WEBVTT - TechStuff Remembers 2014, Part Two 0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:12.240 Get in touch with technology with text Up from dot Com. 0:00:12.280 --> 0:00:15.240 Hey there, and welcome to text Uff. I'm Jonathan Strickland 0:00:15.280 --> 0:00:18.720 and joining me once again is Joe McCormick. Joe, How's 0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:23.040 how's your two thousand fourteen? It's been spectacular and the 0:00:23.079 --> 0:00:25.239 best part of it has been sitting in this room 0:00:25.239 --> 0:00:29.240 with you talking about tech stories from It's It's that 0:00:29.600 --> 0:00:32.760 and then getting your new dogs right. That's that has 0:00:32.800 --> 0:00:34.680 been pretty good. No, actually, I don't care about you 0:00:34.720 --> 0:00:38.440 at all. That's fair. Okay, So last episode we got 0:00:38.479 --> 0:00:41.000 through July two thome we're ready to pick up in 0:00:41.080 --> 0:00:43.839 August and finish out the rest of the year. A 0:00:43.840 --> 0:00:46.360 lot of stuff happened in two thousand and fourteen, and 0:00:46.400 --> 0:00:49.479 if you haven't listened to the earlier podcast, I recommend 0:00:49.479 --> 0:00:51.599 you go back check that out. That's where we talk 0:00:51.640 --> 0:00:53.720 about some pretty big stories, and some of them are 0:00:53.720 --> 0:00:56.520 going to end up informing a few of the stories 0:00:56.520 --> 0:00:58.640 in the second half of the year, because that's the 0:00:58.680 --> 0:01:04.120 way that time works. Anyway. August two, here's the one. 0:01:04.200 --> 0:01:07.200 I I almost didn't want to include this because I 0:01:07.240 --> 0:01:11.120 hate bringing attention to it. However, uh in August, that's 0:01:11.120 --> 0:01:15.600 when the actor Adam Baldwin created the hashtag gamer gate, 0:01:16.400 --> 0:01:19.920 and that was I had no idea gamer gate had 0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:23.880 anything to do with Adam Baldwin. Gamer Gate the name 0:01:24.040 --> 0:01:27.480 has everything to do with Adam Baldwin. Adam Baldwin, from 0:01:27.480 --> 0:01:32.679 Firefly Yes, and from Chuck Yes. He created the hashtag. 0:01:32.760 --> 0:01:40.479 So this was in response to a growing brew haha 0:01:40.480 --> 0:01:45.440 in video game and video game journalism. And ostensibly it 0:01:45.560 --> 0:01:50.280 was about ethics and video game journalism. But effectively what 0:01:50.400 --> 0:01:53.040 it never really heard about that part. I just heard 0:01:53.080 --> 0:01:56.280 references to that part. Effectively, the most of it was 0:01:56.320 --> 0:02:02.960 about um attacking email, video game journalists, video game developers, 0:02:03.280 --> 0:02:07.400 anyone actually really and ultimately it was beyond female. It 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:11.880 was essentially largely anyone who was not white and male, 0:02:12.320 --> 0:02:16.760 although not not exclusively. There were some people and still 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:19.440 are some people involved in in the gamer gate side 0:02:19.480 --> 0:02:24.799 of things. The people speaking out who are not who 0:02:24.800 --> 0:02:27.520 don't fit that demographic, but that's the vast majority of 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:32.239 that demographic. And whether or not there are ethics issues 0:02:32.280 --> 0:02:36.360 in video game journalism, putting that aside, the tactics being 0:02:36.440 --> 0:02:41.519 used by many in that movement to attack that they're 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:49.560 perceived opponents were pretty rotten, like publishing people's address online 0:02:49.680 --> 0:02:52.960 so that they can be harassed, threatening them and their families, 0:02:53.120 --> 0:02:56.880 exactly to the point where people were seeking protection from 0:02:57.200 --> 0:03:02.840 law enforcement, getting the FBI involved. Um So, here's here's 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:05.679 my take on this is that if you feel there 0:03:05.720 --> 0:03:10.200 are legitimate issues in the ethics in video game production 0:03:10.360 --> 0:03:14.400 and video game uh journalism, video game coverage, all that 0:03:14.480 --> 0:03:18.520 