1
00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:02,880
Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.

2
00:00:03,200 --> 00:00:09,039
Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With

3
00:00:09,119 --> 00:00:17,720
Speaker 1: tech Style from how stuff works dot com. Hello everybody,

4
00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:19,960
Speaker 1: and welcome to tech stuff. My name is Chris Poulette.

5
00:00:19,960 --> 00:00:22,320
Speaker 1: I'm an editor here at how stuff works dot Com.

6
00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:25,440
Speaker 1: Sitting across from me as usual as senior writer Jonathan Strickland.

7
00:00:25,520 --> 00:00:29,240
Speaker 1: Hey there, Crispy, So what do you want to talk

8
00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:34,920
Speaker 1: about today? Today? I want to talk about um flying? Okay,

9
00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:38,040
Speaker 1: you know, wait, we did our podcast about cell phone

10
00:00:38,120 --> 00:00:40,879
Speaker 1: safety and whether or not it was safe to actually

11
00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:43,559
Speaker 1: have a cell phone working on a plane, and then

12
00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:45,520
Speaker 1: it occurred to us that there's a lot of really

13
00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:50,560
Speaker 1: cool technology that planes use to not only take flight,

14
00:00:50,640 --> 00:00:53,280
Speaker 1: but to get around to where they're going, and we

15
00:00:53,360 --> 00:00:56,240
Speaker 1: kind of wanted to touch on some of the systems. No, granted,

16
00:00:56,640 --> 00:01:02,040
Speaker 1: a a really detailed discussion about airplane technology would probably

17
00:01:02,080 --> 00:01:03,920
Speaker 1: take hours and hours, so again, this is going to

18
00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:06,880
Speaker 1: be an overview, but we're gonna hit some of the

19
00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:09,120
Speaker 1: uh the cool technology that gets you to where you're

20
00:01:09,120 --> 00:01:11,240
Speaker 1: going when you're taking flight. Yeah, some of it's really

21
00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:14,319
Speaker 1: really complicated. Other parts of it are just plane simple,

22
00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:20,920
Speaker 1: ha ha. Alright, So with that in mind, let's go

23
00:01:20,959 --> 00:01:23,360
Speaker 1: ahead and get started. Did you have something in mind

24
00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:25,240
Speaker 1: to start with. I was going to talk about sensors

25
00:01:25,319 --> 00:01:28,160
Speaker 1: for because sensors you know, this is of course this

26
00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:30,120
Speaker 1: is these are all the systems on the plane that

27
00:01:30,319 --> 00:01:32,959
Speaker 1: tell it where it is, how fast it's moving, what's

28
00:01:32,959 --> 00:01:36,160
Speaker 1: its relationship with other stuff that's in the area. And

29
00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:38,399
Speaker 1: it's all obviously very important for the safety of the

30
00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:41,560
Speaker 1: plane and for navigational purposes. And there are tons of

31
00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:43,920
Speaker 1: different kinds of sensors that we can talk about, but

32
00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:47,640
Speaker 1: in general, the ones that are pretty much standard across

33
00:01:48,320 --> 00:01:51,400
Speaker 1: pretty much any plane of significance would be you'd have

34
00:01:51,440 --> 00:01:55,160
Speaker 1: to have something that keeps time right, so a clock

35
00:01:55,320 --> 00:02:01,360
Speaker 1: of some sort um you iCal device, US econological device,

36
00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:06,520
Speaker 1: and altimeter, which in general uses measures air pressure and

37
00:02:06,560 --> 00:02:12,000
Speaker 1: determines how um how high up you are, UH, something

38
00:02:12,040 --> 00:02:16,519
Speaker 1: that can can detect and measure air speed UM and

39
00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:24,200
Speaker 1: definite accelerometers both for vertical acceleration and horizontal UM. A

40
00:02:24,320 --> 00:02:28,600
Speaker 1: compass of some sort so magnetic heading. You would need

41
00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:33,160
Speaker 1: some sensors that would be able to uh indicate where

42
00:02:33,240 --> 00:02:35,920
Speaker 1: the controls are, I mean, like what what setting they

43
00:02:35,960 --> 00:02:39,600
Speaker 1: are in obviously UM fuel sensors, that kind of thing,

44
00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:44,760
Speaker 1: UH stabilizers. UM. All these sensors are very very important

45
00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:48,320
Speaker 1: so that the pilot can make sure that everything is

46
00:02:48,320 --> 00:02:51,239
Speaker 1: is UH as it should be and or make adjustments

47
00:02:51,240 --> 00:02:55,399
Speaker 1: if things aren't quite right. And they also the equipment

48
00:02:55,440 --> 00:02:58,200
Speaker 1: that needed to judge the state of the aircraft, like

49
00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:02,160
Speaker 1: where the flaps are, the wheels, and all the other

50
00:03:02,240 --> 00:03:04,880
Speaker 1: things that need to move, how much gas is in

51
00:03:04,880 --> 00:03:09,200
Speaker 1: the tank jet fuel jet fuel. Yeah, well, you know,

52
00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:12,440
Speaker 1: we can simplify a little bit. I think I think

53
00:03:12,440 --> 00:03:15,720
Speaker 1: we'll only get maybe ten or fifteen listener mails if

54
00:03:15,720 --> 00:03:20,000
Speaker 1: we do that. UM. But yeah, all of this information

55
00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:24,680
Speaker 1: gets fed UH to a flight data recorder as well

56
00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:29,080
Speaker 1: as to the instruments on the pilot's console. And the

57
00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:32,919
Speaker 1: flight data recorder is very important in the case of UH,

58
00:03:33,320 --> 00:03:38,000
Speaker 1: something unusual happening, whether it ends up being an actual accident,

59
00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:40,360
Speaker 1: which you know hopefully that's not the case, or if

60
00:03:40,400 --> 00:03:43,000
Speaker 1: just something is not quite right and then they need

61
00:03:43,040 --> 00:03:45,960
Speaker 1: to review it at the end of the flight. UM.

62
00:03:46,280 --> 00:03:49,760
Speaker 1: And the flight data recorder is located along with the

63
00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:54,000
Speaker 1: cockpit voice recorder in UM in special a special kind

64
00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:57,120
Speaker 1: of casing, and there's a very common term for this

65
00:03:57,200 --> 00:04:01,960
Speaker 1: kind of casing. It's actually a very deceptive term. Considering

66
00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:06,320
Speaker 1: what looks like a really sturdy box, well, it's called

67
00:04:06,320 --> 00:04:08,920
Speaker 1: it usually a black box, even though they're not black, right,

68
00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:11,680
Speaker 1: they're not black, and they don't really look like boxes. Necessarily.

