WEBVTT - Closing out the Tech Stories of 2020 - August through December 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from my Heart Radio. 0:00:12.119 --> 0:00:15.040 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:15.240 --> 0:00:18.320 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with a heart radio 0:00:18.360 --> 0:00:22.920 and I love all things tech. And Happy New Year everybody. 0:00:23.280 --> 0:00:28.840 It's one and yet here we are stuck with the 0:00:28.920 --> 0:00:32.440 last few months of our retrospective on and to be fair, 0:00:32.920 --> 0:00:35.800 I'm still in twenty you know, just when we thought 0:00:35.840 --> 0:00:38.040 we were out, I pull us back in. But we're 0:00:38.080 --> 0:00:40.800 going to wrap up the big stories that involved tech 0:00:40.920 --> 0:00:45.320 in tw with this batch, I promise, And tomorrow you're 0:00:45.360 --> 0:00:47.880 gonna get a new episode of Tech Stuff. We're now 0:00:47.960 --> 0:00:50.279 going to go to five episodes a week now. I'll 0:00:50.280 --> 0:00:52.120 talk more about that at the end of this episode, 0:00:52.120 --> 0:00:54.720 but just know that this doesn't mean every episode will 0:00:54.720 --> 0:00:56.840 be kind of a deep dive like this one. We're 0:00:56.840 --> 0:00:59.120 going to put some variety in there, so I'll talk 0:00:59.160 --> 0:01:02.320 more about that later. Now. One bit of great news 0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:06.160 we got in August was that returning astronauts safely splashed 0:01:06.200 --> 0:01:09.640 down in a SpaceX Dragon capsule, which was the first 0:01:09.680 --> 0:01:13.679 time NASA had used the commercial space company spacecraft to 0:01:13.800 --> 0:01:17.120 bring astronauts to and from the International Space Station, which 0:01:17.160 --> 0:01:21.160 was pretty fantastic. In early August, we saw a once 0:01:21.280 --> 0:01:26.240 influential tech brand fade away. The brand was the US 0:01:26.400 --> 0:01:32.000 cell phone carrier Sprint. T Mobile, once a competitor of Sprint, 0:01:32.280 --> 0:01:35.399 had concluded a thirty billion dollar merger just a few 0:01:35.440 --> 0:01:39.559 months earlier. In August, T Mobile retired the Sprint brand. 0:01:39.600 --> 0:01:43.800 They folded it entirely into T Mobile's business. Before that, 0:01:43.920 --> 0:01:48.000 Sprint had been the fourth of the four large cell 0:01:48.040 --> 0:01:51.400 phone carriers in the United States, and it had been 0:01:51.400 --> 0:01:55.320 struggling up to the point of that acquisition, and several 0:01:55.320 --> 0:01:59.000 analysts actually suggested that if T Mobile had not swooped in, 0:01:59.360 --> 0:02:03.160 Sprint might well have been heading towards bankruptcy. If you 0:02:03.240 --> 0:02:06.880 listen to the previous two episodes in this series, you 0:02:07.000 --> 0:02:11.320 heard how President Trump was having an increasingly combative relationship 0:02:11.400 --> 0:02:15.400 with social networks, which had been up to that point 0:02:15.480 --> 0:02:18.200 pretty reliable ways for him to get his message out 0:02:18.200 --> 0:02:21.919 to followers for most of his presidency. Twitter had already 0:02:21.919 --> 0:02:24.560 started labeling some of the President's tweets with flags that 0:02:24.600 --> 0:02:29.800 indicated that they could contain volatile or incorrect information. Facebook 0:02:29.840 --> 0:02:33.200 finally followed suit, removing a Trump post that pushed to 0:02:33.240 --> 0:02:36.200 claim that children are nearly immune to COVID nineteen, and 0:02:36.320 --> 0:02:40.640 Zuckerberg had expressed some private concerns about Trump, and he 0:02:40.680 --> 0:02:45.520 was under intense pressure from media, from advertisers, from users, 0:02:45.600 --> 0:02:49.600 and from Facebook employees to have the company take a 0:02:49.720 --> 0:02:54.680 more active role in moderating posts. So this could have 0:02:54.800 --> 0:02:59.080 been a response to that intense pressure. Also in August, 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:03.600 Anthony Lewandowski received a prison sentence. Now some of you 0:03:03.880 --> 0:03:07.639 may not know who Lewandowski is. He's an engineer who 0:03:07.639 --> 0:03:12.200 has focused primarily on autonomous card technology. He joined Google's 0:03:12.200 --> 0:03:15.280 efforts after