Tech Brew Ride Home - Thu. 09/30 – Facebook: Who You Gonna Trust? Us? Or Your Lying Eyes?

Episode Date: September 30, 2021

Facebook finally releases the controversial slides to let them speak for themselves, but doesn’t actually let them speak for themselves. A 4K Nintendo Switch was apparently coming, but now is it never coming? Nreal has some AR glasses for binge watching. And Fairphone has released a smartphone that they want you to think of as your “forever phone.” At least, as far as these things go. Links: TinyCaptial.com Modern Finance Podcast Links: Facebook Downplays Internal Research Released on Eve of Hearing (NYTimes) Developers Are Making Games for a Nintendo 4K Console That Doesn’t Exist (Bloomberg) GM’s new software platform will enable over-the-air updates, in-car subscriptions, and maybe facial recognition (The Verge) Researchers find Apple Pay, Visa contactless hack (BBC News) Nreal’s new AR sunglasses are made for binge watching TV (The Verge) Fairphone’s latest sustainable smartphone comes with a five-year warranty (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On April 4th, 2023, around 2 in the morning, a man was found stabbed multiple times on a sidewalk in downtown San Francisco. Hey, who did this to you? What happened next turned the story into a political firestorm. Reports have identified the victim as Bob Lee, the founder of Cash App. From Bloomberg Podcasts, this is Foundering, the Killing of Bob Lee, beginning April 16. Welcome to the TechMeme ride home for Thursday, September 30th, 2021. I'm Brian McCullough today. Facebook finally releases some controversial slides to let them speak for themselves, but doesn't actually let them speak for themselves. A 4K Nintendo Switch was apparently coming, but now is it never coming?

Enreal has some new AR glasses for binge watching TV, and Fairphone has released a smartphone that they want you to think of as your forever phone. at least as far as those things go. Here's what you miss today in the world of tech. Facebook is testifying before Congress today about that whole making things safe for kids on Instagram and their other platforms thing. I'm not going to actually cover it today. If any news is made, we can analyze it tomorrow. But the whole circus continues nonetheless. Remember how folks were like, hey, Facebook, just release all the documents in question from those Wall Street Journal pieces.

so the documents can speak for themselves, because Facebook was all like, yeah, we're going to release the documents because they've been cherry-picked to make us look bad. So, Facebook released two of its internal research documents about Instagram's impact on teen mental health, but they did not let them speak for themselves because Facebook annotated the documents for what they called context. But what could also be seen as, yeah, if you take these documents at face value, they make us look bad, so we can't let them speak for themselves. Here's how you should be reading this data. Quoting the New York Times.

The reports, Team Mental Health Deep Dive, published internally in October 2019, and Hard Life Moments, published in November 2019, were accompanied by annotations from Facebook that sought to contextualize the limitations of the research and chastised its own researchers for using imprecise language. In one slide with a title that said, one in five teens say that Facebook makes them feel worse about themselves with UK girls the most negative. Facebook wrote in its annotation that the research had not been intended to suggest a causal link between the app and well-being. The company said the headline emphasized negative effects, but could have been written, quote, to note the positive

or neutral effect of Instagram on users, end quote. So again, Facebook's own research into the negative aspects of their platforms say that there are negative aspects, which of course, there are. I mean, there are negative aspects to basically everything. But Facebook refuses steadfastly to acknowledge that to itself, and so it refuses to acknowledge it to you and I either to basically acknowledge it flat out, quoting again. We added annotations to each slide that give more context because this type of research is designed to inform internal conversations, and the documents were created. for and used by people who understand the limitations of the research, said Lisa Crenshaw, a spokeswoman for Instagram. In the reports, one slide was titled,

But We Make Body Image Issues Worse for One in Three Teen Girls. Facebook's annotation said the methodology was, quote, not fit to provide statistical estimates, end quote, and noted that the title of the slide was, quote, myopic. The company said the findings were meant only to represent the feelings of the survey takers and, quote, not the teenage population of Instagram users in general, end quote. On the 66 slide, teen mental health deep dive presentation, which relied on in-person qualitative questioning of 40 teenagers and online surveys of more than 2,500 teenagers in the United States and Britain, one annotation called into question the definition of mental health in the presentation. Quote, mental health should not be mistaken

for a clinical, formal, or academic definition, the company wrote. Another slide's title said that, quote, teens who struggle with mental health say Instagram makes it worse, end quote. In response, Facebook's annotation said, the headline should be clarified to be teens who have lower life satisfaction, more likely to say Instagram makes their mental health or the way they feel about themselves worse than teens who are satisfied with their lives, end quote. Some real quibbling over what the definition of the word is, is here, of course. And I've spoken before about how maybe people inside Facebook that were trying to make things better are getting frustrated or giving up. Well, imagine you were a researcher, a statistician, or what have you, and you were hired by Facebook

