Gadgetory

welcome to the 359 I'm Ben Fox Ruben am alpha dang I'm rich nueva Facebook has been having a really lousy year with the Cascade of privacy blunders amid this mess the social media giant decided it was a good idea to come out with a facebook messenger video chat device called portal it's a 10.1 inch smart display that costs $199 uses Amazon's Alexa and will compete against the Amazon echo show and smart displays using Google assistant so rich is this a terrible idea or just a really bad one it's it's an idea and that exists exists hey you know what give me $200 and I'll come to your house and I'll just like just stare at you the whole time and if you want you know I can also play Spotify for you so basically what mark is like a break is saying oh dude yeah but like do you so this feels like an also-ran product it's late to market is it is it any different or better do you think then any of the other stuff that's out there like the echo show which doesn't have the same privacy concerns is Facebook at the moment or like any of those Google devices so the pitch from Facebook is that it's got this technology called smart camera where it'll like it'll follow you around it'll frame the photo oh the the picture for you and zoom in and out which I I've seen it in in action and it does work pretty well but also having software that follows you around is is kind of creepy is the is the pitch mostly like it's for video chats like like kind of like like a you know you put on your kitchen counter or something you do video chats with Grandma or it's also like a smart speaker that you'd be able to like you know turning on and off your connected lights and that kind of thing too right it's both so it works with Alexa so if you have stuff that works with Alexa you can use it to control your lights I would give them the benefit of the doubt here though where they are saying that all the data that's they this is different from a Google home or an Alexa powered speaker where all the data that's on there is encrypted locally on the device in the same way that when you talk to Siri all those like voice commands and stuff are also encrypted locally on your phone like this doesn't go to any like servers or anything like that so it's not cloud-based yes anyway so the only way that any of that data could be hacked is if somebody like physically went to your home and like took like the the portal itself which is pretty interesting considering that it's only been 10 days since Facebook announced that it had been reached with 50 million accounts affected they were supposed to announce this around f8 like in May or at least a quarter and Bloomberg's reports they were but they had like basically backed off of because he came rich analytic a scandal that happened around the same time so it was let's hold off on that this time around it was just let's just go for it it's yeah it's oh it's been 10 days well they need they need to go for it right because they gotta get this thing up before the holidays yeah so either way we have a minute left and two more stories but let's try to do it anyway Google is hosting a big product launch event tomorrow in Manhattan rich is going to be there the event kicks off at 11:00 a.m. Eastern and CNET's live show starts half an hour before then so check it out rich what do we expect from this event what's like the big to-do so the big thing is they're probably gonna announce the pixel 3 and pixel 3 XL new smartphones new smartphones yeah are they gonna get like do we know they're gonna be like 2 cameras these are we also confirmed by the way that these are going to be the first phones with Android Pi so that's something but what about some other devices that we might expect so some some refreshes of their of their Google home products we can probably expect like an you know a refresh of chromecast's this is kind of formulaic at this point this is the third year that they're doing this look rich you're a Google expert why do they call it the pixel excel and not the megapixel hilarious that's a good question okay so last last Bloomberg came out with a story last week claiming a massive hacking operation by the Chinese Alfred what happened over the weekend about this so on Saturday night the Department of Homeland Security put out a statement basically backing up Apple and Amazon who have both completely denied this story from Bloomberg they've said they've you know checked through all their system they said they've never gotten any warnings from the government about this which the Bloomberg story claims to get rid of any devices that use super micro motherboards which they switch Bloomberg story and 17 sources who spoke with Bloomberg have said were victims of a supply chain attack from the Chinese factories that were putting a small chip in there that could basically monitor and send activity back that was being used by Apple and Amazon so a lot of denials all around about this we're still waiting to find out what exactly is going on here but either way sorry we're out of time if you want to read more about these stories check us out on CNN I'm Ben Fox Ruben I'm Alfred Eng I'm Richard Nava thanks for listening this music is for my favorite just for the method I'm waiting for Brian to bring down the hammer on me I'm sorry I was well over I refer what it says I was I was well over a minute I was almost a minute and a half over but yeah that's commonplace these days okay anyway the more the more you Yammer the more people get questions for which means the more fun we can have in the post show so that's really which is right now we're really just go to the 359 ironically now that's 359 cynically Ben okay so let's go ahead and talk about this Facebook thing I'm sending your questions and comments folks right now I just got to say like Zuckerberg covers his own camera on his laptop what makes him think any of us are going to trust him to put his camera in our home we have an answer for you there's a couple there's a cousin spider there's a slider on it which also the Google smart displays use as well so the echo show to the best of my knowledge is the only one that doesn't have a slider on it because they say when the cameras off the cameras off we're not gonna provide you with a physical slider so is that gonna make people more comfortable