Tech Brew Ride Home - Wed. 12/22 – We Still Doing CES?

Episode Date: December 22, 2021

Some big names pull out of CES at the last minute. TikTok is now the most popular destination in all the Internet. Justin Kan’s new NFT platform got hacked before even launching. Why my beloved Arsenal is in trouble for offering tokens. And Elon Musk comes out swinging against Web3 and the Metaverse. Sponsors: DTCNewsletter.co Streak.com/techmeme Links: Amazon, Meta Scrap CES Plans in Las Vegas After Covid Surge (Bloomberg) In 2021, the Internet went for TikTok, space and beyond (CloudFlare Blog) Americans widely distrust Facebook, TikTok and Instagram with their data, poll finds (Washington Post) Justin Kan’s NFT platform suffers rocky debut as scammer makes off with $150K in user funds (TechCrunch) Arsenal fan token posts broke advertising rules, says watchdog (BBCNews) Elon Musk: metaverse isn’t ‘compelling’ and Web3 ‘more marketing than reality’ (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 Wednesday, December 22nd, 2021. I'm Brian McCalla today. Some big names pull out of CES at the last minute. TikTok is now the most popular destination on the internet. Justin Kahn's new NFT platform got hacked before even launching. Why My Beloved Arsenal is in trouble for offering fans tokens. And Elon Musk comes out swinging against both Web3 and the Metaverse. Here's what you miss today in the world of tech. So are we still doing CES? Amid COVID-19 concerns, Meta, Amazon, Ring, and Twitter have all officially canceled their in-person CES plans, while T-Mobile and AMD, among others, plan a limited presence, and others are saying they are monitoring conditions right now and will still reserve the right to possibly pull out, quoting Bloomberg. The Consumer Electronics Show put on by the Consumer Technology Association is still scheduled to get underway in early January,

but efforts to return to normal after an online-only event this year have been hindered by the raging Omicron variant. Other companies had already been planning primarily digital showcases. Invidia, for example, said it was, quote, cautious from the start and that its press conference is virtual only. AMD said it is attending, but only with a limited presence. Samsung, a key partner at CES, said Tuesday it was, quote, closely monitoring the current health situation and planning to take appropriate measures. Its next steps could include, quote, a smaller delegation on site and the strengthening of online experiences, the company said. Several technology-focused publications, including The Verge in gadget, TechCrunch, and CNET,

said that they are not sending reporters to Las Vegas to cover the conference. The CTA, though, has no plans to cancel the in-person conference. The group has touted the number of companies attending, as well as its updated safety protocols, including optional daily testing for COVID-19. Gary Shapiro, the group's longtime president, responded to questions with a statement saying that more than 100 government officials are scheduled to attend the conference. He also pointed to continued attendee and company registrations, end quote. Which, I mean, I get it.

The whole conference and live event industrial complex was just stirring back to life. So this is sort of an existential thing for folks like the CTA. But even if I could attend, I didn't get tickets this year, so I wasn't going to attend anyway. And of course, I can't now. At this point, I don't think I would. And I don't say that just to be glib. It's just, I mean, you know, Davos just canceled. And look, in COVID times, January is maybe the worst possible month to hold a conference.

I think this tweet from Andy Boxall sums up my thinking, because I do love. CES, quote, I really feel bad for the CTA. It had no choice but to press on with CES 2022, but that doesn't make it an event I'd rush to attend. Like last year, I will miss being there, seeing everyone, and trying new tech, end quote. Worth noting this milestone, TikTok.com is now the most popular, most visited domain in the world, at least between the months of August and December 2021, after passing Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple and Amazon all this year. Like, there, that hot hit that's moving up the charts to finish as a Christmas number one to use the British convention. This is from the Cloudflare blog,

quote, it was on February 17th, 2021 that TikTok got the top spot for a day. Back in March, TikTok got a few more days and then also in May, but it was after August 10th, 2021, that TikTok took the lead on most days. There were some days when Google was number one, but October and November were mostly TikTok days, including on Thanksgiving and Black Friday. There are other trends that we can see comparing both years. For 2020, we only show data at the end of the year after September when Cloudflare radar was launched. For example, Facebook.com was steadily number two across all of 2020, but with TikTok.com going up, Facebook is now solidly number three, followed by Microsoft.com, Office 365 and Teams numbers are included there, and by Apple.com,

the App Store and Apple TV Plus numbers are included, the same trend as in 2020. Amazon.com is the juggernaut that follows, but it's interesting to see that since January 2021, the e-commerce website jumped in front of Apple.com, but Apple got back in front after September, with some exceptions like November 28th, the day before Cyber Monday, and also December 1st and 6th. Another trend is that Netflix surpassed Amazon in December 2020, especially around Christmas week. On some days, around 2020's Christmas, Netflix was even higher. than Apple in at number four. That is the case with December 23, 25th, and 29th to January 2nd, 2021. Looking at the top 10 list, it's also clear that, just looking to social media domains,

