1
00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800
Speaker 1: Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio.

2
00:00:12,119 --> 00:00:14,680
Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host,

3
00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:17,800
Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio,

4
00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:20,040
Speaker 1: and I love all things tech and it's time for

5
00:00:20,079 --> 00:00:25,040
Speaker 1: the tech news for Tuesday, October one. Also, I wanted

6
00:00:25,040 --> 00:00:27,720
Speaker 1: to mention we will not be having a news episode

7
00:00:27,720 --> 00:00:31,120
Speaker 1: on Thursday, will be bringing an episode of Smart Talks

8
00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:35,720
Speaker 1: on that day. But let's get to some news for today,

9
00:00:36,120 --> 00:00:39,360
Speaker 1: and y'all, I would love to say that today's episode

10
00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:42,360
Speaker 1: has no news about Facebook because I'm tired of talking

11
00:00:42,400 --> 00:00:44,239
Speaker 1: about it, probably about as much as you're tired of

12
00:00:44,280 --> 00:00:48,280
Speaker 1: hearing about it. But that ding dang darn company just

13
00:00:48,360 --> 00:00:51,199
Speaker 1: keeps making headlines. I'm still waiting to find out what

14
00:00:51,280 --> 00:00:54,200
Speaker 1: the new name of the company itself is going to be.

15
00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:58,680
Speaker 1: There is this reported rebranding that's about to happen, and

16
00:00:58,720 --> 00:01:01,680
Speaker 1: by the time you hear this, that news might have broken.

17
00:01:02,240 --> 00:01:04,520
Speaker 1: And of course there are tons of thing pieces out

18
00:01:04,520 --> 00:01:08,160
Speaker 1: there as to why Facebook has decided on this rebrand strategy.

19
00:01:08,200 --> 00:01:11,600
Speaker 1: I pretty much agree with Jake Hancock's take. He wrote

20
00:01:11,600 --> 00:01:14,679
Speaker 1: a piece for Fast Company and he said that the

21
00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:17,399
Speaker 1: move is probably more of a thing that the company

22
00:01:17,480 --> 00:01:21,200
Speaker 1: is doing for investor relations than anything else, and I

23
00:01:21,240 --> 00:01:23,760
Speaker 1: feel like that's pretty on track, but there's some other

24
00:01:23,880 --> 00:01:28,760
Speaker 1: things we need to cover. First, Facebook, since I record this,

25
00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:30,440
Speaker 1: that's still the name of the company, so I'm just

26
00:01:30,480 --> 00:01:33,600
Speaker 1: going to use that as the company name. Has held

27
00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:38,800
Speaker 1: its quarterly earnings call with investors, so CEO and privacy

28
00:01:38,959 --> 00:01:42,720
Speaker 1: is dead. Guru Mark Zuckerberg took some time to address

29
00:01:42,760 --> 00:01:45,399
Speaker 1: the fact that the company has been in the headlines

30
00:01:45,440 --> 00:01:48,760
Speaker 1: for a couple of weeks due to whistle blowers coming

31
00:01:49,040 --> 00:01:53,520
Speaker 1: forth with lots of allegations against the company that range

32
00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:57,520
Speaker 1: from Facebook has done some dumb stuff to Facebook has

33
00:01:58,320 --> 00:02:02,800
Speaker 1: contributed to the downfall of democracy. Zuckerberg tried to downplay

34
00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:06,240
Speaker 1: those reports, claiming that they quote paint a false picture

35
00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:09,600
Speaker 1: of the company end quote. Now I don't know if

36
00:02:09,639 --> 00:02:13,360
Speaker 1: it's really a false picture. I do know that more

37
00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:16,959
Speaker 1: employees and former employees have come forward with additional complaints

38
00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:21,600
Speaker 1: and concerns about the company. However, one thing Facebook keeps

39
00:02:21,639 --> 00:02:26,400
Speaker 1: on doing is making cash by the truckload. So in

40
00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:31,760
Speaker 1: the last quarter, Facebook made twenty nine billion dollars in

41
00:02:31,880 --> 00:02:36,920
Speaker 1: revenue billion with a B that's nearly thirty billion dollars

42
00:02:36,919 --> 00:02:41,080
Speaker 1: in three months or ten billion dollars per month in revenue.

43
00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:45,440
Speaker 1: That is mind boggling. Now, I'm not sure how many

44
00:02:45,440 --> 00:02:48,760
Speaker 1: investors out there are concerned with stuff like ethics or

45
00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:52,680
Speaker 1: investigations if their investment is raking in the big bucks

46
00:02:52,720 --> 00:02:56,840
Speaker 1: on that kind of scale. I mean, from an investment standpoint,

47
00:02:56,919 --> 00:02:58,880
Speaker 1: you could be saying, hey, I don't know, share they're

48
00:02:58,919 --> 00:03:00,920
Speaker 1: doing some shady stuff up, but look at all the

49
00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:04,959
Speaker 1: green they're there bringing me. And granted I was talking

50
00:03:05,040 --> 00:03:08,280
Speaker 1: just now about revenue not profit. Those are two different things.