buying this thing no no I don't really think so Plus Facebook Messenger is a free service that you get on your phone which you already own why would you pay two hundred more dollars for that so there's a lot of questions I have about this if you couldn't already tell but all right before we get back into the to the quintessential criticisms mark dybul brings up a good point stating that the portal might be working best at a professional level be good for video conference meetings well he's not wrong but there are other plenty of cheaper options out there too I feel also I don't know how many video conference meetings happen on facebook messenger but that's true they could from technical level it's he's got a point if there's so anywhere to apply this that's it well the interesting thing is like I think the different thing that Facebook is bringing to the table here is that is the smart camera technology that actually follows you so like could they bring that to phones you know could they could they bring that to other well they plan phones though like you're already following yourself like then you wouldn't have to move it so what usually put your phone down and then walking around or sound like that but then how would the phone you know what yeah oh yeah I would have to give the phone like like spider legs like the camera alone would walk around yeah but I mean like like it could could Facebook leverage this this I mean you might make a little bit more sense because like they they do that already like there are there's like selfie drones that like know like where you are and they like follow you around to take like a photo so one one point from the comment are if there's if there's an opportunity to be had in conference rooms I kind of feel like Amazon is gonna try to get all over that really really quickly they already announced Alexa for business last year and even though that project hasn't really taken off that much if if they they know that like this is this is kind of their opportunity to lose here they've pushed out more Alexa and echo devices than anybody else that that's that's trying to do smart speaker technology so I think that they would be very keen to avoid having Facebook take over that space before they get to it next question yes all right diggin it along from DC one four seven I definitely do not trust that Facebook portal I feel like I don't need to know much about it to not trust it we're going on this is kind of my evaluation on this is it if Facebook is just putting tiny little distractions and band-aids it's getting very political about this like they have major issues going on right now with privacy right so let's distract them it's the equipment of like going to your boss being like my paycheck is not good enough my benefits I am I'm at a bad place in life and the boss is like here's some candy I would take the candy I would I would love to have some candy yeah so I mean I don't think it's a distraction I think if anything it highlights a lot more of their privacy issues like the things that they're in trouble for is exactly what people are worried about with this I mean the same thing happened so what like two months after Cambridge analytical the story had broken about Facebook they come out with this like hey we have this new dating service trust us with your love life now so I honestly think it's more just so that they think that like they will get through all these scandals as counters like we can't let these issues like sadhana whether this and it was also in the pipeline there's there's just practical sensibilities to this to that this was a product that was in the pipeline probably for well over a year the holidays are coming up they need to get this thing out there and it's not like things are so awful at Facebook that they're gonna decide we're gonna scrap this thing this is going to be such an embarrassment for us but I want to ask you rich because you did the briefing on this you asked them specifically about these privacy concerns related to this product what didn't they tell you well they said a little bit of that so they've been working on this for 18 months when I asked specifically about somebody saying like hey this might be cool but it's a Facebook product and it's not for me he's their their VP said well people will have to make their choice hmm they think that they're there they're presenting value and people have to make a choice that is the quote yeah that is that is the hallmark of a man who's confident and not want this because they don't trust you or I think well they'll have to make a choice okay there was some good that's acting right there no thumbs up make a choice on a scale of 9 to 10 how tone-deaf is Facebook about all this right now I'm gonna let rich answer that one III don't think there you know I think they have to get the products out that they were working on I mean I think they do generally understand that they are in trouble in terms of user trust but it's a business and they've got a like and yeah Zuckerberg said this on stage at f8 he was just like we're gonna fix these privacy problems but we need to push forward like you you remember that right that like they were like we're not gonna stop being a business that's gonna try different things and I guess this is a good example of that but it doesn't feel like the right note to be hitting at this point like like you said Brian and I think that they're also looking at their numbers and like we and you know I think they have an understanding that you know even as these scandals happen it's just it doesn't really fact how many people sign up for Facebook and use Facebook on a daily basis it's still surprising anime I spoke with a couple of friends this weekend where they didn't even know that the breach had happened Wow from like ten days ago which is like oh wait that happened like I don't really use Facebook anymore but like they still have a Facebook do they know about Cambridge analytical though because that one definitely filtered into my personal life where like people talked about it I like they know about it but they know like at like on a very surface level yeah well yeah they didn't know the breach had happened so I mean just taking a look at I mean Ritchie wrote about their like earnings from what most recent quarter