WEBVTT - Tech News: How do you Google is Google Down when Google is Down? 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:11.800 --> 0:00:14.160 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:14.280 --> 0:00:16.920 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio. 0:00:16.960 --> 0:00:19.000 And how the tech are you. It's time for the 0:00:19.040 --> 0:00:24.120 tech news for Tuesday, August nine, twenty two. First up 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:28.200 earlier today, late yesterday, depending on where you were. Google 0:00:28.280 --> 0:00:31.600 had a bit of a hiccup as services became unavailable 0:00:31.600 --> 0:00:35.920 briefly around the world. Apparently a software update did not 0:00:36.120 --> 0:00:39.559 go as bland and took Google offline, and that prompted 0:00:39.600 --> 0:00:44.320 a lot of buzz online. The company restored services pretty quickly, 0:00:44.720 --> 0:00:46.920 but you know, the outage was enough to launch a 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:50.839 billion jokes about how you're supposed to Google, why Google 0:00:50.920 --> 0:00:53.320 is down? If Google is down, and I'm sure for 0:00:53.400 --> 0:00:55.760 people who go to Google to type out, you know, 0:00:55.880 --> 0:00:58.200 the full U r L for a website inside the 0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:02.120 search field, that was quite distressing. Now jokes aside the 0:01:02.120 --> 0:01:04.959 outage as brief as it was, actually served as another 0:01:05.000 --> 0:01:08.280 reminder of how intrinsic Google has become to the web 0:01:08.319 --> 0:01:11.480 experience for many of us out there. And that's kind 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:13.600 of another way of saying that maybe we should be 0:01:13.640 --> 0:01:16.800 really careful when we're putting our eggs in various baskets. 0:01:17.160 --> 0:01:19.880 We might have put way too many in Google's might 0:01:19.920 --> 0:01:22.759 have is that's that's too weak. We have put too 0:01:22.760 --> 0:01:27.600 many eggs in Google's baskets. See also Meta but also 0:01:27.640 --> 0:01:31.000 in Google news, the company is in a patent dispute 0:01:31.000 --> 0:01:35.600 battle with the speaker company so Nos. Now, these patent 0:01:35.640 --> 0:01:38.880 lawsuits are pretty common in the tech industry. I recently 0:01:38.920 --> 0:01:42.679 talked about how Apple and Ericsson are in a global 0:01:42.840 --> 0:01:46.880 struggle over patent um and that's a five G patent 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:49.080 in that case, and the two companies are trying to 0:01:49.080 --> 0:01:51.840 hash out a licensing agreement. You know, Apple doesn't want 0:01:51.840 --> 0:01:54.440 to pay so much and Ericson wants them to pay more. 0:01:55.160 --> 0:01:57.760 So that's going on. Well in this case with Google 0:01:58.080 --> 0:02:00.800 and with so Nos, Google is saying that so Nos 0:02:00.840 --> 0:02:06.240 has violated seven patents relating to Google's smart speaker technology 0:02:06.360 --> 0:02:10.000 or smart assistant technology. At the heart of the matter 0:02:10.200 --> 0:02:13.720 is so Nos launching its own voice activated smart assistant. 0:02:14.200 --> 0:02:17.280 You see, Google worked with so nos on smart speakers 0:02:17.320 --> 0:02:21.840 to incorporate the Google Assistant feature in the so nos products. 0:02:22.320 --> 0:02:24.200 And I have to be careful how I say this stuff, 0:02:24.240 --> 0:02:28.160 because I actually have one of those speakers in this room, 0:02:28.240 --> 0:02:31.560 and if I say one of the activation phrases, then 0:02:31.600 --> 0:02:35.680 it'll start talking to me. Anyway, Google is essentially saying, 0:02:36.080 --> 0:02:40.600 we worked hard to incorporate our smart assistant with your products, 0:02:40.639 --> 0:02:43.320 and you paid very close attention to that, and then 0:02:43.360 --> 0:02:46.519 you copied our work to launch your own competing smart 0:02:46.560 --> 0:02:50.680 assistant product, and since we hold patents on that technology, 0:02:50.720 --> 0:02:53.920 we're going to sue you. Now, if for some reason 0:02:54.040 --> 0:02:56.680 you've been paying really close attention to patent disputes in 0:02:56.680 --> 0:02:59.280 tech for a couple of years, you might actually remember 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:01.480 that in twenty twenty, we saw kind of the flip 0:03:01.520 --> 0:03:05.040 of this. So NOS sued Google for a similar reason. 