{"video_id":"ZbbHUvRCrBg","title":"Apple is Getting Trolled","channel":"TechLinked","show":"TechLinked","published_at":"2025-06-08T14:53:29Z","duration_s":543,"segments":[{"start_s":0.16,"end_s":6.16,"text":"Real quick, there won't be a tech link this coming Monday because I would much","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":4.0,"end_s":10.559,"text":"rather try and fail to cover all the Computex news on Wednesday. What a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":8.24,"end_s":15.839,"text":"thrill that'll be. Apple is up to its old tricks, slapping big red warning","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":13.04,"end_s":20.64,"text":"symbols on some iOS apps in the EU like Instacart that don't use App Store","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":18.32,"end_s":25.519,"text":"payments, something they've been allowed to do for more than a year. And well,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":23.279,"end_s":29.039,"text":"Apple's used these warnings since then, too. It's just that a bunch of people","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":26.96,"end_s":33.2,"text":"notice them now that some apps are actually starting to implement external","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":31.119,"end_s":37.2,"text":"payments. It's Apple's typical playbook of technically complying with new","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":35.44,"end_s":41.2,"text":"regulations, forcing them to allow third party payments, but doing it angrily","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":39.44,"end_s":46.399,"text":"like a nurse that you've offended somehow. Is this the wound? Here's a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":44.079,"end_s":51.28,"text":"band-aid. That attitude can also be seen in Apple telling Patreon that its","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":48.719,"end_s":56.48,"text":"external payments link can't open in an inapp browser window. The link has to go","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":53.6,"end_s":61.039,"text":"out of the Patreon app to Safari, which might as well be the elephant graveyard.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":58.559,"end_s":65.84,"text":"No, don't go there, Simba. But when it comes to App Store related shenanigans,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":63.12,"end_s":70.56,"text":"Apple isn't the only sketchy player. After resubmitting Fortnite to the US","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":68.4,"end_s":76.159,"text":"version of the iOS App Store last week, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney announced","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":73.04,"end_s":77.96,"text":"that Fortnite's next update must drop on","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":76.159,"end_s":82.0,"text":"all platforms simultaneously. That's important. He","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":80.24,"end_s":87.6,"text":"then went on a little tweet storm directly asking his fellow Tim Cook to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":84.96,"end_s":91.36,"text":"let the kids play as racist Darth Vader. Wait, no, that that's that's for later","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":88.96,"end_s":96.479,"text":"in the episode. Sweeney pointed out that Fortnite's not allowed on the App Store,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":93.759,"end_s":101.84,"text":"but a game called Fort Battle Royale Epic Shoot was. When Apple took that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":99.52,"end_s":106.799,"text":"down, Sweeney recommended another knockoff. But Apple neither accepted or","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":104.56,"end_s":111.759,"text":"rejected the official Fortnite update, which Sweeney said put the Games Friday","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":109.2,"end_s":117.439,"text":"update in jeopardy. Now, this morning, Epic Games claimed Apple blocked its","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":114.399,"end_s":119.68,"text":"Fortnite submission. Shocker. And for","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":117.439,"end_s":125.92,"text":"some reason, this means Fortnite can't be released to the US App Store or to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":122.88,"end_s":128.399,"text":"the iOS Epic Game Store in the EU where","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":125.92,"end_s":134.319,"text":"it was already available. And now, quote, \"Sadly, Fortnite on iOS will be","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":131.52,"end_s":140.16,"text":"offline worldwide until Apple unblocks it.\" Now, Fortnite was unavailable to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":137.28,"end_s":145.84,"text":"download for iOS today in the EU, but in statements to Bloomberg, Apple denied","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":142.72,"end_s":147.76,"text":"blocking Fortnite on Epic's own store.