WEBVTT - Tech News: The Worst Security Vulnerability in a Decade 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:12.119 --> 0:00:14.800 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:14.920 --> 0:00:17.959 Jonathan Strickland, domin executive producer with I Heart Radio and 0:00:17.960 --> 0:00:20.640 I love all things tech and this is the tech 0:00:20.720 --> 0:00:26.560 news for Tuesday, December one. Let's get to it. Last week, 0:00:26.840 --> 0:00:31.360 security experts revealed the discovery of a zero day vulnerability 0:00:31.360 --> 0:00:35.600 in Apache log for j. Now, that is a Java 0:00:35.680 --> 0:00:40.599 based utility that, as the name suggests, it logs data, 0:00:40.880 --> 0:00:45.080 and tons of apps and organizations use it to help 0:00:45.120 --> 0:00:47.360 log data. I mean, data, as we all know, is 0:00:47.400 --> 0:00:50.480 worth a lot of money, but it's only worth money 0:00:50.520 --> 0:00:53.880 if you can do stuff with it, and tools such 0:00:53.920 --> 0:00:57.120 as log for j are meant to record and organized 0:00:57.200 --> 0:01:02.160 data in ways that make it useful. But the vulnerability 0:01:02.480 --> 0:01:06.600 is a doozy. It allows for remote code execution, which 0:01:06.720 --> 0:01:11.200 is security talk. That means if you exploit that vulnerability, 0:01:11.400 --> 0:01:15.360 you can use it to infiltrate someone else's machine and 0:01:15.440 --> 0:01:19.319 get that machine to execute code of your choice and 0:01:19.360 --> 0:01:24.200 thus potentially infected with malware that you have, you know, 0:01:24.280 --> 0:01:27.399 delivered to it. So this is kind of like an 0:01:27.400 --> 0:01:30.280 open gateway for hackers who can use it to infect 0:01:30.280 --> 0:01:34.560 target systems. With something really nasty. Services that rely on 0:01:34.640 --> 0:01:37.600 log for j includes some really big ones out there. 0:01:37.840 --> 0:01:42.040 Um there's a Java version of Minecraft that uses it. 0:01:42.080 --> 0:01:46.960 For example, platforms like Twitter use it. Major services like 0:01:47.000 --> 0:01:50.640 cloud Flare, which does stuff like a distributed denial of 0:01:50.680 --> 0:01:54.400 service mitigation strategies for companies they use it. So this 0:01:54.440 --> 0:01:58.280 is a major problem. It's been called the worst security 0:01:58.360 --> 0:02:01.520 vulnerability in years, like in a decade, and it's going 0:02:01.560 --> 0:02:05.080 to require companies to patch servers quickly to mitigate the 0:02:05.160 --> 0:02:08.799 damage that's already being done. Because here's the thing. The 0:02:08.840 --> 0:02:11.720 world at large wasn't really made aware of this vulnerability 0:02:11.880 --> 0:02:16.920 until Thursday, December nine one, but the bad guys surely 0:02:16.960 --> 0:02:20.160 knew about it before then and had been working on 0:02:20.200 --> 0:02:24.800 ways to infiltrate different target servers. Now. The fix, as 0:02:25.160 --> 0:02:29.519 fixes go, is relatively simple, but the scale at which 0:02:29.560 --> 0:02:32.480 it must be rolled out means that even a simple 0:02:32.560 --> 0:02:36.760 task can be a huge endeavor. Meanwhile, the thing keeping 0:02:36.800 --> 0:02:39.079 I t Pros up at night is that the next 0:02:39.120 --> 0:02:42.519 several weeks will be spent trying to determine which servers 0:02:42.600 --> 0:02:46.680 may have been compromised and by whom. CNN reports that 0:02:46.800 --> 0:02:52.840 Chinese hackers potentially backed by the Chinese government are using 0:02:52.840 --> 0:02:57.360 this vulnerability to penetrate target computer systems. Right now, the 0:02:57.440 --> 0:03:01.760 US Occupational Safety and Health Administration a k a OSHA 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:05.440 has launched an investigation into Apple, and at the heart 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:08.639 of the matter is an accusation from a former Apple 0:03:08.680 --> 0:03:12.240 employee who says that the company retaliated against her after 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:16.880 she filed labor complaints against Apple and participated in public 0:03:16.919 --> 0:03:20.520 criticism of the company. So now OSHA is going to 