Gadgetory

good morning on Thursday January 25th it's time for episode three 45 of the 359 podcast the podcast it's marketed as four minutes and has yet to actually hit that mark and your host today are Alfred Inge Ben Fox Ruben and rich Nieva or as Ben pronounces it rich yeah neova yep that's it thank you very much yeah oh I have to I have to host yes sorry I've been missing from the show I oh hey made a few Tide Pods and have to be out breakdancing in your downtime so either way for the show today we're gonna be focusing on two major things the Samsung Galaxy S 9 which we're now expecting to come out well they're first gonna reveal it a month from now at Mobile World Congress February 25th we'll run through a handful of the major rumor mills that have been going on and plus we've got rich here as a special guest he's going to talk about all the trials and tribulations about facebook or at least we're gonna try to get to as many as we can in the two minutes of the podcast either way send in your questions and comments BBG we'll get to as many as he can at the end of the show without further ado let's get to the podcast and here we go in three two look that's the wrong one hey I've been I've done pretty good this week three - welcome to the 359 I'm Ben Fox Ruben I'm alfred hang and we've got a special guest today richard Nieva or ace Google and Facebook reporter and all-around super nice dude hey how's it going everybody hello is that a nice intro so anyway so Samsung on Wednesday we revealed that it will show off the new Galaxy S 9 phone on February 25th at Mobile World Congress there's not really as much anticipation for this phone after Samsung needed to hit a home run with the s8 last year following the note 7 debacle still we wanted to run through some of the major rumors that are coming out about this device the big one that at least Samsung hinted at was a dual camera setup how significant do you think this is gonna be for the phone I mean I think the camera is usually their biggest selling point isn't it yeah yeah I mean I mean but I think this one they're focusing a lot more on it like their tagline for this is like the camera reimagined exactly I don't really know how much you can do to how much reimagining it is to have another have two of them you have two of them which I think one more well a lot of people were expecting that to happen on the SAE yeah and you know actually bringing in both of them now I think people who are hoping for it a lot sooner so we'll see what happens with that one other element that I think could be interesting is and I don't really see this happening but Samsung apparently having their own version a face ID also you could unlock with they already had that though they had that first six it was terrible they didn't work that well not that good I mean they're actually gonna be better yeah I mean that was the thing about you know why the face idea was so much like better that because it used you know they are kind of like scanning like 3d scans on your face as opposed to like image scanning so maybe it'll be better maybe it will have a better camera on the front for that and I think that would be what the camera reimagined might okay I might be better at this one I'm also a little skeptical about it that it would have an in screen fingerprint reader I know there have been a lot of rumors about in screen fingerprint readers coming to major smartphones but they haven't really quite mentally the least skeptical about that one because I had written a story about a Qualcomm development that would allow for that and they said it would be coming around this time so really I think yeah I think it makes a lot of sense you can see that on the s9 well at the very least they're gonna be moving the fingerprint sensor on the back of the phone like below the camera that's at least like some of the stuff that we've been selling definitely be a lot more helpful that would definitely be a lot more helpful and a little less weird but I don't know we'll see what ends up happening definitely check out more stories from us about that as we get closer to that date February 25th next rich because you're here we wanted to delve into a little of the trials and tribulations about what Facebook has been dealing with lately it seems like people have kind of fallen out of love with the world's largest social media site but is this really hurting Facebook's business are people using Facebook less than maybe they were before well see I think you hit it on the head I think it's it's not people like users that have fallen out of love with it it's just that Facebook has gotten more scrutiny from people like us people lawmakers but it doesn't look like people are using it less I don't think people are using Facebook less maybe you're not no I mean like a lot of people that I talk to also aren't using yeah but that's why you stay totally anecdotal yes that's why I was like curious to hear like Rich's opinion ah well I they may be using it less but it's not because of the criticism I think so tell me a little bit about the friends and family newsfeed thing do you think that's gonna make like Facebook a little bit more of a positive place I don't know like do I really need to look at more babies well that's the hope for them so they announced this big overhaul to the newsfeed the biggest one that they've ever done probably and it is gonna do prioritize news and show you more political rants from your friends yeah so that'll make it a positive place I guess so okay you have five seconds to answer this question yeah a really easy question to finish the podcast out with his Facebook hurting democracy yeah we're not gonna know we're not gonna figure that okay anyway if you want to read more about these stories check us out on CNN I'm Ben Fox Ruben I'm offering I'm rich Nova thanks for listening I think it's a good idea as far as Facebook goes friends