The Tech Jawn: Black Tech Enthusiasts Covering The Week's Tech News And How Tech Affects Black Culture

Meta is yanking news off Facebook and Instagram in Canada because the country’s newly passed Online News Act will force the company to pay news organizations for their content.We’re learning the fallout from the Reddit Blackout where subreddit mods took their channels private to protest the company’s new API pricing model is far from over.If you’ve accidentally signed up for or tried to cancel an Amazon Prime account you’d understand exactly why the FTC is suing Amazon for deceptive practices.And there appears to be an inverse relationship between increased technology and decreased quality in automobiles.Link to Show Notes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Timnit Gebru, co-founder of Black in AI, advocate for diversity in technology, and founder of the DAIR, believes that we should have some type of government oversight for Artificial intelligence.The European Parliament, a main legislative branch of the European Union, passed a draft law known as the A.I. Act, which would put new restrictions on what are seen as the technology’s riskiest uses.AIs trained on other AI output will start producing junk within a few generations according to researchers so maybe the solution to the AI apocalypse is waiting it out.IKEA Uses AI to Transform Call Center Employees Into Interior Design Advisors.Link to Show Notes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Many people think the price of Electric Vehicles is the biggest obstacle holding them back from switching to EVs, but, the availability of working charging stations is also a big concern.Thousands of Reditt communities went dark for 48 hours in protest over Reddit’s new API pricing model.  The question-and-answer giant will begin charging 2.4 cents per 1000 API calls in July.WhatsApp's new Channels feature may allow the world's largest messaging platform to dip its toe into social media waters but the one-way broadcast feature isn’t ready to replace Twitter just yet.And, is social media to blame for the Kia Boys' wave of easily stolen automobiles?Link to Show Notes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A USAF Colonial last week told a story about a murderous AI drone simulation, but, walked the story back this week claiming that he “misspoke”.YouTube ain’t even trying anymore when it comes to removing false presidential election fraud claims. The company states ‘The ability to openly debate disproven assumptions, is core to a functioning democratic society.15% of new US-based iPhone users switch over to iOS from Android and their primary reasons for switching have nothing to do with iMessage.And we discuss all the announcements coming out of WWDC23 including the new 15-inch MacBook Air, the M2 Ultra powered Mac Pro, and the new Vision Pro mixed reality headset.Link to Show Notes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In honor of Memorial Day The Tech Jawn crew did not record a new episode so we are hitting you with a recent episode from the archives. In episode 74 we were joined by the founder and managing partner of RareBreed Ventures, Mac Conwell. We talked about the run on and ultimate failure of Silicon Valley bank, what actually happened, and how bad it could have been if the government didn’t step in.We also talked about the ICAN Act, why Mac was called to testify in front of Congress about it, and how modifying the stipulations for what it takes to be a venture capitalist could be good for founders of color.And lastly, we talked about Mac’s journey to becoming a VC and why he focuses on business outside of Massachusetts, New York, and California.This was a fun one, so, strap in.Link to Show Notes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

DoorDash is facing a lawsuit claiming the food delivery service charges iPhone users more for identical deliveries than Android users.Google Photos, after misidentifying Black men as Gorillas back in 2015, disabled the ability to categorize apes, and 8 years later, still hasn’t turned the ability back on.Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act which frees companies from liability due to user-generated content on their platforms, kinda sorta got tested in the Supreme Court last week.And, just when you thought your data was safe from the state unless it gets a warrant compelling companies to hand it over, the authorities can just buy it from data brokers.Link to Show Notes  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Google AI, err ughm, Google I/O kicked off last Wednesday. The company spent most of its 2 hours plus keynote talking about Artificial intelligence, and it also officially announced the Pixel Tablet and the Pixel Fold phone.Elon Musk has named a new CEO to take the helm at Twitter. Linda Yaccarino, a.k.a. The Velvet Hammer, is expected to officially move into the role in within the next 6 weeks.A Snapchat influencer launches an AI-powered 'virtual girlfriend' to help 'cure loneliness'.And the Godfather of AI offers a dire warning about the dangers of artificial intelligence.Link to Show Notes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is ChatGPT better at picking stocks than hedge fund managers?  According to an 8-week study in the UK, the answer is yes, and it's not even close.The Writer’s Guild of America is currently on strike, and, one of their major issues is that writers do not want to be displaced by AI.#BlackTechTwitter may have found a new home on the invite-only, federated social media startup BlueSky.And, are passkeys the solution for people’s bad habits when it comes to using passwords?  Is authenticating via your device a safer option?Link to Show Notes  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Juice Jacking may not be as big of an issue as the FBI and literally every other media outlet made it out to be last month seeing how there are no reports of it ever happening on record.Monthly subscriptions for features on new cars may be the wave of the future, but, not many in the present are looking forward to this trend.Apple won an appeals court ruling against Epic, but, the maker of Fortnite and other popular games kind of won as well.And, although Netflix is officially ending free password sharing, there are still ways to get around signing up for your own account, if you’re really determined to.Link to Show Note Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There is no way to sugarcoat it.  Google employees think Bard is trash and you simply can’t trust it even if its tongue came notarized.Meta will soon start doling out payments from the $725 million Cambridge Analytica settlement where it sold data on 87 million Facebook users.The SCOTUS will decide if public officials blocking users on social media is an affront to free speech rights.And WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, and other companies are worried that the UK’s Online Safety Bill could undermine end-to-end encryption.Link to Show Notes  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.