WEBVTT - Tech News: An Elon-Gated Episode 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:12.360 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 0:00:12.400 --> 0:00:15.800 and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. 0:00:15.800 --> 0:00:18.799 I'm an executive producer with iHeart Podcasts and How the 0:00:18.880 --> 0:00:21.319 Tech Are Yet it is time for the tech News 0:00:21.320 --> 0:00:26.680 for Thursday, December fourteenth, twenty twenty three. And first up, 0:00:26.800 --> 0:00:29.159 before I actually get into the news, I really have 0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:32.360 to give a huge shout out to Ours Technica. I 0:00:32.440 --> 0:00:36.479 referenced them all the time, but for today's episode, I mean, 0:00:36.720 --> 0:00:40.680 article after article was popping up that really was relevant, 0:00:41.240 --> 0:00:43.360 and the quality of the work over at Ours Technica 0:00:43.440 --> 0:00:46.159 is taught notch. Once again, I don't have any connection 0:00:46.240 --> 0:00:48.839 with Ours Technica. I as far as I know, I 0:00:48.880 --> 0:00:52.760 don't know anyone who works there. I just really admire 0:00:52.840 --> 0:00:56.640 the work that they create. So a lot of the 0:00:56.680 --> 0:00:59.800 stuff today will be referencing that, as I will call 0:00:59.840 --> 0:01:03.920 out out in the story after story. Anyway, our first 0:01:03.920 --> 0:01:05.679 story actually is one of the ones that comes from 0:01:05.680 --> 0:01:09.360 Ours Technica. It was written by Ashley Bellinger and it's 0:01:09.400 --> 0:01:14.080 titled Elon Musk's x AD. Revenue reportedly fell one point 0:01:14.240 --> 0:01:19.759 five billion with a B this year amid boycotts, so 0:01:19.920 --> 0:01:24.360 the story elaborates on this, saying that initially analysts estimated 0:01:24.360 --> 0:01:26.760 that X, which was actually known as Twitter at the 0:01:26.760 --> 0:01:29.720 beginning of this year. That transformation actually happened this year. 0:01:29.760 --> 0:01:32.240 It seems like an eternity ago at this point, But anyway, 0:01:32.560 --> 0:01:36.399 that X would generate around three billion dollars in AD revenue. 0:01:36.440 --> 0:01:40.440 That was the initial estimate for twenty twenty three. Instead, 0:01:41.319 --> 0:01:44.160 that number is closer to two point five billion in 0:01:44.240 --> 0:01:47.720 AD revenue. Now, keep in mind ads are just one 0:01:47.920 --> 0:01:51.240 source of revenue for Twitter, but it's the main source. Anyway. 0:01:51.560 --> 0:01:54.880 Last year it was closer to four billion dollars in 0:01:54.960 --> 0:01:58.279 AD revenue. So yeah, the site has seen a massive drop, 0:01:58.440 --> 0:02:02.680 right four billion year to two point five billion this year. 0:02:02.800 --> 0:02:06.480 It's actually five billion the year before that. Now, this 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:08.680 doesn't come as a huge surprise because there have been 0:02:08.760 --> 0:02:15.680 numerous brands, ranging from globally recognized names to smaller niche companies, 0:02:15.960 --> 0:02:18.840 that have ceased to advertise on the platform in the 0:02:18.840 --> 0:02:23.440 wake of various scandals. Those range from Elon Musk personally 0:02:23.480 --> 0:02:28.519 elevating anti Semitic conspiracy theories to Elon Musk deciding he 0:02:28.560 --> 0:02:31.560 would reinstate the account of Alex Jones while using the 0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:34.280 cover story of it was the will of the people 0:02:34.960 --> 0:02:39.160 in a poll that some might question the validity anyway. 