WEBVTT - Tech News: Time's Up for These Apple Watches in the US 0:00:04.480 --> 0:00:12.680 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 0:00:12.680 --> 0:00:15.920 and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. 0:00:15.960 --> 0:00:19.279 I'm an executive producer with iHeart Podcasts and How the 0:00:19.360 --> 0:00:22.160 tech are you. It's time for the tech news for Thursday, 0:00:22.200 --> 0:00:26.640 December twenty first, twenty twenty three. First up, I mentioned 0:00:26.640 --> 0:00:29.640 earlier this week that Apple planned to remove Apple Watch 0:00:29.840 --> 0:00:33.959 Series nine and Ultra two models from store shelves here 0:00:33.960 --> 0:00:37.240 in the United States starting at three pm two day. 0:00:37.880 --> 0:00:42.960 Apple appealed to the International Trade Commission or ITC about 0:00:43.040 --> 0:00:47.400 this matter about a ban on these products and asked 0:00:47.400 --> 0:00:51.920 the ITC to allow Apple to continue selling them until 0:00:51.960 --> 0:00:56.280 the appeal has been decided, and the ITC said no, Dice. 0:00:57.080 --> 0:01:00.560 This all has to do with a little blood oxygen 0:01:00.720 --> 0:01:05.040 sensor that's inside these particular models of Apple Watches, and 0:01:05.080 --> 0:01:08.959 how another company called Masimo claims that Apple has committed 0:01:08.959 --> 0:01:12.480 patent infringement. Other models of the Apple Watch do not 0:01:12.680 --> 0:01:14.960 include the sensor, so they will not be part of 0:01:15.000 --> 0:01:16.959 the band. They will continue to be on sale in 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:21.520 Apple stores. And while Apple may still win its appeal 0:01:21.560 --> 0:01:23.560 in the future, it means that for the moment it 0:01:23.600 --> 0:01:26.920 cannot legally sell those models of Apple watches here in 0:01:26.959 --> 0:01:29.360 the United States. If you've been dragging your feet and 0:01:29.400 --> 0:01:32.160 you plan to pick one up this weekend, and you 0:01:32.240 --> 0:01:34.240 happen to live in the US of A, I got 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:37.440 bad news for you. Actually, you've got the bad news 0:01:37.480 --> 0:01:40.560 because I just told you, Except there is one possible 0:01:40.600 --> 0:01:44.800 glint of light. Apple only has control over its stock 0:01:45.200 --> 0:01:48.080 in its own stores. If you go to a third 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:51.480 party retailer like a Best Buy, those stores are not 0:01:51.600 --> 0:01:54.240 required to pull the models off of their shells, so 0:01:54.600 --> 0:01:57.440 they can continue selling them for as long as their 0:01:57.480 --> 0:02:00.640 supplies last. But once those supplies are gone, well, those 0:02:00.640 --> 0:02:02.200 stores are going to have to wait for the outcome 0:02:02.240 --> 0:02:05.600 of the appeal, just like Apple is. One of the 0:02:05.680 --> 0:02:08.560 really big stories lurking in the background of twenty twenty three, 0:02:08.680 --> 0:02:12.160 which I'll cover in greater detail in an upcoming episode, 0:02:12.600 --> 0:02:16.840 is the Microsoft acquisition of video game giant Activision Blizzard. 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:20.320 It was a corporate move that stirred up an awful 0:02:20.360 --> 0:02:23.480 lot of resistance all around the world for various reasons, 0:02:24.000 --> 0:02:27.359 and part of that story was about the CEO of Activision, 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:31.040 a guy named Bobby Kodik. He's, to put it lightly, 0:02:31.080 --> 0:02:34.480 a controversial figure Activision Blizzard had already been in the 0:02:34.520 --> 0:02:37.960 news before Microsoft even announced its plan to acquire the 0:02:37.960 --> 0:02:43.440 company because multiple former and current Activision employees at the 0:02:43.480 --> 0:02:46.400 time were stepping forward and alleging that the company had 0:02:46.840 --> 0:02:50.240 a toxic work culture and that executives turned a blind 0:02:50.240 --> 0:02:55.280 eye toward allegations of serious issues like sexual harassment. Those 0:02:55.320 --> 0:02:58.960 claims went all the way up to Codek. Kodik essentially 0:02:59.000 --> 0:03:02.400 said he wasn't aware that there were any problems anyway. 