17.720 as to how the companies are actually leveraging the data 0:08:17.800 --> 0:08:21.040 that's being collected and sent back. I should also point 0:08:21.040 --> 0:08:25.080 out that both Google and Apple dispute the study, and 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:28.440 they say that the methodology that was used was inherently flawed. 0:08:28.880 --> 0:08:32.320 Google claims the report was off quote by an order 0:08:32.520 --> 0:08:36.920 of magnitude end quote, which is pretty darn significant if 0:08:36.960 --> 0:08:40.440 that is in fact true. And the researcher who conducted 0:08:40.440 --> 0:08:44.600 the study also wasn't really comparing apples to Okay, that 0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:47.600 phrase is a little more complicated when I'm talking about Apple, 0:08:47.720 --> 0:08:51.559 the company. He wasn't comparing oranges to oranges. He used 0:08:51.600 --> 0:08:55.600 a jailbroken iPhone that was running an older version of iOS, 0:08:56.040 --> 0:08:59.199 one that actually isn't really used by people so much 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:02.600 these days. But he used a more recent Android phone 0:09:02.960 --> 0:09:05.920 running a version of Android that came out last year. 0:09:06.000 --> 0:09:07.920 So in other words, if you were to do the 0:09:07.960 --> 0:09:12.439 exact same study right now, using up to date iPhone 0:09:12.480 --> 0:09:16.760 OS and Android running it's most recent Android OS, you 0:09:16.840 --> 0:09:20.560 might see a different result. One thing that would not change, however, 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:23.680 is that both phones would be regularly checking in back 0:09:23.760 --> 0:09:26.800 with home base. That would still happen. That approach looks 0:09:26.840 --> 0:09:30.400 like it's just here to stay. The question is what 0:09:30.480 --> 0:09:33.079 data is being sent, how much of it can be 0:09:33.200 --> 0:09:37.000 linked back to the specific user, and what privacy protections 0:09:37.040 --> 0:09:40.360 are in place, and do users even have a say 0:09:40.400 --> 0:09:42.960 about whether or not that data should be collected in 0:09:43.000 --> 0:09:48.440 the first place. Next yesterday, That is March thirty one 0:09:48.480 --> 0:09:51.280 for you guys. It's technically today for me, but you 0:09:51.320 --> 0:09:55.640 know I'm playing along anyway. Microsoft officially pulled the plug 0:09:55.720 --> 0:09:59.880 on the standalone Cortana Virtual assistant app for the Android 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:03.680 and iOS platforms. This was not a surprise. Microsoft had 0:10:03.679 --> 0:10:06.040 announced it was going to do this way back in 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:09.080 the summer of last year, which I think was fourteen 0:10:09.160 --> 0:10:12.480 years ago, and honestly, the company has been winding down 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:16.160 Cortana for a while now. I think the main problem 0:10:16.240 --> 0:10:19.520 Microsoft had was that it was trying to piggyback a 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:23.560 virtual assistant on top of platforms that already have native 0:10:23.679 --> 0:10:28.199 versions of that kind of technology. Google has Google Assistant, 0:10:28.440 --> 0:10:32.080 and of course Apple has the famous serie. It's hard 0:10:32.160 --> 0:10:35.360 to get smartphone users to install a new thing that 0:10:35.440 --> 0:10:38.960 does something their phones already do right out of the box. 0:10:39.600 --> 0:10:42.720 Microsoft gave up on its own Windows phone platform a 0:10:42.720 --> 0:10:46.360 few years ago, with support for Windows ten mobile office 0:10:46.400 --> 0:10:49.880 apps fading away earlier this year. But this doesn't mean 0:10:49.960 --> 0:10:54.679 Cortana is going away completely. Instead, Microsoft has been incorporating 0:10:54.720 --> 0:11:01.400 Cortana functionality into office products, so Outlook, we're Excel, etcetera. 