to do research into how to improve its platforms, and then they throw you under the bus like this. How would you feel about your employee doing that to you? And in public, too. Remember how there were rumors of a higher-res, higher performance, possibly 4K version of of the Nintendo Switch coming, and that it never actually came. Well, get this, quoting Bloomberg. Many people were surprised to learn that Nintendo's new video game console is missing a common feature of rival systems, support for high-fidelity 4K graphics. Perhaps most perplexed were the numerous developers who were working on 4K games using a software toolkit provided by Nintendo. Employees at 11 game companies said their teams were in possession of Nintendo's 4K development kit

for the Switch. The companies span the globe, ranging from large publishers to small studios, and include at least one that has never made a console game before, Zinga, according to the employees who asked not to be identified because they weren't authorized to discuss their projects publicly. The latest model of the best-selling Nintendo Switch is set to go on sale October 8th. It will sport a larger screen than the current version, use OLED technology for better color and contrast, and at $350 costs more than its predecessors. Bloomberg began reporting on details of the product more than a year ago, including the bigger OLED display, the fall release, and the higher price. It was also supposed to contain a faster

chip from Nvidia that would enable 4K graphics when connected to a television, people familiar with the plan set in March. Invidia declined to comment. But the 4K capability didn't come to pass. It's unclear exactly when the design changed. The reason, according to a person familiar with Nintendo's hardware planning, was component shortages, a far-reaching problem borne out of the COVID-19 pandemic. After unveiling the Switch OLED, Nintendo said it had, quote, no plans for launching any other model at this time, end quote. So apparently some of the games in the pipeline for the switch from these developers were designed for 4K. So either we will end up getting a 4K switch sometime in the next year or so, or these games will come out and just be way over-designed.

GM has announced Altify, a software platform for its cars that will enable over-the-air up. updates, in-car subscription services, and more, rolling out in 2023, quoting the verge. The automaker envisions the new software powering everything from the mundane, like weather apps, to potentially controversial features, like the use of in-car cameras for facial recognition or to detect children to automatically trigger the car's child locks. The Linux-based system will also be available to third-party developers who may want to create apps and other features for GM customers. GM is currently undergoing, quote, a transformation from an automator. to a platform innovator, said Scott Miller, vice president of software-defined vehicles at the company.

Miller said he envisions Altify serving the role as a, quote, powerful hub for all the vehicle's systems, end quote. Altify will start rolling out to GM vehicles both electric and gas powered in 2023, the company said. By then, GM will have many vehicles running Google's embedded Android automotive operating system, which Miller says will work alongside its new Altify software platform in certain vehicles. Not every GM vehicle will get Android automotive, which is supposed to to start rolling out to new vehicles this year, Miller added. The software will also be cloud-connected, meaning GM will be able to make decisions for the customer without their input. For example, if a vehicle's owner left their sunroof open and weather services are predicting rain,

the vehicle's software can automatically close the sunroof. Altify isn't only anchored to systems within the car, Miller said. GM envisions the new platform interacting with other smart devices, such as the customer's internet-enabled thermostat or home security system. GM also sees the potential for in-car purchases and subscriptions as a major new source of revenue for the company. Miller used the example of Supercruz, GM's hands-free advanced driver-assist system, which is installed in some of the automakers vehicles today. In the future, a driver may decide they want to test out Supercruz on an upcoming road trip. Altify will enable that vehicle owner to subscribe to Supercrues for the trip

and then cancel the subscription when they have arrived at their destination, end quote. Researchers say they have found a flaw in Apple pay, which they say allows attackers to make a visa payment with a locked iPhone if it's in express transit mode. Apple calls this issue, quote, a concern with a visa system, end quote, quoting the BBC. The problem researchers say applies to visa cards set up in express transit mode in an iPhone's wallet, express transit, is an Apple Pay feature which enables commuters to make quick contactless payments without unlocking their phone, for example, touching in and touching out at a London underground ticket barrier. In very simple terms and with many key details deliberately omitted, the attack works like this.

A small commercially available piece of radio equipment is placed near the iPhone, which tricks it into believing it is dealing with a ticket barrier. At the same time, an Android phone running an application developed by the researchers is used to relay signals from the iPhone to the contact list payment. terminal. This could be in a shop or won the criminals control because the iPhone thinks it is paying a ticket barrier. It doesn't need to be unlocked. Meanwhile, the iPhone's communications with the payment terminal are modified to fool it into thinking the iPhone has been unlocked and a payment authorized, allowing high value transactions to be made without

entering a pin, fingerprint, or using face ID. In a demonstration video seen by the BBC, researchers were able to make a visa payment of 1,000 pounds without unlocking the phone or authorizing the payment. The researchers, say the Android phone and the payment terminal used don't need to be near the victim's iPhone. Quote, it can be on another continent from the iPhone, as long as there's an internet connection, said Dr. Iona Borreno of the University of Surrey. The researchers say they first approached Apple and Visa about their concerns almost a year ago. There have been useful conversations, but the problem has not been fixed. Visa's view was that this type of attack was, quote,

impractical. It told the BBC that it took all security threats seriously, but, quote, Visa cards connected to Apple Pay Express Transit are secure, and cardholders should continue to use them with confidence, end quote. Let's end today with a couple of gadget releases. Remember Enreal, my friends from CES, remember how they were going to release some new version of their AR glasses this week? Well, they did. They're here. They're called Enreal Air. And they are consumer glasses with micro-Oled displays and iOS compatibility. shipping in December in Japan, China, and South Korea. Quoting the Verge. Based on Enreal's description, the new Enreal airglasses have some core similarities with the Enreal light glasses from 2020.

