WEBVTT - Tech News: Meta Wants the Internet On Your Face 0:00:04.480 --> 0:00:12.479 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 0:00:12.520 --> 0:00:15.920 and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. 0:00:15.960 --> 0:00:19.479 I'm an executive producer with iHeart Podcasts and How the 0:00:19.560 --> 0:00:21.919 Tech are You. It's time for the tech News for 0:00:21.960 --> 0:00:26.639 the week ending on Friday, September twenty seventh, twenty twenty four. 0:00:27.120 --> 0:00:31.560 And as the great professional wrestler Shane Helms used to say, 0:00:32.240 --> 0:00:37.000 stand back, there's a hurricane coming through. Because that's right, 0:00:37.040 --> 0:00:40.000 folks here in Atlanta, Georgia where I am, we're in 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:43.040 the path of a hurricane, and out of an over 0:00:43.120 --> 0:00:47.240 abundance of caution, and also from some gentle prodding from 0:00:47.360 --> 0:00:51.000 super producer Tari, we've decided to write and record the 0:00:51.040 --> 0:00:55.240 tech News episode on Thursday. Now. I usually put these 0:00:55.280 --> 0:00:59.240 things together on Friday morning and then record them after that, 0:00:59.360 --> 0:01:02.120 so this means there could be some fresh tech news 0:01:02.160 --> 0:01:04.920 that doesn't make it into this lineup because Tari and 0:01:04.959 --> 0:01:09.040 I were busy, you know, laying out sandbags or clearing 0:01:09.120 --> 0:01:11.679 trees off the road or something along those lines. I 0:01:11.720 --> 0:01:13.640 hope anyone else out there in the path of the 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:16.800 hurricane is safe and sound. I really hope you're all 0:01:16.880 --> 0:01:18.880 safe and sound. Whether you're in the path of the 0:01:18.959 --> 0:01:22.720 hurricane or not. It's just particularly stressful for those of 0:01:22.800 --> 0:01:26.000 us who are looking at a big, old, massive storm 0:01:26.080 --> 0:01:30.399 system rolling in. Anyway, let's get to the tech news first. Up. 0:01:30.640 --> 0:01:35.880 Meta held its Connect conference this week and CEO Mark 0:01:36.000 --> 0:01:38.440 Zuckerberg got up in front of the crowd, and he 0:01:38.640 --> 0:01:42.199 was his usual humble self. He wore a T shirt 0:01:42.400 --> 0:01:47.920 that read out Zuck out nil, which I have totally mispronounced, 0:01:47.920 --> 0:01:50.640 but that's because I didn't take Latin in school. But 0:01:50.680 --> 0:01:55.280 it is Latin for all zuck or all nothing. Typically, 0:01:55.520 --> 0:02:00.320 you would actually see this phrase associated with Caesar, not Zuck, 0:02:00.880 --> 0:02:05.720 and it often was associated with a particularly humble Renaissance 0:02:05.920 --> 0:02:12.040 prince named Caesar Borgia, known for being a little bit 0:02:12.120 --> 0:02:15.359 full of himself. I honestly think that Zuckerberg should sit 0:02:15.400 --> 0:02:17.960 down with Francis word Coppola and the two of them 0:02:18.040 --> 0:02:21.160 could have a nice long conversation about Hubris. Also, they 0:02:21.160 --> 0:02:23.359 could talk about the Roman Empire, because the two of 0:02:23.400 --> 0:02:26.720 them both seemed to be obsessed by it. I mean, 0:02:26.760 --> 0:02:31.400 Megalopolis is proof of that. Yeah. Anyway, enough commentary and 0:02:31.480 --> 0:02:35.680 shade from yours truly, So what went down at the 0:02:35.760 --> 0:02:41.399 Connect conference. Well, perhaps the buzziest bit was about Meta's 0:02:41.480 --> 0:02:47.040 prototype augmented reality glasses called Orion. Zuckerberg showed them off 0:02:47.040 --> 0:02:51.400 and good gollie, they are bulky now. The Verge gave 0:02:51.440 --> 0:02:55.400 them some praise. The Verge said, quote, they look almost 0:02:55.440 --> 0:02:57.799 like a trendy pair of frames you could pick up 