WEBVTT - Tech News: Malware and Mind Control 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tex Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:12.400 --> 0:00:15.080 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:15.240 --> 0:00:18.360 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:22.480 and I love all things tech and this episode is 0:00:22.520 --> 0:00:28.160 the news episode for Tuesday, January twenty six, twenty twenty one. 0:00:28.920 --> 0:00:32.199 Let's jump right in and we will start with a 0:00:32.360 --> 0:00:35.440 follow up from a story from a previous tech stuff 0:00:35.479 --> 0:00:40.440 news episode. The hackers who targeted the Scottish Environmental Protection 0:00:40.560 --> 0:00:46.080 Agency or SPA s e p A with ransomware followed 0:00:46.159 --> 0:00:50.880 through on their threat to publish documents from sipa's databases 0:00:51.080 --> 0:00:54.440 after the organization refused to pony up the ransom money. 0:00:54.880 --> 0:00:58.160 Now as a reminder, these hackers stole about one point 0:00:58.280 --> 0:01:01.520 two gigabytes worth of data from the organization about a 0:01:01.640 --> 0:01:06.880 month ago. The CONTI ransomware Collective has claimed responsibility for 0:01:07.000 --> 0:01:11.920 the attack. That's CEO in t I. Now, CIPA has 0:01:11.959 --> 0:01:15.000 not confirmed that this match is what they are seeing. 0:01:15.760 --> 0:01:19.000 The CONTI collective is so called because when the ransomware 0:01:19.120 --> 0:01:22.520 infects the system, it changes all the affected files so 0:01:22.680 --> 0:01:25.680 that they have the extension dot c O and t 0:01:26.080 --> 0:01:30.280 I within the cybersecurity industry. It's known for being a 0:01:30.480 --> 0:01:34.400 very active type of attack, with hackers making frequent updates 0:01:34.440 --> 0:01:36.520 to the malware in an effort to stay ahead of 0:01:36.560 --> 0:01:42.080 cybersecurity experts. It was first reported by cybersecurity analysts back 0:01:42.200 --> 0:01:45.760 in December two thousand, nineteen as a type of ransomware, 0:01:46.319 --> 0:01:48.920 but it really saw serious spikes in use by the 0:01:49.000 --> 0:01:53.440 spring of the Hackers published more than four thousand documents 0:01:53.480 --> 0:01:57.320 and databases from SIPA, including information that relates to the 0:01:57.480 --> 0:02:03.280 organization's strategic operations and contracts with other entities. SIPA is 0:02:03.320 --> 0:02:07.000 working with Scotland Yard to verify the various published files, 0:02:07.240 --> 0:02:11.560 and then they're taking steps to contact any affected third parties. 0:02:12.240 --> 0:02:15.600 This is a particularly difficult situation. The data in some 0:02:15.840 --> 0:02:18.880 cases is sensitive and so there is an obligation to 0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:22.560 handle it with security and privacy. SIPA maintains it will 0:02:22.639 --> 0:02:25.679 not pay a ransom, which in my mind is still 0:02:25.760 --> 0:02:28.840 the best option. While it can be disastrous to have 0:02:29.040 --> 0:02:32.480 something like this happen, it doesn't help if you pay 0:02:32.520 --> 0:02:35.320 off the attackers because that sends the message that the 0:02:35.400 --> 0:02:39.239 attack works. If SIPA can stay the course, it shows 0:02:39.320 --> 0:02:42.960 other organizations that while the outcomes of such activities as bad. 0:02:43.680 --> 0:02:47.240 It's better than encouraging future attacks. It's not the end 0:02:47.280 --> 0:02:50.000 of the world to have some of those files leaked, 0:02:50.040 --> 0:02:52.440 even if it does mean that for the short term 0:02:52.960 --> 0:02:57.040 things will be pretty challenging. Sticking with the UK, there 0:02:57.160 --> 0:03:01.480 is a developing story that's pretty awful for an accountability standpoint, 0:03:02.080 --> 0:03:07.280 so obviously had an enormous and almost entirely negative impact 0:03:07.400 --> 0:03:11.120 on education all around the world. In the UK, the 0:03:11.240 --> 0:03:14.839 Department for Education rushed to implement a program that would 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:19.160 send refurbished laptop computers to students in the UK as 0:03:19.200 --> 0:03:22.040 part of an effort to support homeschooling during the pandemic, 0:03:22.639 --> 0:03:25.680 which on