0:03:02.600 --> 0:03:05.680 There have been calls for Kodek's resignation for a couple 0:03:05.760 --> 0:03:09.880 of years up to this point. Before twenty twenty three 0:03:09.919 --> 0:03:12.840 is over, it's finally going to happen. Microsoft released a 0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:16.120 memo revealing that Kodek will be stepping down on December 0:03:16.120 --> 0:03:19.680 twenty ninth. A few other high ranking executives at Activision 0:03:19.680 --> 0:03:22.959 Blizzard will also be departing the company over the next 0:03:23.000 --> 0:03:28.120 few months after a transition period, but most of Activision's 0:03:28.160 --> 0:03:31.760 leadership structure is going to remain intact. There's also been 0:03:31.760 --> 0:03:35.560 a few changes over at Microsoft's Xbox division, with some 0:03:35.760 --> 0:03:39.520 leaders exiting the company and Microsoft largely focused on promoting 0:03:39.520 --> 0:03:43.800 from within to replace them, which is I think that's refreshing. 0:03:44.520 --> 0:03:49.520 I'm sure I'll dive deeper into all of this really soon. Meanwhile, 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:53.240 over at Sony, that company's game division is looking toward 0:03:53.280 --> 0:03:56.160 the near future in a pretty grim light. So according 0:03:56.200 --> 0:03:59.480 to tech Spot, some internal documents at Sony show a 0:03:59.480 --> 0:04:03.120 pessimist view of the next few years. These documents are 0:04:03.120 --> 0:04:06.400 now made public due to a different news story that 0:04:06.520 --> 0:04:09.800 I didn't cover about some hackers stealing a whole bunch 0:04:09.800 --> 0:04:13.880 of data, something that Sony has actually had to face before. Apparently, 0:04:14.480 --> 0:04:17.840 the internal analysis came to the conclusion that Sony has 0:04:17.920 --> 0:04:21.600 not been as innovative and aggressive as it has been 0:04:21.640 --> 0:04:24.480 in years past. The company reached a point where it 0:04:24.560 --> 0:04:28.480 was outperforming Microsoft, especially in hardware sales. In fact, by 0:04:28.480 --> 0:04:32.240 some estimates, Sony was outperforming Microsoft at a rate of 0:04:32.560 --> 0:04:36.120 three to one. In the face of essentially a lack 0:04:36.200 --> 0:04:40.680 of competition, the company got a little complacent. Now, the 0:04:40.720 --> 0:04:44.720 papers say Microsoft is leaping ahead and it's leaving Sony 0:04:44.920 --> 0:04:47.760 scrambling to catch up. This is largely due to that 0:04:47.920 --> 0:04:52.239 acquisition of Activision Blizzard, that company makes some extremely popular 0:04:52.400 --> 0:04:57.679 video games. The papers also indicate that Sony's analysts believe 0:04:57.680 --> 0:04:59.719 the company could face a one and a half billion 0:05:00.120 --> 0:05:04.360 dollar shortfall by twenty twenty seven. That's billion with a B. 0:05:06.000 --> 0:05:08.880 On the one hand, there's no arguing that's bad, right, 0:05:09.200 --> 0:05:11.919 A billion and a half shortfall is not good. But 0:05:12.040 --> 0:05:15.839 then lighting a fire under the toukus of Sony to 0:05:15.880 --> 0:05:19.080 get competition up in the space ultimately ends up being 0:05:19.520 --> 0:05:23.039 a great thing for all gamers, whether they favor Sony 0:05:23.480 --> 0:05:27.480 or Microsoft. While it's tough for Sony, it's a pretty 0:05:27.560 --> 0:05:30.839 darn great thing in the long run for gamers in general. Now, 0:05:30.880 --> 0:05:32.960 if you want to learn more about this, you should 0:05:33.000 --> 0:05:36.039 check out the article by Cal Jeffrey in tech Spot. 0:05:36.279 --> 0:05:41.120 It is titled Activision Apocalypse. Sony forecasts one point five 0:05:41.279 --> 0:05:45.719 billion dollar loss by twenty twenty seven after Microsoft merger. 