aware was like yeah we're still making a bull or money people are still using us yeah these scandals don't really seem to be doing anything Sam so it's just hey look we couldn't come out with the camera although they did fight they did have their first decline in users in like Europe and so and that took the stock down like what 20% yeah so they are feeling it a little bit but ya know I'm honestly more surprised that they haven't like started launching products for like Instagram like the hardware thing like based around that it could be funny you should say that cuz Wilburys asking if I GTV is actually gonna come to the portal that would make a lot of sense yeah I would definitely expect that time yeah I would too they'd snot not at launch but they said that they are looking for Instagram and all five people that watch IG TV can now watch it on their portal living room I'll be the sixth person now that I found out that it exists just now what do we expect the response to be from folks like Logitech Microsoft and Cisco if Facebook starts impeding on their video conferencing territory well that's still hypothetical I'm not sure that that's actually gonna happen and Facebook still has as we're talking about during this podcast they still have a long hill to climb getting back any sort of like privacy issues and on the enterprise level for businesses it's even a greater concern you know consumer privacy also obviously very important but enterprise tends to be even more careful so I don't think that those guys are really shaking in their boots quite yet but you know it may be a year from now things might look a little differently a question from Sir enjoy is there a smart calendar in the market yet I feel that the table calendar is widely used prop in homes and offices smart calendar be better than smart photo frames this isn't completely connected by kind of like the idea I definitely prefer his idea to this stupid video phone thing honestly a month ago I probably would have laughed at that but you know like Amazon came out with a smart wall clock mm which that really I I still don't know why but I mean yeah if Amazon can make a smart wall clock like I wouldn't be surprised now for like a smart calendar I'd come out yeah I mean can't you just do that with a tablet or like yes yeah you could also make a clock with a tablet as well so right you know I don't know I live and die by my calendar as you guys know it's a hot mess but it works I would love something like an oversized tablet to a television size screen mounted and dedicated to being able for me to interact with that in my home on the fly I would honestly prefer that especially if there was a stylus or something involving I could just jot something down as opposed to like messing around my phone calendar all the time that we're getting off topic though I know you enjoy we're gonna start the business together we're gonna call it Calendar with without an e at the end dot IO so I look forward to that just just jump on that jump on that URL before anybody else gets to it kallen trio calendar EO yeah I love it so James favors curious about this a fever I always call you favor and I apologize I don't know why I do that James fever it's this the first piece of hardware from Facebook and what else can it do you know apart from being like one of those creepy eye paintings at the haunted mansion that just follow you everywhere you go it's a frame it displays pictures it's not the first well Alice its Facebook branded device because that Facebook phone wasn't like mate I know HTC and they they were rumored like for years to be building a throwing themselves which actually never panned out but this is the first one should we expect like this is gonna be the first of several or I'm I imagine they probably didn't talk that much about that but you know every holiday season before the holiday season we should anticipate another creepy Facebook device coming down Halloween dude get spooky I think so me I think I think if this goes well you know they can be doing more they they have this hardware lab setup so speaking of which yeah when are they gonna do you know if they're gonna come out with like the weird like rain brain connection tell people about yeah so so this hardware device the portal is from a division called building eight at Facebook has it's a secretive hardware lab and the other projects that they've been working on are a brain to computer interface which will allow you to think thoughts that you could type with your brain and it'll send them to a computer and there is another project that'll allow your skin to hear through haptics ma'am yeah see that sounds pretty out there and it's more interesting to me anyway then yet another smart display but that's just a little has just been that's just whatever further commenting on the concept of Facebook and their brand and hardware DC one four seven says I'm surprised at Facebook didn't create a new brand for this or just release it under oculus but I mean it's not really VR and I really hope it doesn't get VR because that's the next level creepy there are snapped at and it is yeah it it does go under they so a Facebook has a VR AR division and so oculus and building eight are under that so it does filter up to the same place yeah but it might give people the wrong impression if it was branded oculus that people would immediately think that it was a like specifically a VR device absolutely is Instagram probably would have resonated a lot more people don't like associate breaches and like privacy issues with Instagram there's a Graham portal I'm an influencer I have that in my house yeah there's there I don't hate this idea you know why didn't they go with that back wouldn't they Cambridge analytic a scandal happened there were so many people in favor so it's like that's it I'm done with this I'm leaving Facebook you can find me on Instagram and it's so yeah Instagram doesn't really have like the like branding issue that Facebook does I honestly think that they would have been a much better play to put it there I mean with like you know if they're trying to promote like IG TV if they're trying to promote like messenger and things like messenger doesn't even have the branding issues that Facebook has I see what if this is what if it's the other