1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:14,960 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:18,480 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 4 00:00:18,680 --> 00:00:21,840 Speaker 1: and I love all things tech. And this is the 5 00:00:22,040 --> 00:00:28,840 Speaker 1: tech news episode for Thursday, January twenty twenty one. And 6 00:00:28,920 --> 00:00:33,160 Speaker 1: you know, guys, I often start the news episodes with 7 00:00:33,479 --> 00:00:38,199 Speaker 1: some heavy stuff, and today is no exception, except that 8 00:00:38,240 --> 00:00:41,800 Speaker 1: this is more of a good news heavy story than 9 00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:45,320 Speaker 1: a bad news one. So that's a nice change. Reuters 10 00:00:45,400 --> 00:00:50,559 Speaker 1: reported on Wednesday, January, so yesterday, if you're listening to 11 00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:54,520 Speaker 1: this episode, the day it comes out that police agencies 12 00:00:54,560 --> 00:00:59,400 Speaker 1: in the United States, Canada, and six European countries completed 13 00:00:59,480 --> 00:01:03,480 Speaker 1: an inter national operation to bring down a malware bought 14 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:09,280 Speaker 1: net network called Emo TET. Germany's federal police agency had 15 00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:13,840 Speaker 1: named Emo TET as quote the most dangerous malware globally 16 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:17,240 Speaker 1: end quote, which is saying something considering some of the 17 00:01:17,280 --> 00:01:20,440 Speaker 1: contenders that are out there. Emma TET is a type 18 00:01:20,440 --> 00:01:24,240 Speaker 1: of malware called a trojan, which, like the trojan horse 19 00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:28,880 Speaker 1: of legend, serves as a delivery mechanism for some other 20 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:33,679 Speaker 1: type of code, typically malicious code. So Emo TET is 21 00:01:33,720 --> 00:01:37,080 Speaker 1: the nasty piece of software that creates the opportunity for 22 00:01:37,720 --> 00:01:42,720 Speaker 1: other potentially nastier pieces of software to infiltrate a system. 23 00:01:42,760 --> 00:01:46,080 Speaker 1: So it could help deliver code that encrypts everything on 24 00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:50,000 Speaker 1: a computer, which would lead you towards ransomware. Or it 25 00:01:50,040 --> 00:01:53,560 Speaker 1: could be used to allow hackers to install monitoring software 26 00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:56,000 Speaker 1: to keep an eye on everything going on in a system, 27 00:01:56,200 --> 00:02:01,240 Speaker 1: or even giving administrative level access to various computers and 28 00:02:01,280 --> 00:02:05,120 Speaker 1: so on. The main way this malware spread was through 29 00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:08,960 Speaker 1: email attachments, so it used the old, tried and true 30 00:02:08,960 --> 00:02:12,639 Speaker 1: fishing technique, which is still around for a reason people 31 00:02:12,680 --> 00:02:16,840 Speaker 1: still fall for it. It first appeared back in and 32 00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:21,040 Speaker 1: it has gone through various cycles of activity and inactivity 33 00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:25,760 Speaker 1: in the Emo tet activity on the Internet dropped in February, 34 00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:29,480 Speaker 1: but it surged again in July. Now, according to authorities 35 00:02:29,480 --> 00:02:33,240 Speaker 1: in the Ukraine, imotet was responsible for about two point 36 00:02:33,360 --> 00:02:38,720 Speaker 1: five billion dollars in damages globally. The police takedown included 37 00:02:38,800 --> 00:02:42,280 Speaker 1: a raid on a physical location within the Ukraine in 38 00:02:42,280 --> 00:02:44,639 Speaker 1: which hackers had servers that were doing a lot of 39 00:02:44,680 --> 00:02:48,560 Speaker 1: the heavy lifting for you know, maintaining and administering the 40 00:02:48,600 --> 00:02:53,120 Speaker 1: botan net. The police released photos of bank cards and cash, 41 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:56,720 Speaker 1: which I find particularly wild, as I usually imagine most 42 00:02:56,720 --> 00:02:59,880 Speaker 1: of the crime involving digital transfers of funds rather than 43 00:03:00,360 --> 00:03:03,600 Speaker 1: you know, the physical manifestation of money. But I guess 44 00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:06,720 Speaker 1: my imagination is far too limited. At the time I'm 45 00:03:06,760 --> 00:03:11,200 Speaker 1: recording this, there were no reports about any arrests. That 46 00:03:11,240 --> 00:03:15,359 Speaker 1: doesn't mean that arrests didn't happen. I just didn't have 47 00:03:15,400 --> 00:03:18,640 Speaker 1: any news about them as I was recording this. Now, 48 00:03:18,760 --> 00:03:22,480 Speaker 1: the takedown is certainly a disruption for this particular type 49 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:25,400 Speaker 1: of malware botan net operation, but we should keep in 50 00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:28,320 Speaker 1: mind there are lots of other ones out there. There 51 00:03:28,360 --> 00:03:31,200 Speaker 1: are hacker groups that are independent, and then there are 52 00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:34,560 Speaker 1: some that are state sponsored. But this is definitely good 53 00:03:34,560 --> 00:03:37,800 Speaker 1: news that one of the more dangerous networks appears to 54 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:41,360 Speaker 1: be offline. Now. Next, I wanted to follow up on 55 00:03:41,400 --> 00:03:45,520 Speaker 1: a story I talked about briefly involving game Stop and 56 00:03:45,720 --> 00:03:49,160 Speaker 1: their stocks. Now, if you listen to recent news episodes, 57 00:03:49,200 --> 00:03:52,720 Speaker 1: you heard me talk about game Stop and use that 58 00:03:52,880 --> 00:03:56,240 Speaker 1: as a way to explain the process of short selling. 59 00:03:56,760 --> 00:04:00,360 Speaker 1: That's where an investor borrows stock that doesn't along to 60 00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:04,000 Speaker 1: that investor and then sells that stock for market price 61 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:07,800 Speaker 1: and then hope that the price of the stock falls 62 00:04:08,360 --> 00:04:11,680 Speaker 1: so that the investor can then buy back those borrowed 63 00:04:11,680 --> 00:04:15,720 Speaker 1: shares and pocket the difference because the investor is obligated 64 00:04:15,720 --> 00:04:19,039 Speaker 1: to return the borrowed shares. The goal is for you 65 00:04:19,080 --> 00:04:21,960 Speaker 1: to buy back those borrowed shares when they're cheaper, and 66 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:24,159 Speaker 1: then you know, you get to keep whatever the difference 67 00:04:24,240 --> 00:04:26,919 Speaker 1: was between the cell price and the buy price. Well, 68 00:04:27,160 --> 00:04:30,400 Speaker 1: we knew that a subreddit called Wall Street Bets was 69 00:04:30,520 --> 00:04:34,000 Speaker 1: driving the price of game Stop stock up after a 70 00:04:34,040 --> 00:04:37,719 Speaker 1: company called Citron and another one called Melvin Capital had 71 00:04:37,800 --> 00:04:40,800 Speaker 1: recommended that the stock be used as a short sell. 72 00:04:40,880 --> 00:04:44,239 Speaker 1: In fact, those companies were short selling game Stop stock 73 00:04:44,880 --> 00:04:47,039 Speaker 1: and they were anticipating that there was going to be 74 00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:49,960 Speaker 1: a drop in stock price. Now, in my last piece 75 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:53,120 Speaker 1: on this, the price of game Stop stock is so 76 00:04:53,160 --> 00:04:56,159 Speaker 1: hard to say that. By the way, anyway, that stock 77 00:04:56,240 --> 00:05:01,760 Speaker 1: had climbed seventy in a day, it climbed another after that. 78 00:05:02,040 --> 00:05:04,520 Speaker 1: In fact, over the course of two weeks, the stock 79 00:05:04,560 --> 00:05:08,560 Speaker 1: price has increased dramatically, and that definitely puts the squeeze 80 00:05:08,560 --> 00:05:12,120 Speaker 1: on anyone who's trying to short sell the stock, because 81 00:05:12,560 --> 00:05:16,040 Speaker 1: now buying back those borrowed shares will cost more money 82 00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:19,039 Speaker 1: than the investor would get from selling them at the 83 00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:22,080 Speaker 1: earlier market price. It means that when that price goes up, 84 00:05:22,400 --> 00:05:26,320 Speaker 1: you lose money. If you were quote unquote selling stock 85 00:05:26,600 --> 00:05:29,159 Speaker 1: at ten dollars and then the stock goes to twenty 86 00:05:29,560 --> 00:05:31,360 Speaker 1: and you have to buy back that stock, well now 87 00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:35,320 Speaker 1: you're paying twice as much, right, So when stock prices 88 00:05:35,360 --> 00:05:39,840 Speaker 1: go up, short selling becomes a loss for the investor. 