0:11:01.800 --> 0:11:04.880 So those Outlook users out there have probably already encountered this. 0:11:04.960 --> 0:11:07.160 I know I have pretty much every day I see 0:11:07.400 --> 0:11:10.680 I got an email from Cortana giving me a summary 0:11:10.720 --> 0:11:14.199 of what my schedule is for that day. This reminds 0:11:14.240 --> 0:11:16.880 me of how Google will frequently introduce a new product 0:11:17.120 --> 0:11:19.920 that will receive, you know, like half hearted support from 0:11:19.920 --> 0:11:22.680 the company, and then it will get phased out. But 0:11:22.960 --> 0:11:27.080 some elements of whatever that was will eventually find their 0:11:27.120 --> 0:11:30.319 way into other Google services that have a bit more 0:11:30.360 --> 0:11:33.120 staying power. I'm expecting that that's what we're seeing now. 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:37.720 With Cortana and Microsoft speaking of pulling the plug over 0:11:37.760 --> 0:11:40.440 in Arizona the States, and it pulled a piece of 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:43.680 proposed legislation that would have changed the rules for companies 0:11:43.720 --> 0:11:46.040 like Google and Apple when it comes to the way 0:11:46.080 --> 0:11:49.560 they get revenue from their respective app stores. Now you 0:11:49.640 --> 0:11:53.640 might remember the fight between Apple and Epic Games that 0:11:53.720 --> 0:11:57.920 revolves around this very issue. Basically, Apple and Google take 0:11:57.960 --> 0:12:01.320 a thirty percent cut of revenue from from in app 0:12:01.600 --> 0:12:05.200 transactions on their respective platforms for certain types of apps. 0:12:05.200 --> 0:12:08.240 It is you can't do it for apps where you're 0:12:08.320 --> 0:12:11.240 buying physical stuff, so it doesn't apply to things like 0:12:11.720 --> 0:12:16.640 ride haling or food delivery or Amazon shopping. In those cases, 0:12:16.679 --> 0:12:19.520 Apple and Google don't take a thirty percent cut. But 0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:22.960 if your app include stuff where you can unlock more 0:12:23.080 --> 0:12:26.880 features by paying a little extra, that's where this comes 0:12:26.880 --> 0:12:29.160 into play. So a lot of companies would like to 0:12:29.160 --> 0:12:32.200 see that go away, or for there to be acceptable 0:12:32.240 --> 0:12:36.920 alternatives than through the official Android and iOS channels. The 0:12:36.960 --> 0:12:41.200 bill in Arizona aim to allow for alternative app marketplaces 0:12:41.240 --> 0:12:45.400 and transaction strategies, which would mean that companies that make 0:12:45.520 --> 0:12:48.240 the apps would be able to keep more or even 0:12:48.280 --> 0:12:52.160 all of the revenue using these alternatives instead of forking 0:12:53.280 --> 0:12:57.400 of whatever they make to Apple and Google. Up until 0:12:57.440 --> 0:12:59.560 this week, it looked like that bill had a really 0:12:59.600 --> 0:13:03.240 good out of getting passed in the Arizona Senate, but 0:13:03.320 --> 0:13:07.880 then the state Senate withdrew the bill. Apparently intense lobbying 0:13:08.200 --> 0:13:11.480 paid for by big tech companies like Google and Apple 0:13:11.920 --> 0:13:15.640 helped change some minds within the state government, and it 0:13:15.640 --> 0:13:17.640 looked like the bill no longer was going to have 0:13:17.760 --> 0:13:20.920 the support it needed in order to pass. So instead 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:23.720 of bringing the bill up just to get killed on 0:13:23.800 --> 0:13:27.160 the Senate floor, the decision was made to table it 0:13:27.280 --> 0:13:30.000 for at least the near future. It's not likely to 0:13:30.000 --> 0:13:33.160 come up again for consideration this year, but it's not 0:13:33.280 --> 0:13:37.880 all dead. I guess it's only mostly dead. A few 0:13:37.880 --> 0:13:40.920 other states have also been considering similar bills, but so 0:13:41.000 --> 0:13:45.559 far none of those have passed. According to Microsoft News, 0:13:45.840 --> 0:13:49.600 SpaceX is giving the Crew Dragon Capsule a new feature. 