2025.07.21: Let's See Some ID

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Murder to you wherever you are, because

it is!

For July 21st, 2025.

My name is Murdy Birds right over there.

I can't wait to see her.

It's Ashley Birds.

He had Ashley, everybody.

And a happy Monday to you as well.

You know, I got to say, I'm going to shoot myself in the foot a little bit by saying this, but I'm going to say it anyway.

The remote stuff is actually working pretty well these days.

Like,

it was a Friday, we did a recording with Ben King.

And then this is the weirdest thing ever.

I didn't introduce Ben King, who Ben King is, because I guess we had done a recording before, but it was only available on the Patreon.

So I was like, hey, welcome back, Ben, everybody.

And like, there was a few people in there who, you know, weren't around during the rushy days.

Like, okay, who is Ben?

Oh, well, I guess it's it's really easy for us right because like we know ben we know who ben is it's that's ben what do you want that's it's ben of course it's ben uh you know and also talking about like you know and his uh you know and his his dance floor project and all that stuff i guess it's easy to forget what you know that other people might not know Right.

So just to be clear, Ben King, who is on the podcast Friday, he is the lead developer who is developing all the stuff behind Rooster Teeth.

And I say lead, he's the guy.

He's the guy.

And

we're going to have to do some sort of like crazy crowdfunding project because I'm hearing about like engineers now are getting paid like, you know, $440,000 salaries if they can just like, I don't know, make a waifu or something.

So, you know, the, the world of, uh, of programming is getting pretty weird.

Well, I mean, I'm sure you heard because you were doing the link dump on Friday, but there was a meta engineer who got paid $200 million, got poached from Apple.

And it it wasn't everything brought.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's a lot of money.

It was, uh, we brought it up on the

podcast on Friday, but it's like, of all the people the poaching from, Apple?

Like, that's where you're going to get your AI engineers?

Okay.

Yeah.

Is it, don't we keep seeing headlines that like, you know, Apple's AI project is in trouble and Apple's delaying this so that no one knows how bad their AI struggles are and so on and so forth.

So I don't know who this person is who managed to jump ship with a $200 million

pay package, but I mean, good for them, I guess.

Yeah.

I was also reading a thing recently where

talent is,

they keep talking about how all the jobs are going to go away, right?

But then we're seeing all these astronomical fees being paid to really high-talented people.

I saw this other thing recently that now some of the really high-end investment firms are requiring in their contract for their investors and their managers to provide six months' advance notice for a departure.

That can't be enforceable.

That can't be enforceable.

I would think you're right.

I don't think that can be enforceable either.

But it's one of the things.

Does that mean as well that, like, if you, if like, so you decide to leave, are they offering then to like potentially pay you out for the next six months while you don't do anything?

Because I know before,

you know, I've been in situations where someone puts in their notice and it's like, okay,

but then you kind of don't necessarily want them working on all your most important stuff because they're probably mentally checking out, right?

There's like a that sort of mental and emotional process that's the severing that has to take place when you leave a project or leave a job.

And so when someone puts in their notice, you're like, okay, you're halfway out the door.

I'm not going to start you on any big project, right?

So then, I mean, if the, if we're talking six months,

are they just going to like do the, you know, the thing where, um, what is it called?

A rubber room that they that uh I think Japanese companies have been said to use where they don't fire people they just put them in a room with no projects and they don't talk to them and hope that they quit right because it's very shameful for them not to be doing anything so they isolate them got it right so are they are they gonna like rubber room you

is that what it's called rubber room is that what they call it no i i might be i i think i i think i'm actually confusing that with like a spy movie um i am confusing with a spy movie.

I think the recruit or the intern or something like that, one of those like Netflix spy movies where that's something they do for like CIA people who

have like caused trouble and they're they're basically like being shut down.

Yeah, yeah, but it's just one of those weird things.

Uh I've I'm looking it up right now.

They're calling it sometimes Japanese purgatory.

By the way, you said waifu earlier.

I did.

I did.

It's because

I saw something about XAI hiring an engineer

and they're offering like a $440,000 pay package to work on this AI

waifu

layer for

their AI, like for Grok.

I mean, if I had to pick a platform

that was going to first introduce like some kind of companion for lonely people, I would assume that's going to be X.com.

That would be, if I'm not going to say, you know, anything in particular about x.com users, but man, if I was betting, I would be betting on their platform.

Although I got to say, I don't really like keep up with the development of other platforms.

Like it seems like Snapchat and honestly Tinder would roll out something like that before anyone else.

Although I feel like if Tinder

or one of the other dating apps started to introduce artificial companions, they would probably do that on a complete spin-off app, right?

Yeah, but I did hear about, and I can't remember if it's like, you know, Bumble or Tinder or one of the dating apps, whichever one, was talking about potentially having an AI, like you could basically fill out your profile or something, and then there would be like an AI version of you that would then go, like your concierge or something, who would go chat with like other users' concierges and decide if they think you're a good fit.

