WEBVTT 00:00:00.280 --> 00:00:06.120 I know what you're probably thinking right now. Hey, that's the tech news 00:00:03.480 --> 00:00:11.560 guy. What's he doing in my house? Well, by clicking the thumbnail, you invited 00:00:08.080 --> 00:00:14.160 me in. And it's nice in here, so I'm not 00:00:11.560 --> 00:00:19.520 leaving. Sorry. You can now lease a PlayStation 5 in the UK starting at £10 00:00:17.480 --> 00:00:23.720 per month because owning things is a quaint little tradition our ancestors 00:00:21.880 --> 00:00:28.640 enjoyed. This is much better. The program is called PlayStation Flex and 00:00:26.400 --> 00:00:33.840 is essentially just a partnership with Raylo, a gadget leasing business that 00:00:31.160 --> 00:00:38.720 has been doing PS5 leases since March of last year. The big change here is that 00:00:36.560 --> 00:00:42.800 it's now being advertised directly through the PlayStation Direct 00:00:40.640 --> 00:00:47.800 storefront, which basically just sends you to a PlayStation-branded section of 00:00:45.280 --> 00:00:52.680 the Raylo website. There's no clear buyout path. You either keep paying or 00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:55.640 eventually hand the console back when your term is up unless you contact them 00:00:54.640 --> 00:01:00.400 to negotiate. There's no rent-to-own or 00:00:58.480 --> 00:01:04.080 financing options are being offered either, like what you might see with 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:08.000 something like Affirm on other digital stores. And this isn't even exclusive to 00:01:06.200 --> 00:01:13.520 PlayStation. Raylo will lease you the Nintendo Switch, too, Meta Quest, Xbox 00:01:10.800 --> 00:01:19.400 consoles, and even the Lenovo Legion Go. Interestingly, Microsoft offered a 00:01:16.080 --> 00:01:22.440 console rent-to-own program called Xbox 00:01:19.400 --> 00:01:24.400 All Access before shelving it last year, 00:01:22.440 --> 00:01:30.040 presumably because it actually allowed people to save about 20 bucks overall on 00:01:27.960 --> 00:01:35.000 the cost of the console and Game Pass combined. [music] That's helping 00:01:31.960 --> 00:01:37.840 consumers. We're We're past that. No, 00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:41.600 society has progressed to a new, advanced stage where a company take 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:46.760 hardware that people used to be able to purchase and make it a subscription like 00:01:44.040 --> 00:01:52.720 HP's laptop program that Linus recently covered on LTT. The problem is hardware 00:01:50.200 --> 00:01:57.160 keeps getting more expensive, so cheaper payment plans look okay by comparison, 00:01:55.600 --> 00:02:02.200 but these companies don't even have the decency to easily let you buy out the 00:01:59.680 --> 00:02:07.160 device at the end. I mean, even car leasing companies at least entertain the 00:02:04.240 --> 00:02:10.960 option of a buyout, even if it's usually probably not the 00:02:09.360 --> 00:02:16.720 best idea. Hey, I'll tell you what, Sony, I'll charge you 10 pounds a month 00:02:13.440 --> 00:02:18.440 for me to give you some better ideas for 00:02:16.720 --> 00:02:22.880 what to do with those IP rights to Spider-Man that you somehow still have. 00:02:21.200 --> 00:02:27.880 You know what? Let's talk Morbius sequels. 00:02:24.880 --> 00:02:30.680 Morbius 2, Morbius. 00:02:27.880 --> 00:02:35.760 Amazon security camera subsidiary Ring announced yesterday that it has canceled 00:02:32.840 --> 00:02:39.080 its partnership with Flock Safety, the incompetent mass surveillance company 00:02:37.480 --> 00:02:42.280 that's recently been under fire for potential misuses of its automated 00:02:40.760 --> 00:02:46.680 license plate reader network and the leaking of 2.3 million license plate 00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:51.200 searches from its database. That one. The announcement comes after 00:02:48.680 --> 00:02:56.000 Ring aired a Super Bowl ad on Sunday for its new AI-powered Search Party feature, 00:02:54.080 --> 00:03:01.560 showing dozens of cameras scanning a neighborhood to find a lost dog. Aw, 00:02:59.080 --> 00:03:06.640 that's That would be good. But, as pointed out by Senator Ed Markey, this 00:03:03.920 --> 00:03:10.720 is kind of clearly a mass surveillance program, prompting people to take a more 00:03:08.800 --> 00:03:16.480 critical