WEBVTT - Tech News: The Epic Apple vs Epic Fight Continues 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tech stuff, a production from I heart radio. 0:00:11.800 --> 0:00:14.440 Hey there, and welcome to tech stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:14.520 --> 0:00:17.600 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I heart radio, 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:20.200 and how the Tech Are you? It's time for the 0:00:20.200 --> 0:00:26.960 Tech News for Tuesday, September. Two. The epic battle between 0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:31.680 Apple and epic Games continues, and now the U S 0:00:31.720 --> 0:00:34.480 Department of Justice is waiting in all right, so let's 0:00:34.560 --> 0:00:38.199 recap the story so far. Apple has a policy that 0:00:38.360 --> 0:00:42.720 any APP that allows in APP purchases must use apple's 0:00:42.760 --> 0:00:45.879 own payment system, and that means that apple gets a 0:00:46.000 --> 0:00:49.680 slice of the PIE, which, ironically, is not apple pie, 0:00:49.720 --> 0:00:53.400 but instead key line pie epic games. The producers of 0:00:53.479 --> 0:00:59.800 fortnite sidestepped this process by suggesting two players on I 0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:03.040 os devices that they use a little work around that 0:01:03.040 --> 0:01:06.120 would allow the players to purchase credits directly from epic 0:01:06.200 --> 0:01:09.880 games and outside the Apple System, and then use those 0:01:10.240 --> 0:01:14.920 in the IOS game. That would give epic the entire Pie, 0:01:14.920 --> 0:01:20.880 slice of key line. Apple responded swiftly by removing fortnite 0:01:20.959 --> 0:01:24.959 from the APP store and prevented anyone from download to 0:01:24.959 --> 0:01:28.319 get further, although folks who had already had it were 0:01:28.360 --> 0:01:31.920 just fine, and it kind of escalated from there. What 0:01:32.080 --> 0:01:35.360 followed was a lawsuit in which epic argued that Apple's 0:01:35.360 --> 0:01:40.240 approaches anti competitive, that locking developers into this ecosystem was 0:01:40.360 --> 0:01:43.560 inherently unfair. And this is something, by the way, that 0:01:43.600 --> 0:01:45.959 we're seeing play out in courts all over the world 0:01:46.040 --> 0:01:49.040 right now, with different people coming forward, to different companies 0:01:49.040 --> 0:01:53.040 coming forward to say apple's approaches inherently unfair. Now, the 0:01:53.080 --> 0:01:56.800 initial courts decision was a bit of a muddled affair. 0:01:57.200 --> 0:02:00.520 Neither epic nor apple was entirely happy about it, so 0:02:00.600 --> 0:02:06.360 both sides appealed the decision. Now, interestingly, apple one more 0:02:06.800 --> 0:02:10.160 than it lost, because the court decided that apple doesn't 0:02:10.160 --> 0:02:13.320 constitute a monopoly, at least not in this case, and 0:02:13.400 --> 0:02:16.120 that's kind of understandable in the sense that fortnite can 0:02:16.120 --> 0:02:20.399 be played on just about any platform, possibly even your refrigerators. 0:02:20.400 --> 0:02:23.040 So it's hard to point at this and have a 0:02:23.080 --> 0:02:28.040 court understand that this potentially constitutes anti competitive behavior. However, 0:02:28.960 --> 0:02:31.799 the court did rule that apple cannot prevent APPs from 0:02:31.840 --> 0:02:36.240 offering links to alternative payment systems in their APPs, and 0:02:36.320 --> 0:02:38.639 apple really didn't like that. They don't want that to 0:02:38.680 --> 0:02:41.120 happen because the company has really been transforming into more 0:02:41.160 --> 0:02:45.679 of a services oriented company after being a hardware focused 0:02:45.720 --> 0:02:49.760 company for decades. This brings us to what's going on now. 0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:53.400 An appeals court is preparing to hear arguments from all 0:02:53.440 --> 0:02:58.200 sides about the original decision, and the Department of Justice 0:02:58.320 --> 0:03:01.080 and the State of California have both secured a little 0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:04.720 bit of time to present some arguments to the court. Now, 0:03:04.720 --> 0:03:07.480 the D O J is not allowed to take sides 0:03:07.840 --> 0:03:10.639 per se, but the agency hopes to prove that the 0:03:10.680 --> 0:03:15.600 lower court's decisions about apple not being a monopoly were 0:03:16.240 --> 0:03:20.119 shortsighted that apple had in fact violated antitrust laws such 0:03:20.160 --> 0:03:23.360 as the Sherman Act. The D O J says that 0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:27.440 the lower courts interpretation sets a disastrous precedent that weakens 0:03:27.480 --> 0:03:31.600 antitrust law, particularly in the digital landscape, and that this 0:03:31.680 --> 0:03:34.560 needs to be corrected so that the US government has 0:03:34.600 --> 0:03:38.280 the ability to enforce antitrust laws and prevent any company 0:03:38.720 --> 0:03:43.520 from becoming an unimpeachable monopoly. Complicating matters is that the 0:03:43.600 --> 0:03:46.960 D O J is ramping up its own antitrust lawsuit 0:03:47.000 --> 0:03:50.400 against Apple, so it will be important for the lawyers 0:03:50.400 --> 0:03:52.120 to present their case in a way that doesn't come 0:03:52.160 --> 0:03:55.680 across as biased. The State of California, meanwhile, is going 0:03:55.720 --> 0:03:58.000 to present arguments on how the court should treat the 0:03:58.040 --> 0:04:02.920 state's Consumer Protection Law, called the unfair competition law, within 0:04:02.960 --> 0:04:07.240 the context of this lawsuit. The Washington Post reports that 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:10.960 US Customs has been maintaining a database filled with travelers 0:04:11.000 --> 0:04:15.360 electronic data, some of which dates back fifteen years now. 0:04:15.440 --> 0:04:18.839 It has long been an issue that people entering the US, 0:04:18.880 --> 0:04:24.000 including US citizens returning to America, have sometimes been prompted 0:04:24.240 --> 0:04:29.640 to hand over customs access to their electronic devices. Now 0:04:29.760 --> 0:04:32.120 U S courts have, for some reason deemed this as 0:04:32.160 --> 0:04:36.080 being acceptable. Honestly, I think this very much ranks as 0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:39.800 unreasonable search and seizure, which is something the constitution is 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:43.760 supposed to protect us against. Anyway, there's no legal reason 0:04:43.839 --> 0:04:46.800 anyone should have to hand over their log and credentials 0:04:46.839 --> 0:04:50.600 to their devices, and finding out that customs has been 0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:54.000 downloading and storing this information for more than a decade 0:04:54.680 --> 0:04:57.880 is a huge red flag. What's worse, the Post reports 0:04:57.920 --> 0:05:01.919 that essentially any employee of the agency can access any 0:05:02.160 --> 0:05:05.599 of that data. So imagine for a moment that you 0:05:05.680 --> 0:05:08.760 are returning to the United States and that you are 0:05:08.800 --> 0:05:12.640 coerced into handing your phone over to customs agents and 0:05:12.720 --> 0:05:15.920 you are further prompted to unlock your phone and then 0:05:15.960 --> 0:05:19.360 they download everything that's on your phone, all without due cause. 0:05:19.960 --> 0:05:22.720 You haven't done anything wrong, or at the very least 0:05:22.760 --> 0:05:25.279 you haven't done anything to warrant this kind of a search. 0:05:25.680 --> 0:05:28.200 And now they have all of the Dat on your phone, 0:05:28.240 --> 0:05:31.400 all your contacts, all your calendar appointments, all of your 0:05:31.440 --> 0:05:37.240 location history, your browsing history, your photos, your documents, everything 0:05:37.279 --> 0:05:40.840 that was on that device has been downloaded and anyone 0:05:41.320 --> 0:05:45.320 within the agency has the capability of potentially accessing it. 0:05:46.120 --> 0:05:49.160 That is unthinkable, right? I mean it doesn't take much 0:05:49.200 --> 0:05:52.919 imagination to come up with dozens of terrible scenarios where 0:05:52.960 --> 0:05:56.960 this could become a problem. Like blackmail alone is a 0:05:57.080 --> 0:06:02.280 terrible possibility. More than that, other agencies like the FBI 0:06:02.480 --> 0:06:05.640 can request and get access to this kind of database 0:06:05.680 --> 0:06:07.640 and it starts to sound a lot like a dystopian 0:06:07.680 --> 0:06:12.040 authoritarian state. U S Senator Ron Widen sent a letter 0:06:12.080 --> 0:06:15.200 to the agency last week