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:25.040 investigate Apple to see if those accusations hold water. This 0:03:25.160 --> 0:03:30.040 is another component to the ongoing movement within Apple, one 0:03:30.440 --> 0:03:33.680 in which a growing number of employees and former employees 0:03:33.720 --> 0:03:36.960 have come forward to share stories about a seemingly toxic 0:03:37.080 --> 0:03:40.280 work culture. I might need to do an episode about 0:03:40.320 --> 0:03:43.400 this before too long. I have a theory that the 0:03:43.520 --> 0:03:46.160 Steve Jobs era at Apple kind of set up a 0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:50.760 culture that could be pretty brutal at times. Jobs himself 0:03:51.320 --> 0:03:57.360 had a famous reputation for being a really, really harsh taskmaster, 0:03:57.480 --> 0:04:00.840 and in fact, people would sometimes refer who getting fired 0:04:00.840 --> 0:04:06.840 at Apple as getting jobs because he was known for 0:04:06.920 --> 0:04:13.160 having angry outbursts in which he would fire people. And 0:04:13.360 --> 0:04:16.520 my guess is that that contributed to a culture that 0:04:17.480 --> 0:04:23.040 was not particularly healthy, but during the Job's era, no 0:04:23.080 --> 0:04:27.640 one was comfortable speaking out about it. Now, years after 0:04:27.720 --> 0:04:30.359 Jobs has passed away, it looks to me like the 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:34.240 company culture is slowly kind of falling out from that era. 0:04:34.680 --> 0:04:38.400 And now employees, particularly employees who who may not have 0:04:38.480 --> 0:04:42.560 even worked during the Jobs era, but who have uh 0:04:42.680 --> 0:04:46.200 let's say, more empowered ideas of what being an employee 0:04:46.240 --> 0:04:48.520 is are starting to bring these issues to light, and 0:04:48.560 --> 0:04:53.840 the company is kind of flailing in its responses now. 0:04:53.880 --> 0:04:56.320 I think that the employees coming forward is a good thing. 0:04:56.400 --> 0:05:01.560 I think anytime we see organizations being held accountable for 0:05:01.720 --> 0:05:05.680 the work conditions that are at that organization, that's a 0:05:05.720 --> 0:05:10.080 good thing. Um. I think it's unfortunate that Apple has 0:05:10.120 --> 0:05:15.640 appeared two engaged in retaliatory practices. If that, in fact 0:05:15.760 --> 0:05:19.080 is what OSHA discovers, the company could end up facing 0:05:19.120 --> 0:05:22.640 some pretty serious fines. You know, in the old days 0:05:22.680 --> 0:05:25.800 of the web, it was not unusual to see people 0:05:25.880 --> 0:05:28.840 rush out to register domain names in an attempt to 0:05:28.960 --> 0:05:32.120 squat on them and then sell them off later. The 0:05:32.120 --> 0:05:34.960 whole idea being if I can get that domain name, 0:05:35.160 --> 0:05:38.160 then in the future, this company that exists is going 0:05:38.200 --> 0:05:39.919 to want that they're gonna have to pay me to 0:05:40.000 --> 0:05:43.120 get off their land, essentially, so you might run out 0:05:43.240 --> 0:05:47.279 and buy something like Levi's dot com, hoping that the 0:05:47.400 --> 0:05:53.120 Levi's Genes company would ultimately come up to you and say, hey, buddy, 0:05:53.360 --> 0:05:56.760 clear off, here's you know, ten thousand bucks, give us 0:05:56.800 --> 0:06:02.839 the name. However, squatting is certainly not what thea My 0:06:03.279 --> 0:06:07.200 Bauman was doing when she created an Instagram account with 0:06:07.320 --> 0:06:11.240 the handle Metaverse. She was not trying to jump ahead 0:06:11.240 --> 0:06:15.919 of meta slash Facebook or anything unless she's able to 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:19.760 see well into the future, because she has held that 0:06:19.920 --> 0:06:24.720 metaverse Instagram account for a decade, at least she did 0:06:24.800 --> 0:06:29.400 until November two of this year. That's when Instagram blocked 0:06:29.440 --> 0:06:32.840 her account, and all she got was an explanation that 0:06:32.880 --> 0:06:37.200 she was quote pretending to be someone else in the quote. 