Irony, Thy Name is Congress

Calling big tech CEOs to the stand over privacy issues is pretty rich

OCTOBER 2, 2020 Everything worth knowing in tech today, October 2, 2020. It's World Smile Day today, so, heck, let's all smile at each other a little more!     ⏰ Today's Big Stories... in 30 Seconds Today We Watched, Read, and Listened to (so you don't have to): 429 articles, 8 podcasts, 23 press releases, 451 tweets, and 9 YouTube videos 1. Big Tech CEOs Get Subpoenaed by Congress The Senate Commerce committee just issued subpoenas for the big three tech providers, Facebook, Twitter, and Google, to chat about Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) of 1996 (and probably more about privacy and antitrust issues).  2. New Chromecast Doesn't Even Support Stadia That slick new Chromecast Google announced this week? It doesn't support the company's game streaming platform, Stadia, at launch. Seems like a pretty big oversight, though support may come in a software update in 2021.  3. iPad Nano Is Officially 'Vintage' Now  So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye to the long-running Apple iPod Nano. Apple has moved the last model of its colorful mp3 player to the Vintage and obsolete products page. Sing a song of sadness, y'all.  🦑 Go Deeper   The pandemic we're all dealing with affects a wide swath of our daily lives, including our escapist entertainment. How is the pandemic affecting our video games? Sascha Brodsky has all the details right here on Lifewire.      🎱 By the Numbers We'll miss you, iPods Data: Wikimedia The iPod Touch and the iPhone itself spelled the doom of the original iPods, including the latest "vintage" iPod Nano. The Touch came out in 2008, which, as you can see, was the beginning of the end for the device line.  🤓 Nerd Out "Mmmm, pi." - Kyree Leary, Associate News Editor On this planet, it's always Pi day. Named K2-315b, the exoplanet orbits a dwarf star about 186 light-years from Earth with a period of exactly 3.14 days. If that's not math-cool, we don't know what is. (Share on Twitter)  💎 You Know You Want It  Giving Apple a run for its money Image: Anker A super-portable Surface Go Laptop from Microsoft? 12.4-inches, less than three pounds? Comes in gorgeous colors? A 10th-Gen Intel i5 Core CPU, 720 px camera, and Dolby sound onboard, and all for $549? Sign us up now. 🎥 Behind the Scenes Back in my day... As sick of TikTok as we all probably are, we all know deep down that vertical video shot on a mobile screen is here to stay. The future will most likely look back at our scorn and laugh, much as we do when we think about the pushback against, say, movies with sound (or the novel!).      🗞 Extra! Extra! We've got you covered with the best in daily tech news! See the latest on our site or follow us on Google News. Did someone forward this to you? Sign up here. Have something you'd like us to write about? We're always open for suggestions. You are receiving this newsletter because you subscribed to the Tech Today newsletter. If you wish to unsubscribe, please click here .   Our editors independently research, test, and recommend the best products; you can learn more about our review process here. We may receive commissions on purchases made from our chosen links. A Dotdash Brand 1500 Broadway, 6th Floor, New York, NY, 10036 2020 Dotdash • All rights reserved. Privacy Policy.   [View in Browser]