1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:11,800 --> 00:00:14,280 Speaker 1: He there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host 3 00:00:14,440 --> 00:00:17,720 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'mond executive producer with I Heart Radio. And 4 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:20,320 Speaker 1: how the tech are you. It's time for the tech 5 00:00:20,360 --> 00:00:24,040 Speaker 1: news for Tuesday, May twenty four, two thousand twenty two. 6 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:26,560 Speaker 1: We have a whole bunch of stories, although most of 7 00:00:26,560 --> 00:00:30,240 Speaker 1: them are pretty short. Let's jump to it. And in 8 00:00:30,280 --> 00:00:32,680 Speaker 1: a news item that prompted me to actually double check 9 00:00:32,760 --> 00:00:36,440 Speaker 1: the date on the article, the Attorney General for Washington, 10 00:00:36,560 --> 00:00:41,400 Speaker 1: D C. Carl Racine, has sued Mark Zuckerberg because of 11 00:00:41,440 --> 00:00:46,400 Speaker 1: the Cambridge Analytica scandal. All right, let's do a quick 12 00:00:46,400 --> 00:00:50,159 Speaker 1: overview of what Cambridge Analytica was really all about. First, 13 00:00:50,440 --> 00:00:54,160 Speaker 1: you start off with a guy, a researcher and professor 14 00:00:54,320 --> 00:00:58,560 Speaker 1: named Alexander Cogan, who created an app for the Facebook 15 00:00:58,600 --> 00:01:03,319 Speaker 1: platform that was called This is Your Digital Life and 16 00:01:03,400 --> 00:01:07,240 Speaker 1: it was a personality quiz. So Cogan was conducting research 17 00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:11,480 Speaker 1: into social relationships in general, and he offered a small 18 00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:14,280 Speaker 1: payment for folks to take the test, and more than 19 00:01:14,319 --> 00:01:18,680 Speaker 1: two fifty thousand people installed the app and took that test, 20 00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:22,240 Speaker 1: and that generated a whole lot of information. But Beyond that, 21 00:01:22,680 --> 00:01:25,520 Speaker 1: the app was also able to access the data of 22 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:28,880 Speaker 1: the friends of the people who took the quiz. Now, 23 00:01:28,920 --> 00:01:32,600 Speaker 1: if you're not familiar, Facebook lets you create profile settings 24 00:01:32,640 --> 00:01:35,720 Speaker 1: that can limit who can see what is on your profile. 25 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:38,640 Speaker 1: You could have a public profile, which means anyone can 26 00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:41,360 Speaker 1: see everything that you've posted on there, or you can 27 00:01:41,440 --> 00:01:43,920 Speaker 1: have a profile that's restricted just to the people who 28 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:47,960 Speaker 1: are on your friends list. Well, Facebook's app interface would 29 00:01:47,960 --> 00:01:52,360 Speaker 1: allow app developers to view profiles as if they were 30 00:01:52,440 --> 00:01:55,040 Speaker 1: friends with all those people. So, in other words, let's 31 00:01:55,040 --> 00:01:59,120 Speaker 1: say you activate an app like this on your Facebook profile. 32 00:01:59,640 --> 00:02:03,240 Speaker 1: Now that app can view your friends profiles as if 33 00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:07,240 Speaker 1: the app were you. That was a huge problem because 34 00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:10,800 Speaker 1: your friends never had an opportunity to consent or deny 35 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:16,280 Speaker 1: consent to the app gathering their personal information. They they 36 00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:19,480 Speaker 1: never even saw anything about it. You as a user, 37 00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:23,040 Speaker 1: saw an agreement and you could agree to it, but 38 00:02:23,120 --> 00:02:25,840 Speaker 1: your friends never did so. As a result, the app 39 00:02:25,919 --> 00:02:30,080 Speaker 1: sucked up data from millions of users. Uh. Initially the 40 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:34,400 Speaker 1: belief was around eighty million, and then later the investigation 41 00:02:34,639 --> 00:02:37,720 Speaker 1: said it was closer to thirty million people. Still huge 42 00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:40,760 Speaker 1: number considering that around I think two seventy thousand people 43 00:02:40,800 --> 00:02:45,080 Speaker 1: took the test, as so the vast majority of people 44 00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:48,799 Speaker 1: who had their information pulled into this database never even 45 00:02:48,840 --> 00:02:54,280 Speaker 1: took the quiz anyway. Cogan's research company partnered with the 46 00:02:54,360 --> 00:02:59,080 Speaker 1: parent company of an analysis slash campaign strategy company, and 47 00:02:59,160 --> 00:03:03,400 Speaker 1: that was Cambridge Analytica. That that being the strategy company. 48 00:03:03,720 --> 00:03:07,720 Speaker 1: Cambridge Analytica ended up getting access to all this data 49 00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:11,960 Speaker 1: that was pulled from this quiz, and Cambridge Analytica claimed 50 00:03:12,040 --> 00:03:15,960 Speaker 1: that the data provided valuable information for political campaigns, that 51 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:20,280 Speaker 1: using the data from this quiz would mean that political 52 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:25,480 Speaker 1: candidates could target prospective voters with incredible accuracy, that campaigns 53 00:03:25,520 --> 00:03:30,320 Speaker 1: could be really effective because they could tailor the campaign 54 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:36,360 Speaker 1: to trigger specific responses from those people. It turned out 55 00:03:36,400 --> 00:03:38,640 Speaker 1: that a lot of those claims were more hype than 56 00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:43,280 Speaker 1: substance anyway. All this happened around two thousand fourteen into 57 00:03:43,720 --> 00:03:46,600 Speaker 1: two thousand sixteen, but the world at large remained ignorant 58 00:03:46,600 --> 00:03:50,280 Speaker 1: about it until two thousand eighteen, when various expose a 59 00:03:50,320 --> 00:03:53,880 Speaker 1: pieces brought the matter to global attention. It was clear 60 00:03:53,920 --> 00:03:58,160 Speaker 1: that Facebook, Cogan, and Cambridge Analytica had all been involved 61 00:03:58,200 --> 00:04:02,160 Speaker 1: in some questionable activity, uh to the extent that those 62 00:04:02,200 --> 00:04:07,320 Speaker 1: activities were criminal. Remains sort of an open question now, Racine. 