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":145.84,"end_s":152.64,"text":"It says it just asked Epic's EU developer account to resubmit the app","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":149.76,"end_s":158.16,"text":"update without also bundling it with the US App Store submission, which it","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":155.599,"end_s":162.72,"text":"doesn't want to allow. So, TLDDR, either Apple's lying or Tim Sweeney took","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":160.48,"end_s":167.2,"text":"Fortnite off Epic's own store on purpose to make Apple look bad. Unfortunately,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":165.04,"end_s":170.239,"text":"neither of those are that far-fetched. Like, Tim's trying to open up the App","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":168.8,"end_s":175.12,"text":"Store, which is good, but he doesn't really care about who he misleads along","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":172.959,"end_s":179.599,"text":"the way. He's like Luan Rail from the best Star Wars thing ever made and/or","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":177.36,"end_s":183.76,"text":"season 2 finale streaming now on Disney Plus. Disney sucks, but the show","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":181.44,"end_s":188.239,"text":"doesn't. I love Tim Sweeney retweeting an American Fortnite player who's sad","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":185.76,"end_s":192.72,"text":"about being this close to playing Fortnite on iOS again only to get","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":190.44,"end_s":196.72,"text":"rugpulled. And the only reason he had that hope in the first place is because","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":194.8,"end_s":200.959,"text":"Tim Sweeney promised that Apple would approve Fortnite this time. He also","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":198.879,"end_s":205.04,"text":"retweeted an AI video saying that elephants evolved from Demetradon. I","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":203.519,"end_s":209.84,"text":"think we all know what that says about him. So, you guys like dinosaurs, right?","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":207.04,"end_s":212.319,"text":"It's not a dinosaur. Shut up. Now, I spent way too long talking about that,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":211.2,"end_s":219.599,"text":"so I'm going to have to speed through this next stuff. Video cards with a z.com spotted a reference to an Intel","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":216.4,"end_s":221.36,"text":"Arcpro B60, whatever that is, on the Mac","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":219.599,"end_s":225.76,"text":"Sun website. So, I guess we'll probably at least get to see that at Comp","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":223.12,"end_s":231.2,"text":"Computex next week along with maybe a Radeon RX960 XT, which will not look","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":229.44,"end_s":235.04,"text":"like the reference design in this tweet from AMD. That's just a mockup that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":233.44,"end_s":238.08,"text":"won't go on sale, but which they nevertheless wanted to show you because","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":236.64,"end_s":242.72,"text":"they're proud of the intern that made it. Congrats, Kevin. Listings for eight","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":240.48,"end_s":246.799,"text":"and 16 GB versions of the card have already been spotted, so it seems like","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":244.4,"end_s":252.799,"text":"this thing might launch next week. We probably won't get to see AMD's rumored","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":249.04,"end_s":255.519,"text":"Medusa Point Ryzen APU with 22 cores or","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":252.799,"end_s":261.12,"text":"the ARMPowered PC processor cenamed Soundwave that will reportedly take on","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":257.68,"end_s":263.52,"text":"NVIDIA's own ARMPowered N1 chip in 2026.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":261.12,"end_s":268.8,"text":"Though, unless Kevin makes a banging mockup for those","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":265.16,"end_s":271.52,"text":"two, good luck, dude. OpenAI finally","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":268.8,"end_s":276.08,"text":"made its GPT 4.1 models available in chat GPT this week and then announced a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":273.919,"end_s":282.24,"text":"new cloud-based coding agent called Codeex, not to be confused with Codeex","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":278.96,"end_s":284.96,"text":"CLI, the open-source agent for terminal","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":282.24,"end_s":289.6,"text":"apps that launched last month. Uh, no. If if you'd like to be confused, let me","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":286.96,"end_s":294.479,"text":"tell you about how XAI's chatbot Grock suddenly started rambling about white","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":291.68,"end_s":299.28,"text":"genocide in South Africa anytime someone tweeted for its opinion on literally","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":296.72,"end_s":304.639,"text":"anything that wasn't that. Sometimes it answered the question it was actually","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":300.8,"end_s":307.28,"text":"being asked and then went now regarding","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":304.639,"end_s":310.479,"text":"South Africa. Other times it completely ignored the prompt and just jumped right","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":309.12,"end_s":314.96,"text":"into it. I mean, that's what we're all here for, right? After taking the bot","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":312.24,"end_s":318.72,"text":"offline