WEBVTT - Tech News: Twitter is Full of Musk 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:11.800 --> 0:00:14.560 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:14.640 --> 0:00:17.840 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with iHeart Radio and 0:00:17.880 --> 0:00:20.239 how the tech are you. It's time for the tech 0:00:20.280 --> 0:00:25.320 News for Tuesday, November one, two thousand twenty two, and 0:00:25.360 --> 0:00:28.720 we're gonna start off with some semi stale news. When 0:00:28.720 --> 0:00:34.080 I published the last news episode, which was on last Thursday, 0:00:34.080 --> 0:00:37.400 Elon Musk had yet to finalize his acquisition of Twitter, 0:00:37.880 --> 0:00:41.879 but that actually did happen later on that day last Thursday, 0:00:42.120 --> 0:00:45.640 and Musk changed his bio on Twitter to Chief Twit. 0:00:46.240 --> 0:00:48.840 He's changed it a couple of times since then. Since 0:00:48.920 --> 0:00:53.360 that moment, a lot has happened and continues to happen 0:00:53.920 --> 0:00:59.640 over at Twitter. Musk fired former CEO Paragugrival, former Chief 0:00:59.640 --> 0:01:04.280 Finance Chill officer Ned Siegel, policy head vi J. Gutty, 0:01:04.319 --> 0:01:09.360 and general counsel Sean Edgett to start. Musk subsequently named 0:01:09.400 --> 0:01:14.560 himself CEO, which makes Musk the CEO of Tesla, SpaceX 0:01:14.600 --> 0:01:18.880 and Twitter. At the same time. He has also dissolved 0:01:18.880 --> 0:01:22.160 Twitter's board of directors and named himself sole director. So 0:01:22.240 --> 0:01:26.360 now Musk answers only to himself as both CEO and director, 0:01:26.800 --> 0:01:30.040 though I gotta be fair. Twitter is now a private company, 0:01:30.120 --> 0:01:33.640 so it has different needs from a publicly traded company, 0:01:33.760 --> 0:01:38.199 so a board of directors isn't necessarily performing the same 0:01:38.240 --> 0:01:41.080 function at Twitter as it would have when it was 0:01:41.120 --> 0:01:45.440 still a publicly traded company. The Washington Post, which previously 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:47.760 reported that Musk planned to lay off as much as 0:01:47.800 --> 0:01:53.000 seventy of staff, which Musk later refuted, says now that 0:01:53.160 --> 0:01:56.800 up to the company could be laid off shortly, with 0:01:57.280 --> 0:02:01.880 a possible overall cut in the long term. In fact, 0:02:02.200 --> 0:02:05.600 according to several reports, the plan was to have some 0:02:05.680 --> 0:02:09.200 of those cuts take effect before today, because November one 0:02:09.280 --> 0:02:12.720 marks when several Twitter employees will receive grants of shares. 0:02:13.040 --> 0:02:16.520 But Elon Musk has straight up denied this news said 0:02:16.560 --> 0:02:19.280 that's not true. It was never the plan. He is 0:02:19.320 --> 0:02:23.920 also considering changing the verification process at Twitter right now. 0:02:24.120 --> 0:02:27.320 The way verification works is Twitter looks into accounts held 0:02:27.360 --> 0:02:32.240 by quote unquote notable people, and then in at least 0:02:32.280 --> 0:02:35.440 cases where Twitter agrees that they're notable, will go through 0:02:35.480 --> 0:02:39.720 the process to verify that the Twitter account actually belongs 0:02:39.760 --> 0:02:43.800 to the person claiming to be that person, right, like 0:02:44.560 --> 0:02:47.720 in my case, to make sure that it's me, not 0:02:47.760 --> 0:02:50.920 someone posing as me. That's why I put notable in 0:02:51.040 --> 0:02:55.320 in quotes kind of because my personal Twitter handle does 0:02:55.360 --> 0:02:58.400 have a verification check I've got that little blue check mark, 0:02:58.919 --> 0:03:02.200 and I do not and I qualify as notable, but 0:03:03.000 --> 0:03:06.360 there I am. Anyway, Musk is considering making this whole 0:03:06.440 --> 0:03:13.000 verification process a paid for feature wrapped into another subscription service, 0:03:13.400 --> 0:03:16.480 and that the service, which currently goes for about five 0:03:16.480 --> 0:03:19.640 bucks a month, would then be twenty dollars a month 0:03:20.080 --> 0:03:21.600 and you would have to pay that in order to 0:03:21.600 --> 0:03:27.000 maintain your verified status. We don't know much more about this, 0:03:27.160 --> 0:03:31.560 like would this mean that anyone with the financial means 0:03:31.600 --> 0:03:35.520 could get the verification tick? So it's not whether or 0:03:35.520 --> 0:03:37.560 not you're notable, it's whether or not you're willing to 0:03:37.800 --> 0:03:42.440 spend two bucks a year to get it. If so, 0:03:43.440 --> 0:03:45.680 would that mean that the tick even has any real 0:03:45.800 --> 0:03:49.280 value anymore? For those power users still on Twitter, are 0:03:49.280 --> 0:03:52.240 they going to cough up the cash to maintain their status? 