0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:02.760 without all the tech inside. Quote. Personally, however, I think 0:03:02.800 --> 0:03:05.640 they look way too chonky for that. They look to 0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:07.600 me like the kind of glasses that you might see 0:03:07.600 --> 0:03:10.720 in a comic strip where the artist drawing the comic 0:03:10.720 --> 0:03:14.520 strip uses really heavy lines for stuff like that. The 0:03:14.520 --> 0:03:18.680 glasses house led projectors, which can beam images to display 0:03:18.680 --> 0:03:21.239 in front of your eyes on the lenses, and that's 0:03:21.280 --> 0:03:25.040 what gives you the augmented experience. But they're not intended 0:03:25.200 --> 0:03:29.320 to be consumer products just yet. For one thing, even 0:03:29.400 --> 0:03:32.280 with the bulky frame, you still have to carry a 0:03:32.360 --> 0:03:36.040 couple of peripherals for this tech to actually work. That 0:03:36.080 --> 0:03:40.560 includes what is called a neural wristband, which apparently is 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:44.440 needed so that you can do some gesture controls. And 0:03:44.720 --> 0:03:49.320 there's also a compute puck, which I'm guessing offloads some 0:03:49.480 --> 0:03:52.840 of the processing requirements needed for the glasses to work. 0:03:53.120 --> 0:03:55.280 I think that makes sense. We are not at a 0:03:55.320 --> 0:03:58.200 point where you can miniaturize all these elements so that 0:03:58.240 --> 0:04:02.720 they fit solely within the frames of some even chunky glasses. 0:04:03.120 --> 0:04:05.120 It isn't quite slimmed down to a point where the 0:04:05.120 --> 0:04:08.200 average person would vibe with it. I think I don't 0:04:08.240 --> 0:04:10.680 think people would want to think, Oh, here are my 0:04:10.760 --> 0:04:14.880 cool glasses, where's my wristband and my compute puck so 0:04:14.920 --> 0:04:18.839 that I can use them. Plus, according to Casey Newton's newsletter, 0:04:19.160 --> 0:04:23.080 each unit costs somewhere in the neighborhood of ten thousand dollars, 0:04:23.480 --> 0:04:26.720 which means it is certainly a non starter as far 0:04:26.760 --> 0:04:30.400 as consumer tech is concerned. Meta did show off the 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:34.240 next generation of its ray band smart glasses. These don't 0:04:34.279 --> 0:04:37.880 have the versatility of Oriyan, but they still incorporate some 0:04:38.080 --> 0:04:42.400 smart technology and AR related features in them. Meta pointed 0:04:42.400 --> 0:04:45.920 out how AI functionality means you can use these glasses 0:04:45.960 --> 0:04:47.560 to do stuff like stay on top of your to 0:04:47.600 --> 0:04:50.200 do list and that kind of thing. Metta also showed 0:04:50.240 --> 0:04:53.560 off new VR headsets. In the quest line of the 0:04:53.880 --> 0:04:58.000 one headset anyway, it's the Quest three S, and it's 0:04:58.000 --> 0:05:00.680 intended to be kind of an entry point headset for 0:05:00.760 --> 0:05:03.880 the VR space. It will cost two hundred ninety nine 0:05:03.920 --> 0:05:07.279 dollars and ninety nine cents, so three hundred bucks. Meta 0:05:07.360 --> 0:05:11.400 is ditching the Quest two and the Quest pro lines 0:05:11.440 --> 0:05:14.679 of products, so now the choices are simplified to either 0:05:14.760 --> 0:05:19.320 the Entry three S or the more expensive Quest three, 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:23.080 which now moves from being six hundred and fifty bucks 0:05:23.200 --> 0:05:26.280 to five hundred bucks or technically four hundred ninety nine 0:05:26.480 --> 0:05:30.200 and ninety nine cents. Zuckerberg also revealed that Meta is 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:34.840 introducing some AI generated content on Facebook and Instagram, which 0:05:34.880 --> 0:05:39.279 sounds absolutely horrible to me. Why would I want to 0:05:39.320 --> 0:05:42.600 go to these things and see stuff posted not even 0:05:42.600 --> 0:05:45.760 by people I've heard of, let alone people I know, right? 