1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,840 Tech news, tech news, tech news. 2 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:09,920 Ha ha ha, tech news. Google has agreed to pay $700 million in damages 3 00:00:09,920 --> 00:00:15,920 to US consumers as part of a settlement with every state attorney's general, everyone, 4 00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:20,120 over the search giant's alleged anti-competitive play store rules. 5 00:00:20,120 --> 00:00:25,640 I say alleged because Google has admitted to no wrongdoing as part of the settlement, of course. 6 00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:28,760 Classic. 700 million is less than what the play store 7 00:00:28,760 --> 00:00:31,920 makes in a month. And of course, Google Play users make up 8 00:00:31,920 --> 00:00:34,920 a not insignificant percentage of the US population. 9 00:00:34,920 --> 00:00:39,640 Thus, the settlement only guarantees a minimum payout of $2 per user 10 00:00:39,640 --> 00:00:44,080 with more going to higher spending users. But hey, that's just enough money 11 00:00:44,080 --> 00:00:47,320 to buy Super Meat Boy forever, twice. 12 00:00:47,320 --> 00:00:51,040 Didn't think about that. Two forever's. Google has also agreed to simplify 13 00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:56,720 side loading for at least the next five years and allow Android phone OEMs to pre-install 14 00:00:56,720 --> 00:01:02,040 more apps on new phones for at least seven years. Yay, more Facebook apps you can't uninstall. 15 00:01:02,040 --> 00:01:06,280 That's raised some concerns that phone manufacturers might pack devices with bloatware 16 00:01:06,280 --> 00:01:10,640 even more than they currently do. In addition, Google's user choice billing system, 17 00:01:10,640 --> 00:01:15,560 which was in the pilot phase, will be expanding so more developers can avoid paying 18 00:01:15,560 --> 00:01:19,640 the play store's default 30% cut. They'll now have the option to pay 19 00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:24,360 a much cheaper Google service fee of only 26%. 20 00:01:24,360 --> 00:01:27,800 It's not so much better as it is slightly less worse. 21 00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:32,000 Not a very good discount, but it would be a rich milk. 22 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:36,520 It seems that messaging service Beeper is struggling to find a permanent fix 23 00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:41,920 for its Android-based iMessage app, Beeper Mini, after a few weeks of Apple whack-a-moling 24 00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:46,600 the loopholes it was using before. Beeper's new, apparently temporary solution 25 00:01:46,600 --> 00:01:51,280 requires users to have access to a max unique registration data. 26 00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:54,720 The update allows users to share that data with others, 27 00:01:54,720 --> 00:01:59,960 but there's still a finite number of Macs and a finite number of people willing to share that data 28 00:01:59,960 --> 00:02:03,040 just so you can send fancy blue bubbles from your Nokia. 29 00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:06,960 But cool kids will definitely stop swirling you now. One advantage of Beeper's new method 30 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:13,240 is that the Mac associated with the registration data has no access to the user's account or messages. 31 00:02:13,240 --> 00:02:17,120 Another advantage is that the server farm method used by other bridging services, 32 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:22,280 and by Beeper themselves before Beeper Mini, potentially creates an anomalous number of users 33 00:02:22,280 --> 00:02:25,560 all supposedly using one single computer, 34 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:29,240 which is exactly the kind of thing that draws the eye of Sauron, 35 00:02:29,240 --> 00:02:33,040 and by Sauron, I mean Tim Cook. You cannot hide. 36 00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:37,440 I see you. There is no life in the void. 37 00:02:37,440 --> 00:02:41,640 Only death! AI is undoubtedly coming for everyone's jobs, 38 00:02:41,640 --> 00:02:45,040 but Deloitte, one of the world's largest consulting firms, 39 00:02:45,040 --> 00:02:48,680 wants to use AI to reduce the need for layoffs. 