0:03:52.280 --> 0:03:54.040 I mean, I can tell you that I'm not going to, 0:03:54.240 --> 0:03:57.720 But then I've used Twitter maybe four or five times 0:03:57.720 --> 0:03:59.920 over the last half a year, so it would be 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:03.800 a waste of money for me to do that, no 0:04:03.840 --> 0:04:07.960 matter what, or could it mean that someone could actually 0:04:08.000 --> 0:04:11.520 pose as someone else, pay the money, get the verification tick, 0:04:12.080 --> 0:04:15.040 and then be seen as a legitimate voice for that 0:04:15.120 --> 0:04:17.200 person when in fact they have no connection. Is that 0:04:17.240 --> 0:04:21.640 a possibility? According to the Verge, which cited internal emails 0:04:21.680 --> 0:04:25.640 as a source, Currently, verified accounts like mine will have 0:04:25.720 --> 0:04:28.360 ninety days to subscribe to the new process or else 0:04:28.440 --> 0:04:31.880 lose that blue tick mark. Shucks, I guess it'll be 0:04:31.920 --> 0:04:35.520 gone for me. Musk also hinted that he's interested in 0:04:35.560 --> 0:04:40.000 bringing back the short form video platform Vine, which Twitter 0:04:40.120 --> 0:04:44.160 bought in two thousand twelve and then began to sunset 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:47.400 in sixteen. It would take a few years before it 0:04:47.480 --> 0:04:50.640 was dead dead. Uh. Kind of interesting because you could 0:04:50.720 --> 0:04:55.359 argue that Vine in many ways presaged the arrival of 0:04:55.400 --> 0:04:59.119 platforms like TikTok, although Vine was a very short form 0:04:59.279 --> 0:05:02.359 video platfor form um and it took a lot of 0:05:02.400 --> 0:05:06.360 work to make a really good Vine. Reports say that 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:10.640 Musk has given various teams within Twitter extremely tight deadlines 0:05:11.279 --> 0:05:14.760 to see these projects through, like the overhaul of the 0:05:14.880 --> 0:05:20.640 verification process and the resurrection of Vine, like a crazy 0:05:20.760 --> 0:05:24.400 aggressive deadline, at least in some cases, like by the 0:05:24.480 --> 0:05:29.360 end of this week kind of stuff. Musk has also 0:05:29.839 --> 0:05:35.640 really pushed hard on the Twitter staff already, and we 0:05:35.880 --> 0:05:38.599 know more about the folks who helped fund Musks take 0:05:38.640 --> 0:05:43.000 over a Twitter, which is causing other kinds of scandal. Uh. 0:05:43.120 --> 0:05:47.279 The people who helped Musk get the financing to to 0:05:47.360 --> 0:05:51.800 make this purchase include the former CEO of Twitter, the 0:05:51.920 --> 0:05:56.880 co founder, Jack Dorsey, investor Jason Kellicanis is another one, 0:05:57.640 --> 0:06:00.799 and a company that represents the interest of the Prince 0:06:00.839 --> 0:06:05.720 of Saudi Arabia is a major investor in this new Twitter. 0:06:06.120 --> 0:06:08.680 You might remember. The Prince of Saudi Arabia is the 0:06:08.720 --> 0:06:11.600 same guy who's been accused of ordering the assassination of 0:06:12.040 --> 0:06:15.880 journalist Jamal ka Shogi and is currently leading a country 0:06:15.920 --> 0:06:19.360 that has a horrifyingly long list of human rights crises 0:06:19.400 --> 0:06:22.800 to its name. The Saudi Arabian angle, in particular, has 0:06:22.800 --> 0:06:25.240 prompted U S Senator Chris Murphy to ask for a 0:06:25.320 --> 0:06:29.560 government review of Twitter's deal on the grounds of national security. 