0:05:46.240 --> 0:05:48.600 Why do I want to see AI generated stuff? Maybe 0:05:48.640 --> 0:05:51.279 I'm just missing the point. I wasn't at the conference. 0:05:51.320 --> 0:05:53.000 Maybe if I were, I'd be like, oh, I get 0:05:53.040 --> 0:05:54.880 it now, But right now it just strikes me as 0:05:54.960 --> 0:05:58.800 kind of cold and pointless. Anyway, It's supposed to be 0:05:58.800 --> 0:06:03.120 in a new section called Imagined for You, and supposedly 0:06:03.160 --> 0:06:06.200 it will end up containing content the Meta thinks you 0:06:06.320 --> 0:06:10.520 want or you need based upon your behaviors. So it's 0:06:10.520 --> 0:06:13.960 supposed to be really curated and invented essentially for you, 0:06:14.520 --> 0:06:17.880 which yay, I don't know. This doesn't strike me as 0:06:18.160 --> 0:06:24.480 particularly good. Metta also introduced some AI impersonations of celebrity 0:06:24.560 --> 0:06:27.479 voices in Meta AI, so if you wanted to chat 0:06:27.880 --> 0:06:32.480 with a robot version of say John Cena or Aquafina 0:06:32.760 --> 0:06:35.320 or Kristin Bell, then you could do that. The Kristen 0:06:35.360 --> 0:06:38.800 Bell thing is particularly weird because not very long ago 0:06:38.920 --> 0:06:42.760 Bell spoke out against meta mining user data for the 0:06:42.760 --> 0:06:46.800 purposes of training artificial intelligence. But I guess she must 0:06:46.800 --> 0:06:49.320 have hashed all that out because her voice has become 0:06:49.360 --> 0:06:51.360 one of the options that people can choose when they're 0:06:51.400 --> 0:06:54.279 interacting with the Meta AI. There were some other stuff 0:06:54.320 --> 0:06:57.320 going on at the Connect keynote, including a revamp of 0:06:57.360 --> 0:07:01.720 avatar design for Meta's various platforms, which includes the Horizon 0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:05.160 operating system, which is what they use for VR. Meta 0:07:05.200 --> 0:07:08.960 is still seeming to push to make the metaverse happen. 0:07:09.320 --> 0:07:12.920 I think we need to tell Gretchen that, like Fetch, 0:07:13.280 --> 0:07:15.720 the metaverse just isn't going to happen, or at least 0:07:15.720 --> 0:07:18.680 I hope it doesn't. All right, that's enough about the 0:07:18.680 --> 0:07:21.320 Connect conference, but we still have a little bit more 0:07:21.360 --> 0:07:24.720 about meta. So Mark Zuckerberg sat down for an interview 0:07:24.720 --> 0:07:27.720 with Alex Heath of The Verge, and among other things, 0:07:28.040 --> 0:07:31.480 he stressed that research has failed to establish a causal 0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:35.720 relationship between social media use and a negative impact on 0:07:36.160 --> 0:07:38.760 mental health. Now, if you've been listening to my recent 0:07:38.840 --> 0:07:42.080 episodes on tech stuff, you probably have heard me say 0:07:42.120 --> 0:07:45.160 something similar to this, And that doesn't mean that there 0:07:45.400 --> 0:07:49.400 is no causal relationship between the two, but we have 0:07:49.480 --> 0:07:53.679 a lack of high quality studies that establish such a connection. 0:07:54.040 --> 0:07:57.480 There may be correlation between poor mental health and social 0:07:57.520 --> 0:08:00.560 media use, but that's not the same thing as causation. 