Nov 19th 2020
Tech News Weekly 160
Fleets Are the Mullet of Twitter
Twitter's New Fleets, Loon's Financial Trouble, macOS Woes
Apple's macOS saw some slowdowns earlier this week — what's that all about? Apple also announced plans to reduce its App Store commission from 30% to 15% for small businesses. Loon, the Alphabet company that aims to bring internet to rural areas via balloon, is facing financial struggles. Twitter introduced short, disappearing posts called Fleets that are reminiscent of Instagram and Snapchat stories.
First, Dan Moren of Six Colors joins Jason and Mikah to talk about macOS and Gatekeeper. After some Mac users saw a slowdown on their computers earlier this week, Gatekeeper ended up being at the root of the problem. He also explains Apple's upcoming plans to reduce its App Store commission for small businesses (those that make less than $1 million in a year).
Then, Nick Bastone of The Information stops in to detail Loon's financial woes. The Alphabet-owned company makes internet-connected balloons that aim to bring connectivity to rural areas. It's reportedly running low on funds and looking for other opportunities to keep going.
Lastly, Insider's Palmer Haasch explains Fleets, Twitter's new Instagram-Stories-like feature. How does it compare to the other social stories options? How has Twitter handled harassment? Haasch shares her answers to these questions and more.
Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-weekly.
Links
- In Wake of Server Outage, New Apple Support Doc Details Gatekeeper Privacy
- Alphabet’s Internet Balloon Subsidiary ‘Loon’ Hit Financing Turbulence
- How Twitter's New 'Fleets' Feature Could Open the Door to Invisible Harassment Campaigns
- Amazon’s Glasses That Let You Talk to Alexa Launch for Everyone Next Month
- Echo Frames Review - Amazon Smart Glasses With Alexa
- YouTube Will Run Ads on Some Creator Videos, but It Won’t Give Them Any of the Revenue