running his own startups, and while he was 0:03:15.320 --> 0:03:18.040 at Google there were stories circulating that he made some 0:03:18.520 --> 0:03:23.520 ethically questionable business decisions. However, the real trouble began when 0:03:23.600 --> 0:03:28.400 Lewandowski left Google. He founded another startup company about autonomous 0:03:28.440 --> 0:03:34.160 trucking actually, and ultimately Uber acquired that company in but 0:03:34.480 --> 0:03:40.200 Google executives accused Lewandowski of having illegally downloaded and saved 0:03:40.240 --> 0:03:43.920 Google documents to a personal device before he left the company, 0:03:44.200 --> 0:03:48.200 and that Uber was then benefiting from technology that was 0:03:48.320 --> 0:03:53.320 owned by Google. Uber would eventually fire Lewandowski in seventeen 0:03:53.480 --> 0:03:56.520 over All of this and several legal cases would follow 0:03:56.680 --> 0:03:59.760 with Lewandowski eventually standing trial for the theft of trade 0:03:59.800 --> 0:04:03.920 c grits. Lewandowski pled guilty to one charge of such 0:04:04.000 --> 0:04:07.800 theft in August, and the judge sentenced him to eighteen 0:04:07.800 --> 0:04:12.640 months in prison while dismissing all the other counts. The 0:04:12.720 --> 0:04:17.680 judge actually kept on commenting on Lewandowski being a genius 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:20.400 and having a need for Lewandowski's genius in the world. 0:04:21.120 --> 0:04:24.800 I have some opinions about that, but I'll leave it. Oh, 0:04:24.800 --> 0:04:28.000 and a fun tad bit about Lewandowski. He also established 0:04:28.000 --> 0:04:31.680 a religion called Way of the Future, which looks to 0:04:31.720 --> 0:04:37.719 the eventual design and ascension of an artificially intelligent deity. Essentially, 0:04:37.760 --> 0:04:40.120 the idea is that sooner or later, we're going to 0:04:40.279 --> 0:04:43.560 create an AI far more capable with dealing with problems 0:04:43.600 --> 0:04:46.760 than we puny mortals are, and we should prepare the 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:50.960 way for such an entity. I have no idea how 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:54.960 sincere Lewandowski is about this endeavor, or if this is 0:04:55.000 --> 0:04:58.039 an example of, let's say, a creative way to raise 0:04:58.120 --> 0:05:01.800 funds and attacks exempt environ nament. Because in the United States, 0:05:02.440 --> 0:05:10.039 religious uh well officially recognized religious organizations are tax exempt, 0:05:10.560 --> 0:05:15.279 the United States would gain access to Instagram's Reels feature 0:05:15.640 --> 0:05:19.400 in August. Reels that's r E e l S is 0:05:19.520 --> 0:05:23.880 essentially Facebook or Instagram's answer to TikTok, and it lets 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:27.800 users record short videos to share an Instagram. From what 0:05:28.000 --> 0:05:32.039 I can tell, the most popular versions of these videos 0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:36.200 tend to either be cute little animal videos or young 0:05:36.240 --> 0:05:40.240 women doing the same five dances over and over. But 0:05:40.600 --> 0:05:43.880 I'm also old and grouchy, so I acknowledge that this 0:05:43.920 --> 0:05:46.400 is a technology that wasn't meant for me, and I 0:05:46.440 --> 0:05:48.760 am out of touch with today's youth, and also get 0:05:48.800 --> 0:05:52.400 off my lawn. More seriously, I would argue that this 0:05:52.440 --> 0:05:55.520 is another example of Facebook trying to fend off any 0:05:55.600 --> 0:05:59.719 attempts from any other company to pull eyeballs away from 0:05:59.720 --> 0:06:04.479 face Book and Instagram. TikTok is really popular, particularly with 0:06:04.600 --> 0:06:08.040 younger people, and every moment someone is looking at TikTok, 0:06:08.560 --> 0:06:12.400 they're not looking at Instagram or Facebook, and to Facebook, 0:06:12.480 --> 0:06:15.919 that's a big problem. Thus we get reels, and I 0:06:15.960 --> 0:06:18.560 think for some people reels will be really useful as 0:06:18.560 --> 0:06:22.000 they've already established a big following on Instagram, so they 0:06:22.040 --> 0:06:24.119 don't have to do all the work all over again 0:06:24.160 --> 0:06:27.239 on TikTok. But for other