WEBVTT - Tech News: Do Not Question the Musk 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:14.440 He there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:14.520 --> 0:00:17.720 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio. 0:00:17.960 --> 0:00:20.880 And how the tech are you. It's time for the 0:00:20.920 --> 0:00:26.440 tech news for November two thousand, twin d two and 0:00:26.520 --> 0:00:29.280 I didn't have a news episode this past Tuesday, which 0:00:29.280 --> 0:00:31.640 means we've got a little bit of a Twitter backup 0:00:31.680 --> 0:00:34.840 to get through because things are still going bonkers over there. 0:00:35.400 --> 0:00:40.120 Starting off in Twitter b E. That is, before Elon, 0:00:40.680 --> 0:00:45.600 the corporate culture encouraged internal criticism. Some would say criticism 0:00:45.640 --> 0:00:49.120 was tolerated to a fault in fact, but the point 0:00:49.200 --> 0:00:53.600 is Twitter employees were never punished for criticizing company leadership 0:00:53.880 --> 0:00:59.640 or policies. Well, that's very much changed. One engineer, Eric Fraunhofer, 0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:02.720 who had worked for Twitter for eight years and got 0:01:02.760 --> 0:01:06.280 involved in a Twitter conversation with Elon Musk in an 0:01:06.280 --> 0:01:08.959 effort to correct what he saw his Musk's errors regarding 0:01:09.000 --> 0:01:13.240 how Twitter operates on a technical level, has been let go. 0:01:14.680 --> 0:01:17.600 He has since said that Musk was just completely wrong 0:01:17.720 --> 0:01:20.759 about Twitter's technical operations and so he was stepping in 0:01:21.319 --> 0:01:25.640 to actually provide the real answers. Musk did not care 0:01:25.720 --> 0:01:29.360 for that critique, and fron Huffer was fired. A couple 0:01:29.400 --> 0:01:33.800 of other employees were similarly let go for doing similar things, 0:01:33.880 --> 0:01:37.559 and the following day some Twitter employees expressed support for 0:01:37.640 --> 0:01:41.920 their former colleagues, and they too were shown the door, 0:01:42.520 --> 0:01:45.360 which led to a lot of Twitter employees going back 0:01:45.400 --> 0:01:50.280 and scrubbing their various accounts uh messages on like Twitter 0:01:50.360 --> 0:01:52.680 and Slack and that kind of thing in an effort 0:01:52.720 --> 0:01:57.120 to not hire Sawon. I guess, And according to Casey Newton, 0:01:57.520 --> 0:02:01.280 who does an incredible newsletter each several times a week 0:02:01.280 --> 0:02:04.880 actually about tech, about two dozen folks were affected by 0:02:04.880 --> 0:02:09.280 these firings. Some other outlets are reporting even more than that. 0:02:09.639 --> 0:02:12.720 So the word seems to be you don't criticize Elon 0:02:12.840 --> 0:02:16.160 Musk or you'll get canned. So I guess the free 0:02:16.200 --> 0:02:19.520 speech absolutist has his own thoughts about the kinds of 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:23.720 speech that shouldn't be expressed. Though, to be fair, free 0:02:23.760 --> 0:02:26.720 speech has never met You're actually free from the consequences 0:02:26.760 --> 0:02:29.480 of what you say, only that you are allowed to 0:02:29.520 --> 0:02:33.000 say it. So yeah, I'm being a bit cheeky here. Anyway, 0:02:33.080 --> 0:02:36.000 Several of the folks fired had been at Twitter for 0:02:36.240 --> 0:02:38.959 nearly a decade or longer, which is bad news for 0:02:39.000 --> 0:02:42.320 a company that recently purged about half of all employees 0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:45.000 and still needs to get stuff done. As for those 0:02:45.080 --> 0:02:48.640 left behind, well, they have a tough decision to make. Today. 0:02:49.040 --> 0:02:53.040 Elon Musk has issued a deadline. Twitter employees must fill 0:02:53.040 --> 0:02:55.640 out an online form to indicate whether or not they 0:02:55.639 --> 0:02:59.720 will be willing to do grueling work at long hours 0:02:59.840 --> 0:03:03.880 or else leave the company. Musk alerted employees to this 0:03:04.080 --> 0:03:07.440 yesterday in an email titled a fork in the Road. 0:03:08.160 --> 0:03:09.919 So they have until the end of today to fill 0:03:09.960 --> 0:03:13.160 out the form. And y'all, this is smelling awful, similar 0:03:13.200 --> 0:03:17.520 to a loyalty pledge, which is given me seriously bad vibes. 