kind of stuff, there are ways you can express that 0:03:18.520 --> 0:03:24.080 that are constructive that don't involve threatening someone or putting 0:03:24.120 --> 0:03:28.160 someone at risk, And those are the methods I think 0:03:28.360 --> 0:03:31.960 people should take. And that you know, this is just 0:03:32.040 --> 0:03:34.280 pulling the whole argument aside. There's some who would say 0:03:34.280 --> 0:03:36.240 there's no argument there to be made at all, that 0:03:36.360 --> 0:03:39.920 the whole thing is just a straw man for the 0:03:39.960 --> 0:03:42.560 purposes of being able to attack anyone that they see 0:03:42.600 --> 0:03:47.840 as being uh not them right and uh of their 0:03:47.880 --> 0:03:50.320 privilege in the community. Right. I know there are some 0:03:50.400 --> 0:03:53.240 people out there who feel like they have a legitimate point, 0:03:53.520 --> 0:03:57.600 and that's fine if you're able to to uh to 0:03:57.760 --> 0:04:02.280 express that in a way that isn't harmful to other folks, 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:05.560 because the other folks aren't trying to harm you. It's 0:04:05.760 --> 0:04:10.240 crazy how this got out of control so fast, and 0:04:10.600 --> 0:04:16.320 it really showed a dark, sinister underbelly of misogyny, of racism, 0:04:16.360 --> 0:04:18.680 of homophobia, and a lot of communities. Now I'm not 0:04:18.720 --> 0:04:22.560 saying everyone who spoke out falls into one of those categories, 0:04:22.640 --> 0:04:25.640 but enough of them were doing things that certainly fall 0:04:25.680 --> 0:04:28.680 into that category to make it a real concern. And 0:04:28.720 --> 0:04:31.359 so I almost didn't cover this because it is a 0:04:31.400 --> 0:04:34.120 controversial topic. I know, I've got a lot of listeners 0:04:34.160 --> 0:04:38.239 who care very deeply about video games, and that's fine. 0:04:38.360 --> 0:04:42.400 I think you should feel deeply about the things you're 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:46.160 you're really interested and passionate about, but there are ways 0:04:46.240 --> 0:04:50.520 to express that constructively and ways to be a jerk. 0:04:50.600 --> 0:04:53.599 A jerk, yeah, And I would hope that people who 0:04:53.640 --> 0:04:56.760 like to listen to the show would take the constructive route, 0:04:57.560 --> 0:04:59.720 you know. And and if you you know, if you 0:04:59.800 --> 0:05:03.560 have legitimate beef, that's fine, but dude, don't. But what 0:05:03.640 --> 0:05:07.520 if you have legitimate chicken? Uh, then I will come 0:05:07.520 --> 0:05:10.200 over to your house and have dinner because I eat 0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:15.159 chicken but not beef. Alright. So also, well, well let's 0:05:15.200 --> 0:05:18.320 hear all about your holy positions. Yeah, let's not have 0:05:18.400 --> 0:05:24.279 chicken Gate. August two, on with gamer Gates, straight out 0:05:24.279 --> 0:05:26.640 of the gates, and to be fair, to be fair, 0:05:26.720 --> 0:05:29.960 the issues of gamer gate had been going on throughout 0:05:30.040 --> 0:05:32.360 two thousand and fourteen. It's just that's when it got 0:05:32.360 --> 0:05:36.160 the name, right. I mean, my sort of basic perspective 0:05:36.240 --> 0:05:40.200 is I've seen it back and forth about issues of 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:44.560 of how, especially how women are treated in commentary on 0:05:44.680 --> 0:05:47.400 video games and in video games and themselves and in 0:05:47.440 --> 0:05:49.400 the industry that creates them. I've seen this going on 0:05:49.480 --> 0:05:53.400 for years, and just suddenly it seemed to be, I 0:05:53.440 --> 0:05:57.479 don't know, attached to this hashtag and I and I 0:05:57.520 --> 0:06:03.800 wasn't understanding exactly why this particular hashtag, gamer gate was 0:06:03.880 --> 0:06:07.000 now the name for this ongoing struggle I've been seeing 0:06:07.000 --> 0:06:12.360 for years. Well, the the initial event that happened ended 0:06:12.440 --> 0:06:15.920 up being treated as if it were a conspiracy that 0:06:16.040 --> 0:06:18.720 was there was other companies were attempting to cover up. 0:06:18.760 --> 0:06:21.400 Thus the gate the idea of being like it's like 