69
00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:16,000
Speaker 1: They're usually bright orange UM because it makes it easier

70
00:04:16,040 --> 00:04:21,719
Speaker 1: to spot if again, the unfortunate conclusion of a wreck occurs,

71
00:04:22,360 --> 00:04:25,760
Speaker 1: if you've got a lot of wreckage, right, orange container

72
00:04:25,960 --> 00:04:29,920
Speaker 1: stands out black not so much, especially there's been fire damage.

73
00:04:30,720 --> 00:04:34,640
Speaker 1: So the black box, as they're known, UM, they shield

74
00:04:34,880 --> 00:04:37,560
Speaker 1: the flight down of recorder and the cockpit voice recorder.

75
00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:40,960
Speaker 1: Actually there's often two different ones, one for each, and

76
00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:43,640
Speaker 1: they're most often in the very back of the plane

77
00:04:43,640 --> 00:04:45,560
Speaker 1: and the tail of the plane because that's going to

78
00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:48,000
Speaker 1: be the area of the plane that suffers the least

79
00:04:48,040 --> 00:04:52,039
Speaker 1: damage in case of an impact in most cases. Yep

80
00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:55,880
Speaker 1: and UM. Actually, the information that goes to these machines

81
00:04:56,080 --> 00:04:58,960
Speaker 1: is collected by the flight Data Acquisition Unit, which basically

82
00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:02,400
Speaker 1: is a go between UH for the sensors and the

83
00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:06,160
Speaker 1: black boxing. I'm still making a case that boxing should

84
00:05:06,160 --> 00:05:08,840
Speaker 1: be the plural for box. Well, I mean, you got

85
00:05:08,960 --> 00:05:15,240
Speaker 1: good luck that anyhow, They basically have two separate responsibilities.

86
00:05:15,279 --> 00:05:20,480
Speaker 1: The the cockpit voice recorder is used to record the

87
00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:26,680
Speaker 1: voices in the cockpit. You don't say, I do say? Um,

88
00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:30,120
Speaker 1: so yeah, basically all the all the communications in the

89
00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:32,800
Speaker 1: cap and you know, in the actual cockpit itself, between

90
00:05:32,839 --> 00:05:36,680
Speaker 1: the pilot and anybody else who happens to be in there, right,

91
00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:40,120
Speaker 1: the co pilot and maybe another and anyone else who

92
00:05:40,240 --> 00:05:44,120
Speaker 1: actually is in the cockpit. Sometimes there are three yeah,

93
00:05:44,240 --> 00:05:49,039
Speaker 1: officers in the cockpit or um and usually they it's

94
00:05:49,080 --> 00:05:53,120
Speaker 1: taking taking a sound from the microphones that are located

95
00:05:53,160 --> 00:05:56,640
Speaker 1: in the pilot's headset, that copilots headset. There's usually also

96
00:05:56,760 --> 00:05:59,960
Speaker 1: another microphone that's in the cockpit itself. It's not connect

97
00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:02,000
Speaker 1: to a headset. It's just there to pick up any

98
00:06:02,040 --> 00:06:06,039
Speaker 1: other sounds and its warnings for example, right yeah, and

99
00:06:06,040 --> 00:06:08,200
Speaker 1: it'll pick up like if there's a loud thud or

100
00:06:08,279 --> 00:06:11,119
Speaker 1: something along those lines. I mean, it'll that will help

101
00:06:11,680 --> 00:06:18,120
Speaker 1: people figure out what happened after the event. So um yeah,

102
00:06:18,279 --> 00:06:20,960
Speaker 1: everything that that goes on in the cockpits recorded there. Now,

103
00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:24,440
Speaker 1: what's interesting is that, uh, it doesn't keep all that

104
00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:28,919
Speaker 1: information forever. No, it actually, uh, depending on the the

105
00:06:28,960 --> 00:06:33,080
Speaker 1: media upon which the voices are recorded. It will keep

106
00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:37,800
Speaker 1: that for between thirty minutes and two hours. And in

107
00:06:37,800 --> 00:06:40,360
Speaker 1: most cases now I think most of them have used

108
00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:44,880
Speaker 1: solid state tape solid state technology, can I not say that? Right?

109
00:06:45,080 --> 00:06:48,920
Speaker 1: More times? Basically they used to use real to real

110
00:06:49,839 --> 00:06:54,000
Speaker 1: tapes magnetic tape, um, you know, which has a finite

111
00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:58,360
Speaker 1: beginning and end. Uh. The solid state flash type memory

112
00:06:59,120 --> 00:07:02,360
Speaker 1: has the ability to you know, keep racing and um.

113
00:07:02,400 --> 00:07:05,159
Speaker 1: You know, it's also got the advantage of not having

114
00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:09,200
Speaker 1: as many moving parts, right, yeah, it's it um also

115
00:07:09,279 --> 00:07:11,840
Speaker 1: not uh yeah, it's not as vulnerable to damage as

116
00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:15,240
Speaker 1: the magnetic tape is necessarily I mean, and U it

117
00:07:15,280 --> 00:07:18,080
Speaker 1: can hold a lot more information to in a in

118
00:07:17,560 --> 00:07:22,600
Speaker 1: a in the same physical amount of space. So yeah,

119
00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:24,760
Speaker 1: up to two hours, maybe even more than that. Actually

120
00:07:24,760 --> 00:07:26,840
Speaker 1: that the latest I saw was two hours, but I'm

121
00:07:26,840 --> 00:07:29,520
Speaker 1: guessing that you know, with the way that that solid

122
00:07:29,560 --> 00:07:32,000
Speaker 1: state drives have have advanced over the last few years,

123
00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:34,600
Speaker 1: I bet it's even higher than that now. But the

124
00:07:34,640 --> 00:07:38,000
Speaker 1: idea being that after the reason why it would record

125
00:07:38,120 --> 00:07:40,080
Speaker 1: over after the last couple of hours is the only

126
00:07:40,120 --> 00:07:42,120
Speaker 1: reason you would need to review this in the first places.

