WEBVTT - Tech News: Apple Cancels Plans for Vision Pro II 0:00:04.480 --> 0:00:12.399 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 0:00:12.480 --> 0:00:16.239 and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. 0:00:16.280 --> 0:00:19.360 I'm an executive producer with iHeart Podcasts. And how the 0:00:19.400 --> 0:00:21.759 tech are you. It's time for the tech news for 0:00:21.800 --> 0:00:26.319 the week ending on Friday, June twenty first, twenty twenty four. 0:00:26.880 --> 0:00:29.720 And we've had a little shuffle this week for the 0:00:29.760 --> 0:00:34.080 title of world's most valuable company. And by that I 0:00:34.159 --> 0:00:37.680 mean how a company is valued based upon the number 0:00:37.760 --> 0:00:41.559 of shares that are available and the price per share. 0:00:42.000 --> 0:00:46.080 All the contenders are tech companies and earlier this month, 0:00:46.200 --> 0:00:51.280 Apple toppled Microsoft after Apple held its Worldwide Developer Conference 0:00:51.320 --> 0:00:55.040 and got investors all excited, but that victory was short lived. 0:00:55.160 --> 0:01:00.640 Microsoft regained the throne just two days later. This week, 0:01:00.760 --> 0:01:04.440 a new challenger pushed past Apple to take a swing 0:01:04.480 --> 0:01:08.640 at the king that was Nvidia. Like Apple, Nvidia achieved 0:01:08.640 --> 0:01:11.760 the title of most valuable company in the world, only 0:01:11.840 --> 0:01:15.559 to relinquish it back to Microsoft a couple of days later. 0:01:15.800 --> 0:01:18.560 But on June eighteenth, Nvidia was on top of the 0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:22.399 world with a market value of three point three four 0:01:23.319 --> 0:01:29.040 trillion dollars. Geez Louise. Anyway, since then Nvidia stock price 0:01:29.120 --> 0:01:32.080 dipped about three point four percent, and that was enough 0:01:32.080 --> 0:01:34.720 to give Microsoft the top spot again, even though Microsoft 0:01:34.800 --> 0:01:38.120 had also had a smaller dip in stock value in 0:01:38.200 --> 0:01:41.440 that same time. Now, in case you're not familiar with Nvidia, 0:01:41.680 --> 0:01:46.520 it's a microprocessor design company. Like they make the designs 0:01:46.640 --> 0:01:51.400 for things like, you know, microprocessors, specifically graphics processing units 0:01:51.440 --> 0:01:56.200 or GPUs, and then other companies fabricate those designs. Recently, 0:01:56.240 --> 0:01:59.440 in Vidia's really big business has been in designing chips 0:01:59.440 --> 0:02:01.840 that are used by companies for the purposes of running 0:02:01.880 --> 0:02:06.160 AI implementations. On the tech and politics front, the US 0:02:06.240 --> 0:02:09.639 White House has banned the sale of products and services 0:02:09.680 --> 0:02:14.959 from the Russian cybersecurity company Kispersky Labs. So Kispersky Lab 0:02:15.000 --> 0:02:18.480 it's a huge name in the cybersecurity space. They've played 0:02:18.560 --> 0:02:22.280 a key part in identifying and mitigating various threats across 0:02:22.320 --> 0:02:25.919 the Internet. Kisperski also makes lots of different products, including 0:02:26.080 --> 0:02:30.519 antivirus software. So why would the US ban it? Well, 0:02:30.960 --> 0:02:33.720 the main concern is that the White House believes the 0:02:33.800 --> 0:02:38.840 Russian government could and would force Kaspersky Lab to harvest 0:02:38.880 --> 0:02:42.280 and weaponize data from other countries, you know, primarily the 0:02:42.360 --> 0:02:45.480 United States obviously, but there's also a fear that the 0:02:45.560 --> 0:02:48.959 Russian government could force Kisperski Lab to actually serve as 0:02:48.960 --> 0:02:52.040 a delivery system for malware rather than as a protection 0:02:52.120 --> 0:02:56.000 against it. Imagine being told that your antivirus