WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.280 Welcome back to TechLinked, the show that isn't afraid to say, 00:00:03.280 --> 00:00:07.040 Stop! Don't Google that! Let Riley do it instead. 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:11.200 YouTube has once again updated its ad-friendly content guidelines, 00:00:11.200 --> 00:00:17.600 tweeting that strong profanity in the first seven seconds is now eligible to earn full ad revenue. 00:00:19.360 --> 00:00:23.120 I should have sworn the intro. Oh, that would have been so cool. 00:00:24.080 --> 00:00:29.040 The new policy comes about two and a half years after YouTube demonetized videos that 00:00:29.040 --> 00:00:34.320 started right out with non-mother-approved language from the get-go before responding 00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:40.160 to backlash and allowing limited ad revenue on those videos. YouTube referenced their prior 00:00:40.160 --> 00:00:46.240 flip-flops in the video update for this change and seemed to take credit for providing YouTubers 00:00:46.240 --> 00:00:51.680 with content. You may have even made a couple popular reaction videos based on that very policy 00:00:51.680 --> 00:00:57.200 update. Yeah, you're welcome. Now, swearing in the first seven seconds won't limit your 00:00:57.200 --> 00:01:02.880 revenue at all, although the tweet said strong profanity is fine while the actual support article 00:01:02.880 --> 00:01:08.720 says moderate, uh, with stronger profanity putting you at risk of earning no revenue. 00:01:09.760 --> 00:01:14.560 Hey, that's unclear. Well, now that YouTube's becoming a wretched hive of scum and villainy, 00:01:14.560 --> 00:01:20.960 the platform is rolling out age estimation technology to a small set of users in the US 00:01:20.960 --> 00:01:27.360 after using it in other markets and seeing nothing explode so far. Starting on August 13th, 00:01:27.360 --> 00:01:32.800 if YouTube's machines think you're under 18, they'll activate protection measures like showing 00:01:32.800 --> 00:01:38.960 only non-personalized ads, enabling take a break and bedtime reminders you need your sleep, 00:01:38.960 --> 00:01:43.760 and recommending fewer videos that could be problematic if viewed in repetition. 00:01:44.080 --> 00:01:54.400 Under 18 creators will also have their ability to earn gifts restricted on vertical live streams, 00:01:54.400 --> 00:01:59.840 which as we all know is a much more dangerous aspect ratio. It's weird though, you can dispute the 00:01:59.840 --> 00:02:06.320 age estimation by uploading a credit card or a government ID. So I guess you can preserve more 00:02:06.320 --> 00:02:12.560 privacy if you don't act like a 12 year old online. It's not clear how long that will be the case, 00:02:12.880 --> 00:02:17.120 as age checks are currently spreading across the internet faster than that 00:02:17.120 --> 00:02:22.560 hot new brain rot slang that just dropped. You know the one, I won't say it. I know what it is though. 00:02:23.600 --> 00:02:28.640 Because Google is actually doing the same thing as YouTube, announcing that age assurance 00:02:28.640 --> 00:02:34.000 will roll out to a small set of US based Google accounts over the next few weeks. 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:39.120 Over in Australia, the government is nixing the exemption they were going to make for YouTube 00:02:39.120 --> 00:02:44.960 in the country's social media ban. So now, come December, accounts for users under 16 will be 00:02:44.960 --> 00:02:50.160 illegal with Prime Minister Anthony Albany's announcing, right, I'm calling time on it. 00:02:50.160 --> 00:02:55.040 But should we really trust Australia with this when they can't even get an orbital class rocket to 00:02:55.040 --> 00:02:59.760 stay in the air for more than 14 seconds? I mean, it's not even just the front that fell off, 00:02:59.760 --> 00:03:04.160 it's the whole thing. Australia, please send me more of your memes. I'm done with the front 00:03:04.160 --> 00:03:10.480 fell off thing for now. As Emma Roth writes at the verge, for better or worse, age verification is 00:03:10.480 --> 00:03:16.240 happening. And now Spotify is threatening to delete UK users accounts if they fail the age 00:03:16.240 --> 00:03:21.200 verification test. But what if you're an adult and you just have the mind of a child? People are 00:03:21.200 --> 00:03:27.520 getting worked into a frenzy. Fears of the EU's upcoming official age checking app only allowing 00:03:27.520 --> 00:03:33.040 users to install apps that were certified by Apple or Google did turn out to be unfounded. 00:03:33.520 --> 00:03:37.520 But still, it's kind of an uncomfortable situation to have a bunch of different age 00:03:37.520 --> 00:03:43.600 verification services amassing hordes of selfies and government IDs, especially in the wake of the 00:03:43.600 --> 00:03:49.600 women's dating safety app, T having thousands of those very things leaked before suffering 00:03:49.600 --> 00:03:56.240 another breach for good measure. Clearly, just calling your app a safety app and being a safe app 00:03:56.880 --> 00:04:07.200 is different. Different like gamers these days. That's according to IGN's new expansive 2025 00:04:07.200 --> 00:04:13.600 gaming trends report, which shares some interesting insights into the games industry.biz. 