0:13:49.840 --> 0:13:53.160 As the name indicates, the Crew Dragon Capsule is space 0:13:53.360 --> 0:13:56.320 X is spacecraft designed to bring humans up into space. 0:13:57.040 --> 0:14:00.200 The new feature is a dome like window which will 0:14:00.240 --> 0:14:03.880 normally be covered by the spacecraft's nose cap, but the 0:14:03.920 --> 0:14:07.120 nose cap will then flip up to allow access to 0:14:07.160 --> 0:14:09.360 the dome, so you can see through it and people 0:14:09.400 --> 0:14:11.920 can get a really amazing view of outer space and 0:14:12.000 --> 0:14:15.040 Earth and stuff. This version of the Crew Dragon will 0:14:15.080 --> 0:14:18.640 not have the docking mechanism that allows the spacecraft to 0:14:18.760 --> 0:14:21.520 connect to the International Space Station. It has already done that, 0:14:21.560 --> 0:14:24.480 it's already taken people up to the I S S. 0:14:25.200 --> 0:14:28.880 But this version won't have that docking mechanism. Instead, this 0:14:29.000 --> 0:14:32.360 specific type of Crew Dragon will just be for space tourists, 0:14:32.920 --> 0:14:36.280 or I should restate that as this Crew Dragon capsule 0:14:36.520 --> 0:14:39.960 will be for incredibly rich people who have a questionable 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:43.520 sense of self preservation. Maybe they just need to cast 0:14:43.560 --> 0:14:47.280 themselves into space, which, as I have said previously, is 0:14:47.320 --> 0:14:50.840 always trying to kill you, just so that they can 0:14:51.040 --> 0:14:55.120 feel something. Again. Now I'm being cheeky, but I do 0:14:55.200 --> 0:14:56.960 have to say that being able to look out into 0:14:57.000 --> 0:14:59.320 space and back at planet or through a large dome 0:14:59.320 --> 0:15:04.800 window sounds really really awesome and also really outside of 0:15:04.840 --> 0:15:07.680 my price range. But it's right in that sweet spot 0:15:07.720 --> 0:15:11.600 for billionaire Jared Isaacman, who is scheduled to take that 0:15:11.720 --> 0:15:14.800 kind of a trip in the Crew Dragon capsule on 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:20.400 September along with three other non astronaut types whom Isaacman 0:15:20.600 --> 0:15:23.920 is sponsoring. He's essentially paying for their trip up. The 0:15:24.000 --> 0:15:27.440 other three crew members include a professor, an employee of 0:15:27.520 --> 0:15:32.320 Lockheed Martin, and a research hospital employee. Their stories are fantastic. 0:15:32.840 --> 0:15:36.720 The mission is called Inspiration four. There's no space between 0:15:36.760 --> 0:15:40.480 Inspiration and the number four. The capsule they will take 0:15:40.640 --> 0:15:42.440 is one that has docked with the space station in 0:15:42.480 --> 0:15:45.040 the past, so that capsule actually has to be refitted 0:15:45.400 --> 0:15:48.440 to replace that docking array with the glass dome and 0:15:48.520 --> 0:15:52.400 special nose cap next. In the world of battle Royal 0:15:52.480 --> 0:15:57.160 style video games, Player Unknowns Battlegrounds or pub G, occupies 0:15:57.200 --> 0:16:00.200 a special place. It was not the first game to 0:16:00.280 --> 0:16:03.360 introduce mechanics in which a large group of players compete 0:16:03.360 --> 0:16:06.600 against one another in a last player Standing style match, 0:16:07.160 --> 0:16:11.280 but it was the first truly monumental success