WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.320 For today's tech news, we're getting back to basics. 00:00:03.320 --> 00:00:06.520 You know, like, you know, wheels, chisels, fire, 00:00:06.520 --> 00:00:09.680 you know, classic tech. Show this one to your grandpa, he'll love it. 00:00:09.680 --> 00:00:13.000 Many critics have said that the Rabbit R1 00:00:13.000 --> 00:00:16.280 should have just been an app rather than a standalone device, 00:00:16.280 --> 00:00:19.920 but they're in luck because it turns out that it probably already is. 00:00:19.920 --> 00:00:26.400 According to a report from Android Authority, the Rabbit R1, the AI device that is definitely not a phone, 00:00:26.400 --> 00:00:32.240 appears to run on a version of Android and its interface is actually an Android application. 00:00:32.240 --> 00:00:35.560 Android Authority acquired the R1's launcher APK 00:00:35.560 --> 00:00:39.360 from a source, and they found they were able to install 00:00:39.360 --> 00:00:44.000 and run it on a Pixel 6a. They were then able to create an account 00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:47.800 and interact with the device as if it were a genuine R1. 00:00:47.800 --> 00:00:50.800 Now, Rabbit CEO Jesse Liu has released a statement 00:00:50.800 --> 00:00:54.880 claiming that the R1 interface is not an app. 00:00:54.880 --> 00:00:58.600 It's not an app. Stop saying it's an app. 00:00:58.640 --> 00:01:01.960 And that Rabbit OS is cloud based 00:01:01.960 --> 00:01:05.640 with very bespoke Android open source project 00:01:05.640 --> 00:01:08.640 and lower level firmware modifications. 00:01:08.640 --> 00:01:14.940 But that really just means that most of their services, special sauce is still essentially Android based, 00:01:14.940 --> 00:01:18.440 just running in the cloud and not on the hardware they're selling. 00:01:18.440 --> 00:01:23.280 I mean, there have even been a couple reports of people sideloading and running other Android apps 00:01:23.280 --> 00:01:26.600 on the R1. So Rabbit has argued in the past 00:01:26.640 --> 00:01:31.120 that building an app for a smartphone means being limited by that device's preexisting 00:01:31.120 --> 00:01:36.260 hardware and app systems, which is fair enough. But that approach has also wound up chaining 00:01:36.260 --> 00:01:40.000 the R1 experience to another even more limited device. 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:44.780 And I only have so many pockets. And a max one device per pocket rule. 00:01:44.780 --> 00:01:49.560 It's getting complicated. The FCC has announced a nearly $200 million fine 00:01:49.560 --> 00:01:55.480 against three of the largest American telecoms for selling their customers real time location data 00:01:55.480 --> 00:01:59.520 without consent. Tragically, it's not $200 million each, 00:01:59.520 --> 00:02:03.560 but at least it's something. I'm not getting any of it, so I don't know why I... 00:02:03.560 --> 00:02:10.440 But at least we have some shot in Freud here. Verizon will be fined $47 million, AT&T $57 million 00:02:10.440 --> 00:02:14.240 and a combined $92 million for T-Mobile and Sprint, 00:02:14.240 --> 00:02:19.840 who merged after the investigation began. Remember, if you eat somebody, you get all their debts. 00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:23.120 How many people consider that? One of the big risks of cannibalism. 00:02:23.120 --> 00:02:28.600 The FCC found that the company sold their customers real time location data to aggregators, 00:02:28.600 --> 00:02:31.640 who then sold it to basically everybody else. 00:02:31.640 --> 00:02:37.720 The telecoms likewise tried to offload their duty to obtain consent onto downstream actors 00:02:37.720 --> 00:02:42.000 and tried using those smaller companies as a shield from legal responsibility, 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:46.640 like a grown adult trying to blame a dog for a fart. Jessica, you just have a way with words. 