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TWiT 1090: Flock of SQLs - Apple & Microsoft Grapple With Soaring Hardware Prices
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Social Media Teen Bans, BBC Longwave & Digital Ownership
At 2:17:08 · chapter starts 2:16:40
Leo covers a trio of stories about technology's relationship with society. Australia's under-16 social media ban has produced what Harper Reid predicted: rather than compliance, it has produced circumvention, with 80% of affected teens still online according to University of Newcastle researchers who describe 'substantial circumvention.' Norway and the UK plan to implement similar bans, apparently undeterred by the Australian evidence. The BBC's decision to end its 198kHz longwave Radio 4 broadcast is both a technical inevitability — the vacuum tubes for the transmitter are no longer manufactured — and a genuine cultural loss: the frequency was used by the French Resistance in World War II and could be received almost anywhere on Earth. Jennifer Pattison Tuohy notes it was part of her childhood soundtrack, her father listening to cricket scores. The segment closes on PlayStation deleting 551 previously-purchased Studio Canal movies from users' libraries with no refunds on September 1st — another reminder that digital purchases are licenses, not ownership.
Ford fired engineers expecting AI to replace them in vehicle hardware design, then had to rehire them after automated systems produced too many errors.
The BBC has switched off its 198kHz longwave Radio 4 broadcast after more than a century on air. The reason wasn't policy — the tubes needed to power the transmitter are simply no longer manufactured. Used by the French Resistance in WWII, receivable almost anywhere on Earth, it ended not with a bang but with a supply chain problem.
PlayStation Store is removing 551 movies from users' libraries on September 1st due to licensing changes. No refunds. This is a reminder that digital purchases are licenses, not ownership — and the terms were always clear in the fine print that most people never read.
