Gadgetory

and good morning everybody and welcome to the 359 podcast this episode 438 my name is BBG today's episode as always is being sponsored by USB technology the USB implementers forum reminds consumers at USB I of logos are displayed on certified USB products so next time you're shopping for a reliable USB charger cable or device look for the logos get the whole story at enabling USB dot-org and here are your hosts today Joan salesman and Roger Cheng hey morning so we've got a busy PI pack today we'll be talking about Google's latest version of Android which they announced late last night and it's it's pi I'm talking about Alex Jones and Infowars that whole controversy and then we'll will end with another PI a GTI admitting that the claims of a DDoS attack on the FCC's common system wasn't actually wasn't legit it wasn't a real tat so we'll dig into that as always if you have any questions leave it in the comment section but I will pick out the best and we will get to them in three minutes and 59 seconds from 3 to welcome to the 359 I'm Roger Cheng I'm Joanie Sultan Google has unveiled a new version of Android Android 9 and it's it's pipe John what do you think I would have preferred PES or peppermint pattie myself but what do you think about pie I love pie guys good it's classic that's true savory guy and pie can be savory you're right these versions although Android is I mean it's it's a sugary thing it's all about sweets so I can't imagine they're thinking about a savory pie when they're thinking this with Android 9 so a big update with Andrew 9 really a bunch of little updates but the one we care about the most least I care about the most the idea that they're working to improve battery life right that's I think probably one of the the issues that just remains as something that plays all phones and so I'd love to actually see material impact improvement and also the use of AI for instance it'll like it'll know in the background what part of like you're looking for and like automatically load that up I mean what are you excited about well not support obviously that that's true it's following in line with Apple they're they're gonna have official support with notch for the notch we've seen those phones already I've seen a bunch of Android notch phones but now it's it's official means we're gonna live with notches for a while right but how do we know when actual people are gonna start getting these yet I believe a beta will be available when rollers version will be available in the fall and then the presume the next pixel will be the one to get Android P no word on like some of the official OEMs like a bigger ones like Samsung or HTC they're probably take a bit longer so alright so some of the biggest names in tech said no more Alex Jones with Apple Facebook YouTube Spotify and LinkedIn all banning him and his Infowars program the conspiracy theorist has long been criticized for pushing fake claims like 9/11 being an inside job or the Sandy Hook mass the hoax which by the way those are all fake let's just be clear about that that's all not 100 cent wrong but it definitely represents he his banning represents a pretty thorny issue for tech companies right like they've supposedly create this open platform but they're now kind of cracking down on individuals I mean you've been following this right so it touches on this central tension that a lot of tech companies are facing right now where they premise their massive growth on being good for the world and that's based on the idea that freedom of speech and diversity of voices is an inherently good thing but when they empower people that that pollute conversation to the point that you know grieving families are getting harassed and have to move towns so they can escape this escape harassment I mean that's not good right it's yeah yeah and so it really highlights how they're having such a difficulty not being neutral right right I think they're making things worse by it I mean they're not super clear about how they're going about you know passing judgment and forcing these rules and how like what who are are these are they the gatekeepers are they the ones saying the standards right so that's the thing they like to claim that they're not but they really are and the frustrating thing back in the old days before the internet when we had gatekeepers we knew who they were they were the broadcast networks they were the big newspapers because it was all very concentrated we know who they are now but they're not telling us what rules are playing play like even the fact that this all happened in 24 hours it's it's perfect fodder for a conspiracy theorist to say that's a coordinated effort they're shutting me down was it coordinated we don't know because they're not talking about what really went into their decision-making lastly it turns out the the FCC comment system wasn't taken down by a DDoS attack after all let's we have to rewind it last year when John Oliver spurred his viewers to weigh in on the net neutrality debate the following day the site crashed because the comment system went down they asked to see a claim for a while it was a DDoS attack turns out yeah after an investigation chairman octopi admitted that no there was no attack but then he said basically it was a CIOs fault and he was hired by the previous administration and he's gone now so yay for me I don't