0:06:29.640 --> 0:06:33.520 So this story is not yet over. I expect we're 0:06:33.520 --> 0:06:36.320 going to see a pretty tumultuous time for Twitter in 0:06:36.360 --> 0:06:39.799 the near term. Let's switch gears, which is a pun. 0:06:40.279 --> 0:06:43.440 But you don't know it yet. We're gonna talk about Tesla. Okay, 0:06:43.520 --> 0:06:47.800 now you know. Anyway, Reuters reports that the Electric Vehicle 0:06:47.839 --> 0:06:51.279 Company hopes to go into mass production of its cyber 0:06:51.320 --> 0:06:55.120 truck by the end of next year. Elon musk Are 0:06:55.160 --> 0:07:00.160 initially unveiled the cyber truck back in twenty nineteen two. Well, well, 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:03.520 let's say it was not too universal acclaim. Some folks 0:07:03.520 --> 0:07:07.159 found the design to be puzzling. Uh. The event also 0:07:07.240 --> 0:07:11.240 had some technical issues. For example, after proclaiming the armor 0:07:11.400 --> 0:07:15.280 glass windows on the truck to be virtually unbreakable, Franz 0:07:15.360 --> 0:07:19.160 von Holshausen through a metal ball the driver's side window 0:07:19.520 --> 0:07:23.040 to demonstrate this, except the metal ball shattered two of 0:07:23.160 --> 0:07:26.760 the windows. Musk said the reason for that was because 0:07:26.800 --> 0:07:30.400 earlier in the demonstration they showed how tough the doors 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:32.760 on the truck were and they struck it with a sledgehammer, 0:07:33.120 --> 0:07:36.200 and that that subsequently weakened the windows and that's why 0:07:36.280 --> 0:07:39.480 they shattered with the metal ball. Anyway, it was one 0:07:39.520 --> 0:07:42.760 setback in that unveiling, but another was that a lot 0:07:42.800 --> 0:07:45.320 of folks found the angular design of the truck's body 0:07:45.320 --> 0:07:49.600 to be unusual and not in a cool way. Tesla 0:07:49.680 --> 0:07:53.200 stock dropped a bit in value after the unveiling, but 0:07:53.280 --> 0:07:55.360 according to the company, around a quarter of a million 0:07:55.400 --> 0:07:58.920 pre orders came in just five days later, so it 0:07:58.960 --> 0:08:02.480 seemed like it was finding its audience. The plan was 0:08:02.560 --> 0:08:05.600 to go into production by late one, but delays, not 0:08:05.800 --> 0:08:08.320 the least of which came courtesy of the pandemic, have 0:08:08.480 --> 0:08:12.240 pushed that back a few times now to late twenty three. 0:08:12.240 --> 0:08:15.920 Acquaint reuters, I'm curious if the folks who plopped down 0:08:15.920 --> 0:08:18.920 to Ben Franklin. Uh, that's a hundred bucks to y'all 0:08:18.960 --> 0:08:22.040 non Americans out there to reserve a cyber truck are 0:08:22.160 --> 0:08:25.560 still excited about the prospect of potentially owning one by 0:08:25.560 --> 0:08:28.360 the end of next year. At least a hundred bucks 0:08:28.440 --> 0:08:31.200 isn't really that much money when you compare it to 0:08:31.280 --> 0:08:34.800 the final selling price of the cyber truck that's likely 0:08:34.840 --> 0:08:38.400 going to range between forty dollars to seventy thousand dollars, 0:08:38.720 --> 0:08:41.800 depending upon the truck's configuration, as the truck will come 0:08:41.840 --> 0:08:46.840 in single, double, and triple motor versions. Now for a 0:08:46.880 --> 0:08:51.360 bunch of Meta news. On Monday, Meta's company Instagram dealt 0:08:51.400 --> 0:08:54.360 with a software bug that impacted thousands of users around 0:08:54.400 --> 0:08:58.320 the world, people reporting that Instagram suspended their accounts for 0:08:58.360 --> 0:09:01.600 no reason and others were just unable to access their 0:09:01.640 --> 0:09:05.040 accounts at all. Whatever the bug was, it took several 0:09:05.080 --> 0:09:07.679 hours for Meta to fix it. By the end of 0:09:07.720 --> 0:09:11.160 the day on Monday, reports from affected users had dwindled significantly, 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:13.959 indicating that people were able to get back to watching 0:09:14.000 --> 0:09:16.640 reels and wondering why they don't see photos of their 0:09:16.679 --> 0:09:20.280 friends on there anymore. An activist group called Some of 0:09:20.400 --> 0:09:24.480 Us That's s U m of us published a report 0:09:24.559 --> 0:09:27.800 over the weekend titled stop the Steal two point oh. 0:09:27.880 --> 0:09:31.440 How Meta and TikTok are promoting a coup. This time, 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:34.080 the focus was not on US elections, but rather the 0:09:34.080 --> 0:09:38.200 ones that happened this past Sunday in Brazil. In that contest, 0:09:38.240 --> 0:09:42.360 the incumbent President bolson Aro, a hard right conservative, faced 0:09:42.400 --> 0:09:46.560 off against a former president, Lula da Silva, a leftist candidate. 