0:05:47.000 --> 0:05:49.520 Not long ago, I talked about a recall that Tesla 0:05:49.640 --> 0:05:52.640 is facing that affects nearly every Tesla vehicle on the 0:05:52.720 --> 0:05:55.480 road here in the United States, and how it's really 0:05:55.480 --> 0:05:58.719 a software recall, so it's not gonna require Tesla owners 0:05:58.760 --> 0:06:01.920 to drive to a dealership or anything. I can't say 0:06:01.960 --> 0:06:05.839 the same thing about Toyota, which is recalling around a 0:06:06.040 --> 0:06:09.680 million cars here in the United States across both Toyota 0:06:09.760 --> 0:06:13.680 and Lexus brands, and this is due to an issue 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:18.200 with airbags that are in the front passenger side of vehicles. Namely, 0:06:19.040 --> 0:06:21.320 these air bags may not deploy in the event of 0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:24.480 a crash, which, as you can imagine, severely diminishes their 0:06:24.520 --> 0:06:28.840 effectiveness as an airbag. Apparently, the issue is in the 0:06:28.880 --> 0:06:33.040 sensors that detect if a passenger is in the passenger seat, 0:06:33.600 --> 0:06:37.120 so a defective design has resulted in some cases with 0:06:37.320 --> 0:06:41.200 a short circuit issue. This completed circuit indicates that there's 0:06:41.200 --> 0:06:43.800 no one in the passenger seat, so you could be 0:06:43.839 --> 0:06:46.840 sitting there, and because there's this short circuit in the sensors, 0:06:47.360 --> 0:06:49.080 it thinks that you're not there, so if you're in 0:06:49.120 --> 0:06:52.960 a crash, it does not deploy the passenger side airbag, 0:06:53.000 --> 0:06:57.040 and that can result in really serious injuries. Obviously, So 0:06:57.279 --> 0:06:59.760 the recall is for a selection of Toyota and Lexis 0:06:59.839 --> 0:07:03.720 vias that have model years between twenty twenty and twenty 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:07.479 twenty two. In at least one model's case, I recommend 0:07:07.560 --> 0:07:09.800 looking into it if you drive a Toyota, just to 0:07:09.840 --> 0:07:12.400 see if your vehicle is one of the ones that 0:07:12.480 --> 0:07:16.760 needs repair. Toyota is going to offer free repairs for 0:07:16.880 --> 0:07:19.480 this issue at no cost to the owner, and the 0:07:19.520 --> 0:07:21.960 company says it will be reaching out to customers early 0:07:22.080 --> 0:07:24.440 next year. In any case, just keep an eye out. 0:07:24.480 --> 0:07:27.120 If you drive a Toyota, you may want to make 0:07:27.160 --> 0:07:29.520 sure that you can go by and get this fixed. 0:07:29.920 --> 0:07:32.760 And hopefully you'll never need it, but it's good to 0:07:32.760 --> 0:07:37.120 have it fixed in case you do. A collection of 0:07:37.200 --> 0:07:43.400 journalists at Reuter's published an amazing piece titled Tesla blamed 0:07:43.480 --> 0:07:47.200 drivers for failures of parts at Long New were defective 0:07:47.520 --> 0:07:50.960 and it is well worth reading, so high recommendation that 0:07:51.000 --> 0:07:54.040 you go to Reuters dot com and find this article 0:07:54.400 --> 0:07:58.000 because it's fantastic. But the headline tells you the gist 0:07:58.200 --> 0:08:01.720 of what takes up most of the story. That Tesla 0:08:01.760 --> 0:08:05.760 customers have encountered all sorts of problems that when you 0:08:05.800 --> 0:08:08.040 look at them and aggregate, you think, oh, well, this 0:08:08.120 --> 0:08:13.280 is clearly a default in design or manufacturing, because the 0:08:13.320 --> 0:08:17.160 same problem is happening to multiple people in different vehicles. 0:08:17.880 --> 0:08:20.120 And some of these are minor issues, but some of 0:08:20.160 --> 0:08:23.840 them are potentially life threatening failures, particularly if you were 0:08:23.880 --> 0:08:26.440 operating the vehicle, say on the highway when it happened. 