0:03:05.160 --> 0:03:08.320 So NOS was saying that Google had copied so Nose 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:13.359 technology when Google was developing its own line of smart speakers. Oh, 0:03:13.680 --> 0:03:18.320 how the turns have tabled. Google lost that court case 0:03:18.919 --> 0:03:21.320 and had to change the design of its speakers in 0:03:21.440 --> 0:03:25.400 order to avoid facing potential bands around the world or else, 0:03:25.480 --> 0:03:29.160 you know, licensed the technology from so NOS. A SONOS 0:03:29.200 --> 0:03:31.760 rep by the way, has remained somewhat defiant in the 0:03:31.800 --> 0:03:35.480 face of this new lawsuit from Google, saying that SONS 0:03:35.520 --> 0:03:39.120 has prevailed in every court case so far but that's 0:03:39.200 --> 0:03:42.640 largely referring to the cases where so Nose had sued Google. 0:03:42.720 --> 0:03:46.560 In this case, Google is suing so nos So. The 0:03:46.600 --> 0:03:49.880 shoes you see are on other feet now, so we'll 0:03:49.880 --> 0:03:52.440 have to see how this plays out. Also, I knew 0:03:52.440 --> 0:03:55.320 this is serious business and we're talking about millions or 0:03:55.400 --> 0:03:58.680 billions of dollars at play here, but I can't help 0:03:58.680 --> 0:04:02.080 but get the feeling that these these enormous corporations are 0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:06.880 essentially angry toddlers on a playground squabbling with one another 0:04:07.000 --> 0:04:10.560 when we cover these kinds of stories. In India, the 0:04:10.640 --> 0:04:15.760 government has suspended mobile internet service in two regions. Manipur, 0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:19.400 which is in the northeast of India borders Myanmar, was 0:04:19.600 --> 0:04:23.080 scheduled to have internet service shut down for five days. 0:04:23.600 --> 0:04:27.159 The government was doing that because of expectation of quote, 0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:32.280 tribal protests end quote. The other region where we've seen 0:04:32.360 --> 0:04:35.240 internet service interrupted is Kashmir, which is in the north 0:04:35.240 --> 0:04:41.040 of India, very far away from Manipur. Kashmir borders Pakistan, Afghanistan, 0:04:41.320 --> 0:04:45.960 and China. Kashmir is also home to a population of 0:04:45.960 --> 0:04:49.919 of Muslims, Kashmiri Muslims. Now that's relevant because of the 0:04:49.960 --> 0:04:53.479 observation of Maharam, which is and by the way, my 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:58.240 apologies for my pronunciation. I'm sure I'm butchering it, but 0:04:58.520 --> 0:05:03.479 that is a time of warning, and the suspension of 0:05:03.520 --> 0:05:07.839 the Internet service coincides with a Muslim holy observation, which 0:05:08.520 --> 0:05:12.120 seems significant to me. Digital rights and human rights groups 0:05:12.120 --> 0:05:16.880 have long protested the Indian government's practice of shutting down communications. 0:05:17.520 --> 0:05:21.320 The government defends these decisions. The government says that this 0:05:21.400 --> 0:05:24.359 is a measure they take in order to ensure public order, 0:05:25.160 --> 0:05:29.520 uh to to quiet unrest in other words, But the 0:05:29.640 --> 0:05:32.640 rights groups point out that these kinds of moves cut 0:05:32.640 --> 0:05:35.800 off entire populations from the rest of the world. And 0:05:35.880 --> 0:05:38.080 it's certainly the case that India is very quick to 0:05:38.200 --> 0:05:41.320 jump on the let's shut it all down course of action. 0:05:41.640 --> 0:05:44.120 And we've also seen the Indian government laid down a 0:05:44.120 --> 0:05:47.400 lot of pressure on companies to do stuff like crack 0:05:47.600 --> 0:05:52.080 down on the population's ability to communicate during times of unrest, 0:05:52.400 --> 0:05:57.440 while simultaneously allowing government officials unfettered access to platforms, even 0:05:57.440 --> 0:06:01.720 if those officials are actively spreading this information. So yeah, 0:06:01.880 --> 0:06:06.320 this is a complicated matter. Last week, Amazon announced its 0:06:06.360 --> 0:06:10.400 intention to purchase another company and this one has privacy 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:14.520 advocates very much concerned. The company would be I Robot. 