June 11, 2023 - Episode 649

F5 Live: Refreshing Technology (Audio)

Description

This week, Logitech G is taking over, Twitch is backing down, Instagram is planning a Thread, and Netflix is gaining new users.

Participants

Scott Ertz

Host

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram Piltch

Host

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.

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Logitech G consolidation means end of Blue mics, possibly Mevo cameras

Over the past few years, Logitech has been on a buying spree. Sometimes the purchases have been of previously powerful brands, like Blue Microphones. Sometimes it has been of growing brands, like Mevo cameras. But, the one thing Logitech has done universally is maintain the existing brands. Blue, Mevo, and ASTRO Gaming have all continued to exist under various Logitech departments. But, it appears that is coming to an end as Logitech is pulling its various brands together under the single Logitech G banner.

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Extra Life

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Twitch angers streamers with new advertising guidelines, backs down

This week, Twitch updated its Branded Content Guidelines for streamers. Updating policies is not unusual, but in this case, the company completely took the knees out from under its own creators. This change was so large and so controversial that it risked content creators across the world, including ourselves, leaving the platform for good. Fortunately, the company heard the response and addressed it quickly- though not necessarily quickly enough.

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News From the Tubes

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Instagram launching Threads to take on Twitter as controversy heats up

Since Elon Musk first announced his intention to purchase Twitter, there has been no end to the controversies. Despite the chaos and major changes in policy, usage of the platform is still high. Some companies have tried to take on the success of Twitter, giving people who want to use something else a similar experience. So far, other services have failed to gain enough traction to matter. However, Meta is hoping to be the outlier with a planned service called Threads.

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Netflix adds 200k subscribers after password sharing crackdown

When Netflix first announced the coming of a crackdown on password sharing, there were a lot of questions about how it would go over. Customers were unhappy with the idea, as they had long exploited this loophole to save money on the service. Industry experts were split on how customers would ultimately respond. Some thought it would drive subscribers and others thought it would finally slay the beast that is Netflix. It appears the first group was correct, as Netflix has seen the biggest increase in new subscribers in years.

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