0:08:27.240 --> 0:08:30.720 But Tesla's response to a lot of these issues was 0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:33.560 to claim that the fault lie with the drivers, not 0:08:33.679 --> 0:08:37.320 with the vehicles, that somehow these drivers had done something 0:08:37.880 --> 0:08:40.960 that caused the damage to the vehicle, when in fact, 0:08:41.080 --> 0:08:46.800 internal documents show that Tesla engineers were aware of problems 0:08:46.800 --> 0:08:50.440 in car design and manufacturing that led to the manifestation 0:08:50.600 --> 0:08:55.360 of these issues. Now, according to the Reuter's investigation, this 0:08:55.400 --> 0:08:59.360 whole story stretches back at least seven years, so for 0:08:59.400 --> 0:09:02.640 the better part of a decade, the company, Tesla, has 0:09:02.679 --> 0:09:06.720 tried to pass the buck in these cases and to 0:09:06.920 --> 0:09:11.439 put blame on drivers. It's something that has affected thousands 0:09:11.440 --> 0:09:13.880 of Tesla owners, and not just here in the United States. 0:09:14.280 --> 0:09:19.040 In fact, it's a damning fact that Tesla ultimately issued 0:09:19.080 --> 0:09:24.400 some recalls in China hardware recalls after facing regulators who 0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:28.960 were not having any of Tesla's nonsense and forcing the 0:09:28.960 --> 0:09:32.320 company to recall certain vehicles in order to make fixes, 0:09:32.840 --> 0:09:36.240 sometimes multiple fixes because the initial fix didn't actually fix 0:09:36.280 --> 0:09:38.800 the problem. But here in the United States, Tesla has 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:41.480 largely been able to avoid that and continue to make 0:09:41.480 --> 0:09:45.040 the argument that any failures and vehicles were due to 0:09:45.280 --> 0:09:48.920 user error. Essentially, it's pretty ugly stuff, and the report 0:09:48.960 --> 0:09:52.600 in Reuters is extensive. It is a very very long 0:09:52.720 --> 0:09:55.560 article that covers a lot more detail than what I've 0:09:55.640 --> 0:09:58.280 just said, but I highly recommend you read the whole thing. 0:09:58.679 --> 0:10:02.040 And again, that article is tip Tesla blamed drivers for 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:07.840 failures of parts at long new word defective. Okay, got 0:10:07.880 --> 0:10:10.840 some more news items to get through, including one about 0:10:10.840 --> 0:10:13.880 some driverless car info, but first let's take a quick 0:10:13.920 --> 0:10:26.200 break to thank our sponsor. We're back. So yesterday, that 0:10:26.320 --> 0:10:30.800 being Wednesday, the twentieth of December, way Mo, the Alphabet 0:10:30.840 --> 0:10:35.240 spinoff that develops and operates autonomous vehicles, released a report 0:10:35.280 --> 0:10:38.959 that said collectively its driverless cars had driven more than 0:10:39.120 --> 0:10:43.400 seven million miles. The company also claimed that in the 0:10:43.440 --> 0:10:46.839 course of driving those seven million miles, there had only 0:10:46.880 --> 0:10:51.880 been three accidents that involved a minor injury and nothing 0:10:51.920 --> 0:10:56.920 more serious than that. Now, statistically, this suggests that driverless 0:10:56.960 --> 0:11:02.240 cars are safer than those piloted by human beings. However, 0:11:02.640 --> 0:11:05.880 it gets super tricky to do this kind of comparison. 0:11:06.040 --> 0:11:08.520 You have to take a lot of variables into account. 0:11:08.880 --> 0:11:12.920 For instance, where does WEIMO drive? Because the accident rates 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:16.280 for one city are different from other cities. So the 0:11:16.320 --> 0:11:20.280 answer to the question where does WEIMO drive? Is primarily Phoenix, Arizona, 0:11:20.520 --> 0:11:24.120 and San Francisco, California. Then you have to look at 0:11:24.440 --> 0:11:28.920 what are the average accident rates that involve injuries in 0:11:28.960 --> 0:11:34.640 those specific places, and can you compare per million of 0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:39.080 human miles driven versus