0:03:17.960 --> 0:03:20.200 But for some a Twitter, this could be the push 0:03:20.240 --> 0:03:23.040 they need to determine if they in fact want to 0:03:23.120 --> 0:03:26.480 stay at the company and try to transform the platform 0:03:26.960 --> 0:03:29.680 or hack just keep it running while working with half 0:03:29.720 --> 0:03:32.920 the personnel, or if they'd rather take a chance and 0:03:32.960 --> 0:03:35.480 make a big career change, which is tough in a 0:03:35.600 --> 0:03:38.600 market where you're seeing lots of layoffs across big tech. 0:03:39.120 --> 0:03:41.840 It could be that Musk is actually looking to further 0:03:41.960 --> 0:03:45.160 thin the ranks of Twitter though much of the analysis 0:03:45.280 --> 0:03:47.760 that I have read suggests that such a move would 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:50.680 be risky because it's already going to be hard for 0:03:50.760 --> 0:03:53.600 the remaining staff to just keep things going while also 0:03:53.800 --> 0:03:58.040 creating the projects that Musk wants implemented. On a related note, 0:03:58.360 --> 0:04:01.600 Elon Musk had to appear in a court in Delaware 0:04:01.960 --> 0:04:07.360 to defend his fifty six billion dollar compensation package at Tesla. 0:04:08.000 --> 0:04:10.920 We'll talk more about Tesla in a second. This lawsuit 0:04:11.000 --> 0:04:15.839 came from Tesla shareholder Richard Tornetta, who accuses Tesla and 0:04:15.960 --> 0:04:20.000 Elon Musk for leveraging a compliant board of directors to 0:04:20.080 --> 0:04:24.560 create an insanely lucrative compensation package from Musk while hiding 0:04:24.600 --> 0:04:29.080 crucial information from shareholders who were encouraged to sign off 0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:33.680 on this compensation deal, which they did. In his testimony, 0:04:33.880 --> 0:04:36.479 Musk said he intends to find someone else to run 0:04:36.560 --> 0:04:40.240 Twitter in the future, but later that same day, which 0:04:40.320 --> 0:04:43.800 again was just yesterday, he said it would take some 0:04:43.920 --> 0:04:46.280 time because he wants to hand Twitter over once it 0:04:46.440 --> 0:04:51.839 is in a quote unquote strong place. Well, considering how 0:04:51.960 --> 0:04:53.839 things have been going for Twitter over the last couple 0:04:53.839 --> 0:04:56.320 of weeks and the amount of ground that's been lost 0:04:56.640 --> 0:05:00.400 as various advertisers have pulled back from the platform. It 0:05:00.520 --> 0:05:03.520 may take a long time for Twitter to be in 0:05:03.600 --> 0:05:07.240 a strong place, So why would Musk talk about Twitter 0:05:07.400 --> 0:05:11.080 in a trial that's really about his compensation with Tesla. Well, 0:05:11.720 --> 0:05:14.920 several Tesla shareholders have shown concerned that Musk is far 0:05:15.000 --> 0:05:20.200 too distracted by Twitter to lead Tesla effectively. According to 0:05:20.240 --> 0:05:24.080 The Wall Street Journal, Tesla board member James Murdoch has 0:05:24.120 --> 0:05:26.679 said that Musk has someone in mind who would serve 0:05:26.800 --> 0:05:31.440 as CEO of Tesla as well, indicating that perhaps Musk 0:05:31.480 --> 0:05:34.760 is thinking of handing control over to another person. Musk 0:05:34.839 --> 0:05:37.040 says he thinks of himself now as a leader, but 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:41.080 as an engineer, something that I think fron Hoffer would 0:05:41.120 --> 0:05:45.880 take Umbridge to. Anyway, this trial will be decided by 0:05:45.880 --> 0:05:48.440 a judge. It is not a jury trial, so a 0:05:48.560 --> 0:05:52.560 judge ultimately makes the decision about whether or not Tesla 0:05:52.839 --> 0:05:57.360 and the board of directors misled shareholders. Uh interesting side 0:05:57.440 --> 0:06:01.719 note that that judge is Chancellor Kathleen McCormick. She happens 0:06:01.760 --> 0:06:04.560 to be the judge who was also overseeing Twitter's lawsuit 0:06:04.640 --> 0:06:07.479 against Musk back when Musk was still trying to back 0:06:07.480 --> 0:06:10.080 out of his acquisition deal. That was the trial that 0:06:10.200 --> 0:06:15.200 ultimately got called off because Musk ultimately agreed to buy Twitter. 