51
00:03:08,639 --> 00:03:12,600
Speaker 1: So if we stick solely to profit, then over the

52
00:03:12,639 --> 00:03:15,960
Speaker 1: last quarter we're actually talking about a measily nine billion

53
00:03:16,040 --> 00:03:19,480
Speaker 1: dollars in a couple hundred million and change. Hardly enough

54
00:03:19,480 --> 00:03:21,520
Speaker 1: reason to get out of bed in the morning. M

55
00:03:21,520 --> 00:03:25,720
Speaker 1: al right. Anyway, all sarcasm aside, a company making those

56
00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:28,639
Speaker 1: kinds of numbers is not likely to find itself dumped

57
00:03:28,639 --> 00:03:32,280
Speaker 1: by investors. Now. Granted, this could change if governments around

58
00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:34,720
Speaker 1: the world start to force the company to break up

59
00:03:34,760 --> 00:03:39,600
Speaker 1: and spin off various components into independent organizations, essentially making

60
00:03:39,640 --> 00:03:43,200
Speaker 1: Facebook peel away the companies that it has acquired over

61
00:03:43,240 --> 00:03:46,840
Speaker 1: the years, like Instagram and WhatsApp. There's also a possible

62
00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:50,560
Speaker 1: shift in the ad space that could affect Facebook's abilities

63
00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:53,600
Speaker 1: to generate revenue. That would be a huge shake up

64
00:03:53,640 --> 00:03:55,960
Speaker 1: for the company, and we've already seen evidence that the

65
00:03:55,960 --> 00:03:58,240
Speaker 1: company is trying to get ahead of that by counting

66
00:03:58,280 --> 00:04:01,920
Speaker 1: the same person twice if that person interacts with an

67
00:04:01,960 --> 00:04:05,240
Speaker 1: AD on more than one Facebook platform. So for example,

68
00:04:05,240 --> 00:04:08,440
Speaker 1: on Facebook and Instagram, they would count that one person

69
00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:11,240
Speaker 1: two times if they interacted with the same ad. So

70
00:04:12,360 --> 00:04:15,400
Speaker 1: that's a little odd and there's a chance that the

71
00:04:15,440 --> 00:04:18,039
Speaker 1: ad business will change Facebook's earning potential. That would have

72
00:04:18,040 --> 00:04:21,000
Speaker 1: a big effect, and we might see some investors lose

73
00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:23,400
Speaker 1: some confidence, But for now, the company is making some

74
00:04:23,520 --> 00:04:28,120
Speaker 1: serious bank On that same call, Zuckerberg addressed another growing

75
00:04:28,120 --> 00:04:31,640
Speaker 1: concern in the company, namely that younger people don't seem

76
00:04:31,680 --> 00:04:35,360
Speaker 1: to be as hooked into Facebook's products as older generations are.

77
00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:40,400
Speaker 1: Those are some smart younger people. Facebook has seen younger

78
00:04:40,440 --> 00:04:43,760
Speaker 1: people's time on its various platforms go into kind of

79
00:04:43,800 --> 00:04:48,840
Speaker 1: a decline recently, um as people started to favor other platforms.

80
00:04:49,200 --> 00:04:52,960
Speaker 1: Zuckerberg has said that Facebook will quote make serving young

81
00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:57,560
Speaker 1: adults their north star end quote. He said the company

82
00:04:57,640 --> 00:05:00,760
Speaker 1: is looking to cater more features to young adults, which

83
00:05:01,080 --> 00:05:03,480
Speaker 1: from my observation, usually means that Facebook is going to

84
00:05:03,560 --> 00:05:05,920
Speaker 1: take a look at what other popular platforms are doing

85
00:05:06,440 --> 00:05:09,800
Speaker 1: and then either create something similar in other words, copying

86
00:05:09,839 --> 00:05:13,760
Speaker 1: these platforms, or just go out and buy whatever popular

87
00:05:13,839 --> 00:05:18,640
Speaker 1: companies are are doing well. See also Instagram and WhatsApp. Now,

88
00:05:19,360 --> 00:05:23,400
Speaker 1: the gorilla in this scenario would be TikTok, which remains

89
00:05:23,480 --> 00:05:27,000
Speaker 1: really popular with young adults, so expect to see Instagram

90
00:05:27,080 --> 00:05:30,640
Speaker 1: reels become more prominent in the future. But yeah, we

91
00:05:30,680 --> 00:05:33,760
Speaker 1: should add the fact that Facebook's user base is aging

92
00:05:34,200 --> 00:05:36,600
Speaker 1: and young people are not balancing that out. So in

93
00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:39,799
Speaker 1: other words, the people who are using Facebook are getting older.