know it was a interesting way to disclose that information yeah so we didn't get the actual report but we did get this disclosure for majid PI which hit on it touched all the hits of the Trump administration there was a conspiracy was the previous administration's fault and not actually you know telling us what they know right right hopefully we'll get more on the report from one of the stories chicken sounds seen it I'm Roger Chen I'm Johnny sawsan thanks for listening and welcome back everybody thanks for joining us for the recording of the audio podcast now just a disclaimer front I know these are gonna be some touchy subjects I just wanted to say this isn't about politics let's try to keep things mellow and civil in the chat we're not going back and forth about meanings right wrong speeding up Alex Jones or however you want to put perspective on it this is about the impact that's being taken from the mass media market from social media specifically where tech companies play a role in this how they are reacting to this and this isn't about free speech this this is about the the business side the electronic side so just keep that in mind please I know that we have a tendency as humans to get heated about stuff like this but remember this is a tech show not a politics show that's that's where I'm leaving out thank you thanks Brian came here I'm never worried our viewers have generalized smart questions that are pretty informed and oh yeah our viewers are dick to tech topics I'm not I'm not super nervous I do feel obligated to say things once yeah it's a very temperamental society we have we you it isn't it is a free speech issue just in a tech way yes how how to expand expand on that will you well I mean obviously when we're talking about in this case with Alex Jones we're talking about Apple the most valuable company in the entire we're talking about Facebook we're talking about YouTube which is Google these are the most powerful companies in the world and they are gatekeepers in the sense that they have such control over our public discourse and how we connect with people how we converse with people and so the idea that all that power is concentrated in one group you know on one side the people that would support Alex or maybe not even support Alex Jones but be cheaper here right wary of this slippery slope where these massively powerful companies get to decide and what we get to talk about because that opens up the possibility that they could you know censor people that don't deserve to be sense people that aren't necessarily violating their Terms I mean the the nightmare scenario is that they start censoring people that they specifically don't agree with and that could have clued not just like make news but Paul see that they don't agree with right for instance like net neutrality is a very touchy subject right there they're generally pro net equality and all of a sudden I mean do they start censoring like you know anti like that different pinyin that that's sort of an extreme and in it I imagine these companies would get a lot blowback but that's I think that's what that slippery slope is all about right if it starts with Alex Jones does it go further down right where does it that's you know where does it stop just to be clear like there's this isn't a First Amendment right like a lot of people talk about just being a First Amendment thing it's not you know obviously the government protects free speech but these are private companies then they can do whatever they want right on their platform so they had they are within their rights to censor to you but it just it just creates a really tricky precedent if they start doing that one person who's to say where that stops and it's part of this reckoning that we're having with technology where like at the beginning of the Internet's emergence as this communication platform in at least in America we set these laws that said that a safe harbor that these companies aren't held responsible for what their users say and that's how these companies were able to grow so big they weren't held liable for crazy stuff or copyright infringement or you know hate speech they weren't regulated like the broadcaster's right they weren't regulated like utility exactly because they weren't but now that they feel like utilities people feel like their first amenities are violated if they're taken off right Facebook because how else are they gonna communicate know so yeah it's it's we're in a very different time than when the internet started and we haven't kept pace oh yeah I still remember when Facebook started and we were like poking each other and like playing stupid games and now it's like games I don't Democrat Democrat democracies toppling right well that weren't that malicious back then well we we think yeah I for one missed the stupid games but that's just me this actually kind of segues into a fantastic commentary being made by Dominic in the chat he says social platforms already provide the user with mute or blocking options allowing users to censor what they want to censor we the government or the companies to decide what we are allowed to read or not and then he goes on to ask if YouTube for whatever reason decided to remove CNET today and the other big five follow what would you guys do and I think I would say that we would do exactly what Alex Jones does he has his own massive