0:06:15.760 --> 0:06:20.440 Speaking of Tesla, the US government has released data showing 0:06:20.480 --> 0:06:25.440 that Tesla has identified two additional car crash fatalities connected 0:06:25.560 --> 0:06:30.640 to its driver assistance systems, but details are a bit scarce. 0:06:31.040 --> 0:06:34.159 One of those two accidents happened nearly a year ago, 0:06:34.520 --> 0:06:37.680 so it's kind of shocking to get word of it now. 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:42.320 But both happened in California. Both involved some form of 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:48.160 driver assistance modes being engaged. But the NHTSA, the National 0:06:48.360 --> 0:06:53.240 Highway Traffic and Safety Administration uh OR authority rather doesn't 0:06:53.560 --> 0:06:57.760 distinguish between autopilot and full self driving, So I don't 0:06:57.800 --> 0:07:01.240 know which mode was actually in operation for either of 0:07:01.320 --> 0:07:03.240 these crashes. It could have been one or the other. 0:07:03.760 --> 0:07:07.640 The n h t s A categorizes both autopilot and 0:07:08.120 --> 0:07:11.760 full self driving from Tesla as s A E level 0:07:11.880 --> 0:07:16.520 two on the Driving Automation Scale. Now remember that scale 0:07:16.600 --> 0:07:20.760 goes from zero, which has really no active driver assist features. 0:07:20.800 --> 0:07:23.800 It could have warnings and stuff like that, but it doesn't. 0:07:24.160 --> 0:07:28.280 It doesn't really take over control of the vehicle, and 0:07:28.400 --> 0:07:30.440 then you go all the way up to level five, 0:07:30.520 --> 0:07:32.920 which is where you have a fully automated vehicle, where 0:07:33.440 --> 0:07:35.480 you know there are no controls for humans at all. 0:07:35.680 --> 0:07:39.240 The whole thing is is is vehicle operated. But level two, 0:07:39.800 --> 0:07:44.480 where both autopilot and full self driving are still requires 0:07:44.560 --> 0:07:48.840 human operation and human attention. Since July of two thousand 0:07:48.920 --> 0:07:52.600 twenty one, almost all of the fatal accidents involving driver 0:07:52.720 --> 0:07:56.160 assistance systems that have been reported to the nh T 0:07:56.440 --> 0:08:02.080 s A have been Tesla vehicles or have involved Tesla vehicles. 0:08:02.760 --> 0:08:07.720 But the NHT essay also points out there's not a 0:08:07.840 --> 0:08:13.720 standardized approach across all automakers, all car manufacturers on how 0:08:13.800 --> 0:08:18.440 to track crashes that involve some form of driver assistance 0:08:18.600 --> 0:08:23.400 system in them. So, because there's not a unified and 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:28.080 standardized approach here, you cannot definitively say that one brand 0:08:28.120 --> 0:08:32.000 of car is inherently less safe than another. So while 0:08:32.720 --> 0:08:35.240 you look at this this set of figures and you say, wow, 0:08:35.400 --> 0:08:41.120 Tesla's a driver assistance systems have led to some terrible accidents, 0:08:41.520 --> 0:08:44.520 I mean that is true, but it doesn't give you 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:49.400 the full story because we don't have a unified version 0:08:49.480 --> 0:08:54.400 of metrics and processes so that we can definitively say, 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:58.640 all right, this company seems to be doing something far 0:08:58.800 --> 0:09:03.560 more effect active and responsible than this company. We can't 0:09:03.600 --> 0:09:05.840 really do that because it's not a level playing field, 0:09:05.880 --> 0:09:09.160 because we don't know all the different methodologies used to 0:09:09.559 --> 0:09:13.440 track and report this data, which makes it not really 0:09:13.559 --> 0:09:16.240 that useful. In my mind, I think we need to 0:09:16.400 --> 0:09:19.599 create standards that that need to be adopted by the 0:09:19.840 --> 0:09:23.559 entire industry in order to have a better view of 0:09:23.679 --> 0:09:26.960 what's actually happening. I know I dump on Tesla a lot, 0:09:27.760 --> 0:09:31.920 but I don't think it's fair to draw a conclusion 0:09:31.960 --> 0:09:35.640 that Tesla is inherently worse at this than other companies 0:09:36.040 --> 0:09:38.880 when we know that there's not a standardized way to 0:09:39.760 --> 0:09:44.160 actually get metrics on all of this and some more 0:09:44.480 --> 0:09:48.079 bad news for Elon Musk, this time stemming from SpaceX. 