WEBVTT - Tech News: Flying Spiders of Mars 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:12.039 --> 0:00:15.159 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. My name is 0:00:15.240 --> 0:00:18.439 Jonathan Strickland. I happened to be an executive producer with 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:21.080 I Heart Radio, and I also happened to love all 0:00:21.280 --> 0:00:28.120 things tech. And this is the tech news for Tuesday, April. Yes, 0:00:28.720 --> 0:00:32.080 it is four twenty, a number that has significance for 0:00:32.120 --> 0:00:35.280 some reason. I wouldn't know, as I am a boring 0:00:35.360 --> 0:00:39.760 old person. No, I mean I know why the number 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:43.160 has significance. I just you know, again, the boring old 0:00:43.159 --> 0:00:46.440 person is absolutely true. I will also say, though, that 0:00:46.560 --> 0:00:50.600 I have enjoyed a dose of something recently, that being 0:00:50.720 --> 0:00:55.000 the second dose of the Fiser vaccine. I got the 0:00:55.040 --> 0:00:57.920 first dose a few weeks ago. Turned out that that's 0:00:57.960 --> 0:00:59.320 the only way they would give it to me. I 0:00:59.320 --> 0:01:01.360 had to take the first dose and then the second dose. 0:01:01.400 --> 0:01:03.760 I tried to convince some to reverse that, and they 0:01:03.760 --> 0:01:06.360 said it doesn't work that way. I will say also 0:01:06.560 --> 0:01:09.760 that the shot itself wasn't bad at all. It did 0:01:09.840 --> 0:01:12.720 make my arm really sore both times, and the second 0:01:12.720 --> 0:01:15.960 time I felt a little icky the evening after I 0:01:16.000 --> 0:01:18.160 got my shot. I got my shot in the afternoon. 0:01:18.360 --> 0:01:20.800 By that evening, I wasn't feeling so great. Next day 0:01:20.920 --> 0:01:24.480 I felt great. The next day I did not feel great. 0:01:24.760 --> 0:01:27.520 So it was a real up and down. But I 0:01:27.560 --> 0:01:30.920 have received both of those shots, and a couple of 0:01:30.959 --> 0:01:33.559 weeks I should be fully vaccinated. I'll still be wearing 0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:36.960 a mask. I'll still be socially distancing, because I want 0:01:37.000 --> 0:01:39.720 to be as safe as possible, not just for myself, 0:01:40.120 --> 0:01:43.080 but for others in my community and their loved ones. 0:01:43.680 --> 0:01:46.720 And I urge all of those listening who have the 0:01:46.800 --> 0:01:51.800 opportunity to get vaccinated to do so. I realized it 0:01:51.840 --> 0:01:55.040 can be difficult depending on where you are. It was 0:01:55.280 --> 0:01:57.120 a bit of a challenge here in Georgia. If I'm 0:01:57.160 --> 0:02:00.400 being honest, we are a state that is still ruggling 0:02:00.440 --> 0:02:02.720 to get up to speed with the rest of the US. 0:02:03.320 --> 0:02:06.560 But I like being able to see light at the 0:02:06.600 --> 0:02:09.960 end of the tunnel stay safe. The more we do that, 0:02:10.160 --> 0:02:13.280 the fewer variants we will see, and the better chance 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:18.480 we'll have of establishing a normal that doesn't involve everybody 0:02:18.600 --> 0:02:21.040 staying at home all the time. All right, got all 0:02:21.040 --> 0:02:23.680 that all the way, Let's move on to some tech news. 0:02:24.600 --> 0:02:28.280 My top story is that ingenuity a k a. The 0:02:28.400 --> 0:02:34.000 little experimental drone helicopter that could has taken its first 0:02:34.120 --> 0:02:39.680 flight on Mars. This was the high risk experiment, meaning 0:02:39.720 --> 0:02:42.960 that there was never any guarantee of success. The engineers 