0:06:21.440 --> 0:06:25.279 water Gate. It's this conspiracy that's going on behind gamer's backs, 0:06:25.279 --> 0:06:28.840 where there's collusion between video game journalists and video game 0:06:28.920 --> 0:06:33.560 creators where for a and some form of exchange games 0:06:33.560 --> 0:06:36.719 will get positive coverage that kind of thing. And whether 0:06:36.839 --> 0:06:41.480 or not that's true, it doesn't justify the incredibly evil 0:06:41.520 --> 0:06:45.599 tactics that were being used to punish quote unquote people 0:06:45.600 --> 0:06:50.280 who were supposedly perpetrating these events. Um, this this, this 0:06:50.320 --> 0:06:52.520 is the this is the issue we'll see. The Internet 0:06:52.640 --> 0:06:55.640 is strange world we live in. The Internet is great 0:06:55.640 --> 0:06:59.000 because it democratizes a lot of things that otherwise people 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:02.760 would not have access to, like content creation. Now, as 0:07:02.920 --> 0:07:06.560 a regular Joe, not not you, Joe, but a regular person, 0:07:07.240 --> 0:07:09.400 not that you're not a regular person. Let me start 0:07:09.440 --> 0:07:12.280 over as someone who is just an average human being. 0:07:12.320 --> 0:07:14.880 I can go and make a YouTube series. All I 0:07:14.920 --> 0:07:17.240 need is a camera and an Internet connection, so I 0:07:17.240 --> 0:07:20.480 can send that. Right before, if you wanted to produce stuff, 0:07:20.880 --> 0:07:24.200 you needed lots of infrastructure behind you to do it. Well, 0:07:24.280 --> 0:07:28.560 same sort of thing, Uh, unfortunately goes with your ability 0:07:28.600 --> 0:07:31.120 to impact the lives of other people. You can do 0:07:31.200 --> 0:07:33.120 it in a positive way, which is fantastic, or you 0:07:33.120 --> 0:07:35.880 can do it in a very negative creative Twitter account 0:07:35.880 --> 0:07:38.960 and threaten somebody's safety and tell them you're going to 0:07:39.040 --> 0:07:40.800 come to their house and kill them. This is stuff 0:07:40.840 --> 0:07:42.880 that you know, if if you were to just set 0:07:42.880 --> 0:07:47.160 the clock back twenty years, then you'd be sent talking 0:07:47.160 --> 0:07:50.440 about sending stuff through the mail, like threatening letters in 0:07:50.480 --> 0:07:53.880 the mail. Most people, I think would say this is 0:07:54.200 --> 0:07:57.440 evidence of someone who is has got some serious issues 0:07:57.440 --> 0:08:00.760 that need to be addressed. But today it happens online 0:08:00.760 --> 0:08:04.000 and you have entire communities dedicated to finding new ways 0:08:04.040 --> 0:08:09.400 to do it, which is disturbing. So anyway, let's move on. Yeah, 0:08:09.400 --> 0:08:12.640 obviously we could do a full episode on that entire issue. 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:17.800 I haven't because it's so complex, but moving forward something 0:08:17.800 --> 0:08:22.480 that's simple, putting the gaming into perspective. The Rosetta probe 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:25.600 reached the comment that it would eventually land on much easier. 0:08:28.280 --> 0:08:31.080 This was, of course, the culmination of a ten year journey, 0:08:31.120 --> 0:08:34.840 which was preceded by ten years of planning to send 0:08:34.840 --> 0:08:39.000 a probe out to eventually rendezvous and then land on 0:08:39.040 --> 0:08:43.239 a commet to help us learn more about the composition 0:08:43.280 --> 0:08:46.200 and behavior of comments, So it was a big deal. 0:08:46.440 --> 0:08:48.079 Of course, it wouldn't land on the comment to a 0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:49.720 little bit later in the year, but this is when 0:08:49.720 --> 0:08:52.319 it actually reached the comment, so that's kind of cool. 0:08:53.280 --> 0:08:57.200 There was also in August a kerfuffle between Uber and Lift, 0:08:57.679 --> 0:09:00.400 which are too competing car service companies. There part of 0:09:00.400 --> 0:09:04.040 that shared economy. Although most people I think would say 0:09:04.080 --> 0:09:07.640 that it's more like a taxi service than a shared 0:09:07.800 --> 0:09:12.600 ride service, but at any rate. Um the kerfuffle was 0:09:12.640 --> 0:09:15.840 that each company claimed