0:08:00.960 --> 0:08:02.920 I still think it's a big leap to go from 0:08:03.160 --> 0:08:07.520 studies haven't really shown a causal connection to stating outright 0:08:07.560 --> 0:08:11.240 that there is no causal connection. Those two things are 0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:13.840 not synonymous. I don't think we can go so far 0:08:13.920 --> 0:08:18.520 as to deny any causal connection, particularly since studies that 0:08:18.640 --> 0:08:23.360 involve mental health are always tricky because isolating all the 0:08:23.440 --> 0:08:28.200 variables in order to establish relationships between even like disturbing 0:08:28.280 --> 0:08:31.920 behaviors and mental health, it's not always straightforward or easy. 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:36.040 Sometimes that stuff is really complicated. Now, Zuckerberg did say 0:08:36.120 --> 0:08:38.400 that he felt meta can play a part in protecting 0:08:38.440 --> 0:08:41.600 mental health by giving parents more controls relating to how 0:08:41.640 --> 0:08:44.160 their kids are able to access social media, which is 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:47.679 at least a start. I recommend watching the whole interview, 0:08:47.960 --> 0:08:50.600 which is both on The Verge and also The Verg's 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:54.679 YouTube channel. The interview itself is titled why Mark Zuckerberg 0:08:54.720 --> 0:08:57.840 thinks ar glasses will replace your phone? But it's way 0:08:57.920 --> 0:09:02.200 more than just about the arglasses, all right, And back 0:09:02.240 --> 0:09:04.360 to that whole Kristen Bell thing, because it relates to 0:09:04.400 --> 0:09:08.520 another story. She posted a message on Instagram which I 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:11.679 have seen going around a little bit now, and it's 0:09:11.720 --> 0:09:15.120 one in which folks attempt to stave off meta crawling 0:09:15.160 --> 0:09:18.760 their feeds for the purposes of training AI models. So 0:09:19.280 --> 0:09:23.240 it's essentially just a variation of other viral messages that 0:09:23.520 --> 0:09:26.600 people were posting to their feeds, either on Instagram or 0:09:26.600 --> 0:09:29.400 on Facebook or both, and they were meant to prevent 0:09:29.480 --> 0:09:33.440 Meta from doing stuff like selling their personal information for 0:09:33.480 --> 0:09:37.400 the purposes of advertising. But like those cases, posting this 0:09:37.520 --> 0:09:41.640 makes no difference whatsoever. It does not prevent Meta from 0:09:41.760 --> 0:09:44.760 using your information to train AI. It doesn't prevent them 0:09:44.760 --> 0:09:48.000 from selling your data for the purposes of ads or whatever, 0:09:48.200 --> 0:09:52.040 or exploiting your data in any other way, because posting 0:09:52.240 --> 0:09:54.840 that you're not giving Meta any permission to use your 0:09:54.920 --> 0:09:58.520 data means nothing, and that's because the terms of service 0:09:58.880 --> 0:10:03.040 already grant Meta all those permissions. The fact that you're 0:10:03.200 --> 0:10:05.599 using the service, and in order to sign up for 0:10:05.640 --> 0:10:07.960 the service, you had to agree to their terms of service, 0:10:08.000 --> 0:10:11.200 which you're kind of grandfathered into. Like whenever they change it, 0:10:11.240 --> 0:10:15.040 your agreement tends to be carried over into the new version, 0:10:15.080 --> 0:10:18.600 which seems odd right, like it's the whole Darth Vader, 0:10:18.640 --> 0:10:20.880 I have altered the deal. Pray I do not alter 0:10:21.000 --> 0:10:24.120 it further. But yeah, the fact that you have agreed 0:10:24.160 --> 0:10:26.480 to the terms of service means that Meta has that 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:32.040 permission already, so denying it on your feed does nothing. 0:10:32.120 --> 0:10:35.599 In fact, the only way to prevent Meta from exploiting 0:10:35.600 --> 0:10:40.840 your data is to either totally delete your profile and 0:10:40.960 --> 0:10:44.240 just leave the platform entirely, or set everything to private, 0:10:44.720 --> 0:10:48.360 at least for the purposes of crawling for AI training. 