Tech Podcasts

While we’re all waiting for the Galaxy S22 to break cover, Samsung’s latest Fan Edition smartphone seems a little late to the party. The Galaxy S21 FE lands a full year after the original S21, with similar looks and specs — if a reduced price of entry. The camera isn’t quite as capable as the S21, but the FE has a bright 120Hz screen and decent battery life. You win some, you lose some.EngadgetThe big issue remains that Samsung is so close to revealing its next flagship. Even if you're a huge fan of these Fan Editions, a true fan would wait to see what the S22 has to offer. Check out our full review of the S21 FE right here.— Mat SmithThe biggest stories you might have missedPalmer Luckey's startup bought an underwater drone companyA new competitor to AppleCare offers cheaper insurance for smartphones'Ghostwire: Tokyo' will arrive on March 25thThe best Valentine's Day gifts for gamersNintendo Switch sales have surpassed the Wii Snapchat is hosting a virtual concert starring Jennifer LopezMark Zuckerberg’s bet on the metaverse is off to an expensive startMeta’s Reality labs division lost $10 billion in 2021.The company formally known as Facebook lost just over $10 billion on its Reality Labs division in 2021, according to its Q4 earnings report. “This fully realized vision is still a ways off,” Zuckerberg said of Meta’s metaverse investments. It’s the first time the company has shared the financial performance of the AR and VR division central to its metaverse ambitions (Facebook acquired Oculus in 2014).Combined with flat user growth and continued hits to its advertising business, the company’s Q4 results sent Meta's stock into a nosedive yesterday.Continue reading.SpaceX launches premium satellite internet ​​with speeds up to 500 MbpsYou’ll pay for the privilege, however.SpaceXSpaceX has revealed a new tier for its Starlink satellite internet service, with higher performance but costing $500 a month compared to $99 per month for the standard plan. You'll also pay $2,500 for the antenna and other hardware, compared to $499 for base plan. Starlink Premium will offer speeds between 150 and 500 Mbps with 20 to 40 milliseconds of latency, up from 50 to 250 Mbps with the same latency.Continue reading.Sony drops PlayStation 5 sales forecast again due to chip shortageIt's well behind where the PS4 was at the same stage.Sony is still struggling to make enough PlayStation 5 consoles to keep up with demand. During its key holiday fiscal quarter, it shipped 3.9 million units for a total of 17.3 million since launch, the company said in its earnings report. That's considerably behind the 20.2 million units the PS4 had managed at the same point in its life cycle.Continue reading.Spotify CEO admits content policy should've been public before now"While Joe has a massive audience, he also has to abide by those policies."EngadgetSpotify reported its Q4 2021 earnings today, and while the numbers showed a strong close to last year, the issue at the front of everyone's mind is Joe Rogan. CEO Daniel Ek began his prepared remarks by broadly addressing the company's "few notable days." Ek explained Spotify is working to combat misinformation and that there's still work to be done.During the Q&A portion of the earnings call, he was directly asked about The Joe Rogan Experience. "We're trying to balance creative expression with the safety of our users," Ek said. He also admitted that Spotify was late in publishing its content policy and took sole responsibility for not doing so sooner: "We should've done it earlier and that's on me.”Continue reading.The pandemic is bringing out the worst in Yelp reviewersThe site has shared new stats on 'review bombing.'Yelp is sharing new stats on the backlash some businesses have faced due to pandemic safety measures, like mask requirements. The company says it took down more than 15,500 reviews for violating the com

Twitter increased its character limit over the years from 140 to 280 to give users more leeway with what they want to say. That's not always enough, though, which is why the term "tweetstorm" to indicate a series of interconnected tweets was coined. People also sometimes post images of lengthy statements instead. Based on a new discovery by Jane Manchun Wong, though, Twitter is working on a new feature that would cater to the needs of those who want to share their thoughts on the website in one lengthy article. Manchun Wong, known for finding experimental features within apps, discovered the existence of a "Twitter Articles" tab. The name itself signifies a long-form format for the social network that has long only allowed people to post bite-sized text messages, but its exact nature is a mystery for now. It's also unclear whether it will be available to everyone, if it does make it to wide release, or if it will be exclusive to Twitter Blue subscribers. Not everyone's keen on the idea either. Someone pointed out that it might reduce engagement on Twitter, since a thread of tweets often get multiple reactions and responses from the same users. A Twitter spokesperson told CNET that the company is "always looking into new ways to help people start and engage in conversations" and that it will share more soon. Twitter is working on “Twitter Articles” and the ability to create one within TwitterPossibility a new longform format on Twitter pic.twitter.com/Srk3E6R5sz— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) February 2, 2022

