Tech Brew Ride Home - Tue. 02/23 – Australia Caves To Facebook

Episode Date: February 23, 2021

Australia caves in to Facebook. PlayStation is planning a big new push in VR. The Mate X2 keeps the foldable dream alive. The weird new malware infecting Apple Silicon Macs. And let’s use NBA Top Shot as a lens to explain NFTs. Sponsors: Kiwico.com promocode: ride EditorX.com Links: Facebook to reverse news ban on Australian sites, government to make amendments to media bargaining code (ABC.net.au) PlayStation CEO says PS5 will get its own VR headset, explains console supply chain shortfall (Washington Post) Huawei’s Mate X2 foldable adopts Samsung’s dual-screen design (The Verge) Kuo: New MacBook Pro Models With HDMI Port and SD Card Reader to Launch Later This Year (MacRumors) New malware found on 30,000 Macs has security pros stumped (ArsTechnica) Inside 'NBA Top Shot,' the Digital Highlights Marketplace Worth Millions (Bleacher Report) 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 right home for Tuesday, February 23rd, 2021. I'm Brian McCullough today. Australia caves into Facebook. PlayStation is planning a big new push into VR. The Mate X2 keeps the foldable phone dream alive, the weird new malware-infecting Apple Silicon Macs. And let's use NBA Top Shot as a lens to explain NFTs.

Here's what you miss today in the world of tech. Well, that was fast. Australia says Facebook has agreed to reinstate news content in Australia in the coming days after the Australian government promised amendments to its proposed media law, quoting ABC News, the Australian ABC, quote, Facebook will walk back its block on Australian users sharing news on its site after the government agreed to make amendments to the proposed media bargaining laws that would force major tech giants to pay news outlets for their content. Quote, Mark Zuckerberg said to me today, restoring pages will occur in coming days. Australian treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the code is structured so that if Facebook and Google do not sign commercial deals with traditional media outlets, the treasurer can

designate them and force them to pay for access to news content. The government promised to make further amendments to the code, including giving Facebook more time to strike those deals, end quote. So the best I can determine, this is basically a complete fold by the Australian government. Facebook will not be designated as a digital platform that falls under this proposed code as long as they strike these deals. They're basically getting an exemption. This is an exact quote from Facebook. Going forward, the government has clarified we will retain the ability to decide if news appears on Facebook so that we won't automatically be subject to forced negotiation, end quote. So Facebook basically made sure this law does not apply to them, which appalls a lot of people.

But at the same time, remember, I did come to the conclusion that this was. a terribly written law to begin with that shouldn't be imposed on anyone on the internet in any shape or form. I'm going to turn to Benedict Evans again, who tweeted this, quote, whether Australia caved or Facebook caved seems to hinge on some rather subtle distinctions and what you wanted to believe to begin with. But the fact that Facebook and Google will not be covered by the new law is not exactly a victory, end quote. To which Ben Smith responded, it's a compromise in which the government has forced Facebook to pay money to publishers, and Facebook has had input into the structure of the payment system, assuming this holds.

But it's not the status quo ante. It's a normal deal, end quote, to which Benedict responded, quote, correct, but it also avoids setting a precedent that the government can force Google to run all changes to search on a 14-day time delay or that you have to pay to post a link. Those were huge issues of principle, end quote. One more thing that I do want to point out about all this. I mentioned that Microsoft was stepping up to say basically, hey, Australia, we've got Bing. We'd be happy to take over search for Australia. In fact, Microsoft is also busy cutting deals with EU publishing lobbyists to push for payment

for news content there in an effort to try to force Facebook and Google to do the same thing that Australia almost forced them to do. In other words, Microsoft is being like, we'd be happy to pay for links if Facebook and Google have to pay for links too. In other words, Microsoft is trying to throw everyone under the bus just to inconvenience their two rivals. And don't think that that is going unnoticed by people in tech. Tech meme founder Gabe Rivera tweeted last night, quote, Microsoft to plot with European lobbyists to destroy the basic internet freedom to link, further tilt the playing field against smaller publishers, smother future startup business models in the crib,

and make Rupert Murdoch more powerful, all to inconvenience Google a bit, end quote. to which Ben Thompson responded, quote, years of rebuilding their reputation only to set it aflame for Bing, end quote. And let me end by quoting Benedict Evans one more time, because if Google just agreed to pay publishers in Australia, just paid the ransom demand straight up, if Facebook has now successfully maneuvered its way out from under the net of this law, but if the law is still going to go through anyway, does this mean that, yeah, everyone else is still going to get screwed? Quote, wait, so does this mean that Bing now has to pay newspapers a fee every time they show up in search the way they promised, while Google and Facebook don't? That would be hilarious,

end quote. Boom. The news recently is making our explorations into VR look prescient. Sony says today it is developing a VR headset for the PlayStation 5 that will be much less cumbersome than its current PSVR setup. Also, though, don't expect it to come this year, quoting the Washington Post. PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan said development kits for the PS5-specific VR headset will be sent out soon, though the company isn't ready to talk about the device's horsepower or specs. He did say the next headset will be considerably less cumbersome, as opposed to the current PSVR setup that requires wires running through a PS4, the TV, and a separate black box called the PSVR