but if it goes the other way what if they don't want to mess up the Instagram that end could be a - yeah Instagram is pure or don't don't touch it yeah just let it keep doing its thing alfrid Instagram is not pure you know that's true I everything is corrupted it's the internet we got a few more minutes to spend on Facebook and then we're gonna talk pixel real quick and get out of here from Tapout King 86 when is the date for the release of this majiggy sometime in November that's all we got mm-hmm and I think pre-orders start today you're at our site today pre-orders start today so you're desperate to buy one you can order it right now and hit Facebook your money immediately and if you are please reach out to us and tell us why if you actually want to buy this thing email any of us we're probably right like the 359 at Cena commerce actually I mean we do in a box I forgot what it was we don't really use it yeah it's the email credit at us what is it Richard 9 podcast that's actually to handle real quick oh here we go how does the founders of Instagram leaving affect people's view of Facebook's plans that's from Jedi Cowboys it's a good question but I really doubt like we're talking about the that people have like a very surface knowledge of Cambridge analytically didn't even know about the breach last week yeah the very smart and well-connected people that watch the 3:59 obviously are very well aware of the instagrammed coupon are aware of like the Instagram founders leaving but I don't really see how it's gonna have much of an impact otherwise like outside of like in the bubble of the tech world do you agree I agree yeah I mean people don't really know the inner workings of this stuff I know a lot of people who didn't even realize that Facebook owned Instagram so yeah that's probably not gonna really influence whether this product does well or not or what happens with Instagram unless Mark Zuckerberg decides to like start like putting his thumb down a lot more on Instagram and pushing out a lot of products that people don't like then you could argue that yeah this is this is bad and which is reportedly why a part of why they left why the founders left Zuckerberg was kind of tightening the grip on Instagram and they didn't unlike that apparently mm-hmm go figure okay with a couple minutes we have left let's just prepare ourselves for tomorrow so we talked we got new phones coming maybe a new Google chromecast there's rumors flying around about new pixel buds I think and I believe hold on let me see if I can pull it up wasn't Google home hub yeah so that would be a smart display yeah that would be another smart display similar to the portal there it is yeah well what do we know about this outside of the rumor that they might be developing said thing I mean what's interesting about this is that Google partnered up with I think four different companies to create smart displays using its own technology and now it wants to come out with its own which is just so typical of these tech Titans I mean like Amazon is doing a lot of the same thing I just wrote a story about this last week where you know you bring on partners into your ecosystem and then develop a piece of hardware that directly competes with them so they're doing it also with the pixel so I don't know we'll see how that one's actually different and the thing is is that Google incentivizes people to buy those products by giving them software updates and like the newest versions like before any of those partner devices but that's not there that's not Google like holding that back like partner devices usually just get the updates late because of like different reasons at least for the phone like on like pixels will get the updates sooner because it's like directly from Google whereas like a Samsung phone might not because they have to go through like all these different things with like Verizon and then following up like Samsung making sure the updates are compatible with our phones and things like that that's a good point yeah I'd love to push yeah updates to Galaxy phones mmm okay that's a very good point and thank you for telling me about that one other thing too is is that there was a rumor flying around that there might be a third higher end pixel device being announced which is going to compete directly with the iPhone 10s I don't know I'm a little skeptical though there's gonna be three of them but maybe that'll yeah it's called the pixel three dude the Picts oh okay thank you a megapixel is there a Mac there's no mega pixel array it's just a 3 megapixel like the rest of the spec final thoughts in our anticipation for pixel tomorrow Mike wolf is curious what our thoughts are on this home hub and a liver duck at having a live or die calendar is that something we'll be interested in I'm not sure what he's referring to do you guys know what does a live or die calendar I don't know I don't know what that is but I know that I'm guessing he's making fun of me because I said I live and die by my count seriously say brush your teeth in there I forget so that's me and and how I operate so there's a view into my you know terrible life decisions I always alright breathe on my calendar just to make sure yeah can you schedule that into your into your Fitbit so sometimes I don't have time yeah so yeah speaking of the pixel event tomorrow we are not going to have a show tomorrow because we'll be broadcasting from here so too at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Ben's gonna be joining Bridgette and Geoff I think at the desk correct and they'll be doing the pre and post-show will be carrying the stream and all the unveilings right here at CNET and on YouTube and on live stream and on periscope and on Twitch because why not so hopefully we'll see you all then we'll be back on Wednesday with a regular show until then Ben you want to take us out of here yes yeah I have to I have to bend down to see this the 3:59 is available on itunes toon and stitcher feedburner google play music google podcasts the amazon echo and of course cnet.com also subscribe and join us live weekday mornings on the scene at YouTube livestream and twitch channels thanks everybody for watching really appreciate it and see you for the Google pixel stuff tomorrow I'm Alfred aying I'm rich ever thanks guys you you