that employees of the other company 0:09:15.880 --> 0:09:19.839 have been requesting and then canceling rides for drivers of 0:09:19.880 --> 0:09:23.200 the other service. So Uber was calling up lift rides 0:09:23.240 --> 0:09:26.200 and then canceling them and to disrupt their service. Can 0:09:26.240 --> 0:09:29.360 you come pick me up twenty miles out of town? Yeah. 0:09:29.400 --> 0:09:33.840 The Verge also ran a story about Uber's slog program, 0:09:33.880 --> 0:09:37.120 which was supposedly designed to have Uber drivers call for 0:09:37.200 --> 0:09:41.200 a lift ride and then attempt to recruit lift drivers 0:09:41.320 --> 0:09:45.319 over to Uber. There's a script to follow like, Hey, 0:09:45.440 --> 0:09:48.200 do you ever hear about Uber? What about Uber? I 0:09:48.240 --> 0:09:50.280 hear Uber pays more than lift that kind of thing 0:09:50.400 --> 0:09:52.400 that would you ever think about driving for Uber? And 0:09:52.400 --> 0:09:55.600 if they said yes, then you would get their informations 0:09:55.679 --> 0:09:59.079 that someone at Uber could try and actually directly recruit them. Wow, 0:09:59.120 --> 0:10:04.400 it's the new tell marketing. Yeah, the back seat Yeah, 0:10:04.440 --> 0:10:06.760 this this was this was one of those things that 0:10:06.760 --> 0:10:09.439 that again really gave Uber kind of a black eye 0:10:09.440 --> 0:10:13.400 for two thousand and fourteen. I was also August was 0:10:13.440 --> 0:10:16.160 also the month that Steve Bomber retired from the board 0:10:16.160 --> 0:10:19.679 of Microsoft. No. Yeah, he had to concentrate on his 0:10:19.720 --> 0:10:25.000 sports team that he had purchased. Um, the Cleveland Developers. Yes, 0:10:25.040 --> 0:10:27.679 that was the Cleveland Developers. Wasn't the Clippers or anything 0:10:27.720 --> 0:10:31.400 like that. It was the Cleveland Developers. Amazon bought Twitch 0:10:31.800 --> 0:10:35.000 in August or just under a billion dollars nine d 0:10:35.200 --> 0:10:39.920 seventy million bucks. Twitch is the video streaming service that 0:10:39.960 --> 0:10:43.280 allows people to stream footage of video games as they 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:46.520 play them. I've used this. I used this when I 0:10:46.559 --> 0:10:50.720 did a charity marathon where I was playing Minecraft for 0:10:50.720 --> 0:10:54.719 twenty five hours and I live streamed the whole thing. Yeah, 0:10:54.720 --> 0:10:58.280 there were periods. You talked one time about how Twitch 0:10:58.320 --> 0:11:02.120 played Pokemon where they had all pressing buttons at the 0:11:02.120 --> 0:11:04.280 same time. Yeah. Yeah. The way it worked was that 0:11:04.760 --> 0:11:09.400 the the the text messages sent into the chat would 0:11:09.440 --> 0:11:14.240 be um interpreted as video game commands for this game 0:11:14.280 --> 0:11:18.600 of Pokemon, and so the game of Pokemon would behave 0:11:18.600 --> 0:11:20.880 in a very bizarre way because there was lag between 0:11:20.880 --> 0:11:22.719 when you would put in a command and when it 0:11:22.760 --> 0:11:25.880 would be able to process it. So something that would 0:11:25.920 --> 0:11:27.920 have made sense at the moment that you put in 0:11:27.960 --> 0:11:30.520 the command wouldn't make sense by the time it finally 0:11:30.520 --> 0:11:34.360 got processed and an entire mythology grew up around the 0:11:34.400 --> 0:11:38.080 behavior of that particular Pokemon game, with like certain things 0:11:38.120 --> 0:11:42.000 given incredible significance, Like every time a particular item was 0:11:42.520 --> 0:11:45.480 opened up in the inventory because of the sequence of commands, 0:11:45.520 --> 0:11:48.960 they can considered it consulting the oracle, giving it this 0:11:49.280 --> 0:11:52.600 important uh state status in the game, which was pretty funny. 0:11:52.600 --> 0:11:55.280 Oh that was just user created too, which just shows 0:11:56.360 --> 0:11:59.160 if you create anything sort of platform on the Internet, 0:11:59.400 --> 0:12:05.079 folks will be happy to to build a mythology around it. Um. 