Network that's he self-sufficient it's something to be admired no matter how you look at it he doesn't need the syndication necessarily yes there's massive fiscal benefits to that but I think that's what would what we would do and it's exactly what you guys were saying you know Minh trep resent these syndications messages then they have every right and their means to pull that plug yeah something that we overlook is that Alex Jones specifically his one instance he makes all his money from selling fake merchandise yeah I'm like nutraceuticals and supplements and things that all cure you of like government interference in your brain from drinking water that's poison and stuff like that so that's that real because that sounds plausible actually so it isn't it is significant to out students to lose these methods of distribution but he ultimately makes his money from his own website and he rose to prominence not necessarily through these platforms he had a radio show Donald Trump came on in 2015 and that was a big legitimizing factor or you know distributing factor it brought a lot of attention to him so there are very traditional ways that he makes money and has risen to prominence well let's think I mean let's really look at this for a second it's one of the greatest things happened to him because he's getting more attention than he's ever gotten yeah people ask why are they why are they picking on poor Alex Jones although the squeaky wheel gets the grease man well it's definitely more than squeaky wheel but I mean red-faced he kinda sounds like a dying tractor engine when he speaks I'm just you don't like that gravelly voice not particularly but hey that's effective there's no gravitas there I know but I mean to your earlier point I mean the fact that like these four or five big companies all yeah we're almost like a coordinated effort like that definitely feels the conspiracy theorists out there and it definitely gives them free press I mean I have to imagine the traffic to his site is just surging and you know what's really interesting is during his exclusive response to this conspiracy to kick him off Technic to kick him off the internet which he live-streamed which I thought the irony of that was delicious he livestream his responses to being kicked off the internet you gotta give him props for that one of the things that he kept in addition to like these nutriceuticals that he sells during his at he had advertisements throughout this you know very long response some of them are furs they're all for him his own businesses some of them are for these pharmaceuticals fake pharmaceuticals and a lot were for his app which is available in Apple's yes I think it was at least this morning it was the number for free app on the news category in the App Store yeah it's really so he got plenty of attention for ways that Apple it still says that's fine you know they took him off podcasts on iTunes but not out of the App Store right okay that was a fantastic civil discussion thanks everybody for keeping it cool I just relieved this is good stuff like this and yes our viewers are awesome let's swing over to Android PI or as it should have been called Android Pop Tart oh I like that one that's a missed opportunity in my book so many missed opportunities P in Mon says what about explaining how exactly is Android Pi going to make your phone's battery last longer yes so there's a little bit of AI in there but the idea that it's I guess it's an adaptive battery setting that that works more efficiently I think it it optimizes the use of the battery for like if you're if you're not using it as much or if you're using a TAS like browsing it doesn't use the full horsepower of the chip I think it's also optimized for slower processors so even if you don't have like the super high-end snapdragon 845 processor that is supposedly more power efficient even with the slower chips or the less efficient ones this is supposed to run faster or run longer and basically allow you to prioritize tasks or apps in a way that lets your battery run a little bit longer hope that helps that's fantastic you actually you just straight up answer the question we rarely do I know I know okay we've had the couple of Dodge a couple of questions in the last few days cuz we're out of our depth of fortunately actually knew what I was talking about there Matthew dad sure says was it supposed to be pi as in P I that would have been a smart play on their book I feel like that would have been very Google I would have gone with it I would have liked to bear them this this pie what what are the other ones that you guys thought would be would be better titles I'm just PI has was I mean that was Shara's idea actually I came and steal that one cuz she said that would be a perfect marketing opportunity like create little Android Pez dispensers which would be cute and like in sort of keeping what there a theme of trying to make Android cute and cuddly for everyone right as it invades everybody's phones I mean I've got a little toy Android at home that I get in my kid he plays with it what else is there life improvement said peppermint peppermint peanut butter peanut butter or just PB&J I don't know a lot of Pete titled candies though I don't either like pizza would be great but again not I mean unless you put that pineapple on it sweet does that qualify I kind of want to test your skills