Tech News: Good Vibes for the Woz and Bye to Omegle

Wosniak admitted himself to the hospital. There are actually conflicting reports as to what prompted this move, and in the absence of solid information, I think it just makes sense for us to say we hope you feel better very soon, mister Wosniac. For those of you who are not familiar with his name, Wosniak was the other Steve who created Apple, the other one, of course, being Steve Job and between the two of them, Wozniak was really the big tech geek.

He was the programmer, he was the phone freak. He was the mischievous man who always wanted to know how stuff worked. And he's been sort of this kind of beloved figure in the tech world for several decades and hopefully he'll be right his reign very soon. CNN's Brian fun has a piece titled Mark Zuckerberg personally rejected Meta's proposals to improve teen mental health. Court document's allege as

that headline indicates, this is pretty ugly stuff. So according to these documents, these internal documents from Meta, numerous people inside the company, including top executives like Adam Massari, the CEO of Instagram, repeatedly brought matters relating to teen mental health and well being to Zuckerberg's attention, only to be shut down. The article really paints Zuckerberg as a tech executive unconcerned about what impact his company might have on

its users. That really plays into this popular perception of Zuckerberg as sort of an unfeeling, robotic sort of person who has a reputation for expecting his you know, his staff to carry out his decisions without objections. Now, one example that was cited in the article relates to the beauty filters on Instagram. I'm sure most of y'all are familiar with these, but just in case you're not, these

are digital filters that apply some alterations to images. So you take an image with your phone, the filter changes them slightly, and the whole goal is to make the final image appear more attractive. So the argument goes that as teens encounter picture after picture of impossibly perfect people,

their own sense of self begins to suffer. There's a worry that these kinds of users will start to feel like they're an ugly outsider when all the folks on the phone seem to live perfect lives, have perfect skin, and travel to perfect places. Of course, any of y'all who have actually interacted with an influencer, you probably have this all figured out. They're just as messed up as

the rest of us are, sometimes even more so. I'm actually reminded of a recent walk I took in a park where I saw a young person doing the whole influencer thing and working very hard to make a completely artificial scene appear to be something they just naturally happened upon. I can tell you the process to get to that final picture was anything but natural, but that's obviously just anecdotal,

it's not really evidence. The point is, it appears as though Zuckerberg has consistently and repeatedly scuttled any efforts to make changes to Meta's various platforms out of a concern for the well being of users. Now, I don't think we can go so far as to say that Meta is a company ruled by a person who is only can concerned with that company, or that all the other leaders in Meta are somehow these valiant warriors trying to do what's right. It's obviously way more complicated than that.

But this is, as the kids used to say, not a good look for mister Zuckerberg. He and the company are in an ongoing lawsuit. That's why these documents were even uncovered in the first place. It's all part of that lawsuit that was brought against the company by the state of Massachusetts, and we'll have to see how these revelations affect the case. RDIBT at zd net has an article titled Microsoft reveals plans to protect elections from deep

fakes and other misinformation. So here on tech stuff, I've talked about concerns regarding say, generative AI and deep fakes and other technologies that have the capacity to threaten the process of democracy. Because when you get down to it, you don't even really have to directly attack democracy in order to weaken it. You just have to show that it's possible to attack democracy, because if people are convinced that nothing they see is reliable, they lose faith in

the system and the whole thing starts to crumble. Now we're not quite there yet, and that's why efforts to push back against technology that does pose a threat to fair elections and other democratic processes is important. Microsoft's approach is to institute what they call a five part plan to fight back. Now, among those parts, there's one that is about introducing a new kind of tool that they're

calling the Content Credentials as a Service tool. This would let someone who creates some form of digital content sign that work digitally, and that digital signature would travel with the content wherever it happens to go, so if someone clicks through, they'll see the person responsible for that piece of content. It's meant to ensure things like transparency and accountability.

That's one little example of what Microsoft is planning. Some other parts of the plan include assisting and educating various campaigns and candidates as they navigate a world that now has this powerful AI enabled technology in it. To no surprise at all, Microsoft's plan also includes really promoting bing search as being the most reliable when it comes to presenting real information and weeding out misinformation and AI generated stuff.

So we'll see how that goes, because so far Bing's command of web search has been let's call it underwhelming. Although at the same time, Google is currently involved in a huge antitrust lawsuit that in part hinges on how Google has used various measures such as paying enormous sums to other companies like Apple, in order to guarantee that Google Search would be a default option on lots of devices. So maybe in the future Bing will have a larger share of the market because Google will be forced to

break up. We'll have to see. If you're a Lego fan and you have an account on the online marketplace Bricklink, then it's time to hit those bricks because the company has detected a breach in its systems and there has been some quote unquote suspicious activity on the bricklink online marketplace. So at this marketplace, folks can sell parts and accessories with Lego. Other folks can obviously buy them. It's just

an online exchange place for that kind of stuff. And apparently some bad actors, some hackers, got unauthorized access to some seller accounts and started to sell stuff off at insane discounts and divert payments to themselves as opposed to the actual seller who should have been in control of the whole thing. And the company says it's likely that

what happened was these hackers did some credential stuffing. They found some compromised user names and words on the Internet, they applied those over on Bricklink, and they found a few that worked, and that that's what they've been doing. They did announce that the hackers had issued a ransomware demand from the company, but they said there's no evidence that the hackers actually got access to any company systems.