0:02:39.600 --> 0:02:43.119 Musk has pretty much taken the you're killing my company 0:02:43.320 --> 0:02:48.040 stance against these advertisers, accusing them of running a semi 0:02:48.160 --> 0:02:52.240 organized campaign of destruction against X. He seems unwilling or 0:02:52.280 --> 0:02:57.040 maybe incapable of acknowledging that these are consequences that stem 0:02:57.080 --> 0:03:00.720 from his own actions, and instead thinks of it as 0:03:00.720 --> 0:03:05.720 some sort of conspiracy to destroy Twitter, just to argue 0:03:05.720 --> 0:03:09.680 that I don't see the logic in companies banding together 0:03:09.840 --> 0:03:13.160 to destroy Twitter. That makes no sense because prior to 0:03:13.240 --> 0:03:16.720 Musk's takeover of the company, Twitter was looked at as 0:03:16.720 --> 0:03:20.120 a viable advertising platform. I mean, it was far from perfect, 0:03:20.160 --> 0:03:23.200 don't get me wrong. Twitter was a mess before Musk 0:03:23.320 --> 0:03:26.320 took it over. But I don't know many brands that 0:03:26.360 --> 0:03:29.359 are actually eager to decrease the number of options they 0:03:29.400 --> 0:03:31.840 have when it comes to advertising. They would rather be 0:03:31.880 --> 0:03:36.360 able to advertise everywhere, like including inside your brain, if 0:03:36.360 --> 0:03:39.840 they could. Anyway, please check out the article in Ours 0:03:39.840 --> 0:03:43.360 Technica if you want more in depth analysis on the issue. 0:03:43.720 --> 0:03:46.240 I've got a lot more Musk related stories to get 0:03:46.240 --> 0:03:49.600 through for this episode. My apologies for that, but that's 0:03:49.640 --> 0:03:52.720 just how this week played out. So our next story 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:59.440 comes from CBC's Jonathan Montpetite, who reports that several Canadian 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:04.720 companies have also chosen to halt advertising on X. So 0:04:04.920 --> 0:04:09.840 Montpetit says that CBC investigated several accounts on X that 0:04:09.960 --> 0:04:14.960 were linked to extremists, including accounts that belonged to white nationalists, 0:04:15.600 --> 0:04:18.839 and when they were looking at the posts on these accounts, 0:04:19.520 --> 0:04:23.839 they also saw ads for prominent companies appearing in that feed, 0:04:24.400 --> 0:04:27.839 side by side with the hateful content. This actually mirrors 0:04:27.880 --> 0:04:31.120 what several other organizations have claimed to have found in 0:04:31.160 --> 0:04:34.960 the past, including the Center for Countering Digital Hate. That 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:37.839 was one of the organizations that X threatened to sue 0:04:37.880 --> 0:04:40.760 after that nonprofit pointed out there was a rise of 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:45.360 hateful content in general on X. That's something that advertisers 0:04:45.360 --> 0:04:48.839 would likely object to. So X has been fighting against 0:04:49.640 --> 0:04:54.320 these these these accusations or allegations, however you want to 0:04:54.320 --> 0:04:57.680 frame it. It's been fighting against these claims for the 0:04:57.680 --> 0:05:04.600 better part of the year. But organizations have found similar things, 0:05:04.640 --> 0:05:10.280 like they've discovered commonalities. So either all of these organizations 0:05:10.400 --> 0:05:13.240 are lying or at the very least manipulating data to 0:05:13.279 --> 0:05:18.120 support the narrative they want to tell, or things that 0:05:18.440 --> 0:05:22.039 X are pretty bad anyway, This story shows that X's 0:05:22.040 --> 0:05:26.960 issues with advertising extends beyond US borders. Now, on top 0:05:27.000 --> 0:05:31.120 of those issues, X continues to have sporadic technical problems. 0:05:31.400 --> 0:05:35.160 In an article titled an X outage Broke All Outgoing 0:05:35.200 --> 0:05:40.200 Links Again by Richard Lawler of The Verge yesterday afternoon, 0:05:40.320 --> 0:05:43.360 users on X found that clicking on any outgoing link 0:05:43.520 --> 0:05:46.160 in a post would only bring up an error message. 0:05:47.040 --> 0:05:51.400 Lawler reports that X appeared to resolve the issue after 0:05:51.560 --> 0:05:56.120 about an hour after it had happened, though according to Lawler, 0:05:56.160 --> 0:05:59.279 there was never any official acknowledgment from the company that 0:05:59.320 --> 0:06:03.240 the problem had even happened at all. Now, obviously, technical 0:06:03.240 --> 0:06:06.640 issues like that are also a concern for advertisers, right, 0:06:06.680 --> 0:06:08.839 it doesn't do you any good to post an ad 0:06:08.920 --> 0:06:12.600 on X if when someone who's actually interested in the 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:15.320 ad clicks on a link and then they get an 0:06:15.480 --> 0:06:21.520 error page instead. That's no good either. As for why 0:06:21.839 --> 0:06:24.320 this problem happened in the first place, I would wager 0:06:24.560 --> 0:06:28.200 that the massive layoffs that musk oversaw at Twitter slash 0:06:28.480 --> 0:06:32.400 X means that it's much more difficult for staff to anticipate, 0:06:32.760 --> 0:06:36.919 prevent or even fix issues. But that's just my opinion. 