More NFT Madness, Amazon Announces Pay Raise for Rank-n-File, and Apple Sales Defy Expectations

This is the Smile of Someone Who’s Gotten Paid Because of Internet Nonsense

More NFT madness rounds out the news this week. I don’t know about you, but I’ve had a tough week. But, it’s Thursday, and I’m on with Mark Starling, Seth, John, and the First News 570 crew. This week, Disaster Girl mints NFT gold, Amazon raises rank-and-file employee pay, Apple sales defy Wall Street expectations. You can listen to Mark and I point and laugh while talking about the wild and crazy technology world every Thursday morning, LIVE at 6:43am Eastern.

WOMAN IN ‘DISASTER GIRL’ MEME BANKS $450 THOU

Yeah. Will, you work too hard. Will, you’re in the wrong business. And…it’s true. The woman who was featured in the ‘Disaster Girl’ meme featured above has created the meme as an NFT (Non-Fungible Token) on the Ethereum network and has sold it for a cool $450 thousand dollars. Yeah, this meme has probably been passed around the Internet billions of times gratis, but some fool willingly paid all of this money because she minted it as an NFT. The woman, Zoe Roth, who’s now 21, but was 4 years old when the picture was taken; held a 24-hour auction for the picture and collected $458,000 or 180ETH. Thanks to Ethereum, she’ll earn a 10% royalty each time the image is resold. She’s going to split the dough with her family.

In other NFT madness, the world’s first NFT home was listed for sale on Zillow for $1.2 million. The 4-bedroom, 2-bathroom, 1800 square foot home in Thousand Oaks, California has a pool in the backyard, and is over priced for that many square feet. Californian Zillowers are saying they expect more for 1.2 mil.

AMAZON ANNOUNCES $1 BILLION SALARY INCREASE

That’s right. Yesterday, Amazon announced that 500,000 of its 1.3 million strong workforce will be receiving a pay increase between 50 cents to $3 per hour. The news comes as Amazon has gone gangbusters over the past year as Amazon trucks have become a permanent fixture on American neighborhood streets. Additionally, they are hiring tens of thousands of other personnel across the country. The pay increase is making news because tomorrow…is Amazon’s quarterly earnings call. I’m expecting ginormous numbers!

APPLE BUYS BACK STOCK AFTER PHENOMENAL QUARTER

If you’re an Apple investor like I am, enjoy the cigar you lit using a dollar bill. Apple reported sales of $89.6 billion, billion with a B, yesterday. These numbers are ridiculous. Apple’s sales were driven by sales of the iPhone 12, followed by Mac sales. What’s notable however is that Apple is warning investors to expect a $3 to $4 billion decline in sales later in the year because of a chip shortage. The chip shortage is expected to affect iPads and Mac primarily, but is also affecting other companies such as Ford. Apple says 5G and more people getting vaxxed are driving demand for their products.

SUPER BUG AFFECTS MAC SYSTEMS UPGRADE NOW

It’s been a few weeks since we reported a new vulnerability affecting Apple M1 based systems. This week, Apple announced a security update to fix a vulnerability in all MacOS systems. The culprit is a small piece of code which will allow an unsigned program to install itself on MacOS. The exploit bypasses Apple’s Gatekeeper and File Quarantine checks. The update is available now and all users are encouraged to install it.

Apple Receives Ransom Demand, Children Sue the TikTok for Billions, Apple and El Goog Team Up Against US Senate, and Lots of Cool Apple Products

Guess what?!? I’m fully vaxxed! I’m back home, and I’m on with Mark Starling, Seth, John, and the First News 570 crew. This week, Apple’s products get ransomed, a bunch of kids in the UK sue TikTok, Apple and Google testify in front of the Senate, and lots of new Apple products. You can listen to Mark and I point and laugh while talking about the wild and crazy technology world every Thursday morning, LIVE at 6:43am Eastern.

It’s So Sexy: I Want One

APPLE TARGET IN $50 MILLION RANSOMWARE ATTACK

It was bound to happen at some point, even if it was an indirect attack. On the same day of Apple’s Spring Loaded event, the Russian hacking group, REvil, aka Sodinokibi (pick a name) issued a ransom demand to Quanta, a Taiwanese company that manufactures Apple products. Yes, the hackers issued the ransom on the same day of Apple’s event and leaked schematics of the latest iMac to prove their booty was legit. Quanta admitted they were hacked and refused to pay up the $50 million. REvil has now gone directly to Apple and are giving them until May 1st to pay the $50 million or they’ll leak schematics and design documentation for the M1, the 2021 MacBook, and an unnamed upcoming MacBook update. I hope Apple doesn’t pay. If another corporation builds something on their designs Apple can site IP infringement to the other company. That purple iPhone looks hot!

CHILDREN SUE TIKTOK FOR USE OF THEIR DATA

I might be a tad bit dramatic here, but the former UK commissioner for Children’s Affairs, Anne Longefield, has sued TikTok for how it handles and processes children’s data. The legal claim was originally brought by an unnamed 12-year old child and has been filed on behalf of all children in the UK. If the kids win, each child in the UK could be entitled to billions of pounds. TikTok has been fined by the US Federal Trade Commission for how it handles data to the tune of $5.4 million and has also been fined by South Korea. Stay tuned, someone in the US is looking at this case and wondering if and when they’ll file a class action.