0:06:37.560 --> 0:06:40.520 By the way, that was not like a targeted message 0:06:40.600 --> 0:06:43.599 to her. That was an automated message that was here's 0:06:43.600 --> 0:06:47.159 why your account has been blocked. And that's still pretty 0:06:47.279 --> 0:06:50.280 rich because she had held that account for a decade. 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:54.520 But meta slash Facebook has big plans to create a metaverse, 0:06:55.000 --> 0:06:58.800 and that you know company happens to own Instagram. So 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:01.200 I think this was less of a you're pretending to 0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:04.440 be someone else, so now we're punishing you, and more 0:07:04.480 --> 0:07:07.320 of a we own this and we're going to engage 0:07:07.360 --> 0:07:11.120 in a little imminent domain virtual land grab here. That 0:07:11.240 --> 0:07:14.360 handle belongs to us now. And in a way I 0:07:14.400 --> 0:07:17.080 get it. I mean, I get that the company wants 0:07:17.120 --> 0:07:21.640 to own and control the handle for something that they're 0:07:21.720 --> 0:07:24.400 really planning on being a big thing, like the future 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:27.720 of the company. However, it is more than a little 0:07:27.720 --> 0:07:31.240 bit of a low zypr move to issue a statement 0:07:31.400 --> 0:07:35.720 to a ten year old account that that account is 0:07:36.160 --> 0:07:39.520 violating rules because they're pretending to be someone else, because 0:07:39.560 --> 0:07:42.200 there was no someone else to pretend to be ten 0:07:42.280 --> 0:07:45.320 years ago. I mean, clearly this is not the case. 0:07:45.360 --> 0:07:48.360 Balman had used the account to promote her art and 0:07:48.400 --> 0:07:51.680 her business, which changed over the years, but that's what 0:07:51.800 --> 0:07:53.880 she kept using it for. She had never made any 0:07:53.920 --> 0:07:57.080 sort of claim that she was actually a Facebook plan 0:07:57.280 --> 0:08:00.560 from the future, so it's a pretty crappy move on 0:08:00.720 --> 0:08:03.240 Meta's part. In fact, if she had been using the 0:08:03.240 --> 0:08:06.520 account for ten years, like if she literally made it 0:08:06.520 --> 0:08:09.320 ten years ago, that would mean she created the Instagram 0:08:09.360 --> 0:08:13.400 account before Facebook had even bought Instagram. That happened in 0:08:13.400 --> 0:08:17.640 two thousand twelve. Anyway, my hope is that the company 0:08:17.720 --> 0:08:20.000 will make good with Bauman at some point, at least 0:08:20.040 --> 0:08:22.080 give her access to all the stuff that she has 0:08:22.080 --> 0:08:24.680 posted over that time period. I mean, I get that 0:08:24.720 --> 0:08:28.640 you want to control the metaverse handle, but this approach 0:08:28.760 --> 0:08:34.760 was so clumsy and inaccurate that it's infuriating. One of 0:08:34.800 --> 0:08:36.719 the stories I've covered this year has been the right 0:08:36.760 --> 0:08:40.200 to repair movement, in which advocates are pushing lawmakers to 0:08:40.240 --> 0:08:42.960 create rules that would require companies to make it possible 0:08:43.000 --> 0:08:46.400 for you know, people to repair their own stuff, or 0:08:46.520 --> 0:08:50.040 to bring their stuff to any repair shop that they want, 0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:53.720 instead of being forced down a company operated or company 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:58.040 licensed business. And we've seen this with all kinds of technology, 0:08:58.200 --> 0:09:03.920 from consumer electronics like smartphones and laptops to farming tractors. 0:09:04.040 --> 0:09:08.199 John Dear is infamous for this stuff. Well, now Microsoft 0:09:08.240 --> 0:09:11.920 is adding features that make repairs on surface laptops a 0:09:12.000 --> 0:09:16.600 little more accessible. Microsoft is partnering with I fix it 0:09:16.840 --> 0:09:21.440 dot com, and Microsoft is going to offer its service 0:09:21.480 --> 0:09:26.200 tools for sale through I fix it. And uh, it's 0:09:26.240 --> 0:09:28.360 not quite at the point where the end user is 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:29.800 going to be able to go out and get these 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:33.880 specialty tools, So if you're not like