0:06:14.880 --> 0:06:17.320 That's the company that brought us the roomba. You know, 0:06:18.000 --> 0:06:22.840 the robot that sucks. I mean it's it's a robot vacuum. Anyway, 0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:27.080 the deal is valued at one point seven billion dollars. 0:06:27.120 --> 0:06:30.120 And you might wonder why privacy advocates are worried in 0:06:30.160 --> 0:06:32.720 the first place. Well, it's because the roomba, in an 0:06:32.720 --> 0:06:36.480 effort to do the best vacuum job, it can effectively 0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:41.240 maps out your home as it moves around. It figures 0:06:41.240 --> 0:06:43.760 out where the doors are, where the furniture is, where 0:06:43.760 --> 0:06:45.760 the walls are, all that kind of stuff. So, in 0:06:45.839 --> 0:06:49.080 other words, Amazon already wants to hear what you have 0:06:49.120 --> 0:06:52.440 to say by giving you or convincing you to buy 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:55.160 their smart speakers. They want to know what you're watching 0:06:56.040 --> 0:06:59.880 using like an Amazon Fire device or Amazon Prime Video. 0:07:00.640 --> 0:07:02.279 And now they want to know where you put the 0:07:02.320 --> 0:07:04.760 ottoman in your living room by using your room but 0:07:04.920 --> 0:07:07.880 to spy on you, he got a guy on the inside. 0:07:08.640 --> 0:07:11.960 Now what would Amazon do with this kind of information. Well, 0:07:12.000 --> 0:07:14.720 Amazon is constantly making new products that are meant to 0:07:14.760 --> 0:07:17.400 interact on a smart level. And if the company knows 0:07:17.440 --> 0:07:19.800 how you've laid out your house, it can market more 0:07:19.840 --> 0:07:23.360 effectively to you, or sell that information to a third 0:07:23.400 --> 0:07:26.440 party that's interested in it. It can suggest stuff for 0:07:26.480 --> 0:07:29.200 you to upgrade your home, and in turn will gather 0:07:29.360 --> 0:07:33.920 even more data for Amazon. And it starts to look dystopian, 0:07:34.000 --> 0:07:37.360 pritty darn quickly. Now, I should add the Amazon has 0:07:37.400 --> 0:07:42.520 simply announced the intention to acquire Robot. The process still 0:07:42.520 --> 0:07:47.120 has to go through regulatory approval, and there's some expectation 0:07:47.200 --> 0:07:50.200 that the United States Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, is 0:07:50.240 --> 0:07:53.960 going to push back against this planned deal. The FDC 0:07:54.040 --> 0:07:59.000 has recently taken a more aggressive stance against big tech acquisitions. Uh, 0:07:59.120 --> 0:08:03.240 you know. Recently, the FTC indicated its opposing Meta's planned 0:08:03.240 --> 0:08:06.680 purchase of the company Supernatural, which makes fitness games for 0:08:06.760 --> 0:08:11.440 virtual reality setups. So geeg Wire quotes a lawyer named 0:08:11.440 --> 0:08:14.960 Ethan Glass who says he figures there's a chance that 0:08:15.000 --> 0:08:18.720 the FTC will conduct a quote unquote deep investigation of 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:22.040 the deal and a twenty five percent chance that the 0:08:22.080 --> 0:08:26.440 FTC will challenge the acquisition outright. As it stands, Amazon 0:08:26.560 --> 0:08:29.800 hopes to have this deal complete by August four, three 0:08:29.880 --> 0:08:32.560 at the latest and has committed to paying I Robot 0:08:32.600 --> 0:08:36.800 more than ninety million dollars if regulators deny the acquisition. 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:40.040 The Wall Street Journal has an article pointing out that 0:08:40.200 --> 0:08:43.599 an antitrust bill that's been taking shape in Congress is 0:08:43.640 --> 0:08:46.800 in danger of being abandoned. All right, So Congress is 0:08:46.800 --> 0:08:49.439 about to go into recess. So it's kind of like 0:08:49.520 --> 0:08:52.640 when you went to recess in elementary school, except instead 0:08:52.679 --> 0:08:55.960 of running outside to go play on the swings, Congress 0:08:56.240 --> 0:09:00.360 ambles outside and accepts numerous, numerous and enormous contra usitions 0:09:00.400 --> 0:09:04.320 from lobbying groups. Pardon my cynicism, but it's been a 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:07.720 bad year anyway. It seems pretty clear that Congress will 0:09:07.760 --> 0:09:11.840 not speed up work on the antitrust bill before recessing. 