software needs 0:02:56.040 --> 0:02:59.400 to be updated, and so you update it, but secretly 0:02:59.639 --> 0:03:04.600 it's actually delivering malware to you. That's part of the concern. Now, 0:03:04.880 --> 0:03:09.440 Kasperski Lab has protested this ban, which makes sense, and 0:03:09.600 --> 0:03:11.760 have said that well, this is a case where the 0:03:11.840 --> 0:03:15.960 US government is reacting to a perceived hypothetical threat as 0:03:15.960 --> 0:03:19.240 opposed to know an actual threat, which is a sentiment 0:03:19.360 --> 0:03:22.360 that we may have also heard regarding the upcoming US 0:03:22.440 --> 0:03:25.120 ban on TikTok. I'll talk more about that in just 0:03:25.160 --> 0:03:28.480 a moment. Kasperski Lab says it will pursue all legal 0:03:28.520 --> 0:03:32.720 avenues open to the company to push back against this ban. 0:03:33.120 --> 0:03:35.400 I don't know how I feel about this one, honestly, 0:03:35.520 --> 0:03:39.280 because I mean, Kaspersky Lab undeniably has done some amazing work, 0:03:39.520 --> 0:03:43.160 and without their contributions, I do believe the Internet would 0:03:43.160 --> 0:03:45.760 be a much more dangerous place than it is already. 0:03:46.400 --> 0:03:48.640 On the flip side, I don't think there's any way 0:03:48.640 --> 0:03:52.480 you can deny that Russia has an authoritarian government in 0:03:52.600 --> 0:03:56.360 place with various agencies that have shown in the past 0:03:56.400 --> 0:03:59.640 to be more than willing to put pressure on whatever 0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:03.880 levers they have to gain an advantage. But is that 0:04:04.200 --> 0:04:07.640 potential enough to justify a ban. If you don't have 0:04:07.680 --> 0:04:10.560 a specific instance to point out of saying yes, this 0:04:10.800 --> 0:04:14.400 is happening, then are you justified in banning. I don't know. 0:04:14.480 --> 0:04:16.960 It doesn't feel good to me, but at the same 0:04:17.000 --> 0:04:19.839 time I can understand the concern. So you could also 0:04:20.000 --> 0:04:24.000 argue that this is really just more political posturing, that 0:04:24.080 --> 0:04:28.960 it's the US attempting to kind of shut down an 0:04:29.040 --> 0:04:34.080 important business that's in Russia as a way to indirectly 0:04:34.160 --> 0:04:38.080 pressure Russia itself. I'm not smart enough to understand all 0:04:38.080 --> 0:04:40.480 the ins and outs, so I just look at it 0:04:40.480 --> 0:04:44.760 and think, wow, that's a big mess. Also, speaking of TikTok, 0:04:44.920 --> 0:04:48.279 Reuter's reports that TikTok and its parent company byte Dance, 0:04:48.560 --> 0:04:52.719 the Chinese company, have requested essentially a dismissal of the 0:04:52.800 --> 0:04:57.440 upcoming national ban on TikTok in the US that's scheduled 0:04:57.440 --> 0:05:01.679 to happen on January nineteenth, twenty twenty. So the argument 0:05:01.760 --> 0:05:04.960 that TikTok is making is that despite several attempts to 0:05:05.040 --> 0:05:09.040 negotiate a solution to the various concerns the US government 0:05:09.080 --> 0:05:13.480 has raised regarding TikTok and its relationship to its pairing company, 0:05:13.680 --> 0:05:16.760 the US government has refused to really engage on a 0:05:16.800 --> 0:05:20.119 serious level since twenty twenty two. So TikTok is saying, 0:05:20.480 --> 0:05:23.480 We've come forward in good faith in an attempt to 0:05:23.520 --> 0:05:26.680 work this out, and the government has just roadblocked us 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:29.960 and then gone to a ban which doesn't seem fair. 0:05:30.320 --> 0:05:33.480 And then also TikTok's arguing that this is a violation 0:05:33.560 --> 0:05:36.440 of First Amendment rights as well. TikTok reps have also 0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:40.160 