WEBVTT 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 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 00:00:10.080 --> 00:00:14.800 unless people stop slandering teams online, which has not happened, because teams is what 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. 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 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 00:00:32.480 --> 00:00:37.920 the Canada Pension Plan. With Skype dead, many Canadian boomers might join it, which is okay 00:00:37.920 --> 00:00:43.120 because we need their houses. That's a joke. Microsoft saved those boomers by acquiring Skype 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 00:00:50.480 --> 00:00:56.480 to the free version of Teams instead, which already sucks in terms of branding alone. Like, 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 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 00:01:06.640 --> 00:01:12.080 paywalled or just going away. The Skype Twitter account confirmed that on Teams-free, 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. 00:01:17.600 --> 00:01:22.560 Although later, the account said you can, but only until your Skype credits run out, 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 00:01:28.320 --> 00:01:36.640 alternatives. Literally every app has video calling now. Skype rip. Company towns are back, baby. On 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 00:01:45.040 --> 00:01:51.120 near the company's Starbase launch site in Boca Chica Beach, Texas. Reports indicate the 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 00:01:55.920 --> 00:02:01.040 really bored at town hall meetings. Elon celebrated the city's incorporation, something he's been 00:02:01.040 --> 00:02:08.080 in favor of since 2021. Starbase, Texas, will house about 500 official residents and hopefully 00:02:08.080 --> 00:02:13.280 inspire country songs that include mentions of rockets and space alongside the traditional 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 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 00:02:22.960 --> 00:02:28.400 its value tanked after Elon tweeted something. Just like how those things happened in the olden 00:02:28.400 --> 00:02:35.280 days. OpenAI has backtracked on its plan to transform into more of a for-profit operation, 00:02:35.280 --> 00:02:41.360 instead opting to transition its for-profit company into a public benefit corporation 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 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 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 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, 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 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? 00:03:15.920 --> 00:03:21.200 Entertainment for days. Just first make sure you go through Google's Family Guide for AI 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 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! 00:03:30.400 --> 00:03:34.800 But hey, at least it looks like Google's trying to be responsible. Unlike Meta, 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 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 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, 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 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:05.920 did the quick bits, although steamed hams might count. Some GPU reviewers have actually gotten 00:04:05.920 --> 00:04:12.960 their hands on the 8GB variant of the RTX 5060 Ti, including German outlet Computerbase. During 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 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, 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 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 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:43.840 involved, this works for me. Microsoft has begun rolling out the 24H2 update for Windows 11, 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 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 00:04:54.080 --> 00:04:58.640 it though, a support page says this update will be rolled out automatically for devices 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 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, 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, 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. 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 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 00:05:32.480 --> 00:05:39.200 scanned their eyes with World's Orb device, and received Worldcoin cryptocurrency alongside 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 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. 00:05:50.960 --> 00:05:56.400 And I guess accept payment eventually? It seems weird, but hey, Razer's on board, 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, 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 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 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 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 00:06:27.920 --> 00:06:33.280 for a bit there? And Cerabyte has proven the durability of their glass-based storage device 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 00:07:08.320 --> 00:07:14.880 myself until the pain goes away. That was maybe a little dark, I'm sorry.