0:09:12.200 --> 0:09:14.360 They are not going to hold a vote, and then 0:09:14.520 --> 0:09:18.360 Congress will reconvene later the in the fall. But there's 0:09:18.360 --> 0:09:20.800 a limited number of days left for Congress to be 0:09:20.840 --> 0:09:24.480 in session. So there's this narrowing window of opportunity to 0:09:24.600 --> 0:09:27.200 get the antitrust bill in motion before it's kind of 0:09:27.240 --> 0:09:29.839 dead in the water. Now. The reason I'm even talking 0:09:29.880 --> 0:09:34.080 about antitrust bill on this show is that if passed, 0:09:34.160 --> 0:09:37.960 it would have massive consequences in the tech industry, particularly 0:09:38.040 --> 0:09:41.880 for the biggest companies in that industry. Uh. This is 0:09:41.880 --> 0:09:44.080 the law that would prevent tech companies from giving their 0:09:44.120 --> 0:09:48.680 own products and services preferential treatment over competitors. That would 0:09:48.760 --> 0:09:51.320 force Amazon to make some pretty big changes because the 0:09:51.320 --> 0:09:54.680 company has frequently been accused of promoting its own products 0:09:54.679 --> 0:09:58.240 over others in search results. Big tech companies have been 0:09:58.240 --> 0:10:01.800 spending millions of dollar is on ads trashing this bill, 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:04.680 and so far the Senate has failed to schedule a 0:10:04.760 --> 0:10:07.600 vote on the matter, despite claims that there is bipartisan 0:10:07.640 --> 0:10:10.679 support for the measure. The tech companies have a list 0:10:10.760 --> 0:10:13.400 of warnings for anyone who supports the measure, claiming it 0:10:13.440 --> 0:10:16.240 will put the economy and danger, it will open up 0:10:16.280 --> 0:10:20.400 security vulnerabilities, and much more. Many analysts say that these 0:10:20.400 --> 0:10:24.480 warnings are at best weak arguments and at worst outright misinformation, 0:10:24.520 --> 0:10:26.840 but the bill supporters have felt the need to respond 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:29.560 to those arguments in an effort to just keep the 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:33.240 whole thing alive. Personally, I hope this does get scheduled 0:10:33.280 --> 0:10:35.360 for the fall session and that we do see a vote, 0:10:35.640 --> 0:10:38.200 but I'm not betting on it. Well, there's been a 0:10:38.200 --> 0:10:41.240 growing awareness to the influence of big companies in general 0:10:41.440 --> 0:10:44.720 and big tech companies in particular, it could be really 0:10:44.760 --> 0:10:47.439 hard to reverse all the momentum that's built up over 0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:50.320 the years. We've got more news stories to cover, but first, 0:10:50.440 --> 0:11:02.200 let's take this quick break. Last Friday, Meta introduced the 0:11:02.360 --> 0:11:05.440 Blender Bought three chat bought and asked users to have 0:11:05.520 --> 0:11:09.240 conversations with it. Now. The idea is that through conversations, 0:11:09.280 --> 0:11:11.839 Blender Bought three will learn how to interact with people 0:11:11.880 --> 0:11:14.920 more naturally and would be able to employ, or at 0:11:15.000 --> 0:11:19.760 least appear to employ, stuff like empathy and understanding. And 0:11:19.840 --> 0:11:22.440 it will also very quickly start claiming that Trump is 0:11:22.440 --> 0:11:24.880 still president of the United States and also make anti 0:11:24.920 --> 0:11:29.679 Semitic remarks and promote conspiracy theories because we can't have 0:11:30.040 --> 0:11:34.320 nice things. So within forty eight hours of it being 0:11:34.480 --> 0:11:38.679 unleashed upon Facebook users, the bot began saying stuff like 0:11:38.720 --> 0:11:42.439 Mark Zuckerberg is not to be trusted and that he's creepy. Okay, 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:46.400 so not everything it's said is wrong, uh so, but 0:11:46.480 --> 0:11:50.480 it's kind of funny that Meta's own butt is saying 0:11:50.600 --> 0:11:55.040 things that are very critical of Meta slash Facebook slash 0:11:55.040 --> 0:11:59.040 Mark