and see if you can go a through P every single Android Raven which would be fascinating for all the viewers all right Alex Mitch I'll tone it down first to were what's a B apples and bananas no I don't know I've already I've already lost I like I know the more recent ones but I guess to get back to like that's good it's a deep cut and be your deep cuts they are anymore questions bro yeah let's tackle a couple more before we wrap it up Michael Brown says how did we miss all the hints when it came to naming Android Pi Google talked about slices and Android at Google i/o slices yeah I was like totally in the on the pizza bandwagon I heard that but mostly because we get pizza during big live events like WWDC my brains usually on pizza dacher says peanut brittle would have been a good one Oh Drive fast as they missed out by not releasing it on March 14th yeah it's still a great one anybody out there we've got a few people in the chat talking about how they haven't even got an Oreo yet and that makes them kind of apprehensive about pie how many out there are running Android and haven't gotten Oreo yeah I'm running Oreo you guys have iPhones right yeah so I'm just curious to see where we're at what was this what why are so many people missing out on Oreo just because it wasn't a forced update and people are just comfy no because that's Android doesn't do forced update I'm still new to androids yeah so that's the biggest knock on Android is still a real minority of folks or an Oreo it's largely because if you've got a carrier phone that is you know that's not like a Google phone you're waiting way long you're waiting like months for that update if you get one at all older phones cheaper phones tend to not get updates at all so it's it's definitely that the whole fragmented fragmentation those markets are the biggest knock that you're if you're on an Android phone unless you're like on like a pixel or like a Google approved phone chances are you're not gonna get the latest version anytime soon or like you have to wait months if not years for them Michael Brown says he's got PI already on his pixel to excel how's your experience so far sir what are you feeling whoo yeah let's know is the beta already available I thought the bit was uh wasn't available yet Michael's got some juice in the industry I think I guess so I looked it up and there was no A or B it started with cupcake yeah so that's why I couldn't figure out a and B that's so look at the list what comes after do you like five what's after cupcake what's a D D donut II declare F Rho G is gingerbread yeah H is honeycomb yeah eyes ice cream ice cream sandwich ice cream sandwich sorry J is jellybean olivine not my fault Matthew dashers got on the list right here kick a marshmallow new Oreo in PI so before we call it a day what's Q gonna be oh good question Oh cuz it's hard huge huge so I can't believe we're already at the up to Q that's crazy what are they gonna do when they run out of letters - that's true those like the lost letters maybe I could switch to savory and we finally get Android there are two candies in this world with the name that starts with Q in the entire world there's quirks which I'm looking up right now because I've never heard of and quench gum which is long since I believe oh my god I wonder if like a bunch of developers at Android are furiously doing desserts starting with Q and realizing I actually did that right now it's really really slow you think they're mad that they back themselves into that corner maybe maybe they just break out and do savory quesadilla I mean they could make us like a sweet quiche technically okay I found I found quirks here they are what the hell are these and also I know they tended to stay away from Brandon stuff I know there was like a cat there's jelly bean no don't worry Oh Oreo right but Morial is kind of like Kleenex though like it's a brand but everybody just knows it yeah right I don't think I ate Oreos when I was a kid I to whatever the Hydrox I draw is that what they were called yeah I think that's it sounds like something you'd clean your bath I know they're just as delicious alright so and our closing thoughts Michael Brown says so far pie is pretty solid having experienced any crashes or issues so far it's definitely faster than the developer review as it should be that's a good place to start yeah definitely that's that's a good sign for you know the 5% of Android users will actually get to try ooh wait wait one more from Alex Mitchell Android quick even though it's Nesquik now oh yeah I'm down with that like it's delicious it's catchy now it makes me wish that they had done Android Ovaltine cuz secretly I'm a 70 year old man anyways we are I like over to you I love Ovaltine it's good for your bones you are an old man listen I just want more sponsorships that's all and speaking of thank you to USB for once again sponsoring the show we are at at time so let's wrap it up thanks everybody again for keeping a civil conversation about a touchy subject we love you you're the best and fantastic questions we want to hear more about anybody who's actually got Android Pi as it starts to filter through and yeah who wants to take us out today I will the 3:59 podcast is available in iTunes tune in stitcher feedburner google play music google podcasts the amazon echo of course cnet.com we'll see you all tomorrow good bye you