running a repair 0:09:33.920 --> 0:09:36.400 shop or whatever, you're not going to run out and 0:09:36.440 --> 0:09:38.600 grab these so that you just have them in your 0:09:38.640 --> 0:09:41.320 tool chest at home. However, it does mean that people 0:09:41.360 --> 0:09:45.200 who are independent repair shop owners will be able to 0:09:45.200 --> 0:09:48.280 get the official tools for themselves. So it's a small 0:09:48.320 --> 0:09:52.400 step toward breaking out that siloed approach to repairs. And 0:09:52.440 --> 0:09:55.400 if you're wondering why companies even do this in the 0:09:55.440 --> 0:09:58.240 first place, the answer is money. A company can only 0:09:58.320 --> 0:10:01.720 sell you a specific lap top once, right, they sell 0:10:01.760 --> 0:10:03.800 it to you, you bought it, that's it. They can 0:10:03.800 --> 0:10:06.760 sell another one to you down the line, but the 0:10:06.760 --> 0:10:11.800 transaction of that one computer that's over. Well, if the 0:10:11.840 --> 0:10:15.040 company can guarantee that the it is the only entity 0:10:15.160 --> 0:10:18.560 that can offer maintenance and repairs, or that it will 0:10:18.559 --> 0:10:21.840 only extend that capability to repair shops that will pay 0:10:21.920 --> 0:10:25.679 a hefty licensing fee back to the company for that privilege, 0:10:26.200 --> 0:10:28.520 well then that means the company can keep making money 0:10:28.600 --> 0:10:32.120 off of a single sale indefinitely for as long as 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:34.400 you know, you continue to use it and bringing them 0:10:34.400 --> 0:10:37.440 for maintenance and repairs. All right, we have some more 0:10:37.520 --> 0:10:40.040 stories for this episode, but before we get to that. 0:10:40.280 --> 0:10:51.200 Let's take a quick break. We're back, all right. The 0:10:51.240 --> 0:10:55.360 company Chronos that's k r o n Os announced that 0:10:55.440 --> 0:10:59.319 it was hit with a ransomware attack from hackers, and specifically, 0:10:59.360 --> 0:11:03.120 the hackers tar getted the Chronos private cloud and that 0:11:03.240 --> 0:11:07.439 houses a suite of HR tools that other companies use. 0:11:07.920 --> 0:11:11.960 So Chronos is a company that provides HR services to clients. 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:15.960 So other companies that have chosen to outsource their HR functions. 0:11:16.800 --> 0:11:20.040 That's bad news for Chronos customers because there's an outage 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:22.360 now and some of them have found it impossible to 0:11:22.400 --> 0:11:28.360 perform HR functions like issuing payroll. That means employees that 0:11:28.400 --> 0:11:30.960 those companies will not get paid on time, and that's 0:11:31.040 --> 0:11:36.160 always a hardship. It's particularly tough during the holidays. U 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:39.800 k G, the parent company of Chronos, hasn't revealed many 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:43.520 details about the ransomware attacks, such as what group was 0:11:43.559 --> 0:11:46.040 behind the attack, nor do we know anything about the 0:11:46.080 --> 0:11:49.560 company's plan to respond to the attack and whether or 0:11:49.559 --> 0:11:52.480 not they intend to pay off the ransom Once again, 0:11:53.440 --> 0:11:57.160 paying ransomware that tends to be the worst idea because 0:11:57.200 --> 0:12:00.240 it justifies the ransomware attacks in the first place. If 0:12:00.240 --> 0:12:03.880 the attacks weren't profitable hackers wouldn't use them, right, but 0:12:04.520 --> 0:12:09.360 paying off hackers pretty much ensures that future attacks will follow. 