94
00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:42,839
Speaker 1: Eventually they're going to you know, not be using Facebook

95
00:05:42,880 --> 00:05:47,560
Speaker 1: anymore because you don't do it after you die. And meanwhile,

96
00:05:47,880 --> 00:05:52,719
Speaker 1: younger people aren't coming in to replenish Facebook's user base,

97
00:05:53,160 --> 00:05:56,920
Speaker 1: so that could eventually lead to the company's decline. And

98
00:05:57,360 --> 00:05:59,800
Speaker 1: that's why I think there was such an emphasis on

99
00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:04,760
Speaker 1: Facebook trying to aggressively go after younger users. Next up,

100
00:06:05,320 --> 00:06:10,160
Speaker 1: Ours Technica published an article titled employees pleaded with Facebook

101
00:06:10,240 --> 00:06:14,440
Speaker 1: to stop letting politicians bend rules, and I guess you

102
00:06:14,520 --> 00:06:16,240
Speaker 1: kind of get the gist of it just from the

103
00:06:16,240 --> 00:06:20,279
Speaker 1: headline of the article, but essentially, Facebook was facing criticism

104
00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:23,800
Speaker 1: from conservatives, some of whom were claiming that the platform

105
00:06:23,880 --> 00:06:28,560
Speaker 1: was censoring conservative voices and was thus biased toward liberals.

106
00:06:28,839 --> 00:06:33,360
Speaker 1: So the company's response, according to employees, was to allow

107
00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:38,520
Speaker 1: far right conservatives spread misinformation and otherwise violate Facebook policies

108
00:06:38,920 --> 00:06:42,440
Speaker 1: without facing any kind of reprimand for that, one employee

109
00:06:42,440 --> 00:06:45,400
Speaker 1: said that a director level executive had issued a memo

110
00:06:45,839 --> 00:06:49,480
Speaker 1: indicating that would be really cool if you know, Facebook's

111
00:06:49,480 --> 00:06:53,760
Speaker 1: moderation policies just didn't apply to quote unquote political considerations.

112
00:06:54,440 --> 00:06:58,560
Speaker 1: The employees have said that upper level management, including Zuckerberg himself,

113
00:06:58,880 --> 00:07:02,560
Speaker 1: have frequently moved to block any kind of moderation on

114
00:07:02,600 --> 00:07:06,120
Speaker 1: these kinds of posts, even if those posts contained false

115
00:07:06,279 --> 00:07:11,080
Speaker 1: and or harmful information. A Facebook rep named Joe Osborne

116
00:07:11,320 --> 00:07:14,080
Speaker 1: has said that the claims presented are based on a

117
00:07:14,120 --> 00:07:18,000
Speaker 1: false premise, that that premise being that Facebook is unconcerned

118
00:07:18,040 --> 00:07:22,280
Speaker 1: with user safety, and maybe Osborne is being sincere. I

119
00:07:22,360 --> 00:07:26,760
Speaker 1: fully admit that my own personal perception that Facebook is

120
00:07:26,800 --> 00:07:30,000
Speaker 1: at best concerned about safety only so far as it

121
00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:33,840
Speaker 1: will keep heat off the company. That could be totally wrong.

122
00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:38,280
Speaker 1: That could be a complete misperception on my part. In fact,

123
00:07:38,520 --> 00:07:42,040
Speaker 1: I hope I am wrong about that. That would be great.

124
00:07:42,600 --> 00:07:46,320
Speaker 1: I just feel like my perception might be a little

125
00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:49,679
Speaker 1: closer to the truth based upon how things have played

126
00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:52,440
Speaker 1: out over the last several years. On a slightly more

127
00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:58,600
Speaker 1: oddball note, Facebook has retained the services of lawyer Matthew Rosengart,

128
00:07:59,760 --> 00:08:04,640
Speaker 1: Rose and Gart most recently represented Brittany Spears in her

129
00:08:04,800 --> 00:08:08,200
Speaker 1: quest to free herself from the conservatorship her father had

130
00:08:08,320 --> 00:08:13,080
Speaker 1: instituted on her um. And that was a quest that

131
00:08:13,200 --> 00:08:18,080
Speaker 1: she achieved, actually she was able to to to bring

132
00:08:18,120 --> 00:08:21,760
Speaker 1: that to an end through the court system. Facebook's purpose

133
00:08:21,840 --> 00:08:25,200
Speaker 1: for bringing on Rosengart onto their side is apparently to