million of autonomous vehicle miles driven. So, 0:11:39.120 --> 0:11:42.600 according to ours Technica, if you were to look at 0:11:42.679 --> 0:11:45.640 the number of accidents that involve an injury, should humans 0:11:45.679 --> 0:11:48.080 be driving those seven million miles, it would be closer 0:11:48.120 --> 0:11:52.760 to thirteen incidents as opposed to three. So there are 0:11:52.880 --> 0:11:57.960 ten more accidents per seven million miles driven if the 0:11:58.440 --> 0:12:01.640 drivers are human beings as oppose to autonomous But again, 0:12:01.679 --> 0:12:05.200 it's not really that simple to get into meaningful comparisons. 0:12:05.200 --> 0:12:10.000 You actually need way more miles driven by autonomous vehicles. However, 0:12:10.320 --> 0:12:14.680 according to WEIMO, Phoenix drivers get into accidents about three 0:12:14.760 --> 0:12:19.440 times more often than driverless vehicles driving in Phoenix, and 0:12:19.520 --> 0:12:23.000 in San Francisco, it's even more dramatic. Human drivers rack 0:12:23.080 --> 0:12:28.679 up accidents six times as often as the driverless vehicles did. Now, again, 0:12:28.720 --> 0:12:31.840 these comparisons are tricky to make. We don't have enough 0:12:31.920 --> 0:12:35.960 data to really definitively say anything, but common sense does 0:12:36.040 --> 0:12:39.440 tell us that an autonomous vehicle, if it is properly 0:12:39.520 --> 0:12:43.679 designed and it operates well, should be safer than human drivers. 0:12:43.960 --> 0:12:46.719 It should have far greater awareness of its surroundings. It 0:12:46.760 --> 0:12:49.920 should be able to react much more quickly. It makes 0:12:50.080 --> 0:12:52.960 sense that it should be safer, and that is actually 0:12:52.960 --> 0:12:55.440 one of the biggest selling points of autonomous drivers. Right. 0:12:55.520 --> 0:12:57.400 So in a way, this news is not surprising. It 0:12:57.440 --> 0:13:00.400 would be shocking if weimo said, well, we try, but 0:13:00.480 --> 0:13:03.560 turns out that travelist cars are ten times more dangerous 0:13:03.600 --> 0:13:06.560 than human driven vehicles. That would be shocking. We would 0:13:06.600 --> 0:13:09.040 start to think we were in maximum overdrive or something. 0:13:09.200 --> 0:13:12.040 And if you don't know what that is, I hesitate 0:13:12.040 --> 0:13:13.920 to tell you to look it up. Part of me 0:13:14.040 --> 0:13:16.040 wants you to look it up, because I mean, Emilio 0:13:16.200 --> 0:13:21.720 ESTEVEZKT y'all, and a green Goblin semitruck. I'm getting off track. 0:13:22.559 --> 0:13:27.079 We have had cases of autonomous vehicles that were involved 0:13:27.240 --> 0:13:32.440 in truly catastrophic accidents that led to tragedy. But we 0:13:32.480 --> 0:13:37.360 also have to remember human beings are responsible for tragic accidents. 0:13:37.800 --> 0:13:40.560 Essentially every single day, I mean, thousands of people in 0:13:40.600 --> 0:13:45.120 the US die from traffic accidents each year. It's just 0:13:45.160 --> 0:13:47.959 that it's really notable when it's an autonomous vehicle that's 0:13:48.000 --> 0:13:50.760 at fault. Right, There's something kind of scary and sinister 0:13:50.880 --> 0:13:53.480 about that, And we're just accepting of the fact that 0:13:53.559 --> 0:13:56.880 human beings are responsible for these kinds of accidents. But 0:13:56.960 --> 0:13:59.280 I do get it. I mean, like the thought of 0:13:59.720 --> 0:14:04.200 giving up control to some other entity and then being 0:14:04.240 --> 0:14:06.640 in an accident through no fault of your own, that's terrifying, 0:14:06.679 --> 0:14:10.880 I understand. But I do think that this report shows 0:14:10.880 --> 0:14:13.839 we are moving in the correct direction. Right. I still 0:14:13.920 --> 0:14:16.760 want a future with autonomous vehicles because I do believe 0:14:17.360 --> 0:14:21.840 that when that technology is sufficiently sophisticated and safe, it 0:14:21.840 --> 0:14:26.160 will mean tens of thousands of people will avoid being 0:14:26.200 --> 0:14:29.600 