63 00:04:07,400 --> 00:04:11,119 Speaker 1: The Attorney General of Washington, d C. Previously sued Facebook, 64 00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:14,440 Speaker 1: the company which is of course now known as Meta, 65 00:04:14,680 --> 00:04:18,000 Speaker 1: and later in that process he wanted to add Zuckerberg 66 00:04:18,160 --> 00:04:21,039 Speaker 1: as a defendant in the case, but the judge ruled 67 00:04:21,080 --> 00:04:23,680 Speaker 1: that it was too late in the proceedings for the 68 00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:26,800 Speaker 1: Attorney General to do that, and that Meta case is 69 00:04:26,839 --> 00:04:29,880 Speaker 1: still ongoing. So meanwhile, the Attorney General has now named 70 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:34,240 Speaker 1: Zuckerberg in a new lawsuit about this, and the Attorney 71 00:04:34,279 --> 00:04:38,360 Speaker 1: General argues that Zuckerberg bears responsibility for sharing user data 72 00:04:38,440 --> 00:04:42,520 Speaker 1: without those users consent, and further that he withheld information 73 00:04:42,600 --> 00:04:45,800 Speaker 1: about the subject rather than divulging the info in a 74 00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:50,120 Speaker 1: timely manner. Essentially, this accounted to a data breach and 75 00:04:50,160 --> 00:04:52,800 Speaker 1: he had a responsibility to report that, but he did 76 00:04:52,800 --> 00:04:56,920 Speaker 1: not do it. The Attorney General says Zuckerberg has violated 77 00:04:56,960 --> 00:05:00,400 Speaker 1: the Consumer Protection Procedures Act. Now, some of y'all might 78 00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:04,440 Speaker 1: remember that Zuckerberg previously had to testify before Congress about 79 00:05:04,520 --> 00:05:07,880 Speaker 1: the matter of Cambridge Analytica, so I'm sure this lawsuit 80 00:05:07,880 --> 00:05:10,960 Speaker 1: will bring up all sorts of bad memories for Old Mark. 81 00:05:12,680 --> 00:05:15,280 Speaker 1: Last week, I talked about how the Fifth Circuit Court 82 00:05:15,320 --> 00:05:20,760 Speaker 1: of Appeals lifted an injunction that was against Texas's controversial 83 00:05:20,839 --> 00:05:24,920 Speaker 1: bill that allows social network users to suthe the social 84 00:05:24,960 --> 00:05:29,440 Speaker 1: networks themselves if they get banned. If the users argue 85 00:05:29,480 --> 00:05:32,640 Speaker 1: that they were banned because of their political views and 86 00:05:32,720 --> 00:05:35,880 Speaker 1: that this was infringing on their free speech, that means 87 00:05:35,960 --> 00:05:39,760 Speaker 1: that that law is now in effect in Texas. Meanwhile, 88 00:05:39,920 --> 00:05:43,520 Speaker 1: over in Florida, a somewhat similar bill has received the 89 00:05:43,560 --> 00:05:48,600 Speaker 1: opposite treatment. The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld 90 00:05:48,600 --> 00:05:51,560 Speaker 1: in order to block a Florida law that would have 91 00:05:51,640 --> 00:05:55,680 Speaker 1: otherwise allowed politicians to sue platforms for banning them or 92 00:05:55,680 --> 00:06:00,320 Speaker 1: for moderating their content. So if a political candidate we're 93 00:06:00,360 --> 00:06:05,599 Speaker 1: posting something that was demonstrably false and the platform then 94 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:08,880 Speaker 1: labeled it as misinformation, they would be able to sue 95 00:06:09,279 --> 00:06:13,480 Speaker 1: the platform under this law. That law got blocked. So 96 00:06:13,520 --> 00:06:18,400 Speaker 1: here we've got to somewhat similar laws and two dissimilar outcomes, 97 00:06:18,440 --> 00:06:21,200 Speaker 1: which is fun times right. Anyway, the Court of Appeals 98 00:06:21,200 --> 00:06:23,320 Speaker 1: in the Florida case found that the Florida law was 99 00:06:23,440 --> 00:06:28,000 Speaker 1: unconstitutional because social network companies have protection under the First 100 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:31,480 Speaker 1: Amendment that means the social networks can create and enforced 101 00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:36,080 Speaker 1: content moderation rules, and moreover, the government cannot restrict the 102 00:06:36,120 --> 00:06:40,719 Speaker 1: company's content moderation practices because if the government did that, 103 00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:44,120 Speaker 1: that would be the same as the government censoring a company, 104 00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:47,680 Speaker 1: and that is not constitutional. It seems as though the 105 00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:50,200 Speaker 1: Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has not come to the 106 00:06:50,240 --> 00:06:54,600 Speaker 1: same bizarre conclusion as the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, 107 00:06:54,680 --> 00:06:57,240 Speaker 1: in which one judge stated that platforms like Twitter and 108 00:06:57,279 --> 00:07:01,360 Speaker 1: Facebook are quote unquote Internet provide leaders and thus should 109 00:07:01,400 --> 00:07:07,560 Speaker 1: be treated as common carriers. That is patently absurd, especially 110 00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:11,440 Speaker 1: since I s p s, the actual companies that provide 111 00:07:11,440 --> 00:07:15,400 Speaker 1: Internet access, have had their common carrier status stripped away 112 00:07:15,520 --> 00:07:20,760 Speaker 1: during the Trump administration, and so it goes quality assurance. 113 00:07:20,800 --> 00:07:25,480 Speaker 1: Employees at Raven Software, which is a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, 114 00:07:25,760 --> 00:07:30,000 Speaker 1: have now officially formed their union. The employees began their 115 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:33,760 Speaker 1: attempts to organize last year and recently held their union vote, 116 00:07:33,840 --> 00:07:38,000 Speaker 1: which passed, and that makes their union, the Game Workers Alliance, 117 00:07:38,120 --> 00:07:41,520 Speaker 1: the second official union in the video games industry here 118 00:07:41,560 --> 00:07:45,120 Speaker 1: in the United States. It's a significant achievement, in no 119 00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:48,840 Speaker 1: small part because Activision Blizzard reportedly took several steps to 120 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:53,600 Speaker 1: discourage the unionization attempt. Those steps included splitting up the 121 00:07:53,680 --> 00:07:57,520 Speaker 1: QUA team and placing them in different departments in order 122 00:07:57,520 --> 00:08:02,560 Speaker 1: to kind of keep them from organizing, allegedly, or arguing 123 00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:05,680 Speaker 1: that any union vote should really fall on the entire 124 00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:08,880 Speaker 1: staff of Raven Software, not just the q A department. 