raising concerns about this practice 0:06:15.200 --> 0:06:18.400 and saying it amounts to unfair search and seizure on 0:06:18.480 --> 0:06:22.159 American citizens. Whether anything will actually be done about this 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:26.400 policy or if some court case finally escalates the issue 0:06:26.480 --> 0:06:30.000 so that the Supreme Court weighs in, hopefully to curtail 0:06:30.080 --> 0:06:33.480 the practices again. Seems like a pretty clear cut violation 0:06:33.520 --> 0:06:35.960 of the fourth amendment to the Constitution. All of that 0:06:36.080 --> 0:06:38.880 remains to be seen. A couple of weeks ago, I 0:06:38.880 --> 0:06:42.320 talked about how twitter had cleaned house by deleting a 0:06:42.360 --> 0:06:46.440 bunch of body accounts. They're all pushing propaganda, and while 0:06:46.520 --> 0:06:50.159 that in itself isn't that unusual, in this particular case 0:06:50.560 --> 0:06:54.720 the propaganda promoted the United States and its policies in 0:06:54.760 --> 0:06:58.360 places like Russia and China. Now we often hear about 0:06:58.400 --> 0:07:02.760 coordinating the campaigns meant spread misinformation within the United States, 0:07:03.160 --> 0:07:07.440 and often these campaigns originate out of countries like China 0:07:07.480 --> 0:07:10.760 and Russia, but it's kind of odd to hear about 0:07:10.880 --> 0:07:14.840 the opposite. And now the Pentagon has ordered a review 0:07:14.920 --> 0:07:19.120 of information warfare operations that rely upon social network platforms 0:07:19.160 --> 0:07:23.600 like twitter and Meta across all military branches. So the 0:07:23.640 --> 0:07:26.440 Under Secretary for policy at the Department of Defense, the 0:07:26.440 --> 0:07:29.840 guy named Colin Call, has told all the branches of 0:07:29.840 --> 0:07:33.000 the military that have these kind of operations that they 0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:36.760 have to provide a full report on the scope, scale 0:07:36.840 --> 0:07:40.520 and techniques of those programs by next month, at least 0:07:40.520 --> 0:07:43.720 according to The Washington Post. I think the concern here 0:07:44.240 --> 0:07:46.680 is that it's really bad optics for the US to 0:07:46.760 --> 0:07:50.560 engage in similar tactics that Russia and China are using 0:07:51.080 --> 0:07:54.080 while at the same time the US government has slammed 0:07:54.200 --> 0:07:57.080 social networks for allowing these kind of things to proliferate 0:07:57.200 --> 0:08:00.240 here in the United States. Ends up looking more than 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:04.880 a little bit hypocritical. Now, maybe the military opts relying 0:08:04.880 --> 0:08:07.760 on these approaches would argue that the narrative they are 0:08:07.800 --> 0:08:12.480 pushing isn't misinformation. Sure, it puts the US and its 0:08:12.520 --> 0:08:15.840 policies in a positive light, but maybe they argued, this 0:08:15.920 --> 0:08:20.000 isn't lying, it's just it's just giving part of the 0:08:20.040 --> 0:08:23.559 story that they otherwise don't get. However, I suspect folks 0:08:23.560 --> 0:08:25.720 in Russia and China would say pretty much the same 0:08:25.760 --> 0:08:28.760 thing about what's going on here and anyway, it'll be 0:08:28.800 --> 0:08:31.880 interesting to see what comes of this. Now propaganda has 0:08:31.920 --> 0:08:36.280 long been a well used and reliable tool around the 0:08:36.320 --> 0:08:40.040 world to spread specific messages and points of view, so 0:08:40.120 --> 0:08:42.280 I wonder if we're going to see the government create 0:08:42.400 --> 0:08:45.600 kind of a framework within which it might be okay 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:49.280 to use that capability within the digital world. If not, 0:08:50.360 --> 0:08:53.920 one makes the digital world different from, say, dropping physical 0:08:54.040 --> 0:08:57.440 pamphlets from an aircraft onto areas in an effort to 0:08:57.440 --> 0:09:00.520 spread similar messages? That's something the United States has done 0:09:00.920 --> 0:09:06.840 frequently throughout its history, sending messages to citizens in places 0:09:06.840 --> 0:09:09.880 where they can't get access to information in other ways. 0:09:10.559 --> 0:09:14.120 We've made use of those tactics in the past. So 0:09:14.559 --> 0:09:17.680 