WEBVTT - Tech News: The Blue Badge of Dishonor 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:12.280 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 0:00:12.320 --> 0:00:15.600 and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. 0:00:15.640 --> 0:00:18.320 I'm an executive producer with iHeartRadio. And how the tech 0:00:18.360 --> 0:00:20.440 are you. It's time for the tech news for Tuesday, 0:00:20.480 --> 0:00:23.959 April twenty fifth, twenty twenty three. Last week, I talked 0:00:23.960 --> 0:00:28.080 about how the SpaceX Starship launch was a success despite 0:00:28.120 --> 0:00:30.960 the fact that the ding dang darn thing sploded all 0:00:30.960 --> 0:00:34.440 over the Gulf of Mexico. As a reminder, this was 0:00:34.479 --> 0:00:38.680 a test launch of the world's most powerful launch vehicle 0:00:38.800 --> 0:00:42.519 ever and had no crew aboard it, thank goodness, and 0:00:42.560 --> 0:00:45.040 the purpose was just to get the launch vehicle off 0:00:45.080 --> 0:00:48.000 the ground without destroying the launch tower in the process. 0:00:48.440 --> 0:00:51.199 While there was a hope that the starship would actually 0:00:51.240 --> 0:00:55.040 be able to achieve orbit, that was a secondary goal. 0:00:55.480 --> 0:00:58.640 So when there was an engine failure and a failure 0:00:58.680 --> 0:01:01.320 for the first stage to separate from the second and 0:01:01.360 --> 0:01:03.880 then the ship began to spin in the air, SpaceX 0:01:03.960 --> 0:01:06.679 chose to toggle a self destruct switch so that the 0:01:06.760 --> 0:01:09.520 starship would detonate safely over the Gulf and not go 0:01:09.920 --> 0:01:13.720 flying off somewhere. Since then, we've learned that there was 0:01:13.920 --> 0:01:18.440 extensive damage to the launch pad itself during the launch, 0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:22.560 while the tower remained standing. There are craters in debris 0:01:22.760 --> 0:01:25.600 across the launch area, and it may be weeks or 0:01:25.680 --> 0:01:29.880 maybe months before the launch pad is ready for another launch. 0:01:30.160 --> 0:01:32.759 It will take some extensive repairs, and in the meantime, 0:01:33.080 --> 0:01:36.400 Elon Musk has indicated that SpaceX may make some changes 0:01:36.440 --> 0:01:38.760 to the launchpad to give it a better chance of 0:01:38.800 --> 0:01:42.640 holding up to the incredible heat and force generated by 0:01:42.680 --> 0:01:47.320 the thirty three rocket engines of the Starship's first stage. 0:01:47.400 --> 0:01:52.000 This actually isn't dissimilar to issues NASA has encountered with 0:01:52.120 --> 0:01:55.800 their Space Launch System, which has about half the thrust 0:01:55.800 --> 0:01:59.960 power of the Starship. The SLS has also damaged lawn 0:02:00.000 --> 0:02:03.200 bunch facilities during operations. It turns out when you play 0:02:03.280 --> 0:02:06.680 with really big rockets, you can sometimes end up with 0:02:06.720 --> 0:02:09.639 a real big hole in the ground. Now, let's talk 0:02:09.680 --> 0:02:13.560 about Twitter. So last week the platform pulled the trigger 0:02:13.600 --> 0:02:16.120 on a promise it had been making for a while. 0:02:16.320 --> 0:02:19.440 Folks who had a verified check mark but who were 0:02:19.480 --> 0:02:23.400 not subscribed to Twitter blue saw those check marks go 0:02:23.600 --> 0:02:27.320 bye bye, which includes yours truly, my check mark went away, 0:02:27.639 --> 0:02:32.720 and Elon Musk, ever the mature businessman comped certain celebrities 0:02:32.800 --> 0:02:37.040 and gave them their check marks. These were mainly celebrities 0:02:37.200 --> 0:02:40.640 who had been criticizing the move to turn the verification 0:02:40.760 --> 0:02:44.359 system into a paid perk as opposed to, you know, 0:02:44.560 --> 0:02:48.200 a means of actually verifying a user's identity. And the 0:02:48.240 --> 0:02:51.720 blue check mark implies, or actually, heck it outright says it, 0:02:51.760 --> 0:02:54.519 if you were to hover your mouse over the check mark, 0:02:55.080 --> 0:02:58.280 that the person who has the check mark had paid 0:02:58.639 --> 0:03:01.120 for that privilege, even though in the case of folks 0:03:01.160 --> 0:03:04.360 like the famous author Stephen King, that wasn't the case. 