people, it will just seem 0:06:27.279 --> 0:06:30.880 like a lame copycat of an existing service. We saw 0:06:31.040 --> 0:06:34.920 Uber's delivery service grow to be larger than its rideshare 0:06:35.080 --> 0:06:37.680 service in August. Now that isn't that big of a 0:06:37.720 --> 0:06:41.960 surprise for a world that's affected by the pandemic. Fewer 0:06:42.000 --> 0:06:45.080 people were going out needing a ride to places, and 0:06:45.160 --> 0:06:47.400 lots of folks needed stuff to be delivered to them, 0:06:47.400 --> 0:06:49.800 so all of this tracks, but it marked a big 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:53.479 shift in the company's momentum. Keep in mind, however, that 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:58.640 Uber has never been profitable, not since it was first launched. 0:06:59.040 --> 0:07:02.080 Uber doesn't pull enough revenue to cover all its costs, 0:07:02.120 --> 0:07:06.280 which means the company needs regular cash injections from investors 0:07:06.279 --> 0:07:09.159 in order to keep going. Company executives say that Uber 0:07:09.240 --> 0:07:11.640 uses much of its earnings to invest in growth, and 0:07:11.720 --> 0:07:14.920 that's where the problem is. That Uber is is spending 0:07:14.960 --> 0:07:17.960 money in order to grow larger, and if they didn't, 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:22.280 then the company would be profitable. Interestingly, way back in February, 0:07:22.560 --> 0:07:24.840 Uber executive said that they saw the potential to be 0:07:24.880 --> 0:07:28.600 profitable by the end of and then the rest of happened. 0:07:28.600 --> 0:07:31.960 But hey, you know, it's complicated and you can't predict 0:07:31.960 --> 0:07:35.880 the pandemic also around this time, and could grief. I 0:07:35.920 --> 0:07:38.560 can't believe this happened this year because it feels like 0:07:38.680 --> 0:07:42.520 it was a lifetime ago. President Trump issued an executive 0:07:42.600 --> 0:07:46.400 order that was demanding services like TikTok and we Chat, 0:07:46.760 --> 0:07:50.360 W E, C, H A T would receive bands from 0:07:50.400 --> 0:07:54.320 operating in the United States unless their respective parent companies, 0:07:54.360 --> 0:07:58.000 both of them Chinese companies, were to divest themselves of 0:07:58.040 --> 0:08:02.160 those properties. The initial order created a deadline of forty 0:08:02.200 --> 0:08:05.800 five days. Questions immediately popped up over whether the president 0:08:05.800 --> 0:08:09.240 actually had the authority to do this or to enforce it, 0:08:09.640 --> 0:08:11.560 and a lot of eyes were on TikTok and to 0:08:11.640 --> 0:08:14.920 a lesser extent, we Chat to see what would happen next. 0:08:15.280 --> 0:08:17.800 So let's go ahead and follow through with that story. 0:08:18.120 --> 0:08:21.280 The deadline got an extension, mostly due to the Trump 0:08:21.320 --> 0:08:24.880 administration not actually taking the steps necessary to do anything 0:08:24.880 --> 0:08:28.520 about TikTok after it remained with its parent company. Meanwhile, 0:08:28.840 --> 0:08:31.520 TikTok pursued a court case to get a judgment on 0:08:31.560 --> 0:08:34.040 the legality of the order in the first place. A 0:08:34.080 --> 0:08:38.200 federal judge issued a preliminary injunction against the band, so 0:08:39.000 --> 0:08:43.199 that removed that threat and then in November, the US 0:08:43.280 --> 0:08:46.200 Commerce Department issued a statement that said it wouldn't enforce 0:08:46.280 --> 0:08:51.280 the executive order abiding by the judges injunction. And then 0:08:51.559 --> 0:08:55.920 in early December, a second federal judge issued another preliminary 0:08:55.960 --> 0:09:00.679 injunction against any bands on the service within the United States. Now, 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:05.040 the matter is not yet settled. The President's efforts largely 0:09:05.080 --> 0:09:08.679 have been ineffective so far. It probably doesn't help that 0:09:08.760 --> 0:09:11.720 there's a story from back in June about TikTok users 0:09:12.040 --> 0:09:16.360 securing tickets to a Trump rally, and they subsequently did 0:09:16.360 --> 0:09:19.040 not go to that Trump rally, so that inflated the 0:09:19.120 --> 0:09:22.240 pre event attendance numbers made a look like the event 0:09:22.280 --> 0:09:24.880 was going to be a sellout, but then it was 0:09:24.920 --> 0:09:29.840 only modestly attended, and that was a big uh, kind 0:09:29.840 --> 0:09:33.120 of a big thumb, thumb to the nose toward the president. 