WEBVTT - Tech News: AI Might Not Be Ready for Prime Time

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there,

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<v Speaker 1>and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonavan Strickland.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm an executive producer with iHeart Podcast Send. How the

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<v Speaker 1>tech are you? It's time for the tech news for

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<v Speaker 1>the week ending on Friday, June seventh, twenty twenty four.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, there have been a couple of products that

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<v Speaker 1>hit the market recently that really aim to either augment

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<v Speaker 1>or outright replace smartphones. And these products initially generated a

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<v Speaker 1>decent amount of buzz, but upon actual release, the reception

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<v Speaker 1>hasn't been universally positive. So one of these was the

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<v Speaker 1>Rabbit R one and maybe you've seen one of these,

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<v Speaker 1>maybe you haven't. It's a little orange do hickey. Let's

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<v Speaker 1>got some interesting user interface features on it, and it

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<v Speaker 1>got some folks excited back at CES early this year,

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<v Speaker 1>but media outlets like The Verge brought reality crashing down

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<v Speaker 1>on the R one with headlines like Rabbit R one

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<v Speaker 1>review nothing to see here by David Pierce. Another device

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<v Speaker 1>that has also seen critical dismissal is the Humane AI pen.

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<v Speaker 1>So I thought it would start this episode with a

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<v Speaker 1>quick compare and contrast of these two products, paired with

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<v Speaker 1>some commentary about where we are with AI when it

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<v Speaker 1>comes to incorporating it into consumer goods. So first up

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<v Speaker 1>the Rabbit R one. So this device wasn't intended to

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<v Speaker 1>be a replacement for a smartphone, even though a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of people were talking about it like that, because for

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<v Speaker 1>one thing, you can't make calls on an R one.

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<v Speaker 1>You were supposed to be able to set up your

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<v Speaker 1>various apps on this device, like to connect to your

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<v Speaker 1>various accounts, things like ride hailing apps and delivery services

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<v Speaker 1>and ticket apps, that kind of thing. And then the

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<v Speaker 1>idea was you could give a complex command to the

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<v Speaker 1>R one and it would take care of, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>pretty much all the rest. So you could say something like,

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<v Speaker 1>in an ideal situation, maybe you tell the R one

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<v Speaker 1>that you need a car to take you Tier hotel

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<v Speaker 1>from the airport. You've flown into a new city. You're

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<v Speaker 1>using the R one to call a an uber or

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<v Speaker 1>lift or something to pick you up from the airport,

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<v Speaker 1>take it Tier a hotel. Also to go ahead and

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<v Speaker 1>place an order for a pizza place you learned about

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<v Speaker 1>that's going to be near your hotel, so that can

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<v Speaker 1>be delivered, so you get that shortly after you've checked in,

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<v Speaker 1>and that you also want to buy a couple of

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<v Speaker 1>seats to a sporting event that's happening down the street

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<v Speaker 1>from the hotel. But according to reviews like the one

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<v Speaker 1>in The Verge, the reality was that R one was

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<v Speaker 1>not nearly so versatile or useful, and it had issues

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<v Speaker 1>with a lot of stuff, including delivering accurate weather forecasts.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, sometimes the R one would pin your location

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<v Speaker 1>to being a place that was like thousands of miles away,

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<v Speaker 1>and the image recognition that was built into the device

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<v Speaker 1>also left a lot to be desired. R one could

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<v Speaker 1>frequently misidentify stuff that you were pointing it at, and

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<v Speaker 1>that's not really useful either if you need to know, like, hey,

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<v Speaker 1>is this safe for me to eat? Or whatever it

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<v Speaker 1>may be. And while the price tag of one hundred

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<v Speaker 1>and ninety nine dollars wasn't as crazy as you know,

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<v Speaker 1>like the cost of an Apple Vision Pro, two hundred

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<v Speaker 1>bucks is still a lot to pay for a gadget

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<v Speaker 1>that doesn't work very well. Then you have the humane

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<v Speaker 1>aipen that's a wearable smart device. Although smart might be

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<v Speaker 1>generous a going to hey, hey, look it's David Pierce

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<v Speaker 1>of the Verge again who David Pierce had a rough

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<v Speaker 1>like April slash early May reviewing these kinds of devices.