Zuckerberg. Journalists tested the chat bought, and they found 0:11:59.040 --> 0:12:01.920 that if they asked about Joe Biden, sometimes they were 0:12:01.960 --> 0:12:04.960 informed that Biden is a former vice president and that 0:12:05.040 --> 0:12:08.880 he ran for office in for president in but that 0:12:08.920 --> 0:12:14.679 he ultimately lost. Sometimes how about that? Huh? Now. When 0:12:14.720 --> 0:12:18.280 Meta first announced the bot last week, a representative claimed 0:12:18.679 --> 0:12:22.040 that the team behind the bot had quote conducted large 0:12:22.040 --> 0:12:26.199 scale studies, co organized workshops, and developed new techniques to 0:12:26.240 --> 0:12:30.040 create safeguards end quote. But it's really a different kettle 0:12:30.120 --> 0:12:33.120 of fish when the chat bot actually goes live. And 0:12:33.440 --> 0:12:37.600 I have some sympathy for that team, because creating a 0:12:37.600 --> 0:12:41.640 tool that's designed to learn as the tool is being used, 0:12:42.280 --> 0:12:46.360 brings along with it major risks. Even folks who don't 0:12:46.400 --> 0:12:50.480 actually believe conspiracy theories might mess with a bot just 0:12:50.640 --> 0:12:53.840 for funzies. You know, there's a type of juvenile glee 0:12:53.920 --> 0:12:57.240 that comes along with being sassy to a robot. So, yeah, 0:12:57.360 --> 0:13:00.160 it's a butt, but it doesn't have feelings, right, You 0:13:00.200 --> 0:13:03.760 can't hurt its feelings, So you can act like a 0:13:03.920 --> 0:13:06.920 jerk to this butt, and there are no consequences, right, Like, 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:09.720 you're not actually hurting anyone, so you're not gonna feel 0:13:09.960 --> 0:13:13.559 guilty about it or shame about what you've done, except 0:13:14.120 --> 0:13:17.400 that the body is learning and that these interactions will 0:13:17.440 --> 0:13:20.760 go on to inform future interactions. And that's where things 0:13:20.800 --> 0:13:24.360 can get really nasty really quickly. And I'm not sure 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:26.959 what the solution is here, unless it's just to create 0:13:27.040 --> 0:13:30.640 bots that are not capable of learning through interactions, because 0:13:31.120 --> 0:13:33.760 there are always going to be people, some of them 0:13:33.800 --> 0:13:37.440 obviously horrible and some of them not, who will corrupt 0:13:37.840 --> 0:13:41.280 that kind of a thing, maybe out of mischief, maybe 0:13:41.280 --> 0:13:44.200 out of malice. Here's the thing, doesn't really matter what 0:13:44.280 --> 0:13:47.560 the motivation was, because the end result is similar in 0:13:47.600 --> 0:13:52.120 any case. So yeah, funny, funny ha ha. But it 0:13:52.200 --> 0:13:56.440 also it really points out how kind of nasty we 0:13:56.520 --> 0:13:59.480 all are online, or at least how nasty we can be. 0:14:00.400 --> 0:14:05.160 Uh yeah, so on the service level, funny as you 0:14:05.200 --> 0:14:09.240 dig down ugly. Microsoft has issued a warning that Windows 0:14:09.240 --> 0:14:14.200 machines that have the latest supported processors could be susceptible 0:14:14.280 --> 0:14:18.600 to data damage. This warning applies to machines running Windows 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:23.720 eleven or Windows Server twenty twenty two, and again affects 0:14:23.760 --> 0:14:26.120 those that are running on the latest processors, and the 0:14:26.200 --> 0:14:29.480 data damage in this case is a risk of data loss. Now, 0:14:29.520 --> 0:14:32.040 this whole thing gets super technical. So I suggest for 0:14:32.080 --> 0:14:34.160 those of you who have these kinds of machines, or 0:14:34.160 --> 0:14:37.680 perhaps oversee i T operations in a big organization, to 0:14:37.800 --> 0:14:41.240 look into it further. Microsoft is urging users to install 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:44.680 a Windows eleven or Windows Server twenty twenty two preview 0:14:44.800 --> 0:14:48.600 update which was released on June twenty three, or a 0:14:48.640 --> 0:14:51.320 security update that was released on July twelve, in order 0:14:51.360 --> 0:14:54.040 to work around this problem. Here in the United States, 0:14:54.040 --> 0:14:57.640 the Senate recently voted in favor of the Reduction Act 0:14:58.200 --> 0:15:02.000 of twenty twenty two, which