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:45.839 here on Earth could only try and design an autonomous 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:48.800 flying vehicle and hope that it would work in Mars' 0:02:49.080 --> 0:02:55.680 thin atmosphere. And it did work. This is incredibly exciting news, 0:02:55.760 --> 0:02:57.799 at least to me, and I assume for at least 0:02:57.800 --> 0:03:00.520 some of you out there as well. Because of the 0:03:00.560 --> 0:03:04.079 distance between Earth and Mars, Ingenuity had actually made its 0:03:04.120 --> 0:03:09.000 flight and landed several minutes before we knew about it. 0:03:09.000 --> 0:03:12.440 It takes time for signals to travel that much distance 0:03:12.480 --> 0:03:16.959 between Earth and Mars, and so Earth celebrated hearing about 0:03:16.960 --> 0:03:20.560 it around sixty six in the morning Eastern Time, but 0:03:20.800 --> 0:03:24.320 Ingenuity had technically set its feet down on the soil 0:03:24.360 --> 0:03:28.240 for more than ten minutes. The delay in signals means 0:03:28.320 --> 0:03:32.200 that it is impossible for a human pilot to guide Ingenuity. 0:03:32.280 --> 0:03:35.000 There's just a ten minute lag is just way too much, 0:03:35.320 --> 0:03:38.360 and that's why it has to be an autonomous device. 0:03:39.240 --> 0:03:44.840 Ingenuity spun its rotors at around revolutions per minute. Helicopters 0:03:44.880 --> 0:03:47.560 back here on Earth average out at around four hundred 0:03:47.600 --> 0:03:50.480 to five d rpm, and that was just to generate 0:03:50.640 --> 0:03:53.920 enough lift to carry this very light device through the 0:03:54.040 --> 0:03:58.440 thin Martian atmosphere. The flight lasted about thirty nine point 0:03:58.480 --> 0:04:02.120 one seconds. It re an altitude of around ten feet 0:04:02.240 --> 0:04:05.520 or three meters, and NASA may conduct as many as 0:04:05.560 --> 0:04:09.200 four additional test flights if Ingenuity is up for it. 0:04:09.720 --> 0:04:13.000 The little chopper hitched a ride with the rover Perseverance, 0:04:13.320 --> 0:04:18.240 but unlike the rover, Ingenuity isn't carrying any scientific equipment. 0:04:18.720 --> 0:04:22.080 It has a camera so it can take pictures, and 0:04:22.160 --> 0:04:25.120 it has the sensors it needs to achieve flight and 0:04:25.160 --> 0:04:28.560 maintain flight, but that's about it. So this is really 0:04:29.040 --> 0:04:33.520 the beginning of something really exciting. It means that NASA 0:04:33.560 --> 0:04:38.280 and other space agencies could potentially design other autonomous aircraft 0:04:38.720 --> 0:04:43.240 that can perform actual scientific observations in Martian atmosphere down 0:04:43.320 --> 0:04:46.360 the road, which is pretty darn neat if you ask me. 0:04:47.320 --> 0:04:50.479 Over the weekend, a couple of cryptocurrency stories lead to 0:04:50.560 --> 0:04:55.520 Bitcoin's value dropping fairly quickly, almost like I picked the 0:04:55.520 --> 0:04:59.120 wrong week to invest in cryptocurrencies now. For one, the 0:04:59.240 --> 0:05:03.080 Nation of turn Key has banned crypto payments arguing that 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:08.960 cryptocurrency represents possible transaction risks and could lead to irreparable damage. 0:05:09.320 --> 0:05:12.799 As such, the country's government forbids the use of cryptocurrencies 0:05:12.800 --> 0:05:16.400 to pay for goods or services in the country of Turkey. 