0:09:47.200 --> 0:09:50.840 The report alleges that Meta and TikTok both pushed forward 0:09:50.880 --> 0:09:55.160 false narratives promoted by boson Naro, namely that the election 0:09:55.200 --> 0:09:58.200 process wasn't to be trusted. If he lost, it would 0:09:58.240 --> 0:10:01.040 be indicative that the system doesn't work, that kind of thing, 0:10:01.120 --> 0:10:03.640 like if I win, everything's great, and if I lose, 0:10:03.720 --> 0:10:08.240 it's because the system is broken and corrupt. The group 0:10:08.280 --> 0:10:12.360 accused both Meta and TikTok with allowing baseless conspiracy theories 0:10:12.400 --> 0:10:15.600 to spread across their platforms, and that since these messages 0:10:15.640 --> 0:10:19.320 included calls for a military coup, that the platforms were 0:10:19.320 --> 0:10:23.360 taking a prominent role in the destabilization of Brazil. A 0:10:23.480 --> 0:10:26.880 campaign director with the group named Flora rebell oh Ar 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:31.160 Dwine did not mince words. She said, at this point, 0:10:31.200 --> 0:10:34.320 it is safe to say that Meta has become Bolsonaro's 0:10:34.320 --> 0:10:38.800 official disinformation machine. Their report comes in on the heels 0:10:38.800 --> 0:10:41.320 of another one from the human rights group Global Witness, 0:10:41.840 --> 0:10:46.480 which submitted political ads in Brazil containing misinformation to both 0:10:46.520 --> 0:10:52.040 YouTube and Meta. They found that YouTube accepted every single ad. 0:10:52.480 --> 0:10:55.800 Facebook was a little better. They only accepted half of 0:10:55.840 --> 0:10:58.920 the ads. So I guess good for Facebook for performing 0:10:58.960 --> 0:11:03.560 better than YouTube, which just accepted falsehoods without question. Anyway, 0:11:04.040 --> 0:11:07.440 the election finally happened this past Sunday, and Lula da 0:11:07.440 --> 0:11:10.480 Silva squeaked out a win over Bolsonaro, and I mean 0:11:10.559 --> 0:11:14.280 squeaked out like a percentage point. It remains to be 0:11:14.320 --> 0:11:17.960 seen if the incumbent president will actually peacefully hand over power. 0:11:19.880 --> 0:11:22.040 One bit of news I missed last week was that 0:11:22.120 --> 0:11:25.640 Business Insider reported employees at Meta are facing some really 0:11:25.679 --> 0:11:29.439 tough conditions, maybe not quite as chaotic as Twitter staff are, 0:11:29.559 --> 0:11:33.120 but not that far behind either. Reportedly, managers are telling 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:36.160 employees they need to up their output significantly if they 0:11:36.160 --> 0:11:39.640 want to make it through potential layoffs. One unnamed worker 0:11:39.679 --> 0:11:42.000 in the report said, quote, you have three months to 0:11:42.080 --> 0:11:45.360 prove your worth, put in two effort, or you can 0:11:45.400 --> 0:11:49.120 resign now if you don't like it. End quote. That 0:11:49.160 --> 0:11:52.840 sounds pretty harsh. Mark Zuckerberg has indicated recently that he 0:11:52.880 --> 0:11:55.760 thinks Meta staff is bloated, that there are more folks 0:11:55.800 --> 0:11:58.760 that are there than are needed to get the work done, 0:11:59.240 --> 0:12:01.600 and that the company is not being nearly as productive 0:12:01.679 --> 0:12:05.200 or efficient as it can be, which may well be true, 0:12:05.840 --> 0:12:09.199 but it sounds like employee morale is generally pretty low 0:12:09.679 --> 0:12:11.960 and lots of folks are trying to line up other 0:12:12.000 --> 0:12:14.760 options should they find themselves in the job market in 0:12:14.800 --> 0:12:17.800 the near future. When you take this news and stride 0:12:17.800 --> 0:12:21.360 with Zuckerberg being absolutely dedicated to his metaverse, vision even 0:12:21.400 --> 0:12:25.120 in the face of skepticism and resistance, it starts to 0:12:25.160 --> 0:12:27.840 look ugly because people begin asking if Meta is even 0:12:27.840 --> 0:12:30.560 on the right course, or if Zuckerberg is chasing after 0:12:30.600 --> 0:12:33.199 a vision that's never going to be the big hit 0:12:33.320 --> 0:12:37.160 he's banking on. One thing is clear, the company's reputation 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:39.800 has taken a massive beating over the last couple of years. 