0:09:33.240 --> 0:09:36.880 So a lot of folks speculated that at least part 0:09:36.920 --> 0:09:40.600 of the reason that Trump's actions against TikTok were the 0:09:40.640 --> 0:09:43.920 way they were was because of a personal vendetta. Now, 0:09:43.920 --> 0:09:46.440 whether that's true or not, his attempts to ban it 0:09:46.520 --> 0:09:49.640 in the US have so far failed to make any 0:09:49.720 --> 0:09:53.560 real ground. Even attempts to have American companies take over 0:09:53.640 --> 0:09:57.400 at least some ownership of TikTok have sort of stalled out. 0:09:57.720 --> 0:10:00.960 Early on, Microsoft was in the mix. We all thought 0:10:01.000 --> 0:10:05.439 that Microsoft might actually acquire the US branch of TikTok, 0:10:05.520 --> 0:10:10.240 but more recently it was a combo of Oracle and Walmart. 0:10:10.280 --> 0:10:14.280 The deadline for byte Dance b y t e Dance, 0:10:14.400 --> 0:10:18.320 TikTok's Chinese parent company to sell to those American companies 0:10:18.840 --> 0:10:23.079 was back on December four, which came and went without 0:10:23.120 --> 0:10:27.600 any such transaction. And of course later this month in January, 0:10:28.640 --> 0:10:30.600 will have a new president here in the United States 0:10:30.640 --> 0:10:33.760 and we may see a very different approach or maybe 0:10:33.760 --> 0:10:38.360 not not doing a predictions episode, so we'll see another 0:10:38.440 --> 0:10:41.520 big tech story. One I covered last year was the 0:10:41.559 --> 0:10:44.839 battle between Epic Games and Apple, and to be clear, 0:10:45.600 --> 0:10:48.440 Google was also in this fight, but pretty much all 0:10:48.440 --> 0:10:51.319 the media attention has been on Apple and Epic So 0:10:51.400 --> 0:10:54.600 what is going on? Well, first, we have to understand 0:10:54.720 --> 0:10:57.520 a major part of Apple's business plan. If there is 0:10:57.600 --> 0:11:02.080 any sort of monetary exchange, either to purchase an app 0:11:02.200 --> 0:11:06.040 from the app store or to make purchases within an app, 0:11:06.280 --> 0:11:08.240 and that last part is important. It has to all 0:11:08.360 --> 0:11:11.320 be within an app, then Apple will get a thirty 0:11:11.400 --> 0:11:15.240 percent cut of those transactions. And when I say in 0:11:15.360 --> 0:11:18.240 app purchases, I do mean that the experience or the 0:11:18.320 --> 0:11:21.800 result of the purchase is also within the app. If 0:11:21.840 --> 0:11:24.280 you make an app that allows you to order physical 0:11:24.360 --> 0:11:27.720 services or goods that are outside the app, like a 0:11:27.880 --> 0:11:32.000 ride hailing app right like Uber or lift, or Airbnb's 0:11:32.200 --> 0:11:36.439 booking app or delivery service app, those in app transactions 0:11:36.480 --> 0:11:42.199 are exempt from that cut. But if you are to say, 0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:45.720 create a game, and you create a game where players 0:11:45.760 --> 0:11:49.240 can buy something within the game itself, you know, maybe 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:52.040 the change the way the game looks or plays that 0:11:52.080 --> 0:11:56.120 would qualify for that thirty percent cut. Well, Epic Games 0:11:56.200 --> 0:11:59.600 makes a lot of stuff, including the game Fortnite and 0:11:59.720 --> 0:12:02.000 Play by the Rules. It would mean that when gamers 0:12:02.040 --> 0:12:04.600 would purchase in game currency and Fortnite to spend on 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:09.720 stuff like character skins, which are just cosmetic changes within 0:12:09.760 --> 0:12:13.680 the game, Apple would get a thirty cut of that transaction. Google, 0:12:13.720 --> 0:12:17.280 by the way, does something similar, so Epic decided to 0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:20.400 do a little sidestep. Epic created a way for gamers 0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:24.760 to buy in game currency outside of the Apple and 0:12:24.800 --> 0:12:28.760 Google apps themselves, but then they could use that currency 0:12:29.160 --> 0:12:32.080 within the apps, and they encouraged players to do that. 0:12:32.160 --> 0:12:35.280 They said, you can buy your currency within the app, 0:12:35.600 --> 0:12:37.000 or you can come out of the app and buy 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:39.679 it there. And essentially they were saying, it's going to 0:12:39.760 --> 0:12:42.840 get more expensive within the app because the fact that 0:12:42.880 --> 0:12:45.720 these companies take a cut means we get less money. 