it kind of raises the question if that sort of 0:09:17.720 --> 0:09:21.600 thing is wrong in the digital space, why? Like, what 0:09:21.760 --> 0:09:25.000 is it that makes it different? These are complicated questions 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:26.960 and I don't pretend to have the answers. I do 0:09:27.080 --> 0:09:31.720 find it fascinating, however. Something else that is, I hesitate 0:09:31.760 --> 0:09:35.520 to use Laura, fascinating but certainly captivating, is an article 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:39.040 that I read in Rolling Stone magazine. It is titled 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:43.800 How many women were abused to make that Tesla, and 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:48.040 the article goes into detail about the work culture at Tesla, 0:09:48.120 --> 0:09:52.040 the electric vehicle company, as well as Elon Musk's personal 0:09:52.120 --> 0:09:57.120 history with, quote unquote, fratish behaviors from the article, and 0:09:57.160 --> 0:10:01.640 also how seven women have brought lawsuits against Tesla alleging 0:10:01.760 --> 0:10:06.280 sexual harassment the story even goes beyond Tesla and mentions 0:10:06.320 --> 0:10:10.959 how spacex engineer Ashley Kozak wrote about similar issues over 0:10:11.000 --> 0:10:16.480 at SPACEX, another Elon Musk company. I recommend this article. 0:10:16.960 --> 0:10:19.880 I will warn you it has a lot of extremely 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:24.239 upsetting information and allegations in it, but if those allegations 0:10:24.240 --> 0:10:28.240 are true, it really paints the corporate culture of Tesla 0:10:28.320 --> 0:10:32.400 and other musk companies in a really terrible light, akin 0:10:32.520 --> 0:10:34.440 to the kind of stories we heard coming out of 0:10:34.440 --> 0:10:38.160 gaming companies like activision blizzard and before that UBI soft 0:10:38.440 --> 0:10:41.679 and before that the stuff we heard coming out of Uber. 0:10:42.360 --> 0:10:45.400 For many people out there, news that companies in the 0:10:45.440 --> 0:10:49.400 tech sector have a particularly ugly problem with Misogyny and 0:10:49.400 --> 0:10:53.040 sexual harassment is going to come as no surprise. Right 0:10:53.080 --> 0:10:55.559 this is old news, in fact. I'm sure there are 0:10:55.640 --> 0:10:59.239 listeners of this show who have either experienced or witnessed 0:10:59.360 --> 0:11:02.720 something on those lines at companies in the tech sector. 0:11:03.160 --> 0:11:06.360 But pieces like this indicate that companies really do need 0:11:06.400 --> 0:11:09.520 to work harder at stamping out these kinds of culture 0:11:09.960 --> 0:11:13.360 and that shareholders should demand more from the companies that 0:11:13.440 --> 0:11:16.840 they invest in. I mean, it's a bad investment ultimately, 0:11:17.320 --> 0:11:21.600 because sooner or later the cards come crashing down. You 0:11:21.600 --> 0:11:25.080 would rather invest in a company that has a supportive 0:11:25.120 --> 0:11:28.240 and healthy culture and not one that's predatory. I'm sure, 0:11:29.280 --> 0:11:31.520 or at least I'm sure for listeners of this podcast. 0:11:31.520 --> 0:11:33.640 They're probably people out there who really don't care as 0:11:33.679 --> 0:11:35.840 long as they get a return on the investment, but 0:11:36.640 --> 0:11:39.520 they wouldn't listen to this show. Right. Okay, we've got 0:11:39.559 --> 0:11:41.520 some more news stories to get to. Before we get 0:11:41.559 --> 0:11:54.120 to that, let's take a quick break. We're back over 0:11:54.160 --> 0:11:57.640 in the European Union, courts upheld a ruling that says 0:11:57.679 --> 0:12:01.520 Google must pay a truly annoyed or miss fine of 0:12:02.559 --> 0:12:07.760 about four point one to billion dollars. Now, to be fair, 0:12:08.320 --> 0:12:12.600 that's actually a reduction of the original find. The original 0:12:12.679 --> 0:12:15.920 find from the first court case was closer to four 0:12:15.960 --> 0:12:21.320 point three billion dollars. So Google got a deal, they 0:12:21.440 --> 0:12:23.880 got a break. It's just four point one two billion. 