the surface sounds like a pretty good idea, 0:03:26.160 --> 0:03:29.160 but it has become clear that the Department for Education 0:03:29.320 --> 0:03:33.320 failed to vet these refurbished laptops properly, as some of 0:03:33.400 --> 0:03:36.240 them now proved to be infected with malware known as 0:03:36.360 --> 0:03:41.640 the Gamma U trojan, sometimes also known as Andromeda. Teachers 0:03:41.680 --> 0:03:45.480 in Bradford noticed the malware, and now there's an ongoing 0:03:45.560 --> 0:03:48.240 investigation to see how many of the laptops that the 0:03:48.360 --> 0:03:51.960 d f E sent out could have been infected. According 0:03:52.000 --> 0:03:55.760 to Computer Weekly, a spokesperson for the Department for Education 0:03:55.840 --> 0:03:58.720 says that all known cases were caught at the school 0:03:58.840 --> 0:04:01.800 level when the machine were first booted up, which is 0:04:01.960 --> 0:04:06.200 good news assuming that all known cases actually represents all 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:10.600 cases period. Gamuru belongs to a family of malware that 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:15.240 spreads through attachments in emails. A compromise computer becomes part 0:04:15.360 --> 0:04:18.880 of the attack strategy, sending out more spam messages to 0:04:19.120 --> 0:04:23.240 contacts with that computer, and then compromise attachments are part 0:04:23.320 --> 0:04:25.800 of that spam, and then the malware spreads from there. 0:04:26.200 --> 0:04:30.200 They will also copy itself onto stuff like USB drives. 0:04:30.839 --> 0:04:32.800 It's not a new type of malware. I mean, it's 0:04:32.839 --> 0:04:35.640 been around for almost a decade and it was the 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:40.640 focus of a worldwide takedown operation in TV and now 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:43.120 it looks like it's kind of back. Though it's also 0:04:43.200 --> 0:04:47.200 possible that these instances are really a holdover from the 0:04:47.320 --> 0:04:50.000 bad old days and not an indicator that hackers are 0:04:50.480 --> 0:04:55.840 actively using this old malware to infect systems again. Cybersecurity 0:04:55.880 --> 0:04:59.200 analysts say that the malware is attempting to contact servers 0:04:59.279 --> 0:05:03.200 in Russia, so that's obviously a red flag warning. Nothing 0:05:03.279 --> 0:05:06.960 like having a UK government agency issue laptops to students 0:05:07.440 --> 0:05:11.320 that are collecting information for Russian hackers. At the very least, 0:05:11.800 --> 0:05:15.840 this story shows that the Department for Education had a 0:05:16.040 --> 0:05:20.440 massive failure when it comes to protecting the safety of 0:05:20.640 --> 0:05:23.840 students in the UK, and they didn't do the due 0:05:23.880 --> 0:05:26.600 diligence to make certain that the laptops they were using 0:05:26.680 --> 0:05:30.120 were in fact safe. I'm sure I will follow up 0:05:30.200 --> 0:05:33.920 on this story as it develops. Over in Italy, the 0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:37.520 government there has issued an ultimatum to the video social 0:05:37.640 --> 0:05:41.840 platform TikTok implement a policy that blocks any user if 0:05:41.880 --> 0:05:46.240 TikTok is unable to verify that user's age. This follows 0:05:46.279 --> 0:05:48.880 in the wake of a truly tragic story in which 0:05:48.920 --> 0:05:52.440 a ten year old girl from Palermo passed away after 0:05:52.720 --> 0:05:57.000 allegedly attempting to participate in a TikTok challenge, which is 0:05:57.040 --> 0:06:01.400 a truly horrifying story. TikTok's states that it actually has 0:06:01.440 --> 0:06:05.560 no evidence of the associated challenge on its platform, thus 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:08.039 disputing that this was a case in which a user 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:12.960 was trying to emulate other users. Italy's requirements on TikTok 0:06:13.080 --> 0:06:17.240 will hold until February, when the government will presumably have 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:20.880 more permanent rules to put in place, and TikTok has 0:06:21.040 --> 0:06:25.560 until Friday, January twenty nine to respond. If TikTok fails 0:06:25.720 --> 0:06:29.640 to act, the Italian