125 00:08:09,160 --> 00:08:12,280 Speaker 1: The q A department is twenty something people, whereas the 126 00:08:12,440 --> 00:08:16,559 Speaker 1: entire staff is like three hundred and fifty, so people 127 00:08:16,600 --> 00:08:19,640 Speaker 1: have argued that that attempt was really to try and 128 00:08:19,680 --> 00:08:24,440 Speaker 1: dilute the q A department's ability to unionize. Despite all 129 00:08:24,440 --> 00:08:27,680 Speaker 1: those efforts, the employees did form their union, and they 130 00:08:27,680 --> 00:08:30,640 Speaker 1: sent a statement to the verge and said it's their 131 00:08:30,680 --> 00:08:34,160 Speaker 1: hope that they inspire further employee organization efforts within the 132 00:08:34,240 --> 00:08:38,760 Speaker 1: video game industry. Meanwhile, it's Sony's u S division of PlayStation. 133 00:08:38,880 --> 00:08:42,600 Speaker 1: Former employee m m Ayo has filed a lawsuit against 134 00:08:42,640 --> 00:08:45,160 Speaker 1: her former employer, and this is the second time that 135 00:08:45,240 --> 00:08:49,600 Speaker 1: she has done this. Judge dismissed her earlier complaints, saying 136 00:08:49,679 --> 00:08:52,240 Speaker 1: that the scope of her complaint was far too wide 137 00:08:52,920 --> 00:08:56,240 Speaker 1: that she needed to restate her complaint in a way 138 00:08:56,240 --> 00:08:59,960 Speaker 1: that was more narrow and focused. So this new lawsuit 139 00:09:00,200 --> 00:09:02,760 Speaker 1: has done that, and it alleges that women working for 140 00:09:02,800 --> 00:09:06,120 Speaker 1: Sony PlayStation within the state of California have been the 141 00:09:06,160 --> 00:09:10,520 Speaker 1: subject of sexual discrimination and systemic sexism. So we will 142 00:09:10,559 --> 00:09:15,120 Speaker 1: have to see how that lawsuit unrolls as time goes on. 143 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:18,839 Speaker 1: I've done several stories about various tech companies running into 144 00:09:18,880 --> 00:09:22,319 Speaker 1: friction as they tried to create policies that require employees 145 00:09:22,320 --> 00:09:26,280 Speaker 1: to come back into the office. Recently, Apple postponed its 146 00:09:26,320 --> 00:09:29,120 Speaker 1: plans to require corporate employees to come into the office 147 00:09:29,160 --> 00:09:31,920 Speaker 1: three days a week. They currently have are required to 148 00:09:31,920 --> 00:09:34,320 Speaker 1: come in two days a week, and the company cited 149 00:09:34,320 --> 00:09:37,520 Speaker 1: concerns about rising COVID nine team cases as the reason 150 00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:41,880 Speaker 1: for postponing that plan. Meanwhile, over at Google, employees who 151 00:09:41,920 --> 00:09:45,320 Speaker 1: are in the Google Maps division are circulating a petition 152 00:09:45,800 --> 00:09:49,760 Speaker 1: asking the company to extend work from home benefits. Google 153 00:09:49,840 --> 00:09:52,640 Speaker 1: currently plans to require those employees to come back into 154 00:09:52,679 --> 00:09:55,680 Speaker 1: the office five days a week starting in early June. 155 00:09:56,160 --> 00:10:00,240 Speaker 1: The employees objections include concerns about how much it costs 156 00:10:00,280 --> 00:10:04,200 Speaker 1: to live near Google offices and how much inflation and 157 00:10:04,240 --> 00:10:08,160 Speaker 1: supply issues have caused gas prices to skyrocket. So, in 158 00:10:08,200 --> 00:10:11,800 Speaker 1: other words, these employees are saying it's too expensive to 159 00:10:11,880 --> 00:10:14,360 Speaker 1: work for Google if they are required to come into 160 00:10:14,400 --> 00:10:17,240 Speaker 1: the office five days week, And yeah, that's not how 161 00:10:17,280 --> 00:10:20,200 Speaker 1: employment is supposed to work. When it's too expensive for 162 00:10:20,240 --> 00:10:24,559 Speaker 1: you to work somewhere, things are broken anyway. According to 163 00:10:24,640 --> 00:10:27,960 Speaker 1: the New York Times, some sixt of Google Maps employees 164 00:10:27,960 --> 00:10:31,360 Speaker 1: have already signed the petition. Whether that makes a difference 165 00:10:31,840 --> 00:10:35,079 Speaker 1: remains to be seen. Okay, we've got a bunch more 166 00:10:35,080 --> 00:10:45,640 Speaker 1: stories to get through. Let's take a quick break. We're 167 00:10:45,720 --> 00:10:49,200 Speaker 1: back and it's time to talk about TikTok. Now, for 168 00:10:49,480 --> 00:10:52,640 Speaker 1: a while, there was no real easy way for creators 169 00:10:52,640 --> 00:10:56,600 Speaker 1: on TikTok to monetize their work and their popularity. So 170 00:10:56,640 --> 00:10:59,040 Speaker 1: you have folks who are getting really well known on 171 00:10:59,080 --> 00:11:02,680 Speaker 1: TikTok super fast, but they didn't have an easy way 172 00:11:02,679 --> 00:11:05,840 Speaker 1: to leverage that into making money. Like, yeah, they were 173 00:11:05,840 --> 00:11:11,000 Speaker 1: getting a lot of notoriety, but notoriety don't pay the rent. Anyway. 174 00:11:11,040 --> 00:11:13,680 Speaker 1: They started to figure out ways to kind of indirectly 175 00:11:13,760 --> 00:11:17,240 Speaker 1: make money. Creators could try and lure followers to other 176 00:11:17,320 --> 00:11:21,040 Speaker 1: platforms where they could get support, whether it's Patreon or 177 00:11:21,080 --> 00:11:24,880 Speaker 1: something else, or they could try and land sponsor deals, 178 00:11:25,080 --> 00:11:28,040 Speaker 1: and they could get paid by sponsors for creating special 179 00:11:28,080 --> 00:11:32,480 Speaker 1: content on TikTok, which TikTok would later help support, and 180 00:11:32,520 --> 00:11:36,160 Speaker 1: then later still TikTok added a tip feature that lets 181 00:11:36,280 --> 00:11:40,280 Speaker 1: users leave a tip for their favorite creators, And now 182 00:11:40,320 --> 00:11:44,080 Speaker 1: TikTok is introducing a subscription service to some of the 183 00:11:44,120 --> 00:11:47,199 Speaker 1: more popular creators on the platform. Users will be able 184 00:11:47,240 --> 00:11:51,360 Speaker 1: to pay a subscription to access live