0:12:24.400 --> 0:12:26.880 Now all of this actually stems from a case that 0:12:26.960 --> 0:12:31.000 was originally filed back in two thousand and fifteen, in 0:12:31.040 --> 0:12:34.360 which the European Commission ruled that Google was engaged in 0:12:34.440 --> 0:12:40.000 anti competitive practices with the android operating system, essentially saying 0:12:40.040 --> 0:12:44.400 Google had actively taken advantage of its enormous installed base 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:49.400 in Europe. Something like of EU citizens have an android device, 0:12:50.080 --> 0:12:55.280 and they forced every android device out there to have 0:12:55.360 --> 0:12:59.160 apps like chrome and search pre installed on them, and 0:12:59.200 --> 0:13:03.920 that this ended up giving Google and unfair advantage in 0:13:04.000 --> 0:13:10.400 those areas, because competing search and browsers were, uh, not 0:13:10.640 --> 0:13:14.640 pre installed. The original decision was handed down in two 0:13:14.679 --> 0:13:19.360 thousand eighteen, so the case began in t the decision 0:13:19.400 --> 0:13:23.040 in the fine came in because, you know, justice moved swiftly, 0:13:23.800 --> 0:13:26.400 and yeah, that meant that the original case took like 0:13:26.440 --> 0:13:29.760 three years to resolve, but Google then appealed the decision. 0:13:30.120 --> 0:13:32.960 It took another four years for the appeal to work 0:13:33.000 --> 0:13:36.400 its way through the system and for courts to find 0:13:36.440 --> 0:13:38.960 that Google still guilty and still needs to pay a fine, 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:41.320 although it's slightly lower than what it was originally. And 0:13:41.320 --> 0:13:44.360 that's where we are now. So does this mean that 0:13:44.400 --> 0:13:46.600 Google is going to have to cough up more than 0:13:46.640 --> 0:13:52.960 four billion bucks? Not necessarily. Google can appeal this decision 0:13:53.040 --> 0:13:55.480 as well, which would push the matter up to the 0:13:55.559 --> 0:13:59.520 highest court in the EU, where perhaps it could get 0:13:59.679 --> 0:14:03.040 a front decision or maybe the fine would be further reduced. 0:14:03.120 --> 0:14:07.320 Will have to wait and see. Mozilla, conducted a study 0:14:07.559 --> 0:14:10.720 on Youtube and found that the platforms tools for telling 0:14:10.760 --> 0:14:14.160 Youtube that you don't like a particular video or you 0:14:14.200 --> 0:14:18.040 don't want to have similar content show up in your recommendations. 0:14:18.800 --> 0:14:21.840 They don't work very well, those tools. And this is 0:14:21.880 --> 0:14:25.360 interesting because I have noticed something similar in my own 0:14:25.480 --> 0:14:29.960 use of Youtube, particularly recently. But you know, anecdotal evidence 0:14:30.080 --> 0:14:32.200 isn't real evidence. So I never brought it up on 0:14:32.240 --> 0:14:35.440 the show because I thought, well, this is just my experience. 0:14:35.480 --> 0:14:38.520 What if it's an outlier? But in my case I 0:14:38.560 --> 0:14:41.480 was watching a lot of video essays about different types 0:14:41.480 --> 0:14:44.840 of things, including a ton about pop culture, and it 0:14:44.880 --> 0:14:47.800 was really just, you know, critiques about different things like 0:14:47.880 --> 0:14:52.240 movies or series, and really well thought out and well 0:14:52.320 --> 0:14:56.800 researched arguments. But I noticed that some of the video 0:14:56.920 --> 0:15:00.960 essays that were creeping into my recommendations weren't real video essays. 0:15:00.960 --> 0:15:04.480 They were really just thinly veiled manifestos for right wing 0:15:04.600 --> 0:15:08.520 talking points. Now, I am not a right wing person 0:15:08.800 --> 0:15:11.000 by a long stretch. I'm sure this comes as no 0:15:11.160 --> 0:15:14.200 surprise to anyone who's listening to me. This is not 0:15:14.280 --> 0:15:18.080 me judging that point of view. Rather, it's just me 0:15:18.160 --> 0:15:22.840 saying that's not my worldview or my philosophy, and in 0:15:22.880 --> 0:15:26.920 most cases my opinions are almost the opposite of the 0:15:26.960 --> 0:15:29.880 stuff that was showing up in these videos that were 0:15:29.960 --> 0:15:35.200 posing as critiques on pop culture. So I started tagging 0:15:35.240 --> 0:15:38.240 those videos as don't recommend this channel to me because 0:15:38.280 --> 0:15:41.760 I didn't want to see them anymore. They weren't interesting 0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:44.080 to me, I didn't agree with