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<v Speaker 1>But back in April, Pierce said that the Humane aipen

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<v Speaker 1>was quote not even close end quote to what was promised.

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<v Speaker 1>So this is a pin you wear it like it's

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<v Speaker 1>like a little Lavalier microphone or something. It doesn't have

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<v Speaker 1>a screen on the device, but it did have or

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<v Speaker 1>does have a little projection laser, so you can hold

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<v Speaker 1>your hand out and it will project a little interactive

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<v Speaker 1>menu on your hand and you can, you know, use

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<v Speaker 1>touch it's not really touch like, it's it's gesture commands

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<v Speaker 1>to be able to tell it what you want to do.

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<v Speaker 1>So if you were playing a music track, you could

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<v Speaker 1>do that to change the volume, that kind of stuff.

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<v Speaker 1>You could also interact with it through voice commands, and

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<v Speaker 1>it was supposed to lead fore you from the shackles

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<v Speaker 1>of your smartphone, so that you didn't have to have

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<v Speaker 1>your head down looking at a screen. You could be

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<v Speaker 1>keeping your phone in your pocket walking around using this

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<v Speaker 1>device to do the stuff that you would typically whip

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<v Speaker 1>your phone out to do, and you'd still have your

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<v Speaker 1>phone on you, so you could use that if you

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<v Speaker 1>needed to and the problem is it just didn't work

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<v Speaker 1>very well. It cost six hundred ninety nine dollars and

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<v Speaker 1>has an ongoing twenty four dollars subscription fee so that

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<v Speaker 1>you can use the cellular network, which is Tea Mobile,

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<v Speaker 1>by the way, in order for this thing to work.

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<v Speaker 1>And Pierce was pretty brutal in his review. He essentially

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<v Speaker 1>said it was a totally broken device. Now, the New

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<v Speaker 1>York Times reports that Humane has quietly been looking around

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<v Speaker 1>for a potential buy for the company, and allegedly one

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<v Speaker 1>of those entities they've looked at is HP. I recommend

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<v Speaker 1>that article in the New York Times, by the way,

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<v Speaker 1>it's titled this is going to be painful How a

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<v Speaker 1>Bold AI device flopped. Anyway, I think the R one

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<v Speaker 1>and the Humane aipen both help illustrate why we're not

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<v Speaker 1>really at a spot where AI is useful enough to

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<v Speaker 1>be the primary interface for a consumer product just yet.

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<v Speaker 1>Not saying that AI isn't impressive, not saying that there

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<v Speaker 1>hasn't been a ton of incredible work done in that field,

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<v Speaker 1>but it's not fully baked. And when you're talking about

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<v Speaker 1>really expensive consumer gadgets that end up not being reliable

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<v Speaker 1>or useful, that's a problem, right, Like you would kind

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<v Speaker 1>of want to see it continue to go through development

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<v Speaker 1>for a while, maybe have some limited beta testing and

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<v Speaker 1>go that route before releasing a full consumer product that

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<v Speaker 1>could potentially scuttle an entire company. Now, it's not just

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<v Speaker 1>consumer electronics that are struggling with AI, of course. Late

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<v Speaker 1>last week, Google reportedly eased off a little bit with

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<v Speaker 1>its AI Overviews tool. That's the feature that uses AI

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<v Speaker 1>to provide summaries and answers to queries in a web search,

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<v Speaker 1>with the idea being that if the AI can answer

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<v Speaker 1>whatever your question is, then you don't have to do

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<v Speaker 1>all that pesky clicking through to a reputable source to

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<v Speaker 1>dig through you know, edited and vetted information, which I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>I guess I can understand that a bit in some cases,

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<v Speaker 1>because goodness knows. I hate the trend that websites will

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<v Speaker 1>bury the lead of a story three cores of the

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<v Speaker 1>way down a page in order to serve you more ads,

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<v Speaker 1>so that you have to scroll past a lot more

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<v Speaker 1>ads before you get to what it is you're looking for.

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<v Speaker 1>I see that in a lot of like pop culture

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<v Speaker 1>news sites, where like the first five paragraphs are like

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<v Speaker 1>Star Wars originally came out in the nineteen seventies, like

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<v Speaker 1>I know this, I just want to know what the

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<v Speaker 1>next project is or goodness knows recipes. That's been a

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<v Speaker 1>problem for years, right, recipe sites do this all the time. Anyway.

