Tech Brew Ride Home - Thu. 11/04 – Instagram Can Post To Twitter Again

Episode Date: November 4, 2021

Instagram is playing nice with Twitter all of the sudden. But Meta has some new creator tools that try once again to shiv the App Stores. That South Korean law is actively cracking open the App Stores in that country. Google might be back in the defense contract business. And why it MIGHT be worth paying $30 for a keyboard with only 3 keys. Sponsors: FindYourFidelity.com Dataiku.com Links: Instagram brings back Twitter Card preview support for posts (TechCrunch) Facebook skirts Apple’s App Store fees with custom subscription links for creators (The Verge) Facebook is backing away from facial recognition. Meta isn’t. (Recode) Google Allows Alternate In-App Payment Options in South Korea, Though Familiar Fees Remain (WSJ) Google Wants to Work With the Pentagon Again, Despite Employee Concerns (NYTimes) STACK OVERFLOW’S COPY / PASTE KEYBOARD IS NO JOKE (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 Tech Meme Right Home for Thursday, November 4th, 2021. I'm Brian McCullough today. Instagram is playing nice with Twitter all of the sudden, but Meta has some new creator tools that try once again to shiv the app stores. That South Korean law is actively cracking open the app stores in that country.

Google might be back in the defense contracting business and why it might be worth paying $30 for a keyboard with only three keys. Here's what you miss today in the world of tech. So what is happening over at Meta? They're doing things that are making people do double takes all of the sudden. For example, remember how Instagram stopped playing nice with Twitter all the way back in 2012? Well, guess what? Hell has apparently frozen over, quoting TechCrunch. Instagram is bringing back support for Twitter card previews starting today. Now, when users share an Instagram link on Twitter, a preview of the post will be shown in the tweet. Prior to this change, when users posted an Instagram link on Twitter, the tweet would only display the URL of the Instagram link.

The social media platform made the controversial decision to remove Twitter card support back in 2012. At the time, Instagram founder Kevin Sistram said the reason was that Instagram wanted to take control of its content and that the company wanted images to be viewed on Instagram as opposed to Twitter. The change was met with backlash as it made cross-posting more difficult for users. In some cases, users found workarounds through third-party platforms, in order to feature Instagram posts in tweets. Twitter has already acknowledged the change in a tweet, noting that, quote,

if you want to share your latest Instagram post on the Twitter timeline too, you're in luck. Now when you share a link to an Instagram post in a tweet, it'll show up as a card with a preview of the photo, end quote. Apparently, all of you can already see this change, be you on Android, iOS, or even the web. This all also goes back to when Twitter cut off Instagram support after Instagram turned down Twitter's acquisition offer and instead accepted Facebook's acquisition offer.

I know this is all a decade or more ago, so who cares? But what gives here? The best guesses I've seen fall into one of two camps. One camp says TikTok has been greatly helped by the fact that your TikToks are largely viewable on Twitter. And we know that Meta fears TikTok more than just about anybody else right now, but the second camp points out, remember with all of this Metaverse stuff, all of the statements Zuckerberg made last week, he underlined that interoperability was a key fundamental foundation of the metaverse as he sees it. So, I don't know, maybe playing nice is also a key component of the metaverse. But certainly there is some sort of coordinated campaign going on here because meta also announced new Facebook creator tools including custom subscription links,

that use Facebook's native payments system to bypass Apple and Google's in app payment cut. So remember that another thing Zuck harped on in his Metaverse presentation last week was how unfair the current state of play was in the world of tech platforms, because the big platform gatekeepers were unfair in his words. He posited the Metaverse as a solution to this unfair status quo, and so quoting the verge. On Wednesday, Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook company Meta announced that creators will soon be able to share custom web links directing their fans to pay them for subscriptions using Facebook's native payment system. If a fan signs up through the link rather than Apple's in-app subscription, the creator will

keep all of the money minus taxes. Facebook's subscription feature, which lets creators charge on a recurring basis for access to exclusive content, is available in 27 countries and accessible to creators who meet certain eligibility requirements. Facebook is operating in a gray zone under Apple's rules for its App Store, though a spokesperson said the social network believes its approach has always been allowed on iOS. The App Store currently forbids iOS apps from offering alternative payment options for purchasing digital goods, but in this case, it's the creator, not Facebook, the app developer, that will be sending people to pay for a subscription on the web. The spokesperson for Facebook confirm the social network isn't removing the ability for users to

sign up for a creator subscription using Apple's native payment system, quote, we build for the Metaverse, we're focusing on unlocking opportunities for creators to make money from their work, Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post. The 30% fees that Apple takes on transactions make it harder to do that, so we're updating our subscriptions product, so now creators can earn more, end quote. In addition to not collecting a cut of subscription transactions until at least 2023, Facebook will start paying creators a bonus of between $5 and $20 for every new subscriber they add, regardless if they pay through the custom web link or through Apple and Google's system. An earnings calculator will show creators on Facebook a breakdown of their earnings and fees,

including how much they pay to Apple and Google. And starting in December, Facebook creators will be able to download the emails of their subscribers directly from the company, end quote. So again, signs of a master plan being put into action here, or is it just me? The first big thing that made people do a double take this week was the announcement yesterday that meta was shutting down Facebook's decade-old facial recognition system that automatically tagged people in your photos. Well, a small bit of clarification on that. Meta will retain some of its facial recognition systems, including its deep face model and plans to incorporate biometrics into its Metaverse products at some later date. Quoting Recode.