Well, I'll tell you something that's interesting that I'm dealing with right now.

But as you invest all this time into a relationship with an artificial being, which is horrifying to even say, even at this point in time, that is owned by a corporation and is your companion via a licensing agreement.

What the fuck happens when that company goes, hey, we're no longer offering your companion anymore.

So they're going to go away forever.

Because I just dealt with this on a much like smaller, more modern version of this fable, which is, I just lost all of my

future movies and television purchasing ability because Microsoft, seemingly in five minutes, made an announcement that they were no longer going to sell movies and TV shows via the movies and TV app and that they were shutting it down immediately.

But don't worry, you'll be able to watch the stuff in your library indefinitely.

And I do sound a little bit skeptical when I say that.

I should point out, and people have pointed this out, that they also said this for the Xbox 360 library, and it actually has been available this entire time, even though the Xbox 360 was sunsetted a long time ago.

But actually now my library is now going to be split because as many people know, I have invested all of my movie and TV purchases in my Xbox media library.

Well, and we did that because we had to ask, right, when we're starting to switch to these digital libraries, all right, let's look at the companies that we think are are going to be around for a really long time.

Like, right?

Like, what company is going to outlive me and probably my interest in all these films?

And we figured Microsoft seemed like a pretty safe bet, right?

So we built the library there.

And it is good, I guess, that they,

your library remains intact.

You just can't add to it.

But it is going to be incredibly annoying to then have to be like, all right, which, hold on, when did I buy that?

So did I buy that?

Okay, that was post-shutdown, so I must have bought that one on Google or on Amazon Prime instead or or wherever, you know.

And I know there's services like Movies Anywhere and things that

can kind of hook into multiple libraries and try to unify a lot of that stuff for you, but it's still incredibly annoying to have to do that.

Movies have like movies anywhere, but not all services use that.

And you're right, because now I'm facing the choice of,

you know, where do I go to buy all my movies in the future?

It already came up.

By the way, if you're keeping score, the last movie that I ever bought on our Microsoft library now will be the Phoenician Scheme by Wes Anderson.

Now, are you sure about that?

Because I also bought Minecraft for the kids.

Oh, you know what?

It actually was Minecraft.

I did see that you did that.

So how fitting.

So the very, the very last movie that we ever bought on the Microsoft store was the Minecraft movie.

What?

that classic, instant classic Minecraft movie.

But we went to go buy the first movie.

And I guess I just chose Apple because we have an Apple TV, which is another app on our Xbox.

I want to point out too, we're talking about Xbox, right?

But it is Microsoft.

They don't sell movies and television shows on computers anymore.

So even their OS now, they don't have it.

They gave no rationale for this decision.

Like even the Colbert show,

the late show, is he's being canceled.

And then from what it sounds like, CBS is going to retire the late show as a brand.

So we're going down to just two networks that have a late night talk show.

Is he getting a six months notice?

I think he is.

I think they're going to shut it down something like March 2026 or something.

So he's got a lot of, there's a lot of runway on these.

And I guess what's interesting about the Colbert announcement is it would normally in that situation that would be very delicately handled behind the scenes, I think.

And then they would let him present it in such a way of, hey, you're not being canceled.

He's retiring and nobody can follow Stephen Colbert.

So we're going to retire the late show brand as well.

And I would think it seems to me, reading between the lines, that Stephen Colbert was not playing ball on that.

He's like, no, I'm going to let people know that you canceled me.

And they're using the word canceled, which is such a strange thing after someone who has been in the industry for so many decades at this point.

Well, I mean, there's been a lot of sort of like,

no one obviously knows entirely what's going on behind the scenes, but I have seen a lot of people speculate.

They think that part of the cancellation is

because the network is trying to get a big merger through the FCC

and that this will

mollify some of the people in power who are not fans of Colbert.

That is and that and that they that would be crazy to me, but I can also see it happening.

But it's an insane implication that we can even talk about that.

And that would be the case, that we need to get a business deal done.

And the government doesn't like what this one person is saying.

So they cancel that person.

That's just insane to me.

So what they've said, to bring this back around, what CBS has said is they're canceling it for financial reasons.

And they said that the Colbert show, the late show with Stephen Colbert, I should say.

that it loses $40 million a year.

So they've tried to say this is a financial decision, whereas Microsoft hasn't really said why they're letting this thing go because it's a huge vector for revenue.

I would assume just for the OS alone.

So now we got this choice.

Actually, I just want to let you know, I've decided on behalf of our family, I guess we're going to go to Apple next.

And like you said, now we're going to have to figure out like when we made the shift.

And it's not going to be as simple as when did we, you know, when did the movie come out?