0:05:16.680 --> 0:05:21.080 The lack of regulation was really the big sticking factor apparently, 0:05:21.400 --> 0:05:24.080 and I have some thoughts on this now. It's no 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:28.320 secret that I think bitcoin is a pretty lousy currency 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:31.159 because the value of the coin is so volatile. It 0:05:31.160 --> 0:05:34.520 would be like waking up to find that one day 0:05:34.640 --> 0:05:37.560 a dollar bill could buy you a candy bar, and 0:05:37.600 --> 0:05:40.520 the next day you find out that dollar bill could 0:05:40.520 --> 0:05:43.719 buy you a dozen candy bars, and maybe in a 0:05:43.760 --> 0:05:46.159 year or two, that dollar bill would be able to 0:05:46.160 --> 0:05:50.479 buy you an entire candy store, all with just one dollar. 0:05:50.640 --> 0:05:55.200 The dollar didn't change, it's it's purchasing value changed. But 0:05:55.320 --> 0:05:59.040 this is an issue that could potentially work out much 0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:01.240 further down the road and the future, should the value 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:05.800 of bitcoin stabilize. And there's no reason that you'd ever 0:06:06.040 --> 0:06:09.080 use a single bitcoin for purchase. You're far more likely 0:06:09.120 --> 0:06:11.640 to use just a tiny fraction of a bitcoin to 0:06:11.680 --> 0:06:15.120 do it. In fact, the vast majority of bitcoin owners 0:06:15.480 --> 0:06:19.719 don't own a whole bitcoin anyway. That's a different matter 0:06:19.839 --> 0:06:23.440 than to suggest that the transactions themselves are risky. And 0:06:23.480 --> 0:06:26.560 I know I've talked about bitcoin exclusively, but this really 0:06:26.600 --> 0:06:31.440 applies to all cryptocurrencies. They just aren't all as volatile 0:06:31.600 --> 0:06:35.400 or valued as Bitcoin happens to be. I would say 0:06:35.400 --> 0:06:39.719 that the blockchain approach is actually very much not risky. 0:06:39.800 --> 0:06:44.760 I would argue it's incredibly stable and visible. I suppose 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:47.359 you could argue that it would be risky if, for 0:06:47.440 --> 0:06:50.560 whatever reason the value of the coin drops drastically, but 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:54.680 that can happen with fiat currencies, that can happen with anything, 0:06:55.120 --> 0:06:59.799 So this move seems a bit disingenuous to me. Maybe 0:06:59.800 --> 0:07:03.080 it's more that if it's outside the control of the government, 0:07:03.200 --> 0:07:07.120 it's scary that kind of thing. After the announcement, Bitcoin's 0:07:07.320 --> 0:07:09.840 value took a hit and it dropped about four percent 0:07:09.880 --> 0:07:14.280 in value. However, it was still above sixty tho dollars 0:07:14.400 --> 0:07:17.800 for the moment. Now that leads to the next story, 0:07:17.880 --> 0:07:21.680 because I mean it got worse for bitcoin. On Saturday. 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:25.200 It dropped again in value. A massive amount of bitcoin 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:27.960 was sold off, and that meant that there was a 0:07:27.960 --> 0:07:31.040 flood of bitcoins into the market. And that dropped the 0:07:31.120 --> 0:07:34.120 value of bitcoin compared to the US dollar. And it's 0:07:34.160 --> 0:07:38.200 a basic supply and demand thing. When supply ends up 0:07:38.760 --> 0:07:44.360 suddenly increasing, then you typically see the price dropped because 0:07:44.400 --> 0:07:49.880 the demand is now overshadowed by supply. So now that 0:07:50.240 --> 0:07:53.520 sixty five thousand dollar bitcoin is down to about fifty 0:07:53.680 --> 0:07:58.400 six thousand dollars, it's a nine thousand dollar drop. Amusing 0:07:58.480 --> 0:08:01.400 estimates because the value change just so much, and a 0:08:01.520 --> 0:08:03.920 nine thousand dollar drop is a lot of money, but 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:06.920 