look at what it might mean for Flock to be able to access Ring's camera 00:03:13.800 --> 00:03:21.440 network at will. And what they found was not reassuring. The partnership, which 00:03:18.480 --> 00:03:25.840 was announced in October 2025 as part of Ring's community requests program, 00:03:23.920 --> 00:03:31.160 allows law enforcement agencies to request video footage from Ring doorbell 00:03:28.320 --> 00:03:35.600 owners during active investigations. Under the Flock integration, police 00:03:33.360 --> 00:03:39.560 departments using Flock software would have been able to submit those requests 00:03:37.400 --> 00:03:43.800 directly through Ring's system. And combined with Ring's recently launched 00:03:41.480 --> 00:03:47.560 familiar faces, a facial recognition feature that scans every person who 00:03:45.600 --> 00:03:51.800 walks past a camera, and the Search Party feature's ability to track living 00:03:49.720 --> 00:03:56.800 things across an entire neighborhood, the whole package starts looking less 00:03:53.520 --> 00:03:59.840 like find my lost puppy and more 00:03:56.800 --> 00:04:01.720 neighborhood surveillance state. 00:03:59.840 --> 00:04:05.760 In its press release, Ring says it's canceling the integration because it 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:11.959 would require significantly more time and resources than anticipated. Sure, it 00:04:08.760 --> 00:04:14.160 is and the breakup was totally mutual. 00:04:11.959 --> 00:04:18.440 Flock was one of two companies approved for the community requests feature. The 00:04:16.239 --> 00:04:23.320 other is Axon, the world's largest manufacturer of tasers and body cameras. 00:04:21.480 --> 00:04:27.080 So, the only remaining approved handler for your Ring doorbell footage is the 00:04:25.560 --> 00:04:31.360 taser guys. If that makes you feel safe, I've got a 00:04:29.160 --> 00:04:36.720 very nice bridge to sell you. The China Manned Space Agency on Tuesday 00:04:34.320 --> 00:04:42.160 successfully tested its Mengju crew capsule and Long March 10 rocket, which 00:04:39.960 --> 00:04:46.919 nailed a propulsive landing on a recovery barge. China is targeting a 00:04:44.400 --> 00:04:51.040 manned landing on the moon by 2030, which is also where Jeff Bezos wants to 00:04:48.520 --> 00:04:55.840 go. Hours after the test, Bezos, with the energy of the weird kid who ate glue 00:04:53.400 --> 00:05:00.840 in elementary school, tweeted a black and white photo of a turtle. 00:04:58.400 --> 00:05:04.440 I like turtles. What What can I say? 00:05:02.560 --> 00:05:09.160 Bold move when you already look like the turtle club guy from Dana Carvey's 2002 00:05:07.200 --> 00:05:14.400 film Master of Disguise. Yes, the cryptic tweet was evidently a reference 00:05:11.960 --> 00:05:18.120 to Bezos's own space company Blue Origin, which has a code of arms 00:05:16.080 --> 00:05:22.960 featuring two turtles in an apparent attempt to troll Elon Musk. The two have 00:05:21.160 --> 00:05:28.160 taken little pot shots at each other since 2015 when Jeff made his infamous 00:05:25.680 --> 00:05:32.760 welcome to the club tweet. SpaceX had just landed a Falcon booster and Bezos 00:05:31.000 --> 00:05:37.560 pointed out that Blue Origin's New Shepherd had done a suborbital landing 00:05:35.240 --> 00:05:41.800 weeks earlier. So, yeah, you're just as cool as us now. You 00:05:40.280 --> 00:05:46.840 got to love watching these two weirdos being a decade-long pissing contest over 00:05:44.120 --> 00:05:50.960 who gets to colonize space first. Feels like they Feels like they'd drown the 00:05:48.800 --> 00:05:54.600 world in piss before either of them won. 00:05:52.160 --> 00:05:59.840 Blue Origin recently shared plans for an accelerated moon architecture that could 00:05:57.120 --> 00:06:03.720 land astronauts before 2030, which may have had something to do with Elon 00:06:01.200 --> 00:06:08.720 announcing on Sunday that SpaceX has shifted focus to building a self-growing 00:06:06.080 --> 00:06:12.160 city on the moon instead of Mars, claiming that this could be achieved in 00:06:10.440 --> 00:06:18.520 less than 10 years. Now, this is the same Elon Musk who in January 2025 00:06:16.040 --> 00:06:24.280 tweeted that the moon is a distraction and called NASA's Artemis moon mission a 00:06:21.280 --> 00:06:26.520 jobs program. All of this might be moot 00:06:24.280 --> 00:06:30.200 though because apparently SpaceX