Google, one of the biggest tech companies in the world has just threatened Australia. - [James] Good day. - So everyone's meeting behind the gym after school and I've got threeTootsie Pops riding on it. No, this is serious. See, last year an Australian government commission drafted a proposal that would, if passed into law, require tech platforms like Google and Facebook to pay Ozzie news sites for the privilege of linking to their stories. Google isn't a fan of this, obviously, and it told the countrySenate this morning that if such a law were passed, Google would have no real choice but to shut down its search engine in Australia. (vocalizing) - [James] Goodbye. - Interestingly, Google just reached an agreement with the French government that will see the tech giant pay French publishers to post small snippets of news stories in Google News after failing its many attempts to avoid such an agreement. But Australia's proposal isn't about snippets, it's about links. Learn the difference. And even though I would tend to side with the people over Google in this type of situation, the idea of paying to simply link to a site is kind of contrary to the whole idea of an open web. So, Australia, I love you, but this is not faired income. I know I didn't use that right. I know I didn't use that right. Don't stop writing that comment.
We've heard so many rumors and leaks about Apple's in-development VR/AR headsets I feel like I've already used them. They smelled like elitism. But the trouble isn't that far off as new leaks indicate Apple plans to release a VR headset next year that will be an expensive niche product intended for early adopters and developers. It'll have a fabric design, an internal fan and it'll run on batteries. (scoffs) Imagine that. Sometime later Apple launched the real fancy boy. That's the official name. A pair of augmented reality glasses sometime after 2023. Apple, I'd like to know what's going on with you. You're taking the touch bar off of the next MacBooks, putting MagSafe back in, and bringing back the SD card slot and who knows how many other ports in the MacBook. Now you're gonna release experimental hardware for early adopters? What's next? A gaming MacBook? Is team Apple actually a CSGOheadshot god or something?
Let me know. And Nvidia is acting like your most annoying friend right now. Multiple reports have stirred speculation that team green was killing the Max-Q branding it has used to denote gaming laptops that were capable of cool and quiet operation. But in Nvidia came out to deny those rumors telling PC Gamer that the Max-Qbranding is not going away. In fact, it's stronger than ever. - [James] Max Q Q. - It's stronger than ever because third-generation Max-Q is a holistic set of platform technologies and design approaches to building powerful and thin laptops. Okay. Nvidia did confirm that it will be up to laptop manufacturers to choose what parts of the Max-Q spec they implement and whether the machine will be labeled a Max-Q model, which is where the idea that Nvidia was killing the brand came from in the first place. So the brand will live on, but you might not see it much and it will be up to you to make sure that the laptop you're buying is the good one and not that other sucky way. - [James] Selling the usefulness. - (laughs) Yeah, yeah. They're killing the spirit of the brand. Also max-P in case you were wondering it's not an official brand, so Nvidia can't kill it if they never gave birth to it. I think that's how most things work. - [James] That's my nickname actually. - Now, it's time for quick bits brought to you by the DropPanda wireless headphones. They're THX certified, and they claim to be the world's most distortion-free wireless headphones with a closed design to keep your sound contained and THX AAA amplifier technology you can get closer to your music than ever before. You get 30 hours of wireless life, a detachable gaming microphone, Bluetooth support and compatibility with popular home assistance. Check them out at the link below, quick bits. Don't say I didn't warn ya. After some of Intel'searnings information leaked the company went and officially made it public. Turns out Intel isn't doing so bad. Team blue reported record full year of revenue causing company shares to rise. I feel like we've transitioned from cheering on AMD destroying inter in the processor game to kinda feeling bad for them. - [James] They're the underdogs now. - But yeah, now I get, well no, no they're doing fine. AMD please hunt them down because they can take it. 'Cause they're not our hero. They're the silent guardian. Cut me out, you should have cut me off by now already. Cut. Microsoft has raised the prices of Xbox Live Gold with a six-month subscription now going for 60 bucks or 120 bucks per year, except a ton of Xbox players buy Xbox live codes online, which have been going for60 bucks for 12 months. Did you do the math, James? - [James] That's top off. - No, it's more. It's twice as expensive. - [James] What? - The price is now doubled. Moving on. It's a weird move, especially since Xbox had built up so much goodwill with his frankly awesome Xbox game pass program, but I guess they just want you to buy that instead. Honestly, I'm kinda confused by the story. Are you an angry Xbox gamer?Let me know in the comments. Alphabet has metaphorically popped its loon moonshot program, which uses giant air balloons mobile cell towers. Apparently, cell towers got less expensive as demand for connectivity surge in the past decade making the whole idea a little outlandish, I mean, balloons Google? - [James] The first ballon is going way up after this pandemic. - There are so many parties happening, you know, jeez. A team including former Pebble CEO, Eric Migicovsky announced an app called Beeper this week which can combine chats from 15 different apps including iMessage, WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram into a single inbox. The iMessage support apparently requires an always-online iMac to function.
Like you have to have that. And if you don't have one of those Beeper will ship you a jailbroken iPhone to use as a bridge, that you have to keep connected. It's $10 a month. - [James] Just don't talk to Apple people. - And sure important things happen this week, but probably the best thing was the Bernie memes. Well in the spirit of socialism developer Nick Sawhneycapitalized on the opportunity to create an app that used google Street View's API to let you put Bernie dressed in his adorable jacket and mittens anywhere in the world, but then Google sends Sawhney a bill for taking up Google Maps resources, which is exactly why we need a political revolution in this country. - [James] That's good. - That was okay. We need to end this episode, come back on Monday for more tech news. It'll be good.
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