fifty six thousand dollars is a lot of money. However, 0:08:07.120 --> 0:08:09.080 it means that if you were someone who had been 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:12.480 investing in bitcoin just as it was hitting sixty dollars, 0:08:12.920 --> 0:08:15.520 now you would see the value of that investment has 0:08:15.600 --> 0:08:19.600 just dropped a pretty significant amount. Some outlets have used 0:08:19.640 --> 0:08:23.680 the word plunge to describe bitcoin's value, but I think 0:08:23.720 --> 0:08:28.320 that's a bit too alarmist and extreme. So you might ask, 0:08:28.360 --> 0:08:31.280 why was there this big flood of bitcoins sold back 0:08:31.320 --> 0:08:36.559 into the market, why were they converted over? Well, the 0:08:36.559 --> 0:08:39.439 the answer for that is not entirely clear, but there 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:42.199 are a few theories, and one is that investors who 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:45.280 were attempting to buy bitcoin on margin had their margin. 0:08:45.400 --> 0:08:49.640 Called buying on margin is when an investor puts up 0:08:49.720 --> 0:08:53.040 some money as collateral for a loan of more money 0:08:53.400 --> 0:08:56.320 in order to make an investment. So, for example, let's 0:08:56.320 --> 0:08:59.800 say I wanted to invest ten thousand dollars in bitcoin, 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:03.320 but I've only scraped together five thousand dollars. Well, I 0:09:03.320 --> 0:09:06.560 could buy on margin by putting up my five grand 0:09:06.760 --> 0:09:09.720 as collateral and then getting a loan for the ten 0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:13.480 thousand dollars, which then I put into bitcoin. But the 0:09:13.600 --> 0:09:16.840 lender at any time could end up calling my margin 0:09:17.360 --> 0:09:20.840 and they demand I repay their loan of ten thousand dollars. 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:23.679 Now that five thousand dollar collateral will go to some 0:09:23.760 --> 0:09:26.040 of that, but I have to cover the rest. And 0:09:26.160 --> 0:09:29.920 if the price of bitcoin has dropped significantly, it would 0:09:29.960 --> 0:09:32.320 mean that I'm out a good deal of money. So 0:09:32.360 --> 0:09:36.440 sometimes people who lend on margin are asking for the 0:09:36.480 --> 0:09:40.120 payment back if they perceive a drop in value. So, 0:09:40.160 --> 0:09:44.079 in other words, Turkey says, we don't want to use 0:09:44.120 --> 0:09:48.160 cryptocurrency in our country. Bitcoin's value takes a hit, the 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:50.720 lenders say, I don't want to lose money on this, 0:09:50.760 --> 0:09:53.360 so I'm gonna call in my margins now. And then 0:09:53.440 --> 0:09:55.280 you have a bunch of investors who are selling off 0:09:55.320 --> 0:09:59.800 bitcoin in order to cover their margin, uh and not 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:02.920 to lose too much money. That would in turn mean 0:10:03.000 --> 0:10:05.280 that you get this flood of bitcoins, saying the market 0:10:05.960 --> 0:10:09.160 and the value could take another hit, dropping like fi 0:10:09.920 --> 0:10:14.600 Insto just four. But that's just one possible theory. Another 0:10:14.840 --> 0:10:18.920 is that it may be that a couple of major 0:10:19.000 --> 0:10:23.160 cryptocurrency owners, which the current the community tends to refer 0:10:23.200 --> 0:10:27.080 to as whales, sold off a lot of coin in 0:10:27.120 --> 0:10:30.080 the hope of making that price drop. And here's the 0:10:30.120 --> 0:10:36.640 logic behind that. Okay, you are a fat cat whale, 