is a train company now. Sort of. We're 00:06:28.440 --> 00:06:34.960 referencing a letter written by the National Labor Relations Board to eight 00:06:32.640 --> 00:06:38.640 former SpaceX employees who were fired after they wrote an open letter 00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:43.600 criticizing Musk as a frequent source of embarrassment. The NLRB under the Biden 00:06:41.520 --> 00:06:48.160 administration had filed a complaint seeking those employees reinstatement 00:06:46.040 --> 00:06:53.560 and back pay. But, in an effort to get out of it, SpaceX argued it should be 00:06:50.520 --> 00:06:56.280 regulated like an airline or railroad 00:06:53.560 --> 00:07:00.760 instead, which coincidentally exempts it from the National Labor Relations Act 00:06:58.160 --> 00:07:05.200 entirely. When you're a train, they let you do it. The fired employees attorney 00:07:02.840 --> 00:07:11.520 called the NLRB's decision to treat SpaceX as a common carrier contrary to 00:07:08.560 --> 00:07:15.760 law and public policy. Choo choo, all aboard the space train. You get no 00:07:13.640 --> 00:07:20.760 benefits and you'd have to work in Elon Musk's moon colony. Just so you know. 00:07:18.880 --> 00:07:25.000 Me, I'd rather check out our sponsor. It's Squarespace, 00:07:22.720 --> 00:07:29.919 the website. To the untrained eye, mere ones and zeros, but to the artist, a 00:07:27.440 --> 00:07:34.240 canvas upon which to paint one's vision. What if I told you that you could create 00:07:32.240 --> 00:07:38.720 something truly magnifique? Squarespace's design intelligence 00:07:36.440 --> 00:07:43.280 combines two decades of industry-leading design expertise with cutting-edge AI TO 00:07:41.200 --> 00:07:47.720 UNLOCK YOUR STRONGEST creative potential. 00:07:44.960 --> 00:07:53.920 Build a beautiful, personalized website tailored to your unique artistic vision. 00:07:51.200 --> 00:07:57.320 Craft a bespoke digital identity, the kind that makes other websites look like 00:07:55.920 --> 00:08:01.320 they were made by amateurs. And with Squarespace payments, 00:07:59.800 --> 00:08:05.200 you can manage all of your transactions in one place. Onboarding takes but a few 00:08:03.400 --> 00:08:10.480 clicks, and your customers can pay however they like. Klarna, Apple Pay, 00:08:07.440 --> 00:08:12.320 Afterpay, other types of pay. We use 00:08:10.480 --> 00:08:17.560 Squarespace for the Linus Media Group website, and it looks like 00:08:14.600 --> 00:08:22.400 Michelangelo's David, but if it was a website. Start building your website 00:08:19.919 --> 00:08:26.280 today and receive 10% off your first purchase by visiting 00:08:23.720 --> 00:08:31.040 squarespace.com/techlinked. Your digital masterpiece awaits. 00:08:29.560 --> 00:08:35.039 Oh, sorry. I should have also said the QuickBits are also in your house now. 00:08:33.440 --> 00:08:39.039 They may chew on your wires a little bit, but don't worry, they're harmless 00:08:37.479 --> 00:08:44.200 as long as you don't try to stop them. Cash App now lets you generate payment 00:08:41.520 --> 00:08:49.080 links to drop straight into DMs with the goal of making peer-to-peer payments 00:08:46.360 --> 00:08:54.640 feel less formal. The new feature comes after Cash App conducted a Money Matters 00:08:52.080 --> 00:08:59.240 report, which found that Gen Z'ers already coordinate transactions over 00:08:56.880 --> 00:09:04.240 text a lot of the time, anyways. Convenient? Sure. I mean, here in 00:09:01.520 --> 00:09:07.400 Canada, Interac has had similar request money links for years, and that 00:09:05.839 --> 00:09:11.839 definitely didn't lead to a tidal wave of fake Canada Revenue Agency e-transfer 00:09:09.720 --> 00:09:16.560 scams. What could possibly go wrong? It'll probably work. You guys do it. 00:09:13.200 --> 00:09:18.400 It's fine. Spotify co-CEO Gustav 00:09:16.560 --> 00:09:22.040 Söderström, it's probably wrong, sorry, bragged 00:09:20.400 --> 00:09:26.200 during this week's earnings call that the company's best developers have not 00:09:24.280 --> 00:09:31.760 written a single line of code since December thanks to an internal AI coding 00:09:28.760 --> 00:09:34.160 system called Honk. The company shipped 00:09:31.760 --> 00:09:40.600 more than 50 new features throughout 2025, including AI-powered prompted 00:09:37.200 --> 00:09:42.280 playlists and page match for audiobooks. 