government can take further actions authorized 0:06:29.720 --> 0:06:33.480 by the e use General Data Protection Regulation or g 0:06:33.640 --> 0:06:37.240 d PR. That's a set of policies that put privacy 0:06:37.320 --> 0:06:41.880 protections in place for EU citizens. Very complicated, obviously, because 0:06:41.920 --> 0:06:45.640 the EU represents lots of different countries. It's the g 0:06:45.839 --> 0:06:50.160 d PR that forces companies like Google, Facebook, tons of 0:06:50.200 --> 0:06:53.080 companies to follow very different practices in the EU than 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:55.680 they would elsewhere, and it also creates a lot of 0:06:55.720 --> 0:06:59.520 complications for global businesses. And just note that I'm not 0:06:59.720 --> 0:07:03.680 saying that those complications are bad or that they're unmerited, 0:07:04.240 --> 0:07:07.000 just that companies have to follow different sets of rules 0:07:07.080 --> 0:07:10.480 depending upon where they are providing goods or services, and 0:07:10.840 --> 0:07:15.040 that just makes things more complicated, particularly for Internet services. 0:07:15.720 --> 0:07:18.440 TikTok has been the center of scrutiny and the EU 0:07:18.680 --> 0:07:22.800 for other reasons as well, mostly involving user privacy and security, 0:07:23.000 --> 0:07:27.640 So this is another case of that in Europe. Following 0:07:27.760 --> 0:07:31.160 up on another story I covered earlier this month, Googlers 0:07:31.240 --> 0:07:35.280 have announced a union alliance for workers in ten countries, 0:07:35.760 --> 0:07:40.160 and it's called Alpha Global. The alliance consists of thirteen 0:07:40.240 --> 0:07:43.840 different unions. Now, if you remember, here in the United States, 0:07:43.920 --> 0:07:47.360 a group of around two hundred Google employees founded the 0:07:47.520 --> 0:07:52.400 Alphabet Workers Union or a w U. Now more than 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:56.000 seven hundred US Google employees are part of the a 0:07:56.440 --> 0:07:59.880 w U, But part of the challenge the employees wreck 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:05.440 nizes that Google, or rather the companies under Google's parent company, Alphabet, 0:08:06.000 --> 0:08:09.160 are international in scope, so the goal is to have 0:08:09.720 --> 0:08:13.320 the different unions that are representing employee interests in various 0:08:13.360 --> 0:08:16.800 places around the world stay in touch and coordinate in 0:08:16.880 --> 0:08:19.640 an effort to extend protections to all those who are 0:08:19.720 --> 0:08:23.600 employed by the company. As it stands, the a WU 0:08:24.000 --> 0:08:27.560 doesn't currently register as a legitimate union by the US 0:08:27.720 --> 0:08:32.360 National Labor Relations Board that's a US federal government agency. 0:08:32.960 --> 0:08:36.800 The n l RB can enforce US labor laws against 0:08:36.920 --> 0:08:40.280 companies and can force the companies to negotiate with employees 0:08:40.360 --> 0:08:44.199 over various labor matters, but since a w U is 0:08:44.280 --> 0:08:47.720 not yet recognized by the n l RB, they don't 0:08:47.760 --> 0:08:51.720 have that option. Part of the a w u's challenge 0:08:52.320 --> 0:08:56.679 is that the group recognizes Google contract workers as eligible 0:08:56.800 --> 0:09:00.640 for inclusion in the union, but typically these types of 0:09:00.800 --> 0:09:05.160 unions only cover full time employees, not contractors. The new 0:09:05.240 --> 0:09:08.400 coalition will form a steering committee to guide the strategy 0:09:08.440 --> 0:09:11.800 and activities of the various unions. And while these are 0:09:11.880 --> 0:09:14.840 early days and we don't yet know if these unions 0:09:14.880 --> 0:09:17.319 will be able to send into motion real change at 0:09:17.559 --> 0:09:21.120 the you know, Google's various companies, it does seem as 0:09:21.200 --> 0:09:25.120 though there is a growing momentum behind unionization in big 0:09:25.200 --> 0:09:28.840 tech companies, which could potentially lead to some massive changes 0:09:28.880 --> 0:09:31.880 in the tech sphere, which long has operated under a 0:09:32.000 --> 0:09:35.280 more fast and loose environment with very little oversight or 0:09:35.280 --> 0:09:40.800 accountability to employees. In Russia, tens of thousands of people 0:09:41.040 --> 0:09:43.959 took to the streets in cities across the country to 0:09:44.040 --> 0:09:47.720 protest the arrest of Alexey Navalny, a Russian figure who 0:09:47.760 --> 0:09:52.559 opposes Vladimir Putin. In August twenty Navalny was poisoned with 0:09:52.679 --> 0:09:56.479 a nerve agent while traveling to Moscow and was hospitalized. 