127
00:07:42,120 --> 00:07:44,440
Speaker 1: If there was a catastrophic accident, and the chances are

128
00:07:45,040 --> 00:07:47,880
Speaker 1: that anything that would really indicate a problem would have

129
00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:51,440
Speaker 1: occurred half an hour or closer to the actual event.

130
00:07:51,560 --> 00:07:54,320
Speaker 1: You're not you know, it's not gonna you know, any

131
00:07:54,360 --> 00:07:58,360
Speaker 1: problem that's that serious, that's detected earlier would probably result

132
00:07:58,360 --> 00:08:01,440
Speaker 1: in an emergency landing, unless, of course you were maybe

133
00:08:01,520 --> 00:08:04,880
Speaker 1: over a huge body of water and couldn't do that right, Right,

134
00:08:05,320 --> 00:08:09,360
Speaker 1: So that's the reason for the you know, that's why

135
00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:11,280
Speaker 1: you're not too concerned over the fact that's going to

136
00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:17,280
Speaker 1: record over the previous you know recording, UM, the flight

137
00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:19,440
Speaker 1: data recorder. That's very important as well, because it will

138
00:08:19,480 --> 00:08:23,720
Speaker 1: record all the conditions that were uh that we're leading

139
00:08:23,800 --> 00:08:26,600
Speaker 1: up to the incident, and then of course everything thereafter,

140
00:08:27,240 --> 00:08:30,240
Speaker 1: and that gives investigators a chance to really determine what

141
00:08:30,280 --> 00:08:32,400
Speaker 1: it was that caused the problem in the first place.

142
00:08:33,080 --> 00:08:35,480
Speaker 1: And uh, I mean that's important. You know, if it's

143
00:08:35,480 --> 00:08:38,520
Speaker 1: a manufacturing error, then obviously that's something you have to address,

144
00:08:38,559 --> 00:08:40,640
Speaker 1: because what if that affects everything else in the fleet

145
00:08:41,280 --> 00:08:46,200
Speaker 1: of planes or everything that's you know, of that same designation, right,

146
00:08:46,240 --> 00:08:48,880
Speaker 1: I mean, this is um it's gonna track all kinds

147
00:08:48,920 --> 00:08:53,760
Speaker 1: of information about the aircraft. Uh, you know, including stuff

148
00:08:53,760 --> 00:08:56,480
Speaker 1: that I said before, all about the flaps, the positions

149
00:08:56,520 --> 00:08:59,760
Speaker 1: of the flaps and and things like that, air speed. Um,

150
00:08:59,800 --> 00:09:02,560
Speaker 1: and based on the conditions and uh, you know, maybe

151
00:09:02,559 --> 00:09:05,760
Speaker 1: the weather conditions in the area and anything that the

152
00:09:05,800 --> 00:09:09,200
Speaker 1: pilot might have said. They can sort of piece together

153
00:09:09,400 --> 00:09:11,520
Speaker 1: what may have happened in the event of an accident

154
00:09:11,800 --> 00:09:13,959
Speaker 1: right now, and they're there are plenty of transcripts out

155
00:09:13,960 --> 00:09:17,640
Speaker 1: there from that. We're taken from black box recordings, and uh,

156
00:09:17,679 --> 00:09:19,640
Speaker 1: I tried reading a few of them, and after a couple,

157
00:09:19,679 --> 00:09:22,559
Speaker 1: I'm like, I can't read any more of these. It's

158
00:09:22,559 --> 00:09:25,720
Speaker 1: a little too intense for me. Um. You might wonder

159
00:09:25,720 --> 00:09:29,840
Speaker 1: water these these black boxes made of these black boxes

160
00:09:29,840 --> 00:09:33,520
Speaker 1: that are neither black nor boxes. Um. Well, you've got

161
00:09:33,559 --> 00:09:38,480
Speaker 1: an aluminum housing that surrounds the sensitive equipment. Then you

162
00:09:38,559 --> 00:09:41,080
Speaker 1: have you have some insulation that goes around that because

163
00:09:41,080 --> 00:09:43,560
Speaker 1: of course, if there is a fire, right and jet

164
00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:46,360
Speaker 1: fuel burns pretty hot, yes, so you have to have

165
00:09:46,440 --> 00:09:50,160
Speaker 1: something that can withstand intense heat and protect the electronics

166
00:09:50,160 --> 00:09:53,320
Speaker 1: insided so that people when they recover the electronics can

167
00:09:53,400 --> 00:09:56,200
Speaker 1: figure out what happened. Um. And then around that you

168
00:09:56,280 --> 00:10:01,000
Speaker 1: have a stainless steel shell. Wow. Yeah, so I mean,

169
00:10:01,600 --> 00:10:04,520
Speaker 1: and people often make that like that. I've heard comedians

170
00:10:04,559 --> 00:10:08,440
Speaker 1: make the joke of, you know, when there's an airplane crash,

171
00:10:08,559 --> 00:10:10,679
Speaker 1: they find the black box and it's fine, Why don't

172
00:10:10,720 --> 00:10:14,679
Speaker 1: they make the whole airplane out of that hauh? Because

173
00:10:14,720 --> 00:10:19,760
Speaker 1: it be way too heavy, that's why. But that's not funny.

174
00:10:19,960 --> 00:10:21,840
Speaker 1: I guess. I guess if you stand up and you

175
00:10:21,960 --> 00:10:24,640
Speaker 1: and you talk back to a comedian who's doing observational humor,

176
00:10:24,679 --> 00:10:27,200
Speaker 1: and you explain in logical terms why the joke would

177
00:10:27,240 --> 00:10:29,839
Speaker 1: not work, that makes it less funny. I suppose I

178
00:10:29,880 --> 00:10:32,160
Speaker 1: would imagine that that would not endear you to your

179
00:10:32,160 --> 00:10:36,160
Speaker 1: fellow you know, crowd members. Yeah, that that explains why

180
00:10:36,200 --> 00:10:40,680
Speaker 1: I'm no longer allowed in the chuckle hut. So yeah,

181
00:10:41,160 --> 00:10:42,600
Speaker 1: do you like that? I just came up with it,

182
00:10:42,679 --> 00:10:46,600
Speaker 1: all right. So another thing that these uh, these black

183
00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:52,640
Speaker 1: boxes have usually is an underwater locator beacon. Oh yeah, yeah,

184
00:10:52,679 --> 00:10:54,840
Speaker 1: that would be very useful well, of course, Yeah, if