While Meta says that facial recognition isn't a feature on Instagram and its portal devices, the company's new commitment doesn't apply to its Metaverse products. meta spokesperson Jason Gross told Recode. In fact, meta is already exploring ways to incorporate biometrics into its emerging metaverse business, which aims to build a virtual internet-based simulation where people can interact as avatars. Meta is also keeping deep face, the sophisticated algorithm that powers its phototagging facial recognition feature. We believe this technology has the potential to enable positive use cases in the future that maintain privacy, control, and transparency. And it's an approach we'll continue to explore as we consider how our future

computing platforms and devices can best serve people's needs, gross-told recode. For any potential future applications of technologies like this, we'll continue to be public about intended use, how people can have control over these systems, and their personal data, and how we're living up to our responsible innovation framework, end quote. That facial recognition for phototagging is leaving Facebook, also known as the Big Blue app, is certainly significant. Facebook originally launched this tool in 2010 to make its photo tagging feature more popular. The idea was that letting an algorithm automatically suggest tagging a person in a photo would make it easier than manually tagging them and perhaps encourage more people to tag their friends.

The software is informed by the photos people post of themselves which Facebook uses to create unique facial templates tied to their profiles. The deep face artificial intelligence technology, which was developed from pictures uploaded by Facebook users, helps match people's facial templates to faces in different photos. It's possible that defending this particular use of facial recognition technology has become too expensive. for Facebook and that the social network has already gotten what it needs out of the tool. Meta hasn't ruled out using Deepface in the future, and companies, including Google, have already incorporated facial recognition into security cameras. Future virtual reality hardware could also collect lots of biometric data. Several of Meta's current projects show that the company has no plans to stop collecting

data about people's bodies. Meta is developing hyper-realistic avatars that people will operate as they travel through the Metaverse, which requires tracking someone's facial movements in real-time, so they can be recreated by their avatar. A new virtual reality headset that Meta plans to release next year will include sensors that track people's eye and facial movements. The company also weighed incorporating facial recognition into its new Rayban smart glasses, which allow the wearer to record their surroundings as they walk around. And Reality Labs, Meta's hub for studying virtual and augmented reality is conducting ongoing research into biometrics,

according to postings on Facebook's careers website, end quote. But back to the battle against the major platform gatekeepers and their 30% rents. More cracks there, because remember, it's not just Facebook that is pissed about rent-taking by Apple and Google. Google says it will let Android app developers use alternative billing systems in the Google Play Store in South Korea, complying with that new law that we talked about, quoting the Wall Street Journal. In a Thursday announcement, Google outlined how it plans to comply with a South Korean law that took effect in September. It was the world's first bill challenging Google and Apple's dominance over how apps on their platforms sell their digital goods and offered, in theory, a way for developers to lower commissions and cut prices for consumers. Google's plan calls for a four percentage point reduction in the fees app developers would otherwise face going through the U.S. firm's own payment system.

That could be as low as 6% commission for an e-books provider or as high as 26% for popular gaming companies, according to Google. South Korea is considered to be a legal bellwether for other regulators. around the world, which have increased scrutiny of Apple and Google's app stores. The South Korean law had barred large app store operators such as Google and Apple from only offering their own payment platforms and triggering a commission of up to 30% for in-app purchases of games, digital comics, and other online content. But the law didn't bar Google or Apple from imposing other fees. Apple has told the South Korean government that its current app store policies already comply with the new law. The Cooper Tino, California-Bas company, didn't respond to requests for

comment, end quote. Staying with Google for one more second and setting the table for something we might revisit in the Long Reads tomorrow, the New York Times is reporting that Google is aggressively pursuing a major cloud computing and AI contract with the Pentagon three years after employee outcry ended a similar project known as Project Maven. Quote, the company's plan to land the potentially lucrative contract known as the joint warfighting cloud capability could raise a furorer among its outspoken workforce and test the resolve of management to resist employee demands. In 2018, thousands of Google employees signed a letter protesting the company's involvement in Project Maven, a military program that uses artificial intelligence to interpret video images and could

