The CIA joins Twitter (though they can neither confirm nor deny that fact), but we resist the urge to make that our top story this week. Instead, we step back and play Monopoly… or rather, look at the big telecommunications companies that are merging left and right and engaging in monopolistic practices.

In the debut of our segment, Monopoly — “F#@k You, Consumers!” Edition:

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• Amazon Shows Signs of Letting Up in Hachette Dispute; Amazon Boycott Gets a Helping Hand from Stephen Colbert; Amazon Feud with Publishers to Escalate as Contracts End
  
• Comcast CEO Defends Time Warner Takeover; NY Times Editorial Board Opposes Comcast-Time Warner merger; AT&T tries taking advantage of merger dispute
  
• Netflix blames Verizon for slow streaming speeds; Verizon orders Netflix to cease and desist
  
• John Oliver’s net neutrality rant leads to FCC website crash; Oliver appeals to internet trolls
  
• Sprint and T-Mobile reportedly close to $32 billion deal; Why Sprint wants T-Mobile so badly
  

Josh does a special Game Zone covering E3:

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• E3 to put spotlight on Xbox vs. Playstation
  
• Microsoft facing the pressure at E3 2014
  
• Can Nintendo rebound at E3?
  
• 5 Video Game Trends expected at E3
  
• E3 Preview: The biggest games and hottest topics
  
• Top 10 most anticipated games of E3
  

Our tech headlines this week:

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• Virginia officials order Uber, Lyft to stop operating in the state; Uber refuses to follow Virginia’s cease-and-desist order
  
• Los Angeles Uber driver arrested for allegedly kidnapping passenger; later released without charges
  
• San Francisco Uber driver with felony conviction charged with battery for allegedly hitting passenger
  
• CIA launches Twitter and Facebook accounts
  

Finally, Josh shares a Random Geeky Fact on how Apple Mini DisplayPort to HDMI must be withdrawn due to standards noncompliance. And Douglas debuts a new segment called “This Should Have Been Obvious In Hindsight”:

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• News sites find higher user engagement by abolishing comments sections
  
• Organic cat litter chief suspect in nuclear waste accident
  

Episode Duration: 1:19:18

On This Episode: Douglas Bell and Josh Feldman

Download: Tech tAUk Reloaded #36 (38.1 MB MP3)