0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:08.160 He had not paid the Twitter subscription. The check mark 0:03:08.240 --> 0:03:11.720 returned because Elon Musk, I guess wanted to rub it 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:15.000 in Stephen King's face because King had been criticizing the 0:03:15.080 --> 0:03:17.919 whole paid for check mark thing in the first place, 0:03:18.280 --> 0:03:20.840 and now it makes it seem like Stephen King had 0:03:20.840 --> 0:03:24.359 paid for it, makes him seem like he's a hypocrite, 0:03:24.919 --> 0:03:29.400 when in fact he didn't pay for this. So yeah, 0:03:29.560 --> 0:03:32.800 there's been a lot of trash talking about Twitter turning 0:03:32.840 --> 0:03:36.720 the check mark into a revenue generating scheme, and that 0:03:37.280 --> 0:03:41.440 you know, now these critics have been branded with that 0:03:41.520 --> 0:03:44.360 check mark as opposed to the check mark being a verification, 0:03:45.320 --> 0:03:48.840 and Musk then expanded his generosity because Twitter accounts with 0:03:48.920 --> 0:03:51.400 more than a million followers began to see their check 0:03:51.440 --> 0:03:54.520 marks returned, even though they hadn't asked for it. I 0:03:54.560 --> 0:03:57.720 remember seeing a tweet from author Neil Gaiman who expressed 0:03:57.720 --> 0:03:59.640 curiosity about this. He went so far as to point 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:02.520 out that he had not subscribed to Twitter Blue, and 0:04:02.600 --> 0:04:06.320 yet his check mark had returned. And now that check 0:04:06.360 --> 0:04:09.800 mark is sort of viewed as a badge of dishonor like. 0:04:09.840 --> 0:04:13.120 The implication is that people who have a check are 0:04:13.200 --> 0:04:16.680 desperate for recognition and have paid for it. So even 0:04:16.720 --> 0:04:20.080 people who did subscribe to Twitter Blue, some of them 0:04:20.080 --> 0:04:22.440 are now trying to dump it in order to get 0:04:22.480 --> 0:04:24.160 rid of that check mark, because they don't want to 0:04:24.200 --> 0:04:29.040 be associated with a perception that they're paying to be recognized. 0:04:29.440 --> 0:04:32.480 It's actually a pretty fascinating situation. Something that was once 0:04:32.600 --> 0:04:35.680 viewed as a kind of status symbol and something to 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:39.400 be desired is now looked at as almost being taboo. 0:04:40.000 --> 0:04:43.719 And I think there's a possible sociology dissertation in there somewhere, 0:04:44.000 --> 0:04:47.719 and you're welcome, grad students. By the way, this gets 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:51.120 even more confusing because Twitter accounts that belong to people 0:04:51.120 --> 0:04:54.279 who are no longer with us, people who have died. 0:04:54.400 --> 0:04:57.719 Over the past few years, they've seen their check marks return, 0:04:57.800 --> 0:05:00.880 and again, if you hover your mouth over the check mark, 0:05:00.920 --> 0:05:04.680 it says that the person who owns that account is 0:05:04.760 --> 0:05:08.600 paying for a Twitter Blue subscription, which you know, raises 0:05:08.680 --> 0:05:11.640 questions as to how dead people were able to do that. 0:05:12.360 --> 0:05:17.120 So again, not like the smoothest transition. A real shock 0:05:17.200 --> 0:05:20.760 when you think about how Twitter has laid off seven 0:05:20.800 --> 0:05:24.400 thousand of their employees over the last several months. On 0:05:24.440 --> 0:05:27.280 a related note, some folks on Twitter are asking if 0:05:27.279 --> 0:05:32.039 perhaps these check marks represent false advertising in a way. 0:05:32.400 --> 0:05:36.800 So Twitter user drill Dril brought this question up, asking 0:05:36.839 --> 0:05:41.160 if maybe this falls under the umbrella of a false endorsement. 