Both are designed to look like relatively normal sunglasses and pitched as ideal for projecting a virtual big screen display in front of your eyes. They're both using micro-Oled displays for their augmented reality optics and are powered by a phone via a tether cable. And they're both aimed at consumers rather than businesses, research, or the military. But Unreal Airglasses have a different feature set than their predecessors. Similar to Microsoft HoloLens or Magic Leap hardware, the original Enreal light glasses could map physical space around you with a set of outward facing cameras. Enreal air glasses, by contrast,

don't have any outward facing cameras. They can display video and phone apps, but they can't see what's around you, which means they don't have the spatial awareness and hand-tracking options the Enreal Light does. You'll control them with a smartphone app, an option that's also available on the light glasses. The upside is that Unreal Air Glasses are ironically much lighter than light glasses at 77 grams instead of 106 grams. They don't have the slightly bug-eyed look that light glasses do. In product renders, they look more like Facebook and RayBan's smart glasses minus the front-facing cameras. The Rayban Stories glasses, which have cameras but no AR display, weigh around 50 grams. The new glasses let users tilt the lenses at three angles, making it

potentially easier for more people to get a clearer image. Unreal light glasses launched with support for specific 5G Android phones, but the new glasses will also work while tethered to iPhones and iPads as well as most Android devices. Compared to the light, the Unreal Air glasses also have a higher screen refresh rate of 90 hertz and an increased pixel density of 49 ppd. Unreal says the glasses field of view is 46 degrees compared to the Unreal lights 52 degrees. it equates the air's view with a 130-inch screen from three meters away or a 201-inch screen at six meters. If wearers have friends with Unreal glasses, there's a viewing party option that turns that screen into a shared visual theater,

where they can all watch the same media. Unreal intends to expand the air glasses rollout in 2022, and a spokesperson says the U.S. is, quote, a major market for the company, although it hasn't announced plans to ship there. As with the light, it's going to be selling the glasses in partnership with major phone carriers. It hasn't named specific partners, but it's previously worked with Germany's Deutsche Telecom, Korea's LG Uplos, and Japan's KDDI. An Unreal spokesperson said the company developed the air after realizing that most users were primarily either using the glasses to watch streaming video, or to a lesser extent, browse the web, or to develop

apps for the platform. In Korea, around 78% of users watched streaming content with the glasses, end quote. And modular phone maker Fairphone, which uses ethically sourced materials, announced Fairphone 4 with a 6.3 inch display, 5G, and up to 256 gigabytes of storage, all starting at 579 euro. Oh, and also you get a five-year warranty because Fairphone wants to be sustainable by giving you a phone you won't feel like upgrading every other year. They hope you can last with this for maybe half a decade or more, quoting the verge. Fairphone, the manufacturer, focused on making easy-to-repair smartphones, made out of ethically sourced materials, just took the wraps off its fourth-generation handset.

The Fairphone 4 uses a modular design that's similar to the company's previous phones, only now with more powerful internals, a five-year warranty and a promise of two major Android updates and software support until the end of 2025. I've been using the Fairphone 4 for a couple of days as my primary phone, and while I'm ready to give a final verdict just yet. It feels like a big step forward compared to the dated design and low power components found in the company's previous phones. Stay tuned for my full review. Fairphone's ambition is to produce a more ethical alternative to modern smartphones. That means making a device that's ethically sourced using sustainable materials before providing the software

support and warranty to make it usable for as long as possible. Although Fairphone is only guaranteeing software support until the end of 2025, it has ambitions to extend this as far as 2020. In an ideal world, Fairphone would also like to eventually release 2024's Android 15 as an update to the phone. Fairphone's previous two phones are the only devices to have received perfect repairability scores from I Fix It, and the company tells me it believes the Fairphone 4 is even more repairable. The hope is for spare parts to be available for the Fairphone 4 until at least

2027. Fairphone has a good track record with previous devices telling me it still has parts in stock for the six-year-old Farraphone 2, two years after the last handset was sold, end quote. Hey, so apparently today is International Podcast Day or something like that, so in celebration, feel free to tell your friends that this is your favorite podcast, the one you can't live without, anytime someone asks you about your podcast habits. But also, if you're someone who downloads each day's episode every day by hand, maybe subscribe to the show inside your podcast app.

Follow the show or subscribe. Just do whatever it is that makes the show get downloaded automatically. It helps you because the show will always be waiting for you when you're ready to listen. And it helps us because the show gets guaranteed downloads. In fact, if you've never done this, if you've never set it to subscribe for auto downloads, this is perhaps the one most powerful thing you could do to support this show. So if you've never done so, go into your podcast app right now and check your settings to make sure auto downloads are on, you know, for International Podcast Day. Thanks in advance. Talk to you tomorrow.