{"video_id":"U4Ic4gnvtck","title":"Steam is Popping OFF Right Now","channel":"TechLinked","show":"TechLinked","published_at":"2025-11-05T14:53:29Z","duration_s":462,"segments":[{"start_s":0.16,"end_s":6.0,"text":"In the future, tech news will be delivered by a holographic host. It'll","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":4.08,"end_s":9.84,"text":"be just like the doctor from Star Trek Voyager, except it'll probably be me or","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":8.08,"end_s":14.639,"text":"Lionus or Riley instead of Robert Picardo. But we are in talks with","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":11.92,"end_s":19.359,"text":"Picardo. Steam has set a new concurrent player record for itself. Data from","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":17.279,"end_s":24.32,"text":"Steam TV shows that Valve's platform recently surpassed 41.6 million","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":21.92,"end_s":28.88,"text":"simultaneous users. That's more than the population of Canada, bud. and nearly","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":27.199,"end_s":33.84,"text":"double the player count from just five years ago. Seems like PC gamer growth","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":31.439,"end_s":37.6,"text":"accelerated after the WHO declared a pandemic, the only world event that was","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":36.16,"end_s":41.12,"text":"notable enough to include on their chart. I bet about half that player jump","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":39.84,"end_s":44.879,"text":"was from Among Us. >> Pretty silk.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":43.28,"end_s":48.239,"text":">> Steam's new record high comes after Battlefield 6, Hades 2, and Hollow","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":46.719,"end_s":52.0,"text":"Knight Silkong all broke their own franchise player records as well. So","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":50.32,"end_s":56.8,"text":"clearly the lesson for gaming companies here is to keep pumping out sequels.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":54.64,"end_s":61.12,"text":"That's what we all want, right? for Star Wars. >> Do it like the movies do. That said, I","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":59.68,"end_s":66.159,"text":"can't help but notice that the total number of users increased more than the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":63.68,"end_s":69.52,"text":"number of users in game, which reads to me like people are spending more time","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":67.76,"end_s":74.0,"text":"staring at their bloated Steam backlog than actually playing their games. Let","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":71.84,"end_s":78.32,"text":"this be a call to action to you. Go beat something off the backlog. It's time to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":76.4,"end_s":83.439,"text":"finally play Discolesium or Red Dead Redemption 2. No new games until you","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":81.2,"end_s":86.96,"text":"beat those ones. Open AAI has stopped letting people generate fake videos of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":85.119,"end_s":91.759,"text":"Martin Luther King Jr. at the request of the late Dr. King's estate. Apparently,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":89.2,"end_s":95.759,"text":"his family wasn't jazzed about OpenAI's slop only Tik Tok clone being filled to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":93.52,"end_s":100.56,"text":"the brim with disrespectful depictions of MLK delivering a stirring speech on","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":98.24,"end_s":103.92,"text":"the beauty of the female form. >> That's not it was he was doing something","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":102.479,"end_s":108.079,"text":"more vulgar, James. >> Ah, it's yet another feature roll back","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":105.92,"end_s":112.24,"text":"from OpenAI who only seems to focus more on the latter part of the move fast and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":110.32,"end_s":116.32,"text":"break things. But at least OpenAI isn't pulling a Facebook and rumaging through","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":114.0,"end_s":120.799,"text":"your phone's local storage and editing one of your photos with AI without you","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":118.56,"end_s":123.04,"text":"even asking it to like a cat bringing you a dead mouse.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":121.92,"end_s":127.04,"text":">> What am I supposed to do with this? >> I'm thankful that feature rolled out in","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":125.439,"end_s":132.0,"text":"beta this past summer and is now launching more widely for some reason.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":129.119,"end_s":135.36,"text":"You can opt out at any time if you're aware that it's happening in the first","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":133.599,"end_s":139.12,"text":"place and didn't absent mindly press okay when the prompt asked you to and it","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":137.44,"end_s":144.72,"text":"just popped out like you know just how it does that and you're trying to do something else. Big tech is looking for","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":142.72,"end_s":148.879,"text":"extra uses for AI that people don't even want. It's no wonder they're all","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":146.56,"end_s":152.4,"text":"bringing back nuclear power. And even if that is probably a good idea, we should","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":150.879,"end_s":158.64,"text":"probably still want to set some ground rules for how AI is used. See MLK Jr.