0:10:48.600 --> 0:10:51.920 Meta won't touch stuff that's set to private as opposed 0:10:51.960 --> 0:10:54.560 to public, so your private messages to your friends and 0:10:54.600 --> 0:10:57.880 stuff that is not available for Meta to use, but 0:10:57.960 --> 0:11:01.160 everything else is fair game. All right, we've got more 0:11:01.240 --> 0:11:04.360 tech news to cover before that, let's take a quick break. 0:11:13.720 --> 0:11:18.120 We're back. Open ai is planning to restructure the company 0:11:18.400 --> 0:11:21.880 and essentially ditch all pretense that it bears any resemblance 0:11:21.920 --> 0:11:25.080 to the original concept for open ai. All right, some 0:11:25.160 --> 0:11:29.200 explanation is needed here. So originally open ai was intended 0:11:29.240 --> 0:11:32.600 to be a not for profit organization that would maintain 0:11:32.640 --> 0:11:36.080 a high level of transparency while developing AI in a 0:11:36.120 --> 0:11:40.080 responsible manner, and that it would openly share this research, 0:11:40.200 --> 0:11:42.960 thus the name open ai. They said there was a 0:11:43.000 --> 0:11:47.720 need that AI advancements had to be helpful and cause 0:11:47.760 --> 0:11:50.360 as little harm as possible, and to be developed in 0:11:50.559 --> 0:11:53.560 a safe way. But it turns out being a not 0:11:53.679 --> 0:11:57.480 for profit organization means you don't make a lot of money. 0:11:57.559 --> 0:12:02.400 You're constantly scrambling for investment into the organization so that 0:12:02.440 --> 0:12:05.280 you can conduct your research because AI R and D 0:12:05.600 --> 0:12:10.160 is really expensive. So this restructuring would mean that the 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:15.200 for profit arm of open ai, which launched several years ago, 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:20.560 would essentially cut ties to the nonprofit board of directors, 0:12:20.960 --> 0:12:24.960 and previously that board of directors oversaw the operations of 0:12:25.000 --> 0:12:28.920 the company. You might even recall that an earlier incarnation 0:12:29.200 --> 0:12:33.160 of this very same nonprofit board of directors voted to 0:12:33.320 --> 0:12:37.760 remove open AI's CEO Sam Altman from the company, though 0:12:37.880 --> 0:12:41.000 the board would later reverse that decision and then essentially 0:12:41.040 --> 0:12:44.240 that board dissolved and a new one took its place. 0:12:44.600 --> 0:12:48.680 But this restructuring would remove that particular entity from open 0:12:48.720 --> 0:12:53.800 AI's governance entirely coincidentally, According to Altman, a few high 0:12:53.920 --> 0:12:57.240 level executives have left open Ai. Among them are a 0:12:57.320 --> 0:13:00.600 pair of senior research executives as well as the company's 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:04.400 chief technology officer. She also left, and Altman says that 0:13:04.480 --> 0:13:07.599 their resignations have nothing to do with the planned restructuring. 0:13:07.720 --> 0:13:13.240 It's just coincidence. Maybe that's true, Julian Denistron, and I 0:13:13.320 --> 0:13:18.560 apologize for butchering your name of Inside evs Rights that 0:13:18.679 --> 0:13:23.320 a research company called aMCI Testing looked into Tesla's full 0:13:23.320 --> 0:13:26.520 self driving feature to determine how reliable and safe it 0:13:26.559 --> 0:13:30.320 actually is now. aMCI reportedly tested the feature in a 0:13:30.360 --> 0:13:34.240 variety of different settings, from city streets to mountain roads, 0:13:34.400 --> 0:13:38.319 and apparently these tests were at least fairly extensive, comprising 0:13:38.400 --> 0:13:41.920 more than one thousand miles traveled