89 00:05:40,560 --> 00:05:44,479 Speaker 1: Now some investors will double down. They will start short 90 00:05:44,520 --> 00:05:48,720 Speaker 1: selling even harder. They will start selling more stock that 91 00:05:48,839 --> 00:05:52,239 Speaker 1: they don't own, with the hope that the new higher 92 00:05:52,279 --> 00:05:55,200 Speaker 1: price of stock is going to take a turn and 93 00:05:55,279 --> 00:05:58,359 Speaker 1: start dropping again, and thus they'll be able to cover 94 00:05:58,480 --> 00:06:02,120 Speaker 1: their original short sell and perhaps make money in the 95 00:06:02,200 --> 00:06:07,239 Speaker 1: long term by jumping on it again. But this activity 96 00:06:07,279 --> 00:06:10,719 Speaker 1: of of buying and selling it ends up pushing the 97 00:06:10,800 --> 00:06:14,000 Speaker 1: stock price even further hop so it becomes a vicious 98 00:06:14,120 --> 00:06:17,800 Speaker 1: cycle that becomes known as a stock squeeze or a 99 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:23,760 Speaker 1: short squeeze. Really well, back in January twelve, game stop 100 00:06:24,080 --> 00:06:28,480 Speaker 1: stocks we're selling at nineteen dollars and cents per share, 101 00:06:28,960 --> 00:06:32,640 Speaker 1: and I mentioned that they've increased dramatically, So what does 102 00:06:32,680 --> 00:06:36,400 Speaker 1: that actually mean well, by January the stock price was 103 00:06:36,440 --> 00:06:41,200 Speaker 1: at three hundred fifty dollars per share. So now let's 104 00:06:41,200 --> 00:06:45,560 Speaker 1: talk about market capitalization. Now, essentially, we take the number 105 00:06:45,600 --> 00:06:48,560 Speaker 1: of shares that the company issues out and we multiply 106 00:06:48,680 --> 00:06:51,640 Speaker 1: that number of shares by the share price to figure 107 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:54,359 Speaker 1: out what the market cap is. So for game Stop, 108 00:06:54,720 --> 00:06:57,840 Speaker 1: as of the time I'm recording this, that market cap 109 00:06:57,920 --> 00:07:03,480 Speaker 1: is at around twenty six bill in dollars. That is bonkers. 110 00:07:03,560 --> 00:07:06,600 Speaker 1: And you might ask what has game Stop done to 111 00:07:06,760 --> 00:07:11,200 Speaker 1: merit this jump and value, and the answer is nothing. Really, 112 00:07:12,400 --> 00:07:15,720 Speaker 1: this price inflation is due to a lot of perception 113 00:07:16,200 --> 00:07:20,360 Speaker 1: and market activity among stockholders and was exacerbated when the 114 00:07:20,440 --> 00:07:23,440 Speaker 1: short sellers were trying to buy up more stock or 115 00:07:23,480 --> 00:07:26,400 Speaker 1: sell more stock, short sell more stock in an effort 116 00:07:26,440 --> 00:07:29,080 Speaker 1: to make up for the losses they were already experiencing, 117 00:07:29,400 --> 00:07:32,000 Speaker 1: and the cycle was getting worse and worse. The stock 118 00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:37,320 Speaker 1: market has actually halted trading on game Stop shares numerous 119 00:07:37,360 --> 00:07:40,720 Speaker 1: times over the last week due to that high volatility 120 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:44,880 Speaker 1: in trading. That's a protective measure that's necessary because sometimes 121 00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:48,120 Speaker 1: a really volatile stock can set off a kind of 122 00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:51,440 Speaker 1: chain reaction in the market, and then you've got real 123 00:07:51,560 --> 00:07:54,239 Speaker 1: chaos on your hands, and it's hard to see how 124 00:07:54,320 --> 00:07:57,600 Speaker 1: this will all end well in the long run. It 125 00:07:57,680 --> 00:08:01,000 Speaker 1: seems that eventually the market value for game Stop will 126 00:08:01,040 --> 00:08:04,680 Speaker 1: have to readjust to better reflect the actual value of 127 00:08:04,720 --> 00:08:07,800 Speaker 1: the company, and you would expect to see that the 128 00:08:07,840 --> 00:08:10,840 Speaker 1: market share price fall as a result of that. And 129 00:08:10,920 --> 00:08:14,120 Speaker 1: for those of you who don't know what game Stop 130 00:08:14,240 --> 00:08:17,200 Speaker 1: is in the first place, it's a video game retail 131 00:08:17,280 --> 00:08:20,120 Speaker 1: company as and this is a company best known for 132 00:08:20,240 --> 00:08:23,680 Speaker 1: having brick and mortar stores in the real world where 133 00:08:23,680 --> 00:08:26,600 Speaker 1: you can go and buy video games and video game systems, 134 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:29,680 Speaker 1: or even sell back your old copies of games to 135 00:08:29,920 --> 00:08:33,640 Speaker 1: the game Stop. You would think that would the double 136 00:08:33,640 --> 00:08:37,040 Speaker 1: wamy of the pandemic keeping most people at home and 137 00:08:37,080 --> 00:08:41,280 Speaker 1: away from stores, and the general rise of digital downloads 138 00:08:41,360 --> 00:08:44,800 Speaker 1: as opposed to buying physical copies, It would mean that 139 00:08:44,920 --> 00:08:47,719 Speaker 1: a company like game Stop wouldn't be seeing such a 140 00:08:47,800 --> 00:08:51,040 Speaker 1: huge surge and stock market price, which is why I 141 00:08:51,080 --> 00:08:53,760 Speaker 1: get the feeling that eventually this will all have to 142 00:08:53,840 --> 00:08:58,400 Speaker 1: settle down. At least I hope it settles rather than crashes. Now. 143 00:08:58,440 --> 00:09:02,800 Speaker 1: I should also stress I am no market expert. Maybe 144 00:09:02,960 --> 00:09:05,920 Speaker 1: this higher stock price will stick around and become stable. 145 00:09:06,600 --> 00:09:11,320 Speaker 1: I doubt it, but I fully admit this is not 146 00:09:11,480 --> 00:09:14,559 Speaker 1: my area of expertise by a long shot, or else 147 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:17,880 Speaker 1: I would probably be a millionaire by now. Now. One 148 00:09:17,880 --> 00:09:21,120 Speaker 1: of the big stories in the second half of twenty 149 00:09:21,679 --> 00:09:25,319 Speaker 1: was all about how former President Trump was pressuring Chinese 150 00:09:25,400 --> 00:09:29,360 Speaker 1: company byte Dance to sell off its video streaming platform 151 00:09:29,440 --> 00:09:34,360 Speaker 1: TikTok to an American company or companies or else face 152 00:09:34,480 --> 00:09:38,240 Speaker 1: the apparently unenforceable threat that the service would be taken 153 00:09:38,280 --> 00:09:41,040 Speaker 1: down in the United States. In fact, the reason that 154 00:09:41,040 --> 00:09:44,320 Speaker 1: that sale has yet to take place is because the 155 00:09:44,360 --> 00:09:49,400 Speaker 1: government really didn't follow through on the threats that was making. 156 00:09:49,840 --> 00:09:52,200 Speaker 1: And I think I think a lot of people over 157 00:09:52,240 --> 00:09:56,400 Speaker 1: at byte Dance slash TikTok are just saying, well, until 158 00:09:56,440 --> 00:09:58,960 Speaker 1: they actually show us they really mean business, I guess 159 00:09:58,960 --> 00:10:01,440 Speaker 1: we just keep doing what we're doing. Now. It remains 160 00:10:01,440 --> 00:10:04,440 Speaker 1: to be seen what the Biden administration is going to 161 00:10:04,480 --> 00:10:07,760 Speaker 1: do with regard to TikTok. It's possible they don't do 162 00:10:07,840 --> 00:10:11,480 Speaker 1: anything at all. But meanwhile, over in India, things are 163 00:10:11,559 --> 00:10:16,520 Speaker 1: definitely changing. The Indian government banned TikTok along with fifty 164 00:10:16,520 --> 00:10:19,440 Speaker 1: eight other apps that are linked to China. Now that 165 00:10:19,520 --> 00:10:23,080 Speaker 1: followed a military confrontation between India and China in the 166 00:10:23,120 --> 00:10:26,440 Speaker 1: Galawan Valley back in the summer of twenty twenty, and 167 00:10:26,520 --> 00:10:29,200 Speaker 1: this week by Dance announced it was shutting down nearly 168 00:10:29,240 --> 00:10:32,520 Speaker 1: all of its operations in India and laying off almost 169 00:10:32,600 --> 00:10:36,559 Speaker 1: every employee there as well. One unnamed source told the 170 00:10:36,679 --> 00:10:40,400 Speaker 1: website in Tracker that as many as eighteen hundred people 171 00:10:40,480 --> 00:10:43,880 Speaker 1: would lose their jobs and the company would retain around 172 00:10:44,080 --> 00:10:47,320 Speaker 1: maybe two fifty employees in India. Some of the other 173 00:10:47,360 --> 00:10:50,360 Speaker 1: apps affected by this band include the mobile version of 174 00:10:50,400 --> 00:10:55,920 Speaker 1: Player Unknowns Battlegrounds and the messaging service we Chat. In 175 00:10:56,280 --> 00:11:01,119 Speaker 1: terrifying news, The Guardian reports that a US government appointed 176 00:11:01,160 --> 00:11:05,360 Speaker 1: panel that included tech executives have made the recommendation that 177 00:11:05,440 --> 00:11:09,800 Speaker 1: the United States pursue the development of military AI applications, 178 00:11:10,160 --> 00:11:15,680 Speaker 1: including weapons powered by artificial intelligence. Leading that panel was 179 00:11:15,880 --> 00:11:21,640 Speaker 1: Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google. I guess it kind 180 00:11:21,679 --> 00:11:24,240 Speaker 1: of is fitting to say that before he was CEO 181 00:11:24,320 --> 00:11:26,760 Speaker 1: of Google, the company had kind of an unofficial motto 182 00:11:26,880 --> 00:11:30,600 Speaker 1: of don't be evil, and that's not the motto anymore. 