July 15, 2021 • 16 mins
A Dogecoin co-founder speaks out against cryptocurrency. Android 12 takes a new spin on auto-rotate. President Biden signs an executive order supporting the right to repair. And what do emoji sound like?
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio.
Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host,
Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio
and a love of all things tech. Is time for
the tech news for Thursday, July twenty one. Let's get
(00:25):
to it now. A few times this year I have
mentioned the right to repair movement, and this movement seeks
to change how you know, some corporations and companies really
locked down their products and they require customers to go
through you know, authorized channels for maintenance and repair, like
the only way you can get something fixed is by
(00:47):
going to a licensed vendor that does repairs well. Back
in the old days, you know, if you had the
tools and the know how you know, and the time
and inclination, you could repair stuff yourself after you bought it.
But over time this has changed as more companies have
made the internal workings of their products difficult or sometimes
(01:09):
even impossible for the average person to access. And then
you add in proprietary stuff like fasteners like special screws
that require specific types of screw drivers to remove, or
you have warranty agreements that are void as soon as
someone even thinks about trying to do repairs themselves, and
(01:31):
you then have this ecosystem that continues to exploit customers
long after the initial purchase. It's kind of like that
idea of how can we lock someone in so that
we can have them be a continual source of revenue,
as opposed to someone who buys a product once and
then they're gone. Well. U S President Joe Biden recently
(01:53):
signed an executive order that doesn't quite fix this, but
it might get the ball rolling. The order encourages the
Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, to draft new rules that
would restrict companies from, you know, restricting their customers so much.
It's far too early to say what those rules might
(02:14):
end up looking like should they get drafted, but presumably
they could include stuff like requiring companies to post information
about diagnostic and repair tools that you would need to
detect and address problems with their products. For people who
aren't confident in their ability to fix their own stuff,
there will still be the option to go to authorize
(02:35):
repair services. It also will open up opportunities for other
people to open up repair services without necessarily going through
some lengthy and potentially expensive licensing deal with the manufacturer.
So in other words, this doesn't mean that it would
suddenly be illegal for you know, Apple to continue to
run the genius bar. They still could totally do that,
(02:57):
but it wouldn't mean that Apple would potentially have to
make available the information people would need if they wanted
to do their own repairs on Apple products, assuming they
had the ability to do that. It will be interesting
to see how this develops, as the right to repair
a movement has been gaining a lot of ground in
many places, as several states in the United States have
(03:19):
already kind of past local laws about this, and we're
also seeing movement on this issue in Europe. Now, if
you've been listening to me for any length of time,
you know that I can be a bit critical of
cryptocurrencies for a lot of reasons. Uh, the proof of
work types of cryptocurrencies where you're using computers to try
(03:42):
and solve mathematical problems in order to mine the cryptocurrency.
That includes cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and the current version of ethereum.
Those have a massive carbon footprint and obviously that's a problem.
They also tend to place a great strain on certain
markets like graphics processing cards. You know, and semiconductors. They
(04:04):
can really affect those, you know, big time, and that
means that other people who need or want those things
can't get them. Then you've got organized crime rings that
flock to cryptocurrencies for various reasons. You know, they tend
to be the currency of choice for black market deals
and that sort of thing. Now, this is not to
(04:24):
say that I think cryptocurrencies are just playing bad period,
but rather that they have a lot of downsides, and
I'm not the only one to think so. Jackson Palmer,
who actually co founded a cryptocurrency, has recently come out
to level a few more criticisms towards cryptocurrency in general,
and you know, addition to the ones I just mentioned. Now,
(04:47):
to be clear, the currency Palmer co founded was doge coin,
which really did start off as a joke, and arguably,
depending on your perspective, still is a joke. It's just
a joke that some people take weight too seriously. Palmer,
who actually had been pretty quiet for the last couple
of years, recently tweeted a thread that included some statements
(05:09):
like quote, I believe that cryptocurrency is an inherently right wing,
hyper capitalistic technology built primarily to amplify the wealth of
its proponents through a combination of tax avoidance, diminished regulatory oversight,
and artificially enforced scarcity end quote. So we can add
those to the list of downsides for cryptocurrency, and I
(05:31):
happen to agree with Palmer and that from my observations,
the crypto community seems to consist of a lot of
evangelists who are trying to convince more people to buy
into crypto and then telling those who are already into
HODDLE or h O d L, which stands for a
hold on for Dear life when things go into a slump.