for a bit, XAI brought it back, said they'll be publishing Grock's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":316.479,"end_s":323.919,"text":"system prompts to GitHub going forward, and blamed the issue on an unauthorized","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":321.36,"end_s":328.8,"text":"modification made presumably by someone with permissions to do so that also has","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":326.24,"end_s":334.08,"text":"strong opinions about South Africa. When asked who it thought the rogue employee","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":330.96,"end_s":336.88,"text":"was, new feeling much better now, Grock","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":334.08,"end_s":342.56,"text":"said, \"Come on, guys. I mean, obviously it wasn't noted CEO of XAI, originally","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":340.4,"end_s":347.36,"text":"from South Africa, Elon Musk. He wouldn't risk his company's rep for","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":344.479,"end_s":350.68,"text":"that, right? He's never done racially charged things in front of large groups","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":349.039,"end_s":357.44,"text":"of people before. And I've never had a worse segue","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":353.759,"end_s":360.72,"text":"to our sponsor, MSI, and their MPG Velox","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":357.44,"end_s":363.919,"text":"300R Airflow PZ, a PC chassis that's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":360.72,"end_s":367.28,"text":"built to be cool, just like you. It","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":363.919,"end_s":368.8,"text":"comes equipped with two 160 mm ARGB dual","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":367.28,"end_s":373.36,"text":"layer blade fans in the front and another 120 mil in the rear, which add","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":371.039,"end_s":377.759,"text":"inner and outer rings to the fan, improving rigidity and minimizing","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":375.36,"end_s":383.12,"text":"vibration for more efficient air flow. That sounds cool. The case also supports","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":379.84,"end_s":386.039,"text":"up to 13 fans, three 360 mil radiators,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":383.12,"end_s":390.479,"text":"and all motherboard sizes from EATX to miniITX, including back connect boards.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":388.56,"end_s":395.84,"text":"And don't forget the quick snap and lock PSU cover, removable dust filters, and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":392.88,"end_s":401.759,"text":"the included one to4 ARGB fan control board. Okay, and then go check out the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":398.4,"end_s":403.28,"text":"MSI MPG Veloc 300R Airflow PZ at the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":401.759,"end_s":407.84,"text":"link in the description. It's the Quickbits","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":404.759,"end_s":410.319,"text":"now. There's just no time. Spotify has","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":407.84,"end_s":415.12,"text":"responded to backlash from podcasters upset over the company's recent update","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":412.72,"end_s":420.0,"text":"adding public play counts to every podcast. Spotify's new policy will be to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":417.84,"end_s":424.96,"text":"show public play counts only for podcasts with more than 50,000 plays.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":423.039,"end_s":428.319,"text":"That way, you won't be able to tell how many people are listening to all the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":426.319,"end_s":431.919,"text":"fake podcasts discovered by Business Insider and CNN this week that are only","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":430.4,"end_s":435.68,"text":"like 10 seconds long because they're just a front for selling drugs.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":433.759,"end_s":440.479,"text":"Everybody's happy. Reports circulated this week about a massive Steam data","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":437.919,"end_s":444.639,"text":"breach that supposedly compromised 89 million accounts. And full disclosure, I","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":443.12,"end_s":448.96,"text":"didn't include it on Techlink because something seemed off. And sure enough,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":447.199,"end_s":453.44,"text":"Valve has confirmed that the only thing that was really compromised were a bunch","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":450.96,"end_s":457.28,"text":"of one-time login codes that don't work anymore. The company says there's no","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":455.199,"end_s":462.08,"text":"real reason to change your password. But do you need a reason? Do it","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":459.88,"end_s":466.72,"text":"anyway. Come up with a fun one. Australian startup Gilmore Space was due","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":464.72,"end_s":470.639,"text":"to launch the country's first orbital class rocket this week. But during","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":468.56,"end_s":475.44,"text":"launch