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":156.0,"end_s":162.16,"text":"So, Pope Leo I 14th hosted a seminar at the Vatican this week urging global","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":160.64,"end_s":166.959,"text":"cooperation in regulating the technology. The Pope reminded attendees","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":164.08,"end_s":170.959,"text":"that AI is above all else a tool. He's he's American though, right?","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":169.28,"end_s":177.44,"text":">> He did the accent was weird. >> And so, we must be careful that in using","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":172.879,"end_s":180.72,"text":"it, we do not ourselves act like tools.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":177.44,"end_s":182.159,"text":"Amen. And amen to our sponsor, Ground","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":180.72,"end_s":186.72,"text":"News, who are trying to do something about the fact that algorithms have divided up the internet into these","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":185.12,"end_s":190.64,"text":"information bubbles that stop you from getting a more complete picture of what","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":188.879,"end_s":193.92,"text":"the heck's going on because you're packed in. There were so many people you","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":192.239,"end_s":198.72,"text":"agree with and their breath is fogging up the glass. Ah, pop that bubble with","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":196.56,"end_s":202.879,"text":"ground news. They aggregate news stories breaking down the political leanings and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":200.8,"end_s":206.4,"text":"ownership of each outlet. Take for example the recent story about Apple and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":204.4,"end_s":211.04,"text":"Formula 1 signing a 5-year exclusive streaming agreement. 38% of the coverage","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":208.48,"end_s":215.36,"text":"leans left while only 13% leans right. Even though this is about cars going","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":212.72,"end_s":219.76,"text":"fast, which I thought was always a conservative thing, even though NASCAR","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":217.2,"end_s":225.12,"text":"races are just one big left turn. >> I guess I got to question my biases.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":222.4,"end_s":228.72,"text":">> Find out who's reporting on what, so you can understand why. Take the first step,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":227.12,"end_s":233.44,"text":"get the transparency you deserve from the news, and save 40% on ground news","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":231.44,"end_s":237.84,"text":"Vantage Plan by using our link in the description. Robert Peardo frequently","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":235.599,"end_s":242.08,"text":"collaborates with director Joe Dante, who just so happens to be one of the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":239.68,"end_s":247.04,"text":"Quickbits favorite directors. Gremlins is a Christmas classic and Phil Hartman","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":244.319,"end_s":248.319,"text":"is sublime in Small Soldiers. Small soldiers.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":247.84,"end_s":254.0,"text":">> Yeah, >> Kip Kelligan. >> They need We need a sequel to that. I'll take a sequel to that.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":252.319,"end_s":258.72,"text":">> What? There might have been a sequel. >> I don't think so. >> Apple is apparently cutting production","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":256.72,"end_s":263.28,"text":"of the new iPhone Air. According to Japan's Mizuo Securities, while the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":261.04,"end_s":267.6,"text":"iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max models are seeing higher sales than their","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":264.56,"end_s":270.16,"text":"predecessors, the new iPhone Air is a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":267.6,"end_s":274.639,"text":"sales letdown. Now, Apple is chopping production of the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":271.84,"end_s":280.16,"text":"Air down by up to 1 million units this year. Down by up to what the language.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":277.759,"end_s":285.04,"text":"Similarly, a report from News PIM in Korea alleges that Samsung has halted","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":282.639,"end_s":289.04,"text":"work on the Galaxy S26 Edge letting employees know that the product line is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":286.88,"end_s":294.16,"text":"to be discontinued. The news isn't totally unexpected. The S25 Edge didn't","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":291.84,"end_s":298.88,"text":"sell well, and like Gizmodo said, slim phones might be on thin ice. Well, it","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":297.199,"end_s":302.4,"text":"looks like these thin phones are about to be skinny dipping in the discount","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":300.8,"end_s":306.96,"text":"bin. >> Splash. >> Got them. So good. Google Workspace is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":305.12,"end_s":312.56,"text":"trying to steal some of Microsoft's business customers with the power of SAS","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":311.36,"end_s":317.759,"text":"sauce. >> Oh, or sauce if you're in the UK. After","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":316.32,"end_s":323.6,"text":"calling out the architectural brittleleness in Microsoft's infrastructure and saying Microsoft 365","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":321.36,"end_s":327.6,"text":"crashes are a question of when and for how long, not if, which I'm pretty sure","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":325.84,"end_s":332.479,"text":"is the software engineers equivalent of a glove slap. Google talks up its new","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":330.4,"end_s":336.56,"text":"cost-effective Google Workspace plans meant to help businesses transition