185
00:10:54,840 --> 00:10:57,320
Speaker 1: you if you do happen to have an emergency water

186
00:10:57,400 --> 00:11:00,120
Speaker 1: landing or a crash, you would need to have some

187
00:11:00,200 --> 00:11:03,920
Speaker 1: way of being able to find this this device underwater

188
00:11:04,800 --> 00:11:07,720
Speaker 1: and the way these systems work is they have a

189
00:11:07,760 --> 00:11:12,920
Speaker 1: sensor that will detect if the black box goes underwater,

190
00:11:13,360 --> 00:11:18,080
Speaker 1: and then it activates a a subsonic signal. Actually I'm sorry,

191
00:11:18,120 --> 00:11:20,199
Speaker 1: an ultrasonic signal, so I should go the other way,

192
00:11:20,280 --> 00:11:24,559
Speaker 1: not subsonicum, ultrasonic signal, And so you can't hear it,

193
00:11:24,720 --> 00:11:28,320
Speaker 1: but it can be detected by UH wall detection equipment,

194
00:11:28,720 --> 00:11:31,880
Speaker 1: so people searching around the area using the right equipment

195
00:11:31,920 --> 00:11:35,120
Speaker 1: can locate it very quickly. Right, so it's a pitch

196
00:11:35,200 --> 00:11:37,719
Speaker 1: so high that only underwater dogs can hear it. Right,

197
00:11:38,480 --> 00:11:41,360
Speaker 1: it might affect the behavior of dolphins in the area,

198
00:11:41,480 --> 00:11:45,880
Speaker 1: but other than that, right, And even despite that, of course, um,

199
00:11:45,920 --> 00:11:49,480
Speaker 1: they can't always find some of the the black boxes.

200
00:11:49,520 --> 00:11:52,079
Speaker 1: I mean that happened in the case of that that

201
00:11:52,160 --> 00:11:58,079
Speaker 1: crash in the ocean earlier summer or two thousand nine. Um,

202
00:11:58,120 --> 00:12:00,400
Speaker 1: as far as I know, last i'd see they had

203
00:12:00,520 --> 00:12:02,520
Speaker 1: they'd given up looking for it because they were unable

204
00:12:02,559 --> 00:12:04,560
Speaker 1: to find that signal. Yeah, well, I mean there are

205
00:12:04,640 --> 00:12:07,160
Speaker 1: many things that could affect that. I mean you're talking about,

206
00:12:07,320 --> 00:12:10,480
Speaker 1: like the wreckage of a crash can spread over a

207
00:12:10,600 --> 00:12:12,800
Speaker 1: very wide area, so that makes it difficult. Then of

208
00:12:12,840 --> 00:12:15,800
Speaker 1: course you have things like currents and the depth of

209
00:12:15,800 --> 00:12:19,920
Speaker 1: the water exactly. Um was not exactly known for not

210
00:12:20,080 --> 00:12:24,880
Speaker 1: distorting audio, right, Yeah, so it might depending on many

211
00:12:24,920 --> 00:12:28,040
Speaker 1: different uh factors, you may or may not be able

212
00:12:28,040 --> 00:12:30,880
Speaker 1: to find that very quickly. But that's the whole purpose

213
00:12:30,880 --> 00:12:33,000
Speaker 1: of it is to to try and facilitate that, make

214
00:12:33,040 --> 00:12:35,560
Speaker 1: it a little easier, so that the answers can can

215
00:12:35,600 --> 00:12:38,680
Speaker 1: be found too. I mean, anytime there's a crash, there's

216
00:12:38,679 --> 00:12:41,360
Speaker 1: gonna be lots of questions about exactly what happened. You know,

217
00:12:41,480 --> 00:12:44,000
Speaker 1: was it human error, was it mechanical error, was it

218
00:12:44,160 --> 00:12:46,680
Speaker 1: you know, unexpected turbulence, all that kind of stuff everyone

219
00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:49,679
Speaker 1: wants to know. I mean, you know, it's a very

220
00:12:49,679 --> 00:12:54,640
Speaker 1: traumatic experience. Um, moving on to unless you have anything

221
00:12:54,679 --> 00:12:56,120
Speaker 1: else about black boxes. I was going to move on

222
00:12:56,120 --> 00:12:58,000
Speaker 1: to a different technology now. I was going to say,

223
00:12:58,040 --> 00:13:00,280
Speaker 1: you know, that's you know we've been talking about that's

224
00:13:00,360 --> 00:13:02,720
Speaker 1: kind of a somber one way. You always have something

225
00:13:02,720 --> 00:13:06,160
Speaker 1: else that's not not so somber. Um, this is this

226
00:13:06,200 --> 00:13:09,640
Speaker 1: isn't necessarily upbeaten chipper. It's just a neat technology. I

227
00:13:09,679 --> 00:13:14,960
Speaker 1: was gonna talk about transponders. So transponder is a well

228
00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:17,520
Speaker 1: the word transponder. It's kind of a combination of the

229
00:13:17,559 --> 00:13:23,599
Speaker 1: words transmitter and responder. That's a transponder. The idea is

230
00:13:23,640 --> 00:13:26,000
Speaker 1: that it's a device that when you send a signal,

231
00:13:26,160 --> 00:13:30,000
Speaker 1: it automatically sends a signal back. And it was very

232
00:13:30,080 --> 00:13:33,679
Speaker 1: useful during World War Two because what they used. The

233
00:13:34,240 --> 00:13:36,880
Speaker 1: way the military used transponders was it was a way

234
00:13:36,880 --> 00:13:41,560
Speaker 1: to identify planes as being allied planes. Clearly, I mean,

235
00:13:41,559 --> 00:13:45,559
Speaker 1: you wouldn't want to fire upon an allied UH airplane.

236
00:13:45,600 --> 00:13:49,240
Speaker 1: That's a typically considered a bad tactic in warfare, as

237
00:13:49,240 --> 00:13:52,360
Speaker 1: I understand it, So you would not want to fire

238
00:13:52,400 --> 00:13:54,559
Speaker 1: upon one of your own allies that you've got this transponder.