A website called HitPiece that has been selling music-related NFTs has temporarily closed after artists accused it of appropriating their work without permission, Rolling Stone has reported. Outraged social media posts were issued recently from artists including Jack Antonoff, Eve 6, and Sadie Dupuis. "Any [Bleachers] NFTs are fake," Tweeted Jack Antonoff. "I do not believe in NFTs so anything you see associated with me isn't real."The HitPiece website is apparently built on top of Spotify's API. Before shutting down, it appeared to be offering NFTs of songs and albums from the likes of John Lennon and BTS, including photos and album artwork, according to the Internet Archive. hey you stupid fucks @joinhitpiece we don't have any deal with you or any NFT site and there SURE DOES LOOK like an active auction going on for a speedy ortiz songhope everyone's reporting this garbage to copyrightcomplaints@godaddy.com as a few folks have recommended @GoDaddyhttps://t.co/VFg4gq5wVK— speedy ortiz ÷ sad13 ÷ sadie dupuis ÷ haunted guy (@sad13) February 1, 2022Like many other NFT business models, however, it's not clear what HitPiece was selling, exactly. "This particular grift doesn’t really affect artists in that HitPiece wasn’t even selling files of the songs — just the receipt of purchase to the general idea of them," Infant Island guitarist and grad student Alex Rudenshiold told Rolling Stone. "It's still copyright infringement. It's re-commodifying the metadata (art, song and album titles, etc.) to make money without permission." HitPiece, founded by former indie label owner Rory Felton, issued a statement. "Clearly we have struck a nerve and are very eager to created the ideal experience for music fans," it said on Twitter. "To be clear artists get paid when digital goods are sold on Hitpiece. "We are continuing to listen to all user feedback and are committed to evolving the product to fit the needs of the artists, labels and fans alike." However, artists are skeptical of HitPiece's claim that they will be paid. "They steal your music, auction NFTs of it on their site, and when they get caught they say don’t worry you 'get paid,'" the group Deerhoof tweeted. "I get that corporate types are simply greedy and cruel on principle but what kind of mind could even imagine that doubletalk like this could somehow make it OK?"

The Beijing Winter Olympics officially start Friday, although preliminary events have already happened. In addition to the normal concerns about security and logistics, this year’s Games come with tight COVID-19 protocols and, according to cybersecurity experts, additional risks for attacks on the technology people are using. Marketplace’s Kimberly Adams spoke with China correspondent Jennifer Pak about how the government is preparing for security threats. She said contractors hired to manage the threats have identified some particularly high-risk targets.

While Sony's holiday console sales were down due to parts shortages, Nintendo managed to have a strong quarter with the Switch. Thanks to what it called a "good start" by the OLED Switch, it sold 10.67 million units in Q3 (October to December), far surpassing the 3.9 million PS5 units sold by Sony. That takes total Switch sales to 103.54 million since it launched in 2017, allowing it to surpass the Wii's lifetime sales of 101.63 million. Not all was perfect, though. Switch sales were still down eight percent over last year, and Nintendo revised its yearly forecast down by a million units. It now believes it will sell 23 million units, down from the 24 million it forecast last quarter. Through the first nine months, its sales are 6 percent lower over last year to $11.52 billion. As for software, Nintendo said it saw the highest quarterly sell-through (consumer) sales since the launch of the Switch. Pokémon remasters Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are leading Nintendo's game sales with 13.97 million units total over the last nine months. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has sold 7.96 million units, Mario Party Superstars sold 5.43 million units and Animal Crossing: New Horizons 4.99 million.Metroid Dread, introduced just last year, has managed 2.74 million units since it went on sale. Nintendo also has a couple of new titles that will count for its next quarter, including Pokémon Legends Arceus that arrived on January 28th. That title got off to a good start in the UK, surpassing Animal Crossing sales in its first week. Nintendo also has Kirby and the Forgotten Land coming on March 25th. 