0:12:10.080 --> 0:12:12.720 That being said, it is hard to advocate a stiff 0:12:12.800 --> 0:12:16.000 upper lip approach when so many small businesses are in 0:12:16.000 --> 0:12:19.840 a holding pattern when it comes to stuff like you know, 0:12:20.080 --> 0:12:23.880 doing their payroll. Uh, that's a real issue. In fact, 0:12:23.920 --> 0:12:28.000 I would argue that's exactly why the hackers targeted something 0:12:28.040 --> 0:12:31.520 like Chronos, because especially with the timing, it means that 0:12:32.120 --> 0:12:35.240 the company is under tremendous pressure because there are all 0:12:35.240 --> 0:12:39.680 these people and organizations that depend upon those services that 0:12:40.679 --> 0:12:44.120 it's it's what you know, puts the squeeze on the 0:12:44.120 --> 0:12:46.480 company to try and convince them to pay the ransom. So, 0:12:47.360 --> 0:12:50.760 you know, it's super tough situation. And I don't know, 0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:52.719 I don't know what I would do if I were 0:12:52.720 --> 0:12:56.520 in the position of having to make decisions at Chronos. Okay, 0:12:56.640 --> 0:12:58.720 imagine for a moment that you have a piece of 0:12:58.760 --> 0:13:01.880 technology that has a convenience feature and it's one that 0:13:02.000 --> 0:13:05.440 you depend upon on occasion, and then one day the 0:13:05.520 --> 0:13:08.560 feature stops working and then you find out you can 0:13:08.679 --> 0:13:11.360 regain the use of that feature, but only if you 0:13:11.400 --> 0:13:14.720 pay a subscription fee. That's kind of what some Toyota 0:13:14.800 --> 0:13:18.520 vehicle owners are starting to experience recently. It's part of 0:13:18.559 --> 0:13:22.840 the Remote Connect suite of features, and the Remote Connect 0:13:23.520 --> 0:13:26.719 includes a bunch of convenience features like remote locks and 0:13:26.880 --> 0:13:31.000 preheating a vehicle remotely, or remote starting a vehicle. And 0:13:31.000 --> 0:13:33.520 it's that last one, the remote start, that has stopped 0:13:33.559 --> 0:13:38.880 working for some Toyota owners. And there's reasons why. I 0:13:38.920 --> 0:13:40.840 want to say that this is super tricky alright, So 0:13:40.880 --> 0:13:43.560 Toyota owners who have a two thousand, eighteen or newer 0:13:43.640 --> 0:13:47.160 vehicle can opt to have remote start as part of 0:13:47.200 --> 0:13:50.360 the remote Connect features. It's lumped in with some other 0:13:50.400 --> 0:13:54.040 features that you can get with certain Toyota vehicles. However, 0:13:55.080 --> 0:13:58.880 those features are also part of a three year trial, 0:13:59.320 --> 0:14:02.760 so you have free use of those for three years. 0:14:02.760 --> 0:14:05.240 But then once you've owned the car for three years 0:14:05.280 --> 0:14:08.360 or longer, that trial comes to an end and the 0:14:08.440 --> 0:14:11.320 remote start feature stops working, along with all the other 0:14:11.360 --> 0:14:14.719 remote Connect features that are part of that suite. But 0:14:14.800 --> 0:14:18.040 here's the weird thing. See, a lot of remote Connect 0:14:18.040 --> 0:14:22.120 features involve Toyota sending information to the car, right, so 0:14:23.040 --> 0:14:25.880 these are features that depend upon Toyota's back end so 0:14:25.920 --> 0:14:27.800 you can see why there's a subscription fee, right, you 0:14:27.800 --> 0:14:31.200 have to pay the company to maintain and operate these 0:14:31.240 --> 0:14:34.760 back end features. But remote start doesn't require that. It's 0:14:34.800 --> 0:14:38.480 all local. It's our f base radio frequency base. That 0:14:38.480 --> 0:14:40.560 means it's just radio waves that are coming from the 0:14:40.640 --> 0:14:43.480 key fob going to the car, sending a message to 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:47.280 remote start the vehicle. There is no interfacing with Toyota's 0:14:47.280 --> 0:14:51.080 back end system at all. So in other words, the 0:14:51.120 --> 0:14:53.800 capability is actually built into the car, it's built into 0:14:53.800 --> 0:14:58.680 the key fob. But Toyota is disabling that feature remotely 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:03.120 unless owners subscribe to the Remote Connect service. That's eight 0:15:03.120 --> 0:15:06.080 bucks a month or eighty dollars a year. Now, one 0:15:06.120 --> 0:15:08.320 silver lining here is that if you own a Toyota 0:15:08.440 --> 0:15:11.320 from before two thousand eighteen that still has remote Start, 0:15:12.000 --> 0:15:15.840 you aren't affected. Now, this is an altruism on Toyota's part. 0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:20.280 It's rather you know, self preservation and practicality. Because those 0:15:20.320 --> 0:15:24.440 cars depend upon three G receivers that's how they receive 0:15:24.520 --> 0:15:28.040 information from Toyota. They go in through the cellular network. 