the point of view. 0:15:44.360 --> 0:15:47.880 I just found them frustrating. But then I would get 0:15:47.920 --> 0:15:51.440 nearly identical videos. Now it might be a different channel 0:15:51.560 --> 0:15:54.320 and a different host, but the videos contained the same 0:15:54.360 --> 0:15:59.480 talking points, the same tactics of presenting right wing ideology 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:04.160 discusised as a video essay on pop culture, and I 0:16:04.280 --> 0:16:07.640 just felt like I was constantly trying to knock down 0:16:07.920 --> 0:16:11.280 one recommendation and I would just get a different one 0:16:11.400 --> 0:16:14.080 that was essentially the same thing the next day. Well, 0:16:14.080 --> 0:16:17.800 according to Mozilla, my experience is by no means unique. 0:16:18.080 --> 0:16:21.520 The organization used a tool to measure how effective youtube's 0:16:21.640 --> 0:16:26.200 features are. The tool Mozilla used could track when viewers 0:16:26.240 --> 0:16:31.240 were clicking on dislike, not interested, don't recommend channel and 0:16:31.280 --> 0:16:34.040 remove from history to see how much of an effect 0:16:34.080 --> 0:16:38.400 that had on the recommendations engine. Would it prevent similar 0:16:38.600 --> 0:16:41.760 videos from popping up in the recommendations engine, or would 0:16:41.760 --> 0:16:46.400 it not? And it found that hitting dislike would reduce 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:51.040 only twelve percent of bad recommendations in the future, meaning 0:16:51.600 --> 0:16:53.840 that you would still get those kinds of videos. If 0:16:53.840 --> 0:16:56.800 you clicked not interested, it was worse. It only prevented 0:16:56.840 --> 0:17:01.120 eleven of similar material popping up and recommendations. If you 0:17:01.200 --> 0:17:04.119 chose don't recommend channel, it was a little bit better, 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:06.920 but only up to forte so you're still less than 0:17:06.960 --> 0:17:11.119 fifty of of reduction of those kinds of videos popping 0:17:11.160 --> 0:17:15.840 up in your recommendations, and removing videos from history prevented 0:17:15.880 --> 0:17:19.520 only of bad recommendations in the future. If you're wondering 0:17:19.560 --> 0:17:21.359 how they came up with those numbers, they had a 0:17:21.400 --> 0:17:25.880 control group that did not hit any of those dislike 0:17:25.960 --> 0:17:28.719 features at all, and so what they were doing was 0:17:28.760 --> 0:17:31.760 seeing how many similar videos were popping up in the 0:17:31.520 --> 0:17:36.160 recommendations of someone who wasn't taking these measures versus people 0:17:36.240 --> 0:17:39.920 who were, and that's how they got those reductions. Now, 0:17:39.960 --> 0:17:44.840 Youtube reps say that the recommendation engine doesn't automatically prevent 0:17:45.040 --> 0:17:48.880 all similar material from popping up, largely to avoid creating 0:17:48.960 --> 0:17:52.600 echo chambers, and that makes sense. I can agree with that. Right, 0:17:53.000 --> 0:17:57.040 you don't want tools to end up funneling people into 0:17:57.160 --> 0:18:01.360 very narrow points of view and then attentially escalating that 0:18:01.480 --> 0:18:05.439 and creating extremists. That makes sense, but at least in 0:18:05.480 --> 0:18:07.919 my case, it wasn't like I was getting videos that 0:18:07.960 --> 0:18:11.840 had well reasoned arguments made in good faith in an 0:18:11.920 --> 0:18:15.480 attempt to convince me that the point of view represented 0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:18.480 in the video was a valid one. Instead, I was 0:18:18.520 --> 0:18:23.360 getting videos that were reinforcing concepts that I fundamentally disagree with, 0:18:23.800 --> 0:18:26.679 and they weren't supporting those concepts. It's not like they 0:18:26.720 --> 0:18:30.600 were creating an argument to support the ideology. It was 0:18:30.680 --> 0:18:35.199 just a repetition of those talking points anyway. The study 0:18:35.359 --> 0:18:38.960 seems to show that Youtube does not prioritize user feedback, 0:18:39.359 --> 0:18:43.160 which could explain why some people have a frustrating experience 0:18:43.240 --> 0:18:47.800 when they're on the platform, me included. Both Uber and 0:18:47.960 --> 0:18:52.400 rock star have been hit by hackers, possibly