0:10:36.920 --> 0:10:39.360 which I realized is combining a lot of animals. But 0:10:39.440 --> 0:10:41.280 you've got a ton of bitcoin, is what I'm trying 0:10:41.320 --> 0:10:44.240 to say. And for the scenario, let's say that the 0:10:44.240 --> 0:10:47.560 bitcoin is valued at sixty five thousand U S dollars 0:10:47.600 --> 0:10:51.760 per bitcoin. You've got tons of these things, so you decide, hey, 0:10:51.840 --> 0:10:55.160 I'm gonna really make some money, and you convert your 0:10:55.160 --> 0:10:59.200 bitcoins into US dollars. You're effectively selling your bitcoins back 0:10:59.200 --> 0:11:02.559 into the market. You make billions of dollars because you've 0:11:02.600 --> 0:11:06.560 got so many bitcoins. But by offloading all those bitcoins, 0:11:06.920 --> 0:11:10.480 it causes the value of bitcoin itself to drop down 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:14.240 and it ends up settling around fifty six thousand dollars 0:11:14.240 --> 0:11:20.200 per bitcoin. Now you buy back all those bitcoins you sold, 0:11:20.520 --> 0:11:24.440 plus some extra because you've made a lot of US dollars, 0:11:24.480 --> 0:11:27.280 and now the bitcoin compared to the US dollar is 0:11:27.280 --> 0:11:29.600 worth slightly less than it was before, so you can 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:31.920 actually buy more of it, and then you just wait 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:36.360 for the bitcoin value to grow again. So occasionally you 0:11:36.440 --> 0:11:41.120 might dump a ton of cryptocurrency, dropping the value of 0:11:41.120 --> 0:11:44.080 the currency as the in the process, then buy it 0:11:44.120 --> 0:11:47.400 back and make it into a long term investment. That 0:11:47.480 --> 0:11:49.840 means like you'd be safe from stuff. I mean, if 0:11:49.960 --> 0:11:53.160 worst case scenario, you you just get out of the market, 0:11:53.200 --> 0:11:55.160 you've got billions of dollars which you can, you know, 0:11:55.240 --> 0:12:00.600 do whatever you want with, but other investors could end 0:12:00.679 --> 0:12:04.240 up suffering, at least in the short term. So it's 0:12:04.320 --> 0:12:06.720 it's a move that a lot of people in the 0:12:06.720 --> 0:12:11.240 cryptocurrency community considered to be um dirty pool, I guess 0:12:11.280 --> 0:12:16.520 you could say. Meanwhile, one problem that bitcoin has, whether 0:12:16.640 --> 0:12:19.679 the value is high or low, is that the process 0:12:19.760 --> 0:12:24.920 of mining bitcoins requires a lot of electricity, and this 0:12:25.000 --> 0:12:28.200 is directly tied to bitcoin's value. So we have to 0:12:28.200 --> 0:12:31.800 talk about how bitcoin mining works from a very very 0:12:31.920 --> 0:12:36.840 high level. So essentially, the way bitcoin mining works is 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:41.559 that computers all connected to the Bitcoin network compete against 0:12:41.640 --> 0:12:44.840 each other in an effort to guess a really big number. 0:12:45.160 --> 0:12:47.800 Now I'm oversimplifying a bit here, but that's the basic idea. 0:12:48.320 --> 0:12:51.960 So the computer that does guess the correct really big 0:12:52.040 --> 0:12:56.560 number first effectively verifies a block of transactions for the 0:12:56.559 --> 0:13:00.120 blockchain and is rewarded in return with a certain or 0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:04.280 of bitcoins. The number of bitcoins gradually decreases over time, 0:13:04.440 --> 0:13:07.880 but right now it's at six point two five bitcoins 0:13:07.880 --> 0:13:11.400 per block, and about a hundred forty four blocks get 0:13:11.400 --> 0:13:15.720 mined every single day. And since each bitcoin is worth 