239
00:13:54,600 --> 00:13:56,160
Speaker 1: You send a signal out, you get a signal back,

240
00:13:56,200 --> 00:13:59,520
Speaker 1: you see that this is one of the signals that

241
00:14:00,160 --> 00:14:04,520
Speaker 1: UM signifies a friend, you don't fire upon them. Now

242
00:14:04,520 --> 00:14:08,400
Speaker 1: in commercial jets, it's more of a way to identify

243
00:14:08,520 --> 00:14:11,520
Speaker 1: the plane and make sure that you're that they're on

244
00:14:11,559 --> 00:14:14,440
Speaker 1: the right track, they're on the right flight path, UM

245
00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:18,080
Speaker 1: and UH so it's very useful for air traffic control

246
00:14:19,200 --> 00:14:21,440
Speaker 1: and UM. I used to have to write a lot

247
00:14:21,640 --> 00:14:24,960
Speaker 1: about transponders. One of my first jobs out of college

248
00:14:25,600 --> 00:14:29,440
Speaker 1: was I was working for a particular airline which I

249
00:14:29,480 --> 00:14:34,400
Speaker 1: will not name. But um, my job was to take

250
00:14:34,560 --> 00:14:39,280
Speaker 1: really old sound files, uh that were descriptions of the

251
00:14:39,360 --> 00:14:44,560
Speaker 1: various systems aboard their airplanes and transcribe them because they

252
00:14:44,640 --> 00:14:49,000
Speaker 1: lost the hard copy scripts. So I got to listen

253
00:14:49,160 --> 00:14:53,120
Speaker 1: all day two sound files about things like the seven

254
00:14:53,240 --> 00:14:57,200
Speaker 1: forty seven and and write down everything about all their

255
00:14:57,240 --> 00:15:01,880
Speaker 1: various systems. Yeah. That was my job for about well

256
00:15:01,920 --> 00:15:06,160
Speaker 1: a couple of months. Really that long. Yeah, I'm impressed

257
00:15:06,160 --> 00:15:07,760
Speaker 1: as you made it that long. Well, it was a

258
00:15:07,880 --> 00:15:09,840
Speaker 1: temp job in the first place. It wasn't it wasn't

259
00:15:09,920 --> 00:15:15,080
Speaker 1: a permanent assignment. Yeah, no, I know, I know more

260
00:15:15,120 --> 00:15:20,920
Speaker 1: about the m D A eight than I cared to remember. Well, um,

261
00:15:20,960 --> 00:15:24,440
Speaker 1: you know, actually transponders are very important because they lead

262
00:15:24,480 --> 00:15:28,000
Speaker 1: to some non airplane airplane tech too. Yeah, because not

263
00:15:28,160 --> 00:15:31,520
Speaker 1: just using aircraft. Well that's that's not exactly what I meant,

264
00:15:31,880 --> 00:15:34,600
Speaker 1: because part of um, the tech used in flying a

265
00:15:34,680 --> 00:15:37,520
Speaker 1: plane is based on the ground. Well that's true too,

266
00:15:37,760 --> 00:15:41,400
Speaker 1: because the transponder is used by air traffic control, very

267
00:15:41,520 --> 00:15:45,760
Speaker 1: human piece of airplane tech to keep an eye on

268
00:15:45,840 --> 00:15:49,000
Speaker 1: everything and there. Um there's we have an article on

269
00:15:49,240 --> 00:15:53,400
Speaker 1: um that actually sort of you know, went through and

270
00:15:53,920 --> 00:15:57,320
Speaker 1: made some minor changes on not too long ago about uh,

271
00:15:57,560 --> 00:15:59,800
Speaker 1: the how the f a A A works. It's kind of

272
00:16:00,080 --> 00:16:04,520
Speaker 1: thing because you realize that the FAA is tracking those

273
00:16:04,520 --> 00:16:08,920
Speaker 1: planes pretty much everywhere. They are using that transponder signal, um,

274
00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:12,960
Speaker 1: using the ground control equipment and basically they subdivide the

275
00:16:12,960 --> 00:16:17,240
Speaker 1: country into different sections and with each individual. I mean,

276
00:16:17,440 --> 00:16:20,840
Speaker 1: you know that transponder code from that particular aircraft is

277
00:16:20,960 --> 00:16:24,040
Speaker 1: unique to that plane. So, um, you know that's a

278
00:16:24,160 --> 00:16:27,080
Speaker 1: very important part at tech because at any given moment,

279
00:16:27,120 --> 00:16:31,840
Speaker 1: they're they're aware of where that is. That's true, That's true.

280
00:16:32,120 --> 00:16:34,920
Speaker 1: And of course we now also have the um the

281
00:16:34,960 --> 00:16:40,080
Speaker 1: wonderful technology of GPS, and many planes have a GPS

282
00:16:40,160 --> 00:16:43,000
Speaker 1: receiver that so that the pilot can see very quickly

283
00:16:43,920 --> 00:16:48,440
Speaker 1: exactly where the plane is. And um that's often a

284
00:16:48,560 --> 00:16:52,960
Speaker 1: useful thing, especially in really bad flying conditions. Uh, I

285
00:16:53,000 --> 00:16:55,600
Speaker 1: was gonna talk a little bit. And and the GPS

286
00:16:55,640 --> 00:16:57,160
Speaker 1: also comes in handy if you have to be sitting

287
00:16:57,160 --> 00:16:58,800
Speaker 1: on one of those planes that has the monitor in

288
00:16:58,800 --> 00:17:00,240
Speaker 1: the back of the seat in front of you and

289
00:17:00,280 --> 00:17:03,800
Speaker 1: you get want a track where you're plane is. Yeah,

290
00:17:03,840 --> 00:17:06,760
Speaker 1: it gives you the flight track information and you're like, wow,

291
00:17:07,640 --> 00:17:12,159
Speaker 1: we're directly over Tucson right now. Um. But I was

292
00:17:12,200 --> 00:17:14,959
Speaker 1: also going to mention there's some other tech on on

293
00:17:15,040 --> 00:17:17,679
Speaker 1: planes that it's a little more recent that. Uh. I

294
00:17:17,680 --> 00:17:20,280
Speaker 1: thought i'd chat about the WiFi that you can get

295
00:17:20,320 --> 00:17:23,960
Speaker 1: on some planes. Now, okay, I have an older piece

296
00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:26,760
Speaker 1: of tech too, So do you want to do that ahead? No? No, no,

297
00:17:26,800 --> 00:17:30,320
Speaker 1: it's okay. If we're going chronologically, then I should skip

298
00:17:30,359 --> 00:17:34,200
Speaker 1: back real quick. Shoot for it. One, two, three, shoot

299
00:17:34,280 --> 00:17:38,640
Speaker 1: all right, all right, Chris, one, go ahead, Um yeah,

300
00:17:38,680 --> 00:17:41,800
Speaker 1: I l S. Oh all right. Um. The I l

301
00:17:41,920 --> 00:17:46,040
Speaker 1: S system is basically tells a pilot where he or

302
00:17:46,119 --> 00:17:49,879
Speaker 1: she is with regard to a runway. Um. It actually

303
00:17:49,920 --> 00:17:54,440
Speaker 1: uses combination of radio signals based around, um, the runway

304
00:17:54,480 --> 00:17:58,720
Speaker 1: itself and uh so maybe the runway is obscured by clouds.