0:06:37.520 --> 0:06:40.920 It's not something that I can point to as hard evidence. 0:06:41.320 --> 0:06:43.839 It just seems to be logical to me that when 0:06:43.880 --> 0:06:47.320 you lay off a massive amount of your engineering staff 0:06:48.040 --> 0:06:50.719 when problems crop up, it is a lot harder to 0:06:51.160 --> 0:06:55.440 address those in a timely manner. Still, it did resolve 0:06:55.520 --> 0:07:00.000 the issue in a little around an hour, which isn't terrible, 0:07:00.200 --> 0:07:04.680 I guess, especially when you consider the constraints that the 0:07:04.720 --> 0:07:09.240 team is working under. Those folks should receive huge accolades 0:07:09.279 --> 0:07:11.880 for getting the problem fixed at least within an hour. 0:07:12.560 --> 0:07:15.480 But you could also argue, well, this shouldn't have happened 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:19.280 at all, and maybe it wouldn't have if Musk Hatton 0:07:19.400 --> 0:07:23.320 had that massive culling of staff earlier in the year. 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:27.000 The woes don't stop for Musk yet. I don't think 0:07:27.040 --> 0:07:28.960 he's going to be counting twenty twenty three as one 0:07:29.000 --> 0:07:30.760 of the best years of his life as it's going 0:07:30.840 --> 0:07:33.160 right now, at least not the end of it. It's 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:37.960 been a pretty rocky ride anyway. Druv Merotra and Dell 0:07:38.120 --> 0:07:42.120 Cameron of Wired and my apologies for butchering the name there. 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:46.600 They have a piece that's titled Elon Musk's New Monkey 0:07:46.760 --> 0:07:51.280 Death Claims spur Fresh Demands for an SEC investigation. That's 0:07:51.360 --> 0:07:57.760 a wild headline, Elon Musk's New Monkey Death Claims. Elon 0:07:57.880 --> 0:08:00.320 Musk's New Monkey Death Claims to me, sounds like the 0:08:00.400 --> 0:08:04.160 name of a heavy metal band. But anyway, this is 0:08:04.200 --> 0:08:07.800 actually very serious and very sad. Business has to do 0:08:07.880 --> 0:08:12.480 with another of Musk's companies, the startup Neurolink. That's the 0:08:12.520 --> 0:08:17.200 company Musk founded that is dedicated to developing brain computer interfaces. 0:08:17.320 --> 0:08:20.280 That is a way for you to be able to 0:08:20.480 --> 0:08:25.080 interact and control computer systems using thought, and that's all 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:28.160 you have to use. So the piece covers how an 0:08:28.240 --> 0:08:33.560 organization called the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine disputes Elon 0:08:33.679 --> 0:08:37.880 Musk's claims that the primates that have died as a 0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:43.040 result of Neurolink experimentation were already terminal cases. Musk said, 0:08:43.720 --> 0:08:48.319 you know, we've had to euthanize primates that we've experimented on, 0:08:49.200 --> 0:08:52.960 but these primates were already facing death. They were already 0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:57.280 in some form of terminal health. Perhaps they had cancer 0:08:57.400 --> 0:09:00.640 or some other condition that meant that they were dying, 0:09:01.200 --> 0:09:06.440 and that they specifically picked these animals because knowing that 0:09:06.440 --> 0:09:09.760 they were going to have to be euthanized afterward because 0:09:09.800 --> 0:09:15.560 they were already facing death. The advocacy group denies that 0:09:15.960 --> 0:09:19.880 they said that, you know, veterinary data points to the 0:09:19.920 --> 0:09:24.280 animals not having any sort of terminal cases before being 0:09:24.320 --> 0:09:29.400 put through the experimental procedures that then ultimately led to 0:09:29.440 --> 0:09:33.440 the animals being euthanized, and that instead what Musk was 0:09:33.480 --> 0:09:38.280 doing was just spouting off misinformation and lies in an 0:09:38.280 --> 0:09:41.640 effort to encourage investors to pour more money into the business. 