0:09:56.800 --> 0:10:00.760 He was airlifted to Berlin to receive tree eatment. He 0:10:00.880 --> 0:10:06.040 survived the attack and recovered in September. Of Russian authorities 0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:10.720 refused to pursue any investigation into the poisoning. Navalny returned 0:10:10.760 --> 0:10:13.800 to Russia earlier this month and was detained by police 0:10:13.920 --> 0:10:16.280 under the charge that he was violating terms of an 0:10:16.320 --> 0:10:20.640 earlier jail sentence. It should be noted that Navalny has 0:10:20.679 --> 0:10:25.079 been part of numerous investigations into Putant's activities, including numerous 0:10:25.200 --> 0:10:29.599 corruption investigations, so in other words, he's clearly dedicated to 0:10:29.800 --> 0:10:35.600 opposing Putin. Upon his arrest, Navalny encouraged Russian citizens to protest, 0:10:35.960 --> 0:10:39.439 and many Russians have used various social media platforms in 0:10:39.520 --> 0:10:42.440 an effort to organize and spread word of the protests 0:10:42.640 --> 0:10:47.560 and their message. Consequently, Russian authorities have tried very hard 0:10:47.800 --> 0:10:51.520 to take those kinds of posts down and have demanded 0:10:51.840 --> 0:10:55.840 that platforms like Facebook jump in and remove quote fake 0:10:56.040 --> 0:11:00.679 posts about protests end quote, which I mean this is 0:11:00.720 --> 0:11:03.800 pretty darn ironic, as there is a mountain of evidence 0:11:03.880 --> 0:11:07.440 that number one, the protests in Russia are very real 0:11:07.760 --> 0:11:10.520 and have incredible support, considering that you know, in some 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:15.040 places people are coming out to protest in public despite 0:11:15.080 --> 0:11:18.280 not just the threat of police response, but that there 0:11:18.320 --> 0:11:22.080 are temperatures in the neighborhood of minus fifty degrees celsius. 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:26.400 And number two, Russia itself has been behind numerous misinformation 0:11:26.520 --> 0:11:30.079 campaigns in an effort to disrupt democracy all over the world, 0:11:30.559 --> 0:11:36.080 including the United States. Russia has a specific regulation media 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:40.000 department that is in charge of handling these sorts of things. 0:11:40.400 --> 0:11:43.720 There are conflicting reports about whether or not various posts 0:11:43.800 --> 0:11:47.880 supporting the protests have actually been removed. Russian government officials 0:11:47.960 --> 0:11:50.560 claimed that a lot of that material has been scrubbed 0:11:50.679 --> 0:11:55.679 from these various platforms because they leveraged YouTube and Instagram 0:11:55.760 --> 0:11:58.319 and Facebook and told them to remove it. But then 0:11:58.440 --> 0:12:01.880 Facebook and Google report that neither company has removed any 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:05.960 posts and that the content doesn't actually violate their terms 0:12:06.040 --> 0:12:09.720 of service, so there's no reason to bring down those 0:12:09.920 --> 0:12:14.679 those posts. Gizmodo reports that Andre Soldatov, an expert who 0:12:14.720 --> 0:12:18.000 has written about the media regulators, feels as though the 0:12:18.040 --> 0:12:21.800 government officials aren't really adept at handling situations that change 0:12:22.000 --> 0:12:25.320 so quickly, and so we'll likely see less of an 0:12:25.360 --> 0:12:29.079 effect as they attempt to deal with the protests online. 