0:12:39.840 --> 0:12:42.760 The stock price for Meta is down to around nine 0:12:43.200 --> 0:12:45.800 dollars per share, which sounds like a lot, don't get 0:12:45.800 --> 0:12:48.559 me wrong, But if you look at the high point 0:12:48.600 --> 0:12:51.320 over the last fifty two weeks, the high point for 0:12:51.360 --> 0:12:55.040 that stock was three hundred fifty three dollars per share. 0:12:55.280 --> 0:12:57.880 Now it's down to ninety four. The company has lost 0:12:57.920 --> 0:13:01.439 a ton in market capital as a shan and investors 0:13:01.440 --> 0:13:04.920 are clearly worried about where Meta is headed. Will layoffs 0:13:04.920 --> 0:13:08.360 help the company or is this a bigger issue that 0:13:08.440 --> 0:13:12.439 requires Mark Zuckerberg to reevaluate his position on the metaverse initiative? 0:13:13.760 --> 0:13:17.120 Smarter people than I have to answer that question. All Right, 0:13:17.400 --> 0:13:19.680 we're gonna go to a quick break, but we'll be 0:13:19.679 --> 0:13:31.719 back with more news. Right after this. We're back, we 0:13:31.800 --> 0:13:34.800 get some more Meta news, and you know it was 0:13:34.840 --> 0:13:39.000 the prolific poet Carly ray Jepson, who once said, Hey, 0:13:39.600 --> 0:13:43.920 I just met you and this is crazy, but here's 0:13:43.920 --> 0:13:47.320 my number, so call me maybe. Well, we know that 0:13:47.400 --> 0:13:50.600 c r J didn't need to say that to Meta, because, 0:13:50.640 --> 0:13:53.960 as it turns out, Meta has lots of people's phone numbers, 0:13:54.200 --> 0:13:56.600 even if they never signed up for an account on 0:13:56.640 --> 0:14:00.520 any of their platforms, they probably have your phone and 0:14:00.640 --> 0:14:03.679 your email, whether you've ever been on a Meta platform 0:14:03.800 --> 0:14:07.120 or not. So it turns out Meta has tons of 0:14:07.160 --> 0:14:10.360 phone numbers and emails all of people who have never 0:14:10.480 --> 0:14:13.079 had a Facebook or an Instagram account. And you might 0:14:13.080 --> 0:14:16.080 wonder how did that happen? Well, if someone you know 0:14:16.600 --> 0:14:20.960 has your contact information in their contacts and then they joined, 0:14:21.000 --> 0:14:24.880 say Facebook, and in the process they allow Facebook to 0:14:24.960 --> 0:14:30.000 access their contact list, boom, your information has gone from 0:14:30.000 --> 0:14:34.320 their contact list into Meta's database, even without your consent 0:14:34.440 --> 0:14:38.320 or participation. Isn't that awesome? It actually reminds me a 0:14:38.320 --> 0:14:41.080 lot of the Cambridge Analytica scandal from several years ago. 0:14:41.440 --> 0:14:44.320 If you recall that all got started when an app 0:14:44.360 --> 0:14:48.200 developer took advantage of a loophole and Facebook's API and 0:14:48.400 --> 0:14:51.600 created an app that people could download and use they 0:14:51.600 --> 0:14:54.520 would get paid for using it. It was a survey app, 0:14:55.280 --> 0:14:58.320 and what they would do when they when they downloaded 0:14:58.320 --> 0:15:00.920 it installed it is they would share of their access 0:15:01.040 --> 0:15:04.720 to their Facebook context, which gave the developer the chance 0:15:04.760 --> 0:15:08.680 to view all of the downloaders friends as if the 0:15:08.720 --> 0:15:12.560 developer were one of those friends, like they could see 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:16.720 it as if they were the account, the primary account. Anyway, 0:15:17.040 --> 0:15:20.080 there's a decent chance your contact information is in this database, 0:15:20.120 --> 0:15:24.120 even if you've never touched Facebook or Instagram. Earlier this year, 0:15:24.480 --> 0:15:26.600 Meta actually created a tool that lets you check to 0:15:26.600 --> 0:15:29.480 see if your info is in that database, and it 0:15:29.520 --> 0:15:32.360 gives you the option to delete your information from that 0:15:32.440 --> 0:15:36.920 database and even block Meta from ever including it again. Curiously, 0:15:37.400 --> 