preparations, the rocket's nose cone deployed prematurely. Uh there were","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":473.68,"end_s":482.16,"text":"no photos, but it probably looked something like this clip. Uh according","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":479.199,"end_s":485.44,"text":"to scientists, in other words, the top fell off, and they should probably build","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":484.0,"end_s":490.24,"text":"the next one, so that doesn't happen. Well, some of them are built so the front doesn't fall off at all. And","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":488.08,"end_s":494.96,"text":"Fortnite is back one more time because it gave Darth Vader, a boss character in","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":492.72,"end_s":500.8,"text":"the game Star Wars mode, an AI version of James Earl Jones's voice that players","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":497.52,"end_s":503.599,"text":"can talk to. Vader immediately started","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":500.8,"end_s":508.879,"text":"swearing freaking and being a little racist.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":506.12,"end_s":514.08,"text":"Spanish, a useful tongue for smugglers and spice traders. To be fair, he's a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":511.919,"end_s":518.719,"text":"space Nazi super soldier. It's not completely out of left field. Epic Games","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":516.399,"end_s":522.959,"text":"pushed a hot fix immediately and pointed out you can report it to them the next","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":521.039,"end_s":526.72,"text":"time the guy that literally slaughtered a temple full of younglings says","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":524.64,"end_s":531.279,"text":"something a bit edgy. And who knows, maybe I'll say something edgy when you","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":528.48,"end_s":534.399,"text":"come back on Wednesday, not Monday, for more tech news. I've got some dark","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":532.959,"end_s":538.88,"text":"thoughts in here. You wouldn't think so, but you don't even want to know what I","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":536.72,"end_s":543.76,"text":"think about the atomic purple Game Boy Color.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":541.04,"end_s":543.76,"text":"Don't Don't do","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0}],"full_text":"Real quick, there won't be a tech link this coming Monday because I would much rather try and fail to cover all the Computex news on Wednesday. What a thrill that'll be. Apple is up to its old tricks, slapping big red warning symbols on some iOS apps in the EU like Instacart that don't use App Store payments, something they've been allowed to do for more than a year. And well, Apple's used these warnings since then, too. It's just that a bunch of people notice them now that some apps are actually starting to implement external payments. It's Apple's typical playbook of technically complying with new regulations, forcing them to allow third party payments, but doing it angrily like a nurse that you've offended somehow. Is this the wound? Here's a band-aid. That attitude can also be seen in Apple telling Patreon that its external payments link can't open in an inapp browser window. The link has to go out of the Patreon app to Safari, which might as well be the elephant graveyard. No, don't go there, Simba. But when it comes to App Store related shenanigans, Apple isn't the only sketchy player. After resubmitting Fortnite to the US version of the iOS App Store last week, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney announced that Fortnite's next update must drop on all platforms simultaneously. That's important. He then went on a little tweet storm directly asking his fellow Tim Cook to let the kids play as racist Darth Vader. Wait, no, that that's that's for later in the episode. Sweeney pointed out that Fortnite's not allowed on the App Store, but a game called Fort Battle Royale Epic Shoot was. When Apple took that down, Sweeney recommended another knockoff. But Apple neither accepted or rejected the official Fortnite update, which Sweeney said put the Games Friday update in jeopardy. Now, this morning, Epic Games claimed Apple blocked its Fortnite submission. Shocker. And for some reason, this means Fortnite can't be released to the US App Store or to the iOS Epic Game Store in the EU where it was already available. And now, quote, \"Sadly, Fortnite on iOS will be offline worldwide until Apple unblocks it.\" Now, Fortnite was unavailable to download for iOS today in the EU, but in statements to Bloomberg, Apple denied blocking Fortnite on Epic's own store. It says it just asked Epic's EU developer account to resubmit the app update without also bundling it with the US App Store submission, which it doesn't want to allow. So, TLDDR, either Apple's lying or Tim Sweeney took Fortnite off Epic's own store on purpose to make Apple look bad. Unfortunately, neither of those are that far-fetched. Like, Tim's trying to open up the App Store, which is good, but he doesn't really care about who he misleads along the way. He's like Luan Rail from the best Star Wars thing ever made and/or season 2 finale streaming now on Disney Plus. Disney sucks, but the show doesn't. I love Tim Sweeney retweeting an American Fortnite player who's sad about being this close to playing Fortnite