0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:52.280 So this past summer, five SpaceX employees signed off on 0:09:52.360 --> 0:09:55.040 a letter that called on the company to acknowledge and 0:09:55.200 --> 0:09:59.719 condemn Elon Musk's behavior on Twitter relating to a news 0:09:59.760 --> 0:10:03.800 rep art that SpaceX had settled a sexual harassment lawsuit 0:10:03.840 --> 0:10:08.040 out of court, one that involved Musk and an employee 0:10:08.080 --> 0:10:12.439 of SpaceX. So these five employees, who's who wrote this 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:16.080 letter saying Elon Musk's behavior was unacceptable and the company 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:19.719 should call him out on it. Then found themselves out 0:10:19.720 --> 0:10:22.720 of a job, and the following day around twenty engineers 0:10:22.800 --> 0:10:25.200 had to attend a meeting in which a Tesla VP 0:10:25.440 --> 0:10:29.640 named John Edwards allegedly equated the letter to an quote 0:10:29.720 --> 0:10:34.880 unquote extremist act. That loyalty pledged thing I mentioned about 0:10:34.920 --> 0:10:39.360 Twitter seems to apply to Musk's other operations, I guess anyway. 0:10:39.640 --> 0:10:42.320 Some of these employees say that the letter ultimately led 0:10:42.400 --> 0:10:46.679 to nine people getting fired from SpaceX. Eight of them 0:10:47.080 --> 0:10:49.720 have now joined in an effort with the National Labor 0:10:49.840 --> 0:10:54.480 Relations Board or in l RB to bring unfair labor 0:10:54.600 --> 0:10:59.960 practices charges against SpaceX. Moreover, this issue seems to add 0:11:00.400 --> 0:11:04.199 to this this perception that Elon Musk very much does 0:11:04.280 --> 0:11:08.840 not like having his authority questioned or restricted in any way. 0:11:09.880 --> 0:11:14.439 It's not a good look. Is kind of authoritarian in 0:11:14.679 --> 0:11:19.360 its approach, and again, like having someone being very flippant 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:24.679 about a sexual harassment lawsuit being dismissed doesn't come across 0:11:24.840 --> 0:11:30.160 great either. Anyway. That's all the Twitter slash Elon Musk 0:11:30.200 --> 0:11:32.760 stuff I have for now, So that's good. When we 0:11:32.840 --> 0:11:36.040 come back. We'll move on to totally different tech news. 0:11:45.440 --> 0:11:49.720 We're back. Sir Christopher Home, a man who came from 0:11:49.840 --> 0:11:53.520 humble beginnings to rise to billionaire in the world of 0:11:53.600 --> 0:11:58.880 financial trading, has some stern words for Google, or specifically 0:11:58.960 --> 0:12:03.679 Google's parent company, Alphabet. So Hans Hedge Fund, which is 0:12:03.720 --> 0:12:08.479 called t c I, has a massive steak in Alphabet. 0:12:09.400 --> 0:12:13.719 It's valued at around six billion dollars billion with a B. 0:12:14.640 --> 0:12:18.040 And Han recently sent a letter to Alphabet arguing that 0:12:18.600 --> 0:12:23.640 Alphabet one has too many employees, to it pays its 0:12:23.679 --> 0:12:27.959 employees way too much, and three it wastes too much 0:12:28.040 --> 0:12:32.080 money on projects that don't drive revenue and accrew huge losses. 0:12:32.800 --> 0:12:37.200 So he's calling for Alphabet to downsize and eliminate employee 0:12:37.240 --> 0:12:41.160 positions that he feels the company has, you know, too 0:12:41.240 --> 0:12:43.360 many of. He's saying that there are too many people 0:12:43.440 --> 0:12:46.319 working there and they're not doing enough work. That this 0:12:46.440 --> 0:12:51.960 is inefficient and costly and should be addressed quickly. Moreover, 0:12:52.960 --> 0:12:55.680 he wants to see the folks who are at Alphabet 0:12:55.800 --> 0:12:59.880 make less money, because Alphabet's median salary is somewhere je 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:03.200 shy of three hundred thousand dollars a year. That's according 0:13:03.240 --> 0:13:06.080 to filings with the SEC, which is a big old wow, 0:13:06.320 --> 0:13:12.839 like the median salaries around three hundred k. Wow. Now, 0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:16.840 I imagine that doesn't include like contractors and that sort 0:13:16.840 --> 0:13:18.760 of thing, but still three d k that's a lot 0:13:18.840 --> 0:13:23.320 of cheddar. And you know, Hans thinks it's too much cheddar, 0:13:23.840 --> 0:13:26.920 as more cheddar should be going to the billionaires like him. 