- Ariana Grande is performing
a cosmically mind-bending concert in Fortnite?
No, thanks.
I'll take some tech news.
- [Man] Good choice.
- Apple has caused a stir among tech and privacy enthusiasts
by announcing plans to scan the company's devices
for content that depicts the abuse of children.
Apple published a press release and a technical breakdown
of how this would work,
which involves using on-device machine learning
to detect images that match a known database
of image hashes.
If a certain threshold of matches is reached,
Apple will provide information to the authorities.
Now, obviously this is a noble goal, two thumbs up,
but the implementation has privacy advocates worried
that a similar system could easily be used
to scan for any number of things.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation calls it
a backdoor into your private life,
while others are pointing out that such a move
is a bit strange coming from Apple,
who is never going to live down that CES billboard
about things staying on your iPhone.
The system won't be implemented until later this year,
so there's a bit more time to argue about
hypothetical situations and reference George Orwell.
- [Man] This is just like - A lot.
- [Man] "1984".
- But there's even more Apple news
thanks to a number of documents
relating to their legal fight with Epic Games
being released this week.
One of the more juicy ones actually concerns Google,
who apparently called Epic's plans
to sidestep the Play Store a contagion
because it threatened Google's dominant app platform.
The court filings also revealed that Google
called the Android sideloading process
abysmal and contemplated buying a majority stake in Epic
to stop their lawsuit,
because when you're rich, they let you do it.
(Linus makes playful noise)
Another document lays out Apple's anti-Epic arguments
in detail, essentially saying
that they're only after money,
since Epic has admitted at times
that current antitrust law may not be on their side.
In the midst of all of this though,
developer's complaints to Apple this week about scam apps
that were promoted in the Australian iOS App Store.
One app was charging $13 a week to remove ads,
which goes against Apple's promise of rejecting
expensive apps that try to cheat users
with irrationally high prices.
Leading once more to the question of whether Apple
can decide what is irrational.
Like, is Apple's irrational hatred of me irrational?
I just, I just want to tell Tim how much he means to me.
Face to face. - [Man] He loves you.
I think he loves you.
- And here's a scam you should watch out for,
a digital storefront called KWEST
has been swindling desperate GPU buyers
out of their hard-earned money.
A megathread on the graphics card Subreddit
is full of thousands of comments
from would-by customers whose orders were never fulfilled.
At some point, KWEST changed their website to a new domain.
And while it's lacking quite a bit of detail,
like for example, it has an empty about section.
- [Man] Who are you?
- [Linus] It otherwise looks legit enough to trick others.
So we would advise avoiding these guys
even if you see a must-buy price on a graphics card.
This is a side quest you definitely want to skip.
- [Man] Yeah, stick to the main one.
- Now, it's time for the mainline bits
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Now, it's time for some mainline bits.
- [Man] That doesn't work anymore.
- Scammers are everywhere right now, apparently.
Vice just published a report on multiple services
that will let users pay to ban other users,
which is accomplished by creating copycat accounts,
impersonating the target,
then reporting the original user for impersonation.
- [Man] Seems like it shouldn't work.
- [Linus] This will cost you just $60.
You know, I miss the old internet
where we just argued about whether it was called gif
or that other word that's not real and doesn't exist.
Lukewarm leaker Front Page Tech
claims to have inside information that Google
will launch the 5g capable Pixel 5A on August 26th for $450.
It seems a bit strange to launch it
so long after the Pixel 5
and so close to the Pixel 6 launch this fall.
But hey, it's a wild time for tech products.
I mean, Valve is launching a handheld Steam Machine,
so far as I can tell anything goes.
- [Man] I hand held the first one.
- [Linus] Microsoft has announced it is developing
an experimental mode for the Edge browser
called Super Duper Secure Mode.
Did Elon Musk name it?
(man laughs)
It will apparently slightly increase security
while having a minimal impact on performance.
Rumors say they're already working on the second revision
of the system called Mega Ultra Omni-Security Bonanza Time.
- [Man] Yeah. - [Linus] Which I
personally think is a much catchier name.
- [Man] Spring break.
- [Linus] And hey, remember that 3dfx Twitter account
that said the company is coming back?
Yeah, it turns out all they posted
was an amateur-looking slideshow with some vague promises
before the account itself was deleted.
So it was all a sham, but were we wrong to hope, really,
to look on the horizon
for some dim chance of a brighter tomorrow?
- [Man] Preach.
- Yes we were, that was stupid.
And Disney has revealed the pricing
for its Star Wars, Galactic Starcruiser attraction.
Two nights for two guests in one cabin
will cost almost $5,000.
- [Man] Credits.
- But hey, you'd be pretending to sleep
and hang out on a spaceship, which would sound super cool
if it didn't take place in the sequel era.
- [Man] It's not canon.
- If you want a sequel to this episode,
you'll have to come back on Monday for,
oh, I fell off my box, for more tech news.
We have a plan.
We're not just making these up one at a time as we go.
- [Man] Yeah. - We're totally pulling
a Kevin Feige here.
- [Man] Yeah, they're already written.
- I swear it.
- [Man] The outline is done.
A year in advance.