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<v Speaker 1>The New York Times tested some searches last Friday and

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<v Speaker 1>found that overview AI was only popping up about once

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<v Speaker 1>in every six queries or so. So why is that? Well?

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<v Speaker 1>The conclusion that Nico Grant of The New York Times

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<v Speaker 1>arrived at is the answers provided by overview AI are

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<v Speaker 1>not always reliable or even safe. This is nothing new.

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<v Speaker 1>If you've been following news about generative AI for a while,

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<v Speaker 1>of course, I mean you likely know AI can hallucinate

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<v Speaker 1>or confabulate, or you just make stuff up. In other words,

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<v Speaker 1>that's not a good thing, particularly when you're using it

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<v Speaker 1>to augment search, and in some cases it can lead

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<v Speaker 1>to huge problems if the AI is recommending stuff that

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<v Speaker 1>just isn't safe. Google is continuing to develop the tool,

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<v Speaker 1>and the company has started to build in some protections

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<v Speaker 1>around certain categories of queries, such as stuff relating to

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<v Speaker 1>health matters. I'm honestly surprised at how aggressive companies like

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<v Speaker 1>open Ai and Google have been when it comes to

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<v Speaker 1>pushing these AI models out to the public, simply because

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<v Speaker 1>when things go wrong, they can go spectacularly wrong. But

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<v Speaker 1>I guess if you snooze, you lose. Over the years,

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<v Speaker 1>I've mentioned a lot of threats that AI poses, from

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<v Speaker 1>potentially taking work away from well just about everyone, to

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<v Speaker 1>the science fiction disaster scenario of a malevolent AI determined

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<v Speaker 1>to wipe out humanity. That last one is still well

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<v Speaker 1>within the realm of science fiction. Thankfully, we're not at that.

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<v Speaker 1>We haven't been putting AI in charge of potentially devastating weaponry,

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<v Speaker 1>for example, so hopefully we continue that trend. But one

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<v Speaker 1>threat AI definitely poses relates to electricity and resources. AI

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<v Speaker 1>requires a lot of power to operate, and with more

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<v Speaker 1>AI companies launching and then the big AI companies growing rapidly,

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<v Speaker 1>this means that any large entity that's serious about being

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<v Speaker 1>a definitive AI company has to start to think about

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<v Speaker 1>where is that juice going to come from. Over at

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<v Speaker 1>open Ai, that seems to include a company called Helium,

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<v Speaker 1>which aims to use nuclear fusion to generate electricity. That's

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<v Speaker 1>an amazing goal. Nuclear fusion would truly transform our world.

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<v Speaker 1>But it's a goal that's not currently viable. We've only

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<v Speaker 1>had a couple of cases where a fusion reaction even

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<v Speaker 1>produced more electricity than it took to start the reaction

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<v Speaker 1>in the first place, and when you take a real

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<v Speaker 1>step back and you consider the whole picture, we're still

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<v Speaker 1>not really there yet. So forging a deal with Helion

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<v Speaker 1>seems a tad premature since fusion is not yet a

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<v Speaker 1>viable method for power generation here on Earth. So why

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<v Speaker 1>would open Ai consider making such a deal. Well, one

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<v Speaker 1>factor that could have something to do with it is

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<v Speaker 1>that Sam Altman, who is the CEO of open Ai,

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<v Speaker 1>also happens to be the chairman of Helium's board of directors,

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<v Speaker 1>and he has nearly four hundred million dollars invested in

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<v Speaker 1>the company. Now, to be fair to mister Altman, he

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<v Speaker 1>has said that he has recused himself from these negotiations.