(05:52):
Crypto has actually been a slump since mid spring, but
the cynical people suggest that this messaging be more about
crypto investors trying to stabilize and then drive up the
value of crypto for their own personal gain before they
switch to something else. In other words, of course, people
are going to say you need to buy into this
(06:13):
because their own investments hinge on the value of the
currency going up, so they will take whatever steps they
can to drive up the value, and then potentially they'll
bail once they reach a certain threshold, and that could
end up making the value plummet again and affect everybody
who came in buying and after it. It's because of
(06:34):
this that some people point to cryptocurrency and say that
it's similar to a pyramid scheme. It's not a pyramid scheme,
you know, not strictly speaking, but depending on people's behaviors
and how the market behaves, it can have a similar
effect to a pyramid scheme. Palmer went on to say
that crypto has its own cabal of wealthy investors, who
(06:57):
in effect are just as manipulative and controlling as you know,
currencies that are based around centralized financial institutions. It's not
a good look. In other words. Palmer also said that
crypto gives opportunities to the wealthy to exploit the less wealthy, or,
as he said, quote, cryptocurrency is almost purpose built to
make the funnel of profiteering more efficient for those at
(07:20):
the top and less safeguarded for the vulnerable, like taking
the worst parts of today's capitalist system e g. Corruption, fraud, inequality,
and using software to technically limit the use of interventions
e g. Audits, regulation, taxation, which serve as protections or
safety nets for the average person. End quote. Pretty you know,
(07:45):
tough stands there. Over on Twitter, Fleets is nearing the
end of its fleeting moment. In the spotlight water fleets,
you might ask, well, if you are asking that, I
think that's probably a good indicator of e they're going away.
Fleets currently are, and soon we will say. We're a
(08:06):
Twitter feature that lets users post tweets that expire so
very much, kind of like you know snapchat or those
Instagram posts that are gone after twenty four hours. This
idea of the momentary message. Fleets similarly had a twenty
four hour lifespan. After that they would get deleted. Twitter's
(08:27):
message about this was a bit cheeky. They tweeted on
the four that quote, we're removing fleets on August three,
working on some new stuff. We're sorry or you're welcome
Twitter end quote. Cute. Twitter first introduced fleets eight whole
months ago, so it really did not take long for
(08:49):
the company to say, yeah, this just isn't working out
because ain't no one using it. Twitter has plateaued in
user engagement, which is not a great thing in a
world that values revenue growth year over year. It's you know,
just not good enough to do well. You have to
actually do better than you did before. Anyway, fleets will
(09:10):
be gone on August three, and by August four, I
predict no one will have even remembered it, because it
will be twenty four hours later. If you're an Android user,
and if you have volunteered to be part of the
Android twelve beta program, you might notice that your phone
is handling auto rotate better than it had before. So
(09:33):
Android twelve will be coming out of beta a little
later this year, but for the time people who want
to run the risk of having an incomplete operating system
build on their phones can elect to be part of
the beta test. I'm one of those suckers. Um one
of those people, actually, and one of the most recent
updates to the beta involves auto rotate. Now. Traditionally Android
(09:57):
has relied solely on accelerometers. These detect a change in
orientation and speed. I've done episodes about accelerometers. They are
super interesting things. They technically detect a change in velocity. However,
this approach doesn't always yield perfect results. There have been
times where I've tried to watch, say a YouTube video
(10:19):
on my phone, particularly if I'm like lounging, laying down
or something, and I want to watch maybe like an
A S M R video, so that I can go
into a coma and I'll turn my phone into landscape orientation,
and yet my screen refuses to make the switch. It's
still in portrait mode. Well, this new update leans a
bit on the device's front facing camera, so, in other words,
