Hasta La Gadget!

<img width="1280" height="720" src="https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/bigblue-cp500-1-1280×720.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="" loading="lazy" style="margin: auto;margin-bottom: 5px;max-width: 100%" data-attachment-id="710524" data-permalink="https://www.slashgear.com/bigblue-cellpowa500-portable-power-station-review-03710523/bigblue-cp500-1/" data-orig-file="https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/bigblue-cp500-1.jpg" data-orig-size="1440,810" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="bigblue-cp500-1" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="

Ewdison Then/SlashGear

” data-medium-file=”https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/bigblue-cp500-1-1280×720.jpg” data-large-file=”https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/bigblue-cp500-1-1280×720.jpg” />We’ve reviewed quite a number of portable power stations, some of which stretch the definition of “portable”. While many of these products can clearly meet any power need during an outage or an emergency, not everyone requires 3000W or more of power, especially for a quick trip outdoors or when spending all day working somewhere lacking publicly accessible power outlets. … Continue reading

Facebook has been around for a very long time now, but what you might not have realized is that over the years, the company’s user base has only grown, at least until now where it appears that for the first time ever, Facebook has experienced its first-ever loss in daily active users.

According to Facebook’s Q4 earnings report, the company revealed that it had about 1.929 billion daily active users. This is versus the 1.93 billion that they had recorded in the previous quarter. Sure, the drop in users is marginal, but like we said, this is the first time this has happened to the social media platform.

That being said, realistically we expect that throughout the days, weeks, and months, Facebook probably loses and gains users, but for the most part the company has gained more than they have lost. According to Facebook’s parent company Meta, “Any future declines in the size of our active user base may adversely impact our ability to deliver ad impressions and, in turn, our financial performance.”

This doesn’t necessarily mean that Facebook is in trouble, but rather it would suggest that maybe they have run out of people around the world to add to their service. While 1.929 billion is only about a quarter of the world’s population, keep in mind that not everyone in the world wants or needs to use Facebook, plus there are countries such as China, home to 1.4 billion people, where Facebook is banned.

Facebook Loses Users For The First Time Ever

, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

For the longest time ever, Apple has resisted the idea of allowing third-party app stores for the iPhone. This is versus its Mac platform where there is a Mac App Store, but users still have the freedom and option to download and install software from other sources. Apple had previously criticized sideloading, but it seems that soon, the company may not have a choice.

This is thanks (or no thanks) to the US Senate Judiciary Committee who passed the Open App Markets Act that would allow alternative app stores and in-app payments on devices like the iPhone. However, before you rejoice, keep in mind that there is still quite a long ways to go before this is passed into law.

The bill will now have to head to the Senate floor to be voted on, debated on, and be further amended, which means that it could be a while before we will see it come into effect, if at all. This wouldn’t be the first antitrust bill to be proposed, but if it does eventually clear all the necessary hurdles, it could change the iPhone experience as we know it.

However, as you can imagine this isn’t sitting too well with Apple. In a letter sent to the Committee earlier this week, Apple’s government affairs head Tim Powderly said, “Sideloading would enable bad actors to evade Apple’s privacy and security protections by distributing apps without critical privacy and security checks. These provisions would allow malware, scams and data-exploitation to proliferate.”

Newly-Passed Legislation Brings Us One Step Closer To Sideloading Apps On iOS

, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

<img width="1199" height="800" src="https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/ss-679388728-1199×800.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="Spotify on smartphone" loading="lazy" style="margin: auto;margin-bottom: 5px;max-width: 100%" data-attachment-id="710397" data-permalink="https://www.slashgear.com/rebellion-in-the-ranks-spotifys-own-science-vs-podcast-will-tackle-platforms-misinformation-03710391/ss-679388728/" data-orig-file="https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/ss-679388728.jpg" data-orig-size="1440,961" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="ss-679388728" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="

norazaminayob/Shutterstock

” data-medium-file=”https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/ss-679388728-1079×720.jpg” data-large-file=”https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/ss-679388728-1199×800.jpg” />Science VS, a Spotify-owned, award-winning podcast, will only release new episodes targeting the platform’s own misinformation problems until it enacts tougher rules. Host Wendy Zukerman and editor Blythe Terrell said the decision was in direct response to Spotify’s support of Joe Rogan, a move that “felt like a slap in the face.” Spotify found itself mired in controversy in late … Continue reading

The Joe Rogan Experience was problematic long before Spotify paid a reported $100 million for exclusive rights to the show in 2020. Rogan’s tendency to let guests disseminate hideous and demonstrably false viewpoints has attracted criticism before, but as with many things, the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed the controversy to new heights in recent weeks. On December 31st, Spotify published an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience in which virologist Dr. Robert Malone likened the belief that vaccines are effective to “mass formation psychosis.”