0:05:41.600 --> 0:05:44.240 So the argument kind of goes like this. The check 0:05:44.320 --> 0:05:48.719 mark claims that the person whose name is in front 0:05:48.760 --> 0:05:51.760 of that check has paid for this service. But as 0:05:51.800 --> 0:05:56.040 we've seen, many, maybe even most, of the celebrities who 0:05:56.080 --> 0:05:59.440 currently have a check mark didn't actually pay for it, 0:05:59.800 --> 0:06:05.360 So that could imply that this celebrity is approving of 0:06:05.440 --> 0:06:07.840 the service right because the claim is that they paid 0:06:07.880 --> 0:06:11.200 for it, even if they haven't Twitter is saying they did. 0:06:11.680 --> 0:06:13.960 And so you see a celebrity's name, you see that 0:06:14.080 --> 0:06:16.520 check mark after it, You see the check mark claiming 0:06:16.560 --> 0:06:19.400 that the person with the check mark has paid for 0:06:19.400 --> 0:06:23.960 a subscription. That seems like the celebrity is endorsing the service, 0:06:24.040 --> 0:06:27.320 like they're saying, this is cool, That's why I bought it, 0:06:28.320 --> 0:06:32.479 And that could be seen as an endorsement, even though 0:06:32.480 --> 0:06:35.640 the celebrities have not done that. They haven't made any 0:06:35.680 --> 0:06:38.720 kind of deal with Twitter. There's no endorsing going on. 0:06:38.800 --> 0:06:43.320 It's against their will, right, even if they don't really 0:06:43.320 --> 0:06:45.800 care one way or another. They didn't seek it out. 0:06:46.120 --> 0:06:47.800 So when you view it that way, it does sound 0:06:47.839 --> 0:06:50.400 like Twitter. It could be violating some rules here with 0:06:50.520 --> 0:06:55.080 various high profile accounts pulled in by association. However, it's 0:06:55.120 --> 0:06:57.880 not a cut and dry case, so to be seen 0:06:58.080 --> 0:07:01.320 as actually being illegal, this matter would have to be 0:07:01.400 --> 0:07:05.440 framed as a type of advertisement, like it's an advertisement 0:07:05.520 --> 0:07:09.279 of Twitter Blue subscriptions. That's what the laws cover fair 0:07:09.320 --> 0:07:13.800 practices and advertising. But if you could frame it as 0:07:14.000 --> 0:07:17.600 not being an advertising issue, if it's in a different context, 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:21.120 well you don't have that same legal foundation to support 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:24.560 your argument. So it may never go any further than this. 0:07:25.040 --> 0:07:27.560 You know, we may not see anyone ever bring legal 0:07:27.600 --> 0:07:31.360 action against Twitter for forcing a check mark on people 0:07:31.360 --> 0:07:34.160 who don't want it, but it raises some really weird 0:07:34.240 --> 0:07:37.160 questions that I didn't think I would ever be asking. 0:07:37.800 --> 0:07:40.520 And one last Twitter piece for today before we move 0:07:40.560 --> 0:07:44.080 on to other news. Keith Berghart, a computer scientist at 0:07:44.080 --> 0:07:48.200 the Information Sciences Institute, has shared results from a research 0:07:48.280 --> 0:07:52.080 project that looks at hate speech on Twitter. So Burghart 0:07:52.120 --> 0:07:56.440 and his research team created a methodology to identify and 0:07:56.640 --> 0:08:01.920 quantify hate speech on Twitter. Essentially, the team identified about 0:08:02.000 --> 0:08:07.240 four dozen keywords closely associated with hate speech. I didn't 0:08:07.400 --> 0:08:09.320 dare look at the list because I have a feeling 0:08:09.440 --> 0:08:11.880 it would just make me sick. But they use these 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:15.000 keywords as the starting point. They started to search for 0:08:15.080 --> 0:08:19.600 tweets that contain these keywords, but then they fed those 0:08:19.640 --> 0:08:24.720 tweets to a tool called Perspective API. This tool tries 0:08:24.760 --> 0:08:28.800 to identify examples of hate speech, and it differentiates between 0:08:28.920 --> 0:08:33.520 hate speech and something that's not hate speech. So, for example, 0:08:33.600 --> 0:08:37.760 you might have a tweet that is discussing hate speech, 0:08:37.800 --> 0:08:40.400 but it is not actually an example of hate speech. 