0:15:28.080 --> 0:15:32.760 But cellular companies are dismantling their three G networks. That 0:15:32.800 --> 0:15:35.240 means those cars will no longer be able to be 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:38.120 part of the remote connect ecosystem at all because they 0:15:38.120 --> 0:15:41.680 won't be able to receive messages from Toyota itself. Those 0:15:41.680 --> 0:15:45.600 messages will be sent via LTE or later, so the 0:15:45.640 --> 0:15:48.080 cars will not be able to get that info. That 0:15:48.120 --> 0:15:50.560 means it would be a terrible pr move for Toyota 0:15:50.600 --> 0:15:53.240 to disable a feature and then force people to subscribe 0:15:53.280 --> 0:15:56.000 to a service that they otherwise wouldn't be able to use. 0:15:56.040 --> 0:15:58.040 In other words, it would just be, hey, pay us 0:15:58.040 --> 0:16:03.440 money so you can unlock this loc really available technology feature. 0:16:04.080 --> 0:16:07.200 That would be not great. Plus, Toyota couldn't really do 0:16:07.240 --> 0:16:09.840 it because they wouldn't be able to send the message 0:16:09.840 --> 0:16:13.600 to disable the feature or enable the feature remotely anyway. 0:16:13.640 --> 0:16:16.600 You would have to bring it in to a dealership 0:16:16.680 --> 0:16:20.120 or something to get that stuff fixed. Speaking of Toyota, 0:16:20.280 --> 0:16:24.080 the company has partnered with another company called pony dot Ai. 0:16:24.400 --> 0:16:28.400 That's a Chinese company working on autonomous car technology. Well, 0:16:28.440 --> 0:16:34.480 the state of California recently suspended pony aiyes license really, 0:16:34.520 --> 0:16:37.440 they provoked a permit, so by that I mean California 0:16:37.480 --> 0:16:39.880 has told pony dot Ai that it will no longer 0:16:39.920 --> 0:16:43.840 be allowed to conduct fully autonomous testing on California roads 0:16:43.840 --> 0:16:46.920 and highways. Now, the reason for that decision is because 0:16:47.000 --> 0:16:50.600 of an accident. So a vehicle operating under a pony 0:16:50.640 --> 0:16:55.240 dot ai autonomous system created a single vehicle accident. It 0:16:55.480 --> 0:16:59.200 veered into a road center divider. Now, no one was 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:02.160 injured in the accident. There were no other vehicles involved, 0:17:02.200 --> 0:17:04.639 so as far as accidents go, this was kind of 0:17:04.640 --> 0:17:08.080 a best case scenario, but it did mean that California 0:17:08.119 --> 0:17:12.640 regulators were concerned enough to revoke pony dot ais permit. Now, 0:17:12.680 --> 0:17:14.920 to be clear, pony dot Ai will still be able 0:17:14.960 --> 0:17:17.280 to test vehicles. They just will have to include a 0:17:17.320 --> 0:17:20.240 safety driver behind the wheel on all tests so that 0:17:20.280 --> 0:17:23.200 a human operator could potentially take control should the car 0:17:23.280 --> 0:17:26.200 prove to be unsafe, for make errors, or be headed 0:17:26.200 --> 0:17:29.440 toward an accident. Now, I've spoken before about how creating 0:17:29.560 --> 0:17:34.000 a truly fully autonomous vehicle, one that could operate in 0:17:34.119 --> 0:17:37.239 all conditions that human drivers can operate in, that is 0:17:37.560 --> 0:17:41.560 an enormous challenge and it's probably gonna take many more 0:17:41.640 --> 0:17:45.360 years to see something approach that. And what we see 0:17:45.400 --> 0:17:48.720 today are cars that range from having very good driver 0:17:48.840 --> 0:17:54.879 assist features too limited impressive but limited self driving capabilities 0:17:55.000 --> 0:17:59.520 that only really apply under specific conditions. Meanwhile, pony dot 0:17:59.520 --> 0:18:04.560 Ai has received approval from Beijing to operate an autonomous 0:18:04.600 --> 0:18:06.840 taxi service, and they were actually in the process of 0:18:06.840 --> 0:18:11.160 trying to get that same approval from California. Presumably this 0:18:11.200 --> 0:18:15.280 incident will put a little bit of a roadblock in 0:18:15.320 --> 0:18:20.480 the way for that particular you know goal. Finally, let's 