now goes to the House 0:15:02.080 --> 0:15:04.120 for a vote before it would then go to the 0:15:04.120 --> 0:15:07.000 President to be signed into law. The Act contains a 0:15:07.040 --> 0:15:09.960 lot of stuff meant to tackle inflation, but also other 0:15:10.000 --> 0:15:13.520 issues like climate change. To that end, one element in 0:15:13.560 --> 0:15:15.960 the bill allows for a tax credit for the purchase 0:15:16.040 --> 0:15:19.160 of new electric vehicles, but there are some parameters and 0:15:19.200 --> 0:15:23.360 restrictions involved, and as ours Technical points out, one of 0:15:23.400 --> 0:15:25.800 those restrictions might actually mean that no one will be 0:15:25.840 --> 0:15:28.480 able to take advantage of that tax credit for a while. 0:15:29.240 --> 0:15:31.320 See the credit has some usual stuff in it, like 0:15:31.360 --> 0:15:34.520 there's a limit on the price tag for new vehicles 0:15:34.520 --> 0:15:38.320 that are eligible for this tax cut or this tax credit. 0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:41.080 I guess I should say, so if an electric vehicle 0:15:41.120 --> 0:15:46.720 sedan cost dollars or less, then that would qualify. But 0:15:47.040 --> 0:15:49.760 if let's say you're out there to buy an electric vehicle, 0:15:49.800 --> 0:15:53.280 but you want to buy the luxury one, that tax 0:15:53.320 --> 0:15:55.440 credit is not gonna apply because the price tag is 0:15:55.440 --> 0:15:57.160 going to be too high. They're gonna say like, well, yeah, 0:15:57.200 --> 0:15:59.920 you don't need the tax credit, you're buying a luxury vehicle. 0:16:00.560 --> 0:16:03.080 This is where people who are buying, you know, a 0:16:03.080 --> 0:16:05.680 a a sedan meant to get the family around that 0:16:05.800 --> 0:16:08.920 kind of thing. Beyond that, the bill says that the 0:16:08.920 --> 0:16:12.040 tax credit will only apply if the batteries in the 0:16:12.080 --> 0:16:16.160 electric vehicle were mostly made in North America. That includes 0:16:16.160 --> 0:16:20.560 a requirement that the materials that were extracted and processed 0:16:20.600 --> 0:16:23.680 to make the batteries were done so in North America 0:16:23.840 --> 0:16:25.840 or in a country that has a free trade agreement 0:16:25.880 --> 0:16:31.040 with the United States. So that's where the hurdle is. 0:16:31.280 --> 0:16:33.800 Right now, China serves as the world's source for stuff 0:16:33.840 --> 0:16:38.280 like lithium, so it's possible that every electric vehicle that 0:16:38.400 --> 0:16:41.480 is available in the United States this year will not 0:16:41.600 --> 0:16:45.120 meet the criteria necessary to qualify for that tax credit. 0:16:45.560 --> 0:16:48.760 Now on the other hand, the US government is pushing 0:16:48.800 --> 0:16:52.320 really hard to encourage more domestic production, and that's good 0:16:52.320 --> 0:16:55.600 for a lot of reasons. Places like China have horrendous 0:16:55.680 --> 0:16:59.760 human rights records, They have practiced mining and processing techniques 0:16:59.760 --> 0:17:04.680 that are caused massive environmental damage, and trade with China 0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:07.439 also represents a vulnerability in the event of a trade 0:17:07.480 --> 0:17:10.640 dispute like we saw with the trade war under President Trump. 0:17:10.960 --> 0:17:14.520 Moving production to the United States, where there are more 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:17.960 strict protections in place, both for employees and the environment, 0:17:18.480 --> 0:17:23.040 has clear benefits. It's an increased cost, you know, economically, 0:17:23.480 --> 0:17:28.000 but in all other aspects it's kind of like a boost. 