April 24, 2022 - Episode 622

This week, Insteon vanishes, ads could appear on Xbox and PlayStation games, and Netflix loses subscribers.

Description

This week, Insteon vanishes, ads could appear on Xbox and PlayStation games, and Netflix loses subscribers.

ParticipantsScott ErtzHost

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 PiltchHost

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.

OpeningPowered by TeknoAXENifty GiftiesPowered by Microsoft StoreInsteon, former connected home leader, disappears from the internet

While smart and connected home technology has become popular in just the past few years, the technology has existed for decades. Today, most connected home devices run over one of a few licensable protocols, the early ones worked on proprietary communications. One of the early leaders in the connected home industry was Insteon, but that lead has seemingly ended in a whimper, as the company seems to have vanished over the weekend.

read full articlePiltch Point with Avram PiltchPowered by PureVPNExtra LifePowered by EksaAdvertisements are unfortunately coming to Xbox and PlayStation games

Advertisements in games are far from a new concept. Many mobile games exclusively rely on full commercials to generate revenue, while others inject them with the opportunity to skip them for money. Console games have generally been able to avoid commercials, but have seen other in-game advertisements, such as logos and product placement. However, things might be changing, as Microsoft and Sony are looking to allow game companies to integrate advertisements into games on their platforms.

read full articleNews From the TubesPowered by MalwarebytesMusk moves ahead with Plan B for Twitter purchase, secures funding

Since Elon Musk first went on the offensive purchasing Twitter stock, the company's Board of Directors has been doing everything in its power to retain its power. Initially, the Board offered Musk a seat, with the understanding that he would not purchase more than 15% of the company's outstanding stock. He rejected that offer and made one of his own - sell me the company and get out of the building. Now, the two are at odds about how to proceed.

read full article* DRM Not IncludedPowered by Amazon PrimeNetflix loses customers for the first time in a decade, cancels shows

When it comes to the media landscape, Netflix has seemed to be an unstoppable giant. However, their quarterly earnings report, which came out this week, shows that Goliath might just have met its David. For the first time in over a decade, the company had a net subscriber loss rather than net subscriber growth. The company has some ideas on why it happened, but the most obvious seems completely missing from the explanation. But, the response to the loss has been swift and severe.

read full articleClosingPowered by Tech Podcast Network