0:13:15.760 --> 0:13:19.280 more than fifty thou dollars, that adds up to a 0:13:19.320 --> 0:13:23.280 lot of money. So if you buy a really fast computer, 0:13:23.720 --> 0:13:29.120 like Screaming Lee Fast, even if that means you're sinking 0:13:29.280 --> 0:13:33.359 thousands of dollars into buying that computer, you could potentially 0:13:33.640 --> 0:13:36.360 make all that back through mining, as long as your 0:13:36.400 --> 0:13:39.560 computer is faster than all the others on the Bitcoin 0:13:39.640 --> 0:13:43.840 network at guessing that really big number. Except we are 0:13:43.960 --> 0:13:47.640 well beyond talking about just fast computers. Were now up 0:13:47.679 --> 0:13:53.120 to fast computer networks and server farms running multiple graphics 0:13:53.160 --> 0:13:56.480 processing units in parallel trying to guess these numbers, and 0:13:56.559 --> 0:14:00.719 these networks require an enormous amount of like tricity as 0:14:00.720 --> 0:14:02.760 they try to be the first to get to that 0:14:02.840 --> 0:14:06.920 solution before any other computer can manage it. As the 0:14:06.960 --> 0:14:11.280 price of bitcoin goes up, the competition gets more fierce. Now, 0:14:11.320 --> 0:14:14.360 at some point we should reach a stage in which 0:14:14.400 --> 0:14:17.240 the rewards you get from mining a block will be 0:14:17.320 --> 0:14:21.120 small enough that the computer systems will drop off the 0:14:21.160 --> 0:14:24.200 network because it would actually cost more money to run 0:14:24.320 --> 0:14:28.120 the systems than you would make in mining, so you 0:14:28.160 --> 0:14:30.080 would be it would be a losing proposition. You'd be 0:14:30.120 --> 0:14:33.680 spending more money just paying for electricity. Then you would 0:14:33.720 --> 0:14:38.160 get out of the successful blocks that you mind. At 0:14:38.160 --> 0:14:41.280 that point, the number that computers have to guess will 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:44.840 actually be easier to guess. The guessing game gets harder 0:14:45.240 --> 0:14:49.040 as more computational power is directed at getting the right answer. 0:14:49.200 --> 0:14:52.920 It's a dynamic system, which is pretty cool, But this 0:14:53.000 --> 0:14:56.640 means that more electricity goes into mining bitcoins right now 0:14:57.120 --> 0:15:00.040 than is used by some countries on a day a 0:15:00.080 --> 0:15:04.000 league basis. That blows my mind. Well, China recently responded 0:15:04.040 --> 0:15:09.120 to this problem. Inner Mongolia is the world leader when 0:15:09.120 --> 0:15:12.320 it comes to bitcoin mining. It's responsible for eight percent 0:15:12.440 --> 0:15:17.480 of all bitcoin mining, largely because Inner Mongolia is an 0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:20.600 industrial region within China. You've got a lot of fossil 0:15:20.680 --> 0:15:25.680 fuel mining and UH power companies located in Inner Mongolia. 0:15:25.960 --> 0:15:30.000 So electricity in Inner Mongolia is significantly cheaper than it 0:15:30.080 --> 0:15:32.760 is in other parts of the world. So that means 0:15:33.200 --> 0:15:37.920 that your profit margins of running a mining cryptocurrency operation 0:15:38.400 --> 0:15:41.840 in Inner Mongolia are much better. You're spending less money 0:15:41.920 --> 0:15:45.160 just to run the systems. UH. The United States, by 0:15:45.160 --> 0:15:47.280 the way, is that seven point two percent of all 0:15:47.320 --> 0:15:50.200 bitcoin mining, So that shows you Inner Mongolia, just one 0:15:50.240 --> 0:15:54.120 region in China, is responsible for more bitcoin mining than 0:15:54.240 --> 0:15:58.800 the entire United States. Well. Now, China has banned cryptocurrency 0:15:58.880 --> 0:16:02.280 mining in Inner Mongol y because the electricity requirements have 0:16:02.400 --> 0:16:06.560 led to increased fossil fuel consumption. China has also struggled 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:10.040 between supporting cryptocurrency is a potential way for the country 0:16:10.120 --> 0:16:14.200 to generate wealth versus the fact that as a deregulated, 0:16:14.280 --> 0:16:20.000 decentralized commodity, the Chinese government doesn't really have regulatory authority 0:16:20.120 --> 0:16:23.240 over the currency itself. And man, this just shows that 0:16:23.360 --> 0:16:28.880 it's tough when your greed does battle with your authoritarian sensibilities. 0:16:29.520 --> 0:16:32.840 My heart goes out to China. Over in the UK, 0:16:33.280 --> 0:16:36.520 a regulatory body called the c m A, which focuses 0:16:36.560 --> 0:16:41.320 on preventing, you know, anti competitive practices, raised concerns about 0:16:41.360 --> 0:16:46.400 in Vidio's acquisition of microchip designer ARM. Now. According to 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:49.760 c m A, the concern is that the sale of 0:16:49.840 --> 0:16:54.520 ARM could potentially create national security issues for the United Kingdom. Arm, 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:58.120 I should point out, originated in the UK, and the 0:16:58.240 --> 0:17:03.480 Digital Secretary Oliver Dalton has issued an intervention notice, essentially 0:17:03.520 --> 0:17:06.159 putting the acquisition on hold, so that the c m 0:17:06.240 --> 0:17:09.800 A might ponder whether there would be any national security 0:17:09.840 --> 0:17:14.000 issues should the sale go through. But and Video was 0:17:14.040 --> 0:17:17.520 to purchase ARM from the Japanese mega company soft Bank, 0:17:17.800 --> 0:17:22.600 which first acquired ARM back in so I guess the 0:17:22.640 --> 0:17:26.359 concern is that a non UK company might purchase a 0:17:26.520 --> 0:17:31.120 UK based company from a different non UK company. I mean, 0:17:31.160 --> 0:17:35.520 if if soft Bank could acquire ARM and there were 0:17:35.560 --> 0:17:39.879 no national security issues stopping that acquisition, why does that 0:17:39.960 --> 0:17:45.680 potentially change when the company doing the acquisition is in Video. Still, 0:17:45.800 --> 0:17:50.080 I think it's appropriate to scrutinize big acquisition deals because 0:17:50.119 --> 0:17:52.359 there's always a chance that such a deal will reduce 0:17:52.400 --> 0:17:56.040 competition in the market, which gives consumers fewer choices. It 0:17:56.119 --> 0:18:00.280 leads to some pretty lousy consequences for everybody apart from 0:18:00.320 --> 0:18:04.159 whatever company holds the monopoly. I just didn't anticipate the 0:18:04.240 --> 0:18:07.119 national security angle. I think there's a good reason to 0:18:07.160 --> 0:18:09.960 look into it. I just I mean, I don't see 0:18:09.960 --> 0:18:12.800 where national security comes in. However, I also admit I 0:18:12.840 --> 0:18:15.600 am not an expert on these matters, and I could 0:18:15.640 --> 0:18:22.080 really be missing something really obvious. Finally, starting today, certain 0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:26.680 Xbox Cloud Ultimate subscribers who have a Windows ten PC 0:18:27.080 --> 0:18:29.879 or an Apple phone or tablet will be able to 0:18:29.960 --> 0:18:33.199 stream a selection of about a hundred Xbox games to 0:18:33.320 --> 0:18:37.760 those devices over browsers like Google Chrome, Safari, or of course, 0:18:37.960 --> 0:18:43.159 Microsoft Edge. The company is opening this up gradually, and 0:18:43.240 --> 0:18:45.320 so the first folks who will get a chance to 0:18:45.400 --> 