Topic: Yahoo

Reflecting on the late 90s, the hosts recall how Yahoo dominated search before Google's rise, suggesting it takes a decade to unseat a market leader. They prompt ChatGPT for a description of the "No Agenda" podcast, finding the result surprisingly accurate and comparable to a Wikipedia entry. A brief mention is made of Mycroft, an open-source alternative to Siri and Alexa.

A medical expert on Yahoo News claims the XBB.1.5 variant is five times more contagious than BA.5 due to better attachment to ACE2 receptors. The report suggests that while vaccines may not prevent infection, they prevent severe disease, drawing a parallel to the flu vaccine. The concept of the virus "percolating" within immune-compromised individuals to create new variants is highlighted as a questionable scientific explanation.

Venture capital firms like Sequoia Capital and Blackrock are criticized for investing hundreds of millions into FTX despite Sam Bankman-Fried reportedly playing video games during pitch meetings. The segment concludes with a comparison to "Shingy," the eccentric former "digital prophet" at Yahoo.

Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani, former president of Theranos, was found guilty on all 12 counts of fraud. The hosts also mock a Yahoo News headline regarding a "Ninja" COVID variant, criticizing the media's use of sensationalist and potentially racially insensitive terminology.

The evolution of the internet is discussed through three "holy grails": universal information access, targeted advertising, and customized news feeds. Current privacy concerns are highlighted by reports of the government using keyword search warrants to identify individuals based on Google search history.

Reports suggest the sporting world is moving away from terms like "draft" and "owner" due to perceived negative historical connotations. Proposed replacements include "salary cap" for draft and "manager" for owner. These changes aim to remove language that some critics associate with slavery.

Leaked audio from a call between Barack Obama and former administration officials revealed the former President's "shock" at the dismissal of the Michael Flynn case. Obama claimed there was no precedent for someone charged with perjury getting off "scot-free." However, analysts noted that Flynn was never actually charged with perjury, leading to speculation that the leak was a coordinated piece of disinformation.

Yahoo Groups announced it will shut down on October 28, 2019, ending a service that has existed since 2001. The shutdown affects thousands of niche communities, from sewing clubs to ham radio enthusiasts. Users are warned against simply porting their data to another big tech platform like Groups.io, and are instead encouraged to host their own independent servers.

Executive Producer Joseph Ginley, also known as Baron Walkman, donated $333.33 after profiting from a stock tip regarding Snap Inc. mentioned in a previous newsletter. The discussion touches on using Yahoo Finance for market research and the "value for value" philosophy where listeners return a portion of the financial gain they receive from show content.

Google has dismissed Dr. Robert Epstein's findings, stating their algorithms are politically blind and that they do not re-rank results to manipulate sentiment. Epstein counters that while they may not manually re-rank, the inherent bias in their data and the "ephemeral experiences" of search suggestions still produce significant liberal leaning.

The Earl of Tennessee organized a successful No Agenda meetup in Knoxville, collecting funds to support the show's production. Separately, the "Conspiracy Land" podcast by Michael Isikoff is criticized as a promotional tool for his book and a continuation of his work on the Steele dossier. The hosts deconstruct the transition of traditional journalists into the podcasting space as a means of maintaining relevance after leaving major news organizations.

A No Agenda producer reported receiving "Error 554" when trying to send emails via Yahoo, which the company's policy page attributes to "objectionable links." The hosts warn that major email providers are actively scanning outgoing content and blocking messages that violate internal policies, urging listeners to move to private servers.

A study by the group IMGE found that major email providers like Google, Yahoo, and AOL disproportionately filtered right-leaning political newsletters into spam folders during the 2018 election cycle. The hosts discuss their own difficulties with email deliverability for the No Agenda newsletter and the "tax" of hiring mass email services to bypass blocks.

Carter Page has filed a lawsuit against the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) and Oath Inc. (parent of Yahoo and Huffington Post), alleging they disseminated government propaganda against him. The suit centers on the 2013 repeal of the Smith-Mundt Act, which Page claims allowed the BBG to target American citizens with state-funded narratives.

Representative Will Hurd, a former CIA undercover officer, explains the concept of "circular reporting" in intelligence gathering. He argues that the FBI used unverified rumors and media articles—which were themselves based on the original unverified source—to justify FISA warrants, a practice he criticizes as a failure of oversight.

Huma Abedin reportedly forwarded sensitive passwords to her personal Yahoo account prior to the company's major data breach. In unrelated news, a "Portlandia-style" reaction to a crime at Hartford Middle School is mocked for using "Pantsuit Nation" terminology like "leaning in" to provide support rather than taking concrete action.

Billionaire Mark Cuban has expressed interest in a potential independent or Republican presidential run, citing a desire to go "head-on" with Donald Trump. The discussion revisited Cuban's business history, specifically the $3 billion sale of Broadcast.com to Yahoo, which now exists as a simple redirect. Cuban was warned that his personal history might make him vulnerable to the "Me Too" movement.

The legal implications of hosting "Loli art" (anime-style depictions of minors) on federated servers are explored under 18 U.S. Code 1466. The hosts discuss whether caching such images makes a server admin liable for distributing obscene material. They compare the scrutiny of small Mastodon servers to the massive amounts of adult content hosted on platforms like Yahoo and Tumblr.

Yahoo has confirmed a massive security breach from 2013 affecting over one billion user accounts, separate from a previously disclosed hack. Stolen data includes names, email addresses, and encrypted security questions. The hosts speculate that these recurring disclosures are "material adverse changes" intended to tank Yahoo's valuation or kill the pending sale to Verizon.

A technical failure with Skype delayed the podcast stream by one hour, leading to a discussion about Microsoft's difficult password recovery process. The narrative explores how users often provide fake birthdates, such as January 1, 1901, to bypass privacy concerns, which inadvertently skews demographic data for internet services.