the same one, 0:18:53.040 --> 0:18:56.719 and in Uber's case, the company has issued multiple statements 0:18:56.800 --> 0:18:59.600 in the wake of the attack. They said that the 0:18:59.640 --> 0:19:03.560 attack gained access to Uber's systems by compromising an Uber 0:19:03.680 --> 0:19:09.959 e x t contractors account. Uber was able to detect 0:19:10.040 --> 0:19:15.159 this intrusion. That's being kind, because they left messages, but 0:19:15.359 --> 0:19:18.280 uber responded by locking out the account and a few 0:19:18.280 --> 0:19:22.359 other accounts that could have been compromised, but they didn't. 0:19:22.560 --> 0:19:24.920 They weren't able to do this until after the attacker 0:19:24.960 --> 0:19:28.520 had already gained access to numerous tools, which included them 0:19:28.720 --> 0:19:32.600 gaining access to, and then posting within, the company's slack channel. 0:19:33.080 --> 0:19:35.560 Hardly a low profile move. It's not the kind of 0:19:35.600 --> 0:19:38.840 thing you do if you're trying to be super sneaky 0:19:39.000 --> 0:19:44.000 and really embed yourself within a targets system. This is 0:19:44.040 --> 0:19:47.080 something you do in order to make a point or 0:19:47.200 --> 0:19:51.760 to needle a target or whatever. Now Uber is investigating 0:19:52.000 --> 0:19:55.720 if there was any material impact to the company. So 0:19:55.760 --> 0:19:59.040 they're looking into what, if any, information the attacker actually 0:19:59.080 --> 0:20:05.760 accessed duringing this incident and maybe potentially downloaded. During the incident, 0:20:05.880 --> 0:20:09.439 some of Uber's customer support features were disabled, but beyond that, 0:20:09.480 --> 0:20:14.960 it sounds like the disruption wasn't that noticeable outside the company. Though, again, 0:20:15.520 --> 0:20:18.359 until Uber has a better idea of what information the 0:20:18.400 --> 0:20:21.920 attacker might have accessed and potentially copied, it's really hard 0:20:21.960 --> 0:20:25.919 to judge how bad this attack was. I mean, the 0:20:25.960 --> 0:20:29.040 attack itself was bad, because getting that level of access 0:20:29.160 --> 0:20:33.199 is not great, but how damaging it was remains to 0:20:33.200 --> 0:20:35.960 be seen. Uber is working with the Department of Justice 0:20:36.040 --> 0:20:39.840 and the FBI in an investigation into this and, as 0:20:39.880 --> 0:20:42.600 it stands, the chief suspect for the attack was the 0:20:42.640 --> 0:20:47.159 hacking group lapsus L A. P S U dollar sign, 0:20:47.680 --> 0:20:50.880 which has been on quite the run this year, having 0:20:51.000 --> 0:20:55.400 been named responsible for hacks into companies like Cisco and 0:20:55.560 --> 0:20:59.520 Microsoft and OCTA, among others. I mean these are companies 0:20:59.560 --> 0:21:04.960 that are own for helping create a more secure environment 0:21:05.040 --> 0:21:08.280 and they were targets of hacks by the same hacker group. 0:21:08.400 --> 0:21:12.679 So yeah, they mean serious business. Okay, we've got a 0:21:12.720 --> 0:21:16.800 few more news items to talk about, but before we 0:21:16.840 --> 0:21:28.920 get into that, let's take one more quick break. All right, y'all, 0:21:28.920 --> 0:21:31.680 by the time you hear this episode in video, will 0:21:31.720 --> 0:21:35.359 have held an event to announce the next generation of 0:21:35.480 --> 0:21:40.000 its gpus, or graphics processors. The code name for the 0:21:40.160 --> 0:21:45.000 new processor architecture is love lace, which is after Ada lovelace, 0:21:45.080 --> 0:21:48.680 the enchantress of numbers. So we expect that these new 0:21:48.720 --> 0:21:52.120 processors are going to have a new kind of architecture 0:21:52.200 --> 0:21:55.480 to make them more power efficient more powerful. That kind 0:21:55.480 --> 0:21:58.840 of thing. Analysts expect that in video will announce a 0:21:58.920 --> 0:22:02.479 new forty series of cards, like an r t x 0:22:02.560 --> 0:22:08.199 forty eight. The current, you know, flagship gpus are the 0:22:08.480 --> 0:22:11.639 R T X thirty eight and the thirty nine. So 0:22:11.680 --> 0:22:14.399 we might be getting two different forty eighties and a 0:22:14.480 --> 0:22:18.239 fort by by the rumor mill. By the time you 0:22:18.280 --> 0:22:21.399 hear this, you'll know because the event will have happened. 