So that's why they're saying, like, we think that this is not an actual ransomware intrusion, but rather someone being able to use passwords to hack into accounts. So they do suggest that users who have a Bricklink account go in and update their password to a strong password that's unique just for that service. You should be doing that anyway. You should not be reusing the same password over and over again. Just a bad idea, because all it takes is one thing to get compromised, and then they have

the skeleton key to all of your accounts. You don't want to do that. So just thought that was interesting that it was hitting the lego community. Now, it should come as no surprise that Amazon is reportedly working on a massive artificial intelligence model. Of course it is. It's a huge company, and all the other huge companies are likewise hard at work at creating language models. According to Business Insider, the Amazon model currently has the code name Olympus,

which seems pretty darn humble. I mean, it's the home of the gods and everything. The Information reports further that Amazon plans to integrate this large language model into lots of stuff that faces customers, like its online store and in that smart speaker line of products that have that woman's name that I won't say, just so I don't

accidentally set any off near you. Then, Reuter's reports that Olympus is actually a much larger large language model than even open AI's famous GBT, in fact, twice as large. That does not necessarily mean it's better, but it is bigger. Rumor has it Amazon will be unveiling its plans for AI next month, and that we might find out how this could be incorporated into Amazon products moving forward, and whether accessing those features will require some sort of additional

subscription or something. On a semi related note, the Hollywood strike with sag AFTRA has come to a close. This is the one that involved the union represented actors in Hollywood, So that strike is probably to a close, I should say, because the strike leaders were finally able to negotiate a deal with the AMPTP, that's the organization that represents like

the producers in Hollywood studios. But there are a few components that need to happen, like there has to be a full vote from the union to support this deal before it's well and truly in place. Most folks seem to think that is going to happen this week. And there's some things in that deal that touch on tech, which is why talking about it. Part of it has to do with things like residual payments for stuff that's on streaming services as opposed to on more traditional media

like film or television. There were really established ways to determine how much money an actor would receive from stuff they had done continuing to perform well in movies or on TV or whatever, but there was less clarification in the streaming world because that's a relatively new form of media, so there's some elements of that in there, and there's also elements that have to do with generative artificial intelligence.

Now I can't give any details because so far the terms of the deal are undisclosed, but the Union as a whole will vote to ratify the deal pretty soon, and assuming that happens, business will be back to whatever passes for normal in Hollywood. Okay, we're going to take a quick break. When we come back, we've got some more tech news stories. We're back. So. While Google is facing heavy legal pressure here in the United States in that antitrust matter I mentioned earlier, the company is also

pushing against Apple over in the EU. Google reportedly is petitioning lawmakers in the EU to force Apple to stop gatekeeping the infamous I Message app. The EU has a law called the Digital Markets Act, and Google argues that Apple's I Message is not in alignment with that law, and that law says that Apple should allow I Message to integrate seamlessly with all other messaging platforms. And this really comes down to text bubbles and what color they are,

right like, whether they're blue or green. It's crazy to me that that's what it really comes down to it's even crazier that people would actually judge someone if their text bubble in a group chat was the quote unquote wrong color that you know, somehow they're not as good a person because they have a different kind of technology. They don't have an iPhone, they're using an Android phone. I guess I shouldn't be surprised by that. I mean, after all, I've seen the exact same sort of tribalistic

behavior in the gaming community forever. Right. You just ask a group of gamers what's better PlayStation or Xbox and then you watch the blood fly. So I guess it isn't that biggest surprise. It's just kind of pathetic if you ask me. Anyway, Apple says that it already meets the requirements of the Digital Markets Act, So I guess we'll see if Google's push for this wins out or not.

If it does, it may mean that we won't have those different colors of text bubbles in the future, and we'll have to judge people on other things, you know, like whether or not they're a good person. Meanwhile, Apple is potentially facing a big old tax bill in the EU, specifically the of tax breaks that the company got from Ireland.