A few weeks later, 270 doctors, nurses, scientists and educators sent an open letter to Spotify asking the company to adopt a clear misinformation policy to help curb the spread of dangerous false claims, like those made in that episode of The Joe Rogan Experience.

Over the last few weeks, the backlash to Rogan’s podcast has come from others on the platform. Several high-profile musicians, including Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, pulled their music from Spotify over the platform’s dissemination of misinformation. Spotify’s Science VS podcast also announced this week that it would only produce episodes that fact-check misinformation spread on the platform until the company made a stronger effort. Author and researcher Brené Brown has paused her Spotify-exclusive podcasts Unlocking Us and Dare to Lead as well.

Rogan and Spotify haven‘t seen a response of this magnitude before, and it shows no signs of abating. Indeed, several of these artists and podcasters chose to remove their content after Spotify publicly shared its content guidelines and announced a plan to add a “content advisory” to any podcast that discusses COVID-19.

In many ways, what Spotify is grappling with right now is the same thing social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter have had to confront over the last five years. They’re so big that they need to have guidelines around what people post, and accept some degree of responsibility for how they disseminate information. Spotify needs to do the same thing, with the added wrinkle that there’s no gray area: By paying artists and podcasters to appear on its platform, the company has a responsibility for the content it puts out. Of course, it’s not clear Spotify sees it that way. 

Instead of simply being a podcast player, Spotify has a host of exclusive deals and owns major podcasting studios including Gimlet Media and The Ringer. These financial entanglements mean Spotify has to make tough decisions about how much of a voice it wants to give to potentially objectionable creators like Joe Rogan. As Ashley Carman of The Vergenotes, Apple delisted Alex Jones’s Infowars show from its podcasts app, but people could still find his show and listen to it through RSS. But The Joe Rogan Experience is part of an increasingly common closed podcast ecosystem — and any company that participates in such a system could have similarly difficult decisions to make about what creators say on those platforms.

Spotify’s response to this controversy has been tepid at best. The content guidelines the company published say nothing about spreading misinformation on the platform, and the COVID-19 content advisory draws a false equivalency between legitimate discussion and incorrect information. It’s hard to imagine these moves doing anything to quell the backlash any time soon.

And that backlash is now coming from Spotify employees, as well. The Vergeviewed screenshots from Spotify’s internal Slack that showed the company said it reviewed all episodes of Rogan’s podcast and found that none met the threshold for removal. This was a response to Spotify employees reportedly being “vocally upset” about Spotify’s deal with Rogan and his view on vaccines. And earlier today, Carman and The Vergeonce again published details of an internal Spotify meeting where employees voiced their concerns and where Ek defended his decisions, including Ek insisting that Spotify is simply a platform, not a publisher.

“Everyone’s a little upset, especially the people whose initiatives directly contradict what’s happening,” a source who asked to remain anonymous told Carman. “People are feeling increasingly frustrated that no matter what the company says messaging-wise, or no matter what people’s initiatives are, it all kind of ladders up to, ‘What’s the best for Joe Rogan and Joe Rogan’s audience?’”

Ek continued to defend Spotify’s relationship with Rogan today, saying that “exclusivity does not equal endorsement,” (n.b.: paying money to support something is literally endorsing something) and saying that exclusive deals like the one the company cut with Rogan are what’s helping keep the company successful. “To be frank, had we not made some of the choices we did, I am confident that our business wouldn’t be where it is today,” Ek reportedly said. 

It’s hard to imagine Spotify turning its back on Rogan. The Joe Rogan Experience remains an exceptionally popular show, and Spotify made its feelings about Rogan clear when they backed up a dump truck full of cash to have exclusive rights to the show – and they’ve been steadfast in their defense of him since then. The company knew he was a controversial figure before, and he’s so popular that someone else would surely open their wallets for his show if Spotify decided to cut him loose.

It’s not impossible that Rogan could do something that would cause Spotify to change its stance. After all, Facebook and Twitter eventually banned the former president of the United States after putting up with years of lies and dangerous rhetoric. And Twitter recently banned Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Greene for spreading COVID-19 misinformation. But it’ll take a lot more than Neil Young and Joni Mitchell pulling their music catalogs to make Spotify change course, given its financial investment in Rogan. If Rogan or a guest on his show called for an insurrection at the US capitol — that might move the needle. But short of that, it seems likely that Spotify will likely wait for this current storm to subside and simply move on with the status quo.