The future of Microsoft's HoloLens is reportedly uncertain as the company struggles to put together a coherent mixed reality strategy. According to Business Insider, the tech giant has scrapped its plans for what would've been the HoloLens 3 in recent months. At least one of the publication's sources believes it's the end for the headset. In addition, the sources said Microsoft inked a deal to team up with Samsung to develop a brand new mixed reality device, which has caused an internal divide within the mixed reality division. Microsoft spokesperson Frank Shaw denied that the HoloLens is dead, however, calling it a "critical part of [the company's] plans for emerging categories like mixed reality and the metaverse." Shaw added: "We remain committed to HoloLens and future HoloLens development." The company declined to talk to Business Insider about the reported Samsung partnership.The employees within the mixed reality unit that the publication talked to said different factions within the team are arguing about which area to focus on. Some believe the team should double down on its own hardware, while others think it's better to develop a software platform for the metaverse other companies can use, like the Windows OS. There are also people arguing whether Microsoft should continue focusing on creating products for enterprise customers or whether the tech giant should also create products for consumers. Some also argue that Microsoft's mixed reality team should fulfill military contracts. Rubén Caballero, the former Apple executive Microsoft hired to head up device engineering for the HoloLens and other projects back in 2020, reportedly wants to focus on consumers and the metaverse. There's apparently such a confusion on what the team's focus should be that Microsoft lost 25 mixed reality employees to Meta in 2021, including veterans who'd been with the company for over 20 years. One thing's clear, though: Microsoft has big plans for the metaverse. When it announced that it's purchasing Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, it said the acquisition will provide building blocks for the metaverse. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said: "Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting category in entertainment across all platforms today and will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms.

Big Quarter for Pixel 6, Spotify's platform rules, too late for Android tablets? Hosts: Jeff Jarvis, Stacey Higginbotham, Ant Pruitt, and Jason Howell For full show notes on this episode, visit https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-google/episodes/649 Sponsors:hackerrank.com/TWIG ourcrowd.com/twig twit.cachefly.com

Google has two lost prominent members of its Ethical AI research group, reports Bloomberg. On Wednesday, researcher Alex Hanna and software engineer Dylan Baker left the company to join Timnit Gebru’s Distributed AI Research Institute. Gebru founded the nonprofit in December following her controversial exit from the tech giant in 2020.Today's my last day at Google. Starting tomorrow I'm joining @timnitGebru at @DAIRInstitute as Director of Research.On my way out, here's some thoughts on the tech company as a racialized organization and the power of complaint. https://t.co/PQhAVo2r7M— Alex Hanna (@alexhanna) February 2, 2022Up until the end of that year, Gebru was one of the co-leads of Google’s Ethical AI research group. After publishing a paper the company said didn’t meet its bar for publication, Gebru claims Google fired her. The company, however, has maintained she resigned. In February 2021, several employees left the unit in protest of Google’s handling of the situation. Later that same month, the company fired Margaret Mitchell, the other co-lead of the Ethical AI research group. Hanna and Baker told Bloomberg the dismissals weighed heavily on them, and that they wanted to work with Gebru again.“I am quitting because I’m tired,” Hanna wrote on Medium after announcing her departure from the company. The post is in many ways a call to action. “In a word, tech has a whiteness problem. Google is not just a tech organization. Google is a white tech organization,” Hanna writes. “More specifically, tech organizations are committed to defending whiteness through the ‘interrelated practices, processes, actions and meanings,’ the techniques of reproducing the organization. In this case, that means defending their policies of recruitment, hierarchization, and monetization.”Along with @alexhanna, I'll also be leaving Google to join @timnitGebru at @DAIRInstitute as an engineer and researcher, starting at the end of the month!I wrote a little bit about my experiences and observations after four years at Google:https://t.co/XjucvdePAj— ✨dylan✨ (@dylnbkr) February 2, 2022The post also touches on the paper at the center of Gebru’s dismissal from the company. Hanna says the claim Jeff Dean, the head of Google’s AI division, made about the robustness of the company’s publishing process was “laughable.” She points to analysis the group Google Walkout for Real Change published in 2020. “Google management remained silent when an article on the Google Walkout page pointed out that there were many counterexamples, like how nearly half of papers in the system were approved within a day or less of the deadline,” Hanna said.Hanna and Baker told Bloomberg they also believe Google has become less willing to listen to employees in recent years. They specifically pointed to the company’s pursuit of potential contracts from the Pentagon over the past and the very public objections of its workers.“We appreciate Alex and Dylan’s contributions — our research on responsible AI is incredibly important, and we’re continuing to expand our work in this area in keeping with our AI Principles," A Google spokesperson told Engadget. "We’re also committed to building a company where people of different views, backgrounds and experiences can do their best work and show up for one another.”