claimed that divestiture from the Chinese pairing company is quote 0:05:40.360 --> 0:05:45.000 not possible technologically, commercially, or legally end the quote. I 0:05:45.000 --> 0:05:47.599 don't know. I feel like I need to call bs 0:05:47.640 --> 0:05:50.320 on at least the first two of those three, simply 0:05:50.400 --> 0:05:53.560 because we've also read reports that TikTok has quietly been 0:05:53.600 --> 0:05:58.000 working on an alternative recommendation algorithm, which sounds like it 0:05:58.040 --> 0:06:01.440 could be a contingency plan if this band does go through. 0:06:01.600 --> 0:06:04.800 You know, the band hinges on TikTok's relationship to Byte 0:06:04.880 --> 0:06:08.160 Dance and by extension, China itself. The band has said 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:12.080 that if TikTok were to be divested from Byte Dance, 0:06:12.440 --> 0:06:16.200 that this band would not necessarily happen. So the fact 0:06:16.240 --> 0:06:21.200 that TikTok has apparently been working on this alternative recommendation algorithm, 0:06:21.200 --> 0:06:25.600 one that's distinctly independent of the version that Byte Dance 0:06:25.680 --> 0:06:30.520 uses for say du Yan, the Chinese version of TikTok 0:06:30.640 --> 0:06:34.320 or the Chinese you know, like close cousin of TikTok, 0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:39.400 That to me suggests that TikTok is quietly exploring those possibilities. 0:06:39.560 --> 0:06:43.000 But obviously the company wants to avoid having to do 0:06:43.040 --> 0:06:45.440 that at all, and it would be better for the 0:06:45.480 --> 0:06:48.440 company if they didn't have to go through the whole 0:06:48.440 --> 0:06:54.200 divestiture process. As for commercially, I mean, TikTok still operates 0:06:54.279 --> 0:06:58.719 rather independently from the other products of Byte Dance, so 0:06:59.160 --> 0:07:03.719 I would imagine that divesting it commercially actually is entirely possible. 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:06.159 I mean, no one by Dance wouldn't want to do 0:07:06.240 --> 0:07:09.600 it because TikTok makes money, so why would you want to? 0:07:09.960 --> 0:07:13.960 But I still think it's possible. I don't think it's impossible. 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:17.360 That's based on my own opinion, but yeah, the legal part, 0:07:17.720 --> 0:07:21.080 that's harder for me to answer. That's what the courts 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:23.480 are for. I personally have doubts that the courts are 0:07:23.480 --> 0:07:25.440 going to reach a decision as to whether the ban 0:07:25.600 --> 0:07:28.160 is legal or not before the deadline actually gets here, 0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:32.640 But we'll see. Reuter's also reports that Apple has recently 0:07:32.680 --> 0:07:36.840 switched gears and has stopped work on a successor to 0:07:36.920 --> 0:07:40.960 the Apple Vision Pro, which is Apple's mixed reality headset. 0:07:41.440 --> 0:07:45.000 That headset has a hefty price tag, and it's also 0:07:45.160 --> 0:07:49.120 had a fairly slow start, which I believe mostly comes 0:07:49.160 --> 0:07:52.720 down to two really big reasons. The first is obviously 0:07:52.800 --> 0:07:55.560 the base cost. It is huge. It's a whopping three 0:07:56.000 --> 0:07:59.480 five hundred dollars at the beginning, before you've done any 0:07:59.840 --> 0:08:03.200 like upgrades or accessories or anything like that. And that's 0:08:03.240 --> 0:08:05.960 a lot more money than most people can PLoP down 0:08:06.000 --> 0:08:09.040 for a new tech gadget. But the other big barrier 0:08:09.440 --> 0:08:12.320 is that development for this platform is still in its 0:08:12.440 --> 0:08:16.520 very early days, which means