40 00:02:48,680 --> 00:02:52,160 Deloitte hired 130,000 additional staff this year, 41 00:02:52,160 --> 00:02:56,640 but found at the same time that thousands of their employees were at risk of redundancy 42 00:02:56,640 --> 00:03:03,240 due to reduced demand for certain services. Rather than go through large swings of hirings and layoffs, 43 00:03:03,240 --> 00:03:07,320 the entire tech industry, the past year and a half or two years, something, 44 00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:11,720 Deloitte is using AI to assess existing employees' skills, 45 00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:15,320 then creating a plan to shift them into higher demand roles. 46 00:03:15,320 --> 00:03:18,600 And strangely, that's not the only positive AI news 47 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:25,200 today. Waymo has announced that a statistical analysis of over 7.1 million miles driven by its driverless cars 48 00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:28,920 has found an 85% reduction in crashes resulting in injuries 49 00:03:28,920 --> 00:03:32,560 and a 57% reduction in crashes reported by police 50 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:36,320 compared to human benchmarks. It's because AI's don't narc. 51 00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:40,280 I feel like they'll narc even more. Stitches get stitches. 52 00:03:40,280 --> 00:03:44,120 Is that AI? Though anyone interpreting that data 53 00:03:44,120 --> 00:03:50,560 needs to account for the fact that Waymo only operates within a geofenced area in three US cities 54 00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:54,840 and that robotaxis are far more likely to report minor accidents than humans, 55 00:03:54,840 --> 00:03:58,680 many of whom just silently pray that nobody saw them back into that dumpster. 56 00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:04,560 But just in case you thought your job was safe again, an AI has also used its little robot fingers 57 00:04:04,560 --> 00:04:08,080 to beat humans at a rotating wooden maze game, 58 00:04:08,080 --> 00:04:13,560 an unusual case of an AI surpassing people at a task that is both intellectual and physical. 59 00:04:13,560 --> 00:04:17,280 So if that's your job, you're in the little maze game. Yeah, I'm the wooden maze, man. 60 00:04:17,280 --> 00:04:21,280 You're in trouble. Let's close out this story with one of the funny reflections 61 00:04:21,280 --> 00:04:25,920 on our changing relationship to technology. YouTuber Jay Schlatt posted a recent video 62 00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:30,960 about the growing subgenre of AI covers inexplicably featuring his voice 63 00:04:30,960 --> 00:04:35,760 and distinctive New York accent, to which he responded by releasing his own, 64 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:39,600 actually kind of amazing cover of Frank Sinatra's My Way. 65 00:04:39,600 --> 00:04:45,440 I did it my way. 66 00:04:45,440 --> 00:04:48,880 Quote, you for trying to replace me. 67 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:51,480 Hard warming. I'm gonna replace myself. 68 00:04:53,240 --> 00:04:57,960 The only person who's gonna replace me is me. We can forgive scientists for mistakenly thinking 69 00:04:57,960 --> 00:05:01,320 that the atom was the smallest possible unit of matter for decades, 70 00:05:01,320 --> 00:05:04,880 when actually it's the quick bit, but you know, it's okay. 71 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:10,440 Telecom giant Comcast says that thanks to the widely exploited network hardware vulnerability 72 00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:15,120 known as Citrix Bleed, 36 million of their Xfinity customers 73 00:05:15,120 --> 00:05:18,120 have had personal data like names, contact info, 74 00:05:18,120 --> 00:05:22,560 answers to security questions, and the last four digits of social security numbers 75 00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:26,400 stolen by hackers. You know, hey, it's a tough world out there. 76 00:05:26,400 --> 00:05:31,680 You know, nothing Comcast could do. Except maybe apply the patch that Citrix provided for them 77 00:05:31,680 --> 00:05:35,000 on October 10th instead of waiting a week to get started. 