Gadgetory

and on Tuesday February 13th happy galentine's day everybody I'm BVG and this is the 359 podcast episode 355 today your host might include and might not Ben Fox Ruben and Roger Chang I'm not really here I want to leave a little mystery to this show I'm trying something new there you go we become trace peanut trace trace him as your your show may include trace amounts of peanut you know what I'm just gonna stop making that joke so what are we talking about news wise today there's a lot there's a lot to talk about today we're gonna be talking about Facebook and YouTube really trying to retarget their sites to be a little bit friendlier offer a little bit more quality time and not so much controversy we've also got a story in our blockchain package discussing using blockchain for food safety and man yeah Black changed everything gonna save the world blockchain already saved the world last Tuesday apparently as always send in your questions and comments BVG we'll get to as many as you can at the end of the show let's be talking about Wireless and yeah I think if we have time we'll talk about charging wireless charging for your like food applying in your kitchen in your charging in your kitchen so we'll see if we can get that if we can't get too well let's talk a little bit about it after the podcast recording cool all right yeah let's get to the podcast and stick around everybody we'll see you back in the chat for your questions and comments and 350 minutes and 59 seconds from 3:00 to welcome to the 359 I'm Ben Fox Ruben I'm Roger Chang Facebook is continuing its push to be a place where you just chat with friends and family about daily routines and weddings at the code media conference Monday Facebook execs talked about retargeting the site for quote time well-spent and the company Tuesday introduced a new feature that lets you create lists for stuff that you want to do so is this all just like a big PR stunt because I feel like this is like this is the new Facebook weird like cuddly and friendly we're all about family and we're not we're not about all that crazy fake news stuff that you heard oh it totally is but like it's also important to remember the new Facebook is also the old old Facebook right this is where Facebook where their roots used to be where you would just kind of like share Twitter used to be a lot of this too you would just say like this is this is a sandwich I ate today I saw mom today stuff like that so is it gonna work I don't really know there are now more than two billion people on Facebook it's used for all kinds of things so it's hard to say whether they're trying to get back to this quality time kind of stuff if that's going to if that's really they're gonna put the genie back in the bottle and I'm really curious how this sort of jives what their strategy to push video right they want to make money off of Facebook they want to basically take ad dollars away from YouTube which is the most popular online video source out there but how does this whole like commitment to sharing you know the content that's coming from your family as opposed to publishers as opposed to content creators yeah and high roll clickbait exactly how is that how coexist so it seems that their strategy seems to be slightly different when it comes to video they talked to Ed code media about the idea of using their video tab to provide breaking news so you could potentially like watch your local news channel or CNN something like that right on on video because obviously video is very important and valuable to them so maybe they're gonna look at that a little bit differently YouTube was also by the way at code media it's YouTube's head talked about the backlash against the site for problematic videos and she said that drawing a line could be tough because quote on one-sided censorship on the other it's too much freedom of speech so obviously they're still trying to work out that element but I don't know we'll see how that goes all right so next up we've got a story on more blockchain as part of our blockchain decoded package our colleague Zoey Chung had a great story on how blockchain is being used to ensure that the food that you order is legit that it's not fake and I I didn't really know there was a fake food problem apparently it's all over the place yeah I mean it makes sense to a certain extent alike there are a lot of really expensive foods out there and therefore if somebody could make a knockoff that's way cheaper then I I guess that's a way of doing it just a couple examples extra-virgin olive oil apparently 80% of the olive oils sold in the u.s. don't meet the legal standard at one point IKEA had to recall meatballs because some of it some of his meatballs contained a horse meat yeah I reminded that Nestle had to recall frozen beef because some of them also use horse meat horse meat that was tainted so can you explain to us but the short amount of time the way yeah yes how blockchain could actually help solve some of these issues yeah exactly so this this company wall night is basically starting with food baby products baby formula they create this essentially a tag a physical tag that they put on the product or the Box shipping the product that uses blockchain to ensure that it is actually the product that you're buying so it serve yesterday Stephen Shanklin wrote piece about how blockchain serve helps develop trust because of the way it's the encryption technology allows for everyone to basically have the same information nothing could be corrupted so basically they're using the same kind of blockchain encryption technology to ensure that the food that you're ordering is not tainted isn't fake and is legit from the from the point of origin