Welcome to the Tech Meme Ride Home for Monday, June 21st, 2021. I'm Brian McCullough today.

Facebook's Clubhouse Clone rolls out. Here's how it works. China really does seem to be cracking down on

Bitcoin mining. Here's why that could be important. Some power companies in Texas

are remotely adjusting the smart thermostats of users. Here's why that's likely a sign of things to come. And had you heard of

cyclic propulsion aircraft before? I know I hadn't. Let me tell you about it. Here's what you

missed today in the world of tech. Facebook has officially rolled out live audio rooms.

It's clubhouse clone slash Twitter Space Competitor slash

Podcasting Play, available to verified. Twitter coding Tech Crunch. The company tells us live audio rooms will become available to any verified public figure or

creator in the US who's in good standing with Facebook and is using either a profile or the new

Facebook pages experience on iOS.

For Facebook groups, the feature is launching with, quote, dozens of groups, we're told.

Both products will become more broadly available in the weeks and months ahead as more

people, podcasts podcasts and groups are

brought on board. Meanwhile, 100% of Facebook users in the US will be able to listen to

live audio rooms and podcasts as of this week. Much like Clubhouse or similar audio apps,

Facebook's live audio rooms offer a standard set of features. The events

hosts appear in rounded profile icons at the top of the screen, while the listeners appear in the bottom half of the screen as smaller icons.

The active speaker is indicated with a glowing ring.

If verified, a check appears next to their name as well.

There are also options for enabling live captions,

a raise hand tool to request to speak,

and tools to share the room with others on Facebook through things like

...