134
00:08:25,240 --> 00:08:29,400
Speaker 1: discourage a production company called Anonymous Content. See that company

135
00:08:29,480 --> 00:08:33,200
Speaker 1: is adapting a book that has the title and Ugly Truth,

136
00:08:33,760 --> 00:08:36,559
Speaker 1: and that book is all about Facebook around the year,

137
00:08:37,920 --> 00:08:40,400
Speaker 1: you know, when the company was involved with stuff like

138
00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:45,480
Speaker 1: the Cambridge Analytica scandal and misinformation campaigns. Essentially, the book

139
00:08:45,520 --> 00:08:47,920
Speaker 1: attempts to explain how things got to where they are

140
00:08:48,400 --> 00:08:52,360
Speaker 1: and arguably where they continue to be today. Anonymous Content

141
00:08:52,559 --> 00:08:55,960
Speaker 1: is making a television adaptation of that book, and they

142
00:08:56,000 --> 00:09:00,720
Speaker 1: are titling it doomsday machine. Anyway, rosen Art sent a

143
00:09:00,840 --> 00:09:05,000
Speaker 1: letter to the CEO of Anonymous Content, essentially threatening a

144
00:09:05,080 --> 00:09:11,240
Speaker 1: lawsuit should the series contain any knowingly false statements about Facebook. Further,

145
00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:14,400
Speaker 1: Rosengart claims that several of the passages in an Ugly

146
00:09:14,440 --> 00:09:18,400
Speaker 1: Truth are wrong or misleading, and so by extension, adapting

147
00:09:18,400 --> 00:09:20,840
Speaker 1: those for television would qualify as being a big old

148
00:09:20,840 --> 00:09:23,640
Speaker 1: no no. Now, The Verge reports that, at least to

149
00:09:23,679 --> 00:09:27,160
Speaker 1: their knowledge, Facebook has not pursued any sort of similar

150
00:09:27,280 --> 00:09:32,280
Speaker 1: claim against the publisher or the author of an Ugly Truth,

151
00:09:32,720 --> 00:09:35,679
Speaker 1: and that is somewhat puzzling. I mean, if the statements

152
00:09:35,880 --> 00:09:39,880
Speaker 1: were knowingly false, right, If if the statements in the

153
00:09:39,920 --> 00:09:45,600
Speaker 1: book are knowingly false, why didn't Facebook pursue litigation against

154
00:09:45,600 --> 00:09:49,400
Speaker 1: the book or the publisher? Or is Facebook saying, hey, hey,

155
00:09:49,559 --> 00:09:52,080
Speaker 1: we say that that thing in the book is a lie,

156
00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:54,120
Speaker 1: So if you put it on TV, then you know

157
00:09:54,280 --> 00:09:56,480
Speaker 1: we said it was a lie and then you did

158
00:09:56,480 --> 00:10:00,360
Speaker 1: it anyway, so we'll sue you for you know, having

159
00:10:01,040 --> 00:10:04,880
Speaker 1: known false information in there, which isn't how that should work, right,

160
00:10:04,960 --> 00:10:07,760
Speaker 1: But I don't know for sure. Rosengard did say that

161
00:10:07,840 --> 00:10:10,480
Speaker 1: Facebook was willing to consult on the TV show to

162
00:10:10,480 --> 00:10:14,960
Speaker 1: make sure it's accurate, which you know, sure anyway, no

163
00:10:15,040 --> 00:10:19,120
Speaker 1: word yet on how anonymous content is responding to this message.

164
00:10:19,679 --> 00:10:22,719
Speaker 1: One thing Facebook moderators did recently that was the right

165
00:10:22,760 --> 00:10:25,880
Speaker 1: decision was to remove a video posted by the President

166
00:10:25,880 --> 00:10:30,920
Speaker 1: of Brazil Bilsonaro. He had claimed that COVID nineteen vaccines

167
00:10:30,920 --> 00:10:34,079
Speaker 1: were giving people aids, a claim that originated as a

168
00:10:34,720 --> 00:10:37,160
Speaker 1: rumor that had at no actual evidence to support it

169
00:10:37,240 --> 00:10:43,040
Speaker 1: at all. It cited uh supposed British government officials, but

170
00:10:43,360 --> 00:10:46,360
Speaker 1: there was no such citation. Like it would be like

171
00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:49,320
Speaker 1: you walking up to me and saying your dad says

172
00:10:49,360 --> 00:10:52,520
Speaker 1: I can punch you, and not say I I don't

173
00:10:52,559 --> 00:10:56,240
Speaker 1: think my dad would say that. But you just argue

174
00:10:56,280 --> 00:10:59,160
Speaker 1: that no, no, no, no no, that that statements out there.