YouTube comes third, and Twitter got a bump and beat Instagram in 2021, getting the number five place, barely in what was a very close race. Back in late 2020, Twitter was behind Instagram in our rankings, end quote. So, real quick chaser to that, a new Washington Post poll reiterates that people, at least Americans, don't trust social media in general. A survey of 1,058 U.S. Internet users found that 72% distrust Facebook, 63% distrust TikTok, 60% distrust Instagram, 53% WhatsApp, and 53% distrust YouTube. The thing that I find interesting there is that TikTok is number two, more distrusted than YouTube or Instagram. As Dara Obasangio speculatively tweeted, quote,

wonder if people are primed to distrust, the smarter the AI appears to be, which implies it knows more about you than you want. An announcement bot for Justin Kahn's NFT platform fractal was hacked by a scammer who made off with about $150,000, and this all happened before the startup had even launched its platform.

Justin Kahn, of course, is one of the founders of Twitch, quoting TechCrunch. Despite billions and V-Easel investment. Many Web3 crypto platforms are still pretty hostile places for users new to the crypto world. Case in point today, Justin Kahn's NFT platform fractal suffered a security breach when a scammer hacked the announcement bot for the startup's Discord, which sent out a fraudulent link to the platform's more than 100,000 users urging them to pay up for a new NFT. The message promised users access to 3,33 commemorative NFTs designed to celebrate the platform's success,

but the link was faked with a URL for fractal.is that swapped an I for the letter L, taking users to a minting site where funds were taken and they earned nothing in return. All said, it looks like the scammer actually made off with about $150,000. The hack took place before the startup even launched its platform, which was scheduled to debut this week. The startup, which is backed by Khan's Goat Capital Fund, has already pledged to pay users back, tweeting that, quote, if you lost your soul, we will reimburse you. We will announce further updates soon, end quote.

By the way, Sol is referring to the Solana token here. These attacks aren't particularly unusual, incidentally. Another Solana-based project called Monkey Kingdom was hacked just hours earlier for more than $1.3 million worth of cryptocurrency. Both attacks taking place over Discord suggest that the chat platform also has some work to do when it comes to authenticating users, end quote. This one is obviously right up my interest alley. because I'm a huge Arsenal supporter myself.

But the UK's ad regulator has banned two ads by Arsenal Football Club promoting its socios-based fan tokens, saying the soccer club, quote, failed to illustrate the risk of the investment, quoting the BBC. The ASA ruled against two promotions of Arsenal's fan tokens, Cash tag AFC. The first breach, according to the watchdog, focused on content on Arsenal's official website,

in particular a page posted on August 6, 2021 with the title, Cache Tag AFC fan token, everything you need to know. The second breach was a Facebook post on the club's official page, posted on August 12, which read, Cacheag AFC is now live and ask fans, what song do you want to hear when we win? Download the Socios app to get your token and vote. In its ruling, the ASA investigated three issues concerning the post and website text, arguing they were irresponsible because they took advantage of consumers' inexperience or credulity, and trivialized investment in crypto assets.

Also misleading because they failed to illustrate the risk of the investment. In addition, it said the Facebook post, quote, did not make clear the token was a crypto asset, which could only be obtained by opening an account and exchanging with another cryptocurrency which had to be purchased, end quote. The watchdog found that both the website and the Facebook post broke its rules. The ads must not appear again in the form complained about it stated. In future, the club must make it clear that fan tokens are crypto assets,

and that, quote, the value of investments in crypto assets was variable and crypto assets were unregulated. The ruling continued. Arsenal Football Club told the BBC, we take our responsibilities with regard to marketing to our fans very seriously. We carefully considered the communications to fans regarding our promotions and provided information regarding financial risks. The club said it would be seeking an independent review of the ASA's ruling to seek greater clarity on the ASA's current position. In defending its marketing to the ASA, Arsenal argued the website did include the warning that fans, quote, could lose some or all of their money invested, end quote. It said the marketing material stated, quote, we advise you to spend only what you can afford

and seek independent financial advice if required, end quote. The club argued the fan tokens were not promoted as an investment, and they did not encourage the trading of tokens, end quote. Yes, except for the fact that that sort of legalese language that I just read you is usually reserved for ads for investment products or gambling products. So, quoting Joey Dursso, a football writer from The Athletic, this is just focused on Arsenal because somebody complained about them. Other Premier League teams may well fall foul of the ASA for how they've advertised Socios given this ruling, end quote. Finally today, this civil war over Web 3 is getting messy. I don't blame anybody at this point for not being able to understand