0:12:29.880 --> 0:12:32.719 We have more news to cover, but before we get 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:44.520 to that, let's take a quick break. We're back last Friday, 0:12:44.760 --> 0:12:48.520 January twenty second, Microsoft upset a lot of gamers with 0:12:48.640 --> 0:12:52.120 an early morning announcement, but don't worry. We've got a 0:12:52.200 --> 0:12:55.000 happy ending on this one, so just stick around now. 0:12:55.080 --> 0:12:58.640 The original blog post was about how Microsoft planned to 0:12:58.760 --> 0:13:03.840 adjust prices for its Xbox Live Gold service. For those unfamiliar, 0:13:04.320 --> 0:13:09.640 this subscription service gives Xbox gamers access to online multiplayer 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:13.800 networking for games that support it. Plus they get two 0:13:14.000 --> 0:13:17.120 pre selected free games available each month, so they you 0:13:17.200 --> 0:13:20.720 can't pick which games you get for free. Microsoft says 0:13:20.760 --> 0:13:23.040 this month, these two titles are free for you, so 0:13:23.160 --> 0:13:26.160 you can download them. You can also get game discounts 0:13:26.200 --> 0:13:28.640 for certain titles in the Xbox Store and that kind 0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:32.320 of thing. It's what Xbox players have to pay if 0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:35.319 they want to play online with other folks, making it 0:13:35.520 --> 0:13:38.920 different from how Sony used to handle the PlayStation online 0:13:39.000 --> 0:13:42.520 services back in the day. The blog post explained that 0:13:42.760 --> 0:13:46.400 Microsoft was going to increase the subscription fee by one 0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:49.920 dollar for a one month Gold membership, or by five 0:13:50.000 --> 0:13:53.440 dollars for a three month membership, and so on. In addition, 0:13:53.920 --> 0:13:58.520 the post encourage users to upgrade two Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, 0:13:58.920 --> 0:14:02.520 which gives players access to dozens of different game titles 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:05.719 as part of their subscription. And again, this is a 0:14:05.760 --> 0:14:09.719 subscription service. Gold users were told they could upgrade and 0:14:09.880 --> 0:14:13.200 any remaining time on their Gold membership would be applied 0:14:13.360 --> 0:14:17.520 to their Ultimate membership. The reaction to this announcement was 0:14:17.720 --> 0:14:21.600 overwhelmingly negative. Now, I think the Ultimate Pass is actually 0:14:21.680 --> 0:14:24.680 a pretty darn good product in general, but I also 0:14:24.800 --> 0:14:28.320 think that trying to push gamers to adopt it is 0:14:28.400 --> 0:14:32.200 not a great move, and before long, Microsoft got the message. 0:14:32.640 --> 0:14:36.400 On Friday night, about fourteen hours after the original blog 0:14:36.480 --> 0:14:39.880 post went live, Microsoft updated it to say that the 0:14:39.960 --> 0:14:43.560 company would not be changing the price for Gold subscriptions. 0:14:43.680 --> 0:14:46.520 After all, this is not the first time we've seen 0:14:46.560 --> 0:14:50.800 the Xbox division walk back an announcement. When in the 0:14:50.880 --> 0:14:54.800 company first unveiled the Xbox One, the original plan was 0:14:54.880 --> 0:14:57.560 that the console would need a twenty four seven connection 0:14:57.640 --> 0:15:01.160 to the Internet. This would open up new features for 0:15:01.240 --> 0:15:04.040 the console, but it also promised to change how game 0:15:04.120 --> 0:15:08.520 companies would incorporate digital rights management into titles, and it 0:15:08.680 --> 0:15:12.880 threatened the resale market for games. Ultimately, Microsoft walked back 0:15:12.960 --> 0:15:17.160 those decisions before launching the Xbox One, so it's kind 0:15:17.200 --> 0:15:22.320 of like history repeating itself. Meanwhile, let's talk about game 0:15:22.400 --> 0:15:25.560 stop for a second, because a sort of meta game 0:15:25.760 --> 0:15:29.000 was going on with the company's stock last Friday, and 0:15:29.160 --> 0:15:33.160 I think the story will also illustrate how bonkers stock 0:15:33.280 --> 0:15:37.320 market activity can be. So there's a practice in trading 0:15:37.480 --> 0:15:40.880 called the short cell, and it involves selling stock that 0:15:41.040 --> 0:15:44.360 you don't actually own and then buying it back later 0:15:44.480 --> 0:15:47.680 for a lower price. So here's how it works. From 0:15:47.720 --> 0:15:51.200 a very high level. Let's say you are a trader, 0:15:51.600 --> 0:15:54.160 as in someone who trades stock, not a trade tour, 0:15:54.920 --> 0:15:58.280 and you're thinking that a certain stock such as game 0:15:58.360 --> 0:16:01.160 Stop is going to take a eating in the near future. 