(10:41):
and Android twelve smartphone will rely not just on the accelerometer,
but the front facing camera that will then try to
detect the orientation of your face. So if your face
is sideways, well that's a pretty good signal for the
phone to rotate the screen into its other mode. And
for those of you who are concerned with privacy, and
(11:02):
honestly all of us should be, Google reps say that
this feature is kept strictly local to your phone and
that no images, video, or anything like that will be
recorded or sent off of the device. It will just
happen in the background on the hardware itself, So while
the camera will briefly become active, it won't be recording
(11:25):
or streaming or anything like that. Google has actually built
out something called the Android Private Computer Core or a
p c C, which will handle processes like this. That is,
processes that might be super invasive or creepy if they
were not restricted to the hardware of the phone or
handset or tablet or whatever itself. Now, I think that's
(11:47):
a pretty wise move. It gives Google the opportunity to
play with technologies that could really give some cool features
to our phones. But if they were, say, connected to
the cloud or to the outside world, they would represent uh,
potentially catastrophic privacy or security risk. I think it's a
(12:07):
wise decision to go this direction. Facebook has just added
a new feature today called sound Emoji's, and as the
name suggests, it adds sounds to certain emoji. For example,
there's a ghost emoji, and you might think it would
(12:28):
say something like woo. When you activate it now it
gives a cartoonish evil laugh. Um, there's a smoochy emoji
that's making kissy sounds. There's a cricket emoji. The cricket
is extremely realistic looking to me. I mean, it's a cartoon,
but it's crickets are funky looking critters. Anyway, it makes
(12:49):
cricket noises so that when someone makes that clunker of
a joke. You know, someone like me who just rattles
off puns and dad jokes incessantly, you can respond with
that and they'll get the message. I know, I do. Uh.
When I checked just before recording, there were twenty eight
emoji total that have sound capability added to them. Some
(13:11):
of them it's not necessarily a sound you would immediately
suspect when you push it, like some of them end
up prompting a little musical sting as opposed to a
you know, sound effect. But it's just a small sample
of the massive number of available emoji in messengers, so
it's not every single emoji. Thankfully, a few have specifically
(13:35):
not made the cut so far. I'm looking at you,
poop emoji. No one needs to know what you sound like. Now. Apparently,
Facebook plans to update the list and occasionally include, like,
you know, topical or culturally relevant sound clips from stuff
like TV shows and musical artists. So in a way,
(13:56):
this is kind of continuing down the pathway of stuff
like animated gifts and the like. It's another way to
include little, playful, interactive elements in messaging. UM. I have
only sent one. I have not yet received one, so
I don't even know how it works when you receive it.
(14:18):
I know that from sending it. When you're choosing the emoji.
Um it plays back whatever sound it's going to play
for the person you send it to. But the person
I sent it to has not yet responded to that
that sound emoji, which might be an indicator that I
need a new friend. We will see, but I don't
(14:39):
know what it's like to receive one yet. I'll let
you know, or maybe you'll know by the time we
have another episode. Moving on, Bloomberg reports that Netflix will
be adding in streaming video games as part of its
service sometime within the next year, and apparently at no
extra cost to subscribers. The company has actually hired Mike
(15:01):
verdu who worked in the games industry at places like
Oculus and Electronic Arts, and Verduo is going to serve
as the VP of Games Development. Now. I wonder if
that means we're gonna see some original titles for Netflix games. Maybe. Personally,
I'm hoping that they do some tie ins with some
Netflix original series because I really want my Unbreakable Kimmy
(15:25):
Schmidt adventure game. Gosh darn it. And that's it for
the news for Thursday, July one. We'll be back next
week with some more news. If you have suggestions for topics,
I should cover in episodes of tech Stuff. Please reach out.