stream sessions from 185 00:11:51,400 --> 00:11:54,480 Speaker 1: those creators, so it's kind of a way of getting 186 00:11:54,520 --> 00:11:58,160 Speaker 1: some exclusive content. And the whole system right now is 187 00:11:58,200 --> 00:12:01,800 Speaker 1: invitation only, so we're gonna likely see a gradual rollout 188 00:12:01,960 --> 00:12:06,000 Speaker 1: before it becomes you know, platform wide, and at the 189 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:08,280 Speaker 1: time of this recording, I don't have any info on 190 00:12:08,360 --> 00:12:11,320 Speaker 1: what kind of subscription tiers we might be looking at, 191 00:12:11,360 --> 00:12:13,160 Speaker 1: you know, how expensive they are and whether there are 192 00:12:13,200 --> 00:12:16,880 Speaker 1: multiple levels. But in addition to that initiative, TikTok had 193 00:12:16,920 --> 00:12:19,600 Speaker 1: also earlier announced that it is going to have an 194 00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:23,400 Speaker 1: ad revenue sharing program with creators. So while early on 195 00:12:23,520 --> 00:12:26,400 Speaker 1: the most you could hope for from being popular on 196 00:12:26,440 --> 00:12:29,480 Speaker 1: TikTok was to be famous, now we can add the 197 00:12:29,520 --> 00:12:32,800 Speaker 1: sibling getting rich to that. Nicks at least for some 198 00:12:32,920 --> 00:12:36,320 Speaker 1: creators more power to y'all, I can never do what 199 00:12:36,440 --> 00:12:40,720 Speaker 1: y'all do. I If I were to really adopt TikTok um, 200 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:46,800 Speaker 1: I have no doubt it would be a infrequently viewed, 201 00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:51,520 Speaker 1: pathetic display of me trying to be relevant. And um, 202 00:12:51,559 --> 00:12:53,560 Speaker 1: I think there's plenty of that on TikTok already, so 203 00:12:53,600 --> 00:12:55,280 Speaker 1: there's no need for me to jump in on that. 204 00:12:55,960 --> 00:13:01,000 Speaker 1: Amazon continues to sunset features on older Kendall models. The 205 00:13:01,040 --> 00:13:04,600 Speaker 1: company sent out an email to folks who own older 206 00:13:04,679 --> 00:13:08,600 Speaker 1: Kindle devices like the second generation Kindle, the fourth and 207 00:13:08,640 --> 00:13:11,440 Speaker 1: fifth generation Kindles, and a couple of other models. The 208 00:13:11,480 --> 00:13:15,360 Speaker 1: message indicates that these Kindle devices will soon no longer 209 00:13:15,360 --> 00:13:18,840 Speaker 1: be able to purchase or borrow titles directly from the device, 210 00:13:19,320 --> 00:13:21,120 Speaker 1: so you won't be able to buy a new book 211 00:13:21,240 --> 00:13:24,480 Speaker 1: from the Kindle itself. Instead, those owners will have to 212 00:13:24,520 --> 00:13:27,120 Speaker 1: go to the Amazon web page. You know, use like 213 00:13:27,160 --> 00:13:30,200 Speaker 1: a computer or smartphone to go there. You can purchase 214 00:13:30,320 --> 00:13:33,120 Speaker 1: things on the web page and then use the web 215 00:13:33,120 --> 00:13:37,280 Speaker 1: page to share that content to your devices, so it 216 00:13:37,360 --> 00:13:40,720 Speaker 1: adds some extra steps and becomes less convenient now. The 217 00:13:40,800 --> 00:13:43,720 Speaker 1: likely reason behind this is that older Kindle models are 218 00:13:43,800 --> 00:13:48,000 Speaker 1: running on systems like essentially operating systems that Amazon can't 219 00:13:48,160 --> 00:13:51,760 Speaker 1: update anymore because the the hardware of those older Kindle 220 00:13:51,840 --> 00:13:56,600 Speaker 1: models aren't really able to support later versions of that system, 221 00:13:56,679 --> 00:14:00,880 Speaker 1: so features are getting left behind. Previous the Amazon Kindle 222 00:14:00,880 --> 00:14:04,080 Speaker 1: owners who had purchased units with three G connectivity found 223 00:14:04,080 --> 00:14:09,800 Speaker 1: their devices severely restricted because tell, the communications companies have 224 00:14:09,880 --> 00:14:12,920 Speaker 1: been shutting down their old three G networks, so there's 225 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:16,280 Speaker 1: nothing to connect to. You know, if there's no infrastructure 226 00:14:16,320 --> 00:14:20,560 Speaker 1: to support connectivity, there's no connectivity. Really, these stories illustrate 227 00:14:20,560 --> 00:14:23,280 Speaker 1: how the stuff we buy has a limited lifespan that 228 00:14:23,520 --> 00:14:27,520 Speaker 1: is not necessarily related to how well the hardware works 229 00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:30,760 Speaker 1: over time. Like everything on the device might still be 230 00:14:30,800 --> 00:14:34,240 Speaker 1: in perfect working order, but the back end no longer 231 00:14:34,320 --> 00:14:38,480 Speaker 1: supports that device. Uh, it's because the rest of the 232 00:14:38,520 --> 00:14:42,120 Speaker 1: system is evolving, whereas that device is stuck in that 233 00:14:42,200 --> 00:14:45,880 Speaker 1: form factor. We've seen this in tons of technology. In fact, 234 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:48,880 Speaker 1: like this is old news, right, because there's a long 235 00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:52,080 Speaker 1: running joke in the computer world that you go, you 236 00:14:52,120 --> 00:14:53,880 Speaker 1: buy a PC, you bring it home, and by the 237 00:14:53,920 --> 00:14:55,960 Speaker 1: time you get out of the box, it's already obsolete. 238 00:14:56,240 --> 00:14:58,840 Speaker 1: That joke has been around forever. But this is the 239 00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:00,960 Speaker 1: sort of thing we can expect happen as we rely 240 00:15:01,080 --> 00:15:04,320 Speaker 1: on more products that lean on cloud services, and in fact, 241 00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:06,200 Speaker 1: it's one of the reasons that folks can get a 242 00:15:06,200 --> 00:15:09,760 Speaker 1: little antsy about buying into a new product because the 243 00:15:09,760 --> 00:15:12,840 Speaker 1: product might work fine, but if that back end system 244 00:15:12,920 --> 00:15:16,640 Speaker 1: that provides the features shuts down or changes in some way, 245 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:19,760 Speaker 1: you could be left with a useless pile of electronics 246 00:15:19,800 --> 00:15:22,880 Speaker 1: that technically still works but can't connect to anything. So 247 00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:25,480 Speaker 1: it's a risk, and it's a tradeoff. So the risk, 248 00:15:25,520 --> 00:15:27,600 Speaker 1: of course is that