0:15:41.040 Meta has not advertised this tool. They have not alerted 0:15:41.040 --> 0:15:44.200 people that it exists. In fact, a link to it 0:15:44.280 --> 0:15:47.040 is buried in a very long page about how the 0:15:47.040 --> 0:15:50.920 company handles non user information, which means, if you don't 0:15:51.000 --> 0:15:54.960 use Facebook, you would have to navigate to this page 0:15:55.000 --> 0:15:57.680 for people who don't use Facebook to learn about how 0:15:57.720 --> 0:16:01.600 your information may have been collected by the company, which 0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:04.440 sounds counterintuitive, right, How many people are gonna do that? 0:16:05.240 --> 0:16:07.720 You're onto something there? But anyway, if you would like 0:16:07.760 --> 0:16:10.920 to see if your info is in Meta's clutches, and 0:16:10.960 --> 0:16:13.160 if you want to delete it, you can do so 0:16:14.040 --> 0:16:18.760 by going to this U r L Facebook dot com 0:16:18.800 --> 0:16:24.160 slash Contacts slash removal that will let you check your 0:16:24.160 --> 0:16:27.880 phone number and your email address against the database, and 0:16:27.920 --> 0:16:31.120 if the info comes up because someone shared their contact 0:16:31.160 --> 0:16:33.480 list and you happen to be in it, you can 0:16:33.520 --> 0:16:38.240 have it deleted and scrubbed from Meta's databases. Again, they 0:16:38.240 --> 0:16:40.920 don't really let you know that this thing exists, but 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:47.280 it does. Today, Google kills off yet another product. Hangouts 0:16:47.440 --> 0:16:51.160 is going to join other Google casualties like Wave and 0:16:51.240 --> 0:16:55.880 Google Plus and honestly countless others. There are entire websites 0:16:55.920 --> 0:16:59.760 that are dedicated to documenting all the projects Google either launched, 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:03.680 are acquired, and then subsequently shut down. There is no 0:17:03.760 --> 0:17:08.120 shortage of them. Hangouts was sort of Google's attempt at 0:17:08.320 --> 0:17:12.439 unifying various messaging services across the company. You know, the 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:14.800 company had launched a whole bunch of different ones under 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:20.320 different divisions because Google didn't really structure messaging as a 0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:24.560 central pillar of product development. Instead, messaging would fall under 0:17:24.600 --> 0:17:27.879 the domain of different departments. So you've got a bunch 0:17:27.920 --> 0:17:32.560 of separate products that were all geared toward messaging, like 0:17:33.160 --> 0:17:37.600 Android had one, and Gmail had one, and Google Plus 0:17:38.160 --> 0:17:41.359 all had their own messaging systems. Hangouts started as the 0:17:41.400 --> 0:17:45.560 Google Plus entry and was ultimately an attempt to unify 0:17:45.720 --> 0:17:49.600 all these disparate strategies into a single product, and for 0:17:49.640 --> 0:17:52.639 a short while, Hangouts managed to do that, Like You 0:17:52.680 --> 0:17:55.480 managed to have all these other things folded into Hangouts, 0:17:55.840 --> 0:18:01.359 which unified Google strategy and arguably was a really good move. However, 0:18:02.520 --> 0:18:06.080 the problem was Hangouts was under the domain of Google Plus, 0:18:06.240 --> 0:18:11.720 and Google Plus was a massive failure. Despite an initial 0:18:12.359 --> 0:18:17.879 spike in interest as the service launched, it failed to 0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:22.680 get a sustainable user base going. So once Google Plus 0:18:22.720 --> 0:18:26.240 got struck that man, Hangouts was kind of without a 0:18:26.320 --> 0:18:30.200 parent anymore and it languished, and so you didn't really 0:18:30.200 --> 0:18:34.160 have this centralized position, the centralized strategy when it comes 0:18:34.200 --> 0:18:37.920 to messaging, and Google would then also capitulate to the 0:18:37.960 --> 0:18:41.200 demands of cell phone carriers because the cell phone carriers 0:18:41.440 --> 0:18:45.760 didn't like the idea of SMS being lumped in with 0:18:45.960 --> 0:18:50.879 other messaging services. They wanted an independent SMS app in 0:18:51.000 --> 0:18:54.280 order to maintain a hold on that type of messaging. 