0:22:21.400 --> 0:22:24.760 You can just google it with ethereum. Shifting to proof 0:22:24.800 --> 0:22:29.240 of steak and an increased availability for graphics cards in general. 0:22:30.160 --> 0:22:33.359 Maybe this will mean that the most powerful cards in 0:22:33.480 --> 0:22:36.760 the market will actually be something that gamers can more 0:22:36.840 --> 0:22:40.600 easily get their hands on, if they have the cash. 0:22:40.960 --> 0:22:44.560 That is. These cards frequently cost well over a thousand dollars. 0:22:44.960 --> 0:22:47.640 Some of them creep up to around two thousand dollars. 0:22:47.640 --> 0:22:51.040 So it's not the type of component for a budget Gamer, 0:22:51.080 --> 0:22:53.840 because that's just the graphics card. That doesn't include any 0:22:53.880 --> 0:22:57.240 of the rest of the computer. But maybe this will 0:22:57.280 --> 0:23:00.840 also mean prices for the last generation of cards will 0:23:00.840 --> 0:23:02.560 go down a little, because I would still love to 0:23:02.560 --> 0:23:05.920 get my hands on a thirty eight. I. The computer 0:23:06.040 --> 0:23:08.520 I use for gaming doesn't have anywhere close to the 0:23:08.960 --> 0:23:12.920 of that thirty eight card. Anyway, I might do a 0:23:13.119 --> 0:23:16.920 follow up on Thursday if the company reveals anything particularly 0:23:17.080 --> 0:23:22.120 interesting the demand for university lester over in the UK 0:23:22.640 --> 0:23:25.840 conducted a study in which researchers found that young children 0:23:26.200 --> 0:23:30.560 are losing the equivalent of a full night's sleep each week. 0:23:31.040 --> 0:23:33.920 So they're losing the equivalent of one night's sleep per 0:23:33.960 --> 0:23:37.280 week because they're staying up to be on social media 0:23:37.440 --> 0:23:41.800 on their various electronic devices. The study found that around 0:23:41.800 --> 0:23:45.199 twelve point five of all ten year olds wake up 0:23:45.200 --> 0:23:48.360 in the middle of the night in order to check notifications, 0:23:48.960 --> 0:23:51.000 which is a big old yikes for me. You know, 0:23:51.080 --> 0:23:53.479 one of the big reasons I got off social media 0:23:53.920 --> 0:23:57.520 was because I found myself bowing to the whims of notifications, 0:23:58.160 --> 0:24:00.480 and over the last couple of years I've really made 0:24:00.480 --> 0:24:03.200 an effort to reduce the number of notifications I get, 0:24:03.640 --> 0:24:09.000 whether it's personal or, much to my coworkers Chagrin, work related. 0:24:09.359 --> 0:24:11.760 That's because I recognized that it was starting to harm 0:24:11.800 --> 0:24:14.879 me to have notifications pop up all the time. It 0:24:14.920 --> 0:24:19.679 was hurting my productivity, my creativity, my mental health. So 0:24:20.480 --> 0:24:23.560 I made a real effort to reduce the notifications, which 0:24:23.600 --> 0:24:27.320 means I'm a little more slow to respond to things 0:24:27.720 --> 0:24:31.720 than some of my coworkers, but you know, it's better 0:24:31.800 --> 0:24:33.679 to be a little slow rather than to just have 0:24:33.720 --> 0:24:36.879 a complete mental breakdown and no longer be able to 0:24:36.920 --> 0:24:41.040 respond at all. Now, young kids, they are not necessarily 0:24:41.080 --> 0:24:45.800 going to be cognizant of the effects of these sort 0:24:45.840 --> 0:24:49.159 of behaviors, of staying up and losing the equivalent of 0:24:49.240 --> 0:24:53.000 a night's sleep each week. And younger children need more sleep. 0:24:53.240 --> 0:24:56.240 They need it in order to recuperate. They need it 0:24:56.280 --> 0:24:59.080 so that they can learn more effectively and grow in 0:24:59.080 --> 0:25:04.359 a healthy way. So interrupting that process is not great. Now, 0:25:04.880 --> 0:25:08.960 I am not a parent. It is not my business 0:25:09.000 --> 0:25:11.640 to tell other people how to take care of their 0:25:11.720 --> 0:25:15.480 kids because I don't have kids and uh, far be 0:25:15.600 --> 0:25:20.080 it from me to give parenting advice. But maybe, if 0:25:20.119 --> 0:25:24.240 you have kids, consider limiting screen time and maybe even 0:25:24.320 --> 0:25:28.040 putting away devices at night so that those devices aren't 0:25:28.080 --> 0:25:32.199 accessible until perhaps the next day. So just make that 0:25:32.240 --> 0:25:35.800 a regular part of the routine. That's what I would suggest. 0:25:35.880 --> 0:25:39.159