305
00:17:59,320 --> 00:18:02,760
Speaker 1: Um it will you know use sort of. It uses

306
00:18:02,800 --> 00:18:06,560
Speaker 1: a combination of altitude, well, the glide path and then

307
00:18:07,200 --> 00:18:11,200
Speaker 1: also the uh you know, it's the excuse me, Instrument

308
00:18:11,280 --> 00:18:13,199
Speaker 1: Landing system is what I l S is short for.

309
00:18:13,359 --> 00:18:15,880
Speaker 1: So it basically is giving them a combination of while

310
00:18:15,960 --> 00:18:19,360
Speaker 1: you are right here with regard to the runway. Uh,

311
00:18:19,400 --> 00:18:21,320
Speaker 1: you should you know, turn this way a little bit

312
00:18:21,359 --> 00:18:23,560
Speaker 1: and you'll be lined up with the runway. So even

313
00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:26,320
Speaker 1: if he or she can't see it, um, they know

314
00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:29,479
Speaker 1: exactly where it is based on the signals generated from

315
00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:33,400
Speaker 1: the ground, and you know, they coordinate that with where

316
00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:35,399
Speaker 1: the plane is. So that's a very useful piece of

317
00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:38,640
Speaker 1: definitely technology because if you've ever wondered when you're coming

318
00:18:38,680 --> 00:18:41,040
Speaker 1: into an airport and it's cloudy out and they make

319
00:18:41,040 --> 00:18:43,840
Speaker 1: a perfect landing, that's how they're doing it. They're relying

320
00:18:43,880 --> 00:18:47,560
Speaker 1: on that instrumentation to help them help them find where

321
00:18:47,600 --> 00:18:51,280
Speaker 1: they are. Also, the orientation really important. Whenever Johnny unplugs

322
00:18:51,320 --> 00:18:55,000
Speaker 1: the lights on the runway, that happens in so few

323
00:18:55,040 --> 00:19:02,800
Speaker 1: circumstances that that's problem. Surely you can't be serious, um,

324
00:19:02,840 --> 00:19:05,959
Speaker 1: all right, so now we'll go on to the WiFi. Alright,

325
00:19:07,240 --> 00:19:11,640
Speaker 1: the WiFi, No Johnny's on the ground. So yeah, WiFi

326
00:19:11,680 --> 00:19:15,320
Speaker 1: on planes is fairly recent. Um. It's something that had

327
00:19:15,359 --> 00:19:18,359
Speaker 1: been discussed, uh well for a few years now, and

328
00:19:19,080 --> 00:19:21,640
Speaker 1: a couple of companies have been doing it for since

329
00:19:21,680 --> 00:19:24,439
Speaker 1: about I guess around two thousand and six, but in

330
00:19:24,480 --> 00:19:27,080
Speaker 1: the United States it's a little more recent than that.

331
00:19:27,600 --> 00:19:33,480
Speaker 1: And um, it's a it's a pretty simple system. They

332
00:19:33,359 --> 00:19:36,600
Speaker 1: there's some technology, there's equipment that's put aboard the plane

333
00:19:36,600 --> 00:19:38,880
Speaker 1: that turns it turns it into a hot spot essentially,

334
00:19:39,720 --> 00:19:45,199
Speaker 1: and your laptop or other device can connect wirelessly to

335
00:19:45,359 --> 00:19:51,199
Speaker 1: this using typical WiFi technology, and then the hardware on

336
00:19:51,240 --> 00:19:54,600
Speaker 1: the plane actually sends that signal down to the ground

337
00:19:54,760 --> 00:19:58,359
Speaker 1: to towers on the ground and communicates that way. And

338
00:19:58,400 --> 00:20:01,920
Speaker 1: that's how you are getting acces us too, uh, the Internet.

339
00:20:02,200 --> 00:20:04,560
Speaker 1: So it's not like, you know, you're you're not tapping

340
00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:09,000
Speaker 1: into this magical Internet that's all around you in the air. Um. Really,

341
00:20:09,480 --> 00:20:11,119
Speaker 1: the reason why you're able to do it is because

342
00:20:11,160 --> 00:20:15,320
Speaker 1: the plane has a very specific kind of transceiver. Really,

343
00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:20,160
Speaker 1: it's a very very long Ethernet cable. Yes, right, there's

344
00:20:20,320 --> 00:20:23,600
Speaker 1: there's some poor schlubs job to just keep unwinding that

345
00:20:23,680 --> 00:20:27,359
Speaker 1: cord and then another poor poor person's job to wind

346
00:20:27,359 --> 00:20:32,440
Speaker 1: it all. No, it's not wired. Man, Talk about the

347
00:20:32,520 --> 00:20:36,560
Speaker 1: letters we would get from that one? Yeah? Um, was

348
00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:38,560
Speaker 1: that all with WiFi? Yeah? That was all I had

349
00:20:38,600 --> 00:20:40,680
Speaker 1: for a WiFi. It was just really it's just interesting

350
00:20:40,720 --> 00:20:43,560
Speaker 1: to me that it's you know, again, you're turning the

351
00:20:43,560 --> 00:20:46,119
Speaker 1: plane itself into a hot spot, and depending on what

352
00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:49,919
Speaker 1: airline you're on, you'll see that they have different um uh,

353
00:20:50,280 --> 00:20:56,000
Speaker 1: different pricing plans for it. Um. Some some people found difficulty, um. People,

354
00:20:56,119 --> 00:21:01,880
Speaker 1: some companies found difficulty implementing this and making it uh profitable. UM.