You can leave me a message over on Twitter. The
handle for the show is text Stuff H. S W
(15:47):
and I'll talk to you again really soon. Text Stuff
is an I Heart Radio production. For more podcasts from
My Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. H
Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio.
Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host,
Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio
and a love of all things tech. Is time for
the tech news for Thursday, July twenty one. Let's get
(00:25):
to it now. A few times this year I have
mentioned the right to repair movement, and this movement seeks
to change how you know, some corporations and companies really
locked down their products and they require customers to go
through you know, authorized channels for maintenance and repair, like
the only way you can get something fixed is by
(00:47):
going to a licensed vendor that does repairs well. Back
in the old days, you know, if you had the
tools and the know how you know, and the time
and inclination, you could repair stuff yourself after you bought it.
But over time this has changed as more companies have
made the internal workings of their products difficult or sometimes
(01:09):
even impossible for the average person to access. And then
you add in proprietary stuff like fasteners like special screws
that require specific types of screw drivers to remove, or
you have warranty agreements that are void as soon as
someone even thinks about trying to do repairs themselves, and
(01:31):
you then have this ecosystem that continues to exploit customers
long after the initial purchase. It's kind of like that
idea of how can we lock someone in so that
we can have them be a continual source of revenue,
as opposed to someone who buys a product once and
then they're gone. Well. U S President Joe Biden recently
(01:53):
signed an executive order that doesn't quite fix this, but
it might get the ball rolling. The order encourages the
Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, to draft new rules that
would restrict companies from, you know, restricting their customers so much.
It's far too early to say what those rules might
(02:14):
end up looking like should they get drafted, but presumably
they could include stuff like requiring companies to post information
about diagnostic and repair tools that you would need to
detect and address problems with their products. For people who
aren't confident in their ability to fix their own stuff,
there will still be the option to go to authorize
(02:35):
repair services. It also will open up opportunities for other
people to open up repair services without necessarily going through
some lengthy and potentially expensive licensing deal with the manufacturer.
So in other words, this doesn't mean that it would
suddenly be illegal for you know, Apple to continue to
run the genius bar. They still could totally do that,
(02:57):
but it wouldn't mean that Apple would potentially have to
make available the information people would need if they wanted
to do their own repairs on Apple products, assuming they
had the ability to do that. It will be interesting
to see how this develops, as the right to repair
a movement has been gaining a lot of ground in
many places, as several states in the United States have
(03:19):
already kind of past local laws about this, and we're
also seeing movement on this issue in Europe. Now, if
you've been listening to me for any length of time,
you know that I can be a bit critical of
cryptocurrencies for a lot of reasons. Uh, the proof of
work types of cryptocurrencies where you're using computers to try
(03:42):
and solve mathematical problems in order to mine the cryptocurrency.
That includes cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and the current version of ethereum.
Those have a massive carbon footprint and obviously that's a problem.
They also tend to place a great strain on certain
markets like graphics processing cards. You know, and semiconductors. They
(04:04):
can really affect those, you know, big time, and that
means that other people who need or want those things
can't get them. Then you've got organized crime rings that
flock to cryptocurrencies for various reasons. You know, they tend
to be the currency of choice for black market deals
and that sort of thing. Now, this is not to
(04:24):
say that I think cryptocurrencies are just playing bad period,
but rather that they have a lot of downsides, and
I'm not the only one to think so. Jackson Palmer,
who actually co founded a cryptocurrency, has recently come out
to level a few more criticisms towards cryptocurrency in general,
and you know, addition to the ones I just mentioned. Now,
(04:47):
to be clear, the currency Palmer co founded was doge coin,
which really did start off as a joke, and arguably,
depending on your perspective, still is a joke. It's just
a joke that some people take weight too seriously. Palmer,
who actually had been pretty quiet for the last couple
of years, recently tweeted a thread that included some statements
(05:09):
like quote, I believe that cryptocurrency is an inherently right wing,
hyper capitalistic technology built primarily to amplify the wealth of
its proponents through a combination of tax avoidance, diminished regulatory oversight,
and artificially enforced scarcity end quote. So we can add
those to the list of downsides for cryptocurrency, and I
(05:31):
happen to agree with Palmer and that from my observations,
the crypto community seems to consist of a lot of
evangelists who are trying to convince more people to buy
into crypto and then telling those who are already into
HODDLE or h O d L, which stands for a
hold on for Dear life when things go into a slump.