183 00:11:31,440 --> 00:11:34,040 Speaker 1: I'm not saying the two are connected, but I'm not 184 00:11:34,040 --> 00:11:37,840 Speaker 1: not saying the two are connected anyway. The logic of this, 185 00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:41,560 Speaker 1: if you can call it, that, is that the AI would, 186 00:11:41,880 --> 00:11:46,160 Speaker 1: if designed properly, make fewer mistakes than people. And you 187 00:11:46,200 --> 00:11:51,280 Speaker 1: know that if designed properly, is an enormous qualification there. 188 00:11:51,480 --> 00:11:55,000 Speaker 1: I mean, if we have seen stories about how image 189 00:11:55,040 --> 00:11:59,000 Speaker 1: recognition software can sometimes get things really wrong at times 190 00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:03,440 Speaker 1: that can go from embarrassing to outright offensive, you know 191 00:12:03,559 --> 00:12:06,400 Speaker 1: that kind of opens up your eyes When that happens. 192 00:12:06,559 --> 00:12:09,800 Speaker 1: You might be dealing with some harsh criticism, and maybe 193 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:12,440 Speaker 1: it might lead to a deeper discussion about topics like 194 00:12:12,600 --> 00:12:16,720 Speaker 1: bias and transparency and artificial intelligence. But when we're talking 195 00:12:16,760 --> 00:12:21,360 Speaker 1: military applications, it's obviously a more immediate issue of life 196 00:12:21,480 --> 00:12:25,440 Speaker 1: or death type of scenarios. A former Deputy Secretary of 197 00:12:25,440 --> 00:12:28,959 Speaker 1: Defense named Robert Work said that quote, it is a 198 00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:33,040 Speaker 1: moral imperative to at least pursue this hypothesis end quote, 199 00:12:33,360 --> 00:12:36,400 Speaker 1: which might come as news to the hundreds of computer 200 00:12:36,520 --> 00:12:40,760 Speaker 1: scientists who have previously spoken out about this very concept. 201 00:12:41,640 --> 00:12:44,320 Speaker 1: In fact, there is a coalition of organizations that have 202 00:12:44,400 --> 00:12:47,840 Speaker 1: signed documents calling for a ban on any uses of 203 00:12:48,120 --> 00:12:52,199 Speaker 1: artificial intelligence with regard to warfare. UH it often gets 204 00:12:52,240 --> 00:12:56,360 Speaker 1: reduced to no killer robots, that kind of thing. The 205 00:12:56,400 --> 00:12:59,360 Speaker 1: general concern is that applying AI to war will set 206 00:12:59,400 --> 00:13:03,200 Speaker 1: off a type of arms race, and that further, any 207 00:13:03,280 --> 00:13:06,960 Speaker 1: poorly made AI would be inherently dangerous. I mean, for 208 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:10,480 Speaker 1: that matter, a well designed AI would be dangerous, because 209 00:13:10,480 --> 00:13:14,160 Speaker 1: I mean, that's its job. But it doesn't take much 210 00:13:14,200 --> 00:13:17,480 Speaker 1: imagination to conjure up scenarios in which an AI system 211 00:13:17,520 --> 00:13:21,160 Speaker 1: could make a call that a human being would never do, 212 00:13:21,679 --> 00:13:25,600 Speaker 1: potentially setting off a catastrophic series of events. For example, 213 00:13:25,760 --> 00:13:29,560 Speaker 1: just as a hypothesis, if an AI decided that losing 214 00:13:29,640 --> 00:13:33,920 Speaker 1: an entire city was an acceptable loss, it might move 215 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:37,120 Speaker 1: forward with that decision that could lead to the deaths 216 00:13:37,160 --> 00:13:40,600 Speaker 1: of millions of people. Now that's definitely on the bad 217 00:13:40,720 --> 00:13:44,000 Speaker 1: end of the spectrum of possibilities. You could also argue 218 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:47,280 Speaker 1: it's possible that AI systems could prevail in situations where 219 00:13:47,360 --> 00:13:51,160 Speaker 1: humans would fail, that an AI would act faster and 220 00:13:51,320 --> 00:13:55,400 Speaker 1: with a better result than humans would, and that lives 221 00:13:55,440 --> 00:14:00,120 Speaker 1: would be saved in that example. But it is a 222 00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:03,880 Speaker 1: sobering thought, and in the end, the panel's recommendations, which 223 00:14:03,960 --> 00:14:08,000 Speaker 1: will be finalized the spring, are not binding. It's not 224 00:14:08,040 --> 00:14:12,760 Speaker 1: like whatever the panel finds the government will immediately implement, 225 00:14:13,040 --> 00:14:14,760 Speaker 1: and I expect we're going to see a lot more 226 00:14:14,800 --> 00:14:19,480 Speaker 1: people speaking out against the idea. And we've chatted a 227 00:14:19,520 --> 00:14:23,000 Speaker 1: bit about the trend of employees at tech companies forming 228 00:14:23,200 --> 00:14:27,240 Speaker 1: unions to help create more leverage when negotiating with executive leadership. 229 00:14:27,760 --> 00:14:31,800 Speaker 1: A lot of the news episodes have talked about Google's 230 00:14:31,840 --> 00:14:35,800 Speaker 1: ongoing battle with the Alphabet Workers Union or a w 231 00:14:36,240 --> 00:14:39,800 Speaker 1: you another thing that's very hard to say. But meanwhile, 232 00:14:39,920 --> 00:14:42,800 Speaker 1: over at Amazon, we're seeing something play out that seems 233 00:14:42,800 --> 00:14:47,560 Speaker 1: pretty familiar to anyone who was following the stories around 234 00:14:47,600 --> 00:14:52,360 Speaker 1: the United States elections last year. Amazon workers planning to 235 00:14:52,520 --> 00:14:56,560 Speaker 1: unionize a warehouse in Alabama have to vote on whether 236 00:14:56,680 --> 00:15:00,760 Speaker 1: or not that happens. It's a union election, and essentially 237 00:15:01,480 --> 00:15:03,720 Speaker 1: now the people trying to form the union want to 238 00:15:03,800 --> 00:15:06,360 Speaker 1: hold this vote through mail in ballots. I mean, we're 239 00:15:06,360 --> 00:15:09,520 Speaker 1: in the middle of a pandemic, so going to a 240 00:15:09,640 --> 00:15:12,880 Speaker 1: physical location in order to cast your vote is frowned upon, 241 00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:16,040 Speaker 1: generally speaking. But Amazon is pushing back on this. They're 242 00:15:16,040 --> 00:15:19,200 Speaker 1: attempting to force the workers to participate in an in 243 00:15:19,320 --> 00:15:24,600 Speaker 1: person vote instead, perhaps due to the fact that it 244 00:15:24,720 --> 00:15:27,280 Speaker 1: might be a way to discourage people from voting. I mean, 245 00:15:27,360 --> 00:15:32,400 Speaker 1: that's that's my just hypothesizing. I don't have anything to 246 00:15:32,480 --> 00:15:36,000 Speaker 1: back that up. It could be other reasons. Amazon says 247 00:15:36,520 --> 00:15:40,920 Speaker 1: that the reason is because, at least according to company representatives, 248 00:15:40,920 --> 00:15:43,240 Speaker 1: that the mail in process would take too long and 249 00:15:43,280 --> 00:15:47,200 Speaker 1: that would require too many resources. Uh. The National Labor 250 00:15:47,320 --> 00:15:51,960 Speaker 1: Relations Board had previously said that employees should be allowed 251 00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:55,640 Speaker 1: to vote by mail in ballot. Amazon is appealing that decision. 