0:09:42.040 --> 0:09:45.839 That he was misleading investors, and as such, they are 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:49.920 calling upon the US Securities and Exchange Commission or SEC, 0:09:50.480 --> 0:09:54.080 to open an investigation into Neuralink. If you want to 0:09:54.120 --> 0:09:57.199 know more about this, you should definitely read the article 0:09:58.120 --> 0:10:00.840 over and wired, but I will warn you it is 0:10:01.240 --> 0:10:05.800 incredibly upsetting. If you are tenderhearted like I am, it 0:10:05.880 --> 0:10:09.080 may disturb you. I make no apologies for being a sap, 0:10:09.400 --> 0:10:11.840 by the way, That's just who I am, and I 0:10:11.920 --> 0:10:14.680 love animals. So it was a very hard read, but 0:10:14.720 --> 0:10:18.440 I think a very important one. We're not done with 0:10:18.520 --> 0:10:21.720 Elon Musk's companies just yet. We actually have a couple 0:10:21.800 --> 0:10:24.960 more stories, but before we get to that, for goodness sakes, 0:10:25.000 --> 0:10:27.880 let's just take a quick break to thank our sponsors. 0:10:37.200 --> 0:10:39.200 All right. I mentioned that we still had a couple 0:10:39.200 --> 0:10:42.400 of stories about Elon Musk companies. In this case, the 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:46.559 company we're talking about is Tesla. So it's been an 0:10:46.559 --> 0:10:50.679 eventful week for Elon Musk. Tesla had to issue or 0:10:51.120 --> 0:10:54.040 we'll have to issue a recall for practically all Tesla's 0:10:54.080 --> 0:10:59.280 on US roads today. It's a software update kind of recall. 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:02.840 This mas Tesla owners won't have to take their car 0:11:02.920 --> 0:11:06.400 into a dealership to have modifications performed on the vehicle 0:11:06.480 --> 0:11:08.560 or even swap out their vehicle or anything like that. 0:11:08.600 --> 0:11:10.680 They won't have to do that. But it has to 0:11:10.720 --> 0:11:16.200 do with Tesla's advanced driver assist features, namely autopilot. So essentially, 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:21.480 the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA, has ordered 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:25.760 Tesla to increase the number of warnings sent to drivers 0:11:25.800 --> 0:11:29.560 to make sure that they keep their attention on the 0:11:29.640 --> 0:11:34.920 road even when they engage autopilot. The NHTSA determined that 0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:39.440 several Tesla owners were using autopilot features outside of their 0:11:39.559 --> 0:11:43.600 approved operating parameters, and this represents a danger to both 0:11:43.640 --> 0:11:46.640 the driver and to others on the road. Now, Tesla 0:11:46.960 --> 0:11:52.000 has always included language and its official documents that these 0:11:52.040 --> 0:11:56.800 features are meant for specific use cases like highway driving. Right, 0:11:56.880 --> 0:11:59.760 it's not meant for everything. And the drivers also are 0:11:59.800 --> 0:12:03.040 so posed to always remain focused on their surroundings. They're 0:12:03.080 --> 0:12:06.800 not supposed to just let the car take over. But 0:12:06.920 --> 0:12:10.760 then you also have folks like Elon Musk who complicate 0:12:10.800 --> 0:12:13.920 matters by hyping up the autonomous features of the technology, 0:12:14.400 --> 0:12:18.120 seemingly suggesting that they are more capable than what they 0:12:18.200 --> 0:12:21.200 really are. It's the same matter that's at the heart 0:12:21.200 --> 0:12:26.600 of an ongoing lawsuit between the State of California and Tesla. Anyway, 0:12:27.280 --> 0:12:31.160 once updated, Tesla's that are in autopilot mode will perform 0:12:31.200 --> 0:12:33.920 more frequent checks to ensure that the driver is still 0:12:34.000 --> 0:12:37.280 fully focused on what's going on and that their hands 0:12:37.320 --> 0:12:41.280 remain on the steering wheel. Otherwise, the vehicle may disengage 0:12:41.280 --> 0:12:45.520 autopilot