0:16:01.280 --> 0:16:03.960 The stock price is going to fall. Now, you don't 0:16:04.080 --> 0:16:08.880 own shares in game Stop, but you borrow stock from 0:16:08.960 --> 0:16:12.520 investors who do own shares in that company, and you 0:16:12.640 --> 0:16:16.440 sell those shares at the current market value. Now you've 0:16:16.480 --> 0:16:19.320 made a promise to those investors that at some point 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:22.240 in the future you will return to them their shares 0:16:22.280 --> 0:16:25.000 of stock. But your goal is to wait for the 0:16:25.040 --> 0:16:27.600 stock price to fall, and when it falls to whatever 0:16:27.680 --> 0:16:31.800 your comfort level is, you buy back those borrowed shares 0:16:32.240 --> 0:16:35.320 now to lower price. So if you are selling these 0:16:35.400 --> 0:16:38.160 borrowed shares at ten dollars a pop and buying them 0:16:38.240 --> 0:16:41.040 back at two dollars a pop, you made eight dollars 0:16:41.120 --> 0:16:45.400 per share. In that process, that's selling short. But what 0:16:45.600 --> 0:16:49.880 happens if the price goes up, Well, then you are 0:16:50.080 --> 0:16:54.200 up a certain poopy creek without a certain paddle, because 0:16:54.520 --> 0:16:57.280 you will have to cover those shares for the folks 0:16:57.360 --> 0:17:00.640 you borrowed them from. If you sold off these borrowed 0:17:00.720 --> 0:17:03.360 shares at ten dollars but the stock price went up 0:17:03.360 --> 0:17:06.440 to twenty dollars, you would have to pay an additional 0:17:06.640 --> 0:17:09.440 ten dollars per share to buy back all of that 0:17:09.600 --> 0:17:13.399 borrowed inventory and return it to the original investors. And 0:17:13.560 --> 0:17:17.680 because stock prices can just keep going up, there's not 0:17:18.080 --> 0:17:20.920 really any limit to how much money you can lose 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:23.399 if you try this and the stock price goes the 0:17:23.480 --> 0:17:27.399 other way. Fun right, So game Stop announced that a 0:17:27.480 --> 0:17:31.400 guy named Ryan Cohen was joining the board of directors, 0:17:31.720 --> 0:17:34.320 and Cohen is the CEO of a company called Chewy. 0:17:35.000 --> 0:17:39.680 A company called Citron Research, which looks for different companies 0:17:39.760 --> 0:17:42.640 that appeared to be right for the short sell approach, 0:17:43.359 --> 0:17:46.840 said hey, you know, we think game Stop stock is 0:17:46.880 --> 0:17:49.680 gonna take a dive because of this announcement, so get 0:17:49.720 --> 0:17:52.920 ready to sell short. But then some folks on a 0:17:53.040 --> 0:17:56.920 Reddit sub reddit called our slash Wall Street bets had 0:17:56.960 --> 0:18:00.399 been pushing to make the game Stop stock price go higher. 0:18:00.840 --> 0:18:04.160 So how do you do that? Well, the stock price 0:18:04.240 --> 0:18:08.520 depends in part on public perception of how a company 0:18:08.640 --> 0:18:11.240 is doing, So if you really talk up a company, 0:18:11.600 --> 0:18:15.640 you can push its stock price higher. It's literally psychology. 0:18:16.040 --> 0:18:19.600 Now this can't go on forever. If this gets done 0:18:19.680 --> 0:18:22.320 too much, you can end up with a bubble that 0:18:22.520 --> 0:18:25.600 bursts somewhere down the road. But it certainly works in 0:18:25.640 --> 0:18:28.040 the short term, and in this case it resulted in 0:18:28.160 --> 0:18:31.680 what's called a short squeeze. People who are trying to 0:18:31.840 --> 0:18:35.359 sell short saw the stock price was going up, not down, 0:18:35.840 --> 0:18:39.159 so they started buying up shares of game Stop to 0:18:39.280 --> 0:18:41.480 cover the ones they were already trying to sell short, 0:18:42.000 --> 0:18:45.400 plus maybe buying extra in order to earn money through 0:18:45.480 --> 0:18:49.119 the increased stock price to help cover the losses they 0:18:49.119 --> 0:18:52.560 would have had otherwise from trying to sell short. But hey, 0:18:52.880 --> 0:18:56.200 if more folks start buying up shares of stock, that 0:18:56.359 --> 0:19:00.639 tends to push stock prices even higher. So more people 0:19:00.800 --> 0:19:03.000 were getting in on it. They were jumping out of 0:19:03.040 --> 0:19:06.560 short selling and jumping into buying, and the cycle continued. 