And did it come out after the shutdown in 2025?

Because the first movie that I bought on Apple was the Fifth Element because the kids wanted to watch the Fifth Element.

So we bought that.

And that came out like before the year 2000, I think, you know, or around the turn of the century.

And so now that's our first movie in the Apple library.

So

still, like, if you have to have a first movie in the library, fifth element is a great movie to have there.

I disagree entirely.

I gave that movie like literally a third shot now.

I was always a Matrix person where if like you either liked the fifth element or you liked the Matrix, it was at that point in my life where you're either one or the other.

And I always thought, you know what?

I have not given the fifth element a fair shake and i watched it and the entire time is i was sitting there going i hate this movie but i gotta say the kids loved it even with like the dated graphics and everything else they thought it was fucking great and they loved it that's because it's great and you and you are objectively wrong i mean i don't know maybe i'm like uh maybe i'm bi sci-fi here but i think there's room to love both the matrix and the campiness of fifth element that movie is absolutely fantastic and you're just wrong i would love to die on this hill if i could but i have no leg to stand on so many people love that movie.

It's beloved to a lot of people.

So I'll just accept that I'm wrong.

I mean, listen, I'm taking L's this week.

I said for years I moved to digital.

I spoke about digital, about how everyone eventually is going to be on digital.

And look at this, the platform I thought would never go away, the safest possible bet to keep my media library.

And now I have to split because they've decided to no longer sell movies.

So listen, I'm going to take the L.

I'm not happy, but

you got to face facts, actually.

You got to face facts.

Media L week for me.

There's some other really weird stuff going on, too.

You may not have been following UK news quite so much while you're in the US, but there's some weird stuff happening in the UK that has to do with sort of internet and privacy and all that.

One of those things is that Reddit has caved to the UK's sort of online safety rules, and they've now partnered with a third-party vendor basically and are requiring Reddit users in the UK to verify their age through this third-party vendor in order to view adult content, which is interesting because this is happening at the same time the UK announced they're lowering their voting age from 18 to 16.

So you're going to be able to help choose like the, you know, the party that leads the UK government, but you're not allowed to see a pair of boobs.

You know, what's really interesting too to me is to verify your age is to also verify your identity at some point.

And you can have a Reddit account without ever verifying your identity at any point in time, unless you want to like.

They actually said that's why they're going through this third party is because they've never required people to give them their real information and they don't want to start now.

So they said they've contracted with a company called Persona, not to be confused with one of the greatest RPG gaming series of all time,

which performs the verification on either an uploaded selfie or a photo of your government ID.

So basically you send it to not Reddit, but someone else and they'll say to Reddit, yeah, they look good.

But the weird thing, there's a lot of weird things, but one of the weird things is that you send them a selfie.

How do you selfie verify your age?

in a legal manner is that going to base that is that playing by the same rules as like when you go to like buy alcohol or something if you look less than 45 they're going to be like no send us the id too yeah On those self-checkout things, occasionally I forget and I buy booze and it's like, oh, don't worry, someone will be by to help you soon.

And then I've even seen like on the age verification thing for our local grocery store, it has verified ID and then a choice saying, customer is clearly over the age of 21.

Such an insulting button.

Clearly, they cannot be under 21.

And you have to watch him push that button.

But yeah, it's like there's a lot of things going on right now in the world in that regard.

there's this thing going on in the uk which we'll see how many reddit users are going to send in their id to verify they're over 18.

i honestly i think most of the people who are interested in even doing that are probably under the age of 18.

i'm not interested in verifying my id with reddit and proving that i'm over 18 because i don't care about seeing any of that stuff uh then you've got in the us or specifically in texas There's now been a court ruling that could bring back pornography to Texas, which is a weird thing to say in 2025.

And then I read this other article, which is more in your bailiwick, Ash, which is, apparently, Nintendo can brick your Switch 2 for piracy if you live in the U.S., but they can't brick it if you live in the EU.

So we're seeing a death of globalization on an economic level, but now we're starting to see it in the, you know, the realm of technology as well, where everyone's just going to have a completely different experience based on where the hell they live.

Yeah.

Yeah.

The Switch 2 thing is really interesting.

I mean, basically, since the console launched, there have been lots of headlines about Switches getting bricked because they, you know, used, they bought a used Switch cartridge, and it turns out that it was like a copy of something and it was illegitimate.

So the whole Switch got bricked.

And you hear a lot of these stories, right?

But this one is specifically about the end user license agreement.

That there is

a bit in the us

license agreement that says nintendo reserves the right to disable switch to consoles if you break any of its rules including piracy anything like that but that text isn't in the european license agreement if they have the ability to identify a pirated game and they can see that your console is playing a pirated game why can't they just brick essentially the game and like if they can update the console and just tell it it can't play that game well that that's actually what the eu does so in europe Nintendo can block access to pirated Switch 2 games if it detects unauthorized access to those titles, but under no circumstances can they block or brick the console itself.