175
00:10:59,520 --> 00:11:02,360
Speaker 1: It's not a proof. So despite the fact that it's

176
00:11:02,360 --> 00:11:05,960
Speaker 1: an unsubstantiated rumor, it hasn't stopped, you know, people including

177
00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:10,240
Speaker 1: the President of Brazil, from spreading it. Now moderators have

178
00:11:10,320 --> 00:11:14,360
Speaker 1: removed this video that Balsinaro had posted, but it took

179
00:11:14,400 --> 00:11:16,560
Speaker 1: three days before they did it, And that's a bit

180
00:11:16,559 --> 00:11:19,040
Speaker 1: of a head scratcher because it seems like a pretty

181
00:11:19,080 --> 00:11:22,360
Speaker 1: clear violation of Facebook's policies. But at least we have

182
00:11:22,400 --> 00:11:25,200
Speaker 1: an instance of Facebook taking down a video that did

183
00:11:25,360 --> 00:11:28,960
Speaker 1: violate Facebook's rules, even when that video came from a

184
00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:32,800
Speaker 1: powerful politician, because too many times in the past we've

185
00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:36,440
Speaker 1: seen Facebook turn a blind eye to such things. All Right,

186
00:11:36,520 --> 00:11:39,679
Speaker 1: that's all the Facebook news out of the way, though

187
00:11:39,720 --> 00:11:42,280
Speaker 1: I think I might mention it once more before we're done.

188
00:11:42,760 --> 00:11:44,800
Speaker 1: We're gonna take a quick break and we'll come back

189
00:11:44,800 --> 00:11:55,240
Speaker 1: with the rest of the news. Today, lawmakers in the

190
00:11:55,360 --> 00:11:58,000
Speaker 1: United States are holding a hearing in which they will

191
00:11:58,120 --> 00:12:02,560
Speaker 1: question representatives from tick talk snap that's the company that

192
00:12:02,559 --> 00:12:06,680
Speaker 1: owned Snapchat and YouTube. So the focus of this hearing

193
00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:11,040
Speaker 1: is going to be on how these platforms affect younger users.

194
00:12:11,760 --> 00:12:16,000
Speaker 1: There's been increased scrutiny and how online platforms are influencing people,

195
00:12:16,280 --> 00:12:20,120
Speaker 1: particularly younger people, and there's also a concern that these

196
00:12:20,120 --> 00:12:25,319
Speaker 1: platforms haven't been fully transparent or forthcoming regarding that matter.

197
00:12:25,920 --> 00:12:28,600
Speaker 1: The lawmakers are expected to ask things like how these

198
00:12:28,640 --> 00:12:32,640
Speaker 1: companies protect user privacy, if they do at all, as

199
00:12:32,679 --> 00:12:35,400
Speaker 1: well as how the content on the platforms might include

200
00:12:35,400 --> 00:12:38,680
Speaker 1: stuff that could harm younger people, and how the algorithms

201
00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:42,360
Speaker 1: that services like TikTok and YouTube rely Upon can serve

202
00:12:42,440 --> 00:12:46,240
Speaker 1: up progressively more harmful material over time. Also how these

203
00:12:46,280 --> 00:12:52,200
Speaker 1: platforms monetize user activity on these you know, various platforms.

204
00:12:52,200 --> 00:12:54,960
Speaker 1: I keep using the word platform, but it's social networking

205
00:12:54,960 --> 00:12:58,560
Speaker 1: platforms essentially. Now. YouTube has been in this hot seat before,

206
00:12:59,080 --> 00:13:02,040
Speaker 1: having had a pretty infamous issue with its platform aimed

207
00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:06,360
Speaker 1: at children, and it's subsequently becoming a target for bad

208
00:13:06,400 --> 00:13:08,760
Speaker 1: actors and scam artists, as well as a home to

209
00:13:08,880 --> 00:13:13,000
Speaker 1: some truly bizarre and sometimes disturbing material. I'm not sure

210
00:13:13,040 --> 00:13:15,480
Speaker 1: if we're actually going to see anything productive emerge from

211
00:13:15,559 --> 00:13:18,880
Speaker 1: this hearing, though it might serve as motivation for lawmakers

212
00:13:18,920 --> 00:13:24,079
Speaker 1: to draft or support legislation aimed at protecting kids online.