story inside 0:16:11.280 --> 0:16:15.000 that genre. Then Fortnite followed suit, and the story got 0:16:15.080 --> 0:16:19.400 much more complicated anyway, There are many flavors of pub G, 0:16:19.760 --> 0:16:22.720 with one of them being called pub G Light, as 0:16:22.760 --> 0:16:26.200 the name indicates, developers optimized this version of pub G 0:16:26.440 --> 0:16:29.840 to run on less powerful devices that can't crank out 0:16:29.880 --> 0:16:33.160 the frames and graphics of the flagship version of pub G, 0:16:33.840 --> 0:16:37.080 but now this light version is coming to an end. 0:16:37.800 --> 0:16:41.480 Pub G Studio announced that it is ending support services 0:16:41.600 --> 0:16:45.120 on April twenty nine of this year, with all players 0:16:45.160 --> 0:16:48.720 support for pub G Light ending a month later. The 0:16:48.720 --> 0:16:52.040 company did not give a reason for this decision, though 0:16:52.080 --> 0:16:54.840 it did post a statement that said this decision to 0:16:54.920 --> 0:16:58.040 pull the plug came after much deliberation and that the 0:16:58.040 --> 0:17:00.880 company appreciates all those players who had played the light 0:17:01.040 --> 0:17:03.560 version of the game. Other versions of pub G will 0:17:03.560 --> 0:17:06.520 still continue as is, and I guess all those Light 0:17:06.600 --> 0:17:10.280 players will migrate over to Fortnite and sticking with games. 0:17:10.560 --> 0:17:14.680 Chinese police, working with the mega company Tencent, which owns 0:17:14.720 --> 0:17:18.800 a stake in several game companies, have busted up a 0:17:18.840 --> 0:17:22.159 group of people who are creating and selling cheats for 0:17:22.280 --> 0:17:26.000 various games like Overwatch. The group had set up an 0:17:26.040 --> 0:17:29.639 operation that they called Chicken Drumstick. They offered up a 0:17:29.720 --> 0:17:34.400 subscription based service which, according to the BBC, included plans 0:17:34.440 --> 0:17:38.800 that were for ten dollars a day ten bucks a 0:17:38.920 --> 0:17:43.159 day to cheat at a video game. I mean that's bonkers. 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:46.640 I mean, assuming you stick with subscriptions for more than 0:17:46.680 --> 0:17:49.119 two months, that means you would have paid more for 0:17:49.320 --> 0:17:53.679 cheats than you paid for the game itself. The police 0:17:53.720 --> 0:17:57.760 seized assets that were worth around forty six million dollars, 0:17:57.960 --> 0:18:01.840 including some fancy schmancy cars. Apparently, and again, according to 0:18:01.840 --> 0:18:04.520 the BBC, the group had raked in more than seventy 0:18:04.560 --> 0:18:08.920 six million dollars using this approach. Now, e games are 0:18:09.000 --> 0:18:12.480 a really big business, and on the professional e game circuit, 0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:15.800 you can make some serious dough if you can reach 0:18:15.880 --> 0:18:19.879 the top ranks. I'm guessing cheats like aim bots and 0:18:19.960 --> 0:18:23.720 codes that reveal where other players are coming pretty handy 0:18:23.760 --> 0:18:26.520 once you start going up against the elite performers that 0:18:26.560 --> 0:18:30.840 are out there. Apparently. In twenty nineteen, a survey found 0:18:30.840 --> 0:18:34.680 that one third of all gamers admitted to having used 0:18:34.720 --> 0:18:37.679 a cheat in an online game at some point. To 0:18:37.760 --> 0:18:41.280 those thirty three percent, I just want to say, you dirty, 0:18:41.680 --> 0:18:47.440 dirty cheaters. Look, I admit I am not a very 0:18:47.520 --> 0:18:51.639 skilled gamer, but I have earned every single win I 0:18:51.720 --> 0:18:56.680 have ever received, and now I also suspect I haven't 0:18:56.760 --> 0:19:00.119 earned some of the losses handed to me. Actually, le 0:19:00.359 --> 0:19:02.360 I know that