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<v Speaker 1>That's a good thing, because it sounds like there's more

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<v Speaker 1>than just the potential for a conflict of interest here

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<v Speaker 1>when the head of your very power thirsty company also

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<v Speaker 1>has hundreds of millions of dollars invested in a startup

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<v Speaker 1>power company, and then those two companies start to chat

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<v Speaker 1>with each other, Obviously, eyebrows will naturally rise as a result.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm actually kind of reminded of the story of We Work,

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<v Speaker 1>in which the CEO of that company would end up

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<v Speaker 1>leasing properties he personally owned to the company he ran

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<v Speaker 1>as CEO, which seemed shady to me then, and it

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<v Speaker 1>seems kind of shady to me now. But then, I

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<v Speaker 1>guess it's all academic at the moment, since Helium is

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<v Speaker 1>not currently generating electricity through fusion, and open ai reportedly

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<v Speaker 1>doesn't even have any data centers of its own. Instead

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<v Speaker 1>it relies on Microsoft's platforms. But still, it's a thing

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<v Speaker 1>that makes me go, hmm, Okay, before I make any

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<v Speaker 1>more references to outdated nineties music, we're gonna take a

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<v Speaker 1>quick break to thank our sponsors. We're back, so next up.

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<v Speaker 1>A watchdog group in the European Union is calling on

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<v Speaker 1>regulators to pass an order that would force Meta to

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<v Speaker 1>stop harvesting user data for the purposes of training AI

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<v Speaker 1>without first seeking user consent. Now, you might have heard

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<v Speaker 1>me talk about how Meta's policy on Instagram allows the

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<v Speaker 1>company to train AI models on user data without asking

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<v Speaker 1>permission first. In fact, you cannot opt out of that

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<v Speaker 1>if you are anywhere other than the European Union. But

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<v Speaker 1>the EU is different, right, you know, the EU has

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<v Speaker 1>these these laws in place that require companies to give

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<v Speaker 1>people more options. So in the EU, users would get

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<v Speaker 1>a little pop up about the matter to opt out

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<v Speaker 1>of it, and that was only if they actually read

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<v Speaker 1>the thing and saw the little hypertext link that would

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<v Speaker 1>let them go to a form where they could opt out.

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<v Speaker 1>The whole process was complicated and, in my opinion, misleading. Anyway,

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<v Speaker 1>it seems like Meta has purposefully designed a system to

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<v Speaker 1>discourage people from opting out. And from Meta's perspective, I

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<v Speaker 1>get it because training AI is hard. You need a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of material to train your AI, and Meta has

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<v Speaker 1>access to a treasure trove of user generated content, and

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<v Speaker 1>it sure is a hassle to have to secure permission

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<v Speaker 1>from each user in order to use all their stuff.

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<v Speaker 1>A Meta spokesperson responded to the Watchdog by saying that

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<v Speaker 1>Meta quote complies with privacy laws and our approach is

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<v Speaker 1>consistent with how other tech companies are developing and improving

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<v Speaker 1>their AI experiences in Europe. End quote. Now, I'm not

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<v Speaker 1>sure that last bit is going to be that much

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<v Speaker 1>helpful because I suspect watchdog organizations are equally concerned about

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<v Speaker 1>these other tech companies. I don't think they just have

0:12:47.600 --> 0:12:50.640
<v Speaker 1>it out for Meta. The watchdog group argues that Meta

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<v Speaker 1>has failed to comply with EU law that an opt

0:12:53.440 --> 0:12:56.240
<v Speaker 1>out form is not the same thing as an opt

0:12:56.400 --> 0:12:59.440
<v Speaker 1>in form, which is absolutely true. It's one thing to

0:12:59.440 --> 0:13:02.480
<v Speaker 1>skip over opting out. It's another one. You're asking point

0:13:02.520 --> 0:13:05.440
<v Speaker 1>blank do you consent to this? Because I need you

0:13:05.480 --> 0:13:08.640
<v Speaker 1>to indicate you do by clicking this box, and then

0:13:08.679 --> 0:13:11.400
<v Speaker 1>if you click the box, well then that's on you. Anyway,

0:13:11.480 --> 0:13:13.719
<v Speaker 1>I'm sure this story will continue to develop, so I'll

0:13:13.800 --> 0:13:16.640
<v Speaker 1>keep an eye on it. The US Department of Justice

0:13:16.679 --> 0:13:20.600
<v Speaker 1>and the Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, are opening investigations

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<v Speaker 1>into three large tech companies in the AI space. Those

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<v Speaker 1>are open Ai, Microsoft, and Nvidia, and the investigations are

0:13:28.640 --> 0:13:32.359
<v Speaker 1>of an anti trust nature, you know, looking into monopolies