213
00:13:24,440 --> 00:13:27,760
Speaker 1: Of course, when it comes to law and tech, particularly

214
00:13:27,800 --> 00:13:31,400
Speaker 1: in the online world, we frequently see that stuff that's

215
00:13:31,440 --> 00:13:35,120
Speaker 1: meant to be helpful can sometimes be the opposite. So

216
00:13:35,160 --> 00:13:37,200
Speaker 1: it's too early to say whether or not we're at

217
00:13:37,240 --> 00:13:39,679
Speaker 1: a turning point here, or if we are, if it's

218
00:13:39,679 --> 00:13:43,640
Speaker 1: a turning point that's a positive one. The information reports

219
00:13:43,720 --> 00:13:46,560
Speaker 1: that Apple is very likely to be the subject of

220
00:13:46,600 --> 00:13:50,160
Speaker 1: an upcoming Department of Justice investigation, so you might wonder

221
00:13:50,200 --> 00:13:52,720
Speaker 1: what's being investigated. Well, that would be whether or not

222
00:13:52,800 --> 00:13:56,400
Speaker 1: Apple has a monopolistic hold on some aspects of the

223
00:13:56,400 --> 00:13:59,960
Speaker 1: tech space, most notably in the field of apps, particularly

224
00:14:00,160 --> 00:14:04,640
Speaker 1: for the mobile world. Now, this dovetails with the lawsuits

225
00:14:04,640 --> 00:14:08,200
Speaker 1: flying between Apple and Epic Games, which are mostly about

226
00:14:08,200 --> 00:14:11,480
Speaker 1: how Apple institutes an in app purchasing system. It's a

227
00:14:11,520 --> 00:14:15,360
Speaker 1: required system, you cannot use anything else, and it also

228
00:14:15,400 --> 00:14:18,679
Speaker 1: takes a cut of all in app purchases, and again,

229
00:14:18,760 --> 00:14:22,160
Speaker 1: developers are denied the opportunity to offer up any alternative

230
00:14:22,560 --> 00:14:26,480
Speaker 1: to Apple's in app system. That's not the only matter

231
00:14:26,640 --> 00:14:28,840
Speaker 1: that the d o J is interested in. Another is

232
00:14:28,880 --> 00:14:32,120
Speaker 1: the allegation that Apple requires third party apps to abide

233
00:14:32,120 --> 00:14:36,400
Speaker 1: by certain restrictions with regard to location tracking, but Apple's

234
00:14:36,520 --> 00:14:40,520
Speaker 1: own apps are not held to those same restrictions, which

235
00:14:40,520 --> 00:14:42,520
Speaker 1: does sound a bit any competitive. It sounds like you've

236
00:14:42,560 --> 00:14:44,560
Speaker 1: got two different sets of rules. You've got the rules

237
00:14:44,600 --> 00:14:46,520
Speaker 1: that I follow, and then there are the rules that

238
00:14:46,560 --> 00:14:49,520
Speaker 1: you have to follow, and my rules might be a little,

239
00:14:49,680 --> 00:14:52,920
Speaker 1: you know, more loose than yours. That's not fair. The

240
00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:55,720
Speaker 1: d o J first opened up an antitrust probe into

241
00:14:55,760 --> 00:14:59,280
Speaker 1: Apple back in twenty nineteen. According to the information the

242
00:14:59,320 --> 00:15:02,920
Speaker 1: probe re and ly scaled up in activity, potentially indicating

243
00:15:02,960 --> 00:15:07,000
Speaker 1: that an official investigation is to follow. This past weekend,

244
00:15:07,200 --> 00:15:10,360
Speaker 1: Tesla deployed an update to its so called full self

245
00:15:10,440 --> 00:15:15,080
Speaker 1: driving program, which, as I've mentioned in previous episodes, takes

246
00:15:15,120 --> 00:15:18,960
Speaker 1: a really liberal definition of full self driving. But this update,

247
00:15:19,160 --> 00:15:23,800
Speaker 1: version ten point three, ended up causing some pretty scary situations. Apparently,

248
00:15:24,160 --> 00:15:28,920
Speaker 1: the Modes Forward Collision Warning System or f c W,

249
00:15:28,920 --> 00:15:32,800
Speaker 1: would malfunction upon the installation of ten point three, and

250
00:15:32,800 --> 00:15:35,840
Speaker 1: would occasionally detect a collision when there was no such

251
00:15:36,160 --> 00:15:39,720
Speaker 1: danger present. Some users even reported that their cars went

252
00:15:39,760 --> 00:15:43,520
Speaker 1: into fc W mode even when no other cars were

253
00:15:43,560 --> 00:15:46,160
Speaker 1: on the road, and in at least some of these cases,

254
00:15:46,200 --> 00:15:50,600
Speaker 1: the Tesla vehicle would then automatically apply the brakes really hard.

255
00:15:51,120 --> 00:15:54,120
Speaker 1: Often it would do so several times, even on short drives,

256
00:15:54,120 --> 00:15:58,840
Speaker 1: making the cars effectively undrivable. Now, clearly a card that's

257
00:15:58,920 --> 00:16:02,920
Speaker 1: just breaking hard for no reason is itself a danger

258
00:16:03,080 --> 00:16:06,280
Speaker 1: on the road and could potentially lead to actual collisions.

