1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,320 Welcome back to the show that keeps you informed of the latest tech news, even though The Simpsons 2 00:00:04,320 --> 00:00:10,080 did all of it first 20 plus years ago. Microsoft has followed through on its threat to kill Skype 3 00:00:10,080 --> 00:00:14,800 unless people stop slandering teams online, which has not happened, because teams is what 4 00:00:14,800 --> 00:00:19,840 you would get if you put Slack in a blender with Norden Antivirus and an Atlantic oil spill. 5 00:00:19,840 --> 00:00:26,320 Skype has had a heck of a run. It was launched by Swedish, Danish and Estonian developers in 2003 6 00:00:26,320 --> 00:00:32,480 before being bought by eBay in 2005, and then bought again by a group of investors that included 7 00:00:32,480 --> 00:00:37,920 the Canada Pension Plan. With Skype dead, many Canadian boomers might join it, which is okay 8 00:00:37,920 --> 00:00:43,120 because we need their houses. That's a joke. Microsoft saved those boomers by acquiring Skype 9 00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:50,480 in 2011, but 14 years later, the tech giant is really hoping Skype users will skedaddle over 10 00:00:50,480 --> 00:00:56,480 to the free version of Teams instead, which already sucks in terms of branding alone. Like, 11 00:00:56,480 --> 00:01:01,280 I'm gonna ask my pen pals to install Teams. It sounds like I'm recruiting them into my 12 00:01:01,280 --> 00:01:06,640 multi-level marketing cult. But it also sucks that some of Skype's best features are being 13 00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:12,080 paywalled or just going away. The Skype Twitter account confirmed that on Teams-free, 14 00:01:12,080 --> 00:01:17,600 group calls are limited to 60 minutes without a subscription, and you can't call phone numbers. 15 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:22,560 Although later, the account said you can, but only until your Skype credits run out, 16 00:01:22,560 --> 00:01:28,320 then you'll have to pay. Or, and here's the real kicker, you could use one of the many 17 00:01:28,320 --> 00:01:36,640 alternatives. Literally every app has video calling now. Skype rip. Company towns are back, baby. On 18 00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:44,960 Saturday, a group of mostly SpaceX employees voted 212 to 6 to incorporate a new city called Starbase 19 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:51,120 near the company's Starbase launch site in Boca Chica Beach, Texas. Reports indicate the 20 00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:55,920 six people who voted against the measure do not work for SpaceX and are probably going to be 21 00:01:55,920 --> 00:02:01,040 really bored at town hall meetings. Elon celebrated the city's incorporation, something he's been 22 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:08,080 in favor of since 2021. Starbase, Texas, will house about 500 official residents and hopefully 23 00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:13,280 inspire country songs that include mentions of rockets and space alongside the traditional 24 00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:18,240 guns, trucks, beer, and dogs. Many also hope the city won't be the kind of company town 25 00:02:18,240 --> 00:02:22,960 that traps its employees in a life of servitude because the company's script is Dogecoin and 26 00:02:22,960 --> 00:02:28,400 its value tanked after Elon tweeted something. Just like how those things happened in the olden 27 00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:35,280 days. OpenAI has backtracked on its plan to transform into more of a for-profit operation, 28 00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:41,360 instead opting to transition its for-profit company into a public benefit corporation 29 00:02:41,360 --> 00:02:46,320 which will continue to be controlled by its non-profit ARM. And if you're unfamiliar with 30 00:02:46,320 --> 00:02:50,880 OpenAI's wacky corporate structure, I'm sorry you'll have to google it. While it certainly 31 00:02:50,880 --> 00:02:57,440 seems like OpenAI went this route to avoid legal issues, their blog post frames it as the responsible 32 00:02:57,440 --> 00:03:03,600 thing to do. Like pushing kids to use AI. Google has emailed parents who use family link, 33 00:03:03,600 --> 00:03:09,920 notifying them that kids under 13 will soon be able to use Gemini if you let them. This actually 34 00:03:09,920 --> 00:03:15,120 makes sense. Adults have already gotten bored of asking AI to show them a t-rex, but kids? 35 00:03:15,920 --> 00:03:21,200 Entertainment for days. Just first make sure you go through Google's Family Guide for AI 36 00:03:21,200 --> 00:03:26,240 so you can explain to your kids how AI's inner workings are still a black box and we really 37 00:03:26,240 --> 00:03:30,400 don't know what the fuck we're dealing with. It's dangerous! Be careful, okay? Have fun! 38 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:34,800 But hey, at least it looks like Google's trying to be responsible. Unlike Meta, 39 