involved in a fatal accent. Now, ironically, they'll never know 0:14:29.720 --> 0:14:32.800 that because they'll just live. Right. You can't know that 0:14:32.880 --> 0:14:37.000 you avoided a deadly accident. You just did. And but 0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:39.240 I think that when you look back and you think 0:14:39.240 --> 0:14:42.000 about the thousands of people who have passed away because 0:14:42.200 --> 0:14:46.960 of traffic accidents and the impact that has on their 0:14:47.040 --> 0:14:50.120 immediate circle and then society as a whole, you just 0:14:50.160 --> 0:14:52.760 start to see where autonomous vehicles could be a huge benefit. 0:14:53.320 --> 0:14:56.280 But we want to make sure that we are implementing 0:14:56.320 --> 0:14:59.880 that when the technology is actually ready to take on 0:15:00.080 --> 0:15:02.600 that burden. So I think this is a step in 0:15:02.640 --> 0:15:06.000 that direction. I would be fibbing. However, if I said 0:15:06.040 --> 0:15:08.200 I was just as optimistic about it as I was 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:12.480 a decade ago, a lot more cautious about it these days. 0:15:13.680 --> 0:15:15.960 On a related note, if you live in California or 0:15:16.000 --> 0:15:19.200 Nevada and you find yourself driving behind a Mercedes Benz 0:15:19.240 --> 0:15:23.080 and you notice that it has these weird turquoise tail lights, 0:15:23.160 --> 0:15:26.120 well that means you're actually behind a vehicle that's in 0:15:26.160 --> 0:15:31.840 an autonomous mode. They actually are piloting this in California Nevada. 0:15:31.880 --> 0:15:35.240 They got approval to do it where they are deploying 0:15:35.280 --> 0:15:40.080 a level three driver assist feature, but when it's in operation, 0:15:40.760 --> 0:15:42.840 these turquoise tail lights will come on. I think that's 0:15:42.840 --> 0:15:45.840 a neat idea. Now I've rambled on about autonomous cars 0:15:45.840 --> 0:15:47.960 a lot already, so I'm not going to go into 0:15:47.960 --> 0:15:52.920 more detail about this, but I highly recommend Jonathan M. 0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:57.480 Gittland's article in Ours Technica titled Turquoise tail lights tell 0:15:57.480 --> 0:16:01.720 you this Mercedes is driving autonomously. The headline is just 0:16:01.800 --> 0:16:04.880 the tip of the iceberg. As to the entire discussion 0:16:05.000 --> 0:16:09.800 about autonomous vehicles. It's cute, but Gitland did an amazing job. 0:16:09.920 --> 0:16:12.320 You should check out that article. And again, I have 0:16:12.400 --> 0:16:14.840 no connection with Ours Technica or Gitland or any of 0:16:14.880 --> 0:16:18.280 the articles or authors that I mentioned in this episode. 0:16:18.320 --> 0:16:20.840 These are just works that I think are really good 0:16:20.960 --> 0:16:24.880 and you should read them. Laura Pattison of CNN has 0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:30.200 a piece titled Scientists successfully replicate historic nuclear fusion breakthrough 0:16:30.320 --> 0:16:34.560 three times. This is worth celebrating, so as a reminder. 0:16:34.760 --> 0:16:38.080 Today's nuclear power plants, the ones that are generating electricity 0:16:38.160 --> 0:16:41.160 for the power grid, they work through the process of 0:16:41.240 --> 0:16:44.760 nuclear fission. That's when you take a heavy atom and 0:16:44.960 --> 0:16:48.040 you split that atom apart, which releases a tremendous amount 0:16:48.040 --> 0:16:50.520 of energy as well as some subatomic particles that help 0:16:50.600 --> 0:16:53.640 keep the process going, and you harness that energy to 0:16:53.680 --> 0:16:57.880 generate electricity. Nuclear fusion is different. You take two very 0:16:57.960 --> 0:17:01.520 lightweight atoms, like two hydrogen atom, and you force them 0:17:01.880 --> 0:17:05.720 to be very very very close to each other. When 0:17:05.720 --> 0:17:08.640 you do this, they fuse together and as they do, 0:17:08.680 --> 0:17:11.600 they release a