0:18:54.320 --> 0:18:56.760 They didn't want it to be lumped in with all 0:18:56.800 --> 0:19:00.560 the other kinds of messaging services. So the a placement 0:19:00.560 --> 0:19:03.840 for Hangouts today, at least in Gmail, is Google Chat. 0:19:04.600 --> 0:19:07.680 It is not as good as Hangouts was at its peak. 0:19:07.760 --> 0:19:11.080 It's definitely an inferior product. I use it all the 0:19:11.119 --> 0:19:14.440 time with my co host aerial Casting for our show 0:19:14.520 --> 0:19:18.080 Large Neugron Collider. We use Google Chat to stay in 0:19:18.119 --> 0:19:22.200 contact with each other, but it is not the same 0:19:22.240 --> 0:19:24.840 as Hangouts at its peak. Now Hangouts has not been 0:19:24.840 --> 0:19:28.640 good for ages. It really suffered once it lost its 0:19:28.680 --> 0:19:32.359 lifeline with Google. Plus. The simple fact is Google really 0:19:32.440 --> 0:19:35.160 fumbled the ball when it comes to messaging. It cannot 0:19:35.240 --> 0:19:38.600 hold a candle to Apple, which has made its own 0:19:38.600 --> 0:19:41.639 I message platform a bit of a status symbol, not 0:19:41.760 --> 0:19:44.760 just a bit is a status symbol, and in fact, 0:19:44.840 --> 0:19:47.520 it has a very quick way to identify those poor 0:19:47.600 --> 0:19:50.960 schlubs who are messaging with an Android phone rather than 0:19:51.000 --> 0:19:54.679 an iPhone by having that different color little bubble pop up. 0:19:55.280 --> 0:19:57.840 Now I say this as an Android user, I have 0:19:58.040 --> 0:20:01.359 no interest in switching to iPhone, but I do admit 0:20:01.480 --> 0:20:05.000 like iPhone has a lock on the status of messages 0:20:05.119 --> 0:20:08.719 and you can be looked down upon for using an 0:20:08.760 --> 0:20:12.160 Android phone from Apple users. And you know what, if 0:20:12.160 --> 0:20:14.320 I cared about what they thought, I bet that would 0:20:14.359 --> 0:20:17.840 hurt my feelings. And other Google news, the company will 0:20:17.880 --> 0:20:21.400 no longer require app developers in India to use Google's 0:20:21.440 --> 0:20:25.720 own billing system for in app purchases. We've seen this 0:20:25.800 --> 0:20:30.120 story unfold all around the world at different speeds and scales. 0:20:30.600 --> 0:20:33.720 More and more regions are pushing back against both Apple 0:20:33.800 --> 0:20:37.040 and Google for their policies that require app developers to 0:20:37.280 --> 0:20:41.200 only use the in house building systems of the respective platforms. 0:20:41.720 --> 0:20:45.520 And that's because those in house building systems guarantee a 0:20:45.600 --> 0:20:50.439 cut for the platforms themselves. So we're typically talking about 0:20:50.560 --> 0:20:53.560 a thirty percent cut. It can be lower, like as 0:20:53.560 --> 0:20:56.240 low as fifteen percent, but it's typically a thirty percent 0:20:56.280 --> 0:21:00.639 cut of every in app purchase goes to Apple or Google, 0:21:00.840 --> 0:21:03.560 depending on what platform you're on, um as sort of 0:21:03.640 --> 0:21:07.080 the cost of doing business. This is why Apple CEO 0:21:07.200 --> 0:21:10.280 Tim Cook has been so bullish on adopting a services 0:21:10.320 --> 0:21:14.880 strategy rather than focusing on hardware production the way Apple 0:21:15.000 --> 0:21:18.960 typically was thought of, because services provide a steady stream 0:21:19.000 --> 0:21:20.919 of revenue and all you really have to do is 0:21:20.960 --> 0:21:25.359 provide the platform right, and in many places we're starting 0:21:25.359 --> 0:21:29.600 to see governments labeled the policy as anti competitive and unfair. 0:21:30.560 --> 0:21:33.199 So we've seen lots of calls for the companies to 0:21:33.320 --> 0:21:36.840 allow developers to use whichever building service they want. They 0:21:36.840 --> 0:21:39.080 can go with the in house building service, or they 0:21:39.119 --> 0:21:42.840 could choose a third party building service. That's a move 0:21:42.880 --> 0:21:46.479 that both Apple and Google have repeatedly resisted around the world. 