your device may no longer work, 249 00:15:28,120 --> 00:15:31,800 Speaker 1: but the other benefit to it is that, you know, 250 00:15:31,960 --> 00:15:34,240 Speaker 1: we end up getting devices that end up having far 251 00:15:34,360 --> 00:15:38,400 Speaker 1: more capabilities then they're on board electronics would allow all 252 00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:41,680 Speaker 1: on their own, So it's a given take. As the 253 00:15:41,720 --> 00:15:44,960 Speaker 1: world pivots to lean more heavily on renewable energy sources 254 00:15:45,040 --> 00:15:48,360 Speaker 1: and battery technology, we've seen some pretty big obstacles pop 255 00:15:48,440 --> 00:15:51,880 Speaker 1: up recently. I've mentioned before how the electric vehicle industry 256 00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:55,160 Speaker 1: is under intense pressure because more and more countries are 257 00:15:55,160 --> 00:15:59,760 Speaker 1: setting a deadline for migrating away from internal combustion engine vehicles. 258 00:15:59,800 --> 00:16:02,800 Speaker 1: But at the same time, we are producing far too 259 00:16:02,960 --> 00:16:06,320 Speaker 1: few batteries in order to support a total switch to 260 00:16:06,400 --> 00:16:09,480 Speaker 1: e vs, like, if we wanted to produce as many 261 00:16:09,480 --> 00:16:13,440 Speaker 1: electric vehicles as would be necessary to replace all internal 262 00:16:13,480 --> 00:16:16,360 Speaker 1: combustion engine vehicles, we couldn't do it because we don't 263 00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:20,080 Speaker 1: have enough battery production to cover that well. The International 264 00:16:20,200 --> 00:16:23,640 Speaker 1: Energy Agency reports that the price for raw materials that 265 00:16:23,680 --> 00:16:26,920 Speaker 1: are being used in stuff like batteries and renewable energy 266 00:16:26,960 --> 00:16:32,560 Speaker 1: technology has really gone up recently, and it's due to 267 00:16:32,600 --> 00:16:36,000 Speaker 1: a lot of different factors. You've got you know, COVID issues, 268 00:16:36,080 --> 00:16:39,120 Speaker 1: You've got supply chain problems, and you've got Russia's war 269 00:16:39,240 --> 00:16:42,680 Speaker 1: in Ukraine. Russia currently is the source for a massive 270 00:16:42,720 --> 00:16:46,480 Speaker 1: amount of material that's used in various renewable energy technologies, 271 00:16:46,880 --> 00:16:49,400 Speaker 1: and the war has cut off access too much of 272 00:16:49,440 --> 00:16:53,440 Speaker 1: that supply. As a result, the price of those materials 273 00:16:53,440 --> 00:16:58,400 Speaker 1: has increased dramatically. Lithium alone jumped up seven eight percent 274 00:16:58,600 --> 00:17:02,680 Speaker 1: in cost from Anuary to March. Many people have pointed 275 00:17:02,680 --> 00:17:05,040 Speaker 1: out that this is really a huge wake up call. 276 00:17:05,119 --> 00:17:09,040 Speaker 1: The underlines a fairly obvious conclusion, and that conclusion is 277 00:17:09,440 --> 00:17:11,680 Speaker 1: don't put all your eggs in one basket. I mean, 278 00:17:11,720 --> 00:17:15,399 Speaker 1: we have an old folks saying that really nails this 279 00:17:15,560 --> 00:17:18,080 Speaker 1: home right. So in other words, it is critical to 280 00:17:18,119 --> 00:17:22,320 Speaker 1: diversify where you get your materials from, as depending too 281 00:17:22,320 --> 00:17:26,400 Speaker 1: heavily on a single source spells doom when something interrupts 282 00:17:26,480 --> 00:17:29,280 Speaker 1: that supply. Over the last several years, we've seen the 283 00:17:29,280 --> 00:17:33,480 Speaker 1: cost of renewable energy come down because manufacturing facilities have 284 00:17:33,560 --> 00:17:37,560 Speaker 1: created more efficient processes and started to produce at larger scales. 285 00:17:37,960 --> 00:17:42,040 Speaker 1: So the cost of renewable energy has declined over time. 286 00:17:42,480 --> 00:17:45,240 Speaker 1: But there is concerned that these rising costs in raw 287 00:17:45,320 --> 00:17:48,919 Speaker 1: materials is going to slow or perhaps even reverse that 288 00:17:49,040 --> 00:17:52,920 Speaker 1: trend in the not too distant future. Perhaps next Sunday 289 00:17:52,960 --> 00:17:57,119 Speaker 1: a d Airbnb has become the latest US company to 290 00:17:57,119 --> 00:17:59,520 Speaker 1: pull out of China. Uh And I know it's weird 291 00:17:59,560 --> 00:18:02,720 Speaker 1: to include Airbnb in a tech podcast, but it is 292 00:18:02,760 --> 00:18:05,399 Speaker 1: one of those companies that often gets treated like a 293 00:18:05,560 --> 00:18:09,080 Speaker 1: tech company, seeing as how the interface for Airbnb is 294 00:18:09,200 --> 00:18:13,560 Speaker 1: Internet dependent. Anyway, Airbnb's reason for pulling up stakes is 295 00:18:13,560 --> 00:18:16,560 Speaker 1: a little bit different from companies like LinkedIn and Yahoo. 296 00:18:16,920 --> 00:18:20,200 Speaker 1: Those companies primarily left over concerns about how the Chinese 297 00:18:20,200 --> 00:18:24,800 Speaker 1: government was demanding access to user information. In Airbnb's case, 298 00:18:25,040 --> 00:18:28,399 Speaker 1: it appears that the main motivator for leaving China was 299 00:18:28,480 --> 00:18:32,040 Speaker 1: because of a rise in so called super apps, which 300 00:18:32,080 --> 00:18:35,679 Speaker 1: provide multiple services to users. They can range from stuff 301 00:18:35,720 --> 00:18:40,240 Speaker 1: like online shopping services, to ride hailing services to yeah 302 00:18:40,359 --> 00:18:44,280 Speaker 1: booking a place to stay, so more Chinese citizens have 303 00:18:44,359 --> 00:18:46,960 Speaker 1: been relying on these kind of catch all apps rather 304 00:18:47,040 --> 00:18:51,560 Speaker 1: than on those that focus on a single service. Airbnb 305 00:18:51,680 --> 00:18:55,440 Speaker 1: will continue to provide Chinese citizens who travel abroad access 306 00:18:55,480 --> 00:18:58,760 Speaker 1: to booking places when they are staying outside of China, 307 00:18:58,960 --> 00:19:01,240 Speaker 1: but you'll no longer be able to pop on Airbnb 308 00:19:01,320 --> 00:19:03,320 Speaker 1: to find a place to crash the next time you 309 00:19:03,400 --> 00:19:07,679 Speaker 1: had to Shanghai. Speaking of China, the country has an 310 00:19:07,680 --> 00:19:10,800 Speaker 1: app called wi Bo, which is sort of like Twitter. 311 00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:13,840 Speaker 1: It's spelled w e i b O, and I apologize 312 00:19:13,880 --> 00:19:18,440 Speaker 1: if I am completely mispronouncing it. I very likely am. 313 00:19:18,480 --> 00:19:22,479 Speaker 1: But that app recently banned an account belonging to James Liang. 