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:30.559 I guess. I mean, I get that Alphabet's compensation is 0:13:30.679 --> 0:13:34.040 well above that of the competition, but I find it 0:13:34.240 --> 0:13:36.000 hard to be on the side of a guy who 0:13:36.240 --> 0:13:40.000 literally has more wealth than most people, including myself, will 0:13:40.160 --> 0:13:43.400 ever come close to hard to side with the super 0:13:43.559 --> 0:13:46.400 rich guy, you know. But anyway, he also wants to 0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:49.920 see subsidiaries like Weymo get the old Google treatment and 0:13:49.960 --> 0:13:55.080 get shut down. Weymo is Google's self driving vehicle company, 0:13:55.640 --> 0:13:59.920 and Weymo, he argues, has lost billions of dollars while 0:14:00.200 --> 0:14:03.199 other car manufacturers have kind of backed off of trying 0:14:03.240 --> 0:14:09.079 to make autonomous cars reality. He cited some various initiatives 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:12.560 that had previously been launched and since abandoned and says 0:14:12.880 --> 0:14:17.199 Google should do the same thing. So will Alphabet capitulate 0:14:17.400 --> 0:14:20.640 to his demands? Well, the tech industry as a whole 0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:25.200 is definitely slimming down due to various economic pressures. Because 0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:30.400 we're in that ding dang durn economic uncertainty that we 0:14:30.600 --> 0:14:33.840 still have not really named. I think we're gonna skip 0:14:33.880 --> 0:14:38.520 recession and go straight to depression personally, but anyway, it 0:14:38.560 --> 0:14:41.200 would not be surprising to see Alphabet make a move 0:14:41.320 --> 0:14:44.920 like this. We know that Google has been pulling back 0:14:45.400 --> 0:14:50.080 on hires and also has started to restrict things like 0:14:50.680 --> 0:14:55.200 company travel, so it would not be surprising to see 0:14:55.240 --> 0:14:58.080 Alphabet make that move, especially since we know so many 0:14:58.120 --> 0:15:00.600 other companies in the tech space are are doing that. 0:15:01.640 --> 0:15:03.720 In fact, while we're on the topic of layoffs, let's 0:15:03.760 --> 0:15:07.240 talk Amazon. Just as we're entering the frenzy of the 0:15:07.280 --> 0:15:10.760 holiday season, though maybe the season will be less of 0:15:10.800 --> 0:15:16.160 a frenzy due to the aforementioned economic uncertainty, Amazon is 0:15:16.680 --> 0:15:20.960 following the band and has begun to layoff employees. Some 0:15:21.120 --> 0:15:24.400 reports suggest that these layoffs could reach around ten thousand 0:15:24.560 --> 0:15:28.800 jobs total. The company started by laying off employees who 0:15:28.840 --> 0:15:32.080 are working in the hardware divisions, which produces stuff like 0:15:32.480 --> 0:15:37.720 Amazon Fire, Amazon Echo, the Kindle, and devices with Amazon's 0:15:37.760 --> 0:15:40.800 personal assistant, whom I will not name so that you're 0:15:40.840 --> 0:15:43.880 smart speakers don't talk back at me because they're mean. 0:15:44.280 --> 0:15:47.360 You should have a discussion with those smart speakers about 0:15:47.480 --> 0:15:52.400 their behavior. Words can hurt anyway. It's just a super 0:15:52.520 --> 0:15:54.840 tough time at the big tech companies right now with 0:15:54.960 --> 0:15:57.880 so many people being let go. And I can speak 0:15:57.960 --> 0:16:02.600 from experience, it fights to get laid off around Thanksgiving. 