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:07.000 At least to a point. There has to be some 0:12:07.000 --> 0:12:10.280 sort of hook to get people there. Also, in August, 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:14.440 Google announced that it would launch literally a delivery drone 0:12:14.480 --> 0:12:16.720 service similar to the one that Amazon announced back in 0:12:16.720 --> 0:12:22.280 two thousand thirteen. Um, I've seen some predictions saying that 0:12:22.559 --> 0:12:25.120 by the end of two thousand and fifteen we will 0:12:25.200 --> 0:12:30.839 have delivery drones. I think that's being a little optimistic. UM. 0:12:30.880 --> 0:12:34.559 I think I think the the f a A Is 0:12:34.559 --> 0:12:39.079 probably gonna have some things to say about that. UM, 0:12:39.240 --> 0:12:43.440 we'll see. But it's mean, would it really be cost 0:12:43.480 --> 0:12:45.280 effective by then? I mean, I guess if people are 0:12:45.280 --> 0:12:48.040 willing to pay enough charge Yeah, I mean, I guess 0:12:48.080 --> 0:12:51.600 it also depends on you know, obviously which uh, which 0:12:51.640 --> 0:12:55.560 cities have distribution centers there, right, like if there's if 0:12:55.679 --> 0:12:58.200 if your item is already sitting in a warehouse in 0:12:58.240 --> 0:13:01.319 the city you're in, then it may make more sense 0:13:01.360 --> 0:13:04.640 to just go ahead and have an entire robotic line 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:09.320 robots delivering the package to the pickup line. Another robot, 0:13:09.360 --> 0:13:11.480 the drone, picks it up and carries it out to 0:13:11.520 --> 0:13:13.520 deliver it never has to be seen by human hands 0:13:13.520 --> 0:13:17.160 and human hands human eyes. If human hands are seeing it, 0:13:17.200 --> 0:13:20.199 then things have really changed. But at any rate, they'll 0:13:20.240 --> 0:13:24.960 be like that guy in Pans labyrinthon the Thin Man 0:13:25.120 --> 0:13:30.360 or whatever it was. Paleman was pale man in that movie. Uh. 0:13:30.440 --> 0:13:35.680 September we finally got into another month. Apple unveils the 0:13:35.679 --> 0:13:38.720 iPhone six and the iPhone six plus, which was the 0:13:38.800 --> 0:13:42.360 first phone in the fablet category. You can almost fit 0:13:42.520 --> 0:13:46.520 in your living room, Yeah, exactly. Um I didn't mention 0:13:46.600 --> 0:13:49.920 the the breujaha that happened when a couple of people 0:13:50.240 --> 0:13:55.160 said that their iPhone six plus bent, you know, like 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:58.880 they there and actually had like the metal itself was 0:13:58.920 --> 0:14:02.320 bending at certain point and denting in and there are 0:14:02.320 --> 0:14:06.040 all these jokes about hipsters in Brooklyn with tight genes 0:14:06.080 --> 0:14:08.559 that were ruining their phones just by putting them in 0:14:08.600 --> 0:14:14.280 their pockets. That yeah, yeah, that there. It would introduce 0:14:14.320 --> 0:14:16.600 a curve that was not intended to be there. The 0:14:16.679 --> 0:14:20.760 story would unfold that it really wasn't happening as frequently 0:14:20.920 --> 0:14:23.600 as one would think based upon the number of stories 0:14:23.600 --> 0:14:26.440 that were coming out um and Apple denied that it 0:14:26.480 --> 0:14:31.120 was a design flaw. Apple also announced the Apple Watch, 0:14:31.480 --> 0:14:34.520 which their first attempt to enter the wearable market. You 0:14:34.560 --> 0:14:37.000 don't count the iPod nano that would clip on to 0:14:37.400 --> 0:14:41.080 like your shirt or something, but that won't be available 0:14:41.120 --> 0:14:44.280 till two fifteen, So it was announced but not made available. 0:14:44.560 --> 0:14:48.720 Tell me more about Apple, Okay. They also unveiled Apple Pay, 0:14:48.760 --> 0:14:52.600 which is their NFC enabled payment system. Also, well not 0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:55.120 just NFC enabled payment system, but that's a large part 0:14:55.120 --> 0:14:56.440 of it. The idea being that you could go to 0:14:56.480 --> 0:14:59.120 a point of sale and use your phone or your 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:02.680 smart watch. Once you got it to pay for something, 0:15:02.720 --> 0:15:05.040 you would have an electronic wallet that would allow you 0:15:05.040 --> 0:15:09.360 to transfer funds and and buy stuff supposedly completely secure. 