252 00:15:55,920 --> 00:15:58,600 Speaker 1: But assuming that the n l RB does not roll 253 00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:02,840 Speaker 1: back that decision, and there should be a union election 254 00:16:02,920 --> 00:16:06,360 Speaker 1: on February eight for that warehouse, and if the workers 255 00:16:06,480 --> 00:16:09,960 Speaker 1: do vote to unionize, it would mark the first Amazon 256 00:16:10,080 --> 00:16:13,760 Speaker 1: warehouse in the United States to do that. I'm sure 257 00:16:13,880 --> 00:16:16,440 Speaker 1: much of the tech sector has its eyes on Alabama, 258 00:16:16,800 --> 00:16:20,280 Speaker 1: as between Amazon and Google, we could end up seeing 259 00:16:20,280 --> 00:16:24,880 Speaker 1: a general move toward unionization in the tech space. I've 260 00:16:24,920 --> 00:16:27,320 Speaker 1: got a lot more to cover in today's episode, but 261 00:16:27,360 --> 00:16:38,320 Speaker 1: first let's take a quick break. The Iranian government has 262 00:16:38,440 --> 00:16:43,120 Speaker 1: issued a new social networking ban, this one targeting Signal, 263 00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:46,400 Speaker 1: the messaging app. Now you might remember from recent episodes 264 00:16:46,480 --> 00:16:48,520 Speaker 1: that Signal was having a bit of a growth spurt 265 00:16:48,680 --> 00:16:52,240 Speaker 1: because people who had been using WhatsApp, which is owned 266 00:16:52,240 --> 00:16:56,280 Speaker 1: by Facebook had started to abandon WhatsApp and they were 267 00:16:56,280 --> 00:17:00,440 Speaker 1: turning to companies like Signal and Telegram instead. Well, Iran 268 00:17:00,520 --> 00:17:05,160 Speaker 1: has already banned Telegram, and now Signal has followed suit. 269 00:17:05,840 --> 00:17:09,040 Speaker 1: At the heart of the issue of people leaving WhatsApp 270 00:17:09,280 --> 00:17:12,120 Speaker 1: is a recent announcement that Facebook would be gathering some 271 00:17:12,280 --> 00:17:16,280 Speaker 1: meta data around how users were interacting with WhatsApp and 272 00:17:16,320 --> 00:17:20,360 Speaker 1: then putting that metadata to use over on Facebook proper, 273 00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:23,560 Speaker 1: and that raised a lot of privacy concerns that led 274 00:17:23,600 --> 00:17:27,680 Speaker 1: to people kind of abandoning ship. Well, the Iranian government 275 00:17:27,800 --> 00:17:31,280 Speaker 1: does doesn't seem too thrilled with Signals product, which includes 276 00:17:31,400 --> 00:17:36,520 Speaker 1: encrypted communication services. As such, the government dropped all Signal 277 00:17:36,720 --> 00:17:41,800 Speaker 1: traffic on the country's internal networks, and the government has 278 00:17:41,840 --> 00:17:46,800 Speaker 1: also ordered Iranian app stores to drop Signal from their 279 00:17:46,880 --> 00:17:50,600 Speaker 1: virtual shelves. As I said, Telegram had already been banned 280 00:17:50,680 --> 00:17:53,320 Speaker 1: in Iran. It's still in use in Iran. You just 281 00:17:53,359 --> 00:17:56,320 Speaker 1: can't download it legally there, but there are people who 282 00:17:56,320 --> 00:17:59,879 Speaker 1: are still using it in order to communicate. And in fact, 283 00:18:00,160 --> 00:18:02,600 Speaker 1: when it comes to social apps that allow for messaging, 284 00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:05,200 Speaker 1: the only two big ones that have not yet been 285 00:18:05,240 --> 00:18:09,120 Speaker 1: banned by Iran our WhatsApp, and Instagram, both of which 286 00:18:09,160 --> 00:18:13,679 Speaker 1: are owned by Facebook. Maza A Lamardani, a researcher with 287 00:18:13,840 --> 00:18:17,480 Speaker 1: article nineteen, speculates that this is probably because the Iranian 288 00:18:17,520 --> 00:18:21,919 Speaker 1: government wants to put bands in place on social services 289 00:18:21,960 --> 00:18:24,720 Speaker 1: before those services grow large enough for it to cause 290 00:18:24,760 --> 00:18:29,639 Speaker 1: a noticeable uproar within the country. Generally speaking, the Iranian 291 00:18:29,680 --> 00:18:33,159 Speaker 1: government tends to not like it if people can talk 292 00:18:33,280 --> 00:18:35,800 Speaker 1: without them being able to see what they're talking about, 293 00:18:36,440 --> 00:18:39,879 Speaker 1: as the Iranian government can fall a little bit on 294 00:18:39,920 --> 00:18:44,119 Speaker 1: the paranoid side of the scale. NBC reports that a 295 00:18:44,200 --> 00:18:48,720 Speaker 1: survey conducted by the National Association for Business Economics found 296 00:18:48,720 --> 00:18:52,800 Speaker 1: that around eleven percent of respondents, which were mainly you know, 297 00:18:52,880 --> 00:18:56,280 Speaker 1: business leaders, expected to see a future in which all 298 00:18:56,320 --> 00:18:59,440 Speaker 1: employees would return to offices. So, in other words, eleven 299 00:18:59,800 --> 00:19:02,240 Speaker 1: of those surveys said, yeah, I think we're going to 300 00:19:02,280 --> 00:19:04,320 Speaker 1: get to a point where everyone will be back in 301 00:19:04,359 --> 00:19:07,439 Speaker 1: the office, which means everybody else was saying, I'm not 302 00:19:07,520 --> 00:19:09,760 Speaker 1: so sure about that. In fact, more than half of 303 00:19:09,760 --> 00:19:12,919 Speaker 1: them said that they had already allowed for most or 304 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:16,560 Speaker 1: all staff to work remotely during the pandemic, and the 305 00:19:16,600 --> 00:19:20,400 Speaker 1: general consensus is that at least for the short term, 306 00:19:20,560 --> 00:19:23,840 Speaker 1: most companies are seeing a future in which a significant 307 00:19:23,840 --> 00:19:26,480 Speaker 1: percentage of the workforce will continue to work from home 308 00:19:26,960 --> 00:19:30,359 Speaker 1: rather than commute to an office, or they might move 309 00:19:30,400 --> 00:19:33,240 Speaker 1: to a model and which people do come in for 310 00:19:33,320 --> 00:19:35,920 Speaker 1: some days during the week and they work from home 311 00:19:36,040 --> 00:19:38,320 Speaker 1: on other days, which is what I was doing before 312 00:19:38,359 --> 00:19:41,720 Speaker 1: the pandemic switched me over to working from home almost 313 00:19:42,040 --> 00:19:46,840 Speaker 1: entirely exclusively. I am not surprised by the results of 314 00:19:46,880 --> 00:19:50,199 Speaker 1: this survey. I am curious how it will affect office 315 00:19:50,240 --> 00:19:54,080 Speaker 1: spaces moving forward. Uh. For some companies, the office is 316 00:19:54,080 --> 00:19:56,240 Speaker 1: a bit of prestige, right. It's something that can be 317 00:19:56,320 --> 00:20:00,720 Speaker 1: used to impress partners and clients or potential higher ers. 318 00:20:00,720 --> 00:20:04,320 Speaker 1: But an empty office doesn't give off quite the same vibe, 319 00:20:04,760 --> 00:20:09,000 Speaker 1: and office space can be really expensive to maintain, particularly 320 00:20:09,080 --> 00:20:13,359 Speaker 1: in fashionable parts of town. So I imagine some businesses 321 00:20:13,720 --> 00:20:18,359 Speaker 1: will examine various scenarios, including some that see them downsizing 322 00:20:18,359 --> 00:20:21,480 Speaker 1: the actual office space used in an effort to cut 323 00:20:21,560 --> 00:20:25,200 Speaker 1: costs and conserve resources. You know, if they say, well, 324 00:20:25,680 --> 00:20:28,119 Speaker 1: we've got a hundred people who work out of this office, 325 00:20:28,119 --> 00:20:30,680 Speaker 1: but only twenty of them come in, there's no reason 326 00:20:30,720 --> 00:20:32,720 Speaker 1: why we need to support a space that can hold 327 00:20:32,720 --> 00:20:36,320 Speaker 1: a hundred people. Let's scale back now. Perhaps when enough 328 00:20:36,320 --> 00:20:39,240 Speaker 1: people have been vaccinated, we'll start to see a change. 329 00:20:39,280 --> 00:20:40,919 Speaker 1: So it may be that a lot of companies just 330 00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:46,320 Speaker 1: say let's just tread water until the vaccinations roll out. However, 331 00:20:46,400 --> 00:20:49,159 Speaker 1: we need to remember that COVID is not going away 332 00:20:49,280 --> 00:20:52,720 Speaker 1: even after vaccinations, and that we're likely looking at a 333 00:20:52,760 --> 00:20:55,880 Speaker 1: reality in which we will need to get vaccinated against 334 00:20:55,920 --> 00:20:59,800 Speaker 1: COVID on a regular basis as the virus evolves. So, 335 00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:03,880 Speaker 1: in other words, there's no real resetting back to the 336 00:21:03,960 --> 00:21:07,880 Speaker 1: normal that existed pre COVID. Now. I don't know how 337 00:21:07,960 --> 00:21:09,760 Speaker 1: this is all going to turn out, and I'm sure 338 00:21:09,840 --> 00:21:12,359 Speaker 1: there will be a lot of negative consequences no matter 339 00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:15,440 Speaker 1: how it unfolds. I also know that working from home 340 00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:19,040 Speaker 1: isn't easy for everyone. In fact, on a personal note, 341 00:21:19,119 --> 00:21:21,320 Speaker 1: it's changed me quite a bit. I used to be 342 00:21:21,400 --> 00:21:26,080 Speaker 1: extremely extroverted, but now I actually get antsy if I 343 00:21:26,240 --> 00:21:28,719 Speaker 1: happen to see a group of people, and even if 344 00:21:28,760 --> 00:21:30,800 Speaker 1: I play a video game with a crowd and it 345 00:21:30,800 --> 