and family thing yeah that's the reason I got on Facebook in the first place I I don't need another place to regurgitate the same stories to me over and over again that's what I have only reason I'm there for is to stay in contact with the ever shrinking list of people I care about yeah I think Facebook also realizes though that people are getting annoyed by like you know third party family members like your cousin's cousins boyfriend or something like that I love that guy where you know like a few weeks ago they had introduced all these like features there's like oh you can now now like mute these people for a certain amount of time or like I mean I pretty much unfollow every new person that get to add it on or like anybody that pops up on my newsfeed mm-hmm it's almost always like an immediate unfollow for me well I think with a lot of this stuff it's good that Facebook is at least recognizing that there are some issues some of them I don't know may not be like I think a lot is being heaped upon them like maybe we actually have a little bit of time now to talk about that issue about democracy Facebook initially immediately after the election said no we had nothing to do with this then they owned up to it and said well maybe we did a little bit so what's what's your take on that and like what are they doing about yeah well I mean I think to Facebook's credit they are actually taking a hard look at themselves and and reflecting Mark Zuckerberg usually does this big what's basically a very very extravagant New Year's resolution where like he takes up a challenge every year he when you he decided to learn Mandarin last year he said he was gonna does it every state that he hadn't been to this year though he said that his challenge would be to fix all the big problems with Facebook mmm I love totally do that I love that the CEO of Facebook you know it took this long for his new year's resolution to be fixed Facebook goes like all right I'm gonna learn Chinese I'm gonna tour the USA I'm gonna open up some more schools oh yeah I should probably work on the website yes yeah but I think that switching the newsfeed to and having less news on it and there's also this thing that are trying to do to amp up like the trustworthiness of the news that you actually do see might solve the problems that a lot of people did recognized during the election where there were just basically Russian trolls that were trying to inflame both sides whatever side you were on they were just trying the weird thing is so like a lot of it wasn't so Facebook right now is taking a big priority on news right saying you know we're gonna curb these fake news things and all these posts but they haven't really done much to address kind of like the fake operatives kind of thing like when I was looking into it one of the bigger like issues that they had was with events so that they would set up like they would set up the protests and the counter protest just to get people to like you know argue in real life with each other they did they did it's in Texas where it was something about a mosque opening up and there was like a protest they the the Russian trolls set up an event that was protesting the Moscow opening up and then they also set up the event for the counter protest we're so easily socially but in here the thing is like that's what I find surprising that's that's like the biggest issue and I think that's why people are like kind of calling out Facebook on this you know saying a lot of people are like believing stuff on your website without any kind of disclaimers on it but like how do you like tell if an event is a fake now you know like with news I can at least gather something out of that like this URL doesn't look legit or anything like that with an event I think it's much harder yeah and the other leads and that's something that they still need to figure out because when they when they announced all of their findings for investigating Russian interference they it was it was ads and it was organic posts and the organic posts are you're a whole different beast the organic post it got like way more traffic than any of like the post with ads on it to be fair so right but you can curb the ads anyway I want to get to the questions I feel like um probably got a lot of viewers that are interested in talking a little bit more about the s9 so let's let's track back to that yeah we'll swing back over to the s9 Jessica says bring back the fingerprint scanner on the front I think at least like you said the the relocation of it on the back is a smart move it's a better positioning I think that's what they're trying to do with the fingerprint scanner under this screen though that it will be on the front like it'll be on your screen like if the s9 is anything like the SI where it's like kind of like all screen on the front like it'll probably be on the front but just under your screen right right Joe we'll see I it's it's I don't maybe that will actually happen it's actually pretty hard to know because all the leaks that have been going out there's no way of telling whether there's a fingerprint scanner under the glass or not but yeah Jessica also wants to know if the s9 is going to be 4k 4k screen I'm assuming so I mean that's that's a tough one to answer partly because like why would you need 4k on such a small screen I guess maybe for verbal we are for the VR that you're doing it's the other problem with that is that if you are gonna do VR or 4k stuff exactly how much content exactly are you gonna be getting I think I think a lot of media companies still need to catch up to do more content around that I wonder if the s9 will finally be the kickoff device for Bixby that Samsung keeps trying to like push forward they've been pushing big spin did that with they start with a yes a didn't they yeah yeah so I mean but I mean like there was kind of a stumble on it cuz Bixby wasn't ready when the