on iOS again only to get rugpulled. And the only reason he had that hope in the first place is because Tim Sweeney promised that Apple would approve Fortnite this time. He also retweeted an AI video saying that elephants evolved from Demetradon. I think we all know what that says about him. So, you guys like dinosaurs, right? It's not a dinosaur. Shut up. Now, I spent way too long talking about that, so I'm going to have to speed through this next stuff. Video cards with a z.com spotted a reference to an Intel Arcpro B60, whatever that is, on the Mac Sun website. So, I guess we'll probably at least get to see that at Comp Computex next week along with maybe a Radeon RX960 XT, which will not look like the reference design in this tweet from AMD. That's just a mockup that won't go on sale, but which they nevertheless wanted to show you because they're proud of the intern that made it. Congrats, Kevin. Listings for eight and 16 GB versions of the card have already been spotted, so it seems like this thing might launch next week. We probably won't get to see AMD's rumored Medusa Point Ryzen APU with 22 cores or the ARMPowered PC processor cenamed Soundwave that will reportedly take on NVIDIA's own ARMPowered N1 chip in 2026. Though, unless Kevin makes a banging mockup for those two, good luck, dude. OpenAI finally made its GPT 4.1 models available in chat GPT this week and then announced a new cloud-based coding agent called Codeex, not to be confused with Codeex CLI, the open-source agent for terminal apps that launched last month. Uh, no. If if you'd like to be confused, let me tell you about how XAI's chatbot Grock suddenly started rambling about white genocide in South Africa anytime someone tweeted for its opinion on literally anything that wasn't that. Sometimes it answered the question it was actually being asked and then went now regarding South Africa. Other times it completely ignored the prompt and just jumped right into it. I mean, that's what we're all here for, right? After taking the bot offline for a bit, XAI brought it back, said they'll be publishing Grock's system prompts to GitHub going forward, and blamed the issue on an unauthorized modification made presumably by someone with permissions to do so that also has strong opinions about South Africa. When asked who it thought the rogue employee was, new feeling much better now, Grock said, \"Come on, guys. I mean, obviously it wasn't noted CEO of XAI, originally from South Africa, Elon Musk. He wouldn't risk his company's rep for that, right? He's never done racially charged things in front of large groups of people before. And I've never had a worse segue to our sponsor, MSI, and their MPG Velox 300R Airflow PZ, a PC chassis that's built to be cool, just like you. It comes equipped with two 160 mm ARGB dual layer blade fans in the front and another 120 mil in the rear, which add inner and outer rings to the fan, improving rigidity and minimizing vibration for more efficient air flow. That sounds cool. The case also supports up to 13 fans, three 360 mil radiators, and all motherboard sizes from EATX to miniITX, including back connect boards. And don't forget the quick snap and lock PSU cover, removable dust filters, and the included one to4 ARGB fan control board. Okay, and then go check out the MSI MPG Veloc 300R Airflow PZ at the link in the description. It's the Quickbits now. There's just no time. Spotify has responded to backlash from podcasters upset over the company's recent update adding public play counts to every podcast. Spotify's new policy will be to show public play counts only for podcasts with more than 50,000 plays. That way, you won't be able to tell how many people are listening to all the fake podcasts discovered by Business Insider and CNN this week that are only like 10 seconds long because they're just a front for selling drugs. Everybody's happy. Reports circulated this week about a massive Steam data breach that supposedly compromised 89 million accounts. And full disclosure, I didn't include it on Techlink because something seemed off. And sure enough, Valve has confirmed that the only thing that was really compromised were a bunch of one-time login codes that don't work anymore. The company says there's no real reason to change your password. But do you need a reason? Do it anyway. Come up with a fun one. Australian startup Gilmore Space was due to launch the country's first orbital class rocket this week. But during launch preparations, the rocket's nose cone deployed prematurely. Uh there were no photos, but it probably looked something like this clip. Uh according to scientists, in other words, the top fell off, and they should probably build the next one, so that doesn't happen. Well, some of them are built so the front doesn't fall off at all. And Fortnite is back one more time because it gave Darth Vader, a boss character in the game Star Wars mode, an AI version of James Earl Jones's voice that players can talk to. Vader immediately started swearing freaking and being a little racist. Spanish, a useful tongue for smugglers and spice traders. To be fair, he's a space Nazi super soldier. It's not completely out of left field. Epic Games pushed a hot fix immediately and pointed out you can report it to them the next time the guy that literally slaughtered a temple full of younglings says something a bit edgy. And who knows, maybe I'll say something edgy when you come back on Wednesday, not Monday, for more tech news. I've got some dark thoughts in here. You wouldn't think so, but you don't even want to know what I think about the atomic purple Game Boy Color. Don't Don't do"}