0:13:32.400 --> 0:13:35.520
<v Speaker 1>and such. Broadly, the concern is that Microsoft, Open Ai,

0:13:35.559 --> 0:13:38.480
<v Speaker 1>and Nvidia have dominant positions in the AI space and

0:13:38.559 --> 0:13:43.319
<v Speaker 1>perhaps have used that position to disadvantage would be competitors. Reportedly,

0:13:43.400 --> 0:13:46.120
<v Speaker 1>the Department of Justice will investigate in Nvidia, while the

0:13:46.240 --> 0:13:49.480
<v Speaker 1>FTC will actually look into Microsoft and Open AI. This

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<v Speaker 1>follows on the heels of other anti trust investigations into

0:13:52.760 --> 0:13:57.080
<v Speaker 1>big tech like Meta, Amazon, and Google, and those investigations

0:13:57.080 --> 0:14:00.400
<v Speaker 1>spawned various lawsuits, and now it looks it's like the

0:14:00.800 --> 0:14:03.280
<v Speaker 1>era of regulators attempting to check the power of these

0:14:03.280 --> 0:14:06.360
<v Speaker 1>tech companies is at least continuing for the moment. This

0:14:06.440 --> 0:14:09.000
<v Speaker 1>is an election year, so who knows how long that

0:14:09.040 --> 0:14:12.080
<v Speaker 1>will last. We'll have to see. Thomas Clayburn of the

0:14:12.160 --> 0:14:15.439
<v Speaker 1>Register reported this week that Microsoft was laying off another

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<v Speaker 1>one thousand or so employees, which seemed like a slap

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<v Speaker 1>in the face after the company's CEO just told shareholders

0:14:21.440 --> 0:14:25.000
<v Speaker 1>in April that Microsoft had experienced a record third quarter.

0:14:25.200 --> 0:14:27.280
<v Speaker 1>You know, hey, y'all, we're doing better than we ever

0:14:27.440 --> 0:14:30.120
<v Speaker 1>have in the third quarter, so let's celebrate by laying

0:14:30.120 --> 0:14:34.239
<v Speaker 1>off people across the company. Clayburn reported that Microsoft reorganized

0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:37.400
<v Speaker 1>its mixed reality division this week, and that these cuts

0:14:37.400 --> 0:14:41.080
<v Speaker 1>wouldn't necessarily concentrate on just one division or department, but

0:14:41.160 --> 0:14:44.600
<v Speaker 1>instead would come across the entire company. One potential reason

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<v Speaker 1>for the cuts is that Microsoft is obviously making a

0:14:47.800 --> 0:14:50.360
<v Speaker 1>huge investment in AI, and when a company spends a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of money that company often looks at other places

0:14:52.880 --> 0:14:55.760
<v Speaker 1>where it can cut costs, and one surefire way to

0:14:55.760 --> 0:14:58.200
<v Speaker 1>cut costs, at least in the short term, is to

0:14:58.240 --> 0:15:02.200
<v Speaker 1>reduce the headcount. A bit can be a brutal business, y'all.

0:15:02.480 --> 0:15:05.160
<v Speaker 1>Matt Burgess of Wired has a great article titled the

0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:07.720
<v Speaker 1>Snowflake attack may be turning into one of the largest

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<v Speaker 1>data breaches ever. Since I did a pair of episodes

0:15:10.560 --> 0:15:13.400
<v Speaker 1>this week about largest data breaches in US history, I

0:15:13.400 --> 0:15:15.680
<v Speaker 1>thought it was good to include this news item today.

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<v Speaker 1>So Snowflake is a cloud storage firm mostly catering to

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<v Speaker 1>other businesses. Reportedly, the Ticketmaster data breach is, when you

0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:27.840
<v Speaker 1>get down to it, a Snowflake data breach, as Ticketmaster

0:15:28.000 --> 0:15:32.080
<v Speaker 1>uses Snowflake to host enormous databases like lots of other companies.

