Beep boop - this is a robot. A new show has been posted to TWiT…
What are your thoughts about today’s show? We’d love to hear from you!
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A really excellent group this week. Christina Warren, as always, is a great guest and her cross-perspective as a die-hard Apple user who works at Microsoft has been continually refreshing on the show. Alex WIlhem and Owen Thomas riffed well with each other and Christina.
While I wish some more time had been spent analyzing the Apple/Epic trial - I get that it may not be everyone’s preferred topic du jour. And the discussions in the Club TWIT DIscord continue to justify the incredible price of membership.
Well done guys!
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So if a social media company allows one political candidate to post and gain value, but bans another from doing the exact same thing wouldn’t that violate election laws?
Personally, I think if there are official government accounts on the service they shouldn’t be able to ban people. The court ruled that President Trump couldn’t block users from his user account, but Twitter can block Trump from everyone else’s Twitter account.
Also that Twitter account wasn’t created by the official Trump people. Twitter has also suspended people for posting a TV interview he has done.
Frump got a pass for breaking numerous of Twitter’s rules for most if his candidacy because he was the President. As far as logic is concerned, when a candidate becomes President, and gains control of the official POTUS Twitter account, they should be banned from anything political on their own account. (Much as how they should be required to put any personal holdings into a trust so as to avoid any appearance of conflict.) If the official POTUS account breaks Twitter’s rules, then it should be limited to moderated posts for the remainder of that holder’s term in office.
Frump broke the law while in office, thus his impeachment. Law breakers should be prevented from even running for an elected position… unless the USA would like to make a special office for “Convict in Chief.”
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Why should politicians get special treatment for incitement to riot, racism or other abhorrent activities? If the policy is, that you will be banned for such actions, they have to carry through on that.
Official government accounts are very different to personal accounts of politicians, never mix up the two!
Also, Facebook had an employee in the Trump camp helping with the campaign (2016), that also sounds wrong, surely all parties should get the same treatment? Either all get a Facebook advisor or nobody gets a Facebook advisor?
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I found the discussion great, but a couple of times, it seemed like they were concentrating on the wrong part of the story.
The discussion of the Signal-Facebook story seemed to concentrate on the banning of the advertising account, rather than concentrating on what that proposed campaign exposed, in terms of data gathering. That, to me, is the major part of the story, yet it seemed like it was belatedly covered.
Likewise the YouTube TV coverage seemed to concentrate on spiting the users for revenue share, yet very little was said about the explicit accusation against YouTube TV - that Roku wants device wide search from within all apps (i.e. if what you are searching for isn’t available in YouTube TV, it throws up suggestions for Netflix, Prime or other services that do have the wanted content).
That is actually a fascinating discussion. Do I want system wide results, when I am in an app? If I am searching in YouTube TV or Netflix for something, do I want it to respect where I am searching, or do I want it to throw up alternatives? Personally, I would say, if I am searching in the main Roku menu, I want system wide search, if I am searching in Netflix or Prime, I only want results from those apps.
That is one thing I “hate” with FireTV, when I search for something, from the FireTV home screen, it doesn’t just offer me content from my apps and services, it throws up results behind paywalls. I therefore often go into the relevant apps to limit the search for content I know I can watch.
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Have you experienced GoogleTV on Chromecast? This is exactly what it does. I have NO paid service and it’s constantly suggesting stuff from Disney+ or one of the other services I don’t have… or movies that Google will rent me. I don’t even have to search because the UI is focused on this concept… just opening up the main screen it’s trying to get me to spend money. (There is an option to put it into “apps only mode” which I might yet enable, but I wanted to experience it as it exists “out of the box”… except I deleted Netflix immediately, because just having the app running it collects data even if you never launch it. Everyone Is Tracking You Wherever You Go, Even Netflix | Digital Trends https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/09/18/you-watch-tv-your-tv-watches-back/ )
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I’m going to stay out of the politics side of this discussion and stay as close to the technology as I can because Leo doesn’t want political talk here and I disagree with you all. There is nothing you can say that will change my mind and there is nothing I can say to change yours.
President Trump was not banned for any of those things you say. He was banned “due to the risk of further incitement of violence.” So he was banned for what might happen in the future.
Tell Twitter not to mix them up then. They didn’t just ban Trump they blocked the official POTUS account and the press secretary account at the time. My point is the government shouldn’t use mediums that don’t allow everyone. Everyone knows the social media companies don’t apply their rules evenly. I’m into glamour photography and two people can post images that show the same amount of skin and one will get hit and the other won’t.
It is my understanding Facebook had an employee in both camps to help them spend money on Facebook. It wasn’t just the Trump campaign.
They should give users a choice when it comes to search in an app. That way the user can decide. Make it default to just searching in the current app, but I don’t see an issue if a user decides they want it to search all the apps on the device.
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Am I the only one who thought Elon was hilarious on SNL? I enjoyed the show more than I have in years.
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We don’t get SNL over here, so I’ve never seen it and didn’t see Electric Jesus’ show this weekend either.
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Government official should use as many channels as possible if their goal is to communicate to all citizens.
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We don’t get SNL here in Canada, and YouTube region blocks us, but the clips I saw seemed REALLY wooden. Perhaps your sense of humour appreciates performances by Pinocchio types?
Roku seems to be out of the “giving the user a choice” business (if they ever really were in it) and moving towards the “collecting rents” business.
Probably 
As Alex said in the pod, SNL is best when there’s someone with some good comedic timing.
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What was missing in the show is talk about the Colonial Pipeline ransonware. Hackers from Russia shutting down the pipeline that gives half of the oil to the East Coast (where a majority of the US citizens live) is a really big deal. Imagine the mess if Atlanta Airport (the busiest airport in the US) runs out of fuel. Some gas stations are already out of fuel.
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I agree, and that’s a shame. Roku is abandoning their customers, hopefully their customers respond in kind.
Are there any good streaming boxes out there that don’t have a paired streaming service? Obviously Roku, Apple, Amazon and Google devices do not qualify.
Well, the Google Chromecast with GoogleTV is not technically paired to a service, but is paired to a Google account. You can load whatever AndroidTV apps you want on it (and it comes with a few preinstalled.) It’s basically an open platform if the service provider is prepared to make the necessary app. You can use it with all the ones you’d probably list, AppleTV, Hulu, Disney+, Netflix, Paramount+, CuriousityStream, and a great many others I can’t even think of. It’s fast, and the remote is great… but the real thing it the price, around $50. You can almost get it free if you bundle it (in some markets.) I have even side-loaded Stadia onto it and it works great at that too.
Aren’t there some apps that can’t be found in the play store and have to be side loaded? I remember that as a concern.
I also ask because I have yet to devote some proper time to shield tv.
Well if you have a Shield TV, then you don’t need the cheaper brother. 
I’m sure there are plenty of apps that you COULD side-load… I have only had to side-load Stadia because it’s not officially released for the platform yet. (No one really knows why Google debuted without it… but it’s supposedly officially coming in the first half of 2021.) If you’re specifically referring to apps for streaming services, then I question the benefit. If the app isn’t already supported, it’s probably going to work poorly on an androidTV. There are a few apps that work, are officially available, but work poorly on a TV… such as the Tune-In app.