in total. According to 0:13:41.960 --> 0:13:46.520 the report, aMCI drivers had to intervene approximately once every 0:13:46.600 --> 0:13:50.880 thirteen miles driven or else risk getting into an accident. Now, 0:13:50.920 --> 0:13:55.840 to be clear, despite the name full self driving, the 0:13:56.160 --> 0:13:59.720 feature actually requires Tesla drivers to maintain their attention on 0:13:59.720 --> 0:14:01.640 the road and to keep their hands of the steering 0:14:01.640 --> 0:14:06.040 wheel at all times. So, despite some arguably misleading naming 0:14:06.080 --> 0:14:10.320 conventions here, Tesla has stated that FSD is not intended 0:14:10.320 --> 0:14:14.360 to be a full proof autonomous driverless system, but aMCI 0:14:14.520 --> 0:14:17.520 says FSD can still give drivers a false sense of 0:14:17.520 --> 0:14:20.440 security and that the system can perform well enough to 0:14:20.520 --> 0:14:24.360 make people believe it is consistently safe. However, the director 0:14:24.400 --> 0:14:29.000 of amci's testing, a guy named guy or Gui Mangiamele, 0:14:29.640 --> 0:14:35.240 said quote, you may watch FSD successfully negotiate a specific 0:14:35.280 --> 0:14:38.280 scenario many times, often on the same stretch of road 0:14:38.440 --> 0:14:42.640 or intersection, only to have it inexplicably fail the next 0:14:42.720 --> 0:14:45.680 time end quote. Obviously, that would be a big problem, 0:14:45.760 --> 0:14:47.840 since it might mean a Tesla owner could feel that, 0:14:47.920 --> 0:14:51.120 at least along certain stretches of road, the FSD feature 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:54.040 is fully capable of handling the car's operation, and they 0:14:54.080 --> 0:14:57.040 might let their attention wander once again. I think my 0:14:57.080 --> 0:15:00.520 biggest problem with Tesla's approach is that the marketing conflicts 0:15:00.560 --> 0:15:04.360 with the actual capabilities of the advanced driving assist systems, 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:08.560 and unfortunately, when that involves vehicles, that can lead to catastrophe. 0:15:09.280 --> 0:15:12.080 Longtime tech stuff listeners might remember me talking about a 0:15:12.120 --> 0:15:15.800 company called Do Not Pay Ages ago. This company is 0:15:15.840 --> 0:15:18.040 known for doing a few different things, but one big 0:15:18.080 --> 0:15:22.960 one is helping subscribers do stuff like fight parking tickets. Now, 0:15:22.960 --> 0:15:26.040 some of those parking tickets are probably unfair and fighting 0:15:26.040 --> 0:15:29.520 them can be pretty intimidating, and some folks often just 0:15:29.640 --> 0:15:32.360 resign themselves to paying off a fine that they don't 0:15:32.360 --> 0:15:36.200 actually deserve. So Do Not Pay offers to help people out. 0:15:36.480 --> 0:15:38.920 And one way they do this, or at least that 0:15:39.000 --> 0:15:41.200 they did do this, was that they were offering the 0:15:41.280 --> 0:15:45.960 services of quote, the world's first robot lawyer end quote. 0:15:46.080 --> 0:15:49.240 There's really a generative AI tool meant to help people 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:53.320 draft legal language in order to do things like fight 0:15:53.840 --> 0:15:58.680 traffic tickets or to perform other relatively uncomplicated legal tasks 0:15:58.720 --> 0:16:02.160 such as drafting a cease and desist letter. But according 0:16:02.200 --> 0:16:05.680 to the US Federal Trade Commission or FTC, Do Not 0:16:05.840 --> 0:16:09.800 Pay failed to test the generative AI tool and didn't 0:16:09.880 --> 0:16:13.200 even bring on human lawyers to work on the tool's 0:16:13.240 --> 0:16:17.520 design or to ensure that it was functioning properly. Do 0:16:17.640 --> 0:16:20.720 not Pay has since agreed to pay a fine of 0:16:20.760 --> 0:16:23.120 its