0:15:32.560 --> 0:15:35.920
<v Speaker 1>And that's Burgess's point. While only a couple of companies

0:15:35.960 --> 0:15:39.080
<v Speaker 1>have recently acknowledged they've experienced a data breach, and while

0:15:39.120 --> 0:15:42.440
<v Speaker 1>Snowflake reps have said only a quote unquote limited number

0:15:42.640 --> 0:15:46.040
<v Speaker 1>of customer accounts were accessed, the potential for truly massive

0:15:46.080 --> 0:15:49.880
<v Speaker 1>data breaches is daunting. Burgess rights that hackers are claiming

0:15:49.880 --> 0:15:53.320
<v Speaker 1>to possess millions of records belonging to other Snowflake customers,

0:15:53.320 --> 0:15:57.480
<v Speaker 1>which includes big companies like Advance Autoparts and Quote Wizard,

0:15:57.520 --> 0:16:00.840
<v Speaker 1>which is a subsidiary of Lending Tree. Not everything is

0:16:00.880 --> 0:16:04.320
<v Speaker 1>confirmed yet, but it should certainly raise more concerns about

0:16:04.320 --> 0:16:06.480
<v Speaker 1>the issue. And this is one of the huge risks

0:16:06.600 --> 0:16:10.760
<v Speaker 1>of cloud computing and storage because as cloud companies grow

0:16:10.920 --> 0:16:14.360
<v Speaker 1>and attract larger customers, they become ever more tempting targets

0:16:14.360 --> 0:16:17.760
<v Speaker 1>for hackers. It's a constant battle between security experts and

0:16:17.800 --> 0:16:21.040
<v Speaker 1>hackers to keep those systems safe. And vulnerabilities are really

0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:24.200
<v Speaker 1>just an employee who gives away too much information due

0:16:24.200 --> 0:16:27.680
<v Speaker 1>to social engineering can really put everything at risk. Anyway,

0:16:27.720 --> 0:16:29.560
<v Speaker 1>I highly recommend the article if you want to learn

0:16:29.640 --> 0:16:32.840
<v Speaker 1>more about how the hackers targeted Snowflake in the first place.

0:16:33.320 --> 0:16:36.880
<v Speaker 1>Reuter's reports that the startup Archer Aviation says the Federal

0:16:36.920 --> 0:16:40.240
<v Speaker 1>Aviation Administration or FAA here in the US has given

0:16:40.240 --> 0:16:42.920
<v Speaker 1>the company a certificate that will allow Archer Aviation to

0:16:42.960 --> 0:16:47.560
<v Speaker 1>begin commercial operations. So what does Archer Aviation do. Well,

0:16:47.640 --> 0:16:50.880
<v Speaker 1>it's an electric air taxi company, so it's got a

0:16:51.000 --> 0:16:54.560
<v Speaker 1>vertical takeoff and landing electric vehicle that looks a lot

0:16:54.600 --> 0:16:58.880
<v Speaker 1>like a huge drone. It's called Midnight, and it's a

0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:02.320
<v Speaker 1>piloted aircraft, and it's meant to provide transportation in densely

0:17:02.400 --> 0:17:06.159
<v Speaker 1>populated urban areas by conveniently popping up over all that

0:17:06.240 --> 0:17:10.679
<v Speaker 1>congestion and whisking passengers to whatever destination they're going to.

0:17:10.840 --> 0:17:12.879
<v Speaker 1>So a lot of these companies are focusing on a

0:17:12.880 --> 0:17:15.920
<v Speaker 1>business model that would take passengers from like a downtown

0:17:16.080 --> 0:17:19.840
<v Speaker 1>location to the closest airport. Archer Aviation is now the

0:17:20.000 --> 0:17:22.400
<v Speaker 1>second air taxi company in the US to get such

0:17:22.440 --> 0:17:26.080
<v Speaker 1>a certificate from the FAA. However, Reuters also points out

0:17:26.240 --> 0:17:29.400
<v Speaker 1>that the FAA has yet to actually certify the Midnight

0:17:29.440 --> 0:17:32.960
<v Speaker 1>Aircraft itself, which will have to happen before the FAA

0:17:33.000 --> 0:17:35.760
<v Speaker 1>can say, yeah, this aircraft meets our standards. Okay, I

0:17:35.800 --> 0:17:38.520
<v Speaker 1>got a couple of space news stories to wrap things up.