there's really not that much 0:08:16.560 --> 0:08:19.920 you can do with the darn thing. Yet every review 0:08:20.040 --> 0:08:23.400 I have read of the Vision Pro says that it 0:08:23.440 --> 0:08:26.920 performs really well. It's really impressive. But that outside of 0:08:26.960 --> 0:08:29.680 the basic things you're able to do, there's just not 0:08:29.880 --> 0:08:33.040 much there yet. And for developers, I could see why 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:35.559 there'd be a reluctance to jump on board because if 0:08:35.559 --> 0:08:38.680 the installed base of potential customers is a very small one, 0:08:38.960 --> 0:08:41.720 you might not be able to capitalize on the invested 0:08:41.800 --> 0:08:45.280 time and energy it took to make something compelling because 0:08:45.320 --> 0:08:49.640 there's just not enough people to pay that investment off anyway. Now, 0:08:49.720 --> 0:08:52.840 Apple is reportedly backing away from making a true Apple 0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:56.200 Vision Pro two or whatever they would call it, but 0:08:56.400 --> 0:08:59.280 the company is still working on a more affordable mixed 0:08:59.280 --> 0:09:02.679 reality headsint at that would be available before the end 0:09:02.720 --> 0:09:06.679 of next year. Presumably such an affordable model will have 0:09:06.760 --> 0:09:09.880 fewer features than the Vision Pro. What I find interesting 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:12.880 is whether or not customers will flock to a cheaper 0:09:13.000 --> 0:09:16.880 version of this platform, or if the lack of those 0:09:17.160 --> 0:09:20.480 certain features is going to sap away any excitement about 0:09:20.520 --> 0:09:22.840 the technology and people won't be willing to pay for 0:09:22.880 --> 0:09:26.520 it because you know, it'll be a cheap imitation of 0:09:26.559 --> 0:09:28.680 the thing that came out a couple of years earlier. 0:09:29.000 --> 0:09:30.920 If I had to make a guess, I would say 0:09:30.960 --> 0:09:33.840 more folks would be willing to buy a less expensive 0:09:33.840 --> 0:09:37.800 headset made by Apple, because Apple's reality distortion field is 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:40.920 still a thing, and maybe we would hear folks later 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:43.959 complain that the headset isn't as impressive as they were 0:09:44.000 --> 0:09:46.120 led to believe, but who knows. I guess we'll find 0:09:46.120 --> 0:09:49.240 out before the end of next year. Okay, we've got 0:09:49.320 --> 0:09:51.800 more tech news to cover before we get to that, though, 0:09:51.880 --> 0:10:04.679 Let's take a quick break to thank our sponsors. Ilia Sutzkev, 0:10:04.920 --> 0:10:07.400 one of the co founders of open ai, who later 0:10:07.520 --> 0:10:09.960 was forced to resign from the board of directors and 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:13.720 then a couple months later resigned completely from the company itself, 0:10:14.040 --> 0:10:17.000 is now starting his own AI company, which is called 0:10:17.240 --> 0:10:21.400 Safe Superintelligence, and as the name indicates, the founding principles 0:10:21.440 --> 0:10:25.000 are similar to what inspired the initial creation of open Ai, 0:10:25.320 --> 0:10:29.160 before that company began to embrace profit to a greater degree. 0:10:29.400 --> 0:10:32.920 The Safe Superintelligence website says the company will have offices 0:10:32.960 --> 0:10:37.040 in Palo Alto, California, and Tel Aviv. Sutzkever posted on 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:39.640 x that the plan is for the company to focus 0:10:39.920 --> 0:10:43.320 entirely on the safe development and deployment of AI, without 0:10:43.320 --> 0:10:46.760 regard to stuff like market forces and trends and things 0:10:46.880 --> 0:10:49.840 like that how he's going to achieve that remains to 0:10:49.880 --> 0:10:54.240 be seen because AI development is a really expensive thing. 