00:21:35,440 Speaker 1: it makes me feel anxious. But that's enough about me. However, 346 00:21:35,560 --> 00:21:38,639 Speaker 1: related to that story is what's going on over in 347 00:21:38,680 --> 00:21:42,240 Speaker 1: the San Francisco Bay Area. In California. Now that has 348 00:21:42,320 --> 00:21:45,359 Speaker 1: long been the epicenter of the tech world, or at 349 00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:48,439 Speaker 1: least the tech world in the United States, so you know, 350 00:21:48,520 --> 00:21:51,760 Speaker 1: the US slice of the tech world. Anyway, there are 351 00:21:51,760 --> 00:21:54,880 Speaker 1: a few things to know about San Francisco in general. One, 352 00:21:55,400 --> 00:21:59,440 Speaker 1: the real estate market there is truly outrageous, like Jim 353 00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:03,040 Speaker 1: and the Halla Graham's truly truly truly outrageous. For example, 354 00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:08,080 Speaker 1: according to Town and Country, an empty lot measuring less 355 00:22:08,080 --> 00:22:12,040 Speaker 1: than half an acre in size, meaning there's no house there, 356 00:22:12,280 --> 00:22:15,120 Speaker 1: there's nothing there but an empty lot, that would set 357 00:22:15,160 --> 00:22:20,600 Speaker 1: you back five point four million dollars in Palo Alto, California. Now, 358 00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:23,600 Speaker 1: Palo Alto is closer to San Jose than it is 359 00:22:23,640 --> 00:22:27,119 Speaker 1: to San Francisco, but it is in the general Bay area. 360 00:22:27,560 --> 00:22:30,840 Speaker 1: The average rent in San Francisco for a one bedroom 361 00:22:30,880 --> 00:22:36,000 Speaker 1: apartment in the city itself is about thirty dollars per month. Now, 362 00:22:36,040 --> 00:22:39,520 Speaker 1: it's not the most expensive place in the world, but 363 00:22:39,680 --> 00:22:43,000 Speaker 1: it is. You know, it's expensive to live there. And 364 00:22:43,080 --> 00:22:45,400 Speaker 1: in a world where you can do your work from 365 00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:48,879 Speaker 1: home and not commute to an office, it opens up 366 00:22:48,880 --> 00:22:52,480 Speaker 1: the possibilities to you know, live somewhere else, somewhere that 367 00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:57,320 Speaker 1: isn't nearly as expensive. Axios published an article citing that 368 00:22:57,520 --> 00:23:03,760 Speaker 1: nearly nine thousand households have left the San Francisco area recently. Now, 369 00:23:03,800 --> 00:23:06,240 Speaker 1: some of that might be due to COVID directly, but 370 00:23:06,280 --> 00:23:08,119 Speaker 1: a lot of it seems to be more about the 371 00:23:08,119 --> 00:23:12,920 Speaker 1: cost of living versus the actual living conditions of the area. 372 00:23:13,200 --> 00:23:15,439 Speaker 1: The tech sector attracts a lot of talent to it, 373 00:23:15,720 --> 00:23:19,240 Speaker 1: and in general, the tech sector pays talent pretty well, 374 00:23:19,600 --> 00:23:21,840 Speaker 1: and that drove up the real estate prices in the 375 00:23:21,840 --> 00:23:26,000 Speaker 1: Bay Area over a couple of decades. And that also 376 00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:28,880 Speaker 1: pushed people who were not fortunate to have a high 377 00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:32,240 Speaker 1: paying tech gig further out of the city. They had 378 00:23:32,280 --> 00:23:35,520 Speaker 1: to commute much further to their jobs. So people working 379 00:23:35,680 --> 00:23:38,920 Speaker 1: in industries that, you know, it wasn't like a high 380 00:23:38,920 --> 00:23:43,000 Speaker 1: paying developer job or something, might have to commute more 381 00:23:43,040 --> 00:23:46,280 Speaker 1: than an hour each way because they couldn't afford to 382 00:23:46,320 --> 00:23:50,240 Speaker 1: live in the same region where they worked. Now we're 383 00:23:50,240 --> 00:23:53,120 Speaker 1: starting to see some of the tech companies themselves consider 384 00:23:53,240 --> 00:23:56,040 Speaker 1: a move away from the Bay Area, and some of 385 00:23:56,080 --> 00:23:59,800 Speaker 1: the places that companies are looking at include Miami, Florida, 386 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:03,520 Speaker 1: in Austin, Texas. And it's really too early to see 387 00:24:03,560 --> 00:24:05,280 Speaker 1: what the effect of all this is going to be. 388 00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:09,160 Speaker 1: But it's certain that the disruptive sector known as tech 389 00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:13,400 Speaker 1: is going to disrupt the Bay Area even more. Sticking 390 00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:16,880 Speaker 1: with that Bay Area tech sector, let's talk a bit 391 00:24:16,920 --> 00:24:20,280 Speaker 1: about Facebook, the media platform that is frequently part of 392 00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:24,119 Speaker 1: the headlines. MSN reported on the amount of money that 393 00:24:24,240 --> 00:24:27,960 Speaker 1: tech lobbyists spent in twenty twenty in the United States 394 00:24:28,240 --> 00:24:32,199 Speaker 1: in an effort to influence politics. Here, Facebook, to no 395 00:24:32,359 --> 00:24:35,399 Speaker 1: huge surprise, was the top spender in a lot of 396 00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:39,400 Speaker 1: them now. According to the report, Facebook spent nearly twenty 397 00:24:39,520 --> 00:24:43,919 Speaker 1: million dollars on lobbying, which represented an increase of nearly 398 00:24:44,040 --> 00:24:48,639 Speaker 1: eighteen percent over how much it's spent in twenty nineteen. Google, 399 00:24:48,760 --> 00:24:53,600 Speaker 1: by contrast, actually cut spending by thirty six percent in twenty, 400 00:24:54,080 --> 00:24:58,360 Speaker 1: down to a measly seven and a half million dollars. Overall, 401 00:24:58,400 --> 00:25:02,200 Speaker 1: the top five tech companies, which also includes Apple, Amazon, 402 00:25:02,280 --> 00:25:06,800 Speaker 1: and Microsoft, spent less on lobbying efforts in twenty than 403 00:25:06,840 --> 00:25:09,399 Speaker 1: they did in twenty nineteen. So Facebook is more of 404 00:25:09,400 --> 00:25:13,680 Speaker 1: an exception in this case, since Facebook actually increased its spending, 405 00:25:14,160 --> 00:25:17,000 Speaker 1: and out of those five companies I just mentioned, only 406 00:25:17,040 --> 00:25:21,840 Speaker 1: Microsoft has recently been left out of antitrust investigations into 407 00:25:21,880 --> 00:25:25,000 Speaker 1: whether or not those other companies represent a monopoly. The 408 00:25:25,040 --> 00:25:28,679 Speaker 1: investigations conclude that, yeah, they kind of do. So hey, 409 00:25:28,720 --> 00:25:31,280 Speaker 1: Microsoft dodged a bullet on that one. But then let's 410 00:25:31,280 --> 00:25:34,760 Speaker 1: remember that Microsoft itself has been the subject of antitrust 411 00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:38,760 Speaker 1: investigations in the past. With the change in administrations here 412 00:25:38,760 --> 00:25:41,280 Speaker 1: in the United States, it will be interesting to see 413 00:25:41,320 --> 00:25:44,919 Speaker 1: how things progress on this front. Will various state and 414 00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:48,080 Speaker 1: federal agencies pushed to break up some of these companies, 415 00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:52,359 Speaker 1: will the unionization efforts create complications for them? I have 416 00:25:52,480 --> 00:25:54,520 Speaker 1: no clue, but I'll be keeping an eye out on 417 00:25:54,560 --> 00:25:57,640 Speaker 1: this and of course reporting it to you guys. And 418 00:25:57,880 --> 00:26:02,240 Speaker 1: another Facebook story, this one really a grim one, centers 419 00:26:02,320 --> 00:26:07,840 Speaker 1: on material posted on Facebook that denies or distorts information 420 00:26:07,880 --> 00:26:12,000 Speaker 1: about the Holocaust, like claiming that the Holocaust was a hoax. 421 00:26:12,160 --> 00:26:15,440 Speaker 1: You know that never happened. The Anti Defamation League has 422 00:26:15,560 --> 00:26:18,240 Speaker 1: long pressured Facebook to take a more active role in 423 00:26:18,320 --> 00:26:21,240 Speaker 1: banning posts that claimed that the Holocaust was a hoax, 424 00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:24,919 Speaker 1: and while the company had been urged by various groups 425 00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:28,080 Speaker 1: and individuals to take action for years against that kind 426 00:26:28,119 --> 00:26:31,600 Speaker 1: of material, it was only back in October of twenty 427 00:26:31,680 --> 00:26:34,439 Speaker 1: twenty that the company actually said it was going to 428 