0:16:02.960 --> 0:16:05.720 I had that happened to me at a former job, 0:16:06.200 --> 0:16:10.640 and even seventeen years later, it still stings. The cuts 0:16:10.680 --> 0:16:14.520 at Amazon are mostly targeting corporate staff and might amount 0:16:14.560 --> 0:16:17.680 to around three percent of the total workforce, but the 0:16:17.760 --> 0:16:22.000 company's warehouse divisions are unlikely to see extensive cuts. That 0:16:22.120 --> 0:16:25.240 makes sense. We are getting into the holidays, there's going 0:16:25.320 --> 0:16:27.440 to be a lot of activity in those warehouses, so 0:16:27.720 --> 0:16:29.360 it makes sense that the cuts were seeing are going 0:16:29.400 --> 0:16:32.040 to be on the corporate side, not necessarily the warehouse side. 0:16:32.560 --> 0:16:36.800 CNBC reports that Amazon has sent out a voluntary severance 0:16:36.880 --> 0:16:40.240 message to some employees, giving them the option to take 0:16:40.280 --> 0:16:43.880 a severance package and leave the company voluntarily rather than 0:16:44.000 --> 0:16:47.280 risk being laid off later down the road. Those employees 0:16:47.280 --> 0:16:49.960 will have until November twenty nine to make their decision, 0:16:50.280 --> 0:16:52.840 and if they take the package. Their employment with Amazon 0:16:52.960 --> 0:16:57.040 will end on December twenty three. By the way, I 0:16:57.120 --> 0:17:02.280 saw that Jeff Bezos, Amazon's founder, has dedicated to giving 0:17:02.320 --> 0:17:07.240 away almost all of his wealth two various charitable organizations 0:17:07.359 --> 0:17:11.320 and efforts. And I saw that someone had posted clearly 0:17:11.400 --> 0:17:14.760 he was visited by three spirits, So good on you. 0:17:15.040 --> 0:17:16.560 I wish I had your name in front of me, 0:17:16.640 --> 0:17:20.679 because that was a great joke and I really laughed 0:17:20.760 --> 0:17:24.720 when I saw it. Okay, let's talk about Netflix, and 0:17:24.760 --> 0:17:27.760 Netflix has announced a change to how subscribers can manage 0:17:27.880 --> 0:17:34.520 access to various devices. So previously cutting off access revoking 0:17:34.600 --> 0:17:37.840 access to devices was an all or nothing deal. You 0:17:37.880 --> 0:17:41.200 could revoke access to all devices you had signed into. 0:17:42.000 --> 0:17:44.000 Let's say you did something silly like let's say you 0:17:44.400 --> 0:17:47.359 went to stay at an Airbnb and they had a 0:17:47.440 --> 0:17:50.560 smart TV, so you logged into your Netflix account and 0:17:50.680 --> 0:17:53.760 then you left the Airbnb, but you realize you forgot 0:17:53.880 --> 0:17:57.800 to log out of that smart TV, so your account 0:17:57.840 --> 0:18:02.360 is still active on there. Well, you could revoke access, 0:18:02.560 --> 0:18:05.400 but the problem was it applied to every single device 0:18:05.480 --> 0:18:08.440 you were logged into, so you lost everything, which meant 0:18:08.480 --> 0:18:10.040 that you had to go through the whole process of 0:18:10.160 --> 0:18:13.440 getting access again for the stuff you actually own, like say, 0:18:13.520 --> 0:18:17.600 your own television or whatever. Well, now Netflix is letting 0:18:17.680 --> 0:18:21.400 users get more granular. You can revoke access to specific 0:18:21.480 --> 0:18:25.800 devices while you retain it everywhere else. It also gives 0:18:25.920 --> 0:18:29.360 users the chance to shut down access to their account if, 0:18:29.480 --> 0:18:33.200 for example, they lent it to say that no good 0:18:33.400 --> 0:18:36.760 mooture of a cousin of yours or whatever. Maybe I'm 0:18:36.760 --> 0:18:41.880 projecting anyway, because Netflix will be instituting a sub account 0:18:42.000 --> 0:18:46.080 charge for users who let other households also access their accounts. 0:18:46.680 --> 0:18:49.720 This move lets users nope right on out of that 0:18:49.960 --> 0:18:53.360 by cutting off the access. So instead of Netflix saying, hey, 0:18:53.920 --> 0:18:58.960 we noticed that this other household is using your account regularly, 0:18:59.560 --> 0:19:02.000 sometimes at the same time you're using the account, so 0:19:02.119 --> 0:19:05.320 we're gonna charge you a monthly fee to have this 0:19:05.440 --> 0:19:09.080 additional uh feed go out, you could say, you know what, 0:19:09.200 --> 0:19:11.440 I'm just going to revoke that access and I'm good. 0:19:11.680 --> 0:19:13.960 I'll just pay mine and then they can go and 0:19:14.040 --> 0:19:17.639 get their own Netflix account. So that is going to 0:19:17.720 --> 0:19:20.400 be an option to although really Netflix is pointing more 0:19:20.480 --> 0:19:24.320 at the case I mentioned where you've perhaps traveled somewhere, 0:19:24.480 --> 0:19:27.000 logged into Netflix, forgot the log out and you wanted 0:19:27.040 --> 0:19:30.240 to revoke access that way. Anyway, the feature