to your house nice also we wanted to plug Aaron Carson's story today on finding your next BFF using tinder like apps if you want to read more about these stories check us out on CNN I'm Ben Fox Ruben I'm right okay thanks for listening I'm still having a hard time swallowing this whole blockchain Bitcoin business so like what you're telling me is I need a web service now so that if I'm eating a meal and I realize like this isn't sausage this is a bicycle this is fake food yeah yes okay yes you're eating a bi so when I was making the prediction about the smart spoon that uses an app that tell you what you're eating in two weeks ago I was right that is not yet it's not implausible at all holy I know probably used blockchain a blockchain powered spoon counterfeit food sniffing spoon I think you're onto something I love being right I love being right I think if you're already about to eat it it might be a little too late that's true I think the idea here is that it's got food labeling on it that hopefully just reduces the chances that you know the counterfeits really get deeper into the system I guess but they say by the way the products carrying the wall my label generally cost about twenty percent more than they're known on while my labels goods but a lot of folks particularly in China were fake food counterfeit food is a serious problem it's a premium that a lot people are willing to pay right it's almost like a form of insurance I think the thing is is that hopefully this type of labeling either cuts off the money for counterfeiters or it becomes so Universal that that 20% premium starts to go down it braces because I think a lot of there there are certain you know people with more money would be more willing to pay that kind of thing but it would be nice if more people I mean this is a start-up they're just getting into it they're only in they're really only they started with baby food so expanding their categories but you can imagine once this becomes a broader thing the prices go down yeah yeah yeah and it also mentions in the story that this type of technology is also used to try to like cut out blood diamonds like when you're purchasing diamonds yes conflict diamonds right exactly but like when you're talking about diamonds you're already spending a ton of money so adding a small premium to that yeah I think I might be a little bit easier for people to do yesterday's story had that shank rode mentioned that the beers is looking or is exploring blockchain tech to to basically just like wall um I keep track keep tabs on where these diamonds are actually coming from we're gonna talk about wireless charging food let's do it do it you're desperate to talk about cool things related okay I didn't think so either it's a little yes so yes our headline is how wireless charging will cook your steak which is Scotch misleading it's actually true it's really a look at how wireless charging will get into our kitchen I mean this is the whole idea for me of like the of a cord free life right getting away from cables that you're gonna plug in I mean there are a lot of logistical challenges right putting in wireless charging plates into your into your car like in case you needed to like if you have to replace your countertop that's that's a huge outlay oh yeah it's it's extremely expensive but I mean you can imagine down the line as new houses get built like this is something that could be put into new homes and then you could you buy a wireless charge of wireless chargeable microwave or toaster or whatever yeah and then yes the pot I mean panini press there you go no it's because not not have to deal with like the noise of plugging in these appliances I would say the stuff that you don't use as often like that's why I mentioned the panini press yeah I pull it out every now and then right and then you want to put it back in so plugging it in and plugg it you know and taking it out and putting it back in well you only have so many outlets right you've got multiple appliances it's sitting on your countertop I'm still super skeptical the thing is is that that is kind of an annoyance but you would spend so much money yeah China get rid of the coil think it's a problem for me at least for several years it's not thing where you would upgrade your countertop for this I think it we it'll slowly get built into countertops or as your upgrade as you're buying a new house as new construction takes place that makes more staff but then my friends would like very easily steal my toaster they wouldn't show up and we think it the plug is the only TPS yeah yeah there's there's an alarm I don't know no you're right toasters pretty nice and charges wirelessly so the surprise of no one there's a significant amount of disparagement surrounding Facebook in the chat today Oh some people have abandoned it let's go ahead and use that as a jumping off chart for for comments and questions Jeffers has facebook is now becoming myspace outdated and no longer captures the how its generation of whatever it is it comes after Millennials also hey Jeff er what's up to organize Jeffers name shout out to everyone who's used or abandoned to their abandon their Facebook tried alternative methods Matthew - er what I'm curious for questions of Jeff or though like what what do you use now instead of right is it a grab because that's still Facebook well if you would give them any like ten more seconds you've seen that's where I was going because doctor says I wonder how people extricate themselves from Facebook when they have friends and communicate only via Facebook and see that's that's me I'm old school Facebook and yeah I post a fair share of memes and you know devil's advocate here the platform isn't