processor. The next version of PlayStation VR will also borrow from its groundbreaking dual sense controllers, which debuted with the PS5 and provided super-specific haptic feedback from the game to the palms of a player's hands. There's no set launch date for the new VR device, according to Ryan in an October 2020 interview with the post. Ryan said, while Sony was still very much interested in VR, any more news about the company's VR investments may not come in 2021. Quote, I think we're more than a few minutes from the future of VR, Ryan said then. PlayStation believes in VR, Sony believes in VR, and we definitely believe at some point in the future VR will represent a meaningful component of interactive

entertainment. Will it be this year? No. Will it be next year? No. But will it come at some stage? We believe that. And we're very pleased with all the experience that we've gained with PlayStation VR, and we look forward to seeing where that takes us in the future, end quote. Again, we might not be able to get this on these shores here in America, but I did want you to know about Huawei's Matex2 foldable phone quietly and with way less fanfare, the foldable form factor keeps evolving, or at least in this case, retrenching towards, I guess, what actually works. Because basically, Huawei has adopted Samsung's dual screen design here, quoting from the verge. The new phone has received a radical redesign compared to the original device with a large screen

that unfolds from the inside of the device rather than around the outside. For using the phone while folded, the Huawei Matex2 has a second screen on its outside, similar to Samsung's approach with the Galaxy Fold series. This being a Huawei device, the Matex2 will launch without support for Google's apps or services, which is likely to severely limit its appeal outside of China. The internal screen on the Matex2 measures 8 inches, with a resolution of 2480 by 2,200, while the exterior screen is 6.45 inches with a 2,700 by 1160 resolution. Both are OLED and they have refresh rates of up to 90 hertz. They are also both slightly bigger than the 7.6 inch internal display and 6.2 inch external displays found on Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 2. Internally, the phone is powered by the company's flagship Kieran 9,000 chip, the processor that debuted in its Mate 40 Pro last year.

This is paired with 8 gigabytes of RAM and a battery with a rated capacity of 4,400 MAH that can be fast charged at up to 55 watts. There are four cameras on the rear of the phone, a 50 megapixel wide angle, a 16 megapixel ultra-wide, a 12-mapixel telephoto with a 3x optical zoom, and an 8-mapixel super zoom camera with a 10x optical zoom. The selfie camera on the outside of the phone has a 16 megapixel resolution, and there doesn't appear to be a selfie camera in or around the foldable inner screen, end quote. This is coming to China with 256 gigabytes of storage for the equivalent of 2,000, $785, and if you go with the 512 gigabyte option, that takes you basically to $3,000. Super quick, Ming Chi Kuo continues to confirm that Apple apparently wants to make it up to all of us

for Johnny Ives' past sins, at least when it comes to laptops. Quo says Apple currently plans to release two new MacBook Pro models with an HDIPort and an SD card reader in the second half of 2021. Quoting Mac rumors. Last month, Quo said Apple is planning all new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with several changes, including the return of the classic MagSafe charging connector with a breakaway power cable, the removal of the touchbar, a new flat-edge design, and the return of more ports built into the notebooks for expanded connectivity. Bloomberg's Mark German echoed many of these details in his reporting, end quote. My question would be, still, only the two USB ports in addition to now the

HDMI port. That's not perfect, perfect, but close enough, I guess, assuming I no longer have to work from home later this year, I'm no longer tethered to my iMac, I guess I'll need to budget for a MacBook pro upgrade for me, especially to get a hold of that sweet, sweet

Apple Silicon. Speaking of Macs, this is a weird one. New malware has been found on 30,000 Macs that has security experts scratching their heads. Why? Well, the malware doesn't seem to have a payload, so what is its purpose? And also, it apparently works on those new M1 Max, quoting Ars Technica. Once an hour, infected Max, check a control server to see if there are any new commands the malware should run or binaries to execute.

So far, however, researchers have yet to observe delivery of any payload on any of the infected 30,000 machines, leaving the malware's ultimate goal unknown. The lack of a final payload suggests that the malware may spring into action once an unknown condition is met. Also curious, the malware comes with a mechanism to completely remove itself, a capability that's typically reserved for high-stealth operations. So far, though, there are no signs the self-destruct feature has been used, raising the question of why the mechanism exists. Besides those questions, the malware is notable for a version that runs natively on the M1 chip that Apple introduced in November, making only the second known piece of macOS malware to do so. The malicious binary

is more mysterious still because it uses the MacOS installer JavaScript API to execute commands. That makes it hard to analyze installation package contents or the way that package uses the JavaScript commands. The malware has been found in 153 countries with detections concentrated in the U.S., UK, Canada, France, and Germany. Its use of Amazon Web Services and the Akamai Content Delivery Network ensures the command infrastructure works reliably and also makes blocking the servers harder. from Red Canary, the security firm that discovered the malware, are calling the malware Silver Sparrow, end quote. Finally, today, we've been talking about NFTs, and every time we've done so, I think I've used NBA Top Shot as the easiest example for us to wrap our minds around the concept of NFTs themselves.