for a fact because I have been 0:19:02.520 --> 0:19:05.200 on the receiving end of an aim bought in pub 0:19:05.240 --> 0:19:07.960 g in the past. Which I figured out thanks to 0:19:08.000 --> 0:19:12.840 the deathcam feature in that game. Just don't cheat, y'all. Listen, 0:19:13.680 --> 0:19:18.000 it's just lame. My last story illustrates why it's important 0:19:18.160 --> 0:19:21.600 to lock your computer when you walk away from it. 0:19:22.119 --> 0:19:26.560 The Twitter account for US Strategic Command, that is, the 0:19:26.680 --> 0:19:31.439 US agency that is responsible for global strike operations, in 0:19:31.480 --> 0:19:37.920 other words, nuclear Deterrence a k a. America's nuclear arsenal 0:19:38.359 --> 0:19:42.639 sent out a very odd message earlier this week. It 0:19:42.760 --> 0:19:48.720 read and I quote semi colon l semi colon semi 0:19:48.840 --> 0:19:54.560 colon g M l x z S s a W. 0:19:55.840 --> 0:19:59.239 So was that some sort of coded message indicating an 0:19:59.240 --> 0:20:04.280 impending new clear launch or an incoming attack. Nope. About 0:20:04.320 --> 0:20:07.560 a half hour after that first message, that same Twitter 0:20:07.600 --> 0:20:11.679 account sent out a second message reading, quote, apologies for 0:20:11.720 --> 0:20:17.960 any confusion, Please disregard this post end quote. Presumably the 0:20:18.080 --> 0:20:22.360 this post meant the gibberish as opposed to the apology 0:20:22.480 --> 0:20:25.639 for the gibberish. But that kind of dismissal doesn't really 0:20:25.680 --> 0:20:30.240 fly when you're talking about agency that's connected to nuclear armaments. 0:20:30.280 --> 0:20:34.480 And so journalist Mikhail Thaln filed a Freedom of Information 0:20:34.520 --> 0:20:37.359 Act request to get to the bottom of it, and 0:20:37.400 --> 0:20:41.120 it turns out the person who manages the Twitter account 0:20:41.400 --> 0:20:45.600 for US Strategic Command had stepped away from their computer 0:20:46.040 --> 0:20:50.439 and a quote unquote small child had apparently tapped merrily 0:20:50.520 --> 0:20:56.120 away on the keyboard, inadvertently publishing the mysterious tweet whoops 0:20:56.119 --> 0:20:59.560 the daisy, Thank Heaven. We are just talking about a 0:20:59.640 --> 0:21:03.840 social media manager here, and not something directly connected to 0:21:04.080 --> 0:21:07.880 I don't know launch systems, but yes, this illustrates why 0:21:07.920 --> 0:21:11.119 it's very good to lock down your machine, even if 0:21:11.119 --> 0:21:13.640 you're only stepping away for a short while. You never 0:21:13.680 --> 0:21:18.040 know when a kid or a cat or whatever is 0:21:18.080 --> 0:21:21.680 going to post something and they're posing as you, and 0:21:21.720 --> 0:21:25.560 you know they are just waiting for that opportunity. I 0:21:25.680 --> 0:21:29.240 see them plotting. I know what you're up to, cat 0:21:30.760 --> 0:21:36.800 back off? All right. That is the news for April one, 0:21:37.200 --> 0:21:41.399 twenty twenty one. If you have suggestions for topics you 0:21:41.400 --> 0:21:44.359 would like for me to cover on tech Stuff, Maybe 0:21:44.600 --> 0:21:48.159 you've got a specific company or technology or person in mind. 0:21:48.359 --> 0:21:50.520 Maybe there's a trend in tech that you really want 0:21:50.560 --> 0:21:52.720 to know more about. Reach out to me and let 0:21:52.760 --> 0:21:54.880 me know the best way to do that is over 0:21:54.920 --> 0:21:58.280 on Twitter. The handle we use as tech stuff H 0:21:58.560 --> 0:22:02.520 s W and I'll talk to you again really soon. 0:22:03.960 --> 0:22:11.040 Y Text Stuff is an I heart Radio production. For 0:22:11.119 --> 0:22:14.120 more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i heart 0:22:14.160 --> 0:22:17.360 Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 0:22:17.400 --> 0:22:18.080 favorite shows.