0:08:40.400 --> 0:08:42.840 You would want to separate that out. Or you might 0:08:42.920 --> 0:08:47.880 have a tweet that's meant perhaps in a sexual context, 0:08:48.080 --> 0:08:50.480 but not a hateful one. You'd want to separate that 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:55.160 out too, So they use this tool. They filtered through 0:08:55.200 --> 0:08:57.640 the results and then they compared the amount of hate 0:08:57.640 --> 0:09:01.000 speech present on Twitter before us took control of the 0:09:01.000 --> 0:09:04.360 company late last year, and how things are going now 0:09:04.400 --> 0:09:07.840 that he's in charge. And the findings are likely confirming 0:09:07.880 --> 0:09:13.120 your guesses. Incidents increased after Musk took control, both in 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:17.679 the number of hateful keywords appearing in individual tweets, so 0:09:17.760 --> 0:09:21.120 more of these keywords are cropping up now, and also 0:09:21.520 --> 0:09:25.720 how frequently hateful users are tweeting out hate speech, So 0:09:26.040 --> 0:09:29.720 the number of times that people are tweeting out these 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:33.559 things has increased. In fact, it was close to twice 0:09:33.679 --> 0:09:37.280 as much as it was before Musk took over. Now, 0:09:37.320 --> 0:09:40.480 I should also add hate speech has always been a 0:09:40.640 --> 0:09:44.880 problem on Twitter. This is not unique to Musk taking 0:09:44.960 --> 0:09:48.520 over the company. It was present before he ever started 0:09:48.559 --> 0:09:52.680 to express any interest in buying Twitter. And also, we 0:09:52.760 --> 0:09:55.280 haven't even had a full year's worth of data since 0:09:55.360 --> 0:09:58.040 Musk took over, right, we had a year has not passed, 0:09:58.600 --> 0:10:01.439 so we have a pretty small all sample size of data. 0:10:01.480 --> 0:10:04.320 We should keep that in mind too. This might not 0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:07.640 be a trend. It might be a spike, and it 0:10:07.679 --> 0:10:10.600 could be that over time the spike levels out. Again, 0:10:10.679 --> 0:10:13.520 we don't know yet, so I don't want anyone to 0:10:13.600 --> 0:10:16.200 jump to conclusions just to say, all right, well, Twitter 0:10:16.360 --> 0:10:19.840 is now a haven for hate and it will be 0:10:19.960 --> 0:10:22.760 like that forever. We don't know that. We do know 0:10:23.480 --> 0:10:27.760 that the incidents have definitely increased since Musk took over, 0:10:28.040 --> 0:10:31.120 but that's as far as we can go. News like 0:10:31.160 --> 0:10:34.000 this is not good good for Twitter obviously. It's still 0:10:34.040 --> 0:10:37.760 trying to attract advertisers back to the platform, and when 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:41.440 you see a report like this, that's a that's not 0:10:41.480 --> 0:10:44.120 a big selling point. Okay, we've got a lot more 0:10:44.200 --> 0:10:46.600 news to cover before we get into any more. Let's 0:10:46.600 --> 0:10:59.800 take a quick break. We're back. Snapchat launched it's My 0:11:00.200 --> 0:11:03.640 Ai feature last week to users around the world. So 0:11:03.800 --> 0:11:08.200 before that, the feature was only available to Snapchat users 0:11:08.240 --> 0:11:12.000 who had enrolled in a subscription service, so it was 0:11:12.040 --> 0:11:17.160 a subscriber only feature until last week. Now, the reception 0:11:17.280 --> 0:11:21.839 of the feature has been pretty mixed, with the most 0:11:21.960 --> 0:11:25.920 vocal users going the old review bombing route and giving 0:11:25.960 --> 0:11:30.400 the Snapchat app a terrible review. According to tech Crunch, 0:11:30.960 --> 0:11:34.319 users hit the Snapchat app with an average of one 0:11:34.400 --> 0:11:39.040 point sixty seven stars out of five. Seventy five percent 0:11:39.520 --> 0:11:44.480 of all reviews last week were one star. That is brutal. 0:11:45.160 --> 0:11:49.320 The chief reason cited for these low reviews was the 0:11:49.360 --> 0:11:53.520 incorporation of the AI chatbot. As it stands, the AI 0:11:53.640 --> 0:11:57.080 feature is pinned to the top of the app's chat feature. 