00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:37,520 Speaker 1: do it. In a blog post by Monica Bickert, who 429 00:26:37,600 --> 00:26:41,520 Speaker 1: is the vice president of Content Policy at Facebook, the 430 00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:45,679 Speaker 1: company laid out that the official hate speech policy for 431 00:26:45,920 --> 00:26:49,919 Speaker 1: Facebook would now include any content that quote denies or 432 00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:54,600 Speaker 1: distorts the Holocaust end quote. But now, several months later, 433 00:26:54,640 --> 00:26:58,680 Speaker 1: in one the a d L found that such contents 434 00:26:58,720 --> 00:27:01,600 Speaker 1: still pops up on face Book and stays there, including 435 00:27:01,880 --> 00:27:06,119 Speaker 1: Facebook groups dedicated to claiming that the Holocaust was a hoax. 436 00:27:06,560 --> 00:27:10,159 Speaker 1: The organization thus awarded Facebook the grade of D a 437 00:27:10,320 --> 00:27:14,879 Speaker 1: failing grade, for its efforts to moderate such content. This 438 00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:18,639 Speaker 1: kind of reinforces the idea that it is relatively easy 439 00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:21,919 Speaker 1: to create an algorithm that's designed to boost content that 440 00:27:21,960 --> 00:27:26,040 Speaker 1: shows signs of a lot of air quotes engagement, but 441 00:27:26,160 --> 00:27:28,920 Speaker 1: it is a lot harder to find ways to moderate 442 00:27:28,960 --> 00:27:32,760 Speaker 1: content to remove stuff like hate speech and misinformation. That 443 00:27:32,840 --> 00:27:35,960 Speaker 1: is a huge problem because in the meantime, Facebook continues 444 00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:40,320 Speaker 1: to be a misinformation distribution machine with incredible reach, and 445 00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:44,399 Speaker 1: it was you know, had had an economic incentive to 446 00:27:44,480 --> 00:27:49,040 Speaker 1: be like that, because again, engagement means spending more time 447 00:27:49,040 --> 00:27:51,720 Speaker 1: on the platform. Spending more time on the platform means 448 00:27:52,280 --> 00:27:55,800 Speaker 1: being served more ads and ads our health. Facebook makes 449 00:27:55,840 --> 00:27:59,400 Speaker 1: the vast majority of its revenue, so it had an 450 00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:02,240 Speaker 1: incentive to keep people there, And if people are staying 451 00:28:02,280 --> 00:28:06,920 Speaker 1: there because of bad stuff, then there wasn't a whole 452 00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:10,080 Speaker 1: lot of incentive to remove the bad stuff until public 453 00:28:10,080 --> 00:28:13,399 Speaker 1: pressure reaches a point where it's undeniable. That's kind of 454 00:28:13,400 --> 00:28:16,560 Speaker 1: where we are, and even now Facebook is still failing, 455 00:28:16,880 --> 00:28:20,199 Speaker 1: at least according to the Anti Defamation League. Well, we 456 00:28:20,280 --> 00:28:23,520 Speaker 1: have a couple more stories for this episode, but before 457 00:28:23,520 --> 00:28:33,320 Speaker 1: I get to that, let's take another quick break. We're 458 00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:36,600 Speaker 1: back and some of you listeners might not be aware 459 00:28:36,680 --> 00:28:39,400 Speaker 1: that back in the old days, I wrote for a 460 00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:43,160 Speaker 1: site called how Stuff Works dot com. That's how tech 461 00:28:43,200 --> 00:28:46,960 Speaker 1: Stuff got started as a podcast offshoot of the website. 462 00:28:47,440 --> 00:28:50,240 Speaker 1: Just like other shows like Stuff You Should Know and 463 00:28:50,280 --> 00:28:53,240 Speaker 1: Stuff You Missed in History Class, if the show has 464 00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:56,400 Speaker 1: the words stuff in the title, there's a chance, not 465 00:28:56,520 --> 00:29:00,000 Speaker 1: a guarantee, but a chance that it branched off from 466 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:03,479 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works. Anyway, one of the articles I wrote 467 00:29:03,800 --> 00:29:07,320 Speaker 1: for that site was about Project Loon, which was an 468 00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:10,800 Speaker 1: effort from Google to create a network of high altitude 469 00:29:10,840 --> 00:29:15,600 Speaker 1: balloons carrying equipment that would provide Internet connectivity as a 470 00:29:15,680 --> 00:29:19,800 Speaker 1: sort of floating infrastructure, and it was an innovative approach 471 00:29:19,840 --> 00:29:24,280 Speaker 1: to extending Internet connectivity to remote areas that otherwise might 472 00:29:24,320 --> 00:29:27,280 Speaker 1: go without. So, for example, think of like a little 473 00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:32,360 Speaker 1: town in Africa that's many, many many miles away from 474 00:29:32,520 --> 00:29:36,719 Speaker 1: the nearest big city. It might not have any Internet connectivity, 475 00:29:36,760 --> 00:29:40,560 Speaker 1: and it would be incredibly difficult and expensive to build 476 00:29:40,600 --> 00:29:44,600 Speaker 1: out the infrastructure to connect it to that big city. 477 00:29:44,640 --> 00:29:50,080 Speaker 1: But if you float the Internet above this this community, 478 00:29:50,560 --> 00:29:55,160 Speaker 1: you could potentially provide it network connectivity. But we learned 479 00:29:55,240 --> 00:29:59,360 Speaker 1: last week that Google is deflating the program, so to speak, 480 00:29:59,560 --> 00:30:03,280 Speaker 1: ending the nine year long experiment. Now the technology worked. 481 00:30:03,360 --> 00:30:07,200 Speaker 1: The balloons could send down signals that communities could tap into. 482 00:30:07,720 --> 00:30:11,840 Speaker 1: The high altitudes were above really gusty winds, so it 483 00:30:11,920 --> 00:30:14,720 Speaker 1: was possible to maintain a connection to specific regions. You 484 00:30:14,800 --> 00:30:17,719 Speaker 1: knew what was going to happen with the balloons, so 485 00:30:17,760 --> 00:30:20,960 Speaker 1: if you just had enough coverage, then you could maintain 486 00:30:21,040 --> 00:30:24,000 Speaker 1: that connectivity. But the company could not find a way 487 00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:28,120 Speaker 1: to make the business work from a revenue perspective. So 488 00:30:28,160 --> 00:30:30,440 Speaker 1: in other words, it was just costing too much to 489 00:30:30,560 --> 00:30:34,880 Speaker 1: deploy and maintain than could be balanced. Out through revenue, 490 00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:38,640 Speaker 1: and so we see the loons sink back down to 491 00:30:38,720 --> 00:30:45,040 Speaker 1: Earth and we're really seeing a different approach satellite services. Starlink, 492 00:30:45,280 --> 00:30:48,640 Speaker 1: the project associated with Elon Musk, is such a service. 493 00:30:48,880 --> 00:30:52,400 Speaker 1: The idea is to send up thousands of tiny satellites 494 00:30:52,440 --> 00:30:55,360 Speaker 1: in a relatively low orbit that can act as kind 495 00:30:55,400 --> 00:30:58,320 Speaker 1: of like a mesh networking system of their own. They 496 00:30:58,320 --> 00:31:00,680 Speaker 1: would be at far too low and altitude to maintain 497 00:31:00,680 --> 00:31:04,480 Speaker 1: a geosynchronous orbit, that is, an orbit where the satellite 498 00:31:04,480 --> 00:31:08,560 Speaker 1: maintains its spot relative to the position on the Earth. 