tremendous amount of energy that then you 0:17:11.680 --> 0:17:15.480 can also harness for electricity. Now, unlike fission, you don't 0:17:15.520 --> 0:17:19.760 end up generating radioactive byproducts. With fusion, there's no danger 0:17:19.880 --> 0:17:24.560 of a nuclear meltdown either. Fusion is how stars work. 0:17:24.800 --> 0:17:27.919 Our Sun emits energy through the process, and if we 0:17:27.960 --> 0:17:30.919 could nail it here on Earth, we would potentially have 0:17:30.960 --> 0:17:33.119 an energy source that can meet all of our needs 0:17:33.119 --> 0:17:36.320 for the foreseeable future. I won't say forever, because we 0:17:36.440 --> 0:17:39.760 humans are really good at taking more than what we need. Anyway. 0:17:40.280 --> 0:17:43.119 This story is about how scientists at the Livermore National 0:17:43.200 --> 0:17:48.560 Laboratory in California have achieved nuclear fusion multiple times over 0:17:48.600 --> 0:17:52.160 the last year, and that these reactions actually released more 0:17:52.320 --> 0:17:56.320 energy than was required for ignition. Now that last bit 0:17:56.440 --> 0:17:59.240 does need a little bit of an asterisk. The reactions 0:17:59.280 --> 0:18:02.679 released more in energy that was contained within the lasers 0:18:02.720 --> 0:18:06.119 that forced the two atoms to come together. The energy 0:18:06.160 --> 0:18:09.040 within the lasers was at one level, the release of 0:18:09.119 --> 0:18:12.720 energy was at a higher level. However, in order to 0:18:13.560 --> 0:18:16.880 energize the lasers, we had to tap into more energy 0:18:16.920 --> 0:18:20.919 than was emitted in the release. So it's still a 0:18:20.960 --> 0:18:23.359 net loss when you're looking at a big picture, and 0:18:23.400 --> 0:18:26.439 that's something that has to change right otherwise you're going 0:18:26.480 --> 0:18:28.520 to be pouring more energy into the process than you're 0:18:28.560 --> 0:18:33.080 getting out of it, and ultimately it's a losing proposition. However, 0:18:33.240 --> 0:18:36.840 this is still an amazing scientific achievement that could lead 0:18:36.920 --> 0:18:41.080 us to a future of plentiful and clean energy. For 0:18:41.119 --> 0:18:44.920 an article recommendation, check out Ariel Shapiro's piece in The 0:18:45.000 --> 0:18:49.240 Verge titled the four podcast stories that will Shape twenty 0:18:49.320 --> 0:18:53.280 twenty four. I don't often comment on the podcast business. 0:18:53.440 --> 0:18:56.119 It feels a little bit too much like inside Baseball 0:18:56.440 --> 0:18:59.760 to me, and goodness knows, I deal with it all 0:18:59.760 --> 0:19:02.080 the time as an executive producer, so I get sick 0:19:02.119 --> 0:19:05.159 of it too. Plus when the news is rough, and 0:19:05.200 --> 0:19:08.879 this year got a little rough in podcasting, y'all, it 0:19:08.920 --> 0:19:12.040 gets a bit demoralizing to talk about it. But this 0:19:12.080 --> 0:19:14.440 piece in The Verge covers lots of things that I've 0:19:14.440 --> 0:19:17.480 been observing all year. It's worth looking into if you're 0:19:17.520 --> 0:19:22.760 curious about the business that is show subset podcasting. It's 0:19:22.760 --> 0:19:25.240 always good to educate yourself, especially if you're thinking about 0:19:25.240 --> 0:19:29.000 getting into the business, because knowing what the environment is 0:19:29.520 --> 0:19:32.040 and the trends that are going can really inform you 0:19:32.359 --> 0:19:35.439 so that you make good decisions, like whether or not 0:19:35.480 --> 0:19:37.800 you actually want to go through with it. All right, 0:19:38.400 --> 0:19:41.360 That's enough. With all that, though, I hope you are 0:19:41.440 --> 0:19:45.320 all well and I'll talk to you again really soon. 0:19:51.960 --> 0:19:56.640 Tech Stuff is an iHeartRadio production. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, 0:19:56.960 --> 0:20:00.399 visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or where whoever you 0:20:00.400 --> 0:20:01.760 listen to your favorite shows.