APPLE AND EL GOOG UNITE IN FIGHT AGAINST US SENATE

Apple and Google were on the hill yesterday defending their stranglehold on the fees app developers pay to have their applications listed in the stores. For those in the audience, Apple and Google charge app developers 30% on sales of apps and in-app purchases. But, let’s Uber off, and doesn’t charge a fee for physical products. (One of our apps used to sell physical products) A plethora of software companies including Tile, Spotify, and Match dragged themselves up Capitol Hill to complain. Match, the company that owns Tinder, paid Apple $500 million in App Store fees last year. Goodness gracious!

BONUS: LOTS OF COOL NEW STUFF ANNOUNCED AT APPLE’S SPRING LOADED

While REvil was having people proofread its ransom note before sending it to Apple, lovers of the fruit company logged onto their local Internet and tuned in to Apple’s Spring Loaded event. And, there was lots of cool stuff gawk at and drool over.

The new iMac is impossibly thin and looks like a big ole iPad Pro. The computer is only 11.5mm thin, that’s thinner than my laptop and is powered by Apple’s M1 processor. It also comes with a 1080p camera for FaceTime calls, and is seriously thin. I want one. Preorder on April 30th, and have it in mid-May.

There’s also a purple iPhone. I picked up the blue iPhone 12 last year, and I really like the device. It’s the same iPhone as last year, but it’s purple dammit! Preorder on April 30th, and have it in mid-May.

There’s also a new iPad Pro coming out. Again, powered by Apple’s M1 chip the new iPad Pro will be running a new version of iPadOS and at 32 cores on the chip is basically a laptop computer. The new iPad Pro also has a Thunderbolt port that is capable of delivering 40Gb per second. And…it uses USB-C, not a lightning port. But I’m sure somewhere in there they’re cables will be flimsy but cost $30. Preorder on April 30th, and have it in mid-May.

Lastly, Tile is pissed, a day before Tile testified before the US Senate, Apple announced something called an AirTag. AirTags are small BlueTooth devices you can attach to keys, wallets, and children to help you find things after you lose them. You can attach an AirTag to your keys and use the Find My app to locate it in the house. The AirTag even has a speaker that will ding if you can’t find your keys under all the laundry. You can preorder on April 23rd and have it on the 30th.

Coinbase Wins Big on IPO, US Senator Bans Big Tech from Buying, Stream Record Broken

Coinbase Goes Gangbusters on IPO

It’s been a week, and I must say I miss Asheville. I’m back home, and I’m on with Mark Starling, Seth, John, and the First News 570 crew. This week, Coinbase IPOs and wins big, a US Senator wants to stop corporate buying sprees, and a Twitch streamer does a marathon stream. You can listen to Mark and I point and laugh while talking about the wild and crazy technology world every Thursday morning, LIVE at 6:43am Eastern.

CRYPTOCURRENCY GOES MAINSTREAM WITH COINBASE IPO

Yesterday, Coinbase when public on the NASDAQ. Coinbase started the day at a direct listing price of $250 per share and closed at $328.28 giving the company a market capitalization of $85 billion. Which many investors think is too high. Analysts say that Coinbase is one of the easiest ways regular people can invest in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Yesterday, BTC closed over $63 thousand dollars per coin. This means that the better investment would have been buying BitCoin directly instead of investing in Coinbase. Another tidbit, Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange platform, closed yesterday with a higher valuation than the company that’s behind the NASDAQ. How’s that??? Either way, I’m not fully sold on cryptocurrencies, even though I’m considering launching my own. 😉

US SENATOR WANTS TO BAN BIG TECH FROM BUYING LITTLE TECH

Earlier this week, US Senator Josh Hawley said he introduced a bill that would ban US companies with a market value greater than $100 billion from buying other companies. On the surface it seems like it would target the US’ largest technology companies including Apple, Microsoft, Apple, Google, and of course, Facebook. In a rare move of bipartisanship Congress is considering anti-trust bills against the major technology companies citing high concentrations and reducing competition. My feelings on this are mixed. On the one hand these companies use strong arm tactics against smaller companies, but at the same time we all aspire to be the next El Goog.

TWITCH SUBSCRIPTION RECORD BROKEN AFTER 31-DAY LONG STREAM

I feel sorry for whoever this guy lives with. Yesterday, 25 year old, Ludwig Ahgren broke Amazon’s online gaming streaming service, Twitch’s paid subscriber record. He clocked in with 282, 847 paying subscribers. He did this by providing a constant stream of his activities for 31 consecutive days. His subscribers watched him play, eat, and sleep in his red race car bed. I always wanted a race car bed when I was a kid. The previous record was held by Ninja Blevins at 269, 154 subscribers. How much Ahgren made hasn’t been made known yet, but at the end of the stretch he encouraged subscribers to join in order to donate $5 from each new subscriber joining the network. Did he take a shower?