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:24.560 So what are the main takeaways? First off, Gen Z and Gen Alpha tend to see themselves less as gamers 00:04:24.560 --> 00:04:30.880 and more as players of a specific game. While Gen X or millennials might identify with Xbox, 00:04:30.880 --> 00:04:37.680 PlayStation or PC as their chosen platform, the youngins treat Roblox, Fortnite or Minecraft 00:04:37.680 --> 00:04:44.720 as their platforms, which is exactly what gaming executives have wanted. So congrats on making 00:04:44.720 --> 00:04:51.760 EA CEO Andrew Wilson very happy. The CEO of Roblox is also pretty happy because that game 00:04:52.160 --> 00:04:57.360 platform thing was already beating Fortnite and daily concurrent users. But since May, 00:04:57.360 --> 00:05:02.800 it's shot up from around 10 million to 25 million thanks to the user made game, 00:05:02.800 --> 00:05:08.800 Groa Garden, which has become a viral sensation. Even the Associated Press reported on it with 00:05:08.800 --> 00:05:16.240 perhaps the busiest game screenshot I've ever seen. It's like I can feel it. Like so many 00:05:16.240 --> 00:05:22.480 classic microtransaction traps, Groa Garden is an idle game. So you buy seeds, plant them, 00:05:22.480 --> 00:05:28.080 wait for them to grow and then collect them. And what makes this game super cool is remember, 00:05:28.080 --> 00:05:32.160 your garden literally grows while you are offline. Star. 00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:43.520 Whoa, literally? The report also found that 93% of Gen Alpha prefer to play games on mobile because 00:05:43.520 --> 00:05:49.040 their dads have to use the TV as soon as they get home to see whether the 70, 86ers are gonna 00:05:49.040 --> 00:05:55.760 make it to championships this year. It's important. And Gen Z and Alpha also expect every song, 00:05:55.760 --> 00:06:03.040 TV show and video game to be available to them instantly, which to be fair probably also applies 00:06:03.040 --> 00:06:09.760 to everyone because we have the internet now. You don't have to ship the files to my Steam account. 00:06:09.760 --> 00:06:16.160 Now, of course, you could Google these quick bits yourself, but I don't know. I'm pretty good at 00:06:16.160 --> 00:06:24.080 Googling. Like, do you know about Reddit? Reviews for AMD's new Ryzen Threadripper 9980X and 9970X 00:06:24.080 --> 00:06:30.880 are live and overall, it seems like enthusiasts are pretty happy with them as they deliver a solid 00:06:30.880 --> 00:06:35.600 jump in both performance and efficiency over their predecessors. Is that, is that really, 00:06:35.600 --> 00:06:40.640 there's not like a scandal about a horribly misleading graph or something? Just, just new chips. 00:06:40.640 --> 00:06:47.120 They're, they're, they're good? Okay, yeah. Okay, feels weird. Micron has finally launched the 9650 00:06:47.120 --> 00:06:56.000 NVMe, the world's first actual PCIe Gen 6 SSD, three and a half years after the PCIe 6 spec was 00:06:56.000 --> 00:07:01.440 finalized, which was cool, but I guess no one knew what to do with it. Of course, this SSD is not for 00:07:01.440 --> 00:07:09.840 normal desktops. It's got capacities up to 30.72 terabytes, and it only comes in E1S and E3S form 00:07:09.840 --> 00:07:14.880 factors, which I'm not going to lie. I only just heard about today, but I'm sure they're good for 00:07:14.880 --> 00:07:20.560 servers. Some AI tools have gotten updates that are actually useful, which is kind of exciting. 00:07:20.560 --> 00:07:26.720 Adobe's new Photoshop beta finally features AI upscaling so you can unblur old photos, 00:07:26.720 --> 00:07:32.880 and the new harmonize feature makes it perhaps a bit too easy to alter lighting, shadows, and color 00:07:32.880 --> 00:07:38.080 so you can realistically add people and objects to photos, which will be fine. Don't worry. 00:07:38.080 --> 00:07:44.240 Meanwhile, ChatGBT's new study mode will actually walk the user through the thinking process instead 00:07:44.240 --> 00:07:50.560 of just delivering an answer. And now let's maybe, hey, let's make that the default for kids 00:07:51.200 --> 00:07:54.720 and most adults. Peacock feathers can emit laser beams. 00:07:58.720 --> 00:08:04.640 I'm sorry? Yeah, peacock feathers can be lasers. If you slather them and die and energize them with 00:08:04.640 --> 00:08:10.400 a light source, they'll emit photons in the wavelength of lasers, according to an international 00:08:10.400 --> 00:08:16.640 group of researchers. So no, peacocks aren't about to become pompous strutting avian weapons 00:08:16.640 --> 00:08:21.600 platforms, but the headlines definitely made it sound like that. And I will hold that against them. 00:08:21.600 --> 00:08:26.720 And look, Microsoft made a hundred special editions of their newest Surface laptop to go 00:08:26.720 --> 00:08:32.880 along with the new Smurfs movie that is apparently coming out soon. It's the Smurfs laptop. Don't 00:08:32.880 --> 00:08:37.360 look at me. Tom Warren posted that. What was I supposed to do? Ignore it. I know what you're 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:42.240 supposed to do. Come back here on Friday for more tech news or else I'll be googling stuff all day 00:08:42.240 --> 00:08:47.040 for nothing, except to learn about stuff just for me. And what's the point of that?