own, a grand total of one hundred and ninety 0:16:23.160 --> 0:16:26.960 three thousand dollars. I assume they're not going to follow 0:16:27.000 --> 0:16:31.200 the instructions that their company name states. That would likely 0:16:31.320 --> 0:16:34.160 not go over so well with the FTC. Do Not 0:16:34.240 --> 0:16:37.280 Pay must also send messages out to customers alerting them 0:16:37.280 --> 0:16:40.880 to the limitations of their services, essentially to say, hey, 0:16:41.280 --> 0:16:45.560 turns out we can't guarantee that the stuff we produced 0:16:45.600 --> 0:16:49.600 for you in return for your subscription actually is holding 0:16:49.680 --> 0:16:53.960 legal water. That's a rough one. According to Russian news outlets, 0:16:54.040 --> 0:16:57.200 Google has shut down the ability for people within Russia 0:16:57.240 --> 0:17:01.080 to create new Google accounts, and further, there has been 0:17:01.200 --> 0:17:05.280 a sharp reduction quote in the number of SMS messages 0:17:05.320 --> 0:17:08.840 sent by the company to Russian users end quote. That's 0:17:08.840 --> 0:17:12.439 according to the Register. This implies that Google is not 0:17:12.640 --> 0:17:16.919 sending out two factor authentication messages to people in Russia. 0:17:17.080 --> 0:17:19.280 So if you're signed out of your Google account and 0:17:19.320 --> 0:17:21.360 you're in Russia, you might not be able to get 0:17:21.400 --> 0:17:23.919 back into that account because you won't get access to 0:17:23.960 --> 0:17:26.760 all the information you need in order to get into 0:17:26.880 --> 0:17:30.160 your account. You won't get the multi factor authentication message. 0:17:30.280 --> 0:17:33.240 As I record this, Google and its parent company Alphabet 0:17:33.320 --> 0:17:36.360 have yet to comment on this story. Out of Russia, 0:17:36.480 --> 0:17:38.560 or from what I can gather, the general belief is 0:17:38.560 --> 0:17:42.600 that Google has escalated its withdrawal from Russia after having 0:17:42.680 --> 0:17:46.720 to shut down numerous accounts within Russia that were spreading disinformation, 0:17:46.880 --> 0:17:50.480 primarily about the war in Ukraine, while also refusing to 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:54.239 comply with Moscow's demands to remove certain other accounts that 0:17:54.480 --> 0:17:58.360 the government has declared as illegal, and those are typically 0:17:58.400 --> 0:18:02.320 accounts that frequently contradict the narrative coming out of the Kremlin. 0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:07.320 So maybe this is Google making a conscious decision to 0:18:07.920 --> 0:18:10.440 pull out of Russia entirely, which would be a real 0:18:10.520 --> 0:18:13.840 blow to people in Russia who are dependent upon Google 0:18:14.000 --> 0:18:17.960 services but have no control over what their government does 0:18:18.080 --> 0:18:21.920 or doesn't do. California now has a law that requires 0:18:21.960 --> 0:18:27.040 companies that offer access to digital media to use accurate 0:18:27.119 --> 0:18:30.200 language for those digital goods, so for stuff like streaming 0:18:30.240 --> 0:18:32.440 media for example. So in other words, if I wanted 0:18:32.440 --> 0:18:35.440 to pay so that I could have the UK comedy 0:18:35.480 --> 0:18:40.840 series Spaced in my online library with a service like Amazon, Well, 0:18:40.880 --> 0:18:43.919 then Amazon would not be allowed to use language like 0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:49.640 buy or sell regarding that transaction. Instead, the language has 0:18:49.680 --> 0:18:51.840 to make it clear that what I'm actually doing is 0:18:51.840 --> 0:18:56.000 I'm purchasing a license so that I can access Spaced, 0:18:56.320 --> 0:18:59.879 but I don't actually own a copy of Space. And 