314 00:19:22,960 --> 00:19:25,119 Speaker 1: He is a co founder of a company called trip 315 00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:28,000 Speaker 1: dot com, which is a travel services company in China, 316 00:19:28,200 --> 00:19:32,600 Speaker 1: and according to Wibo, Liang had violated quote relevant laws 317 00:19:32,640 --> 00:19:36,080 Speaker 1: and regulations end quote. Wibo did not go into more 318 00:19:36,119 --> 00:19:40,840 Speaker 1: detail about exactly what Liang's violations were. The current hypothesis 319 00:19:41,320 --> 00:19:44,560 Speaker 1: is that Wibo band Liang because Leang had posted criticism 320 00:19:44,640 --> 00:19:49,200 Speaker 1: of China's zero tolerance policy when it comes to COVID outbreaks. Now, 321 00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:52,240 Speaker 1: as you probably know, the practice in China is to 322 00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:56,119 Speaker 1: lock down a region anytime a COVID outbreak is detected 323 00:19:56,160 --> 00:20:01,240 Speaker 1: within that region, which shuts down everything for a couple 324 00:20:01,240 --> 00:20:03,159 Speaker 1: of weeks at a time usually, and it grinds all 325 00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:06,440 Speaker 1: activity to a halt. And we've seen stories of companies 326 00:20:06,440 --> 00:20:11,280 Speaker 1: like Tesla trying to work around this by encouraging employees 327 00:20:11,320 --> 00:20:15,400 Speaker 1: to essentially move into the manufacturing facilities so that they 328 00:20:15,480 --> 00:20:20,480 Speaker 1: literally live where they work. Anyway, Lang argued that the 329 00:20:20,480 --> 00:20:24,679 Speaker 1: practice of shutting down regions is causing enormous economic disruption 330 00:20:25,119 --> 00:20:28,959 Speaker 1: and that it's becoming increasingly difficult to recover from that disruption, 331 00:20:29,640 --> 00:20:32,320 Speaker 1: and that seems to have been enough to get him 332 00:20:32,359 --> 00:20:35,159 Speaker 1: banned from Wi Bo. Now, on the one hand, I 333 00:20:35,200 --> 00:20:39,200 Speaker 1: do feel China's response has been way too strict. It's 334 00:20:39,280 --> 00:20:41,679 Speaker 1: it's gone over the top. On the other hand, I 335 00:20:41,720 --> 00:20:46,040 Speaker 1: worry that the workarounds are putting people in danger simply 336 00:20:46,160 --> 00:20:49,119 Speaker 1: to avoid disruptions in business. So companies like Tesla and 337 00:20:49,160 --> 00:20:51,960 Speaker 1: others that are trying to get around these issues, I 338 00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:58,080 Speaker 1: worry that it's disregarding people's health just for the sake 339 00:20:58,119 --> 00:21:01,520 Speaker 1: of keeping things going. Goodness knows, you know, I really 340 00:21:01,560 --> 00:21:04,400 Speaker 1: hate seeing people in my own country behave like there 341 00:21:04,480 --> 00:21:07,520 Speaker 1: is no pandemic. There never was a pandemic. Shut up, 342 00:21:07,560 --> 00:21:10,720 Speaker 1: you mask wearing freak. You're the problem. I'm not the problem. 343 00:21:10,800 --> 00:21:14,560 Speaker 1: I do not like that attitude. I suspect there's probably 344 00:21:14,560 --> 00:21:18,040 Speaker 1: a pathway that's somewhere in between these various extremes that 345 00:21:18,119 --> 00:21:21,680 Speaker 1: could potentially be the most responsible, keeping the most people 346 00:21:21,720 --> 00:21:25,399 Speaker 1: healthy while creating the smallest amount of economic disruption. But 347 00:21:25,440 --> 00:21:28,479 Speaker 1: what the heck do I know? I'm a podcaster. All Right, 348 00:21:28,880 --> 00:21:32,639 Speaker 1: we have a few more stories to wrap up before 349 00:21:32,680 --> 00:21:42,439 Speaker 1: we get to that. Let's take another quick break. Okay. 350 00:21:42,480 --> 00:21:45,399 Speaker 1: I do have a positive story about China that I 351 00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:48,439 Speaker 1: definitely wanted to share, and that is the country plans 352 00:21:48,440 --> 00:21:52,480 Speaker 1: to launch a space telescope named shun Chian, which means 353 00:21:52,520 --> 00:21:56,960 Speaker 1: to study the heavens in three and shun Chian will 354 00:21:57,000 --> 00:22:00,159 Speaker 1: be a lot like the Hubble space telescope, but with 355 00:22:00,359 --> 00:22:05,280 Speaker 1: a significantly larger field of view. According to one source 356 00:22:05,320 --> 00:22:07,800 Speaker 1: I was reading, it will be three fifty times the 357 00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:11,320 Speaker 1: field of view of the Hubble telescope, and this space 358 00:22:11,320 --> 00:22:14,680 Speaker 1: telescope will be used to expand our understanding on big 359 00:22:14,760 --> 00:22:18,920 Speaker 1: questions like why is the universe expanding at an accelerated rate? 360 00:22:19,160 --> 00:22:21,919 Speaker 1: Like we understand that it's expanding, but why is that 361 00:22:21,960 --> 00:22:25,840 Speaker 1: expansion accelerating. It's also going to be used to try 362 00:22:25,880 --> 00:22:29,280 Speaker 1: and help get more information on really tricky things like 363 00:22:29,359 --> 00:22:32,760 Speaker 1: dark energy and dark matter. China plans to insert the 364 00:22:32,800 --> 00:22:36,320 Speaker 1: telescope into a similar orbit with the Tiangong Space Station, 365 00:22:36,640 --> 00:22:39,639 Speaker 1: which would allow the station and telescope to doc with 366 00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:43,280 Speaker 1: one another in the event that the telescope requires service, 367 00:22:43,280 --> 00:22:46,080 Speaker 1: which is a good plan. You might remember that the 368 00:22:46,160 --> 00:22:49,840 Speaker 1: Hubble initially had a flaw in it that affected image 369 00:22:49,840 --> 00:22:53,080 Speaker 1: resolution and required NASA to send up some service crews 370 00:22:53,160 --> 00:22:57,280 Speaker 1: in Space Shuttle missions to address that problem. Starlink, the 371 00:22:57,359 --> 00:23:01,880 Speaker 1: satellite internet service provider from space Sex, has introduced a 372 00:23:01,920 --> 00:23:05,119 Speaker 1: new subscription model for those who want to travel around 373 00:23:05,160 --> 00:23:10,080 Speaker 1: and bring their Starlink antenna with them. Currently, subscribers pay 374 00:23:10,119 --> 00:23:13,240 Speaker 1: a hundred ten bucks per month to subscribe to starlink, 375 00:23:13,560 --> 00:23:16,880 Speaker 1: and a few Starlink users discovered that when they initially 376 00:23:16,880 --> 00:23:20,360 Speaker 1: signed up for service, they had to uh specify an 377 00:23:20,400 --> 00:23:24,240 Speaker 1: address they could actually bring their Starlink antenna with them, 378 00:23:24,680 --> 00:23:28,359 Speaker 1: set it up wherever they stop, and still access service 379 00:23:28,400 --> 00:23:31,879 Speaker 1: while they are traveling. And so folks began to do that, 380 00:23:31,960 --> 00:23:34,920 Speaker 1: they were traveling around and bringing connectivity with them. Well, 381 00:23:34,920 --> 00:23:38,440 Speaker 1: SpaceX took a look at that and thought, hey, I'd 382 00:23:38,480 --> 00:23:40,720 Speaker 1: like to make money off of that. So now the 383 00:23:40,760 --> 00:23:43,760 Speaker 1: company is going to offer a more expensive plan that 384 00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:48,200 Speaker 1: outright supports this type of use. For one five bucks 385 00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:51,480 Speaker 1: a month. Starlink customers can take their set up with them, 386 00:23:51,520 --> 00:23:54,960 Speaker 1: making it a portable connectivity solution as long as they're 387 00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:58,760 Speaker 1: traveling within areas that Starlink provides service. The company is 388 00:23:58,800 --> 00:24:01,679 Speaker 1: not going to support and activity on the move, so 389 00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:04,199 Speaker 1: you are not meant to, you know, set up your 390 00:24:04,200 --> 00:24:06,240 Speaker 1: star Link at the back of a van or something 391 00:24:06,680 --> 00:24:10,119 Speaker 1: and try and get uh Internet connectivity while you're driving 392 00:24:10,119 --> 00:24:12,720 Speaker 1: down the streets, so you're really meant to set it 393 00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:15,160 Speaker 1: up wherever you stop and then pack it up when 394 00:24:15,160 --> 00:24:17,840 Speaker 1: you're ready to move on. I'm wondering how many folks 395 00:24:17,880 --> 00:24:21,160 Speaker 1: out there have adopted a nomadic lifestyle and how that's 396 00:24:21,160 --> 00:24:24,080 Speaker 1: worked out for them, and also how much money they 397 00:24:24,119 --> 00:24:27,280 Speaker 1: had before they jumped on that, because while the idea 398 00:24:27,359 --> 00:24:30,600 Speaker 1: sounds really interesting to me, whenever I actually start to 399 00:24:30,640 --> 00:24:32,639 Speaker 1: think about it, I come to the conclusion that I 400 00:24:32,680 --> 00:24:34,960 Speaker 1: just don't make enough money to make that kind of 401 00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:38,080 Speaker 1: thing work out, at least not without becoming a drifter. 402 00:24:38,560 --> 00:24:41,200 Speaker 1: And I'm not cool enough to be a drifter. And 403 00:24:41,320 --> 00:24:45,359 Speaker 1: Video announced that is shifting toward liquid cooled graphics cards 404 00:24:45,400 --> 00:24:48,200 Speaker 1: for data centers. So, in a data center, you've got 405 00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:51,200 Speaker 1: hundreds or maybe even thousands of computers and they're all 406 00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:54,920 Speaker 1: packed close together. These machines generate a lot of heat, 407 00:24:55,160 --> 00:24:59,800 Speaker 1: particularly when they're working hard on processor intensive operations like 408 00:25:00,440 --> 00:25:04,600 Speaker 1: really intense AI processes and electronics in general do not 409 00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:08,280 Speaker 1: perform well in heat, so that means data centers have 410 00:25:08,359 --> 00:25:12,080 Speaker 1: to rely heavily on cooling systems, typically air cooling systems, 411 00:25:12,359 --> 00:25:15,399 Speaker 1: to bring operational temperatures down so that machines don't start 412 00:25:15,480 --> 00:25:18,720 Speaker 1: failing left and right now. That in turn costs money 413 00:25:18,720 --> 00:25:20,800 Speaker 1: and takes up a lot of space. So in Video's 414 00:25:20,840 --> 00:25:24,080 Speaker 1: plan is to use water cooling technology, which is more 415 00:25:24,200 --> 00:25:27,680 Speaker 1: energy efficient and takes up less space than air cooling tech, 416 00:25:28,040 --> 00:25:31,200 Speaker 1: for their graphics cards for these data centers. The ideas 417 00:25:31,240 --> 00:25:32,919 Speaker 1: that the data centers won't have to use quite as 418 00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:35,440 Speaker 1: much energy to air cool the computers, though of course 419 00:25:35,760 --> 00:25:38,600 Speaker 1: in videos, approach really just covers the graphics cards and 420 00:25:38,600 --> 00:25:42,160 Speaker 1: not CPUs or other types of processors. Still, the move 421 00:25:42,200 --> 00:25:44,879 Speaker 1: could end up saving energy and money, which are pretty 422 00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:48,800 Speaker 1: good goals to shoot for. Finally, Superman will have to 423 00:25:48,840 --> 00:25:51,520 Speaker 1: find another place to change when in New York City 424 00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:54,160 Speaker 1: as he goes from mild mannered reporter to a man 425 00:25:54,200 --> 00:25:57,159 Speaker 1: who can leap tall buildings in a single bound. And 426 00:25:57,200 --> 00:26:00,760 Speaker 1: that's because New York has removed the lasked of its 427 00:26:00,760 --> 00:26:04,080 Speaker 1: public pay phones this week. We are at the end 428 00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:07,040 Speaker 1: of an era. Now, some of y'all might be asking, 429 00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:10,960 Speaker 1: what the heck is a public pay phone? Well, young Padawan. 430 00:26:11,240 --> 00:26:14,679 Speaker 1: In the old days before cell phones, cities would install 431 00:26:14,760 --> 00:26:18,240 Speaker 1: public payphones as a type of convenience. You can walk 432 00:26:18,359 --> 00:26:20,280 Speaker 1: right on up to one of these payphones, some of 433 00:26:20,280 --> 00:26:22,800 Speaker 1: which were housed in booths, complete with a door that 434 00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:24,960 Speaker 1: you could close to black out the sounds of the 435 00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:28,000 Speaker 1: city and prevent nosey types from listening in. On your 436 00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:30,840 Speaker 1: telephone call, you'd plunk in some coins and a coin 437 00:26:30,920 --> 00:26:34,240 Speaker 1: slot and you would make your call. Long distance calls 438 00:26:34,280 --> 00:26:36,600 Speaker 1: cost more, and you would have to plunk in more 439 00:26:36,640 --> 00:26:39,280 Speaker 1: coins if your call ran along an operator would