0:19:06.880 --> 0:19:11.040 The price rose nearly sevent before the stock exchange halted 0:19:11.160 --> 0:19:16.040 all trading for game Stop stock. That happens if the 0:19:16.160 --> 0:19:19.399 exchange detects that something really unusual is going on, so 0:19:19.520 --> 0:19:23.960 it's kind of a safety precaution. Citron meanwhile, has backed 0:19:24.040 --> 0:19:27.120 way the heck away from commenting on game Stop as 0:19:27.160 --> 0:19:31.520 people are mightily miffed at being told to sell short. 0:19:32.000 --> 0:19:34.800 As for what will happen long term for the company itself, 0:19:35.800 --> 0:19:40.040 that's undetermined, but it does show how stock market activity 0:19:40.119 --> 0:19:42.880 can be chaotic and sometimes more of a game than 0:19:43.040 --> 0:19:47.000 video games can be. And sticking with games, let's do 0:19:47.280 --> 0:19:52.800 a quick update on Cyberpunk twenty seven, Everyone's favorite game 0:19:52.880 --> 0:19:55.080 to bully. The game has been the subject of a 0:19:55.280 --> 0:19:59.680 lot of controversy from crunch Times that the at CD 0:19:59.760 --> 0:20:02.959 prod Read the company that make it to a rushed 0:20:03.160 --> 0:20:06.480 launch despite the fact that the game had been delayed 0:20:06.480 --> 0:20:10.040 a couple of times. Two major problems with bugs in 0:20:10.119 --> 0:20:13.600 the game, which were particularly egregious for people who are 0:20:13.600 --> 0:20:16.879 playing it on PS four or the Xbox One. But 0:20:17.119 --> 0:20:20.800 now we've got some more bad news. CD Project Read 0:20:20.960 --> 0:20:23.680 pushed out an update for the game, the one point 0:20:23.800 --> 0:20:26.920 one patch, in an effort to address some of the 0:20:27.040 --> 0:20:30.320 many problems that gamers have experienced as they played through 0:20:30.440 --> 0:20:34.720 this much anticipated title, But it seems as though this 0:20:35.000 --> 0:20:40.240 fix has broken something else. Specifically, a quest called Down 0:20:40.480 --> 0:20:43.920 on the Street now seems to be affected. In part 0:20:44.040 --> 0:20:47.399 of this quest, the player receives a call that helps 0:20:47.480 --> 0:20:50.680 move the story forward, only now for some players, the 0:20:50.760 --> 0:20:53.760 call doesn't work properly, and so the players are unable 0:20:53.800 --> 0:20:57.879 to progress any further in that mission. The publisher has 0:20:57.920 --> 0:21:00.680 posted a work around, but that one is dependent upon 0:21:00.800 --> 0:21:03.600 the player having an earlier save of the game in 0:21:03.760 --> 0:21:06.400 order for stuff to work out properly. If you don't 0:21:06.480 --> 0:21:09.000 have that earlier save, you kind of out of luck. 0:21:09.600 --> 0:21:12.800 The company does plan an even bigger patch one point two, 0:21:13.240 --> 0:21:17.200 which will include a quote more significant update end quote. 0:21:17.560 --> 0:21:19.800 No word on if it will address this new problem, 0:21:20.240 --> 0:21:22.560 or if CD Project Read will push out some other 0:21:22.720 --> 0:21:26.600 independent quick fix. The situation serves as a reminder that 0:21:26.760 --> 0:21:30.760 developing games is really hard, and sometimes when you fix 0:21:30.880 --> 0:21:33.840 one thing, you will break something else, which is why 0:21:33.960 --> 0:21:37.160 quality assurance is such an important part of the development process. 0:21:37.600 --> 0:21:39.439 It's the job of the q A employee to try 0:21:39.520 --> 0:21:42.080 and break stuff, or to make sure that stuff ain't 0:21:42.119 --> 0:21:46.520 broken to begin with, and after every break fix new 0:21:46.640 --> 0:21:49.960 stuff can break. It's the joy of coding. Oh and 0:21:50.160 --> 0:21:53.680 how about we cover the story of Gabe Newell, president 0:21:53.840 --> 0:21:57.560 of Valve, talking about controlling them their video games with 0:21:57.680 --> 0:22:01.040 your brain stuff. Now, according to new Well, one of 0:22:01.119 --> 0:22:03.680 the things that Valve is working on is a research 0:22:03.840 --> 0:22:08.159 software project that involves BC eyes. Now that stands for 0:22:08.400 --> 0:22:12.639 Brain computer Interfaces, and as the name suggests, it's a 0:22:12.720 --> 0:22:16.639 technology that aims to allow people to interact directly with 