0:21:47.160 --> 0:21:50.000 In some cases, we've seen stories where a company has 0:21:50.040 --> 0:21:54.359 placed like Apple has placed restrictions so that a developer 0:21:54.720 --> 0:21:58.840 technically can choose a third party building system, but we'll 0:21:58.880 --> 0:22:01.560 have to spend even more money if they use the 0:22:01.600 --> 0:22:04.480 alternative then if they stick with the in house method. 0:22:04.760 --> 0:22:06.919 So in other words, apples like, oh, sure you can 0:22:07.000 --> 0:22:08.600 choose a third party, but now you're gonna have to 0:22:08.600 --> 0:22:13.160 pay us. That kind of approach, which obviously doesn't fly 0:22:13.320 --> 0:22:17.600 well in the face of regulators. India's Competition Commission ordered 0:22:17.640 --> 0:22:20.479 Google to make this change, allowing developers to choose whichever 0:22:20.520 --> 0:22:23.520 building system they wish, and now, at least in India 0:22:24.040 --> 0:22:26.879 they can. We may see such things roll out to 0:22:26.960 --> 0:22:29.040 other parts of the world. Like I said, the European 0:22:29.160 --> 0:22:31.920 Union has really been pushing on this, We've seen sub 0:22:31.960 --> 0:22:34.800 movement here in the United States. Um, it's not the 0:22:34.840 --> 0:22:38.160 same everywhere, but we are starting to see a growing 0:22:38.200 --> 0:22:43.240 movement to prevent companies like Apple and Google from dominating 0:22:43.640 --> 0:22:49.720 the space using you know, this in house approach. Over 0:22:49.840 --> 0:22:54.200 on the same Brain YouTube channel, Microsoft Xbox head Hauncho 0:22:54.320 --> 0:22:58.359 Phil Spencer said, quote, We're not taking Call of Duty 0:22:58.520 --> 0:23:02.840 from PlayStation that it's not our intent. Our intent is 0:23:02.880 --> 0:23:05.080 not to do that, and as long as there's a 0:23:05.119 --> 0:23:08.240 PlayStation out there to ship to, our intent is that 0:23:08.280 --> 0:23:11.800 will continue to ship Call of Duty on PlayStation, similar 0:23:11.800 --> 0:23:14.480 to what we've done with Minecraft since we owned that 0:23:14.800 --> 0:23:18.760 end quote. You might think why would Phil Spencer say this, Well, 0:23:19.119 --> 0:23:23.199 there's been this growing concern since Microsoft is pursuing an 0:23:23.200 --> 0:23:27.560 acquisition of the company Activision Blizzard, that Microsoft would then 0:23:27.640 --> 0:23:32.840 restrict the distribution of titles from Activision Blizzard to either 0:23:33.119 --> 0:23:37.159 just PCs and Xboxes or essentially anything other than Sony 0:23:37.240 --> 0:23:42.879 PlayStation because Sony is the biggest competitor in the video 0:23:42.920 --> 0:23:48.720 game space from Microsoft perspective. So by using that Minecraft example, 0:23:49.160 --> 0:23:52.960 Spencer is pointing out that Microsoft has really expanded access 0:23:52.960 --> 0:23:56.000 to Minecraft, and it really does seem these days like 0:23:56.000 --> 0:23:59.200 pretty much anything with a screen can run a Minecraft game. 0:23:59.560 --> 0:24:02.359 So Spwer is making a case that Microsoft plan to 0:24:02.400 --> 0:24:06.679 acquire Activision Blizzard does not represent a threat to the 0:24:06.760 --> 0:24:10.320 greater video game landscape, that a company like Sony could 0:24:10.359 --> 0:24:15.120 continue to expect Activision Blizzard titles having PlayStation versions. Why 0:24:15.160 --> 0:24:17.439 is he doing that? Well? Over in Europe, Microsoft is 0:24:17.480 --> 0:24:23.080 facing some potential government investigations into its acquisition deal, and 0:24:23.160 --> 0:24:27.040 those investigations could scuttle the whole deal or at the 0:24:27.119 --> 0:24:31.400 very least delay it. Neither outcome is something that Microsoft 0:24:31.440 --> 0:24:35.320 is particularly interested in seeing. So the chief concern appears 0:24:35.359 --> 0:24:40.480 to be that Microsoft consolidates and becomes an anti competitive 0:24:40.560 --> 0:24:45.760 video game company, preventing Sony from access to titles that 0:24:45.840 --> 0:24:49.400 are really popular with gamers and forcing gamers to buy 0:24:49.760 --> 0:24:52.840 Microsoft platforms if they want to access those games. And 0:24:52.920 --> 0:24:55.520 Microsoft is saying that's not on our plan at all, 0:24:55.640 --> 0:24:58.080 it doesn't make sense, will make way more money if 0:24:58.160 --> 0:25:03.200 we continue to make titles for the PlayStation. Uh. Microsoft 0:25:03.240 --> 0:25:07.600