who's on what side or why. For example, did you expect? or know that Elon Musk was going to come out so vehemently against the Metaverse and Web 3. I mean, I know Elon dislikes the venture capital community viscerally and for good personal historical reasons, but, I mean, are these the front lines now? If you're for Web 3, then you're on the side of Andresen Horowitz and Mark Zuckerberg and Vitalik Buteran, and as some have suggested on Twitter, of socialism. And then if you're against Web 3, then I guess you're on the side of Elon Musk and Bitcoin and Jack Dorsey. All of the sides. claim they are on the side of the little guy, of the masses, of true ownership societies and economies.

It's confusing, but quoting the verge, The Metaverse and Web 3 are two trends supposedly set to revolutionize the digital world, but the richest man in real life, Elon Musk, is not keen on either. In a recent interview, the SpaceX and Tesla CEO said he couldn't see a compelling use case for the VR-driven metaverse, and derided Web 3, a nebulous concept in which Internet services, are rebuilt around blockchain and cryptocurrency, as, quote, more marketing than reality, adding, quote, I don't get it, end quote. Musk admitted that he might just be too old to understand these new technologies, quote,

am I like one of those people who was dismissing the internet in 95 as some fad or something that's never going to amount to anything, he suggested, before noting that in 1995, he was very much one of the individuals who understood the potential of the internet. Musk's criticism of the Metaverse focused on a lack of compelling use cases, and a disappointing experience for consumers. Quote, sure, you can put a TV on your nose. I'm not sure that makes you in the Metaverse, he said.

I don't see someone strapping a friggin screen to their face all day and not wanting to ever leave. That seems no way. He later added, quote, I currently am unable to see a compelling metaverse situation, end quote. Elsewhere in the interview with the Babylon B, a conservative and Christian humor site, Musk discuss climate change.

I'm not in the camp of super alarmist global warming, he said, added that negative effects like rising sea levels are, quote, not a wise risk to take, end quote, the existence of other life in the universe, quote, if anyone would know about evidence of aliens, it would be me, but I've seen nothing, end quote, and said there should be a regulatory agency to oversee, quote, advanced AI that he thinks poses a threat to humanity. In the beginning of the episode, Musk also took time to compare the Babylon Bee to the Onion, which he said had gotten too politically correct and leftist. It's worth noting that Musk used to be a big fan of The Onion but changed his mind when the publication made fun of him. Musk said that the

onion had got, quote, the woke mind virus, end quote, which he later described as, quote, arguably one of the biggest threats to modern civilization, end quote. So I got to admit, I don't know anything about the politics of the Onion lately and how or if they have changed. But honestly, Elon, as a Gen Xer born and bred, please do not make me pick aside involving the onion because I will pick the onion every time. The onion raised me and shaped me, certainly my sense of humor, but also maybe my worldview back in the 90s. Do I really have to hate the onion now if I like Bitcoin? But what if I like Bitcoin and NFTs? What if I enjoy my Oculus quest, but am still skeptical that having meetings in VR is really the future? What if I like NFTs,

but don't want them in my video games? What if I have good friends at Andriesen Horowitz, who I respect, but maybe think the blockchain can't really solve everything? It's not a panacea. What if I think NFTs are sort of a scam sometimes, but also, as I'm suddenly a VC now in my side hustle, I would definitely consider investing in an NFT startup? Why is everything in the world suddenly different philosophical camps fighting each other? Fighting each other's heresy? Why is this the world that we live in, where it's cults and religions suddenly all the way down. The cause cannot fail. You can only fail the cause. And if I'm not pilled into your cause, then that means you have to be against me. And now this whole mindset is infecting the tech world.

Though I know it's kind of always been there. But still, what if I don't want to sign up for any of the Crusades and cults currently on offer? What if I'm just good living my life? This is all so, so very exhausting and also possibly very, very stupid. Okay, this is the last regular episode for this week, but I did not pull together any weekend long reads today, as you'll notice. There just weren't enough of them to collect right now. The plan going forward is this. Tomorrow, in place of a regular episode, I'm going to release that top tech stories of the year, Twitter space that Chris and I did, and then I'm going to take Friday and this weekend off completely. There will be a new episode on Monday that will be

the first new episode coming after tomorrow's, though that episode on Monday might be an hour or too late. Sorry about all this. It's holiday hours on the podcast, I guess. It's also hectic over here at the moment, but Merry Christmas to all those who celebrate, enjoy tomorrow's bonus episode, talk to you on Monday, and as ever, but especially this week, be well, everybody.