Well, speaking of NBA Top Shot, it now says it has more than 50,000 users and sales of more than $60 million, just since last October, and its owner, Dapper Labs, which has always been at the vanguard of the DAP movement, has reportedly just raised $250 million. But once again, let's take this opportunity to explain what we're talking about using NBA Top Shot as a lens. Take it away, Bleacher Report. In the third quarter of a regular season game against the Houston Rockets last February, LeBron James broke away for a two-handed reverse windmill dunk off a steel and pass from Avery Bradley. Keen-eyed, Lakers fans quickly realized the dunk was nearly identical to a 2001 slam on the very same Staples Center basket from Kobe Bryant, who had tragically died in a helicopter accident

less than two weeks before. A side-by-side video of the two dunks quickly went viral, and James later admitted it was an intentional homage, a way of paying his respects to an NBA icon. It isn't hard to find this clip online. Searching LeBron Kobe Tribute Dunk 2020 on YouTube will pull up over a dozen uploads of the play, which you can watch for free as many times as you want. Jack Settlement, the 24-year-old creator of a popular Snapchat feed called Snapback Sports, paid $47,500 for a copy of James's Dunk on NBA Top Shot in January. If you're an extremely online NBA fan, you're going to be hearing about Top Shot soon if you haven't already. It's hard to explain the concept in a way that makes sense to most people, but here's an attempt.

Developed by Vancouver-based Dapper Labs, the company behind the popular CryptoKitties game, Top Shot Moments, like Settlement's James Dunk, are essentially virtual sports cards, folding short highlight clips into a package with 3D animations and player stats. They utilize blockchain technology, which is the backbone of the cryptocurrency world, to ensure transparency in production and verify the authenticity of these digital collectibles, known as NFTs, non-fungible tokens. Copies of a specific Top Shot moment are given a serial number to indicate how many are produced. Lower serial numbers are considered more valuable, along with cereals that match to the player's jersey number. Settlement, for example, bought the number 23 serial

copy of the James Dunk. Different runs are given names like Cosmic Halo and Metallic Gold, just like limited edition physical trading cards. In just a few months, Topshot has attracted a group of devoted fans ranging from traditional card collectors to high-powered sports betters and fantasy sharps to crypto enthusiasts to stock market traders. New moments sell out faster than Jordan's sneaker releases. Even the $9 entry-level packs, which contain three moments and are intended as a low-cost way to get new users in the door, aren't regularly available and allotments of $25,000 packs are gone instantly when they drop. The $999 Halo icon packs were in such high demand that the site crashed when they were released earlier this month. The Top Shot Platform, which is still in

public beta, has a marketplace that now does millions of dollars in transactions in a single day with over 50,000 users signed up, many of whom talk and compare packs in an active Discord channel. Dapper takes a 5% cut of peer-to-peer sales, which have totaled over $60 million. On the low end, common moments from lesser-known players can be had for just two bucks, but things quickly get pricey if you move beyond the entry-level stuff. A Drew Holiday layup with a rare designation goes for $200. A Devante Graham metallic gold three-pointer starts at $22, and a hollow icon Kyle Lowry jump shot sells for $2,175.

Much like with physical trading cards, rookies are the most coveted, and even common releases for superstars like James Hardin or Stefan Curry aren't cheap. The pitch is being able to own a copy of a specific play that you can buy, sell, and trade with other fans, rather than simply owning a card of that player. Quote, with physical cards, it's just a photo, settlement says. Your LeBron rookie card that's worth thousands of dollars is just a random picture of him in a Cavs jersey. These moments give you the ability to actually watch and have more meaning behind it, end quote. Again, I'm working hard on putting

together a weekend bonus episode about all this. Hopefully more on that soon. I'm going to do a selfish thing right here today. A good buddy of mine from back in my film school days just finished a documentary about the World Palindrome Championships. So think of this as a documentary like spellbound, but instead of Spelling Bees, Palindromes, if you liked the documentary wordplay, the documentary about crossword puzzle competitions, this is like that. And like that doc, it also features Will Shorts, also Weird Al Yankovic and Donica McKellar, Winnie Cooper herself. Palindromes, words or sentences that fell backwards and forwards, things like race car. Bet you didn't know that's a palindrome, or evil olive, or taco cat, or a man, a plan, a canal, Panama.

It's a real nerdy subculture that you probably didn't know existed. And anyway, my buddy's trying to sell this dock to Netflix and the big streamers. It's on Apple TV right now, and if they get a bunch of pre-orders, that will help their cause. I've put my pre-order in, so if this sounds fun to you, and you've got a big boardhole in your pandemic watching list, Give this a try, the palindromis on Apple TV. Talk to you tomorrow.