0:11:58.040 --> 0:12:00.640 Users who are critical of this inclusion wanted a way 0:12:00.679 --> 0:12:02.600 to turn it off or opt out of the feature, 0:12:03.080 --> 0:12:06.240 and currently there's not a way to do that. Criticisms 0:12:06.440 --> 0:12:11.080 ranged from this is lame to this is creepy. One 0:12:11.240 --> 0:12:15.520 alleged exchange between the AI and a user named Brittany 0:12:16.080 --> 0:12:19.560 made the rounds on Twitter. Some screenshots showed that Brittany 0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:21.880 asked the AI tool to point her in the direction 0:12:21.960 --> 0:12:26.040 of the closest gas station, So the AI suggested a 0:12:26.040 --> 0:12:28.240 gas station that was about five miles away from her, 0:12:28.240 --> 0:12:31.040 and then Brittany followed that up by asking how did 0:12:31.040 --> 0:12:35.439 the AI know where she was? The AI essentially said, 0:12:35.679 --> 0:12:38.400 I don't know where you are, but Snapchat may have 0:12:38.480 --> 0:12:42.000 access to your location. Well, Brittany then says, well, how 0:12:42.080 --> 0:12:45.200 is that possible because I chose to have snapchat hidden 0:12:45.280 --> 0:12:49.319 from maps, it shouldn't know my location. Then the AI said, oh, 0:12:49.360 --> 0:12:51.439 I don't have access to your location. I can't tell 0:12:51.480 --> 0:12:54.800 you where the closest gas station is actually, And Brittany said, 0:12:54.960 --> 0:13:00.120 but you kind of already did that. So now I 0:13:00.120 --> 0:13:04.280 cannot say for sure that this exchange was legitimate. The 0:13:04.320 --> 0:13:07.720 screenshots could be faked, they could be photoshopped or something. 0:13:08.200 --> 0:13:11.640 But I have seen similar issues with other AI chatbots 0:13:11.679 --> 0:13:16.160 out there, chatbots who seem to unwittingly reveal that their 0:13:16.280 --> 0:13:19.120 creators know way more about us than they let on, 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:22.520 including things where you ask a chatbot, hey, where am 0:13:22.559 --> 0:13:24.720 I right now? And the chatbot says, oh, I don't 0:13:24.760 --> 0:13:28.040 know where you are, so what's my location? I don't 0:13:28.080 --> 0:13:30.880 have that information. Okay, what's the closest gas station? And 0:13:30.920 --> 0:13:34.000 then it tells you, which obviously points out that somehow 0:13:34.000 --> 0:13:37.120 it did know your location, or at least the general location. 0:13:37.640 --> 0:13:40.640 It raises a lot of questions anyway. While I can't 0:13:40.679 --> 0:13:43.600 say for sure that Britney's exchange was real, though to 0:13:43.640 --> 0:13:45.840 be clear, I have no reason to doubt it either, 0:13:46.440 --> 0:13:49.000 I can say for sure that a lot of users 0:13:49.000 --> 0:13:51.840 have been vocal in their dislike of this new feature. 0:13:52.240 --> 0:13:55.199 That doesn't necessarily mean everyone hates it. Of course, it 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:59.199 is possible that the vast majority of Snapchat users actually 0:13:59.320 --> 0:14:03.040 love AI. They're just being quiet about it, and the 0:14:03.040 --> 0:14:04.839 only people who are making a fuss are the ones 0:14:04.840 --> 0:14:08.840 who hate it. That's a possibility. While some music studios 0:14:08.880 --> 0:14:11.880 are attempting to use law so that they can stave 0:14:11.960 --> 0:14:15.720 off a wave of AI generated deep fake songs featuring 0:14:15.840 --> 0:14:20.200 recognizable voices signed to their labels, one musical artist is 0:14:20.280 --> 0:14:25.400 welcoming our robot overlords. That artist is Grimes. She has 0:14:25.480 --> 0:14:27.960 told her fans that she wants to see what AI 0:14:28.040 --> 0:14:31.040 collaborations can come up with. She said that she asks 0:14:31.080 --> 0:14:34.800 for a fifty percent split in royalties on quote any 0:14:34.880 --> 0:14:38.640 successful AI generated song that uses my voice end quote, 0:14:39.320 --> 0:14:43.080 that being her voice, not my voice. She said she 0:14:43.200 --> 0:14:46.480 is putting no boundaries on this. There are no legal bindings. 0:14:46.600 --> 0:14:48.960 She is not represented by a label, so there's no 0:14:49.080 --> 0:14:52.080 danger of a giant company swooping in and saying no, no, no, 0:14:52.160 --> 0:14:55.960 actually we own her voice, you can't have it. Grimes 0:14:55.960 --> 0:14:57.840 says she wants to see what can come of this, 0:14:58.000 --> 0:15:01.240 that she's willing to serve as a guinea pig, and 0:15:01.520 --> 0:15:04.160 if she can create a model where an artist receives 0:15:04.160 --> 0:15:08.240 compensation when someone else uses an AI generated version of 0:15:08.240 --> 0:15:11.440 that person's voice, it could really shake things up in 0:15:11.480 --> 0:15:14.880 the art world. I'm not saying that AI generated voices 0:15:14.920 --> 0:15:17.960 will