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:03.040 that's to make it clear to consumers that ownership isn't 0:19:03.080 --> 0:19:05.880 really that big of a thing in the digital marketplace 0:19:05.960 --> 0:19:08.320 for a lot of companies, and that doesn't matter if 0:19:08.359 --> 0:19:11.119 you're talking about music or films, or video games or 0:19:11.119 --> 0:19:14.200 other digital products and services. Companies that failed to comply 0:19:14.320 --> 0:19:16.800 with this law could be found guilty of false advertising 0:19:16.840 --> 0:19:20.000 and face some pretty stiff penalties. Now, all that being said, 0:19:20.240 --> 0:19:23.800 if a company does allow you to actually download a 0:19:23.880 --> 0:19:26.840 digital file and there's no requirement for it to be 0:19:26.840 --> 0:19:30.000 connected to some sort of online server or anything like that, 0:19:30.280 --> 0:19:33.200 like once you purchase it, it is yours and you can 0:19:33.440 --> 0:19:35.679 move it to whatever drive you want and access it 0:19:35.720 --> 0:19:38.400 whenever you want, they can still use terms like buy 0:19:38.400 --> 0:19:42.720 and sell because you are buying a digital file. That's fine, 0:19:43.160 --> 0:19:46.840 but it's for the ones that license the access to you. 0:19:47.359 --> 0:19:49.520 And this was kind of brought up because of some 0:19:49.640 --> 0:19:53.639 recent developments. There was a case where Ubisoft deleted the 0:19:53.720 --> 0:19:58.040 video game The Crew from player accounts. Ubisoft had already 0:19:58.080 --> 0:20:00.840 shut down the online service for that game, and it 0:20:00.880 --> 0:20:04.240 was an online only game, so you could argue that 0:20:04.320 --> 0:20:07.719 once they shut down the servers, the game was effectively obsolete. 0:20:07.800 --> 0:20:10.520 But gamers were still shocked to see the title getting 0:20:10.560 --> 0:20:14.320 deleted from their library entirely because that seems to fly 0:20:14.400 --> 0:20:17.800 into the face of the whole concept of buying something, 0:20:18.040 --> 0:20:19.760 and that's how we got to where we are now. 0:20:20.240 --> 0:20:22.760 This law is only going to apply in California for now. 0:20:22.800 --> 0:20:26.520 It takes effect next year. And finally, speaking of Ubisoft, 0:20:26.560 --> 0:20:29.040 the company is facing a potential strike as workers have 0:20:29.119 --> 0:20:32.000 objected to the company issuing a return to office mandate 0:20:32.040 --> 0:20:34.280 that would require staff to come into the office three 0:20:34.359 --> 0:20:37.399 days a week. The union says it had been negotiating 0:20:37.400 --> 0:20:41.080 for profit sharing for employees and after those talks broke down, 0:20:41.119 --> 0:20:44.280 that's when Ubisoft issued the return to office order. So 0:20:44.480 --> 0:20:47.840 things have now escalated into a potential strike situation, which 0:20:47.880 --> 0:20:50.640 sounds similar to what's going on over at Amazon. Amazon 0:20:50.720 --> 0:20:53.560 gave a five days a week return to office mandate 0:20:53.640 --> 0:20:56.639 starting next year and now like ninety one percent of 0:20:56.720 --> 0:21:00.359 Amazon's staff who were surveyed about this say they don't 0:21:00.480 --> 0:21:03.240 like it, and I can understand that. But that's it 0:21:03.520 --> 0:21:05.640 for the tech news for this week. I hope you're 0:21:05.680 --> 0:21:08.200 all well. If you are in the path of a 0:21:08.240 --> 0:21:12.000 devastating hurricane, please please please be careful, be safe, be 0:21:12.200 --> 0:21:14.800 happy and healthy, and I will talk to you again 0:21:15.640 --> 0:21:25.880 really soon. Tech Stuff is an iHeartRadio production. For more 0:21:25.920 --> 0:21:30.680 podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or 0:21:30.680 --> 0:21:36.040 wherever you listen to your favorite shows.