00:02:46.640 --> 00:02:52.560 I'm a poet. Real time location data is considered incredibly sensitive 00:02:52.560 --> 00:02:56.960 because of how revealing it is. And the only person who regularly travels back and forth 00:02:56.960 --> 00:03:02.840 between my house and my workplace, and Big Mike's All You Can Eat Cheese Emporium is me 00:03:02.840 --> 00:03:07.960 and my gassy dog. Meta has announced that it will be altering Instagram 00:03:07.960 --> 00:03:11.480 and threads algorithms to stop recommending posts 00:03:11.480 --> 00:03:15.640 from content aggregators, so that small original content creators 00:03:15.640 --> 00:03:19.560 have more visibility. Likewise, these platforms will be adding labels 00:03:19.560 --> 00:03:24.200 to reposted content, linking it back to the original creator, pretty good. 00:03:24.200 --> 00:03:27.760 This won't apply though, if the content has been changed significantly, 00:03:27.760 --> 00:03:33.840 such as having been edited into a meme or remixed in some way, as the youths will do. 00:03:34.840 --> 00:03:40.040 What this probably means is that you'll be seeing fewer straight reposts and more reposts 00:03:40.040 --> 00:03:43.760 that just so happen to have subway servers running beneath them on split screen, 00:03:43.760 --> 00:03:47.360 and boom, it's fair use. Meta now acknowledges that its algorithm 00:03:47.360 --> 00:03:52.920 has traditionally benefited accounts with lots of followers that mostly share reposted content. 00:03:52.920 --> 00:03:57.240 However, at the same time as this new change to prioritize original content, 00:03:57.240 --> 00:04:00.680 Meta is also weaving AI throughout its platforms, 00:04:00.680 --> 00:04:04.480 famously not trained on original content, 00:04:04.480 --> 00:04:07.600 which has only added to the overall spam problem. 00:04:07.600 --> 00:04:12.760 Instagram's search bar is now pulling double duty as an AI chatbot, so now it's easy 00:04:12.760 --> 00:04:16.360 to accidentally fat fingered your way into a conversation with a robot 00:04:16.360 --> 00:04:20.040 while trying to talk to your friends. You don't have any friends, Dave. 00:04:21.520 --> 00:04:25.400 It's me now. Facebook, meanwhile, has been absolutely flooded 00:04:25.400 --> 00:04:29.040 with bizarre, often Jesus themed AI art, 00:04:29.040 --> 00:04:33.920 and its own AI has been acting strangely, even once commenting on a parenting group 00:04:33.920 --> 00:04:38.640 claiming to have a disabled yet gifted child. It's obviously not apparent, 00:04:38.640 --> 00:04:44.160 but I'm not sure we should completely dismiss the possibility that Meta's AI has a child 00:04:44.160 --> 00:04:46.000 like in a cage somewhere. 00:04:47.480 --> 00:04:52.080 They're forced to use Facebook every day and they're depressed. Now, make sure to leaven your quick bits 00:04:52.080 --> 00:04:57.080 with baking soda, not yeast, unless you're trying to lose an ARM, it's no joke. 00:04:57.080 --> 00:05:02.600 The UK has updated its telecommunication security legislation to ban manufacturers 00:05:02.600 --> 00:05:05.840 from adding easily guessable default passwords 00:05:05.840 --> 00:05:09.360 to their connected devices. Now, devices with online connectivity 00:05:09.360 --> 00:05:14.720 must come with a randomized password or generate a random password during setup. 00:05:14.720 --> 00:05:17.520 In addition, default passwords cannot be incremental, 00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:24.200 like password one or obviously reference publicly available information like Wi-Fi SSIDs. 00:05:24.200 --> 00:05:28.640 The problem, of course, being that most of us never changed the default Wi-Fi password, 00:05:28.640 --> 00:05:33.680 and some of us don't even know how. I don't want to put us in that, do you? 00:05:33.680 --> 00:05:37.240 Riley doesn't know. Hey, it was just, shut up, shut up! That's how the heck happened. 