Supreme Court Saves Software Companies, Facebook Sets Up a Hotline, and Uber and Lyft Struggle

Software Companies Breathe Huge Sigh of Relief

I have been having a ball in Asheville, North Carolina. I’ve eaten well, I’ve enjoyed the scenery, and Asheville is a very cool town. I’m in the hood with Mark Starling, Seth, John, and the First News 570 crew. This week, the Supreme Court literally saved the software development world with a monumental ruling (if you’re about that life), Facebook competes with the cool kids by setting up a Hotline, and Uber and Lyft struggle just as Outside 2.0 goes through beta test. You can listen to Mark and I point and laugh while talking about the wild and crazy technology world every Thursday morning, LIVE at 6:43am Eastern.

SOFTWARE COMPANIES DODGE A BULLET AFTER SUPREME COURT DECISION

The biggest story of the week! On Monday, the US Supreme Court decided in favor of Google in a decade-long court case in which Oracle Corporation accused Google of infringing on its intellectual property involving Oracle’s Java programming language software and Google’s coding of Java application programming interfaces. Java is the primary language and runtime that runs on all Android devices. Oracle believed that Google should have licensed Java technology from Oracle. Instead Google looked at the Java specification and coded internals in its own code that would be compatible with Java APIs. This case is a big one. Because APIs and other types of software interfaces are how software companies write compatible software. One of the first known instances of a company writing software for an interface is Compaq writing a BIOS for when computers boot up. The Supreme Court ruled that Google’s use of Java’s API is considered fair use. If the Supreme Court ruled against Google, the entirety of the software world would have been turned upside down flooding court systems with lawsuits and essentially ruining competitive markets. There, I said it.

FACEBOOK JUMPS IN ON THE TALK GAME WITH HOTLINE

Yesterday, talk about hot of the Internets, Facebook’s experimental app division announced a ClubHouse competitor app called Hotline. Hotline gives users the ability to host live audio chats, gives host the power to mute some of its members and control audience participation. Hotline also goes one step beyond ClubHouse in that it provides live streaming as well. Hotline has a more formal app usage than ClubHouse’s laid back style. It’s geared towards more formal presentations and Q&As than ClubHouse. You can’t setup a Hotline yet, but you can join a waitlist when you can.

UBER AND LYFT STRUGGLE WITH DRIVER SHORTAGE PROBLEM

This time last year, Uber and Lyft struggled as people stayed home and didn’t that many rides. Their sales took a nose dive of 80% as people quarantined had nowhere to go. Now, as outside is beginning to open up (in a disturbingly big way), Uber and Lyft are facing another problem. There are no more riders than drivers. Riders are reporting longer wait times and higher fares as there are fewer drivers to go around. The driver shortage is to be expected. Although outside is opening and people are getting vaccinated, the risk of catching COVID hasn’t gone away. Fewer drivers are willing to take on the risk of ferrying passenger. Uber and Lyft are spending heavily to recruit drivers with Uber offering up to $250 million of driver incentives. Fewer drivers means more cash for those driving, and Uber is putting its money behind it.

Half a Billion (with a ‘B’) is Facebook’s Largest User Account Leak

Sometimes you have to be called into the chair at a moment’s notice. Facebook’s largest ever data breach happened over the weekend and Mark Starling is on the case for First News 570 listeners.

First, don’t panic.

Second, this leak comes from a breach Facebook encountered in 2019. The actual breach came from a vulnerability that gave hackers the ability to scrape user account details from the website. Facebook patched this vulnerability after it occurred in 2019. The data has been available in hacker groups for the last two years, but it wasn’t until last week that the data was made available for virtually free. Well, not for free, but $2.19.

Third, find out if you’re a victim by checking your email address at Have I Been Pwned?

(My email isn’t in this specific breach. It’s in others though.)

Facebook hasn’t come out with too many details concerning the breach other than, “why are you bringing up old stuff,” and it’s been patched.

The breach is massive, and global in scale.

Only (ONLY?!) 32 million account records are in the breach, 11 million from the UK, 6 from India, and others from elsewhere. The records contain names, addresses, phone numbers, and other personally identifiable data. The breach also contains…passwords. These passwords were tested by journalists at Business Insider by matching the user account names with the stolen passwords.

Other Tips

Some people may look at these breaches with a yawn, but if you are concerned, now might be a good time to change your Facebook and other social media account passwords. If the burden for keeping track of all of this information is too much, you may want to consider an online vault like 1Password.

Real Talk

Breaches have become a common occurrence. In most cases the breaches are because of negligent behavior on the service you are using due to keeping databases open to the public or keeping the default passwords for services in use. It’s good practice to follow these steps to enhance your security:

  1. Change your passwords regularly.
  2. Reduce the amount of PII you share on social media sites. Or any site for that matter.
  3. Use Two Factor Authentication (2FA or MFA) when you can. Two factor authenticator uses a password and a text or email delivered code to ensure you are who you are at the time you login.