and force the driver to take over. And according 0:12:45.520 --> 0:12:50.800 to Reuter's, Tesla faces more opposition in Sweden. This stems 0:12:50.840 --> 0:12:54.280 from the company's refusal to negotiate with collective bargaining groups 0:12:54.320 --> 0:12:58.720 that represent various workers like mechanics, for example. I mentioned 0:12:58.720 --> 0:13:01.560 this in an earlier Technic New episode. But in Sweden 0:13:01.920 --> 0:13:07.160 it is customary for these worker groups essentially unions, to 0:13:07.240 --> 0:13:11.880 negotiate their own salaries and benefits with each employer. There's 0:13:11.960 --> 0:13:14.800 no national minimum wage or anything like that, so all 0:13:14.840 --> 0:13:18.840 agreements are made between the worker organizations and the employers. 0:13:19.040 --> 0:13:22.960 But Tesla hasn't played ball, and so multiple worker groups 0:13:22.960 --> 0:13:25.920 have now refused to cooperate with Tesla to apply pressure 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:29.640 to the company. The latest of these is the Transport 0:13:29.679 --> 0:13:33.240 Workers Union, which now says it will stop collecting waste 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:38.360 from Tesla's workshops starting December twenty fourth unless Tesla meets 0:13:38.360 --> 0:13:42.080 with these groups. Honestly, the whole situation between Tesla and 0:13:42.160 --> 0:13:45.720 the various Swedish worker groups is starting to sound like 0:13:45.760 --> 0:13:49.800 an Always Sunny and Philadelphia episode to me. And I 0:13:49.840 --> 0:13:55.480 know that Elon Musk traditionally has been very anti workers' unions, 0:13:55.600 --> 0:13:58.640 so it doesn't surprise me that it has reached this 0:13:58.679 --> 0:14:04.240 particular level now. In non Elon News, You're Welcome, a 0:14:04.360 --> 0:14:08.560 lawsuit claims that insurance company Humana has been relying upon 0:14:08.800 --> 0:14:12.600 an AI model to make decisions about agreeing to or 0:14:12.640 --> 0:14:16.360 denying care to patients mostly the latter, and that this 0:14:16.480 --> 0:14:21.760 AI model has a failure rate of around ninety percent. Yikes, 0:14:22.080 --> 0:14:25.240 So the whole story is in ours tetnaca. Once again, 0:14:25.480 --> 0:14:28.040 big shout out to them. This one is by Beth 0:14:28.160 --> 0:14:31.880 Mole and it's titled Humana also using AI tool with 0:14:32.040 --> 0:14:36.000 ninety percent error rate to deny care, lawsuit claims. So 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:40.800 the also in that headline refers to a similar accusation 0:14:41.320 --> 0:14:44.560 against insurance company United Health, which also makes use of 0:14:44.560 --> 0:14:48.920 this same AI model. That AI model is a product 0:14:49.160 --> 0:14:52.880 titled NH Predict. It is named after the company that 0:14:52.960 --> 0:14:57.880 makes it, nave Health. The ninety percent error rate references 0:14:57.920 --> 0:15:02.360 that allegedly, when people have appealed a denial of care 0:15:02.480 --> 0:15:07.200 decision that was guided by this AI model, ninety percent 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:10.720 of the time those decisions are reversed. So essentially, the 0:15:10.760 --> 0:15:14.360 AI model takes into account various factors to determine when 0:15:14.440 --> 0:15:19.200 benefits should end for specific medical issues. The lawsuit argues 0:15:19.360 --> 0:15:22.200 that the model is far too restrictive and it's limited 0:15:22.200 --> 0:15:25.760 and it cannot take into consideration particulars that are unique 0:15:25.800 --> 0:15:29.840 to each individual patient, so as a result, patients find 0:15:29.840 --> 0:15:34.120 their benefits cut off prematurely or denied outright, and that 0:15:34.200 --> 0:15:37.120 insurance companies are making use of this AI tool not 0:15:37.320 --> 0:15:41.840 because it is accurate, but actually for the opposite reason 0:15:42.360 --> 0:15:47.400 that it is incredibly inaccurate, but it's inaccurate and airing 0:15:47.440 --> 0:15:50.880 on the side where insurance companies aren't having to pay 0:15:50.920 --> 0:15:53.760 out as much so they can hoard all that money 0:15:53.800 --> 0:15:56.360 for themselves. There's a lot I could say about