0:17:38.600 --> 0:17:42.040
<v Speaker 1>First up, after several delays and some malfunctions, a fully

0:17:42.200 --> 0:17:46.160
<v Speaker 1>crude Boeing star Liner spacecraft has docked with the International

0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:48.919
<v Speaker 1>Space Station this week for the first time with a

0:17:48.960 --> 0:17:52.040
<v Speaker 1>crew aboard. That is, Previous attempts to launch a Starliner

0:17:52.119 --> 0:17:54.920
<v Speaker 1>with a crew inside it were scuttled after some problems

0:17:55.080 --> 0:17:58.199
<v Speaker 1>cropped up. This trip had its own share of technical issues,

0:17:58.240 --> 0:18:02.200
<v Speaker 1>mostly stemming from the helium lys but helium is non toxic,

0:18:02.280 --> 0:18:05.520
<v Speaker 1>it's not flammable, it's not combustible. So despite some issues

0:18:05.560 --> 0:18:08.000
<v Speaker 1>with those leaks, the decision was made to go ahead

0:18:08.000 --> 0:18:10.800
<v Speaker 1>with the mission. It's been a really long journey for

0:18:10.920 --> 0:18:14.160
<v Speaker 1>the Boeing Starliner that Boeing has been developing this spacecraft

0:18:14.200 --> 0:18:16.960
<v Speaker 1>for like a decade, and it's good news for NASA.

0:18:17.160 --> 0:18:19.399
<v Speaker 1>NASA always wants to have options when it comes to

0:18:19.480 --> 0:18:23.119
<v Speaker 1>spacecraft to go to various locations. Obviously, Boeing will have

0:18:23.200 --> 0:18:26.080
<v Speaker 1>to address any issues that were revealed during this operation,

0:18:26.240 --> 0:18:28.560
<v Speaker 1>but so far you should be able to call this

0:18:28.600 --> 0:18:32.639
<v Speaker 1>one a successful test. Meanwhile, at SpaceX, that company launched

0:18:32.640 --> 0:18:35.520
<v Speaker 1>a Starship rocket yesterday and completed a successful test to

0:18:35.560 --> 0:18:39.440
<v Speaker 1>take the upper stage into orbit. Before it returned back

0:18:39.480 --> 0:18:42.879
<v Speaker 1>to Earth, it climbed to one hundred and thirty miles altitude.

0:18:43.040 --> 0:18:46.360
<v Speaker 1>The booster for the launch vehicle, after it separated from

0:18:46.480 --> 0:18:48.920
<v Speaker 1>the upper stage, came back down and landed in the

0:18:48.960 --> 0:18:52.840
<v Speaker 1>Gulf of Mexico. The upper stage would return and land

0:18:52.960 --> 0:18:55.960
<v Speaker 1>in the Indian Ocean. There were some technical issues during

0:18:56.000 --> 0:18:58.680
<v Speaker 1>the launch. It wasn't perfect. Upon re entry. The upper

0:18:58.720 --> 0:19:02.400
<v Speaker 1>stage lost some tie and also suffered some other damage,

0:19:02.480 --> 0:19:04.840
<v Speaker 1>but the general goal of testing the vehicle and having

0:19:04.920 --> 0:19:09.640
<v Speaker 1>both stages retrievable worked out. The SpaceX Starship is part

0:19:09.680 --> 0:19:13.439
<v Speaker 1>of the long term SpaceX plan that includes the lofty

0:19:13.480 --> 0:19:16.280
<v Speaker 1>goal of taking human astronauts to Mars one day, and

0:19:16.320 --> 0:19:19.119
<v Speaker 1>there's still a ton to do before that can become

0:19:19.119 --> 0:19:23.399
<v Speaker 1>a reality, but still pretty cool, space News. That's it

0:19:23.560 --> 0:19:26.680
<v Speaker 1>for the Tech News this week on Friday, June seventh,

0:19:26.680 --> 0:19:29.680
<v Speaker 1>twenty twenty four. I hope all of you out there

0:19:29.760 --> 0:19:32.920
<v Speaker 1>are well, and I'll talk to you again really soon.

0:19:38.880 --> 0:19:43.520
<v Speaker 1>Tech Stuff is an iHeartRadio production. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,

0:19:43.840 --> 0:19:47.560
<v Speaker 1>visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen

0:19:47.600 --> 0:19:52.080
<v Speaker 1>to your favorite shows.