0:15:10.520 --> 0:15:14.920 Is the idea being that meets the requirements of making 0:15:14.920 --> 0:15:18.040 sure your credit card information remains safe. I mean, there 0:15:18.040 --> 0:15:21.160 were so many stories about information being stolen that that 0:15:21.240 --> 0:15:25.000 was a big deal. Not obviously a very new idea. 0:15:25.160 --> 0:15:27.360 NFC technology has been around for a while. We've had 0:15:27.360 --> 0:15:29.680 Google Wallet for a couple of years. And in Europe, 0:15:29.880 --> 0:15:33.920 NFC technology is so commonplace that they're not even like, 0:15:33.920 --> 0:15:36.680 at least in the UK, they're not even launching Apple 0:15:36.720 --> 0:15:39.760 Pay out there because there's already embedded systems that pre 0:15:39.840 --> 0:15:43.320 exist that are popular. It was here in the United 0:15:43.360 --> 0:15:46.920 States where there was still a lot of confusion in 0:15:46.960 --> 0:15:49.200 the marketplace. No one had come out as a real leader. 0:15:49.240 --> 0:15:51.400 You've got a lot of competing standards out there, and 0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:55.880 so that's when Apple kind of pounced. Chinese company Ali 0:15:55.920 --> 0:15:58.280 Baba held an i p o and it became the 0:15:58.360 --> 0:16:01.640 largest tech I p O ever that's an e commerce 0:16:01.640 --> 0:16:07.120 site in China. Uh, it was a big, big deal. Also, Microsoft, 0:16:07.160 --> 0:16:10.680 in September two fourteen agreed to buy mo Yang Mojang, 0:16:10.920 --> 0:16:13.680 the company that makes Minecraft. Always say it both ways 0:16:13.680 --> 0:16:16.840 because just in case. But for two point five billion 0:16:16.880 --> 0:16:19.400 dollars for a game that's been out for several years, 0:16:20.480 --> 0:16:24.720 for a company that hasn't produced anything remotely as successful 0:16:24.840 --> 0:16:27.400 as that one title. So some people were wondering if 0:16:27.440 --> 0:16:30.240 this was a smart move or not, because while Minecraft 0:16:30.320 --> 0:16:35.680 is undeniably a huge success, can you can you exist 0:16:35.760 --> 0:16:39.920 on a single title perpetually? Now, if you're Microsoft and 0:16:40.200 --> 0:16:43.600 you produce Microsoft Office, the answer might be yes, that's 0:16:43.680 --> 0:16:48.320 kind of what Microsoft does. Um, that's being unfair to Microsoft. 0:16:48.920 --> 0:16:53.720 Future versions of Minecraft will have Clippy. Yeah, I see 0:16:53.760 --> 0:16:55.480 that you're trying to build a house. Would you like 0:16:55.560 --> 0:16:59.120 some help with that? Uh? Also September two fourteen, you 0:16:59.160 --> 0:17:00.840 know what we haven't talked about for a little bit, 0:17:00.920 --> 0:17:06.040 Joe Hackers. Oh in the so now that we've split 0:17:06.080 --> 0:17:09.560 this podcast into our opening discussion from the last one 0:17:09.640 --> 0:17:12.760 is kind of lost. But in that I I was 0:17:12.800 --> 0:17:15.199 saying that I was sort of thinking often as the 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:18.520 year of the hack, that it's the year that I 0:17:18.560 --> 0:17:23.600 think the average person start starts becoming aware that cybersecurity 0:17:23.640 --> 0:17:27.119 threats are real and they're going to affect them pretty 0:17:27.160 --> 0:17:30.199 frequently in the future. Well, especially when we see that 0:17:30.280 --> 0:17:35.679 it's affecting not just retail establishments or bitcoin exchanges, but 0:17:35.800 --> 0:17:39.399 other things as well. So we have two hacking stories 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:41.879 at the end of September two thousand fourteen, one was 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:45.280 that home Depot would investigate another massive hack against their systems, 0:17:45.920 --> 0:17:49.359 so similar to issues that had plagued target eBay, that 0:17:49.440 --> 0:17:52.960 kind of thing. And also that hackers would steal photos 0:17:53.000 --> 0:17:57.120 from Apple's online photos sharing service. And this was not 0:17:57.520 --> 0:18:01.679 a blanket attack. This wasn't like a rod net that 0:18:01.800 --> 0:18:03.520 was cast out to see what they could catch. It 0:18:03.600 --> 0:18:08.320 was obvious that they were targeting specific individuals, celebrities in particular, 0:18:08.920 --> 0:18:12.159 and trying to get hold of photos, usually photos that 0:18:12.200 --> 0:18:15.720 put people in compromising positions, nude photographs, that kind of stuff. 