0:18:48.879 test this out will be a limited selection of Xbox 0:18:48.920 --> 0:18:52.160 Game Pass Ultimate subscribers, who should be on the lookout 0:18:52.200 --> 0:18:56.119 for an email notification from Microsoft. Players will need a 0:18:56.160 --> 0:18:59.520 game controller that can connect to their computer via USB 0:18:59.800 --> 0:19:04.920 or lue tooth. Fun fact that includes PlayStation four controllers, 0:19:05.000 --> 0:19:09.560 so you can finally play Xbox games on the inferior 0:19:09.640 --> 0:19:14.240 PlayStation game controller. Yeah. I know that's an opinion, it's 0:19:14.280 --> 0:19:17.840 not a fact. A lot of folks probably disagree. They 0:19:17.920 --> 0:19:21.439 love the PS four controller. But while I felt the 0:19:21.440 --> 0:19:25.720 PS four was an improvement over earlier PlayStation controllers, I 0:19:25.760 --> 0:19:28.440 still don't like those controllers very much. I find them 0:19:28.440 --> 0:19:31.639 really cramped. Anyway, It's been a couple of years since 0:19:31.680 --> 0:19:35.920 Microsoft really invested heavily in game streaming with the Xbox 0:19:35.920 --> 0:19:40.119 Cloud service, which was previously called Project x Cloud. Uh, 0:19:40.240 --> 0:19:43.920 subscription models bring in a guaranteed revenue month after month. 0:19:44.000 --> 0:19:46.680 I mean, typically you can only sell a video game 0:19:46.840 --> 0:19:51.359 once to each customer, unless you're me and you happen 0:19:51.440 --> 0:19:53.560 to be one of those people who buys the same 0:19:53.600 --> 0:19:57.240 game multiple times for different platforms. I have done that, 0:19:57.520 --> 0:19:58.919 but most of the time you can only sell a 0:19:58.920 --> 0:20:01.240 game once. If you do have a game that has 0:20:01.240 --> 0:20:04.320 a subscription model, you know, like some online games, is 0:20:04.359 --> 0:20:07.080 a little bit different, but this is a way for 0:20:07.200 --> 0:20:11.000 Microsoft to generate an enormous amount of revenue month after month. 0:20:11.040 --> 0:20:15.720 It becomes a kind of guaranteed income source. And when 0:20:15.720 --> 0:20:18.320 it comes to the Ultimate subscription. You're looking at a 0:20:18.400 --> 0:20:23.040 fifteen dollar per month fee. I am an Xbox uh 0:20:23.400 --> 0:20:27.840 gain Pass subscriber, but I don't have the Ultimate subscription. 0:20:28.240 --> 0:20:30.040 I think I have the Basic, so I will not 0:20:30.080 --> 0:20:33.240 be part of this initial round. I will have to wait. 0:20:33.800 --> 0:20:36.199 But in return for your subscription, you do have access 0:20:36.240 --> 0:20:38.360 to a hundred titles that you can stream to your 0:20:38.520 --> 0:20:42.159 Xbox console or starting today for some of y'all just 0:20:42.240 --> 0:20:46.800 not me, a browser which is Bring nifty. Okay, So 0:20:46.880 --> 0:20:49.919 that's all the news I have for you for Tuesday April. 0:20:50.720 --> 0:20:52.320 That's kind of a lie. I actually had a couple 0:20:52.320 --> 0:20:54.280 of other stories, but I didn't want to run too long. 0:20:54.640 --> 0:20:57.440 But stay tuned this week. You will get another news 0:20:57.480 --> 0:20:59.640 episode later in the week. And if you have any 0:20:59.640 --> 0:21:02.160 suggest questions for topics I should cover on tech Stuff, 0:21:02.160 --> 0:21:04.919 reach out to me on Twitter. The handle is text 0:21:04.920 --> 0:21:07.879 stuff H s W and I will talk to you 0:21:07.920 --> 0:21:16.920 again really soon. Text Stuff is an I Heart Radio production. 0:21:17.160 --> 0:21:19.960 For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the I 0:21:20.080 --> 0:21:23.320 Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 0:21:23.359 --> 0:21:24.280 your favorite shows.