the 0:15:56.360 --> 0:15:59.680 insurance industry, but I won't because that this isn't the 0:15:59.680 --> 0:16:03.160 Pott cast for it. But the lawsuit accuses Humana of 0:16:03.280 --> 0:16:06.680 breach of contract along with several other offenses, and we'll 0:16:06.680 --> 0:16:09.280 have to see where this goes from here. I just 0:16:09.360 --> 0:16:13.600 will remind you there are lots of legitimate beneficial uses 0:16:13.600 --> 0:16:16.920 for artificial intelligence. There really are. They're ones that could 0:16:17.280 --> 0:16:21.640 have incredible positive impact on our lives. But there are 0:16:21.680 --> 0:16:26.520 other applications of AI that are unbalanced in how they 0:16:26.640 --> 0:16:30.240 will benefit one party versus everybody else, in this case, 0:16:30.640 --> 0:16:35.000 the insurance industry versus anyone who's not an insurance company 0:16:35.280 --> 0:16:38.720 or an investor in an insurance company. So we do 0:16:38.800 --> 0:16:41.720 need to wrestle with that. Next up, well, guess what, 0:16:41.800 --> 0:16:44.680 I've got another piece from ours Tetnica once again by 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:48.960 Ashley Bellinger. Seriously, Ashley, where do you find the time 0:16:49.200 --> 0:16:52.280 to do all this stuff? Your articles are great? I 0:16:52.360 --> 0:16:56.000 just can't imagine. Gosh, you got to work super hard anyway. 0:16:56.360 --> 0:16:59.760 The article is titled trains were designed to break down 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:03.560 after a third party repairs hackers find and yeah, this 0:17:03.600 --> 0:17:08.040 is another piece that demonstrates how companies can jealously guard 0:17:08.320 --> 0:17:11.240 their ecosystems. Right. We have the whole right to repair 0:17:11.359 --> 0:17:14.199 movement here in the United States that aims to break 0:17:14.240 --> 0:17:17.760 down those walls that companies will put up, like the 0:17:17.840 --> 0:17:22.920 John Deere tractor company. There's all these cases where farmers 0:17:22.920 --> 0:17:24.920 were arguing they should have the right to be able 0:17:24.960 --> 0:17:27.879 to maintain and repair their own equipment and not have 0:17:27.960 --> 0:17:33.600 to go to a specific authorized John Deere repair shop 0:17:33.720 --> 0:17:36.640 in order to get this stuff done. This falls into 0:17:36.680 --> 0:17:40.199 that same sort of category, but in this case it's 0:17:40.359 --> 0:17:45.280 about trains in Poland. So a hacker group called Dragon 0:17:45.400 --> 0:17:49.720 Sector investigated trains made by a Polish company called Nuog. 0:17:50.359 --> 0:17:55.119 So Dragon Sector was actually hired to do this to 0:17:55.200 --> 0:17:58.720 look into it because there was a railway company that 0:17:58.920 --> 0:18:02.520 was using these trains for NWOG and they were seeing 0:18:02.640 --> 0:18:05.840 a lot of breakdowns and were wondering what was actually 0:18:05.880 --> 0:18:07.439 at the heart of it, because it didn't appear to 0:18:07.480 --> 0:18:10.800 be hardware related. It seemed to be software related, and 0:18:10.840 --> 0:18:13.040 they wondered if something hinky was going on, so they 0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:15.920 hired these hackers to look into it. The hackers say 0:18:15.960 --> 0:18:19.639 they found the reason that apparently the software running on 0:18:19.720 --> 0:18:23.520 these trains would detect if the trains were brought anywhere 0:18:23.640 --> 0:18:28.560 other than an official Nuog facility for repairs. So if 0:18:28.560 --> 0:18:32.159 a railway company dared to use some third party repair 0:18:32.240 --> 0:18:36.600 shop in order to perform maintenance or repair on ANWOG train, 0:18:37.400 --> 0:18:41.119 the software would detect that and then trigger failures, so 0:18:41.240 --> 0:18:45.120 essentially bricking the train, which is kind of like how 0:18:45.160 --> 0:18:48.359 some smartphones would brick themselves if the phones detected that 0:18:48.480 --> 0:18:52.120 users were trying to, you know, jail break them. Newog 0:18:52.240 --> 0:18:55.720 has denied the hackers claims and threatened a lawsuit against them, 0:18:56.080 --> 0:18:58.960 but the hackers maintained that their investigation has plenty of 0:18:59.080 --> 0:19:02.000 proof that Nwogg's was fixing the game in their favor. 