0:10:54.720 --> 0:10:57.400 In fact, that's why open Ai launched a for profit 0:10:57.520 --> 0:11:00.440 arm in the first place. But I do think it's 0:11:00.440 --> 0:11:03.080 a lofty goal to aim for. I just don't know 0:11:03.120 --> 0:11:07.480 how achievable it is. AI company Anthropic has unveiled the 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:11.720 Claude three point five Sonnet AI language model this week. 0:11:11.920 --> 0:11:15.080 In fact, I've already started seeing ads online for this thing. 0:11:15.520 --> 0:11:17.920 The model can do pretty much all the things we 0:11:18.000 --> 0:11:21.640 associate with chatbots built on generative AI. You know. It 0:11:21.640 --> 0:11:24.480 can respond to prompts, it can write code, it can 0:11:24.559 --> 0:11:28.719 analyze text. According to Ours Technica's Binge Edwards, it can 0:11:28.760 --> 0:11:31.640 be really difficult to compare different AI models to each 0:11:31.679 --> 0:11:34.720 other for various reasons. But that being said, Claude three 0:11:34.720 --> 0:11:38.200 point five Sonnet seems to perform pretty well impressively so. 0:11:38.559 --> 0:11:40.760 In fact, now I haven't used it yet, but then 0:11:40.880 --> 0:11:43.760 I don't use any AI models on a regular basis. 0:11:43.800 --> 0:11:46.320 I've only dipped my toe in goofy ways to see 0:11:46.320 --> 0:11:48.640 what kind of response I can get for silly queries. 0:11:48.920 --> 0:11:52.360 But for those of y'all who are either researching AI 0:11:52.960 --> 0:11:55.760 or occasionally making use of AI. It might be something 0:11:55.760 --> 0:11:57.560 you want to check out just to see if it 0:11:57.720 --> 0:12:02.000 gives you better responses than alternatives on the market. Back 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:05.199 to Reuters, which reports that Amazon is looking to monetize 0:12:05.240 --> 0:12:08.840 its Alexa service soon. The plan, which is code named Banyan, 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:12.679 is to introduce a more advanced version of the Alexa assistant, 0:12:12.760 --> 0:12:17.440 capable of holding generative AI conversations with users. Access to 0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:21.000 this level of Alexa will actually require a monthly fee 0:12:21.000 --> 0:12:23.839 somewhere in the neighborhood of five dollars a month. The 0:12:24.000 --> 0:12:27.200 report says that Amazon is given developers until August to 0:12:27.240 --> 0:12:30.559 get this version of Alexa ready, though that doesn't necessarily 0:12:30.600 --> 0:12:33.400 tell us when such a service would actually launch. I 0:12:33.480 --> 0:12:36.040 honestly don't know if this is going to work from 0:12:36.040 --> 0:12:39.679 a commercial standpoint. I'm not sure most folks care if 0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:43.600 their personal assistant is generating a conversation or just pulling 0:12:43.679 --> 0:12:47.199 something directly off the web to answer various questions. That's 0:12:47.600 --> 0:12:50.160 possibly due to the fact that as I get older, 0:12:50.200 --> 0:12:52.520 I see fewer reasons for me to use tools like 0:12:52.559 --> 0:12:56.080 this for anything beyond really basic stuff like, you know, 0:12:56.200 --> 0:12:58.760 asking for an update on the weather or whatever, which 0:12:58.800 --> 0:13:01.480 is like ninety nine times out of one hundred, if 0:13:01.480 --> 0:13:07.440 I'm asking my smart assistant speaker for something, it's to 0:13:07.520 --> 0:13:10.240 give me an update on whether. Other times it's to 0:13:10.480 --> 0:13:13.280 play music so that my