259
00:16:06,720 --> 00:16:10,760
Speaker 1: Tesla recalled the update and rolled users back to version

260
00:16:10,840 --> 00:16:15,160
Speaker 1: ten point two. Elon must tweeted that you know these

261
00:16:15,160 --> 00:16:19,200
Speaker 1: things happen. It's a beta program, so with beta programs

262
00:16:19,320 --> 00:16:22,800
Speaker 1: you expect to find bugs. I mean, honestly, that's the

263
00:16:22,800 --> 00:16:27,080
Speaker 1: purpose of a beta program. You open up testing at

264
00:16:27,160 --> 00:16:30,280
Speaker 1: scale so that you can quickly identify design flaws that

265
00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:33,920
Speaker 1: otherwise might not pop up in a limited internal test.

266
00:16:34,400 --> 00:16:37,880
Speaker 1: But this is where I start to take issue, because

267
00:16:37,920 --> 00:16:42,760
Speaker 1: in this case, you're talking about a technology that can

268
00:16:42,840 --> 00:16:47,320
Speaker 1: freaking kill you if it does not work properly. I'm

269
00:16:47,360 --> 00:16:51,160
Speaker 1: actually surprised that internal testing didn't bring up any incidents

270
00:16:51,160 --> 00:16:54,360
Speaker 1: of phantom warnings, because based upon the reports of the

271
00:16:54,360 --> 00:16:56,520
Speaker 1: people who were in the beta test, it seemed like

272
00:16:56,520 --> 00:16:58,720
Speaker 1: it was a pretty common issue. And I would also

273
00:16:58,800 --> 00:17:04,000
Speaker 1: say the cavalier added HUD is definitely out of place. Anyway.

274
00:17:04,200 --> 00:17:08,159
Speaker 1: Update ten point three point one rolled out yesterday, and

275
00:17:08,240 --> 00:17:12,040
Speaker 1: presumably vehicles will no longer detect ghosts in front of

276
00:17:12,080 --> 00:17:14,880
Speaker 1: them and then slam on the brakes. Now, on other

277
00:17:14,960 --> 00:17:18,399
Speaker 1: Tesla news, the company recently signed a huge deal with

278
00:17:18,480 --> 00:17:21,880
Speaker 1: the rental car company Hurts, which has placed in order

279
00:17:21,920 --> 00:17:25,600
Speaker 1: of one hundred thousand Tesla cars for around four point

280
00:17:25,720 --> 00:17:30,879
Speaker 1: to billion with a B dollars. That's a pretty big deal,

281
00:17:31,320 --> 00:17:33,560
Speaker 1: both in the sense that it's a big business deal

282
00:17:33,880 --> 00:17:35,439
Speaker 1: and that's a big deal to go so hard with

283
00:17:35,520 --> 00:17:39,080
Speaker 1: Tesla in an effort to electrify a fleet of rental cars.

284
00:17:39,680 --> 00:17:42,280
Speaker 1: The announcement of the deal gave a boost to Tesla

285
00:17:42,359 --> 00:17:45,280
Speaker 1: stock price, driving the company to a valuation of more

286
00:17:45,320 --> 00:17:49,280
Speaker 1: than a trillion dollars. I'm curious if Hurts will charge

287
00:17:49,320 --> 00:17:52,880
Speaker 1: customers if they return their rented Tesla's on less than

288
00:17:52,920 --> 00:17:55,879
Speaker 1: a full batteries charge, because one way is that rental

289
00:17:55,920 --> 00:17:58,760
Speaker 1: cars companies make cash is they charge you out the

290
00:17:58,800 --> 00:18:00,840
Speaker 1: wazoo if you don't have a old gas tank when

291
00:18:00,840 --> 00:18:04,240
Speaker 1: you return the vehicle. I do know that Hurts struck

292
00:18:04,240 --> 00:18:07,359
Speaker 1: a deal with Tesla to let renters use the company's

293
00:18:07,440 --> 00:18:11,720
Speaker 1: supercharger stations around the United States and Europe. Pretty interesting

294
00:18:11,720 --> 00:18:14,320
Speaker 1: development for a rental car company that was literally in

295
00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:18,520
Speaker 1: bankruptcy just a year ago. Finally, I mentioned last week

296
00:18:18,520 --> 00:18:22,000
Speaker 1: that some companies, including lockeed Martin, plan to collaborate and

297
00:18:22,080 --> 00:18:25,159
Speaker 1: launch a private space station into low Earth orbit by

298
00:18:25,200 --> 00:18:29,840
Speaker 1: twenty seven. Well, Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon dot Com