Well, I'm enjoying my time here in the US.

One of the things we've been doing is, you know, as the kids are, you know, in full adulthood now, out of university and everything else, we have been

going over like just,

I don't know how else to put this, the financial education that I never get.

Like I feel like our entire generation didn't get.

So, we've been establishing things for them, like getting all the financial institutions in line and everything.

One of the things that we've had to do is there's now these services that they violate everything in my being when I see them, which is ways of like providing login credentials for like banks and things like that so that it can verify your accounts.

Remember how you, when you'd ever connect a bank account to like something else with payments, it would have to like do a deposit, like a three-cent deposit and a seven-cent deposit.

And then three days later,

we've just deposited.

We just made two deposits.

Now, like in a month, when you get your statement, come back and tell us what those were.

And then we'll go ahead and let you in.

Well, now they have things that are like the service, like I think what Reddit's talking about, where, oh, we trust this third-party person and just provide them with your login credentials to your bank.

That is like the one thing they tell you to never ever do.

You know what I mean?

It'd be like if, like, hey, kids, today we're going to have the guy who brings around candy in his van just jump in.

This guy's okay.

We told you never to do this, but

you can get in this van and get the candy.

This one's okay.

Just this one time, it's okay.

Yeah.

So it's like, I mean, we have to go through all the stuff of like, we do that.

If we decide it's important enough, we do it and then immediately like change all of the login credentials for that institution or something like that.

But it's been good.

So we've been going over all that stuff and setting things up and just getting things squared away for the future.

So it's been a lot of fun to do that.

Yeah.

Well, and it's also, it's good to go back over your basics too.

Have you updated any of your own stuff as you go over it with the kids?

No, I have been busy doing other things like doing outside projects and stuff like that.

And that has meant that I have spent my entire time here battling the gigantic.

fucking mosquitoes of Texas.

Man, were they like this all the time here, Ashley?

Where when I walked outside, I was miserable immediately?

Well, yeah, I think that it's always been bad, but with the summers getting hotter and hotter and hotter and

getting the big rains as well.

So there's the humidity and standing water.

Yeah, I'm sorry.

I know that you don't react well to mosquitoes.

And I know that they love you and your sweet blood.

And I can't imagine that you have an easy time there.

And it sucks because you can't go to Texas in the winter.

because you get your cedar allergies and you can't go to Texas anytime else because then you have mosquitoes.

It's that whole, just that whole, the whole climate is out to get you.

It's so bad.

Let me explain one of the situations I was working on.

I said I was working on outdoor stuff.

This wasn't even fully outdoor.

One of the things I was doing was fixing the doorknob on our back door.

And so I had to open the door in order to work on the doorknob.

And being inside the house with the door slightly open so that I could access the doorknob, I got bit by four mosquitoes.

Like within five minutes, I got bit.

It was unfucking believable.

We should find some way to just like attach a giant fan to every part of your body so that when you're outdoors, you yourself are like a wind tunnel and the mosquitoes just can't get to you.

What I should do is invite Barbara over and have her hang out in the backyard because she'll attract all the mosquitoes and

make her the sacrificial lamb, essentially, while I'm working on this stuff.

What else is going on, Ashley?

I'm spending, I'm spending all my time outdoors just harvesting everything.

It's been such an incredible summer here that we have squashes and zucchinis like the size of my head already coming in so um i hope you're hungry when you get back because we've got a lot of fresh food listen i'm just really pleased that the kids have they i've been seeing photos from the garden that they have garden or they have carrots that are not the size of like one knuckle on my finger essentially i'm glad we have real-sized carrots now I know, me too.

We normally, we have to hide the carrots because as soon as the kids discover the carrots, the kids start picking the carrots.

And so they think that tiny carrots are hilarious.

I think that one tiny carrot is hilarious, but 10 tiny carrots is just sad because if you gave them another month, they would be carrots.

And now they will never be carrots.

So we managed to hide them long enough this year.

The kids didn't discover them until we actually had some carrot-sized carrots.

I consider that a win.

I just want to say for the record, I don't think tiny carrots are hilarious.

I think tiny carrots are just as good as big carrots.

It just depends on how you use them.

That's all I'm saying.

All right, Ashley, well, who do we have to thank for our gigantic bumper crop today?

All right, I want to thank today's Cara farmers, FaZe Mirissa, and Lionel at Payna.

Thank you both so much for sponsoring this episode of our show at patreon.com/slash morning sunway.

All right, well, that does it for us.

July 21st, 2025.

We will have more information later this week about the open beta for the roosterteeth.com website, which is coming very soon.

We will be back to talk to you tomorrow.

We hope you will be here as well.

Bye, everybody.