- No one knows what-
- Isn't this Short Circuit?
- Jono, this is TechLinked.
- It had Short Circuit.
- Get outta here!
Get out!
Goddamn, I hate that channel.
Instagram is rolling out support for NFTs this week
because apparently they're tired of Twitter
hogging all the discourse
about which social media platform it's the worst.
NFTs of artwork will be marked with a label that says,
"Digital Collectible"
and according to Meta, they'll also shimmer.
(Riley chuckles)
Instagram is apparently even working to enable AR NFTs
so that you can liven up real world spaces in a sense.
Facebook itself will also be offering NFTs soon
and we may even see them on WhatsApp and Facebook messenger
as Meta appears to be attempting
to try and make it appealing for creators
to use its services as a primary revenue stream.
The company reportedly has plans
to allow buying and selling of NFTs
directly on its platforms.
We'll be sure to get right on
creating an official Linus Face NFT for the highest bidder.
Man, I would love to meet that guy.
Speaking of social media, we finally have some specifics
on Elon Musk's vision for Twitter
following his $44 billion acquisition
of these social media giant.
According to an investor pitch deck,
Elon is aiming to get 931 million users,
super random number, onto Twitter by 2028,
which would be over-
Wait, there's probably some significance to 931.
Is it a sex thing?
What is it?
- [Crew Member] It's 420 plus 69 times 4.
(Riley chuckles)
- 420 plus 69 plus (babbling)
Anyways, it would be over four times as many users
that are on the bird's site today.
He also wants revenue to increase
by over five times by the same date,
and he may be on track to get there
the way inflation is going now, am I right?
Expect Twitter to push more subscription offerings as well
as Musk wants subscriptions to make up
nearly half of Twitter revenue
to reduce the service's reliance on advertising.
Advertisin'.
It's unclear exactly how Elon will get us
to pay more money to be miserable online,
but then again, people still play League of Legends.
And some potentially significant news
for those of you struggling to avoid
your monthly internet bill,
20 ISPs, which cover four fifths of the US,
have agreed to either lower prices or raise their speeds
with the idea being to allow lower income households
to have a solid home connection
for 30 bucks a month or less.
Industry giants, such as Verizon, AT&T and Comcast
are all included in the program,
which is available to any family
making no more than twice the federal poverty level
or families participating
in certain public assistance programs.
It appears many folks should be able to get speeds
in the 100 to 200 megabit range
for that $30 per month price ceiling,
which is frankly awesome news.
Can I complain about paying double that
for less speed up here in Canada?
Kind of tasteless in this context?
Okay, all right. Fine, yeah.
Now it's time for Quick Bits, brought to you by Brilliant,
the website and app that makes learning STEM
accessible and fun.
It's like if they made exercise fun!
Oh, that's sports.
Brilliant is about active learning,
so it's chock-full of interactive visual problems to solve.
Plus there's no harsh grading,
long lectures, or strict time limits
because you're here to have fun and learn.
It's about you, BB.
Check out the new everyday math course
and refresh your knowledge of foundational math topics
like percentages, fractions, and basic geometry,
or dive into any of the 60 other different courses.
Brilliant is your oyster.
Join today using our link down below
and the first 200 people will save 20% off
a yearly subscription.
That's brilliant.org/techlinked.
Come on, get smart!
Quick Bits aren't exactly what you think.
I can guess what you're thinking they are right now.
And no, you're way off.
Not even close.
A new challenger has appeared in the SSD space.
It's none other than Asus,
which posted a teaser on its Taiwanese Facebook page
regarding the upcoming ROG Strix SQ7.
It's an M.2 SSD that supports PCIE 4.0
and looks to have a base capacity of one terabyte.
Although we don't have any independent numbers
regarding performance, Asus reserves the Strix branding
for its high end products.
So I'd be surprised if it ends up being a dud.
If it is, it shall be strixen from the record.
(someone off screen groans)
(Riley chuckles)
We have another adjustment in the expected launch date
for Intel's Arc Desktop graphics card.
Based on a report from igorsLAB
look for them on shelves sometime in either July or August.
The new release window represents yet another delay
possibly due to software issues,
such as problems with the driver.
There's also a chance that we may have to wait
even longer than August,
and I just hope that we can get them from a retailer
from a reasonable price
and not from someone who also scalps
Yeezys as their side hustle.
If you had issues with Xbox Live this weekend,
you weren't alone as the network suffered two outages.
The first started on Friday afternoon
and wasn't resolved until Saturday morning.
Oh, the worst time!
(Riley laughing)
With the second outage starting just a few hours later
and extending well into the night.
Some users were even having problems
with video streaming apps like Netflix and offline play!
What's next, a smart treadmill that won't let you run
without a connection?
Is this a real thing?
John wrote this. Is this like a Peloton?
You'd expect features like Android Auto
and Apple Car Play to be standard kit
on higher end makes like BMW,
but the German company is actually now shipping
some cars without them because of the current chip shortage.
Given how expensive BMWs tend to be,
the move is sure to ruffle some feathers,
but the good news is that cars currently sold
without these features
will be getting them via a software update
by the end of June.
What?
But I thought it was a chip problem.
You wouldn't download a car,
but you can download extra chips for your car.
(Riley laughing)
And ransomware has shut down a US college permanently
after a cyber attack crippled
most of its critical systems in December.
Lincoln College,
a small private school in downstate Illinois,
was already struggling
with the financial impact of the pandemic
and the ransomware fiasco apparently broke the camels back
after 157 year run.
The good news is that I imagine students
will be off the hook for those outrageous loans.
John's on fire today.
And I know it's outrageous, but this episode is over.
Come back on Wednesday for more tech news,
freshly scraped from the creamy center of a black hole.
So yeah, this would've made sense
if I did the intro that I wrote instead of Johno ruining it.
- [Johno] So can I start Short Circuit now?
- No! You can never start Short Circuit!
It's a bad place!
- [Johno] It's a great place!
- I'm never coming back.