499 00:31:08,880 --> 00:31:11,400 Speaker 1: So since the satellites wouldn't be in the exact same 500 00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:13,560 Speaker 1: spot in the sky, you need a lot of them 501 00:31:13,640 --> 00:31:17,320 Speaker 1: in order to keep coverage consistent. Otherwise you would lose 502 00:31:17,360 --> 00:31:20,400 Speaker 1: your Internet connection every time the satellite moved out of range, 503 00:31:20,640 --> 00:31:21,880 Speaker 1: and then you would have to wait for it to 504 00:31:21,920 --> 00:31:24,000 Speaker 1: go all the way around the planet and swing back 505 00:31:24,040 --> 00:31:28,480 Speaker 1: overhead again. The Starlink service is aiming to have more 506 00:31:28,520 --> 00:31:31,959 Speaker 1: than forty thousand satellites in orbit in order to provide 507 00:31:32,040 --> 00:31:36,320 Speaker 1: a global Internet connectivity service, which, hey, that's cool, but 508 00:31:36,480 --> 00:31:40,640 Speaker 1: it does also represent another concern for scientists and astronauts 509 00:31:40,640 --> 00:31:43,720 Speaker 1: who worry about stuff like space debris and it also 510 00:31:43,760 --> 00:31:48,280 Speaker 1: represents a potential issue for astronomers, as reflections both of 511 00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:51,240 Speaker 1: light and potentially of radio waves can make it harder 512 00:31:51,280 --> 00:31:56,280 Speaker 1: to observe cosmological goings on down here on Earth. So 513 00:31:57,160 --> 00:31:59,960 Speaker 1: scientists also point out that the efforts to blanket the sky, 514 00:32:00,040 --> 00:32:03,560 Speaker 1: eyes and satellites comes not from some sort of altruistic 515 00:32:03,600 --> 00:32:08,000 Speaker 1: desire to supply Internet to everybody. It's not like, look 516 00:32:08,080 --> 00:32:10,560 Speaker 1: under your seat, you get an Internet, and you get 517 00:32:10,560 --> 00:32:14,240 Speaker 1: an Internet now. It's rather because these companies are viewing 518 00:32:14,240 --> 00:32:17,240 Speaker 1: this as a potentially profitable business. So in other words, 519 00:32:17,240 --> 00:32:20,600 Speaker 1: they are arguing that the media should not frame these 520 00:32:20,640 --> 00:32:25,320 Speaker 1: efforts as being noble. Necessarily on the business side of things, 521 00:32:25,320 --> 00:32:27,880 Speaker 1: there are skeptics who wonder if this approach will ever 522 00:32:27,960 --> 00:32:32,560 Speaker 1: be profitable. Getting stuff into space is expensive, after all, 523 00:32:32,880 --> 00:32:36,560 Speaker 1: and while it's useful to have persistent Internet connectivity, there 524 00:32:36,600 --> 00:32:40,880 Speaker 1: are some inherent downsides to using satellite technology. One big 525 00:32:40,920 --> 00:32:44,920 Speaker 1: one is the problem with latency. Satellites. Even those in 526 00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:48,840 Speaker 1: a low orbit are very far away, so it takes 527 00:32:48,880 --> 00:32:52,640 Speaker 1: time for information to travel from the satellite to either 528 00:32:52,720 --> 00:32:55,680 Speaker 1: the backbone of the Internet or you're in device, so 529 00:32:55,960 --> 00:32:58,040 Speaker 1: you're kind of playing a game of phone tag. Let's 530 00:32:58,040 --> 00:33:01,840 Speaker 1: say you've got a laptop that connects to a router 531 00:33:02,160 --> 00:33:05,560 Speaker 1: that then connects up to the satellite link. So you 532 00:33:05,600 --> 00:33:07,880 Speaker 1: are on a website, you click on a link, your 533 00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:12,400 Speaker 1: command goes out through your satellite dish beams up to 534 00:33:13,080 --> 00:33:15,800 Speaker 1: a satellite in orbit, which then has to relay that 535 00:33:15,880 --> 00:33:19,520 Speaker 1: command back down on Earth at a receiving station, which 536 00:33:19,560 --> 00:33:23,520 Speaker 1: then sends that signal out over the Internet to its destination, 537 00:33:23,800 --> 00:33:26,360 Speaker 1: you know, whatever website you were trying to visit, And 538 00:33:26,400 --> 00:33:29,720 Speaker 1: then that whole response has to take the same journey, 539 00:33:29,760 --> 00:33:33,200 Speaker 1: but in reverse, and that tends to create a pretty 540 00:33:33,240 --> 00:33:36,960 Speaker 1: noticeable delay between when you do something and when you 541 00:33:37,000 --> 00:33:40,520 Speaker 1: see the results. So if companies can't make satellites work 542 00:33:40,560 --> 00:33:43,640 Speaker 1: from a revenue perspective, they could go the same way 543 00:33:43,680 --> 00:33:46,960 Speaker 1: that Project Loon went, but then we also have the 544 00:33:46,960 --> 00:33:51,200 Speaker 1: added problem of a bunch of junk in low Earth orbit. Next, 545 00:33:51,640 --> 00:33:54,320 Speaker 1: Carl Pay made a name for himself as one of 546 00:33:54,320 --> 00:33:58,080 Speaker 1: the co founders for the Chinese consumer electronics company one 547 00:33:58,160 --> 00:34:02,120 Speaker 1: plus back in mean and you might wonder what he's 548 00:34:02,200 --> 00:34:06,040 Speaker 1: up to today, and the answer is nothing. That is, 549 00:34:06,080 --> 00:34:10,920 Speaker 1: he founded nothing. I mean, he has founded a company 550 00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:14,400 Speaker 1: that has the name nothing, which makes me think that 551 00:34:14,440 --> 00:34:17,439 Speaker 1: if you were an employee of that company, you would 552 00:34:17,440 --> 00:34:20,960 Speaker 1: automatically have a fun, quirky thing to say at cocktail parties. 553 00:34:21,920 --> 00:34:26,520 Speaker 1: You know, if we still had cocktail parties, it would 554 00:34:26,520 --> 00:34:28,320 Speaker 1: be the kind of joke that makes the other person 555 00:34:28,440 --> 00:34:32,040 Speaker 1: kind of give a humorless smile and return before they 556 00:34:32,239 --> 00:34:35,000 Speaker 1: silently wander off to see if maybe someone's laid out 557 00:34:35,040 --> 00:34:37,839 Speaker 1: some new snacks on the table or something. And now 558 00:34:37,960 --> 00:34:40,320 Speaker 1: you have an insight as to what it's like when 559 00:34:40,360 --> 00:34:45,240 Speaker 1: I go to parties. Anyway, this company nothing will apparently 560 00:34:45,280 --> 00:34:50,320 Speaker 1: be making something. Exactly what that something is is a mystery. 561 00:34:50,360 --> 00:34:53,160 Speaker 1: For now. We know that the product or products they 562 00:34:53,239 --> 00:34:56,680 Speaker 1: plan to introduce perhaps this year, fall into the general 563 00:34:56,680 --> 00:35:00,840 Speaker 1: category of smart devices, but that's a pretty big category 564 00:35:01,040 --> 00:35:03,200 Speaker 1: all on its own these days. I mean, it could 565 00:35:03,200 --> 00:35:06,160 Speaker 1: be anything from a phone to a coffee maker, or 566 00:35:07,040 --> 00:35:10,880 Speaker 1: a doorbell or toast or who knows. But the philosophy 567 00:35:10,920 --> 00:35:13,920 Speaker 1: of the company is one that probably feels familiar to 568 00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:17,160 Speaker 1: science fiction fans, the idea that technology should be so 569 00:35:17,239 --> 00:35:20,279 Speaker 1: advanced that just kind of fades into the background of 570 00:35:20,280 --> 00:35:23,799 Speaker 1: our environments and our reality, so using it should be 571 00:35:23,880 --> 00:35:27,879 Speaker 1: just as intuitive as if it were nothing like. It's 572 00:35:27,960 --> 00:35:31,279 Speaker 1: right up there with breathing or blinking. By the way, 573 00:35:31,360 --> 00:35:35,200 Speaker 1: don't think about breathing or blinking, because then you're gonna 574 00:35:35,200 --> 00:35:38,760 Speaker 1: start doing it manually and that will drive you crazy. 575 00:35:38,920 --> 00:35:42,280 Speaker 1: We do know that the products will eventually be across 576 00:35:42,440 --> 00:35:45,839 Speaker 1: numerous subcategories, and that the goal is to create a 577 00:35:45,880 --> 00:35:50,160 Speaker 1: cohesive ecosystem within which these devices will operate. And we 578 00:35:50,239 --> 00:35:52,520 Speaker 1: also know that the plan is to focus more on 579 00:35:52,560 --> 00:35:55,480 Speaker 1: the hardware side of things than on the software side. 580 00:35:55,760 --> 00:35:58,799 Speaker 1: But that's about all we know, which you know, I 581 00:35:58,840 --> 00:36:02,879 Speaker 1: guess ain't nothing. Virgin hyper Loop, which is just one 582 00:36:03,040 --> 00:36:05,560 Speaker 1: of the company's trying to make hyper loop or hyper 583 00:36:05,560 --> 00:36:09,520 Speaker 1: loop like train systems a reality, released a concept video 584 00:36:09,600 --> 00:36:11,520 Speaker 1: of what it might be like to go through a 585 00:36:11,600 --> 00:36:15,120 Speaker 1: hyper loop terminal board a pod, which is, you know, 586 00:36:15,160 --> 00:36:18,080 Speaker 1: the hyper loop version of a train car, and traveled 587 00:36:18,120 --> 00:36:20,880 Speaker 1: to a destination. The video was about two and a 588 00:36:20,920 --> 00:36:24,040 Speaker 1: half minutes long, and I have to admit it's kind 589 00:36:24,080 --> 00:36:27,120 Speaker 1: of cool. The video shows a scenario which you're on 590 00:36:27,200 --> 00:36:29,280 Speaker 1: a pod that gets up to more than six centred 591 00:36:29,280 --> 00:36:31,840 Speaker 1: miles per hour as it travels through tunnels that have 592 00:36:31,880 --> 00:36:35,080 Speaker 1: had nearly all the air removed from them, so that 593 00:36:35,160 --> 00:36:38,880 Speaker 1: reduces air resistance to near zero. The video shows pods 594 00:36:38,880 --> 00:36:42,400 Speaker 1: that have a sort of train truck or bogey on 595 00:36:42,440 --> 00:36:45,960 Speaker 1: the top of the pods, so you know, uh, a 596 00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:49,239 Speaker 1: structure that fits against a track, and the track is 597 00:36:49,239 --> 00:36:51,680 Speaker 1: in the ceiling of the tunnel. Now that's a shift 598 00:36:51,760 --> 00:36:55,680 Speaker 1: from the original hyper loop design, which suggested using air 599 00:36:55,719 --> 00:36:58,600 Speaker 1: bearings kind of like an air hockey table, but with 600 00:36:58,719 --> 00:37:02,600 Speaker 1: the pod push out compressed air to float above the 601 00:37:02,719 --> 00:37:05,680 Speaker 1: floor of the tunnel. However, that particular approach was found 602 00:37:05,719 --> 00:37:08,520 Speaker 1: to be impractical, so Virgin hyper loop is going with 603 00:37:08,560 --> 00:37:12,120 Speaker 1: a more tried and true method of magnetic levitation. The 604 00:37:12,160 --> 00:37:15,960 Speaker 1: whole thing looked really clean and sleek and futuristic, kind 605 00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:20,040 Speaker 1: of like you're commuting inside of an Apple commercial or something. 