away","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":334.72,"end_s":340.72,"text":"from Office, which is now called Microsoft 365. What a boring and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":338.96,"end_s":345.44,"text":"confusing name. Wouldn't you rather subscribe to a workplace plan called","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":343.039,"end_s":351.199,"text":"business continuity or work transformation set?","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":348.24,"end_s":356.32,"text":"Wouldn't you? Uber is launching a new program that allows its contractors to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":353.039,"end_s":358.32,"text":"earn additional cash by telling jokes as","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":356.32,"end_s":362.24,"text":"they drive. you know, testing out new bits. I'm just joking. Um, it's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":360.08,"end_s":366.56,"text":"additional cash by completing micro tasks that train AI models. That's way","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":365.039,"end_s":370.4,"text":"worse. These tasks include everything from voice recordings to capturing and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":368.56,"end_s":374.96,"text":"uploading images to submitting documents in a certain language in exchange for","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":372.88,"end_s":378.4,"text":"variable rewards. In this example, if you upload a picture from a Spanish","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":376.56,"end_s":384.0,"text":"restaurant menu, you could earn a whole shiny dollar. One, a green back. I've","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":382.0,"end_s":389.12,"text":"always dreamed of being a mental blood bag for AI. This move could help Uber","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":386.96,"end_s":393.52,"text":"use its army of freelance workers to challenge companies that train AI models","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":391.68,"end_s":396.88,"text":"by having humans annotate and label data. And besides, they're already","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":395.28,"end_s":400.639,"text":"constantly feeding customers via Uber Eats. Why not feed the hungry machine","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":398.8,"end_s":404.08,"text":"your time, energy, and knowledge as well? It's the same thing.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":402.16,"end_s":411.36,"text":">> It's that's my job. >> And PayPal's blockchain partner, Paxos,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":407.12,"end_s":413.919,"text":"mistakenly minted $300 trillion in PYUSD","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":411.36,"end_s":418.08,"text":"stable coin. As pointed out by both CNBC and Ingadget, 300 trillion of these","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":415.84,"end_s":422.639,"text":"stable coins are worth more than double the world's estimated total GDP. It just","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":420.96,"end_s":427.039,"text":"seems like there's something terribly wrong when you can just accidentally","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":424.56,"end_s":431.84,"text":"mint more money than the global GDP. Thank thankfully this all appears to be","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":429.599,"end_s":435.28,"text":"a huge and embarrassing gaff. And don't worry, Paxos tweeted to assure folks","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":433.759,"end_s":439.28,"text":"that the issue was a technical error and that their customers funds are safe.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":437.44,"end_s":443.28,"text":"Paxos even says they've burned the excess PYUSD.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":441.599,"end_s":447.039,"text":"I've been known to burn through a lot of excess money myself, but I really hope","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":444.96,"end_s":450.24,"text":"that's not what they mean. The coin's still pegged. Don't worry, guys.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":449.68,"end_s":455.84,"text":">> Yeah. >> And you should know what I mean when I say peg when I tell you to come back on","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":453.919,"end_s":459.84,"text":"Monday for more tech news. I can't promise you we'll have holograms by","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":457.52,"end_s":462.639,"text":"Monday, but I swear I'm working really hard on Picardo.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0}],"full_text":"In the future, tech news will be delivered by a holographic host. It'll be just like the doctor from Star Trek Voyager, except it'll probably be me or Lionus or Riley instead of Robert Picardo. But we are in talks with Picardo. Steam has set a new concurrent player record for itself. Data from Steam TV shows that Valve's platform recently surpassed 41.6 million simultaneous users. That's more than the population of Canada, bud. and nearly double the player count from just five years ago. Seems like PC gamer growth accelerated after the WHO declared a pandemic, the only world event that was notable enough to include on their chart. I bet about half that player jump was from Among Us. >> Pretty silk. >> Steam's new record high comes after Battlefield 6, Hades 2, and Hollow Knight Silkong all broke their own franchise player records as well. So clearly the lesson for gaming companies here is to keep pumping out sequels. That's what we all want, right? for Star Wars. >> Do it like the movies do. That said, I can't help but notice that the total number of users increased more than the number of users in game, which reads to me like people are spending more time staring at their bloated Steam backlog than actually playing their games. Let this be a call to action to you. Go beat something off the backlog. It's time to finally play Discolesium or Red Dead Redemption 2. No new games until you beat those ones. Open AAI has stopped letting people generate fake videos of Martin Luther King Jr. at the request of the late Dr. King's estate. Apparently, his family wasn't jazzed about OpenAI's slop only Tik