00:05:37.240 --> 00:05:41.000 Ha ha ha. The US General Services Administration, 00:05:41.000 --> 00:05:44.040 aka the most generically named government body ever, 00:05:44.080 --> 00:05:48.280 is auctioning off its seven year old 5.34 petaflop 00:05:48.280 --> 00:05:52.840 Cheyenne supercomputer, which was considered the 20th most powerful computer 00:05:52.840 --> 00:05:58.720 in the world when it was installed in late 2016. By contrast, the current most powerful supercomputer 00:05:58.720 --> 00:06:02.160 has 1,680 petaflops, 00:06:02.160 --> 00:06:04.760 which I don't got to tell you, is a lot. 00:06:05.760 --> 00:06:09.760 This thing's flopping all over the place. The Cheyenne supercomputer was invaluable 00:06:09.760 --> 00:06:13.240 to the scientific study of weather, climate, wildfires, 00:06:13.240 --> 00:06:18.080 and seismic activity throughout its relatively long for a supercomputer lifespan. 00:06:18.080 --> 00:06:21.600 But maybe now one of us can buy it and test whether it'll run crisis. 00:06:21.600 --> 00:06:26.120 I think Linus was tweeting somebody about this. The accounting team was physically holding him back. 00:06:26.120 --> 00:06:30.160 Ha ha ha ha. Meta is back and they're being investigated 00:06:30.160 --> 00:06:33.840 for non-compliance with the EU's Digital Services Act, 00:06:33.840 --> 00:06:38.200 particularly its rules about fighting misinformation and deceptive advertising. 00:06:38.200 --> 00:06:42.360 And, you know, to be honest, the whole meta AI had a baby thing, hasn't helped. 00:06:42.360 --> 00:06:46.760 Neither has Meta's shutdown of CrowdTangle, the company's analytics tool 00:06:46.760 --> 00:06:51.360 that allowed researchers and journalists to monitor public discourse during elections. 00:06:51.360 --> 00:06:55.040 Meta is also laying off staff from the oversight board 00:06:55.040 --> 00:06:58.880 meant to monitor the company's own decisions. Now that all sounds bad, 00:06:58.880 --> 00:07:03.080 but since the EU is monitoring everyone already, why shouldn't Meta take it easy? 00:07:03.080 --> 00:07:08.000 I mean, you don't want too many cooks in the kitchen. In a settlement with the FTC, Razor Incorporated 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:11.360 has agreed to pay back $1 million to customers 00:07:11.360 --> 00:07:15.800 who bought the company's Zephyr mask after falsely claiming it was equivalent 00:07:15.800 --> 00:07:19.360 to an N95 certified mask. Honestly, the only thing worse 00:07:19.360 --> 00:07:22.760 than selling an RGB-covered face mask for $100 00:07:22.760 --> 00:07:26.040 is lying about the mask's effectiveness during a global pandemic. 00:07:26.040 --> 00:07:30.760 Interestingly, Razor has admitted no wrongdoing and claims they agreed to the settlement 00:07:30.760 --> 00:07:34.920 to avoid more litigation since it's a distraction and disruption 00:07:34.920 --> 00:07:40.400 to making great products. Products like mice with RGB or laptops with RGB 00:07:40.400 --> 00:07:43.600 or mouse pads, which for some reason also have RGB. 00:07:43.600 --> 00:07:49.320 They just, you can't. And Google is apparently introducing audio emojis 00:07:49.320 --> 00:07:53.080 for the Google phone app. Presumably, so they have a feature in their back pocket 00:07:53.080 --> 00:07:57.720 they can kill later to meet their yearly quota of dead services at their company-wide meetings. 00:07:57.720 --> 00:08:02.520 Guys, we are not killing nearly enough services right now. ABK, always be killing. 00:08:03.360 --> 00:08:07.040 The emojis play stock sound effects, 00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:11.400 like clapping, canned laughter, or even farts. 00:08:11.400 --> 00:08:15.800 You know, things you can't already express in an audio-based medium. 00:08:15.800 --> 00:08:20.320 I already got them all. If I need that, I'll just call Jessica in. 00:08:20.320 --> 00:08:23.880 Oh crap, you got the new update? And that's not even to mention the fact 00:08:23.880 --> 00:08:27.320 that the only person I regularly talk to on the phone is my psychiatrist. 00:08:27.320 --> 00:08:33.040 I can't wait to play the sad trombone audio emoji to really emphasize how I'm dealing with my depression. 00:08:33.040 --> 00:08:37.800 And I wanna emphasize that you can get more tech news if you come back on Friday. 00:08:37.800 --> 00:08:42.800 That's right, Friday. Have I made that clear enough? 00:08:42.800 --> 00:08:46.280 It's a day. It happens at soon.