606 00:37:20,480 --> 00:37:23,440 Speaker 1: I'm still a little skeptical about hyper loop. I'm not 607 00:37:23,480 --> 00:37:27,040 Speaker 1: skeptical about the technology, mind you, but the practicality of 608 00:37:27,080 --> 00:37:31,040 Speaker 1: building out the systems and operating them profitably. If traveling 609 00:37:31,080 --> 00:37:34,600 Speaker 1: by hyperloop costs the same or more as a plane ticket, 610 00:37:35,040 --> 00:37:37,799 Speaker 1: that would be a big barrier. A study out of 611 00:37:37,840 --> 00:37:40,640 Speaker 1: Ohio suggested that at least for a system in the 612 00:37:40,640 --> 00:37:45,000 Speaker 1: Midwest that would connect Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Columbus. The ticket 613 00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:47,400 Speaker 1: prices might be about the same as it would cost 614 00:37:47,480 --> 00:37:50,280 Speaker 1: if you were to drive from one location to another, 615 00:37:50,640 --> 00:37:53,520 Speaker 1: and that would be pretty incredible. But building out hyper 616 00:37:53,520 --> 00:37:57,600 Speaker 1: loop infrastructure is going to be monumentally expensive and complicated 617 00:37:57,880 --> 00:38:01,439 Speaker 1: because it involves not just construction and technology, but also 618 00:38:01,480 --> 00:38:05,120 Speaker 1: getting the various clearances from federal, state, and local governments 619 00:38:05,160 --> 00:38:08,360 Speaker 1: to do it. But hey, just because it's not easy 620 00:38:08,600 --> 00:38:11,799 Speaker 1: doesn't mean it's impossible. And my hope is that we 621 00:38:11,840 --> 00:38:15,640 Speaker 1: will see hyper loop systems connecting various regional cities and 622 00:38:15,640 --> 00:38:19,440 Speaker 1: that my skepticism ends up being misplaced. That's what I hope. 623 00:38:19,800 --> 00:38:23,319 Speaker 1: I don't feel like that's going to work out, but 624 00:38:23,400 --> 00:38:26,120 Speaker 1: I'm hoping I'm wrong because I would personally love for 625 00:38:26,160 --> 00:38:30,520 Speaker 1: there to be a hyper loop connecting, say Atlanta with Orlando, Florida. 626 00:38:31,360 --> 00:38:34,920 Speaker 1: In the official Google blog, we saw a post about 627 00:38:34,920 --> 00:38:38,560 Speaker 1: how covid continues to dominate our world that's not news, 628 00:38:39,080 --> 00:38:41,719 Speaker 1: and that it can be really challenging to navigate all 629 00:38:41,760 --> 00:38:45,319 Speaker 1: the various information sources to find out important information like 630 00:38:45,719 --> 00:38:49,040 Speaker 1: where you can actually go to get vaccinated. To that end, 631 00:38:49,360 --> 00:38:53,040 Speaker 1: Google CEO said that the company is focusing on providing 632 00:38:53,080 --> 00:38:57,480 Speaker 1: timely and accurate information about vaccines catered to a person's location, 633 00:38:58,200 --> 00:39:01,040 Speaker 1: and he wrote that within a few weeks we should 634 00:39:01,080 --> 00:39:06,080 Speaker 1: see that Google Maps in places like Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi, 635 00:39:06,080 --> 00:39:09,040 Speaker 1: and Texas will allow you to search for locations that 636 00:39:09,160 --> 00:39:12,360 Speaker 1: offer the vaccine, and that the results will also have 637 00:39:12,560 --> 00:39:16,560 Speaker 1: accompanying information about whether you would need a referral or 638 00:39:16,600 --> 00:39:20,120 Speaker 1: an appointment. Maybe it's a drive through location, all that 639 00:39:20,200 --> 00:39:22,160 Speaker 1: kind of stuff, everything you need to know before you 640 00:39:22,200 --> 00:39:25,080 Speaker 1: actually go. Now, as someone who had spent a lot 641 00:39:25,160 --> 00:39:28,000 Speaker 1: of time researching this kind of information for my parents, 642 00:39:28,440 --> 00:39:32,840 Speaker 1: who thankfully on their own, were able to get appointments, 643 00:39:33,200 --> 00:39:36,600 Speaker 1: I definitely have an appreciation for tools that make this easier. 644 00:39:36,760 --> 00:39:39,040 Speaker 1: I mean, I do this stuff for a living, and 645 00:39:39,080 --> 00:39:43,800 Speaker 1: even for me, it was a little too complicated. And finally, 646 00:39:44,000 --> 00:39:47,000 Speaker 1: Twitter is giving a gift to the world of academia 647 00:39:47,280 --> 00:39:50,600 Speaker 1: and overdue gift, and that gift is free access to 648 00:39:50,680 --> 00:39:55,160 Speaker 1: the full history of all public conversation on Twitter. Now. Previously, 649 00:39:55,640 --> 00:39:58,279 Speaker 1: researchers who wanted to use that information had to pay 650 00:39:58,320 --> 00:40:02,040 Speaker 1: a premium to get the full record. Now they can 651 00:40:02,120 --> 00:40:05,200 Speaker 1: just apply to Twitter's research track for approval, and if 652 00:40:05,200 --> 00:40:07,880 Speaker 1: they're accepted, they will be able to access the full 653 00:40:08,000 --> 00:40:11,359 Speaker 1: history of all public tweets. Now, why would anyone want 654 00:40:11,400 --> 00:40:13,960 Speaker 1: to do that? While they might want to research big 655 00:40:14,040 --> 00:40:17,720 Speaker 1: trends and behaviors, you know, kind of track when certain 656 00:40:17,760 --> 00:40:21,000 Speaker 1: things started to appear on Twitter, When did they peak, 657 00:40:21,520 --> 00:40:24,719 Speaker 1: when did they settle off? How did that relate to 658 00:40:24,840 --> 00:40:26,600 Speaker 1: things that were going in the real world. So a 659 00:40:26,600 --> 00:40:31,680 Speaker 1: lot of things that might be related to sociology and psychology, 660 00:40:31,719 --> 00:40:34,480 Speaker 1: that kind of stuff. And while it might sound scary 661 00:40:34,600 --> 00:40:37,560 Speaker 1: to hear that suddenly someone's got access to everything that's 662 00:40:37,560 --> 00:40:40,120 Speaker 1: ever been posted on Twitter, keep in mind that's not 663 00:40:40,200 --> 00:40:44,760 Speaker 1: quite accurate. It only covers public tweets, so any protected 664 00:40:44,760 --> 00:40:47,839 Speaker 1: tweets are not included in this. And it should also 665 00:40:47,880 --> 00:40:52,120 Speaker 1: remind us that when we post something to a public forum, 666 00:40:52,160 --> 00:40:55,600 Speaker 1: the important thing to remember is that it is public. So, hey, 667 00:40:55,680 --> 00:40:58,319 Speaker 1: if you're having second thoughts about tweeting that joke that 668 00:40:58,400 --> 00:41:01,640 Speaker 1: you thought was funny but other people might find it offensive, 669 00:41:02,040 --> 00:41:05,640 Speaker 1: you know, maybe just don't do it. Now. That's advice 670 00:41:05,680 --> 00:41:10,880 Speaker 1: for everyone, including myself. I've certainly been guilty of rattling 671 00:41:10,880 --> 00:41:12,920 Speaker 1: off a tweet. At the time, I was like, ha, ha ha, 672 00:41:13,480 --> 00:41:16,919 Speaker 1: aren't I so clever? And then like five minutes later, 673 00:41:16,960 --> 00:41:20,839 Speaker 1: I realized, oh, you know, sometimes it's better to be 674 00:41:21,200 --> 00:41:25,680 Speaker 1: quiet or kind than clever. In fact, frequently it's better 675 00:41:25,800 --> 00:41:29,000 Speaker 1: to be quiet or kind than clever, something I'm working 676 00:41:29,000 --> 00:41:32,319 Speaker 1: on personally, as being clever was a big part of 677 00:41:32,360 --> 00:41:35,680 Speaker 1: my personal identity for a long time, but now I don't. 678 00:41:35,920 --> 00:41:39,239 Speaker 1: I don't think it's necessarily the best treat for me. Anyway. 679 00:41:39,680 --> 00:41:42,879 Speaker 1: That's enough self reflection from Jonathan for this episode. If 680 00:41:42,960 --> 00:41:45,719 Speaker 1: you guys have suggestions for topics that I should cover 681 00:41:45,800 --> 00:41:48,520 Speaker 1: in episodes of tech Stuff, you should reach out to me. 682 00:41:48,640 --> 00:41:51,040 Speaker 1: The best place to do that is on Twitter. The 683 00:41:51,040 --> 00:41:54,600 Speaker 1: handle for the show is tex Stuff hs W, and 684 00:41:54,640 --> 00:42:02,760 Speaker 1: I will talk to you again really soon. Text Stuff 685 00:42:02,840 --> 00:42:06,000 Speaker 1: is an I Heart Radio production. For more podcasts from 686 00:42:06,000 --> 00:42:09,799 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio, visit the i Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 687 00:42:09,880 --> 00:42:11,880 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.