0:22:16.760 --> 0:22:23.520 computer systems using thought alone, kind of like telepathy for computers. Actually, 0:22:23.600 --> 0:22:27.040 in the ideal version of this technology, you would be 0:22:27.119 --> 0:22:30.240 able to have stuff go in either direction, person to 0:22:30.280 --> 0:22:32.920 computer or computer to person. You could create systems that 0:22:33.400 --> 0:22:36.840 people could control through thought, and you could build out 0:22:36.920 --> 0:22:42.399 extensions of human intelligence by having computers augment our natural abilities. Now, 0:22:42.520 --> 0:22:46.400 that's the ideal version. That's something that we are far 0:22:46.760 --> 0:22:49.399 from being able to achieve right now, and honestly, we 0:22:49.520 --> 0:22:52.040 don't know if we will ever achieve that dream of 0:22:52.119 --> 0:22:56.159 making everyone computer smart. Like, just imagine having a literal 0:22:56.280 --> 0:23:01.320 computer database that stores memories perally, so when you remember, 0:23:01.800 --> 0:23:06.600 you're not recreating a memory, you're literally looking at the 0:23:06.800 --> 0:23:10.200 actual memory as it was formed at that time. That 0:23:10.480 --> 0:23:14.239 is kind of the science fiction version of this. Now, 0:23:14.320 --> 0:23:17.600 there has already been a lot of work with various 0:23:17.680 --> 0:23:22.439 devices that respond to brainwave activity, largely in the medical field, 0:23:22.600 --> 0:23:26.280 and typically requires a great deal of training if you're 0:23:26.320 --> 0:23:28.680 creating a b c I, both on the part of 0:23:28.920 --> 0:23:31.600 the system that is running on the b c I 0:23:31.760 --> 0:23:35.840 side and the user who is trying to you know, 0:23:36.040 --> 0:23:40.440 leverage that system. It's tricky to even pick up on 0:23:40.680 --> 0:23:42.960 brain waves in the first place, because it's kind of 0:23:43.040 --> 0:23:45.119 hard to get accurate read of what's going on in 0:23:45.200 --> 0:23:49.119 our noodles due to our thick skulls. It's why some 0:23:49.400 --> 0:23:55.240 earlier b c I implementations actually required transcranial operations, meaning 0:23:55.320 --> 0:23:58.960 that part of that interface had to be surgically implanted 0:23:59.160 --> 0:24:02.920 into the U user, typically with a wire extending from 0:24:03.040 --> 0:24:06.119 the implant sticking out of their skull and connecting to 0:24:06.200 --> 0:24:10.359 the external system. This has mostly been done with patients 0:24:10.480 --> 0:24:14.840 who are paralyzed or otherwise cannot move and are unable 0:24:14.880 --> 0:24:19.879 to communicate through other means, and so it is really 0:24:20.240 --> 0:24:24.600 not common at all. Obviously, it's an extremely intrusive type 0:24:24.640 --> 0:24:29.200 of surgery UH and typically is only used in extreme cases, 0:24:29.800 --> 0:24:32.480 so that is probably a bridge too far even for 0:24:32.560 --> 0:24:36.280 the most hardcore of gamers, so any computer game system 0:24:36.480 --> 0:24:38.320 with a b C I component would have to settle 0:24:38.400 --> 0:24:41.400 for something that could pick up on brain activity through 0:24:41.760 --> 0:24:44.680 the skull. There are a lot of technical hurdles to 0:24:44.760 --> 0:24:48.040 get beyond in order to ever make this work beyond 0:24:48.400 --> 0:24:52.119 a really basic implementation, but it's kind of cool. The 0:24:52.280 --> 0:24:55.679 Valve is working on it. Perhaps in a few years 0:24:56.080 --> 0:24:58.520 will have game systems that don't include any sort of 0:24:58.560 --> 0:25:03.119 handheld controller. You'll just think jump and then little Mario 0:25:03.200 --> 0:25:07.760 will throw a fireball, then you'll rage quit. We have 0:25:07.840 --> 0:25:10.399 a few more stories to cover in this episode, but 0:25:10.520 --> 0:25:22.000 first let's take another quick break over this past weekend, 0:25:22.400 --> 0:25:27.040 Connor McGregor, professional Fighter, faced off against Dustin Poire at 0:25:27.359 --> 0:25:31.760 UFC two. He lost, by the way, but this story 0:25:31.840 --> 0:25:35.640 isn't about McGregor getting knocked out in the second round. Instead, 0:25:35.800 --> 0:25:40.240 it's about a failure of ESPN Plus, a subscription streaming 0:25:40.359 --> 0:25:44.800 service that was streaming the event for the cool admission 0:25:44.880 --> 0:25:48.600