the problem we are the problem right we're terrible you're all we do we share the same terrible memes over Russia Russia's come a big problem too sure where should rush ins are also human not Russians just Russia and whoever's behind all those crazy fake memes but you're right there's humans are a big part of the problem the fact that we're the ones sharing well we ruin everything there was nothing wrong with myspace either we butchered that to the extent that Facebook is a neutral tool and that we you know it kind of is a mirror unto ourselves I would agree I would agree with Brian on that but the thing is is that it's still like Facebook Facebook's executives still need to be better arbiters they need to be better judges and I need to do a better job it's not like a completely neutral agnostic tool though there are algorithms in place that inherently promote one piece of content over another that's not all human that's some of that's code totally and the Facebook I mean that I imagine that infrastructure that back-end system is just organza one and Facebook doesn't have a full grasp of that's why news and they need to have a better handle on things like fake news and election hacking to ensure that what's going on on the platform is actually on the up-and-up and isn't just being you know utilized in like you know nefarious ways right I mean I guess I I'm not a Facebook defender but I will continue to be a Facebook user because it is the easiest platform for me to communicate with people that I know they're very far away in Hawaii I have friends in Japan and I like to communicate with them occasionally and being the Facebook is a pre free platform I still utilize yeah I should just abandon and become a whatsapp user or something maybe which is also owned by face I well Touche but it it filters out the clutter it's not a bad line right but I mean most of the time what I'm enjoy most is at the end of a long stressful day I hop on and see what's up and usually the six people that are still in my following feed post an old in joke and it's like I needed that that's how well look there are folks who use that as their almost as their video player just sort of scanning through the feed seeing what videos are up and just playing them non-stop so you know it varies I would also like to mention Facebook had very recently come out with their quarterly earnings their revenue was up 49 percent and their income from operations was up 66 percent net income was up 76 percent so the time spent was down right yeah the time spent I believe was down slightly but they still had more users so their numbers are very strong they're not yeah going anywhere and it's important to recognize the fact that it's still a very strong business particularly an advert in online advertising yeah so a lot of people recognize that it's kind of a black hole in many ways but I don't think Facebook is really in any danger as a business no no no it's it's not going anywhere it certainly lost a lot of the Polish that it once held early as far as I mean you know it was acclaimed for its sheer size and reach and now they realize that reach has been tainted you know a large extent but yeah I agree with you I it's not going anywhere like Apple Apple's having a rough year but they're not gonna disappeared like they have enough I mean look at Nintendo they were in the red there oh god yeah in like the 70s or something like that and the prodigal son has returned yeah Nintendo is probably the strongest it's been ever look I'm learning business I know we're so proud of you Michael Brown says what do you think is the most effective way to be social on social media is it with people you know more openness to be social with random people online that share your interest you know cellent question very good Michael that's that's such a good like it step back and think about like okay how should I actually be using this for me in my personal life well I think everybody finds their own niche right like yeah I stay in direct contact with a very select few on the regular on Facebook and I like being able to be found you know it's been a pleasant surprise to reconnect with old friends using something like Facebook being that but again I opted in to use that because I'm not hiding but then again I found communities online you know once upon a time last.fm I was a big music nut so I joined the community there got active and then more recently even though not that recently in comparison I became an aphid red an imager user um because I enjoy the comedy on those sites I don't know anybody involved in there I don't have any direct friends but I share interests and I very selectively join the right boards that I want to get involved right I'm not just like trolling across all of Reddit so you know you find your own path I'm what do you guys do as far as internet interactions related so social that's not work-related I'm almost entirely on Twitter on Facebook I've pulled back almost entirely but my feeling is is that whatsapp I use a lot with my friends and being involved in like smaller groups of friends to me if you are gonna interact with people digitally and not actually pick up the phone and call them or send them in which I don't live ever anymore yeah picking up the phone but I found I found that you know spreading out and and meeting a lot of different people and talking to folks on reddit or whatever I don't I don't find as much value in that very personal I find some value I mean it is work-related to be honest particularly on Twitter that's where I do a majority of my my interactions like you I've got sort of small private groups online or whatsapp or Facebook Messenger with family and friends that I that I tend