Tok clone being filled to the brim with disrespectful depictions of MLK delivering a stirring speech on the beauty of the female form. >> That's not it was he was doing something more vulgar, James. >> Ah, it's yet another feature roll back from OpenAI who only seems to focus more on the latter part of the move fast and break things. But at least OpenAI isn't pulling a Facebook and rumaging through your phone's local storage and editing one of your photos with AI without you even asking it to like a cat bringing you a dead mouse. >> What am I supposed to do with this? >> I'm thankful that feature rolled out in beta this past summer and is now launching more widely for some reason. You can opt out at any time if you're aware that it's happening in the first place and didn't absent mindly press okay when the prompt asked you to and it just popped out like you know just how it does that and you're trying to do something else. Big tech is looking for extra uses for AI that people don't even want. It's no wonder they're all bringing back nuclear power. And even if that is probably a good idea, we should probably still want to set some ground rules for how AI is used. See MLK Jr. So, Pope Leo I 14th hosted a seminar at the Vatican this week urging global cooperation in regulating the technology. The Pope reminded attendees that AI is above all else a tool. He's he's American though, right? >> He did the accent was weird. >> And so, we must be careful that in using it, we do not ourselves act like tools. Amen. And amen to our sponsor, Ground News, who are trying to do something about the fact that algorithms have divided up the internet into these information bubbles that stop you from getting a more complete picture of what the heck's going on because you're packed in. There were so many people you agree with and their breath is fogging up the glass. Ah, pop that bubble with ground news. They aggregate news stories breaking down the political leanings and ownership of each outlet. Take for example the recent story about Apple and Formula 1 signing a 5-year exclusive streaming agreement. 38% of the coverage leans left while only 13% leans right. Even though this is about cars going fast, which I thought was always a conservative thing, even though NASCAR races are just one big left turn. >> I guess I got to question my biases. >> Find out who's reporting on what, so you can understand why. Take the first step, get the transparency you deserve from the news, and save 40% on ground news Vantage Plan by using our link in the description. Robert Peardo frequently collaborates with director Joe Dante, who just so happens to be one of the Quickbits favorite directors. Gremlins is a Christmas classic and Phil Hartman is sublime in Small Soldiers. Small soldiers. >> Yeah, >> Kip Kelligan. >> They need We need a sequel to that. I'll take a sequel to that. >> What? There might have been a sequel. >> I don't think so. >> Apple is apparently cutting production of the new iPhone Air. According to Japan's Mizuo Securities, while the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max models are seeing higher sales than their predecessors, the new iPhone Air is a sales letdown. Now, Apple is chopping production of the Air down by up to 1 million units this year. Down by up to what the language. Similarly, a report from News PIM in Korea alleges that Samsung has halted work on the Galaxy S26 Edge letting employees know that the product line is to be discontinued. The news isn't totally unexpected. The S25 Edge didn't sell well, and like Gizmodo said, slim phones might be on thin ice. Well, it looks like these thin phones are about to be skinny dipping in the discount bin. >> Splash. >> Got them. So good. Google Workspace is trying to steal some of Microsoft's business customers with the power of SAS sauce. >> Oh, or sauce if you're in the UK. After calling out the architectural brittleleness in Microsoft's infrastructure and saying Microsoft 365 crashes are a question of when and for how long, not if, which I'm pretty sure is the software engineers equivalent of a glove slap. Google talks up its new cost-effective Google Workspace plans meant to help businesses transition away from Office, which is now called Microsoft 365. What a boring and confusing name. Wouldn't you rather subscribe to a workplace plan called business continuity or work transformation set? Wouldn't you? Uber is launching a new program that allows its contractors to earn additional cash by telling jokes as they drive. you know, testing out new bits. I'm just joking. Um, it's additional cash by completing micro tasks that train AI models. That's way worse. These tasks include everything from voice recordings to capturing and uploading images to submitting documents in a certain language in exchange for variable rewards. In this example, if you upload a picture from a Spanish restaurant menu, you could earn a whole shiny dollar. One, a green back. I've always dreamed of being a mental blood bag for AI. This move could help Uber use its army of freelance workers to challenge companies that train AI models by having humans annotate and label data. And besides, they're already constantly feeding customers via Uber Eats. Why not feed the hungry machine your time, energy, and knowledge as well? It's the same thing. >> It's that's my job. >> And PayPal's blockchain partner, Paxos, mistakenly minted $300 trillion in PYUSD stable coin. As pointed out by both CNBC and Ingadget, 300 trillion of these stable coins are worth more than double the world's estimated total GDP. It just seems like there's something terribly wrong when you can just accidentally mint more money than the global GDP. Thank thankfully this all appears to be a huge and embarrassing gaff. And don't worry, Paxos tweeted to assure folks that the issue was a technical error and that their customers funds are safe. Paxos even says they've burned the excess PYUSD. I've been known to burn through a lot of excess money myself, but I really hope that's not what they mean. The coin's still pegged. Don't worry, guys. >> Yeah. >> And you should know what I mean when I say peg when I tell you to come back on Monday for more tech news. I can't promise you we'll have holograms by Monday, but I swear I'm working really hard on Picardo."}