(05:52):
Crypto has actually been a slump since mid spring, but
the cynical people suggest that this messaging be more about
crypto investors trying to stabilize and then drive up the
value of crypto for their own personal gain before they
switch to something else. In other words, of course, people
are going to say you need to buy into this
(06:13):
because their own investments hinge on the value of the
currency going up, so they will take whatever steps they
can to drive up the value, and then potentially they'll
bail once they reach a certain threshold, and that could
end up making the value plummet again and affect everybody
who came in buying and after it. It's because of
(06:34):
this that some people point to cryptocurrency and say that
it's similar to a pyramid scheme. It's not a pyramid scheme,
you know, not strictly speaking, but depending on people's behaviors
and how the market behaves, it can have a similar
effect to a pyramid scheme. Palmer went on to say
that crypto has its own cabal of wealthy investors, who
(06:57):
in effect are just as manipulative and controlling as you know,
currencies that are based around centralized financial institutions. It's not
a good look. In other words. Palmer also said that
crypto gives opportunities to the wealthy to exploit the less wealthy, or,
as he said, quote, cryptocurrency is almost purpose built to
make the funnel of profiteering more efficient for those at
(07:20):
the top and less safeguarded for the vulnerable, like taking
the worst parts of today's capitalist system e g. Corruption, fraud, inequality,
and using software to technically limit the use of interventions
e g. Audits, regulation, taxation, which serve as protections or
safety nets for the average person. End quote. Pretty you know,
(07:45):
tough stands there. Over on Twitter, Fleets is nearing the
end of its fleeting moment. In the spotlight water fleets,
you might ask, well, if you are asking that, I
think that's probably a good indicator of e they're going away.
Fleets currently are, and soon we will say. We're a
(08:06):
Twitter feature that lets users post tweets that expire so
very much, kind of like you know snapchat or those
Instagram posts that are gone after twenty four hours. This
idea of the momentary message. Fleets similarly had a twenty
four hour lifespan. After that they would get deleted. Twitter's
(08:27):
message about this was a bit cheeky. They tweeted on
the four that quote, we're removing fleets on August three,
working on some new stuff. We're sorry or you're welcome
Twitter end quote. Cute. Twitter first introduced fleets eight whole
months ago, so it really did not take long for
(08:49):
the company to say, yeah, this just isn't working out
because ain't no one using it. Twitter has plateaued in
user engagement, which is not a great thing in a
world that values revenue growth year over year. It's you know,
just not good enough to do well. You have to
actually do better than you did before. Anyway, fleets will
(09:10):
be gone on August three, and by August four, I
predict no one will have even remembered it, because it
will be twenty four hours later. If you're an Android user,
and if you have volunteered to be part of the
Android twelve beta program, you might notice that your phone
is handling auto rotate better than it had before. So
(09:33):
Android twelve will be coming out of beta a little
later this year, but for the time people who want
to run the risk of having an incomplete operating system
build on their phones can elect to be part of
the beta test. I'm one of those suckers. Um one
of those people, actually, and one of the most recent
updates to the beta involves auto rotate. Now. Traditionally Android
(09:57):
has relied solely on accelerometers. These detect a change in
orientation and speed. I've done episodes about accelerometers. They are
super interesting things. They technically detect a change in velocity. However,
this approach doesn't always yield perfect results. There have been
times where I've tried to watch, say a YouTube video
(10:19):
on my phone, particularly if I'm like lounging, laying down
or something, and I want to watch maybe like an
A S M R video, so that I can go
into a coma and I'll turn my phone into landscape orientation,
and yet my screen refuses to make the switch. It's
still in portrait mode. Well, this new update leans a
bit on the device's front facing camera, so, in other words,
(10:41):
and Android twelve smartphone will rely not just on the accelerometer,
but the front facing camera that will then try to