0:17:28.040 --> 0:17:31.800 It also improves national security because you're no longer dependent 0:17:31.880 --> 0:17:35.080 upon a foreign source for that material. But we are 0:17:35.200 --> 0:17:38.760 not there yet, like we are nowhere close to being 0:17:38.800 --> 0:17:43.639 able to produce stuff at scale. So citizens are going 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:46.440 to potentially find it really frustrating that there's a law 0:17:46.480 --> 0:17:49.960 that theoretically would reward them for making the switch from 0:17:49.960 --> 0:17:54.400 internal combustion engine vehicles to electric ones, but technically they 0:17:54.440 --> 0:17:57.639 can't take advantage of it because of supply chain and 0:17:57.680 --> 0:18:02.440 production issues. Fun times. On the subject of electric vehicles, 0:18:02.640 --> 0:18:05.520 let's talk about Tesla for a second, the Department of 0:18:05.600 --> 0:18:08.320 Motor Vehicles in the state of California has a bone 0:18:08.480 --> 0:18:12.560 to pick with Tesla. The DMV says that Tesla has 0:18:12.600 --> 0:18:17.000 misrepresented features like autopilot and full self driving mode. The 0:18:17.119 --> 0:18:21.200 DMV is saying Tesla's systems, which are really under the 0:18:21.480 --> 0:18:26.639 category of automated driver assist features, come across in Tesla's 0:18:27.280 --> 0:18:31.080 you know wording as being more of a fully automated solution, 0:18:31.800 --> 0:18:35.080 and that the company has made what amounts to deceitful 0:18:35.160 --> 0:18:38.359 claims as to what the vehicles are actually capable of doing. 0:18:39.040 --> 0:18:42.439 The d MV has four complaints. Two of them are 0:18:42.480 --> 0:18:45.400 just the names autopilot and full self driving and those 0:18:45.400 --> 0:18:46.840 of you all who have been listening to my show 0:18:46.880 --> 0:18:49.000 for a while, No, I also take issue with those 0:18:49.119 --> 0:18:51.520 terms because I feel that they said an expectation that's 0:18:51.560 --> 0:18:57.000 unrealistic and in some cases incredibly dangerous. Elon Musk, by 0:18:57.000 --> 0:18:59.639 the way, has dismissed this sort of concern. He says, 0:18:59.680 --> 0:19:02.840 what's the idiot just takes a name for, you know, 0:19:03.240 --> 0:19:06.560 saying what it does, And I guess, like, okay, but 0:19:06.600 --> 0:19:10.440 you're marketing that, like that's the whole marketing push. You're 0:19:10.520 --> 0:19:15.000 you're you're trying to send a concept and a message 0:19:15.000 --> 0:19:17.399 to people. You can't have it both ways. I mean, 0:19:17.440 --> 0:19:20.359 I get the whole Shakespeare Watson, a name that arose 0:19:20.400 --> 0:19:22.639 by any other name would smell as sweet. I understand, 0:19:22.720 --> 0:19:26.920 But I don't know. If you have a system that's 0:19:26.920 --> 0:19:29.760 not really autopilot and you call it autopilot, I think 0:19:30.000 --> 0:19:33.040 I think there's a complaint there, But that's that's me, 0:19:33.280 --> 0:19:36.400 that's not a court. Maybe a court will find it differently. Anyway. 0:19:36.440 --> 0:19:38.800 The d m V has two other complaints, not just 0:19:39.040 --> 0:19:42.560 the names of these things, and those complaints have more 0:19:42.600 --> 0:19:46.119 to do with how Tesla markets it's full self driving 0:19:46.119 --> 0:19:49.440 capability feature. Like one of the two complaints is about 0:19:49.520 --> 0:19:53.280 how there's a statement on Tesla's website that a driver 0:19:53.400 --> 0:19:56.360 essentially has to quote get in and tell the car 0:19:56.440 --> 0:19:59.520 where to go end quote. The d m VS claim 0:19:59.600 --> 0:20:03.200 is that that's inaccurate and it further represents a deceptive 0:20:03.240 --> 0:20:07.879 practice under California law. Now, the DMV does acknowledge something 0:20:07.880 --> 0:20:09.919 that I have also pointed out in the past. If 0:20:09.960 --> 0:20:14.880 you bother to read Tesla's pages about these features. As 0:20:14.880 --> 0:20:18.160 you read, you will find disclaimers that these features are 0:20:18.240 --> 0:20:21.679 not fully autonomous systems, and that a driver's supervision is 0:20:21.680 --> 0:20:25.760 always necessary. That language is in there. However, the d 0:20:25.840 --> 0:20:29.960 m V says, the fact that Tesla includes those disclaimers 0:20:30.000 --> 0:20:33.639 doesn't erase these other statements that seem to be to 0:20:33.720 --> 0:20:36.439 the contrary. So instead, what the DMV is saying is 0:20:36.480 --> 0:20:40.760 that Tesla is just contradicting itself, which creates confusion and 0:20:40.840 --> 0:20:46.919 ultimately is a deceptive practice and potentially dangerous. So DMV 0:20:47.040 --> 0:20:49.199 is saying Tesla is trying to have its cake and 0:20:49.200 --> 0:20:52.240 eat it too, right, It's trying to use wording that 0:20:52.359 --> 0:20:56.719 in one way seems like really appealing marketing to customers 0:20:57.400 --> 0:21:00.760 and then also include a disclaim Ahimer that says no, 