Mark Zuckerberg’s metaverse pivot is off to slow start. The company now known as Meta lost just over $10 billion on its Reality Labs division in 2021, according to its fourth-quarter earnings report.“This fully realized vision is still a ways off,” Zuckerberg said of Meta’s metaverse investments. “And although the direction is clear, our path ahead is not yet perfectly defined.” Zuckerberg said the company planned to launch a new "high-end" VR headset as well as a mobile version of its Horizon VR experience.It’s the first time the company has shared the financial performance of the AR and VR division that’s central to its metaverse ambitions (Facebook acquired Oculus in 2014). That the metaverse isn’t yet turning a profit isn’t a surprise. The company said last quarter that its AR and VR investments would result in a $10 billion loss. But combined with flat user growth and continued hits to its advertising business, the company’s fourth-quarter results sent Meta's stock into a nosedive Wednesday.MetaAmong the concerns: Facebook’s daily active users (DAUs) declined from 1.93 billion last quarter to 1.92 billion, a change that Zuckerberg attributed in part to increased competition from TikTok. “We're in the middle of a transition on our own services towards short form video like Reels,” Zuckerberg said. “Reels is now our fastest growing content format by far.” But he added that Reels doesn’t yet monetize as well as Stories or feeds. The Facebook founder said last quarter that attracting "young adults" between the ages of 18 and 29 would be one of its top priorities, as Facebook reorients its platform around short form video to better compete with TikTok. But while Reels is showing strong growth, Facebook's overall users growth suggests the feature isn't yet attracting the new users Zuckerberg wants to reach. Facebook's revenue growth is also expected to slow in the coming months. Though its ad business is still incredibly profitable — it made $32.6 billion in the last quarter — the company warned that Apple’s iOS 14 privacy changes will have a significant impact in the next quarter. “The accuracy of our ads targeting decreased which increased the cost of driving outcomes,” COO Sheryl Sandberg said on the call. Zuckerberg said improving the company’s ads despite Apple’s changes was one of Facebook’s top priorities, and that it was “rebuilding a lot of our ads infrastructure.”Until then, though, Apple's ad targeting changes could be as money-sucking as its metaverse investments. "We believe the impact of iOS overall as a headwind on our business in 2022 is on the order of $10 billion," CFO Dave Wehner said. "So it's a pretty significant headwind for our business."

Spotify reported its Q4 2021 earnings today, and while the numbers showed a strong close to last year, the issue at the front of everyone's mind is Joe Rogan. CEO Daniel Ek began his prepared remarks by broadly addressing the company's "few notable days." Ek explained that Spotify is working to combat misinformation and that there's still work to be done. "The last several weeks have presented a number of learning opportunities," he said. During the Q&A portion of the earnings call, he was directly asked about The Joe Rogan Experience."We're trying to balance creative expression with the safety of our users," Ek said. He continued by saying the company doesn't bend its content rules to fit individual creators. "While Joe has a massive audience, he also has to abide by those policies." Previously, Spotify has said it reviewed all episodes of JRE and none of them met the criteria for removal, despite several discussions of controversial topics — most notably COVID-19 vaccines and treatments. Until this weekend, those policies weren't posted publicly as the company provided details while announcing it would add a "content advisory" to any podcast episodes that discuss COVID-19. When Neil Young pulled his music from the service last week, Spotify said it had pulled "over 20,000 podcast episodes related to COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic."Ek admitted that Spotify was late in publishing its content policy and took sole responsibility for not doing so sooner. "We should've done it earlier and that's on me," he explained. He also said he doesn't expect any "churn" or loss of customers due to the current podcast predicament. He was clear it's too early to tell, but that past "controversies" usually play out in "months not days." Rogan has issued an apology, pledging to include a wider array of opinions on future episodes. "I will do my best to try to balance out these more controversial viewpoints with other people’s perspectives so we can maybe find a better point of view," he said. 

Sony’s purchase of Bungie has raises the questions about the company’s future gaming plans and more importantly what it means for video gamers when it comes to exclusives and access. Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Scott Johnson, Roger Chang, Joe, Amos MP3 Download Using a Screen Reader? Click here Multiple versions (ogg, video etc.) fromContinue reading "Console Wars Are SO 2021! – DTNS 4204"