355
00:21:01,920 --> 00:21:04,640
Speaker 1: I think Boeing did it briefly and then jumped out

356
00:21:04,640 --> 00:21:08,840
Speaker 1: of it in the connection. Yeah yeah, I think. Weren't

357
00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:11,040
Speaker 1: they charging like thirty bucks a flight or something like that.

358
00:21:11,240 --> 00:21:12,639
Speaker 1: I don't know about the price point, but I do

359
00:21:12,680 --> 00:21:15,320
Speaker 1: know that they've done They've washed their hands and yeah, yeah,

360
00:21:15,359 --> 00:21:17,880
Speaker 1: what happened was, as I recall, the way it worked

361
00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:20,879
Speaker 1: was they were charging thirty bucks for per flight. No.

362
00:21:21,119 --> 00:21:24,119
Speaker 1: I don't know that necessarily um scale depending on the

363
00:21:24,200 --> 00:21:27,879
Speaker 1: length of the flight. But because most people weren't willing

364
00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:30,000
Speaker 1: to pay about as much as it costs to have

365
00:21:30,119 --> 00:21:34,320
Speaker 1: WiFi for a month at your house for a single flight, um,

366
00:21:34,359 --> 00:21:37,280
Speaker 1: it ended up not making Bowing very much money and

367
00:21:37,359 --> 00:21:40,320
Speaker 1: they abandoned the project. But other you know, like actual

368
00:21:40,359 --> 00:21:45,960
Speaker 1: airlines have have implemented this on their own and um,

369
00:21:46,200 --> 00:21:48,159
Speaker 1: there are a couple of companies that partner with to

370
00:21:48,240 --> 00:21:51,600
Speaker 1: do that. Yeah. Um, and they give you broadband speeds

371
00:21:51,600 --> 00:21:55,399
Speaker 1: of slowish DSL, So I mean it's it's fast, but

372
00:21:55,440 --> 00:21:58,240
Speaker 1: not really really fast. Yeah. Yeah, most people I think

373
00:21:58,240 --> 00:22:00,200
Speaker 1: will be using it to do things like checking l

374
00:22:00,320 --> 00:22:01,800
Speaker 1: I mean you might have a few folks who are

375
00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:04,399
Speaker 1: you know, wanting to use it to to use Hulu

376
00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:06,919
Speaker 1: so they can avoid having to watch whatever the movie

377
00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:09,600
Speaker 1: is on board the plane. Yeah, there's only so many

378
00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:13,919
Speaker 1: times you can watch Uncle Buck, by the way, is

379
00:22:13,960 --> 00:22:16,240
Speaker 1: the number of times that would be a good segue

380
00:22:16,280 --> 00:22:20,800
Speaker 1: into a satellite TV though? Um? Now, you know a

381
00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:25,160
Speaker 1: lot of era carriers now offer satellite radio and satellite TV.

382
00:22:25,880 --> 00:22:28,919
Speaker 1: Um and um, they're the signals are a little bit different.

383
00:22:28,920 --> 00:22:32,760
Speaker 1: Satellite radio is not nearly as directional. Uh. So you know,

384
00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:36,840
Speaker 1: really it doesn't matter. The antenna position doesn't matter nearly

385
00:22:36,840 --> 00:22:38,919
Speaker 1: as much as it does for a satellite TV. If

386
00:22:38,960 --> 00:22:41,800
Speaker 1: you're a person that owns a satellite dish, uh, and

387
00:22:41,840 --> 00:22:44,040
Speaker 1: it's in your yard and you know, the neighbor's kid

388
00:22:44,119 --> 00:22:46,040
Speaker 1: kicked a soccer ball into it, and it looks like

389
00:22:46,119 --> 00:22:48,080
Speaker 1: it's position right, but it through your TV signal off.

390
00:22:48,119 --> 00:22:52,080
Speaker 1: You know that satellite TV signals are a bit more directional. Well,

391
00:22:52,280 --> 00:22:55,719
Speaker 1: you say, is there a little you know? Uh? William

392
00:22:55,800 --> 00:22:59,960
Speaker 1: Shatner type guy out on the wing repositioning that side

393
00:23:00,080 --> 00:23:04,720
Speaker 1: light dish. William Shatner was inside the plane. Okay, that's

394
00:23:04,720 --> 00:23:11,320
Speaker 1: not sorry, shall I shall I restate there's not a

395
00:23:11,359 --> 00:23:14,720
Speaker 1: little uh, you know, gremlin like William Shatner saw through

396
00:23:14,760 --> 00:23:18,240
Speaker 1: the window of the plane. UM out there repositioning the

397
00:23:18,280 --> 00:23:21,919
Speaker 1: satellite dish and actually uses for satellite TV on a plane.

398
00:23:22,280 --> 00:23:25,600
Speaker 1: You actually have a specialized antenna that tracks the position

399
00:23:25,640 --> 00:23:28,199
Speaker 1: of the satellite and automatically corrects itself so that it

400
00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:32,800
Speaker 1: can maintain its line of sight to the satellite UM

401
00:23:32,880 --> 00:23:36,639
Speaker 1: and continue to receive satellite TV signals. That's pretty it's

402
00:23:36,720 --> 00:23:40,800
Speaker 1: kind of a you know, considering the cost of a

403
00:23:40,840 --> 00:23:42,320
Speaker 1: regular dish they would put it on the side of

404
00:23:42,320 --> 00:23:45,040
Speaker 1: your house. It's considerably more expensive than that. UM. I

405
00:23:45,040 --> 00:23:46,359
Speaker 1: don't know how much they are now. They used to

406
00:23:46,440 --> 00:23:48,800
Speaker 1: range in thousands of dollars, of course, you know, compared

407
00:23:48,800 --> 00:23:52,520
Speaker 1: to the cost of an entire plane. That's nothing, um,

408
00:23:52,680 --> 00:23:56,760
Speaker 1: not literally peanuts. Those are actually cheaper well you know,

409
00:23:56,840 --> 00:24:01,600
Speaker 1: and may cause allergies, um, making tain nuts right, UM.

410
00:24:01,640 --> 00:24:03,959
Speaker 1: But you know that's kind of an interesting technology too,

411
00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:06,399
Speaker 1: because it has to it can't just it's not like

412
00:24:06,440 --> 00:24:08,960
Speaker 1: a you know, a terrestrial antenna where just you know,

413
00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:11,320
Speaker 1: stick a thing on top of the car and it goes.