00:09:40.600 --> 00:09:45.640 Given the speed of this development and AI's propensity for creating security 00:09:44.200 --> 00:09:51.560 vulnerabilities, we feel it is our responsibility to tell people to not try 00:09:49.040 --> 00:09:55.080 and hack Spotify right now, no matter how trivially easy it might be, 00:09:53.840 --> 00:09:59.800 especially given that they just hit record profits of 2.2 billion euros for 00:09:57.480 --> 00:10:02.480 2025, nearly double the year before, driven largely by subscription price 00:10:01.480 --> 00:10:07.400 hikes. Come on. Let's not Just let them enjoy 00:10:05.960 --> 00:10:12.880 this. Meta is reportedly working on facial 00:10:09.520 --> 00:10:14.920 recognition for its smart glasses, again 00:10:12.880 --> 00:10:18.960 potentially letting wearers identify people in real time. They were holding 00:10:17.080 --> 00:10:23.080 off on adding this feature after receiving backlash over potential 00:10:20.800 --> 00:10:27.920 privacy concerns, but an internal memo showed to the New York Times noted that 00:10:24.920 --> 00:10:29.720 we are now in a quote dynamic political 00:10:27.920 --> 00:10:33.440 environment where many civil society groups that we would expect to attack us 00:10:31.920 --> 00:10:39.320 would have their resources focused on other concerns. In other words, mods are 00:10:36.480 --> 00:10:43.480 asleep post-AI slop. Anyway, if someone wearing smart glasses whispers your name 00:10:41.480 --> 00:10:47.960 before you introduce yourself, just assume the pre-crime division is hiring. 00:10:46.400 --> 00:10:52.520 And just to get ahead of it, no, I am not the Riley who is going to steal your 00:10:50.120 --> 00:10:58.520 car later today. Apple's latest iPhone update, iOS 26.3, now includes a 00:10:55.680 --> 00:11:02.440 built-in transfer to Android tool that lets you move apps, photos, and even 00:11:00.520 --> 00:11:06.200 your phone number over to an Android device just by placing the two phones 00:11:04.520 --> 00:11:10.200 next to each other. We actually saw hints of this back in December when code 00:11:08.160 --> 00:11:13.520 found in an Android Canary build suggested that Google was working 00:11:11.720 --> 00:11:17.760 towards a similar feature in the opposite direction. The good news 00:11:15.520 --> 00:11:23.080 doesn't end there. iPhone users in the EU can also now turn on notification 00:11:20.640 --> 00:11:27.040 forwarding for third-party smartwatches, meaning that you don't need to wear a 00:11:24.720 --> 00:11:31.080 square watch just because you decided to buy an iPhone. 00:11:29.280 --> 00:11:36.320 I mean, it's a rounded rounded corner squares. Circles are cool, too, and so 00:11:34.080 --> 00:11:41.920 are interoperability rules. Thanks to you. Thanks so much. 00:11:38.960 --> 00:11:48.240 And the new robot from WeRobotics, Isaac Zero, won about $10,000 up front or 00:11:45.280 --> 00:11:52.320 roughly $450 a month to fold some of your laundry. 00:11:50.040 --> 00:11:56.680 It's mostly autonomous. Uh the system runs off a stationary pole you set in 00:11:54.760 --> 00:12:01.920 front of a table and plug it into the wall. Uh the robot uses onboard sensors 00:11:59.400 --> 00:12:07.320 to identify, grab, and fold common garments on its own, but for more 00:12:04.080 --> 00:12:10.600 complex or confusing items, a remote 00:12:07.320 --> 00:12:12.920 teller operator can step in and assist. 00:12:10.600 --> 00:12:17.880 So, it's not fully human controlled, but it's also not quite Rosie the Robot just 00:12:15.840 --> 00:12:22.240 yet. WeRobotics says it's been stress testing Isaac Zero in commercial 00:12:20.160 --> 00:12:29.000 laundromats with promising results. Still, I cannot unsee that this is just 00:12:25.360 --> 00:12:30.760 Nintendo's ROB with a glow up. 00:12:29.000 --> 00:12:34.920 Maybe we should have treated ROB better. He did help us beat Gyromite after all. 00:12:33.880 --> 00:12:39.240 I did not play whatever [music] game this is referring to. But, ROB won't be 00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:43.880 able to help you predict when I I'll come back next week. I'll give you a 00:12:41.000 --> 00:12:47.760 hint. It's Wednesday the 18th, because this Monday is Family Day here in 00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:53.440 British Columbia. It's a little problematic because we have one Olive 00:12:50.880 --> 00:12:56.480 Garden and it gets real crowded with everyone in there.