to keep sort of a tight circle conversation around with Facebook I mean I do a little bit of sort of public engagement the very I mean most of time I'm posting you do more than I do I post a lot like this is where I'm up to the OC baby photos but they're to a limited number of folks you actually can see it so I'm not really publicly engaging with people do most of that on Twitter yeah I mean like this is gonna be like a real bromide but going back to Michael's question like if you if it makes you happy to do and you're not harming somebody else yeah then then it's good to do on social media you know like Brian obviously you had a very different example and you'd spread out more than you know maybe Roger or I do but and so I guess it's maybe to each his own which is just more social than we we're not well it's not even that it's alone it's that it's become adopted in my generation I feel as the cultural norm to an extent and I don't do it because I'm lonely I go to these places because I enjoy the comedy it is about the comedy mm-hmm it's about the the way to decompress I appreciate somebody else's jokes even revisit the same old jokes yep but it hits a right tune because it's within a demographic reach I guess and it's not always so focused it's not a psychographic either but you know that's why I like that's why I'll spend an hour browsing imager in like two minutes on Facebook right as I'd rather get cheap laughs then hear about somebody's disdain or new child you know what I'm saying you know exactly what I'm saying if you're getting something out of it then sure you know I I don't see anything wrong with that that's that's positive yeah okay great question right yeah we are almost out of time let's slam through a couple real quick Scott my it says I was excited again a few years ago and Facebook launched a launched paper a whole new layout and style for the app and for some reason it went away why did Facebook paper disappear and Michael Brown is already pointing out cuz no one used yeah that's the short and easy answer I would say that that was kind of that period where Facebook was experimenting with tons of different standalone apps they want to create sort of this this network of different apps that all kind of link together and didn't really work out I mean it obviously messenger does really well yeah there's a the core Facebook app but allow yeah well not allow the other ones survived and I think paper was just sort of a victim of the fact that there were just too many apps and you're like what I need paper for I've got the core app I would probably say to that it was more like news reading related and with Facebook pulling back on being a site for news or at least that's how they're presenting themselves paper died long before the strap yeah okay that's true but I don't think that it's it's harming them at all considering that they're like we're not that much about news on it yeah that mean like well they gotta experiment to some point exactly or we'd still be using MySpace let's jump through just a couple more quick ops sir enjoy says is this just a case of the current generation being less and less communicative and just being more about showing off their life and their opinions is everyone just a showboat these days I this is something I can tell you see the case because everybody's got nitrate I don't think but why would it be generational it's not personally generational it's technologically generational because we are in a place now where the cameras are so abundant it's so powerful that everybody can publish something and feel like a snob I think we all want a show we all showed off to some point it's kids like but now you think now we have the capability to broadcast that and it's look it's a live stream trophy I think it's generational to the point that like I don't think people are even doing it to be stars that's just that's because cameras are everywhere that is the facet of life you live that you are always around the camera you're always sharing and that's just that's your norm right oh my god that's what we're doing right now what you're talking about way to you madam kids were growing up today right that's I mean they are growing up with in front of a camera all the time and that just is the norm now what is the norm for us but socially we need to readapt and acknowledge that there needs to be new ways to teach humility I think right now I'm even getting a little too so boxy here as I sometimes do you know when it's become so easy you have to embrace it you have to teach how to pull it back harder I mean I think that cut times that comes with age and maturity like people learn over time like I feel like whenever we say stuff like that we're like the old guys are like oh those kids don't know anything no totally gonna figure it out and in the back of my head right now I'm just singing like man I was taught brought up to be like go enjoy the experience you don't need to tell everybody about the experience get most out of it before you start bragging about it so I think kids have definitely learned that the Internet is forever and when you post stupid college party photos they can come back and bite you in the ass when you I mean I think you learned that when you get older yes but all right they are we do have I just want to put this in the back your heads for a later show jeffer ass Twitter made its first profit ever what to deal with that well think we need to talk about that another week sure so uh all right if you like to anything you saw or heard here check us out on CNET our podcast is available on iTunes tune in stitcher Feedburner google play music and amazon echo take care everybody see tomorrow amongst great questions