78 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:39,560 What? They were busy. The internet pipes don't clean themselves. 79 00:05:39,560 --> 00:05:44,400 Comcast CEO is in there wiping them manually. 80 00:05:44,400 --> 00:05:48,440 There's a lot of gunk. Intel thinks it's still on track 81 00:05:48,440 --> 00:05:52,800 to launch its next gen Battle Mage GPUs in 2024, 82 00:05:52,800 --> 00:05:55,960 according to a roadmap shared by the company's Japanese branch. 83 00:05:55,960 --> 00:05:59,240 If that launch goes the way that the first Arc GPU launch went, 84 00:05:59,240 --> 00:06:02,240 this means that just before Christmas 2024, 85 00:06:02,240 --> 00:06:07,280 you'll be able to go to the store and pick up your phone to read a press release about it. 86 00:06:07,280 --> 00:06:10,480 It's not, because it's not, it's not gonna be there. 87 00:06:10,480 --> 00:06:14,160 Intel's Arc gaming cards have gotten way better thanks to driver updates. 88 00:06:14,160 --> 00:06:19,240 And by the time Battle Mage comes out, Team Blue may have a DLSS frame generation competitor 89 00:06:19,240 --> 00:06:24,040 of its own if Intel sponsored research from the University of California is any indication. 90 00:06:24,040 --> 00:06:29,680 So get excited for Intel's new GPUs or at least nice pictures of them to launch next year 91 00:06:29,680 --> 00:06:34,760 or at some other time. Mercedes-Benz wants to use turquoise taillights 92 00:06:34,760 --> 00:06:38,000 to communicate when a car is driving itself. 93 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:41,800 Only Nevada and California have approved testing of the light color, 94 00:06:41,800 --> 00:06:46,560 but that's mainly because they're the only two states where the automakers conditionally autonomous 95 00:06:46,560 --> 00:06:50,640 self-driving technology is legal. Frankly, I'm in favor of the choice. 96 00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:56,160 I can't think of a more soothing color to see before your legs are taken out by a rogue AI. 97 00:06:56,160 --> 00:07:00,160 Oh, that's so beautiful. You can always get a job in the metaverse. 98 00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:01,360 Cause they got no legs. 99 00:07:04,120 --> 00:07:08,640 The virtual reality ship keeps sinking, even though Zuck keeps plugging the holes 100 00:07:08,640 --> 00:07:13,560 with billions of dollars. It's not watertight. Industry research firm, Cercana, 101 00:07:13,560 --> 00:07:18,400 says sales of VR and AR devices declined by 40% this year, 102 00:07:18,400 --> 00:07:21,480 even though Mark Zuckerberg specifically asked Santa 103 00:07:21,480 --> 00:07:25,680 for the metaverse this Christmas. He even added tongue tracking to the Quest Pro 104 00:07:25,680 --> 00:07:30,080 to better appeal to his fellow reptiles. But it turns out most bearded dragons 105 00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:33,280 can't afford a $1,000 headset. Someone needs to do something. 106 00:07:33,280 --> 00:07:39,000 And the EU is adding three adult sites, Pornhub, Strip Chat, and X-Videos. 107 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:42,480 I haven't even heard of the middle one. Strip Chat's just about chicken strips. 108 00:07:42,480 --> 00:07:45,720 Just a bunch of boys getting together to discuss the best candies. 109 00:07:45,720 --> 00:07:50,600 The EU's adding them to their list of very large online platforms or VLOPS. 110 00:07:50,600 --> 00:07:53,840 These sites are now in the strictest regulatory classification 111 00:07:53,840 --> 00:07:57,480 under its Digital Services Act, alongside heavy hitters like Amazon, 112 00:07:57,480 --> 00:08:01,320 Meta, TikTok, Twitter, and Wikipedia. This decision will likely lead 113 00:08:01,320 --> 00:08:04,640 to user age verification gates on all three sites, 114 00:08:04,640 --> 00:08:10,880 but also provokes an interesting semantic discussion. Is Pornhub in some sense a social media site? 115 00:08:10,880 --> 00:08:15,640 Can you be a Pornhub influencer? You can add other users as friends on there. 116 00:08:15,640 --> 00:08:19,040 You also probably shouldn't, unless it's the guy- Who does calculus. 117 00:08:19,040 --> 00:08:23,520 Yeah, he's having a great time. But you should come back on Friday for more tech news. 118 00:08:23,520 --> 00:08:29,200 I promise, they won't get weird. It's not like, it'll be fine. 119 00:08:29,920 --> 00:08:31,280 Please.