0:18:20.480 --> 0:18:25.680 talk about Nike in the metaverse. Okay, So Nike recently 0:18:25.720 --> 0:18:30.120 acquired a company called r T f KT Studios. So 0:18:30.160 --> 0:18:33.479 what does that studio do? Well, mostly it creates stuff 0:18:33.520 --> 0:18:37.040 like n f T s that is, non fungible tokens, 0:18:37.080 --> 0:18:39.919 which I have frequently referred to as a kind of 0:18:39.960 --> 0:18:44.560 receipt for something but not a thing itself. Like someone 0:18:44.720 --> 0:18:47.120 could put up a digital image and sell it as 0:18:47.160 --> 0:18:49.080 an n f T and if you bought that n 0:18:49.119 --> 0:18:52.440 f T, you'd have a digital token showing your ownership 0:18:52.520 --> 0:18:55.520 of that image. But you know, the digital image is 0:18:55.520 --> 0:18:58.680 still a file, it's still data, which means it's still 0:18:58.720 --> 0:19:01.320 something that could be copied and distributed, and yeah, you 0:19:01.320 --> 0:19:04.240 would have a receipt saying you owned it, or rather 0:19:04.520 --> 0:19:08.679 you owned a specific incarnation of it, like maybe it 0:19:08.720 --> 0:19:11.840 was a limited edition run like one of five hundred, 0:19:11.880 --> 0:19:14.800 and you've got a little digital certificate saying which one 0:19:14.800 --> 0:19:19.520 you own? Sure, but that doesn't really mean anything. It's 0:19:19.560 --> 0:19:23.960 like owning a star anyway. R T f KT also 0:19:24.040 --> 0:19:28.760 makes virtual stuff that could potentially be used in a 0:19:28.800 --> 0:19:31.560 metaverse of some sorts. So you know, they make stuff 0:19:31.600 --> 0:19:36.720 like avatars representations of people you know that are virtual, uh, 0:19:36.840 --> 0:19:40.159 digital versions of real world goods. That's another one, and 0:19:40.200 --> 0:19:42.280 I think that's probably where Nike steps in. I mean, 0:19:42.320 --> 0:19:44.040 I assume Nike is trying to get ahead of the 0:19:44.040 --> 0:19:48.560 metaverse game by creating virtual tokens that represents stuff like shoes, 0:19:48.880 --> 0:19:51.440 so that your virtual avatar in the future can sport 0:19:51.640 --> 0:19:55.800 virtual Nikes as a virtual status symbol. And all of 0:19:55.840 --> 0:19:57.480 this makes me just want to run off into the 0:19:57.480 --> 0:20:01.080 woods for the foreseeable future. Anyway, it looks like this 0:20:01.119 --> 0:20:03.120 is another sign of a company trying to get ahead 0:20:03.160 --> 0:20:05.959 of the metaverse trend. Now my own hope, and this 0:20:06.080 --> 0:20:09.000 is nothing against Nike, because I actually owned some Nikes 0:20:09.040 --> 0:20:11.320 and I really like them and everything. But my hope 0:20:11.359 --> 0:20:14.160 is that the whole metaverse push ends up fizzling out 0:20:14.280 --> 0:20:17.399 kind of the way VR has had a real go 0:20:17.560 --> 0:20:20.560 of it, because It just seems to me to be 0:20:20.640 --> 0:20:23.880 a way to digitally enhance all the stuff about humans 0:20:23.960 --> 0:20:26.920 and capitalism that I think are kind of gross and awful. 0:20:28.080 --> 0:20:30.880 But hey, I'm well on my way into turning into 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:34.560 a grumpy old luddite. So don't listen to me. Form 0:20:34.600 --> 0:20:38.119 your own opinions. Look into it and decide what you 0:20:38.160 --> 0:20:40.520 think is good or not good. Don't just take my 0:20:40.560 --> 0:20:44.640 own grouchy approach. Uh. I just I gotta go outside 0:20:44.640 --> 0:20:47.560 and yell at a passing cloud. And that wraps up 0:20:47.640 --> 0:20:51.199 the news for Tuesday, December fourteen, twenty one. If you 0:20:51.240 --> 0:20:53.440 have suggestions for topics I should cover in Tech Stuff 0:20:53.440 --> 0:20:55.680 in the future, please reach out to me. The best 0:20:55.720 --> 0:20:58.000 way to do that is on Twitter. The handle for 0:20:58.040 --> 0:21:01.480 the show is text Stuff h W and I'll talk 0:21:01.520 --> 0:21:09.760 to you again really soon. Text Stuff is an I 0:21:09.880 --> 0:21:13.359 Heart Radio production. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, 0:21:13.720 --> 0:21:16.879 visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 0:21:16.960 --> 0:21:18.480 you listen to your favorite shows.