totally replace the real McCoy, but I could also 0:15:17.960 --> 0:15:21.080 see some artists experiment with this, particularly if it means 0:15:21.080 --> 0:15:23.320 you can sit back and collect the checks while the 0:15:23.400 --> 0:15:26.280 robots do all the work. I am being a little 0:15:26.320 --> 0:15:30.320 facetious here because clearly this only works because Grimes already 0:15:30.480 --> 0:15:34.040 has done all the work. She has created art that 0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:36.760 people want to emulate in the first place, and without that, 0:15:37.280 --> 0:15:40.240 none of this works. An appeals court has issued a 0:15:40.320 --> 0:15:44.320 ruling regarding the ongoing struggles between Apple and Epic Games. 0:15:44.680 --> 0:15:49.440 The ruling upholds an earlier court's decision, which mostly finds 0:15:49.480 --> 0:15:53.280 in favor of Apple, with one big exception. So just 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:56.440 as a reminder, this whole thing started when Epic Games, 0:15:56.520 --> 0:16:00.600 the publisher for Fortnite, encouraged players on Iowa US and 0:16:00.600 --> 0:16:04.920 Android devices, to use some workarounds for in game transactions 0:16:04.960 --> 0:16:09.400 that would go outside the InApp transaction services. That way, 0:16:09.840 --> 0:16:12.680 Epic Games would keep the full amount of the transaction 0:16:13.000 --> 0:16:15.880 rather than Apple, or in the case of Android devices, 0:16:15.920 --> 0:16:19.760 Google getting a thirty percent cut of every one of them. 0:16:20.440 --> 0:16:23.400 Apple brought down the meteor hammer on Epic Games, and 0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:26.480 a big legal fight has been going on ever since. Well. 0:16:26.480 --> 0:16:29.240 While this particular part of the legal battle has mostly 0:16:29.320 --> 0:16:32.320 found in favor of Apple, the one bit that helps 0:16:32.360 --> 0:16:35.960 developers like Epic Games out is that Apple has to 0:16:36.040 --> 0:16:39.240 allow links and buttons that go to third party in 0:16:39.400 --> 0:16:43.400 app payment options if that's what the developer wants. So 0:16:43.560 --> 0:16:47.120 Apple doesn't have to include these options by default, but 0:16:47.240 --> 0:16:49.880 if a developer wants to give users the chance to 0:16:50.560 --> 0:16:54.920 use some other transaction method, Apple isn't allowed to block that. 0:16:55.800 --> 0:16:58.920 Apple has said it disagrees with this ruling. No big 0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:01.680 surprise there, and the company has fourteen days to file 0:17:01.720 --> 0:17:05.040 an appeal to this decision. If they do appeal, then 0:17:05.080 --> 0:17:07.680 the case would then go to either a larger group 0:17:07.720 --> 0:17:10.800 of judges on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which 0:17:10.880 --> 0:17:13.280 is where this last case was heard, or it would 0:17:13.280 --> 0:17:17.000 go straight to the US Supreme Court. Microsoft is backed 0:17:17.040 --> 0:17:19.480 down in the EU in an effort to sidestep a 0:17:19.520 --> 0:17:24.119 potential anti trust probe, kind of thematically tagging onto the 0:17:24.119 --> 0:17:26.760 back of the Apple story here. So in this case, 0:17:26.840 --> 0:17:31.919 at issue is Microsoft's practice of bundling Microsoft Teams with 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:36.400 its Office suite of productivity software. So competitors like Slack 0:17:36.920 --> 0:17:42.480 have argued that Microsoft forcing Teams into Office bundles is 0:17:42.520 --> 0:17:46.200 an anti competitive practice that Microsoft is trying to muscle 0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:51.240 out competition from any other video conferencing or messaging services. 