dog can listen to music 0:13:13.360 --> 0:13:16.080 while I'm leaving the house. The rare occasions I do 0:13:16.160 --> 0:13:18.920 that or to ask if certain fruits are safe for 0:13:18.960 --> 0:13:21.120 dogs to eat. Those are like my three go tos. 0:13:21.559 --> 0:13:24.800 But Amazon's trying to find a way to make Alexa moneymaker, 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:27.960 and maybe this will work out for them. I personally 0:13:28.000 --> 0:13:30.200 have my doubts. I think a lot of people will say, 0:13:30.240 --> 0:13:32.120 why am I going to pay for something that previously 0:13:32.160 --> 0:13:34.440 I got to use for free, even if the new 0:13:34.559 --> 0:13:39.120 version is at least in theory better. Meta has reorganized 0:13:39.160 --> 0:13:42.080 its Reality Labs division. A quick reminder, this is the 0:13:42.280 --> 0:13:46.240 part of Meta formerly Facebook that is tasked with bringing 0:13:46.280 --> 0:13:49.080 the metaverse into reality, whether people want it or not. 0:13:49.440 --> 0:13:52.559 It's the division that Meta has dedicated billions of dollars 0:13:52.559 --> 0:13:55.280 to in that effort, which is something that has concerned 0:13:55.320 --> 0:13:58.719 many investors in that company. But anyway, this reorg has 0:13:58.720 --> 0:14:02.800 divided Reality Labs into two major organizations, one that will 0:14:02.800 --> 0:14:05.640 focus on wearables and the other that will focus on 0:14:05.840 --> 0:14:09.160 the metaverse. So wearables are things like the Quest VR 0:14:09.240 --> 0:14:13.400 headsets and the ray Band smart glasses. The Verge reports 0:14:13.440 --> 0:14:15.920 that the reorganization also meant the company laid off a 0:14:16.000 --> 0:14:19.160 quote unquote small number of employees, although I haven't seen 0:14:19.200 --> 0:14:22.520 any sources that give more detail as to how much 0:14:22.600 --> 0:14:26.400 a small number actually is. Bloomberg reports that Elon Musk 0:14:26.440 --> 0:14:29.280 is pushing hard to get an X payment service launched 0:14:29.560 --> 0:14:31.920 before the end of this year. You might recall that 0:14:32.000 --> 0:14:34.480 one thing Musk wanted to do with Twitter, apart from 0:14:34.520 --> 0:14:36.800 opening it up to folks who had previously been banned 0:14:36.800 --> 0:14:40.320 from the platform for violating various policies, was to convert 0:14:40.320 --> 0:14:43.320 it into sort of an everything app, an app where 0:14:43.360 --> 0:14:46.520 you could chat with friends, post to the general population, 0:14:46.920 --> 0:14:50.240 shop for goods and services, and pay for stuff like 0:14:50.480 --> 0:14:54.000 transfer money, all from one app. The payment service thing 0:14:54.160 --> 0:14:56.760 is part of this overall puzzle, and one that Musk 0:14:56.800 --> 0:14:59.720 has aggressively pushed for this year. To that end, X 0:14:59.800 --> 0:15:04.040 has secured payment transmitter licenses with twenty eight states here 0:15:04.040 --> 0:15:06.520 in the US, by the company's goals to secure such 0:15:06.560 --> 0:15:09.280 licenses for every state by the end of the year. 0:15:09.640 --> 0:15:11.840 It sounds to me like this is really a matter 0:15:11.960 --> 0:15:15.080 of when not if, and at some point we will 0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:18.360 see the X payment services roll out, possibly with many 0:15:18.360 --> 0:15:21.360 other features to follow. Must's goal is to get users 0:15:21.360 --> 0:15:24.440 to rely on X for financial transactions and to store 0:15:24.520 --> 0:15:28.120 their money in high yield savings accounts, which might work. 0:15:28.160 --> 0:15:30.880 It might actually entice people who have so far either 0:15:31.280 --> 0:15:34.520 stayed off of the platform for various reasons or who 0:15:34.600 --> 0:15:37.640 left due