You Can’t Bing Reddit - WAN Show July 26, 2024

Episode Summary

Executive Summary: The episode moves from platform power and AI scraping to sports integrity, consumer pricing, and product launches, with a recurring theme that major tech systems are getting worse or more closed off. The hosts criticize Google/Reddit indexing restrictions, discuss Reddit data being used for AI training, review FTC scrutiny of surveillance pricing, and examine ethical issues in esports, Canadian soccer drone spying, college athletes' NIL rights, Rivian’s refusal to support CarPlay, Intel/AMD CPU issues, and the long-awaited LTT precision screwdriver launch.

Main Topics: Google/Reddit search access and internet fragmentation (Priority: 5/5): The hosts argue that Reddit’s agreement with Google and blocking of other search engines creates a harmful precedent by turning the web into walled gardens and making search worse for everyone outside Google. FTC surveillance pricing investigation (Priority: 5/5): They discuss the FTC’s inquiry into individualized surge pricing, where companies could use personal data to charge different users different prices, and stress how exploitative and hard to detect this could be. AI scraping and training on creator content (Priority: 4/5): The conversation covers reports that Runway likely trained on YouTube content including LTT videos, raising concerns about unauthorized scraping, creator compensation, and the futility of trying to fully prevent copying once content is online. Sports, cheating, and competitive integrity (Priority: 4/5): They cover Canada’s alleged drone spying in women’s soccer and reflect on how technology enables cheating and how Olympic-scale competition often invites scandal and loophole exploitation. College Football 25 and player likeness rights (Priority: 4/5): The hosts treat EA’s return to college football games as a positive step because it reflects the end of a long exploitation system around student-athlete likenesses and compensation. Car infotainment lock-in and CarPlay (Priority: 4/5): Rivian’s refusal to support Android Auto/Apple CarPlay is criticized as an anti-consumer choice that prioritizes data/control over user convenience and may limit the company’s market appeal. Intel/AMD CPU stability and hardware quality (Priority: 3/5): They note Intel’s planned microcode fix for 13th/14th gen instability and AMD’s delayed Ryzen 9000 launch, framing both as evidence of how rushed release cycles can damage trust.

Key Arguments: Exclusive content deals and indexing restrictions fragment the web and make search quality worse, especially when user-generated content like Reddit becomes inaccessible to non-Google search engines. Surveillance pricing is uniquely dangerous because it can target vulnerable users with higher prices based on private context, not just general market demand. AI model training on web content is difficult to stop once data is public, but unauthorized scraping still raises legal and ethical issues, especially when creators receive no share of the value. Sports cheating is often a technology arms race; being caught in one instance strongly suggests broader undeclared use elsewhere. The NCAA/EA college football licensing shift is progress because student-athletes are finally being compensated and included with consent. CarPlay/Android Auto are now table-stakes features for many buyers, and refusing them could exclude a large portion of the market. Modern hardware/software ecosystems are increasingly shipping bugs or design flaws because speed is prioritized over validation and long-term reliability.

Data Points: Google Search market share: nearly 92% - Used to explain why Google can negotiate from a position of dominance in search-related content deals. FTC companies under inquiry: 8 companies - FTC is ordering firms including MasterCard and JPMorgan Chase to provide information about surveillance pricing tools. Canadian women’s soccer world ranking: 8th - Used to contextualize the scandal involving drone spying at practice. New Zealand women’s soccer world ranking: 28th - The alleged drone spying involved practices against a lower-ranked opponent. College Football 25 pre-orders: over 2.2 million - EA’s college football comeback title sold strongly before release. Athletes contacted by EA: around 11,000 - EA contacted student-athletes to secure likeness rights for the new game. Athletes who agreed: over 10,000 - Most contacted athletes agreed to have their likeness included in College Football 25. EA damages in prior likeness lawsuit: $40 million - EA previously settled after using player likenesses without permission. NCAA damages in prior likeness lawsuit: $20 million - Part of the earlier legal settlement around student-athlete likeness usage. Runway valuation target: $4 billion - Discussed in relation to the company reportedly training AI on scraped content. Runway fundraising target: $450 million - The company was reportedly seeking major funding at the time of the report. Affected secure boot device models: over 200 - Binarly researchers found many device models shared the same compromised master key. Affected secure boot models total: 215 device models - The report said all these models shared the same key. Secure boot key password length: 4 characters - The private key was reportedly protected by an extremely weak password. LTT precision screwdriver price: $29.99 - Base price before the fidget-spin discount during the launch bit. Precision screwdriver launch discount: $0.10 per second - The spinning end cap reduced price for each second it kept spinning. Precision screwdriver demo discount: $4.80 - The end cap spun for 48 seconds, leading to a $4.80 discount.

Pivotal Quotes: "You can't Bing Reddit" — Linus: Opening the discussion on Google/Reddit indexing restrictions and search fragmentation. "If it appears on someone else's screen, they can have it." — Luke: Argument that online content is effectively copyable once published, used during the AI scraping discussion. "There isn't going to be enough news." — Linus: A joking pivot during a run of mostly negative headlines, reflecting the episode’s broad frustration with current tech news.

Implications: Listeners should expect more closed ecosystems, data monetization fights, and regulatory scrutiny. The episode suggests creators, consumers, and businesses need to assume that platforms will keep tightening control unless pressured by law or market backlash.