0:12:45.840 --> 0:12:47.640 So we're losing money on the deal. We're gonna have 0:12:47.640 --> 0:12:49.760 to make it more expensive. It just makes more sense 0:12:49.760 --> 0:12:52.080 if you buy the currency this other way. That way 0:12:52.120 --> 0:12:54.480 you don't have to spend as much to get a 0:12:54.520 --> 0:13:00.280 certain amount of virtual currency. So that was the the scheme, 0:13:00.520 --> 0:13:03.480 and Apple did not take this attempt to bypass in 0:13:03.600 --> 0:13:07.000 app purchases kindly, and they quickly removed Fortnite from the 0:13:07.040 --> 0:13:10.320 app store. Moreover, the company threatened to cut Epic off 0:13:10.360 --> 0:13:14.559 from developing for iOS devices entirely, which would mean that 0:13:14.640 --> 0:13:18.200 not only would the game never receive another update, other 0:13:18.280 --> 0:13:21.520 stuff like a popular game engine used by lots of 0:13:21.559 --> 0:13:24.880 different game developers, not just Epic, would end up going 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:29.000 unsupported because Epic oversees it. So Epic argue that this 0:13:29.040 --> 0:13:33.360 measure was overreach and it represented any competitive and monopolistic practices. 0:13:33.960 --> 0:13:37.080 The matter went to court with judges ultimately decided that 0:13:37.480 --> 0:13:40.480 while Apple has no obligation to return Fortnite to the 0:13:40.480 --> 0:13:42.959 App Store, so that that ban is still in place, 0:13:43.440 --> 0:13:47.120 Apple cannot go so far as to block all development 0:13:47.160 --> 0:13:51.880 on iOS from Epic. Now that battle continues today, with 0:13:51.920 --> 0:13:55.360 Epic leading a pr campaign to try and get influencers 0:13:55.400 --> 0:13:58.800 to buy into a boycott of Apple products. More legal 0:13:58.800 --> 0:14:01.800 battles are to come, and recently a judge denied Apple's 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:05.400 request to place limits on how much Apple CEO Tim 0:14:05.480 --> 0:14:08.640 Cook will have to testify at the trial. They were 0:14:08.640 --> 0:14:10.800 trying to restrict it to a certain number of hours 0:14:10.880 --> 0:14:13.520 of testimony, and the judge said, no, you can't do that. 0:14:14.200 --> 0:14:17.840 Also distantly related to all this, Apple announced in November 0:14:17.880 --> 0:14:22.920 that it would cut that commission in half to for 0:14:23.040 --> 0:14:27.040 small app makers, which Apple defines as makers who have 0:14:27.280 --> 0:14:31.200 made less than one million dollars in net sales. Now, 0:14:31.240 --> 0:14:33.600 the step just a bit out of the United States, 0:14:33.600 --> 0:14:38.280 because I know these episodes have been almost almost exclusively 0:14:38.400 --> 0:14:42.080 US focused. In mid August, a cyber attack in Canada 0:14:42.160 --> 0:14:46.560 necessitated the government to shut down most government operated online accounts. 0:14:47.320 --> 0:14:51.160 Reports were circulating that at the peak of the attack, 0:14:51.600 --> 0:14:54.200 there were as many as three hundred thousand attempts to 0:14:54.240 --> 0:14:58.680 gain unauthorized access of government accounts. The attackers were using 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:01.840 a method called credenti shoal stuffing, in which they had 0:15:01.880 --> 0:15:05.400 gained access to user names and passwords through other means 0:15:05.440 --> 0:15:10.520 such as fishing and you know, uh, social manipulation, and 0:15:10.560 --> 0:15:15.160 they were using those credentials on the various Canadian government 0:15:15.200 --> 0:15:17.840 sites and services. And it was a very bad time 0:15:17.840 --> 0:15:20.680 for this to happen, as many Canadian citizens were dependent 0:15:20.800 --> 0:15:25.720 upon government sites to get aid during the pandemic. And 