0:18:15.800 --> 0:18:19.680 It was sad. It was it was seeing people's privacy 0:18:19.680 --> 0:18:23.320 being violated and then seeing the justified arguments. And I 0:18:23.440 --> 0:18:27.600 used justified in the loosest means as possible, saying, well, 0:18:27.640 --> 0:18:29.520 they live their lives out in the public eye, so 0:18:29.600 --> 0:18:32.640 therefore they shouldn't have an expectation of privacy. My response 0:18:32.680 --> 0:18:35.280 to that argument, you just posted something on the Internet 0:18:35.320 --> 0:18:38.760 and it's public, you know, let us read your email. Yeah, 0:18:38.800 --> 0:18:42.600 my yeah. My argument is is that is a jerk 0:18:42.640 --> 0:18:45.399 face argument to make. Don't make that argument, folks, that 0:18:45.840 --> 0:18:48.399 does any sense. No, it doesn't, it's not. It's not 0:18:48.480 --> 0:18:53.280 at all justifiable. It's terrible thing. But but also again 0:18:53.880 --> 0:18:57.879 displayed the need for security, and it also showed that 0:18:58.000 --> 0:19:01.920 this was not due to customer behavior. This wasn't like 0:19:02.400 --> 0:19:07.080 a customer issue where their problems lead to the UH 0:19:07.119 --> 0:19:10.280 to the breach. It was another issue behind the scenes 0:19:10.359 --> 0:19:13.360 that you know, the customer didn't have any any involvement with. 0:19:13.640 --> 0:19:15.840 And if your argument is like, well, they shouldn't put 0:19:16.040 --> 0:19:19.200 you know, those kind of photos up on a online service. 0:19:20.080 --> 0:19:22.639 If you have every expectation that your information is going 0:19:22.680 --> 0:19:25.160 to be safe, then it's really no one else's business 0:19:25.200 --> 0:19:27.320 what information you put up there. Right, as long as 0:19:27.320 --> 0:19:30.320 you're not violating any terms of service with whatever that 0:19:30.400 --> 0:19:34.000 service is, everything should be fine. Well, like we said 0:19:34.040 --> 0:19:38.439 in part one of this podcast, it's it's becoming clear 0:19:38.640 --> 0:19:41.040 more and more that you don't have to be somebody 0:19:41.040 --> 0:19:43.760 who doesn't really understand how to use the internet in 0:19:43.880 --> 0:19:47.280 order to get everything messed up to have your information 0:19:47.320 --> 0:19:50.000 still and you don't have to create weak passwords or 0:19:50.359 --> 0:19:53.880 you know, do everything wrong. You can do everything right 0:19:53.720 --> 0:19:57.919 right and still have your information compromise. Yeah, so very frustrating, 0:19:57.960 --> 0:19:59.919 also eye opening, and it does mean that we have 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:03.600 to take a more serious look at online security moving 0:20:03.640 --> 0:20:07.680 into October two thousand and fourteen. That's when Facebook Alternative 0:20:08.000 --> 0:20:11.240 l O opens up a bit. It had already been 0:20:11.240 --> 0:20:13.880 active for a while, so it had had a kind 0:20:13.880 --> 0:20:16.679 of an alpha slash beta sort of test with just 0:20:16.760 --> 0:20:19.240 a few people. But they opened up a bit allowing 0:20:19.240 --> 0:20:22.520 more people to join what was previously a very small community. 0:20:22.560 --> 0:20:25.000 So people were getting email invites. You could actually apply, 0:20:25.040 --> 0:20:27.439 and I did, so I got an invite, I joined LLO, 0:20:28.240 --> 0:20:31.040 made a little account. It was meant to be um or. 0:20:31.080 --> 0:20:33.800 It is meant to be a social network that doesn't 0:20:33.840 --> 0:20:37.040 use any advertising, that is supposed to just be pure 0:20:37.160 --> 0:20:41.000 social interaction with users without any uh fiddling about with 0:20:41.119 --> 0:20:47.480 the status updates or news update layout or money. Well 0:20:47.720 --> 0:20:50.840 right now, it was just it was getting investments, which 0:20:50.840 --> 0:20:53.680 some people pointed out, hey, if you can investment, that 0:20:53.760 --> 0:20:56.560 means that someone somewhere down the line believes that you're 0:20:56.560 --> 0:21:02.080 going to pay that investment back. So