299
00:18:30,040 --> 00:18:34,200
Speaker 1: and Blue Origin, announced that his space company also plans

300
00:18:34,240 --> 00:18:37,359
Speaker 1: to build a commercial space station, and it has the

301
00:18:37,400 --> 00:18:42,320
Speaker 1: operating name of Orbital Reef. Like the station I mentioned

302
00:18:42,359 --> 00:18:45,240
Speaker 1: last week, the purpose of this one will include stuff

303
00:18:45,240 --> 00:18:49,320
Speaker 1: like acting as a research lab for various sciences, presumably

304
00:18:49,400 --> 00:18:53,920
Speaker 1: ones that can potentially lead to a profitable application. Because

305
00:18:53,920 --> 00:18:57,480
Speaker 1: this is going to be largely commercial research, not necessarily

306
00:18:57,800 --> 00:19:01,200
Speaker 1: pure science research. It will also serve as a potential

307
00:19:01,240 --> 00:19:03,919
Speaker 1: site where a company could maybe run a hotel for

308
00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:08,400
Speaker 1: space tourism. Apart from these little details, Bezos and Blue

309
00:19:08,440 --> 00:19:11,719
Speaker 1: Origin haven't revealed much more about their plans, such as

310
00:19:12,040 --> 00:19:14,760
Speaker 1: whether or not the station will be modular in design

311
00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:18,520
Speaker 1: like the International Space Station or monolithic like the other

312
00:19:18,560 --> 00:19:21,800
Speaker 1: proposed private space station we talked about last week. Nor

313
00:19:21,880 --> 00:19:25,240
Speaker 1: do we have any concrete information on a timeline about

314
00:19:25,280 --> 00:19:27,959
Speaker 1: this other than the hope is that it will be

315
00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:30,520
Speaker 1: an operation before the end of this decade. So to

316
00:19:30,640 --> 00:19:34,920
Speaker 1: all those Amazon workers out there who are debating unionization,

317
00:19:35,440 --> 00:19:37,959
Speaker 1: let me just say, while you're peeing in a bottle,

318
00:19:38,400 --> 00:19:42,320
Speaker 1: you could be staring at the stars, just not as

319
00:19:42,320 --> 00:19:45,639
Speaker 1: close as Bezos will be. And that wraps up the

320
00:19:45,680 --> 00:19:49,879
Speaker 1: tech news for today, Tuesday, October twenty six one. I

321
00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:52,359
Speaker 1: hope you're all well. Like I said, we will not

322
00:19:52,520 --> 00:19:54,800
Speaker 1: have a news episode on Thursday. We will have an

323
00:19:54,840 --> 00:19:58,359
Speaker 1: episode of Smart Talks also on Thursday, If you haven't

324
00:19:58,359 --> 00:20:02,399
Speaker 1: already started listening, you should check out the podcast Thirteen

325
00:20:02,520 --> 00:20:06,960
Speaker 1: Days of Halloween. It's a three D audio spooky ghost

326
00:20:07,240 --> 00:20:12,679
Speaker 1: story podcast. Uh, And on Thursday, I will be in

327
00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:16,720
Speaker 1: an episode of that series. It's pretty cool. Uh. Episode

328
00:20:16,760 --> 00:20:20,639
Speaker 1: two is probably my favorite so far, and I'm not

329
00:20:20,720 --> 00:20:23,640
Speaker 1: in that one. It's just my honest opinion. I think

330
00:20:23,640 --> 00:20:27,040
Speaker 1: episode two is a really strong episode. But yeah, check

331
00:20:27,040 --> 00:20:30,639
Speaker 1: it out. It's a pretty creepy, fun like camp fire

332
00:20:30,680 --> 00:20:33,800
Speaker 1: spooky story type stuff and I really like it a lot,

333
00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:35,920
Speaker 1: so I hope you do too. If you have any

334
00:20:35,920 --> 00:20:38,280
Speaker 1: suggestions for topics I should cover in future episodes of

335
00:20:38,280 --> 00:20:40,159
Speaker 1: tech Stuff, feel free to reach out to me. The

336
00:20:40,200 --> 00:20:42,919
Speaker 1: best way to do that is on Twitter. The handle

337
00:20:42,920 --> 00:20:46,399
Speaker 1: for the show is text Stuff H s W and

338
00:20:46,400 --> 00:20:54,920
Speaker 1: I'll talk to you again really soon. Text Stuff is

339
00:20:54,960 --> 00:20:58,080
Speaker 1: an I Heart Radio production. For more podcasts from my

340
00:20:58,200 --> 00:21:01,840
Speaker 1: Heart Radio, visit the i Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

341
00:21:01,960 --> 00:21:08,520
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. H