0:15:25.800 --> 0:15:28.840 towards the end of August, Elon Musk showed off a 0:15:28.920 --> 0:15:33.240 brain computer interface. His team had implanted a prototype of 0:15:33.280 --> 0:15:36.440 the neuralink device that they've been working on, and the 0:15:36.480 --> 0:15:40.680 prototype was in a pig named Gertrude. The goal is 0:15:40.720 --> 0:15:42.920 to create a ship that can allow someone to interact 0:15:42.960 --> 0:15:46.320 with computer systems through thought alone, and would be useful 0:15:46.360 --> 0:15:49.200 for people who have a severe lack of mobility or 0:15:49.240 --> 0:15:52.680 other challenges. And of course, I think it's also a 0:15:52.760 --> 0:15:55.800 sign that certain people have a hope that they can 0:15:55.840 --> 0:15:59.360 find a way to boost human capabilities and intelligence through 0:15:59.440 --> 0:16:02.240 computer assistance in the future and have it be a 0:16:02.320 --> 0:16:05.320 two way streets, not just sending commands to a computer, 0:16:06.200 --> 0:16:10.080 but a computer sending useful information back to the human brain. 0:16:10.200 --> 0:16:14.800 Computer interfaces themselves are not new, but traditionally they are 0:16:14.920 --> 0:16:18.240 pretty large systems, and they take a lot of time 0:16:18.280 --> 0:16:20.920 to train both the person who's using it and the 0:16:20.960 --> 0:16:25.680 system itself to work together, and they require invasive brain surgery, 0:16:26.280 --> 0:16:33.200 and generally they are fairly uh modest in capabilities. Those 0:16:33.240 --> 0:16:39.479 capabilities can have enormous benefits to people who otherwise are immobile, 0:16:40.040 --> 0:16:43.160 but it's not like suddenly being able to access the 0:16:43.160 --> 0:16:46.480 Internet just through your brain. When we come back, we'll 0:16:46.520 --> 0:16:49.920 move into the fall of but first let's take a 0:16:50.000 --> 0:17:01.280 quick break. In September twenty twenty, we saw that Zoom 0:17:01.480 --> 0:17:04.240 was going through a zoom boom for reals, because their 0:17:04.240 --> 0:17:08.840 profit was up three thousand three And this is sort 0:17:08.840 --> 0:17:11.920 of the opposite of what had happened to Quimby. The 0:17:12.040 --> 0:17:14.800 use case for Zoom was a perfect fit for people 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:18.200 who suddenly we're finding themselves working from home, and more 0:17:18.240 --> 0:17:20.360 than a few companies by this point in the year 0:17:20.400 --> 0:17:23.800 we're talking about how even in a post pandemic world, 0:17:23.960 --> 0:17:26.560 a lot of employees might still work from home in 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:30.600 the future. I suspect Once all the dust settles from COVID, 0:17:31.000 --> 0:17:34.840 we're gonna see some new big challenges, not the least 0:17:34.880 --> 0:17:37.920 of which will be in the corporate real estate world, 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:40.639 where companies will question whether or not they need to 0:17:40.720 --> 0:17:45.440 maintain expensive office space on their ledgers. Moving forward, one 0:17:45.480 --> 0:17:49.119 thing that may have changed since I recorded this episode 0:17:49.840 --> 0:17:53.719 is the outcome of a struggle between Australia's government and 0:17:53.800 --> 0:17:56.439 Facebook and Google. Not the heart of the matter is 0:17:56.440 --> 0:17:59.679 the Australian media and a determination to make Google and 0:17:59.720 --> 0:18:03.360 face but pay to make use of the original content 0:18:03.800 --> 0:18:08.359 created by Australian media. The proposed legislation, which is not 0:18:08.480 --> 0:18:12.800 yet passed as I record, this would create a negotiation 0:18:12.920 --> 0:18:16.400 space for the media companies and these platforms to come 0:18:16.400 --> 0:18:21.080 together to determine how much value the content represents. Facebook 0:18:21.080 --> 0:18:24.080 and Google have been resisting and objecting to this. They 0:18:24.200 --> 0:18:26.880 have said they're worried it would set a global precedent. 