they can't perpetually 0:21:02.119 --> 0:21:05.280 exist on venture capital because they have to eventually be 0:21:05.359 --> 0:21:08.359 able to pay back investors. So that actually raised a 0:21:08.359 --> 0:21:10.159 lot of questions. People were saying, how are they going 0:21:10.200 --> 0:21:12.879 to make money? And it was a question that wasn't 0:21:12.880 --> 0:21:16.600 really um answered to anyone's satisfaction as far as I 0:21:16.640 --> 0:21:20.320 could tell. Moreover, after an initial flood of activity, l 0:21:20.400 --> 0:21:24.359 O kind of faded off because it wasn't doing anything, 0:21:25.520 --> 0:21:29.320 you know, truly innovative that Facebook or some other social 0:21:29.320 --> 0:21:31.879 platform wasn't already doing apart from the fact that it 0:21:31.960 --> 0:21:34.880 wasn't serving you up ads or messing with your news feed, 0:21:35.480 --> 0:21:37.920 but it it wasn't enough to pull people over. I 0:21:38.560 --> 0:21:40.880 checked back, because I had I was one of those 0:21:40.880 --> 0:21:44.600 folks who created an account, went there for a little while, stopped. 0:21:45.840 --> 0:21:48.879 I checked my account and pretty much no activity had 0:21:48.880 --> 0:21:51.560 happened within like the month that I had been offline. 0:21:52.240 --> 0:21:55.399 So maybe that's just because the people I know. It 0:21:55.440 --> 0:21:57.720 could be that there are pockets within that community that 0:21:57.760 --> 0:22:00.879 are very active, but most folks are like, hey, you 0:22:00.880 --> 0:22:03.000 remember when l O was the thing for two weeks. 0:22:04.400 --> 0:22:08.760 Facebook in October purchased What's App for nearly twenty two 0:22:08.840 --> 0:22:12.080 billion dollars. Joe, before we came in here, you said, 0:22:12.200 --> 0:22:15.280 what is What's App? You had not heard of it? 0:22:16.320 --> 0:22:18.280 You are not unusual in that fact, A lot of 0:22:18.280 --> 0:22:20.560 people in North America had not heard of What's App. 0:22:20.640 --> 0:22:24.000 It's a mobile messaging service that's very popular in other 0:22:24.040 --> 0:22:26.160 parts of the world, not so much in the United States. 0:22:26.359 --> 0:22:29.119 So it's understandable why people would wonder why would you 0:22:29.160 --> 0:22:31.640 pay twenty two billion dollars for something like that? But 0:22:32.200 --> 0:22:35.080 the truth is it does. There are millions of people 0:22:35.080 --> 0:22:36.879 who use the service in other parts of the world, 0:22:37.240 --> 0:22:40.439 and Facebook views them as potential customers, so that is 0:22:40.480 --> 0:22:46.480 the reason. Also, yeah, I guess that's good enough. October 0:22:46.520 --> 0:22:49.040 that's when HB announced it would split up, separating its 0:22:49.080 --> 0:22:52.879 PC and printer business from its enterprise business. So the 0:22:52.920 --> 0:22:54.920 idea of being that by splitting up, they'll be able 0:22:54.920 --> 0:22:58.760 to make much more focused companies deliver upon those kind 0:22:58.800 --> 0:23:03.240 of promises. Surely, October had some more good hacks. Yeah. 0:23:03.359 --> 0:23:06.640 Kmart announced that store registers were hacked and then people's 0:23:06.680 --> 0:23:09.960 credit card information was stolen as a result, So yeah, 0:23:10.000 --> 0:23:15.480 it wasn't just online attacks, it's store registers in this case. Um. Also, 0:23:15.640 --> 0:23:17.760 HBO finally announced that they were going to have a 0:23:17.800 --> 0:23:20.560 new service that would allow people to access HBO programming 0:23:20.600 --> 0:23:25.359 without a cable subscription, starting in two those fifteen. Hallelujah. 0:23:26.320 --> 0:23:29.000 I am so excited about this because I mean, I 0:23:29.080 --> 0:23:33.080 love some HBO shows, but I'm sorry you are not 0:23:33.119 --> 0:23:35.760 going to get me to subscribe to cable. Yeah, I 0:23:35.800 --> 0:23:39.080 don't want all those channels. I'm not interested. Yeah, I'm 0:23:39.119 --> 0:23:43.159 the same way. I dropped cable years ago. And there 0:23:43.200 --> 0:23:45.600 have been lots of shows on HBO that I wish 0:23:45.600 --> 0:23:47.720 I could have watched, but I don't. I don't happy 0:23:47.760 --> 0:23:49.920 to pay to watch them. Sure, I just don't want 0:23:49.920 --> 0:23:52.199