be used to refine the targeting of drone strikes. Google management caved and agreed not to renew the contract once it expired. The outcry led Google to create guidelines for the ethical use of artificial intelligence, which prohibit the use of its technology for weapons or surveillance and hastened a shake-up of its cloud computing business. Now, as Google positions cloud computing as a key part of its future, the bid for the new Pentagon contract could test the boundaries of those AI principles, which have set it apart from other tech giants that routinely seek military and intelligence work. The military's initiative, which aims to modernize the Pentagon's cloud technology and support the use of artificial intelligence to gain an advantage on the battlefield,

is a replacement for a contract with Microsoft that was canceled this summer amid a lengthy legal battle with Amazon. Google did not compete against Microsoft for that contract after the uproar over Project Maven. The Pentagon's restart of its cloud computing project has given Google a chance to jump back into the bidding, and the company has raced to prepare a proposal to present to defense officials, according to four people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly. In September, Google's cloud unit made it a priority, declaring an emergency code yellow, an internal designation of importance that allowed the company to pull engineers off other assignments and focus them on the military project, two of those people said.

On Tuesday, the Google Cloud Unit's chief executive, Thomas Currian, met with Charles Q. Brown, Jr., the chief of staff of the Air Force, and other top Pentagon officials to make the case for his company, two people said. Google, in a written statement, said it is, quote, firmly committed to serving our public sector customers, including the Defense Department, and that it will evaluate any future bid opportunities accordingly, end quote. Finally today, after a day that was heavy on horse race analysis, on strategy analysis, who's up, who's down, who's trying to shiv, whom and why, let me leave you with this. A new Stack Overflow branded keyboard that has just three keys. That's right, Stack Overflow and a manufacturer known as Drop have created a $29 mini keyboard accessory that only has a control button and the C button.

the V button. You guessed it, this is designed to copy and paste. And no, this is somehow, apparently not a joke, quoting the verge. On its surface, the key looks like it's only capable of doing two things, copying and pasting. You shamelessly copy your code from Stack Overflows thousands or millions of helpful contributors and paste it into your own work, right? Simple. But the key is a lot more powerful than that. It draws upon QMK open source keyboard firmware so that it can be fully reprogram to do so much more than just copy and paste. It's not the most user-friendly process, but it's enough to turn the key from a goofy novelty into a great little accessory, and it might actually be worth tracking one down when the drop has more in stock next year. For starters,

the key is straight up nicely made. Its case is made out of aluminum, and underneath each key is a linear Cali-Cala box black switch. That's just a hair-stiffer than regular Cherry MX-Reds. press one and it has a nice thunk to it like you'd expect from a mechanical switch. It even has a modern USBC port on its back for connecting to your PC. Before I get into reprogramming the key, though, I should clarify that, yes, it's capable of copy and pasting out of the box for most Windows users. The key with the Stack Overflow logo acts as your control key and the C and V keys act as you'd expect.

You know the drill, you don't need me to explain how copying and pacing works. So maybe you want to use the key as a small trio. of media playback controls, though. For example, you could have play, pause, skip forward, skip back, or for volume, volume up, volume down, mute, or maybe you want to go even further and program each key to a macro where each key can handle a series of button presses automatically. That's where I ended up after I decided to turn the key into a Zoom shortcut macro pad, inspired in part by the many DIY projects that emerged last year. Two of its buttons could handle turning my camera and microphone on and off, respectively, and the third would quit the Zoom call entirely.

What's nice is that as well as programming simple key combinations, Alt V for the camera and Alt A for the microphone, QMK also lets you program multiple stages. So as well as programming a button to hit the Alt Q command to start the process of exiting a Zoom meeting, I could also program it to follow up with a tap of the Enter key. So now my colleagues won't have to see me stare awkwardly into the middle distance the next time I forget about Zoom's confirmation dialogue box. out of the box, the key is a silly novelty. Copying and pasting is a task so common. I imagine every computer user has committed it to muscle memory, and your keyboard's existing Control C and V keys are sitting right there underneath your left hand. Training yourself to reach for a separate keyboard is a pointless waste of time,

which is why it's great that Stack Overflow and Drop haven't half-assed the key, despite its silly novelty status. It's not doing anything particularly new or original, but it is well-made, well-documented, and incredibly flexible, end quote. I'll let you read the full review to explain how Mac users can or cannot use this on their machines. But again, I checked the calendar, and April Fool's is nowhere near right now, so I have to believe this is real on some level. The Verge even gave it a 7.5 out of 10 rating. It is out of stock, and apparently hard to get, so you could put your order in now for one of those Apple polishing clauses that is also out of stock. Or for $10,000.

more you could put an order in for this little guy. I don't know. I don't tell you how to spend your money. On days like this when I have nothing to say instead of saying, that's all for today, talk to you tomorrow, I'm thinking of maybe starting a simple note file and just jotting down song lyrics that I can say instead, or maybe movie lines or something like that, just something instead of saying, that's all nothing for you every single time. I don't know. We'll see if I actually do it. Talk to you tomorrow. Oh.