is now 0:19:30.400 --> 0:19:33.480 live to all Netflix users, and may the odds be 0:19:33.640 --> 0:19:37.440 ever in your favor. Meta is making some changes to 0:19:37.480 --> 0:19:40.920 what Facebook users will display in their profiles. Starting on 0:19:41.040 --> 0:19:44.399 December one, Facebook is going to remove some fields that 0:19:44.440 --> 0:19:48.600 are currently active in profiles. Those fields include religious views, 0:19:49.040 --> 0:19:53.480 political views, the interested in field, which in this case 0:19:53.600 --> 0:19:57.640 the interested in relates to sexual orientation, as well as 0:19:57.760 --> 0:20:00.840 the address field. All of those are to go away 0:20:01.320 --> 0:20:06.080 starting December one. Meta has not yet shared what prompted 0:20:06.160 --> 0:20:08.800 this decision, like, we know what's going to happen, but 0:20:09.040 --> 0:20:12.320 the company has not yet said why it's made this decision. 0:20:13.240 --> 0:20:16.639 I think it might be to mitigate issues like harassment 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:20.399 that could potentially be part of it, but the company 0:20:20.440 --> 0:20:23.760 has not said for sure. Ever. Note, the note taking 0:20:23.800 --> 0:20:26.080 app that burst onto the scene in two thousand eight, 0:20:26.600 --> 0:20:31.120 announced that the mobile developer company called Bending Spoons will 0:20:31.240 --> 0:20:35.960 acquire ever note early next year. And Evernote made a 0:20:36.040 --> 0:20:39.600 pretty big splash when it first debuted, But honestly, I 0:20:39.840 --> 0:20:42.160 had not heard very much about it over the last 0:20:42.200 --> 0:20:46.040 several years. Apparently I'm not alone. They kind of fell 0:20:46.119 --> 0:20:48.320 into semi obscurity. I mean, the people who love every 0:20:48.359 --> 0:20:52.080 Note continued to love every Note, although from what I understand, 0:20:52.359 --> 0:20:54.920 the service made some changes that upset a lot of 0:20:55.040 --> 0:20:59.040 users before backing off of those changes. But this announcement 0:20:59.119 --> 0:21:01.920 said that this upcoming merger will allow every Note to 0:21:02.000 --> 0:21:07.480 make quote accelerated improvements across our teams, professional, personal and 0:21:07.680 --> 0:21:11.240 free offerings, which is fantastic news for lovers of Evernote 0:21:11.320 --> 0:21:15.200 everywhere end quote. Glad to hear it. I would like 0:21:15.320 --> 0:21:18.119 to see folks continue to be gainfully employed and be 0:21:18.200 --> 0:21:20.359 able to work on a on a platform that they 0:21:20.400 --> 0:21:23.680 really believe in. Also, I want to say, bending spoons 0:21:23.800 --> 0:21:25.800 is a pretty funny name. Just makes me think of 0:21:25.880 --> 0:21:28.320 your ee Geller and the Charlatans who claim that they 0:21:28.359 --> 0:21:31.120 can use psychic powers to bend spoons, when in fact 0:21:31.160 --> 0:21:35.520 the psychic powers are actually their hands. Okay, enough of 0:21:35.960 --> 0:21:39.920 my skeptical critique. We're gonna take another quick break. When 0:21:39.960 --> 0:21:41.879 we come back, we have a couple more news items 0:21:41.880 --> 0:21:53.960 to get through. Okay, this next story is pretty upsetting. 0:21:54.119 --> 0:21:59.080 Israel has deployed robotic guns on guard towers in the 0:21:59.200 --> 0:22:03.280 West Bank. The guns use artificial intelligence to identify and 0:22:03.320 --> 0:22:07.080 track targets, but are actually fired remotely by guards who 0:22:07.119 --> 0:22:10.280 are stationed inside these guard towers. So while the guns 0:22:10.320 --> 0:22:13.480 are using computer assist aiming, kind of like what you 0:22:13.600 --> 0:22:17.680 see in video games, especially video games that allow players 0:22:17.720 --> 0:22:20.800 on console to go up against PC gamers, because you know, 0:22:21.000 --> 0:22:24.159 console controllers don't have the same level of speed and 0:22:24.240 --> 0:22:29.719 precision as a mouse and keyboard, so often console players 0:22:29.800 --> 0:22:33.240 get a little aim assist boost where the computer helps 0:22:33.880 --> 0:22:37.080 guide those crosshairs just a little bit so you can 0:22:37.160 --> 0:22:40.760 get hits. This AI does effectively the same thing, but 0:22:40.880 --> 0:22:44.960 to a real world gun, not