SA like came out so I wonder now that it is ready and it is like a fully functioning device maybe the s9 will final it will be like the read debut or the repackaging of like Bixby yeah they keep talking about Bixby and I expect they will continue talking about that voice assist and the other thing that I think is important to mention is is that the s8 was a pretty significant overhaul of the look of the phone and there was like a lot more screen real estate there was a lot less bezel from the rumors that we've been seeing so far the s9 is suspected to look very similar to that device so what exactly is gonna be the big to do about it cameras ringing imagine right the camera exactly reimagined it they're gonna reimagine it reimagined as a sock okay god I want to hate that phrase reimagined what have to make it like something whatever hammer what sock well redesign there's something you know luckily new functionality I don't know but Lee they redesign it's still a friggin kansai camera that you can wear luckily they don't have the dual you imagined it might be a cloud stupid lofty marketing crap anyway you really yeah take it in your eye and cranky today sorry guys well hey a dog when is gonna be the release date for the s9 obviously we don't know that because we're in a world where we have a preview of a preview to preview the preview as they announce the announcement totally accurate you didn't see the trailer we'll find out with you on the 25th but assuming looking at history we're gonna see it within like a week or more likely a month afterwards you think only usually then drop it in like April I don't it's I don't actually remember off the top of my head yeah usually it's within like a week to four weeks after the actual announcement but yeah that's that's typically what they do is they unveil the device then they tell you when you can actually buy it and you can pre sale it so I would say wait another month to actually find out that information right Sanjaya wants to know when will the Oreo update come for the s8 good question I don't know that's I will try to I will scramble to try to find that out on the googles while we're talking it's funny because I was at the Oreo launch and they said that it would be ready for the yes a like within the week clearly it's not so I I mean there might be some miscommunication on Google's and with Samsung but I don't know apparently so trusted reviews I just opened this up Android Oreo update for the Galaxy s8 is now painfully close alright but have you heard of this website before yeah yeah they're running by electron net I I don't trust them at all because I don't know Facebook survey for for weeding out fake news have you seen this before and how much do you trust it no trusted reviews I I know of them but I do like seeing that more probably because I got paid is that so Scott Myatt says I'm using Facebook way less than I used to Facebook memories prove this but seriously there's been no new features no bio stuff in the last year couple years has there been I mean I mean days is this see my space if occation of Facebook ouch I mean I would think I think the that's news feature that Alfred mentioned a little bit earlier is the biggest thing that I can think of the the new survey thing know they where you could break you could meet people oh yeah yeah yeah yeah but Facebook has also been focusing on its other properties like messenger yeah adding new things to that yeah they have this thing called like stories now that they invented they invented no one else has ever done yeah where you can take photos and they don't last like forever they disappear in 24 hours that's like no one else has ever done that is that true though that they're focusing a lot more of their innovation on like Instagram and messenger and not so much unlike the thing that two billion people are on well when you've got something with two billion you can't people on it you can't we mess with you that much without people getting yeah really bad I guess imagine remember every time they change like the wall that people would like be furious about I was up in arms their college student there'd be like petitions wherever just really change it back I want to poke people again is that still a thing poking yeah I think it is actually yeah no one's ever they never sunset any of this fun fact when Facebook tried to clone snapchat the first time wait what it was called poke the app was called poke yeah Facebook has never tried to clone snapchat what are you what are you even talking about right yeah I don't know I I think there's not been a lot of new features on Facebook I think right now that they're they've been very hard on driving like nostalgia where it's like hey it's been three years since you met a rich you should post on his wall again yeah like the problem with that is is that that's not actually reality like sometimes I'll friend somebody on Facebook that I've known for years yeah and they're like your one-year anniversary with BVG and I'm like but BVG was at my bar mitzva like when we go way back we'd go back like 30 years we go way back no yeah sir enjoy whoo given him a special shout-out right now because he's balancing between our show and a very important cutthroat game he's watching on TV so thank you for sticking with us we're keep our fingers crossed we know you're in dire straits right now sir enjoy will Mark Zuckerberg make any huge leaps with Facebook to compete with the Bitcoin strength of the Winklevoss twins oh good question Zuckerberg did mention cryptocurrency in his post announcing his year-long challenge to fix Facebook so who knows Facebook dollars Facebook's Facebook's that's good oh my god the worst part the worst part is is that that's entirely possible I don't think he'd do that just despite the Winklevoss twins I don't think that's like a like that's a weird motivation to start your own cryptocurrency but I