0:18:27.160 --> 0:18:30.800 The Australian government hasn't put up but with much goof 0:18:30.920 --> 0:18:33.919 from them. They have pointed out that these companies are 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:38.080 raking in enormous amounts of revenue in Australia. For Google, 0:18:38.080 --> 0:18:41.800 it's in the billions of dollars, while local media outlets 0:18:41.840 --> 0:18:44.639 are starting to dry up, and the whole issue is 0:18:44.680 --> 0:18:48.560 a complicated one. Honestly, I would need a lot more 0:18:49.200 --> 0:18:51.720 of research to really get to the core of what 0:18:51.920 --> 0:18:55.000 is going on here and what the salient arguments are 0:18:55.080 --> 0:18:58.080 for either side. But perhaps by the time you hear this, 0:18:58.240 --> 0:19:00.960 the Australian government will have enact did this law, or 0:19:01.000 --> 0:19:05.600 amended it, or maybe even dismissed it. Samsung launched a 0:19:05.680 --> 0:19:10.880 foldable smartphone in September that retails for one thousand nine 0:19:12.080 --> 0:19:16.960 dollars a princely some Samsung has had a bit of 0:19:17.000 --> 0:19:21.240 a rocky past with foldable phones, having been burnt in 0:19:21.280 --> 0:19:25.920 twenty nineteen after releasing review models to tech journalists, only 0:19:25.960 --> 0:19:29.159 to recall them a day later due to various issues 0:19:29.160 --> 0:19:32.400 with the phone's durability. But now Samsung has a few 0:19:32.400 --> 0:19:36.639 different folding phones in different formats on the market. Uber 0:19:36.680 --> 0:19:40.960 announced in September that by twenty the company would only 0:19:41.080 --> 0:19:44.719 offer rides in electric vehicles in the US and Europe. 0:19:44.720 --> 0:19:47.880 It was going to go electric only within a decade. 0:19:48.440 --> 0:19:51.480 That's kind of interesting now. The company further stated its 0:19:51.520 --> 0:19:55.119 goal was to be emissions free by twenty forty. The 0:19:55.119 --> 0:19:58.639 announcements timing was likely a response to a report that 0:19:58.720 --> 0:20:02.520 found that Uber vehicles are less climate efficient than the 0:20:02.600 --> 0:20:05.119 average vehicle on the road. So I think that this 0:20:05.240 --> 0:20:08.119 is a bold move by Uber and one that's important, 0:20:08.600 --> 0:20:12.440 and it's important to acknowledge the responsibility of the company 0:20:12.480 --> 0:20:16.760 to help reduce carbon emissions. But it's also in response 0:20:16.800 --> 0:20:20.720 to the fact that it turns out that Uber vehicles 0:20:20.800 --> 0:20:25.080 and presumably other ride sharing vehicles are generating a lot 0:20:25.080 --> 0:20:27.880 more carbon because those vehicles are in motion so much 0:20:27.920 --> 0:20:30.760 more than your average one. Here's a bit of news 0:20:30.840 --> 0:20:34.119 that I didn't hear about when it actually happened. In 0:20:34.200 --> 0:20:38.760 mid September twenty twenty, sales of vinyl record albums were 0:20:38.880 --> 0:20:41.920 greater than compact disc sales for the first time since 0:20:41.960 --> 0:20:45.840 the nineteen eighties. Now, granted, the purchase of physical media 0:20:45.880 --> 0:20:48.680 in general has been in decline for several years now. 0:20:49.000 --> 0:20:52.240 Most of us are accessing our music on streaming services 0:20:52.320 --> 0:20:55.720 rather than purchasing physical albums. But still, as someone who 0:20:55.760 --> 0:20:58.719 loves vinyl and occasionally collects a little bit of it, 0:20:58.960 --> 0:21:01.600 I have a very model collection. I don't I'm not 0:21:01.640 --> 0:21:04.680 one of those people who has like a garage stuffed 0:21:04.680 --> 0:21:07.200 with records, but This kind of gave me the warm fuzzies. 0:21:07.760 --> 0:21:12.320 The Mega Corporation soft Bank sold the British semiconductor chip 0:21:12.359 --> 0:21:17.280 company ARM two VideA for forty billion dollars in September. 0:21:17.600 --> 0:21:19.840 You can learn more about ARM and a couple of 0:21:19.880 --> 0:21:23.720 episodes are recorded back in so check the archives because 0:21:23.760 --> 0:21:27.160 it is a fascinating company and a great story. Nintendo 0:21:27.280 --> 0:21:31.200 announced it would discontinue the Nintendo three DS handheld console 0:21:31.280 --> 0:21:34.560 in September. I remember being at E three a decade 0:21:34.600 --> 0:21:37.679 ago and seeing the debut of the three DS. The 0:21:37.720 --> 0:21:40.760 three D S line was the successor to the older 0:21:40.880 --> 0:21:44.600 Nintendo d S systems and traces its lineage back to 0:21:44.640 --> 