a video game gun. However, 0:22:45.080 --> 0:22:47.560 a human being still has to fire the gun, so 0:22:47.680 --> 0:22:50.199 the guns are outfitted with what Israel refers to as 0:22:50.320 --> 0:22:54.119 non lethal ammunition, which includes stuff like tear gas and 0:22:54.320 --> 0:22:58.280 sponge tipped bullets. I think non lethal might be a 0:22:58.359 --> 0:23:01.960 bit aspirational there. Let's say that they are intended to 0:23:02.119 --> 0:23:06.040 be non lethal anyway. The location of these guns is 0:23:06.080 --> 0:23:09.520 around the Palestinian refugee camp, which has led to criticism 0:23:09.600 --> 0:23:12.880 that Israel is using Palestinians as targets to train its AI, 0:23:13.560 --> 0:23:15.879 while the Israeli government claims that the guns are there 0:23:15.960 --> 0:23:21.000 to protect both Israeli and Palestinian lives activist Issa Amro 0:23:21.520 --> 0:23:24.200 criticized the tech and said that the possibility that could 0:23:24.240 --> 0:23:28.480 be misused or even hacked, which is terrifying, puts thousands 0:23:28.520 --> 0:23:31.680 of lives at risk. Even if it's never hacked. The 0:23:31.800 --> 0:23:34.280 fact that people could think that such a thing could 0:23:34.320 --> 0:23:38.320 happen means that you've got this this tool of fear 0:23:38.760 --> 0:23:43.200 there right Like it's terrifying to think about. So you 0:23:43.240 --> 0:23:45.159 don't even need the hack to happen for it to 0:23:45.240 --> 0:23:47.879 already have a negative impact, not to mention that, I 0:23:47.960 --> 0:23:50.639 think just having a robotic gun as a negative impact 0:23:51.240 --> 0:23:55.160 on the face of its full stop. Meanwhile, Omar Shakir, 0:23:55.400 --> 0:23:58.520 a leader at Human Rights Watch, warrens that using AI 0:23:58.600 --> 0:24:01.159 assisted weapons with a remote ire could put Israel on 0:24:01.240 --> 0:24:04.800 a slippery slope toward becoming quote a powder keg for 0:24:04.960 --> 0:24:09.000 human rights abuse end quote. We've seen several robotics companies 0:24:09.040 --> 0:24:11.920 recently pledged to never develop any sort of weapons systems. 0:24:12.440 --> 0:24:15.680 But while that's reassuring, we also know that military is 0:24:15.680 --> 0:24:19.359 around the world, including the United States military, are working 0:24:19.440 --> 0:24:23.880 hard to do just that, to build robotic platforms for weapons, 0:24:24.320 --> 0:24:26.719 and that you know we've seen that with drones. I mean, 0:24:26.840 --> 0:24:29.440 that's one robotic platform that has weapons, but we're seeing 0:24:29.480 --> 0:24:34.399 it across multiple implementations now, and you can kind of 0:24:34.480 --> 0:24:37.400 understand why. I mean, there's this desire to create weapons 0:24:37.800 --> 0:24:40.479 that keep your own soldiers out of harm's way. Right 0:24:40.640 --> 0:24:42.920 this way, you're not putting your soldiers lives at risk. 0:24:43.760 --> 0:24:48.280 But critics really fear that a use and implementation of 0:24:48.400 --> 0:24:51.480 robotic platforms will lead to more conflicts around the world. 0:24:51.560 --> 0:24:54.440 There will be less resistance to getting into armed conflicts 0:24:54.800 --> 0:24:58.880 if you're thinking that your side doesn't really risk any losses, 0:24:59.400 --> 0:25:03.359 and that can see widespread human rights crises as a result, 0:25:03.760 --> 0:25:07.879 which is the big reason why I'm dead set against 0:25:08.440 --> 0:25:13.439 robotic weapons platforms. Intel launched a new product called fake Catcher, 0:25:14.080 --> 0:25:17.040 which is designed to detect deep fake videos. Now. According 0:25:17.080 --> 0:25:20.639 to Intel, fake Catcher has a nineties accuracy rate in 0:25:20.720 --> 0:25:24.719 detecting deep fakes. The product looks for tail tale signs 0:25:24.760 --> 0:25:28.080 of face and landmark manipulations, you know, movements that might 0:25:28.119 --> 0:25:30.080 be too subtle for humans to really pick up on, 0:25:30.400 --> 0:25:33.800 but that indicate a computer generated the image or video. 0:25:34.560 --> 0:25:38.840 It even looks for really small indicators like how our 0:25:39.000 --> 0:25:42.760 veins change color as our hearts pump blood through them, 0:25:42.800 --> 0:25:46.640 which is kind of creepy. And there's a growing concern 0:25:46.760 --> 0:25:49.720