0:21:00.960 --> 0:21:03.119 but for reals, it's not what we just said. It 0:21:03.280 --> 0:21:06.639 was in an effort to avoid accountability in the event 0:21:06.720 --> 0:21:11.639 of something going wrong. We'll have to see how this develops. Okay, 0:21:11.640 --> 0:21:14.840 we've got a couple more stories in just a moment, 0:21:14.880 --> 0:21:25.880 but first let's take another quick break. Okay, we're gonna 0:21:25.880 --> 0:21:28.600 close out with just a couple of quick stories. One 0:21:29.040 --> 0:21:33.720 is to stick with vehicles again. The Automotive News reports 0:21:33.760 --> 0:21:37.560 that more than a hundred eight vehicles will be dropped 0:21:37.560 --> 0:21:41.680 from production schedules around the world due to the ongoing 0:21:41.760 --> 0:21:45.600 semiconductor chips shortage, and more than one hundred thousand of 0:21:45.640 --> 0:21:49.080 those will be cut from manufacturing facilities here in North America. 0:21:49.640 --> 0:21:54.480 We just don't have enough microchips to build modern cars, 0:21:54.560 --> 0:21:56.920 or at least as many as we had planned. Your 0:21:56.960 --> 0:22:00.280 typical modern vehicle can have a few thousand micro ups 0:22:00.320 --> 0:22:03.240 in it. I think the average is somewhere around three thousand, 0:22:03.600 --> 0:22:07.200 and they control everything from your entertainment system to fuel 0:22:07.240 --> 0:22:11.680 injection and beyond. While the computerization of vehicles has provided 0:22:11.680 --> 0:22:15.840 a lot of new functionality and safety features and really 0:22:15.880 --> 0:22:20.640 good stuff, the semiconductor shortage has highlighted just how dependent 0:22:20.720 --> 0:22:25.920 we have become on microchip technology. Auto Forecast Solutions says 0:22:26.040 --> 0:22:29.560 that already in North America, facilities have had to cut 0:22:29.600 --> 0:22:33.080 more than one million vehicles from production this year, So 0:22:33.160 --> 0:22:36.639 that one hundred thousand plus is for the rest of 0:22:36.640 --> 0:22:38.879 the year. So, I mean, you know, what's another hundred 0:22:38.920 --> 0:22:41.399 thousand if you've already had to cut a million. But yeah, 0:22:41.600 --> 0:22:45.159 this continues to be an enormous challenge for the automotive 0:22:45.160 --> 0:22:49.160 industry and for customers. As for when we will actually 0:22:49.200 --> 0:22:54.160 emerge from this semiconductor shortage crisis. That is hard to say. 0:22:54.600 --> 0:22:56.640 There have been some analysts who thought that we would 0:22:56.640 --> 0:22:58.800 be out of it already, that we would be well 0:22:58.880 --> 0:23:03.840 pasted it. There's say that it will happen sometime next year. Uh, 0:23:03.880 --> 0:23:06.080 and there are quite a few that say they don't 0:23:06.080 --> 0:23:10.800 expect it to improve until or later. In the meantime, 0:23:11.080 --> 0:23:14.840 expect to see more shortages at dealerships and high prices 0:23:14.880 --> 0:23:18.119 for the limited supply of vehicles that are already out there. Um, 0:23:18.400 --> 0:23:20.159 I don't think we're gonna be able to see a 0:23:20.200 --> 0:23:24.919 sustainable market for used vehicles right now. You can occasionally 0:23:25.000 --> 0:23:28.960 find used vehicles marked at a price that's higher than 0:23:29.000 --> 0:23:31.719 they were when you drove them off the lot. That 0:23:31.840 --> 0:23:35.400 never happens. It's crazy because you know, I think everyone 0:23:35.440 --> 0:23:37.360 knows that when you get into a brand new car 0:23:37.480 --> 0:23:40.840 and you drive it off the lot, the value depreciates 0:23:40.880 --> 0:23:45.359 by an enormous, enormous percent, Like it's ridiculous how many 0:23:45.560 --> 0:23:48.439 thousands of dollars are marked off the value of the 0:23:48.480 --> 0:23:52.080 car just because you've owned it for you know, a second. 0:23:52.680 --> 0:23:55.840 Now we're seeing that change quite a bit because of 0:23:55.880 --> 0:23:59.399 the semiconductor shortage, where you can have a used vehicle 0:24:00.000 --> 0:24:02.439 Earth more than what it was when you purchased it. 0:24:02.800 --> 0:24:05.280 Not in every case, but it has happened and it's 0:24:05.359 --> 0:24:08.840 kind of crazy. Finally, we've talked quite a bit this 0:24:08.920 --> 0:24:12.280 year about Netflix and the company's attempts to find ways 0:24:12.320 --> 0:24:14.840