0:17:51.920 --> 0:17:55.440 This really isn't that different from when Microsoft faced similar 0:17:55.480 --> 0:17:59.000 complaints when it bundled its web browser, which was then 0:17:59.200 --> 0:18:03.600 Internet Exploited or with the Windows operating system, though that 0:18:03.680 --> 0:18:07.480 case was further complicated by how deeply integrated Internet Explorer 0:18:07.720 --> 0:18:11.399 was with Windows. It has long been a key element 0:18:11.440 --> 0:18:15.439 in Microsoft's strategy to bundle programs together in an effort 0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:19.080 to dominate a market. While users might prefer to go 0:18:19.200 --> 0:18:21.760 a la carte when it comes to picking and choosing 0:18:21.760 --> 0:18:25.720 productivity tools, Microsoft's approach has mostly been an all or 0:18:25.840 --> 0:18:30.119 nothing affair. Now, Microsoft says it will offer options for 0:18:30.160 --> 0:18:34.760 EU customers to purchase Office with or without Microsoft Teams, 0:18:34.800 --> 0:18:38.280 though how that's actually going to manifest remains to be seen. Also, 0:18:38.800 --> 0:18:42.560 that might not be enough to prevent an antitrust probe anyway, 0:18:42.600 --> 0:18:45.159 We'll just have to see what the regulators say. In 0:18:45.240 --> 0:18:50.480 twenty twenty one, Alphabet, Google's parent company began work on 0:18:50.640 --> 0:18:55.120 a truly massive project building out a mega campus in 0:18:55.200 --> 0:18:58.960 San Jose, California. Do you know the way to San Jose? 0:18:59.600 --> 0:19:02.560 And when I say a mega campus, I mean this 0:19:02.560 --> 0:19:06.240 thing was to be huge, like eighty acres in size. 0:19:06.280 --> 0:19:10.280 According to Ours Technica, the Finnish campus was to include offices, 0:19:10.840 --> 0:19:18.479 housing units, parks, hotels, restaurants, shops, theaters, museums, and more like. 0:19:18.520 --> 0:19:21.280 It sounded like a city within a city, just to 0:19:21.280 --> 0:19:24.000 say that happens to be, you know, owned and operated 0:19:24.000 --> 0:19:27.199 by Google. But now the company has hit pause on 0:19:27.240 --> 0:19:32.439 those plants, or perhaps even stop, while construction crews have 0:19:32.480 --> 0:19:37.879 already performed a wave of demolition work that now looks 0:19:37.920 --> 0:19:41.520 like it's just going to be in limbo. According to CNBC, 0:19:42.320 --> 0:19:46.080 that demolition work destroyed some landmarks in San Jose and 0:19:46.119 --> 0:19:48.840 forced others to relocate to other parts of the city. 0:19:49.200 --> 0:19:53.280 And now Google has nothing to go in those places. 0:19:53.320 --> 0:19:57.800 It's just bulldozed territory. And there's a real fear that 0:19:57.880 --> 0:20:00.520 these spots in San Jose will just remain un finished 0:20:00.520 --> 0:20:04.760 for the foreseeable future. Google, like most big tech companies, 0:20:04.760 --> 0:20:07.960 has been making some serious cost cutting moves recently, so 0:20:08.000 --> 0:20:10.520 it's not exactly a surprise that the company would back 0:20:10.560 --> 0:20:13.560 off on such an aggressive plan. In fact, one wonders 0:20:13.640 --> 0:20:17.600 what convinced Google executives to even pursue this idea back 0:20:17.600 --> 0:20:20.280 in twenty twenty one. That was a year after the 0:20:20.320 --> 0:20:23.600 pandemic had begun and the world had really kind of 0:20:23.800 --> 0:20:28.320 adjusted to a remote work situation, which makes it seem 0:20:28.359 --> 0:20:31.119 like a pretty weird time to say, Hey, no one's 0:20:31.119 --> 0:20:33.600 in the office, so let's build a whole lot more 0:20:33.640 --> 0:20:38.720 office space, like a truly enormous amount office space, And 0:20:38.840 --> 0:20:42.280 following rounds of layoffs at Google it measures like desk 0:20:42.440 --> 0:20:46.080 sharing procedures and offices, it really seems like office space 0:20:46.160 --> 0:20:49.520 isn't way up on the company's priorities. So the question 0:20:49.600 --> 0:20:52.520 remains what happens to all that property in San Jose. 0:20:52.920 --> 0:20:58.360 And I don't know the answer to that except to say, yuck, Okay, 0:20:58.720 --> 0:21:01.240 I've got a handful more stories to go through before 0:21:01.280 --> 0:21:13.680 we get to that. Let's take another quick break, okay. 0:21:13.800 --> 0:21:17.560 California's Senate Judiciary Committee is set to deliberate on a 0:21:17.600 --> 0:21:21.239 proposed bill that if passed, would let Californians opt to 0:21:21.280 --> 0:21:25.200 delete their personal information from a company's database if they 0:21:25.240 --> 0:21:30.040 wanted to. It's nicknamed the Delete Act, and it's likely 0:21:30.080 --> 0:21:33.600 to face some pretty stiff opposition from the tech space. 