Microsoft Account Management, Front Row for Teams, FTC & Microsoft Windows 11 Gets a New Feature a Bit Early: Microsoft Account Management Windows 11 users will get several new features in February ahead of its H2 feature update Windows 11 Almost Doubles Usage Share to 16.1 Percent Report: Chromebook Sales Grew 13.5 Percent in 2021 Microsoft 365 Microsoft starts rolling out Teams 'Front Row' view for better hybrid meetings Microsoft: Standalone test version of Lists app requires no 365 subscription Earnings Reports Intel Earnings Beat Expectations Apple Delivers Another Record Quarter Alphabet (Google) Sees Big Net Income, Revenue Gains AMD Reports Record Revenues Browsers vs. Google Brave Says FLoC You to Google's Topics API Vivaldi: Google is Going Off-Topics Again Xbox & Gaming Microsoft Falls on Report FTC, and Not DoJ, Will Review Activision Deal DOJ antitrust chief's past work for Microsoft looms over $69B Activision deal Microsoft Agrees to Xbox Subscription Auto-Renew Changes in the UK Microsoft Announces Games with Gold for February Microsoft Announces First Game Pass Titles for February Flight Simulator World Update VII Adds Australia Content PlayStation 5 Sales are Already Slowing Sony to Acquire Bungie for $3.6 Billion Microsoft Supports Epic Games Appeal of Apple Ruling Mary Jo Foley's DOM Briefing Podcast Microsoft's Strategy for 2022: It's All About the Cloud | Directions on Microsoft Tips and Picks Tip of the week: Stop those annoying Edge popups (at least for a bit) App picks of the week: Get free PC games each week from Epic Enterprise picks of the week: New monthly podcast for Microsoft enterprise nerds Developer pick of the week: February 14: Get sweet on .NET Beer pick of the week: Sofia Electric Brewing Small Steps Giant Leaps Hosts: Mary Jo Foley, Paul Thurrott, and Mikah Sargent Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com Check out Mary Jo's blog at AllAboutMicrosoft.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsors:plextrac.com/twit Melissa.com/twit

Given the steep costs, it's easy to see why some customers forgo AppleCare+, Preferred Care or similar protection plans. Dropping your phone down a stairwell or spilling liquid on it is no longer the end of the world – the newest devices are more resilient. But accidents still happen, and an out-of-warranty fix can set you back several hundred dollars. As an alternative, Zagg, a smartphone case company, unveiled a plan this week that covers repairs on most mobile devices for $99 a year.Zagg Protect includes a $49 deductible, which you will need to pay any time you take it in for repairs. It covers both accidents and internal failures, including cracked screens, liquid damage, battery failure, power failures and more. But the third-party plan is still much cheaper than other such device protection plans, such as AppleCare+ and Samsung Care Plus. Samsung offers one year of Samsung Care Plus for free after you purchase your device; after that the cost ranges anywhere from $4 to $13 per month. Even with that plan, a cracked screen for any Samsung mobile phone will set you back $249. The free year of AppleCare that comes with any new iPhone is extremely limited and essentially only covers malfunctions that are the manufacturer’s fault. Two years of AppleCare+, which offers screen repairs on most iPhones for $29 and other accidents for $99, can still set you back anywhere between $149 to $199 for the latest models.While Zagg’s plan is significantly more extensive than most, it’s not unlimited. The coverage only covers two repairs per 12-month period. You can also only use the plan at a list of authorized repair providers. Finally, the plan only covers repairs up to $500 and requires that you use a phone case.Is a protection plan for phone repairs worth it? Thanks to the right to repair movement, consumers can opt for cheaper options like third-party repair shops and self-repair kits. While it’s harder nowadays to completely obliterate your phone (see this video of a still-functioning iPhone X found in the bottom of a river), any eventual mishap can pose a serious annoyance to your daily life. That $1,000+ device that most of us carry on our person at all times became our credit card, transportation access and vaccine passport, not to mention our sole means of contacting other humans. All told, whether or not you cough up the extra bucks for AppleCare+ or another protection plan like Zagg largely depends on your lifestyle, as well as how often you plan to upgrade.

Hackaday.com is what its new editor-in-chief, Elliot Williams, calls "a library of Alexandra for fugitive hacks"—and that's just one of the many deep and quotable things he shares with Doc Searls and co-host Jonathan Bennett, who is also a veteran Hackaday writer. Topics range from hackable gizmo and the hacker mindset, to how great open firmware hacks become bait for cool new hackable products coming out of China. Hosts: Doc Searls and Jonathan Bennett Guest: Elliott Williams Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/floss-weekly Think your open source project should be on FLOSS Weekly? Email floss@twit.tv. Thanks to Lullabot's Jeff Robbins, web designer and musician, for our theme music. Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsor:kolide.com/twit

PlayStation has a busy few weeks ahead with both Horizon Forbidden West and Gran Turismo 7 both set to arrive by the beginning of March. Sony Interactive Entertainment has previewed Horizon Forbidden West extensively over the last several months, and now it's time for a deep dive into Polyphony Digital's racing game in the latest State of Play showcase.Sony will show off a little over 30 minutes worth of new Gran Turismo 7 PS5 footage and details about the modes and features. Don't expect to learn too much, if anything, about other PlayStation titles in the pipeline (though I'm holding out hope for a teaser for HBO's The Last of Us series).You can watch the Gran Turismo 7-focused State of Play below at 5PM ET. Gran Turismo 7 is coming to PS4 and PS5 on March 4th.