0:19:02.520 --> 0:19:07.840 Newogg has also suggested that perhaps a competitor actually hacked 0:19:08.359 --> 0:19:12.440 into Nuogg's trains and altered the software to make it 0:19:12.520 --> 0:19:16.160 look like nwog was walling off its ecosystem, But in fact, 0:19:16.520 --> 0:19:21.439 this is all an elaborate attempt to discredit Nuog and 0:19:21.600 --> 0:19:25.399 to really heap dirt upon their name. That sounds like 0:19:25.440 --> 0:19:27.399 a hail Mary kind of play if you ask me. 0:19:27.720 --> 0:19:30.400 I'm not saying that it would be impossible, but it 0:19:30.440 --> 0:19:35.240 doesn't sound like the most likely reason why this software 0:19:35.280 --> 0:19:38.439 would include these kinds of features, assuming that the hackers 0:19:38.440 --> 0:19:42.040 are telling the truth. They also said they uncovered essentially 0:19:42.160 --> 0:19:45.199 a code that you could enter into the system that 0:19:45.240 --> 0:19:49.400 would clear all the issues. So if that's true, then 0:19:49.680 --> 0:19:53.720 it's what they're saying is, yeah, nuogg sabotages their trains 0:19:54.320 --> 0:19:56.520 so that you're forced to use Nuog to fix them. 0:19:56.600 --> 0:19:58.679 Then they just put in this code and everything's fixed 0:19:59.160 --> 0:20:01.480 because they were the ones who put the problem there 0:20:01.480 --> 0:20:05.280 in the first place. That's the allegation. Very interesting case here, 0:20:05.800 --> 0:20:08.400 all right, I've got a couple more stories to go 0:20:08.480 --> 0:20:10.760 through before we can get to that. Let's take another 0:20:10.840 --> 0:20:25.119 quick break. We're back. CNBC's Chelsea Cox has a piece 0:20:25.160 --> 0:20:29.080 titled FCC votes to ban termination fees for cable and 0:20:29.119 --> 0:20:32.040 satellite services, and that's something that I think should make 0:20:32.040 --> 0:20:35.560 a lot of American customers happy because previously, if you 0:20:35.600 --> 0:20:38.320 were a customer of a cable or a satellite provider 0:20:38.880 --> 0:20:41.800 and you wanted out of your agreement and it was 0:20:41.880 --> 0:20:43.920 you know, maybe you had entered into a two year 0:20:43.960 --> 0:20:46.480 agreement and a year and a half in you wanted out, 0:20:47.080 --> 0:20:49.000 typically to get out you had to pay a fee, 0:20:49.160 --> 0:20:52.720 and sometimes it was a prohibitively hefty fee for the 0:20:52.760 --> 0:20:58.800 privilege of ending this agreement. Personally, in my opinion, I 0:20:58.840 --> 0:21:00.879 have always thought of these fees as a way of 0:21:00.920 --> 0:21:04.960 discouraging even the meager amount of competition we see in 0:21:04.960 --> 0:21:07.439 this space here in the United States. I've said it 0:21:07.440 --> 0:21:11.320 many times. Most Americans actually have very few options when 0:21:11.359 --> 0:21:14.800 it comes to stuff like cable providers. In my neighborhood, 0:21:14.960 --> 0:21:18.040 I have two options. That's only if I don't want 0:21:18.080 --> 0:21:20.760 internet service as part of that package, right, If I 0:21:20.800 --> 0:21:24.119 want internet service as part of my cable package, really 0:21:24.119 --> 0:21:27.000 I only have one choice. The other one is so 0:21:27.560 --> 0:21:30.439 far behind that it's not really a viable choice in 0:21:30.440 --> 0:21:34.840 the first place. But one way to discourage competition is 0:21:34.880 --> 0:21:37.600 to lock customers into a multi year agreement, and then 0:21:37.960 --> 0:21:39.880 in order to make sure they stay there, you tack 0:21:39.960 --> 0:21:44.960 on this hefty fee to prevent anyone from severing that 0:21:45.040 --> 0:21:50.000 agreement early. Unsurprisingly, the FCC passed this measure right down 0:21:50.080 --> 0:21:53.119 party lines. Two members of the FCC voted against it, 0:21:53.600 --> 0:21:56.600 which is pretty typical. Like, I don't think I can't 0:21:56.640 --> 0:21:59.399 remember the last time I saw a matter where the 0:21:59.440 --> 0:22:03.760 FCC unanimously voted on a measure. It almost always comes 0:22:03.800 --> 0:22:06.520 down to party lines. Now, before I get to some 0:22:06.680 --> 0:22:10.240 article recommendations, I do have one final story. This one 0:22:10.320 --> 0:22:14.479 comes from NASA. Miles Hatfield posted a blog entry and 0:22:14.520 --> 0:22:18.360 it's titled Engineers are working to resolve issues with Voyager 0:22:18.400 --> 0:22:22.800 one computer. So the Voyager one spacecraft has traveled further 0:22:22.880 --> 0:22:27.280 into space than any other spacecraft we've ever sent up there. 