0:21:34.080 --> 0:21:36.639 As I'm sure you all know, a lot of money 0:21:36.640 --> 0:21:40.280 in tech comes from data. There are companies that exist 0:21:40.480 --> 0:21:43.840 solely to collect and sell data to other companies. And 0:21:43.880 --> 0:21:46.159 while the main focus is on advertising, there are a 0:21:46.200 --> 0:21:48.879 lot of other issues here, even if you don't have 0:21:49.160 --> 0:21:54.159 a problem with targeted ads themselves, namely, law enforcement agencies 0:21:54.160 --> 0:21:57.080 have been known to use this data when it's inconvenient 0:21:57.119 --> 0:22:01.000 to you know, secure a warrant to sue such information 0:22:01.040 --> 0:22:03.480 through proper channels. Why do that when you can just 0:22:03.600 --> 0:22:07.720 buy it? Or when someone has a personal acts to 0:22:07.800 --> 0:22:10.560 grind and they use this data to track down like 0:22:10.680 --> 0:22:14.840 a former boss or that ex romantic partner. We've seen 0:22:14.960 --> 0:22:18.240 instances of that as well. So the Act is proposing 0:22:18.280 --> 0:22:22.199 a solution in which companies are obligated to allow Californians 0:22:22.240 --> 0:22:26.120 the option to just remove themselves from that data picture. 0:22:26.680 --> 0:22:29.240 This is not the first time that progressive lawmakers in 0:22:29.240 --> 0:22:32.640 California have tried something like this, but as I said, 0:22:32.680 --> 0:22:35.959 resistance in the tech sector is high to such legislation, 0:22:36.240 --> 0:22:38.679 and I imagine the journey to get this bill passed 0:22:39.359 --> 0:22:41.600 will be a lot like a walk in moor door. 0:22:42.240 --> 0:22:46.320 It ain't simple. Reuter's reports that GM and Samsung are 0:22:46.359 --> 0:22:51.000 working together to build an electric vehicle battery manufacturing plant 0:22:51.320 --> 0:22:54.400 here in the United States. Now, you may know that 0:22:54.440 --> 0:22:57.600 one of the challenges the world faces as more countries 0:22:57.640 --> 0:23:01.720 pass mandates to switch from in turn combustion engine vehicles 0:23:02.000 --> 0:23:05.119 to electric vehicles is that right now we do not 0:23:05.359 --> 0:23:09.080 produce enough batteries to meet global demand. Well, it's going 0:23:09.160 --> 0:23:11.560 to take a few years for car companies to completely 0:23:11.640 --> 0:23:16.040 change over to manufacturing evs, and in the meantime, projects 0:23:16.080 --> 0:23:19.440 like this one aim to reduce some of the bottlenecks 0:23:19.880 --> 0:23:23.680 in the production line. Now, there will be other bottlenecks, 0:23:23.680 --> 0:23:27.160 such as just getting the raw materials necessary to make batteries, 0:23:27.480 --> 0:23:30.000 but GM and Samsung are taking steps to build out 0:23:30.040 --> 0:23:34.080 the infrastructure that's going to be necessary if this conversion 0:23:34.160 --> 0:23:37.960 to evs is to succeed. Also, it's interesting to see 0:23:37.960 --> 0:23:41.480 a partnership between a South Korean tech company and a 0:23:41.520 --> 0:23:45.960 Detroit based auto manufacturer. Speaking of GM, the company is 0:23:46.000 --> 0:23:51.040 also phasing out its Chevy Bolt EV and EUV models 0:23:51.280 --> 0:23:55.040 this year. This is a blow to the affordable EV market, 0:23:55.080 --> 0:23:57.359 as the Bolt was one of the least expensive electric 0:23:57.480 --> 0:24:00.960 vehicles available to consumers here in the United States. But 0:24:01.080 --> 0:24:03.919 the Bolt is built on top of technology that no 0:24:04.000 --> 0:24:07.920 longer competes with more recent innovations, and it doesn't look 0:24:07.960 --> 0:24:10.679 like Chevy has a replacement in mind for the Bolt, 0:24:11.040 --> 0:24:13.280 at least nothing that's meant to take out that spot 0:24:13.480 --> 0:24:16.560 in the market, the affordable EV market. Rather, the company 0:24:16.880 --> 0:24:20.680 is focusing more on vehicles like electric trucks and electric 0:24:20.840 --> 0:24:24.760 SUVs because that seems to be what customers want, so 0:24:25.080 --> 0:24:29.760 fare thee well Chevy Bolt. Chinese company net Ease, which 0:24:29.920 --> 0:24:34.440 had served as the Chinese distributor for Blizzard Games until 0:24:34.640 --> 0:24:38.560 early this year, is now suing Blizzard for around forty 0:24:38.560 --> 0:24:42.600