The Federal Communications Commission just killed net neutrality. The agency voted to repeal regulations that make the future of the internet and the way consumers use it a lot murkier. Andrew McCollum, CEO of Philo, an internet television company that recently introduced a streaming live TV service, joined us to share why he is worried about a world without net neutrality.
The FCC voted to reverse a 2015 decision by the Obama Administration that aimed to protect Americans on the internet. McCollum is concerned that without the regulations, services like Philo become prone to "unfair prioritization by internet providers." It's not only a loss for companies. He believes strong net neutrality rules also protect the consumer.
As a co-founder of Facebook, McCollum says he got a glimpse of how difficult it would be for companies to innovate in a world without protections for net neutrality. He shares that colleges that did not like Facebook would block students from gaining access because they acted as the internet providers. With such limitations, he questions whether an era of internet innovation is coming to a halt.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, is facing a lawsuit from Ohio's attorney general Dave Yost, who said the company misled the public about safety on the platform.
Bitcoin received its first update in four years called Taproot. Unlike the previous bitcoin update in 2017, Taproot has widespread support — in part because these changes involve fairly incremental improvements to the code. Christie Harkin, tech managing editor at CoinDesk, explained what the move could mean for the future of cryptocurrencies as a whole.
Snap has announced a licensing deal with Sony Music, giving its social media platform Snapchat access to the label's entire catalog. The deal now gives the company agreements with all of the major industry labels.
Kyndryl isn't wasting any time as an independent company. Just over a week after spinning off from IBM, the IT infrastructure services provider has announced its first global strategic partner in Microsoft. The two tech giants are coming together to form a new kind of power duo, creating multi-billion dollar revenue opportunities between the companies. Stephen Leonard, global alliances & partnerships leader for Kyndryl, told Cheddar more about the partnership and what it aims to achieve.
Bitcoin has successfully activated Taproot, the cryptocurrency's first major upgrade since 2017 and a highly anticipated change to the blockchain. Taproot will introduce what's known as Schnorr signatures, which will help transactions become more private, efficient and perhaps even less expensive. Robert Hackett, a cryptocurrency expert and journalist, breaks down the new upgrade and what it means for bitcoin users.
Jill is joined by Baker Machado to talk all things infrastructure: where will the money go and who’s in charge? Plus, Sesame Street has its first Asian-American muppet. And a trailer for the trailer for Spiderman. Huh?