0:22:28.040 --> 0:22:30.240 It's in fact, it's no longer in our Solar System. 0:22:30.280 --> 0:22:34.440 It is traveling through interstellar space, and a computer glitch 0:22:35.040 --> 0:22:39.560 in Voyager one's Flight data System or FDS appears to 0:22:39.600 --> 0:22:44.520 be the cause of this problem. It can actually receive 0:22:44.760 --> 0:22:47.840 and execute commands that we send here from Earth, so 0:22:47.880 --> 0:22:50.919 that part is still good, but it's unable to send 0:22:50.960 --> 0:22:54.640 information back to us, so we can't get any scientific 0:22:54.800 --> 0:22:58.119 or engineering data back from Voyager one. We can just 0:22:58.160 --> 0:23:02.200 send stuff to it, which which greatly limits its utility 0:23:02.320 --> 0:23:07.520 as a scientific instrument. Obviously, now engineers are hoping that 0:23:07.560 --> 0:23:10.679 they can resolve this problem, but it's likely going to 0:23:10.720 --> 0:23:13.680 take weeks in order to come up with a solution 0:23:13.840 --> 0:23:16.479 to do it, so it may be a while before 0:23:16.680 --> 0:23:19.679 we can find out if we can get Voyager to 0:23:19.720 --> 0:23:22.800 send information back to us again. And in fact, just 0:23:22.800 --> 0:23:26.320 sending a message between Earth and the spacecraft takes nearly 0:23:26.359 --> 0:23:29.119 a full day. In fact, it takes twenty two and 0:23:29.119 --> 0:23:33.040 a half hours to go from Earth to the Voyager one, 0:23:33.200 --> 0:23:36.800 and that's because of how far away the spacecraft is 0:23:36.880 --> 0:23:40.480 from US. Here's hoping NASA can implement a fix, as 0:23:40.520 --> 0:23:42.760 the story of the Voyager spacecraft has been a truly 0:23:42.840 --> 0:23:48.040 remarkable one. I've got a couple of suggested reading recommendations 0:23:48.040 --> 0:23:51.800 for y'all. One of those, No Surprise, comes from Ours Technica. 0:23:52.040 --> 0:23:54.639 This one was written by John Brodkin and it is 0:23:54.720 --> 0:23:58.480 titled Ted Cruz wants to stop the FCC from updating 0:23:58.600 --> 0:24:03.280 data breach notification rules. So yeah, it's another tech meets 0:24:03.560 --> 0:24:07.719 political news item, and it highlights what seems like an 0:24:07.760 --> 0:24:10.679 odd position from my perspective, because I would think that 0:24:10.760 --> 0:24:14.600 requiring companies to be prompt about reporting data breaches was 0:24:14.920 --> 0:24:19.280 an important component of keeping businesses, customers, investors, pretty much 0:24:19.280 --> 0:24:24.000 everybody safer. But it gets more complicated than that. The 0:24:24.040 --> 0:24:27.280 other recommendation is actually a series of articles in The 0:24:27.400 --> 0:24:31.360 Verge and they're all posted under an umbrella topic titled 0:24:31.720 --> 0:24:34.840 the Year Twitter Died. So The Verge has done an 0:24:34.880 --> 0:24:39.560 amazing job of analyzing how Twitter slash x has navigated 0:24:39.600 --> 0:24:42.280 the year twenty twenty three and makes the case that 0:24:42.320 --> 0:24:46.240 Twitter is actually dead, if only because the service now 0:24:46.280 --> 0:24:49.560 has the name X if nothing else. I won't lie. 0:24:50.200 --> 0:24:52.040 It is a lot to read. There are a lot 0:24:52.040 --> 0:24:54.320 of articles in this, but it's all very well done 0:24:54.400 --> 0:24:56.960 and it gives a pretty thorough treatment of the various 0:24:57.000 --> 0:24:59.520 issues the company has faced this year. All right, that's 0:24:59.560 --> 0:25:02.520 it for the news today. I hope you are all well, 0:25:03.040 --> 0:25:12.800 and I'll talk to you again really soon. Tech Stuff 0:25:12.880 --> 0:25:17.440 is an iHeartRadio production. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit 0:25:17.440 --> 0:25:21.000 the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 0:25:21.040 --> 0:25:22.000 your favorite shows.