00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:40,720 whose new Meta AI app launched last week and is raising privacy concerns since its appetite for 40 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:46,720 data is only matched by a kid's need to see t-rex pictures. The app's social feed is also 41 00:03:47,680 --> 00:03:53,200 weird. I mean, in an age when people are getting fed up with feeds full of AI-generated filler, 42 00:03:53,200 --> 00:04:00,000 now there's a social app that might as well be called Oops, Allslop. Now, see, the Simpsons never 43 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:05,920 did the quick bits, although steamed hams might count. Some GPU reviewers have actually gotten 44 00:04:05,920 --> 00:04:12,960 their hands on the 8GB variant of the RTX 5060 Ti, including German outlet Computerbase. During 45 00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:19,760 their testing, they found that the card performed 14-17% worse in terms of FPS when it was plugged 46 00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:26,560 into a PCIe 4.0 slot instead of a PCIe 5.0 slot. It was such a small amount of VRAM, 47 00:04:26,560 --> 00:04:33,280 the card has to fetch data from system memory more often, and PCIe 4.0 slots just don't have 48 00:04:33,280 --> 00:04:38,000 big enough pipes to pipe all those numbers fast enough. Don't tell me there's no actual pipes 49 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:43,840 involved, this works for me. Microsoft has begun rolling out the 24H2 update for Windows 11, 50 00:04:43,840 --> 00:04:49,760 whether you like it or not. Yeah, the update had a ton of bugs that only became obvious once they 51 00:04:49,760 --> 00:04:54,080 rolled it out to the public, but they fixed those, I'm sure it'll be fine. If you still don't want 52 00:04:54,080 --> 00:04:58,640 it though, a support page says this update will be rolled out automatically for devices 53 00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:03,360 that are not managed by IT departments. So you'll either have to stay up all night to 54 00:05:03,360 --> 00:05:10,160 stand watch over your PC, hire a personal IT manager, or open wide. Here comes the airplane, 55 00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:15,840 ahhh you actually opened your mouth for a second, I saw that. Time for an extra quick bit. Look, 56 00:05:15,840 --> 00:05:21,840 it's a hoverbike, it's called the Volonaut Airbike. That'd be a fun way to go out. 57 00:05:21,840 --> 00:05:27,680 Sam Altman's OpenAI for-profit plans didn't work out, so he pivoted and brought his World 58 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:32,480 Company to the US, which will let Americans join the people from other countries who have already 59 00:05:32,480 --> 00:05:39,200 scanned their eyes with World's Orb device, and received Worldcoin cryptocurrency alongside 60 00:05:39,200 --> 00:05:45,440 cryptographic proof you are a real human. At least according to this orb, World also announced the 61 00:05:45,440 --> 00:05:50,960 Orb Mini, a smartphone-sized scanner you can point at other humans to prove they're real. 62 00:05:50,960 --> 00:05:56,400 And I guess accept payment eventually? It seems weird, but hey, Razer's on board, 63 00:05:56,400 --> 00:06:01,840 you'll be able to use World to verify your Razer ID so you can game with real humans, 64 00:06:01,840 --> 00:06:09,200 at least until you all get activated. Nintendo has sued Genki, the accessory maker that revealed a 65 00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:14,400 3D mockup of the Switch 2 before it was even announced. They basically posted a full video 66 00:06:14,400 --> 00:06:20,560 of the console on their website and brought a 3D printed mockup to CES and let people play around 67 00:06:21,200 --> 00:06:27,920 with it. And yeah, that was probably unwise, but man, were people really aware of who Genki was 68 00:06:27,920 --> 00:06:33,280 for a bit there? And Cerabyte has proven the durability of their glass-based storage device 69 00:06:33,280 --> 00:06:39,040 by grilling it in an oven and boiling it in hot water, although they stopped short of mashing 70 00:06:39,040 --> 00:06:44,000 it and sticking it in a stew. Even after all that abuse, the data on the drive remained 71 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:48,320 completely intact. To be honest, I'm probably not going to pick one up though until I see 72 00:06:48,320 --> 00:06:53,600 them slice it with a katana and give it an open-handed slap. The shame that comes after that 73 00:06:53,600 --> 00:06:58,000 can do the most damage. And I'll be emotionally damaged if you don't come back here on Wednesday 74 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:03,440 for more tech news. I'm not trying to emotionally manipulate you, I'm just stating the fact that 75 00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:08,320 if you're not here on Wednesday, you won't be able to stop me from snapping rubber bands at 76 00:07:08,320 --> 00:07:14,880 myself until the pain goes away. That was maybe a little dark, I'm sorry.