0:21:48.320 the old Game Boy days. The announcement meant that Nintendo 0:21:48.400 --> 0:21:52.080 would be focusing solely on the Nintendo Switch from a 0:21:52.119 --> 0:21:56.920 hardware standpoint, so that line of handheld consoles is no more. 0:21:57.600 --> 0:22:01.080 Sticking with game news, Microsoft and it was acquiring a 0:22:01.119 --> 0:22:04.880 company called Zeni Max for seven point five billion dollars, 0:22:05.240 --> 0:22:08.600 which might not mean much to most people, but Zenni 0:22:08.680 --> 0:22:12.800 Max is the parent company to Bethesda, a famous video 0:22:12.840 --> 0:22:16.879 game development studio. Bethesda is known for series like the 0:22:17.080 --> 0:22:20.800 recent Doom games, uh for the Fallout games and for 0:22:20.920 --> 0:22:24.359 the Elder Scrolls games. In recent years, the company has 0:22:24.400 --> 0:22:28.800 put out a few games that have received a mixed reception, or, 0:22:28.880 --> 0:22:32.000 as was the case with Fallout seventy six, a largely 0:22:32.119 --> 0:22:37.000 negative reaction. Now Bethesda joins other acquisitions like Bungee, the 0:22:37.000 --> 0:22:39.960 company that created the Halo franchise, by becoming part of 0:22:39.960 --> 0:22:43.600 the Microsoft family. Analysts saw this as a huge win 0:22:43.720 --> 0:22:46.640 for Microsoft, which would be able to bring Bethesda's catalog 0:22:46.640 --> 0:22:49.840 of games to the Game Pass service, which is an 0:22:49.880 --> 0:22:53.639 ongoing subscription service that gives gamers access to a wide 0:22:53.760 --> 0:22:57.200 range of games without having to purchase the individual titles. 0:22:57.760 --> 0:23:02.879 Moving on into October, now we're making some progress. We 0:23:02.920 --> 0:23:06.720 saw some new hardware from Google and Apple debut in October. 0:23:07.359 --> 0:23:11.359 Google introduced the Pixel five G smartphone, which seemed to 0:23:11.400 --> 0:23:15.399 indicate that Google was backing away from the super expensive 0:23:15.520 --> 0:23:19.280 luxury phone market. Well, you might spend a thousand dollars 0:23:19.359 --> 0:23:23.240 or more on a premium smartphone from other companies. Google's 0:23:23.280 --> 0:23:27.200 new Pixel five G flagship phone has the bargain budget 0:23:27.320 --> 0:23:33.679 price of SIS. Don't get me wrong, that is still expensive, 0:23:33.840 --> 0:23:37.560 but it's no longer priced in that high range of 0:23:37.760 --> 0:23:40.880 phones on the market. And as the name indicates, it's 0:23:40.920 --> 0:23:44.000 compatible with five G networks. And a couple of weeks 0:23:44.000 --> 0:23:47.120 after that, Apple held its virtual Event to announce four 0:23:47.240 --> 0:23:51.040 new iPhone models. So on the low end you have 0:23:51.119 --> 0:23:54.320 the iPhone twelve Mini, which, like the Pixel five G, 0:23:54.480 --> 0:23:58.600 starts at six. On the other end of the spectrum 0:23:58.680 --> 0:24:02.080 is the iPhone twelve Pro Max, which has a starting 0:24:02.119 --> 0:24:05.840 price of a thousand dollars and it goes up from 0:24:05.880 --> 0:24:09.480 there depending on which model you get. The phone has 0:24:09.520 --> 0:24:12.600 all the features that you've come to expect on an iPhone, 0:24:12.880 --> 0:24:17.000 including incredible cameras. The iPhone twelve Pro and Pro Max 0:24:17.080 --> 0:24:19.280 both have three cameras on the back of the phone. 0:24:19.720 --> 0:24:22.280 The other two models have two cameras on the back. 0:24:23.200 --> 0:24:27.280 Here in Atlanta, we learned that our local American football team, 0:24:27.440 --> 0:24:30.640 the Falcons, would be playing home games in the stadium 0:24:30.720 --> 0:24:35.359 that would be disinfected by drones, which is a weird 0:24:35.560 --> 0:24:38.800 sentence that I didn't think I would ever say. The 0:24:38.840 --> 0:24:43.159 stadium partnered with Lucid Drone Technologies to use drones designated 0:24:43.440 --> 0:24:48.959 D one to distribute disinfectant over the seats, handrails, and 0:24:49.040 --> 0:24:51.840 other parts of the stadium where the audience would sit 0:24:51.920 --> 0:24:55.320 or the fans. The drones have a sort of mister 0:24:55.720 --> 0:24:58.800 or sprinkler attachment on either side of the body that 0:24:58.880 --> 0:25:03.160 points downward, so it flies above these areas and sprays 0:25:03.240 --> 0:25:07.240