tell 440 00:26:39,320 --> 00:26:41,320 Speaker 1: you that you need to add more coins if you 441 00:26:41,320 --> 00:26:44,880 Speaker 1: wanted to continue the conversation, or you could call collect 442 00:26:45,040 --> 00:26:46,919 Speaker 1: as we used to say, and the person on the 443 00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:48,840 Speaker 1: other end of the line could choose to accept the 444 00:26:48,920 --> 00:26:52,000 Speaker 1: charges and talk to you, or deny the charges, and 445 00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:55,359 Speaker 1: you would be left there forlorn in a payphone with 446 00:26:55,440 --> 00:26:58,880 Speaker 1: a dead receiver in your hand. Also, Superman could change 447 00:26:58,920 --> 00:27:01,800 Speaker 1: in phone booths. Uh, I should mention, however, the pay 448 00:27:01,840 --> 00:27:05,280 Speaker 1: phones that New York removed weren't actual phone booth payphones, 449 00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:08,440 Speaker 1: so my Superman joke doesn't really work anyway, but I 450 00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:11,680 Speaker 1: kind of wanted to include it. Back on track. Now 451 00:27:11,720 --> 00:27:14,040 Speaker 1: that we are in an era where pretty much everyone 452 00:27:14,160 --> 00:27:16,960 Speaker 1: has at least a cell phone, if not a smartphone, 453 00:27:17,320 --> 00:27:21,199 Speaker 1: public payphones have become largely obsolete. New York has been 454 00:27:21,240 --> 00:27:24,240 Speaker 1: replacing them with kiosks that include stuff like ports where 455 00:27:24,280 --> 00:27:27,439 Speaker 1: you can charge your own phone, WiFi signals so you 456 00:27:27,480 --> 00:27:31,320 Speaker 1: can connect via the kiosk, and an interface that lets 457 00:27:31,359 --> 00:27:34,240 Speaker 1: you make calls over the kiosk itself free of charge. 458 00:27:34,760 --> 00:27:38,320 Speaker 1: It's a very different world these days. Also slight tangent. 459 00:27:38,440 --> 00:27:40,719 Speaker 1: This end of an era makes me a little sad 460 00:27:40,960 --> 00:27:43,960 Speaker 1: because I remember an a r G in an alternate 461 00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:48,120 Speaker 1: reality game in which players who solved clues would discover 462 00:27:48,560 --> 00:27:52,119 Speaker 1: coordinates that would lead to a public payphone, and a 463 00:27:52,200 --> 00:27:55,359 Speaker 1: phone call would come in on that public payphone at 464 00:27:55,359 --> 00:27:58,600 Speaker 1: a particular time, So you would be prompted to go 465 00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:01,240 Speaker 1: to this pay phone at a certain time so that 466 00:28:01,320 --> 00:28:03,320 Speaker 1: you could receive a call. So you would go to 467 00:28:03,359 --> 00:28:05,440 Speaker 1: that location, you'd stand by the phone, and sure enough 468 00:28:05,480 --> 00:28:07,879 Speaker 1: it would ring and you would answer it and you 469 00:28:07,880 --> 00:28:10,480 Speaker 1: would end up speaking with a character within the A 470 00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:13,080 Speaker 1: r G. That kind of thing was super cool to me. 471 00:28:13,119 --> 00:28:16,040 Speaker 1: I actually helped solve some of the clues that led 472 00:28:16,080 --> 00:28:17,919 Speaker 1: to some of the phones, though I was never able 473 00:28:18,280 --> 00:28:21,280 Speaker 1: to get to one of the phones at the specific time, 474 00:28:21,320 --> 00:28:24,119 Speaker 1: which I really regret. I did listen to some of 475 00:28:24,160 --> 00:28:26,320 Speaker 1: the recordings of the calls, and some of them were 476 00:28:26,359 --> 00:28:30,359 Speaker 1: truly delightful and weird and um some of them cringe e, 477 00:28:30,480 --> 00:28:34,040 Speaker 1: but lots of fun. Anyway, that approach has become less 478 00:28:34,119 --> 00:28:37,959 Speaker 1: viable as more locations have eliminated public pay phones, so 479 00:28:38,040 --> 00:28:40,000 Speaker 1: you're not likely to run into that kind of thing 480 00:28:40,360 --> 00:28:43,280 Speaker 1: these days. Obviously, you could still have a r G 481 00:28:43,520 --> 00:28:46,320 Speaker 1: S where you get calls on your own personal device, 482 00:28:46,680 --> 00:28:48,360 Speaker 1: but that just you know, it doesn't get you out 483 00:28:48,360 --> 00:28:50,920 Speaker 1: in the world. It doesn't make you feel more immersed 484 00:28:51,160 --> 00:28:53,880 Speaker 1: the way this particular approach did. I just thought it 485 00:28:53,880 --> 00:28:57,960 Speaker 1: was really cool idea. Anyway, that's it. That's the news 486 00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:01,840 Speaker 1: for Tuesday, May twenty four, two thousand, twenty two. Hope 487 00:29:01,880 --> 00:29:05,120 Speaker 1: you all are well. If you have any suggestions you 488 00:29:05,120 --> 00:29:07,640 Speaker 1: would like for future episodes of tech Stuff, or any 489 00:29:07,720 --> 00:29:10,160 Speaker 1: questions or anything like that, you have two ways to 490 00:29:10,200 --> 00:29:12,880 Speaker 1: get in contact with the show. The first is you 491 00:29:12,920 --> 00:29:16,080 Speaker 1: can use the I Heart radio app and UH and 492 00:29:16,320 --> 00:29:20,680 Speaker 1: navigate to the Text Stuff profile on I Heart Radio's app, 493 00:29:20,760 --> 00:29:23,760 Speaker 1: which is free to download, and there you will see 494 00:29:23,760 --> 00:29:28,120 Speaker 1: a little microphone icon. If you touch that, you can 495 00:29:28,160 --> 00:29:31,600 Speaker 1: record a voice message up to thirty seconds long, and 496 00:29:31,720 --> 00:29:33,719 Speaker 1: only Tary and I can listen to it, and we 497 00:29:33,760 --> 00:29:36,200 Speaker 1: can take your request. That way, you can even indicate 498 00:29:36,520 --> 00:29:38,720 Speaker 1: if you would like us to include the audio in 499 00:29:38,760 --> 00:29:40,800 Speaker 1: the future episode. If you don't say that, I'm not 500 00:29:40,840 --> 00:29:42,959 Speaker 1: going to do it because I believe an opt in 501 00:29:43,280 --> 00:29:45,640 Speaker 1: not opt out. The other way, of course, to get 502 00:29:45,640 --> 00:29:48,040 Speaker 1: in touch with us is to use Twitter. The handle 503 00:29:48,040 --> 00:29:51,080 Speaker 1: for the show is text Stuff h s W and 504 00:29:51,120 --> 00:30:00,400 Speaker 1: I'll talk to you again releasing text Stuff is an 505 00:30:00,400 --> 00:30:04,120 Speaker 1: I heart Radio production. For more podcasts from I heart Radio, 506 00:30:04,440 --> 00:30:07,600 Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 507 00:30:07,680 --> 00:30:09,200 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.