mean I could see them doing that to be honest mmm-hmm blockchain it's the future face block and storm king wants to know will there be will there be any news on the note nine that that comes later they usually save that for later in the year like yeah yeah like we've temper or so right I I don't remember exactly but I think that you what Samsung especially it likes to do because they have two major flagship phones is that they get as much juice as they possibly can out of the s9 or the Galaxy S launches and then the note nine or the note launches are completely separate and they do their own thing but yeah I think you're right it's around September when we would see that so as we're starting to wind down at the end of the show here we have the article on CNN of course but what is everyone's personal wishlist for the Galaxy S Line yeah like to be able to afford it yeah it's I would probably see say the on screen fingerprint reader I just like kind of Miss that aspect of it after I got the s8 and I think the fingerprint reader is in a awkward place I still use it but it's not as good so that would definitely be appreciated I think that would make it a much much better phone if we're really talking about reimagining the camera I would like for the phone to also double as a drone where you can fly around and take photos of you that was I would actually be very impressed by that if they did that nothing we have to say yes here something oh wait I'm gonna change my answer to I'd like the phone to transform into a toothbrush and brush my teeth because apparently that's a big imagined as a toothbrush apparently that's my idea for all tech now is that it should brush my teeth I just want to make sure you talk I just want him to troll everyone the big unveiling since those things are so friggin hoity-toity anyways just rolled out and sick reimagine and they just hold on a basketball ball is life and it makes phone calls what about you reg I was I was gonna say the the phone where are you my calls yeah I would like can i dial numbers on it yeah definitely add a rotary to the camera lenz whoo I like that idea too isn't there like an app or a case it doesn't know or something where you can actually function as I hate cases that are like that there's one that like for your tablet that like it's like a typewriter like thing sorry that's how much I hate it we are a live show so we got them to that one more before we call today three two one Bluff says will the s9 iris scanner come to par with face ID it would be hard I tried the iris scanner and turned it off almost immediately it was really poor and maybe it's because I wear glasses I'm not really sure but it was similar in in a sense to like the facial recognition that it's on the phone but to me seems pretty yes so they would need like a ton of cameras to match up with face ID because what face ID does the front-facing camera also has these AR stuff and it plots out all the stuff on your on your face the iris scanner kind of takes a photo of your eyes and then alike it scans that so like I could hold up a 2d image of like my eyes and hold over everybody oh yeah that's Alfred that's not iris scanning yeah sort of I mean I know you're right but that's that's what they have so far I think that is iid right yes it's hopefully they improve that stuff but I don't really think that like they're like a bunch of different ways Samsung yeah Samsung has disputed this a lot when I've asked them about it where they'll say you know you need the perfect lighting and conditions to do that stuff but the fact that it's can be done then why does it exist yeah it's so precious why does it even bother yeah so I ideal situations all day yeah but I do know a lot of people that do use like face idea and that might be anecdotal again but it's just I think the function of it is is like probably some of the best facial recognition in the industry right now for a phone at least so I think it'll be hard to top like face ID all right we'll say I like what Scott's drumming up in the chat right now I says maybe Samsung could have a whole new way to unlock your phone up at sleeve and that's got my brain gears turning and we've got we've used your face we've used your finger you use numbers letters I kind of want to have a phone that only opens when thrown with such velocity against the wall that it recognizes my pitch or that's what I do well if it turns into a toothbrush and you brush your teeth with it it could check out your yeah it knows your dental yeah yeah all right one of the first Facebook apps not Facebook sorry iPhone apps that ever came out where was like launch me or like throw me to the sky or whatever it was basically yeah it was like it would use the the GPS or the accelerometer honor to see how high you could throw it up in the air Apple Bandar Tun line launch me anyways tell us what you think is a unique new way to possibly unlock the phone in the future slide or otherwise yeah blood and tell us what's on your wish list for the s9 coming on February 25th stay tuned to see net to learn more about that as its coming up and on that note I think it's about time to bring us home alright the 359 podcast is available on iTunes tune in stitcher feedburner google play music the Amazon echo and it's on cnet.com of course it's on Frankie is it no this is the 350s 355 turn it around but then I can't talk into the mic yeah that would be ideal that would be cnet.com rich thank you so much for coming on the podcast and answering all our facebook questions we hope to have you on again soon thanks everybody for coming into the chat send in your questions and we will see you again next week oh hey heads up by the way we are not gonna be live Monday or Tuesday next week just FYI scheduling conflicts I'm traveling for some family stuff but we will be back Wednesday Thursday next week so so we're gonna look out have a great weekend everybody you