- Whoa, whoa, guys,
let's just take a deep breath before we get upset.
It's just tech news, okay?
This intro is brought to you by They're Just Movies,
the podcast, we just did Squid Game.
- [Man] That's not a movie.
- We're doing Dune next week.
- [Man] That's a series.
- That's not a movie either, it's a lifestyle.
- [Man] Whatever works.
- Blockchain technology.
We love it.
It's on the rise
but apparently Valve isn't a fan.
Yesterday, the PC gaming giant banned
all Steam games that use blockchain technology.
They didn't make a big deal about it though.
The change was spotted by Age of Rust developer,
Space Pirate Games, who tweeted about a new entry
in Steam's Rules and Guidelines section,
banning applications built on blockchain technology
that issue or allow exchange of cryptocurrencies or NFTs.
- [Man] No.
- The (beep).
Gameplay in Age of Rust involves solving puzzles
to collect NFTs.
So, they're obviously not too jazzed about the decision
but for valve, this is less about staying in the stone age
and more about blocking in game items
that have real world value.
Since that's what got them caught up in a legal SNAFU,
I love the word SNAFU,
over gambling laws in 2018.
So lame Valve,
Where will I get the thrill of playing the NFT market
except literally anywhere else on the internet?
- [Man] I think you are an NFT.
- After HTC's Vive Flow VR headset leaked earlier this week,
the company officially unveiled it yesterday,
answering all of our burning questions like,
were most or all of those press images
of people happily using the headset Photoshopped?
The answer is yes.
Most or all of them were.
Turns out the flow is intended for media playback
and very simple VR apps
using an Android phone as the controller
and it can't run for more than a few minutes
without being plugged into a battery pack.
- [Man] Just the way I like it.
- It honestly seems like a Google Daydream View
or an Oculus Go
but worse, if that's possible.
Also worse is this tweet from the President of HTC, China
asking Facebook's Andrew Bosworth,
affectionately known as Boz,
if he liked to trade Oculus' lightweight VR prototype
for a Vive Flow.
A deal Boz rejects.
Don't fight guys,
no one wants either of these.
Although, I might be speaking too soon,
the US army just delayed
their testing of Microsoft HoloLens
to make sure it can meet requirements.
And I mean, that thing's been,
it's like 20 years old at this point,
maybe HTC is involved somehow.
- [Man] I don't know
but certainly not.
- And the internet hasn't had a good okay boomer moment
for some time.
Thankfully, the governor of Missouri has stepped up.
Governor Mike Parson, which is a very boomery name,
has threatened to sue the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
for hacking, after they published a story
about a security flaw found
in the state's public records database.
The flaw made the social security numbers
of education workers visible,
simply by inspecting the sites HTML source code,
which can be done by
pressing F12.
- [Man] What?
- You can also right click, I'm a hacker.
I knew it.
(chuckles) I've been Black Hat this whole time.
Making the story even more amazing is the fact that
this flaw was reported to the state many years ago
and the Post-Dispatch held off on publishing the story
until officials could remove the effective webpages.
To be fair, I get how Governor Parson wasn't able to
parse how all this works in his mind.
The internet is just a series of tubes.
Y'all went down the wrong tube.
- [Man] We only go through some tubes in Missouri.
- Now, it's time for the quick bits
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What do you mean you don't know what quick bits are?
We do this every time.
Many customers of Visible,
a wireless provider owned by Verizon,
reported that their accounts were hacked this week,
leading to fraudulent purchases
and changed passwords.
- [Man] Actually hacked, not just pressing a button.
- Millennial hacked.
Visible blamed re-used passwords
from outside sources for the hack
but also admitted to experiencing technical issues
with its platform last week.
So, while visible may have screwed up here,
the real takeaway is use a password manager
and two-factor authentication.
- [Man] Can't you stop using the same one, two, three, four?
No!
- After Best Buy, essentially, locked the ability
to purchase a PS5 behind a $200 paywall,
scalp buy.
Sony has decided enough is enough
and now they're offering a direct buy option.
This is revolutionary.
They're vertically integrated, this is crazy.
PSN account owners can register to buy a single console
only on PlayStation's website.
Now, they'll be selected based on their previous interests
and PlayStation activities.
Wow, I never thought a stock shortage
would lead to another gamer gate.
Keeping, we're gate keeping.
Who gets to buy?
Only two fans can buy a PS5.
Can you do the PlayStation thing?
PlayStation.
Roblox is weathering some player backlash
after announcing a number of upcoming changes,
including a ban on the use of VPNs
and the addition of realistic player avatars
with reactive facial expressions.
I have a canker sore, I have to eat like this.
I get the pushback
because, as far as I understand, Roblox is supposed to be
kind of ugly.
So, if you're realistic face is pretty, it's no bueno.
It fulfills the deep need in all of us
to have to inhibit the body of something that looks like
a mutated Lego person.
It's fundamental,
that hair just clicks on.
- [Man] Do I really have?
(chuckles)
- Yes.
- [Man] I wish.
(laughs)
- A new phone called the ZmBIZI Z2.
It's a phone made by an LA based company
that's designed to share the profits
from the sale of your personal data
with you for a change.
The ZmBIZI, is that what it is?
- [Man] ZmBIZI, I don't know. - I don't know.
The ZmBIZI Z2 will go for $550.
Soaring some real mid-range specs
but, don't worry, you'll make your money back in no time
with every piece of your soul you sell to advertisers.
Honestly, I might prefer that they have my data,
if it means I can pronounce the name of my phone.
- [Man] Here's the trade off.
- And it's happened, they put a gun on Spot.
Okay, it's not actually Spot from Boston Dynamics
but it's a very similarly designed dog robot, robot dog,
called
Q-UGV
from Ghost Robotics,
who recently showed off models
equipped with both a sniper rifle
and a spy drone.
We now live in a world with flying robots Cyprus spy dogs.
In hindsight, it was inevitable.
- [Man] I was gonna make it eventually.
- They're still good boys.
And this episode's ending is inevitable.
So, come back on Monday with more tech news,
more good boys
and everything will just be fine.
- [Man] I mean.
- Just fine.
- [Man] Not if those dogs show up.