to similar reasons, and to have them come 0:15:37.680 --> 0:15:40.000 back and jump in and order not to lose out 0:15:40.040 --> 0:15:42.600 on an opportunity. However, I think it's safe to say 0:15:42.600 --> 0:15:45.080 that skeptics like myself, you know, folks who have seen 0:15:45.160 --> 0:15:48.560 Musk apply the ban hammer on X in a very 0:15:48.600 --> 0:15:52.760 mercurial way, are less eager to put our money into 0:15:52.760 --> 0:15:56.760 a platform where the owner has been shown to be unpredictable, temperamental, 0:15:56.840 --> 0:16:01.320 perhaps unreliable is another good word. I just I think 0:16:01.320 --> 0:16:04.280 it would be very risky to do personally. That's my 0:16:04.320 --> 0:16:07.720 own opinion though, so you know, if you don't value 0:16:07.720 --> 0:16:09.960 my opinion. One, I don't know why you're listening, but 0:16:10.000 --> 0:16:12.800 thank you anyway, And two, yeah, do you don't make 0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:15.200 your own decisions? It's totally cool if you happen to 0:16:15.240 --> 0:16:18.320 live near Dallas, Texas or King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. I 0:16:18.400 --> 0:16:20.920 have a homework assignment for you. Don't worry. It's not 0:16:20.960 --> 0:16:23.560 coming up anytime soon. It'll be next year, but it's 0:16:23.600 --> 0:16:27.160 to visit either of the two Netflix House venues that 0:16:27.200 --> 0:16:30.840 are opening up in the upcoming months. They're slated to 0:16:30.960 --> 0:16:34.400 open in twenty twenty five. Netflix first announced the intent 0:16:34.440 --> 0:16:37.400 to debut some brick and mortar locations, and now we 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:40.760 know where those first two are going to be. Dallas, Texas, 0:16:41.000 --> 0:16:43.920 King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. They'll be taking over the spaces 0:16:43.920 --> 0:16:47.240 of former department stores and shopping centers, which I don't know. 0:16:47.280 --> 0:16:50.360 Maybe that'll breathe some new life into malls. I haven't 0:16:50.400 --> 0:16:52.840 been to a mall in years, but in fact, the 0:16:53.040 --> 0:16:54.920 place where I used to go when I was a 0:16:55.000 --> 0:16:57.840 kid is now essentially vacant. I think there's like only 0:16:57.880 --> 0:17:00.160 a handful of stores that are still open and everything 0:17:00.200 --> 0:17:02.760 else is closed down, which, as I understand, it is 0:17:02.800 --> 0:17:05.800 not that unusual today. But then I don't ever leave 0:17:05.840 --> 0:17:08.119 the house, So what do I know anyway? What's going 0:17:08.160 --> 0:17:11.800 to go on in these Netflix houses beats me. Netflix 0:17:11.840 --> 0:17:13.840 has not shared a whole lot of information. They have 0:17:13.960 --> 0:17:17.440 said that there will be themed experiences as well as 0:17:17.440 --> 0:17:21.359 some special food and drink offerings, and that presumably these 0:17:21.400 --> 0:17:25.640 are going to draw inspiration from original Netflix films and series. 0:17:25.880 --> 0:17:27.960 And when I think back to some of those originals 0:17:28.040 --> 0:17:30.680 on Netflix, I'm not convinced I really want to experience 0:17:30.720 --> 0:17:35.080 that stuff myself in real life, but I am definitely curious, 0:17:35.160 --> 0:17:36.960 and heck, maybe I'll go to the King of Presha 0:17:37.000 --> 0:17:39.879 one because my partner has family up in that area, 0:17:40.080 --> 0:17:41.920 So maybe if we're happy to be there, I'll be like, hey, 0:17:41.960 --> 0:17:44.880 let's go see what this is all about. The two 0:17:44.960 --> 0:17:47.960 astronauts who recently journeyed to the International Space Station aboard 0:17:47.960 --> 0:17:51.480 a Boeing Starliner spacecraft are staying a little bit longer 0:17:51.520 --> 0:17:54.520 