detect the orientation of your face. So if your face
is sideways, well that's a pretty good signal for the
phone to rotate the screen into its other mode. And
for those of you who are concerned with privacy, and
(11:02):
honestly all of us should be, Google reps say that
this feature is kept strictly local to your phone and
that no images, video, or anything like that will be
recorded or sent off of the device. It will just
happen in the background on the hardware itself, So while
the camera will briefly become active, it won't be recording
(11:25):
or streaming or anything like that. Google has actually built
out something called the Android Private Computer Core or a
p c C, which will handle processes like this. That is,
processes that might be super invasive or creepy if they
were not restricted to the hardware of the phone or
handset or tablet or whatever itself. Now, I think that's
(11:47):
a pretty wise move. It gives Google the opportunity to
play with technologies that could really give some cool features
to our phones. But if they were, say, connected to
the cloud or to the outside world, they would represent uh,
potentially catastrophic privacy or security risk. I think it's a
(12:07):
wise decision to go this direction. Facebook has just added
a new feature today called sound Emoji's, and as the
name suggests, it adds sounds to certain emoji. For example,
there's a ghost emoji, and you might think it would
(12:28):
say something like woo. When you activate it now it
gives a cartoonish evil laugh. Um, there's a smoochy emoji
that's making kissy sounds. There's a cricket emoji. The cricket
is extremely realistic looking to me. I mean, it's a cartoon,
but it's crickets are funky looking critters. Anyway, it makes
(12:49):
cricket noises so that when someone makes that clunker of
a joke. You know, someone like me who just rattles
off puns and dad jokes incessantly, you can respond with
that and they'll get the message. I know, I do. Uh.
When I checked just before recording, there were twenty eight
emoji total that have sound capability added to them. Some
(13:11):
of them it's not necessarily a sound you would immediately
suspect when you push it, like some of them end
up prompting a little musical sting as opposed to a
you know, sound effect. But it's just a small sample
of the massive number of available emoji in messengers, so
it's not every single emoji. Thankfully, a few have specifically
(13:35):
not made the cut so far. I'm looking at you,
poop emoji. No one needs to know what you sound like. Now. Apparently,
Facebook plans to update the list and occasionally include, like,
you know, topical or culturally relevant sound clips from stuff
like TV shows and musical artists. So in a way,
(13:56):
this is kind of continuing down the pathway of stuff
like animated gifts and the like. It's another way to
include little, playful, interactive elements in messaging. UM. I have
only sent one. I have not yet received one, so
I don't even know how it works when you receive it.
(14:18):
I know that from sending it. When you're choosing the emoji.
Um it plays back whatever sound it's going to play
for the person you send it to. But the person
I sent it to has not yet responded to that
that sound emoji, which might be an indicator that I
need a new friend. We will see, but I don't
(14:39):
know what it's like to receive one yet. I'll let
you know, or maybe you'll know by the time we
have another episode. Moving on, Bloomberg reports that Netflix will
be adding in streaming video games as part of its
service sometime within the next year, and apparently at no
extra cost to subscribers. The company has actually hired Mike
(15:01):
verdu who worked in the games industry at places like
Oculus and Electronic Arts, and Verduo is going to serve
as the VP of Games Development. Now. I wonder if
that means we're gonna see some original titles for Netflix games. Maybe. Personally,
I'm hoping that they do some tie ins with some
Netflix original series because I really want my Unbreakable Kimmy
(15:25):
Schmidt adventure game. Gosh darn it. And that's it for
the news for Thursday, July one. We'll be back next
week with some more news. If you have suggestions for topics,
I should cover in episodes of tech Stuff. Please reach out.
You can leave me a message over on Twitter. The
handle for the show is text Stuff H. S W
(15:47):
and I'll talk to you again really soon. Text Stuff
is an I Heart Radio production. For more podcasts from
My Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. H
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