So this matter has actually a very long history. The way it works is that several years ago the government of Ireland extended some hefty tax breaks to Apple to attract Apple to build a facility in Ireland, to essentially make Ireland its foothold for Europe and other parts of the world. But these tax breaks were themselves, according to

one court case, not entirely legal. So this whole mess goes to court, and originally the court agrees that the tax breaks were not legal, that Apple therefore owed billions of dollars worth of back taxes, and then Apple appealed

this decision. Three years ago, another court overturned the earlier judgment, and now a lawyer advising the European Union says that the decision to overturn was itself incorrect, that it was guided by a bunch of legal errors, and the court made a mistake in overturning the original court's decision against Apple, and that Apple should therefore end up forking over around thirteen billion with a b euro worth of back taxes.

At the heart of the matter is whether or not the tax breaks Ireland offer to Apple constitute what the EU defines as quote unquote state aid. So every member state in the EU actually governs its own tax laws, but the EU as a whole has authority over matters where a government offers government backed aid to say, a giant corporation, so as obi Wan would put it, it all depends upon your point of view. Obviously, Apple reps

argue that that interpretation is not accurate. The most recent court decision to overturn the ruling against Apple is really the right one, and that one should stand. Ireland's government also protests being said that to have offered state aid

to Apple. Ireland says that's not what it did. It created an incentive to bring Apple over to Ireland in order to turn Ireland into kind of a high tech hub for companies mostly originating from the United States, to have a base of operations for the rest of the European Union. The whole darn story is taxing, if you

ask me. Speaking of taxes, authorities in Italy say that Airbnb and the landlords using Airbnb have not been paying taxes, at least not to the level that they should be, and as such, Italian authorities are getting ready to seize more than eight hundred and thirty million dollars from Airbnb as a result. Now, whether these authorities will also turn their wrath to the actual landlords, that remains to be seen so far, of just seen mention of only Airbnb.

So a lot of places around the world have been striking out against Airbnb recently. The City of New York has, you know, lots of other places. There are a lot of places that have issues with housing availability that have been really critical of Airbnb. So the complaint is that landlords are scooping up properties that should be going to residents and instead they're using them for short term rentals. Meanwhile, you've got an ongoing housing crisis in some of these places,

obviously in Italy. The issue also involves failing to pay the appropriate amount in taxes on these rental agreements. Airbnb reps say, unsurprisingly that they are disappointed by the decision to go after their money. They also claim that they have operated within the law. The company has the right to appeal, which I can't imagine them not doing. I'm sure they will. And CNN Business indicates that the actual process for the authorities to get this money is not

exactly straightforward. It's not like it's easy to do. So it may be that this matter drags on for a very long time, but it really extends beyond tech into

the political and financial realms. I just thought that was worth talking about because, like a lot of other companies, particularly in Silicon Valley, Airbnb would often get the label of being disruptive, and I just think it's good to remember that sometimes when you're disruptive, sooner or later the establishment hits back, and it's usually much bigger than you are. That's not saying that that's the right thing, but it's certainly something that can happen, and I think that's what

we're seeing with Airbnb now. Disney CEO Bob Iger addressed investors in a recent earnings call, and one thing he mentioned is that starting next month, the company will roll out a beta test of a streaming app that combines both Disney Plus and Hulu into a service. This has long been rumored to be in the works, and Disney is currently in the process of acquiring comcasts thirty thirty percent stake in Hulu for around eight point six billion dollars at least. Eiger indicated that the plan is to

roll out the service in full sometime next spring. So it sounds like only people who are currently subscribed both to Disney Plus and to Hulu at the moment are going to have access to this beta program in the short term, which means I'm out. I'm just on Disney Plus. I haven't done Hulu yet, so I'll have to keep waiting. There's a bunch of stuff on Hulu I want to see, but I've been dragging my feet because I was pretty

sure that this thing was going to happen. And lastly, I want to pour one out for a may Goal, the online service that would match strangers up in chats video chats online. So even if you've never used a may Go before, I bet you can guess that a lot of people took the opportunity to being randomly matched with a stranger in a semi anonymous way to engage

in behavior, let's say, was questionable. There was never a shortage of stories about people on Omego harassing folks or using things like racist slurs, or exposing themselves that was one that was frequently mentioned, or attempting to groom young users. Really disturbing stuff like that. There are no shortage of videos about that online too. But other folks made really

creative artistic uses of omegol. There's some great compilation videos on YouTube of musicians who would delight strangers by playing like a personal concert for them, just by being matched up to them. That kind of stuff I think is super awesome, and I'm sad that that's going to go. I love the idea of strangers being able to connect with each other and just have a conversation. You never

know where that's going to go. The problem is the bad actors were really, really bad, and that overall gave a stain on omegl and the creator of omegol announced that it was just too much to try and keep the site running, to fight against people who were abusing the site, and to fight the organizations that had condemned the entire site due to the behavior of these bad actors. I recommend actually going over to omegle dot com and reading the whole open letter yourself to draw your conclusions

about the whole thing. And that's it for the news today for Thursday, November ninth, twenty twenty three. I hope you are all well, and I'll talk to you again really soon. Tech Stuff is an iHeartRadio production for more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.