than they had planned. This is because the Starliner experienced 0:17:54.520 --> 0:17:57.600 some technical issues that engineers really want to review further 0:17:57.720 --> 0:18:00.719 before bringing the astronauts back home in the spacecraft on 0:18:00.800 --> 0:18:03.840 June twenty six. So, during the trip to the ISS, 0:18:03.880 --> 0:18:06.760 the star Liner had a few helium leaks, like five 0:18:06.800 --> 0:18:10.639 of them. Now, helium itself is non toxic, it's non flammable, 0:18:10.800 --> 0:18:12.600 so as long as the leaks weren't bad enough to 0:18:12.640 --> 0:18:17.439 displace oxygen and cause asphyxiation, then the astronauts were deemed 0:18:17.480 --> 0:18:20.399 to be safe. Then five of the twenty eight reaction 0:18:20.520 --> 0:18:23.520 control system thrusters on the star Liner also failed as 0:18:23.560 --> 0:18:26.639 the spacecraft was nearing the iss. It's not exactly the 0:18:26.680 --> 0:18:28.520 sort of thing you want to chance when you're bringing 0:18:28.520 --> 0:18:31.119 folks back home, as these thrusters play a part in 0:18:31.359 --> 0:18:35.520 orienting the spacecraft properly upon re entry. NASA reps have 0:18:35.560 --> 0:18:38.439 said the agency wants to review the test spacecraft's issues 0:18:38.480 --> 0:18:41.720 before signing off on future missions, which makes perfect sense 0:18:41.720 --> 0:18:45.520 to me. Okay, some quick reading recommendations for y'all. Mickey 0:18:45.560 --> 0:18:48.280 Carroll has a piece for sky News titled self driving 0:18:48.320 --> 0:18:51.119 cars found to be safer except at dawn, dusk, or 0:18:51.160 --> 0:18:54.480 when turning according to a study. I recommend reading that 0:18:54.560 --> 0:18:56.359 it's one of the biggest selling points for R and 0:18:56.440 --> 0:18:58.800 D and self driving vehicles. This idea that you know, 0:18:58.920 --> 0:19:01.480 ideally they would be fre safer on the roads than 0:19:01.600 --> 0:19:04.040 vehicles that were driven by human beings. But as this 0:19:04.160 --> 0:19:07.399 study points out, there are still scenarios in which AI 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:10.919 powered vehicles are more prone to accidents, and obviously that 0:19:11.000 --> 0:19:14.480 shines a spotlight on areas where engineers need to improve safety. 0:19:14.840 --> 0:19:17.000 Next up is a piece by Mike Masnik at tech 0:19:17.080 --> 0:19:20.040 Dirt titled five hundred thousand books have been deleted from 0:19:20.040 --> 0:19:23.199 the Internet Archives Lending Library. I talked a little bit 0:19:23.240 --> 0:19:25.240 about this when I did an episode about the Internet 0:19:25.320 --> 0:19:28.280 Archive recently, but this piece dives into how publishers have 0:19:28.359 --> 0:19:32.000 leveraged their considerable power to deny the archive access to 0:19:32.119 --> 0:19:35.920 library copies of various works. And last up is a 0:19:35.960 --> 0:19:40.119 piece by Ashley Bellinger of Ours Technica titled lawsuit Meta 0:19:40.200 --> 0:19:43.840 engineer told to resign after calling out sexist hiring practices. 0:19:44.119 --> 0:19:46.720 This article details the claims made by a former Meta 0:19:46.720 --> 0:19:49.680 employee who says the company retaliated against him after he 0:19:49.760 --> 0:19:53.280 brought forward concerns and misogynistic practices in the company. All 0:19:53.280 --> 0:19:55.760 of those are well worth your time to read. That's 0:19:55.800 --> 0:19:58.600 it for this week. I hope you are all well 0:19:58.960 --> 0:20:01.400 and I will talk to you again again really soon. 0:20:07.920 --> 0:20:12.560 Tech Stuff is an iHeartRadio production. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, 0:20:12.920 --> 0:20:16.639 visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 0:20:16.640 --> 0:20:17.719 to your favorite shows.