414
00:24:11,440 --> 00:24:15,400
Speaker 1: You actually have to pay attention to where the satellite is. Um,

415
00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:19,119
Speaker 1: that's kind of a neat little gimmick. Cool, Well, do

416
00:24:19,160 --> 00:24:21,399
Speaker 1: you have anything else anymore airplane tech you want to

417
00:24:21,440 --> 00:24:24,560
Speaker 1: talk about? You know? Not? Really? All right? Well, I'm

418
00:24:24,640 --> 00:24:28,440
Speaker 1: I'm actually I'm all tapped out. So, like we said,

419
00:24:28,480 --> 00:24:32,240
Speaker 1: this is just another kind of overview because there's plenty

420
00:24:32,240 --> 00:24:34,680
Speaker 1: more that we could talk about, but not not more

421
00:24:34,720 --> 00:24:36,639
Speaker 1: that we're prepared to talk about. It's sort of a

422
00:24:36,720 --> 00:24:39,600
Speaker 1: high level maybe thirty five thousand feet, Yeah, it's right

423
00:24:39,640 --> 00:24:43,399
Speaker 1: around there. Turbulence. We'll we'll, we'll descend to maybe, you know,

424
00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:48,600
Speaker 1: eight thousand if that happens. This has been a turbulent podcast.

425
00:24:48,640 --> 00:24:50,560
Speaker 1: So with that, let's let's just go ahead and move

426
00:24:50,560 --> 00:24:57,440
Speaker 1: on to a listener mail. And this listener mail comes

427
00:24:57,480 --> 00:25:00,440
Speaker 1: from Matt and Uh. I cut out a lot of

428
00:25:00,480 --> 00:25:02,439
Speaker 1: Matt's email, but I've got the crux of it here,

429
00:25:02,480 --> 00:25:05,000
Speaker 1: and Matt says, Hey, Chris and Jonathan, I was wondering

430
00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:08,640
Speaker 1: what the differences between virus protection and internet security. Do

431
00:25:08,680 --> 00:25:11,600
Speaker 1: I need internet security or just anti virus what makes

432
00:25:11,640 --> 00:25:15,480
Speaker 1: internet security costs so much more. Some people also say

433
00:25:15,480 --> 00:25:18,360
Speaker 1: that I should have a program specifically for spyware removal

434
00:25:18,480 --> 00:25:23,520
Speaker 1: along with my virus protection or whatever. Is this true, sincerely, Matt. Now,

435
00:25:23,600 --> 00:25:26,359
Speaker 1: what Matt was referring to were some specific products that

436
00:25:26,359 --> 00:25:29,240
Speaker 1: are on the market for anti virus and internet security.

437
00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:33,080
Speaker 1: Um So, Matt, here's kind of what all that means. Now.

438
00:25:33,080 --> 00:25:36,679
Speaker 1: An anti virus program in general, specifically is designed to

439
00:25:36,920 --> 00:25:40,600
Speaker 1: search out any signs of viruses on your computer and

440
00:25:40,680 --> 00:25:44,920
Speaker 1: often other kinds of malware to trojan's that kind of thing. Yeah,

441
00:25:44,960 --> 00:25:48,679
Speaker 1: pretty much, a malware detection program is what that is.

442
00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:52,280
Speaker 1: And most anti virus, if it's if it just says

443
00:25:52,280 --> 00:25:55,800
Speaker 1: anti virus, that's really what it does. It goes after malware, uh,

444
00:25:55,840 --> 00:26:00,760
Speaker 1: anti spyware that's looking specifically for any sort of tracking

445
00:26:00,840 --> 00:26:03,840
Speaker 1: software that's being put on your computer. Basically anything that's

446
00:26:03,840 --> 00:26:08,440
Speaker 1: gonna phone home with information about you anywhere from your

447
00:26:09,119 --> 00:26:12,720
Speaker 1: passwords and uh, you know, personal information like that, to

448
00:26:13,040 --> 00:26:16,080
Speaker 1: you know, marketing type spyware where it's just saying, yeah,

449
00:26:16,119 --> 00:26:18,600
Speaker 1: you know, he's visiting two and three websites and these

450
00:26:18,640 --> 00:26:21,639
Speaker 1: are what they are, right, he's really interested in shoes,

451
00:26:21,680 --> 00:26:24,240
Speaker 1: so you should send him targeted marketing. Yeah, that kind

452
00:26:24,240 --> 00:26:26,480
Speaker 1: of stuff. I mean, that's not nearly as annoying as

453
00:26:26,880 --> 00:26:29,640
Speaker 1: uh some of the other stuff, but it is annoying, right, Yeah,

454
00:26:29,640 --> 00:26:32,719
Speaker 1: it's it's pretty irritating. And so again, if it just

455
00:26:32,720 --> 00:26:36,080
Speaker 1: says anti spyware, that's pretty much all it's looking for. UH.

456
00:26:36,119 --> 00:26:39,560
Speaker 1: Internet security packages tend to have all of that wrapped

457
00:26:39,640 --> 00:26:43,200
Speaker 1: up into one UM product and often have a firewall

458
00:26:43,240 --> 00:26:45,399
Speaker 1: and in their firewall as well, so you'll have a

459
00:26:45,480 --> 00:26:50,760
Speaker 1: firewall which can protect against intrusions from from outside your

460
00:26:50,880 --> 00:26:54,240
Speaker 1: your network. You'll have the antivirus who have the anti spyware.

461
00:26:55,040 --> 00:26:57,760
Speaker 1: So that's why it's more expensive. It's because it's actually

462
00:26:57,800 --> 00:27:01,159
Speaker 1: packaging together lots of stuff. Now, there are lots of

463
00:27:01,359 --> 00:27:04,600
Speaker 1: UM lots of UH products on the market, some of

464
00:27:04,600 --> 00:27:07,960
Speaker 1: them are actually free. So really what I suggest is

465
00:27:08,280 --> 00:27:11,280
Speaker 1: research these different products, find the one that's right for you.

466
00:27:11,600 --> 00:27:14,280
Speaker 1: We don't really review products, and uh we don't really

467
00:27:14,280 --> 00:27:17,960
Speaker 1: feel feel comfortable making a recommendation UM, especially since we

468
00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:20,680
Speaker 1: don't necessarily know what kind of machine you're running. UH.

469
00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:22,480
Speaker 1: Some of the you've got to also keep in mind

470
00:27:22,480 --> 00:27:26,440
Speaker 1: the anti spyware and anti virus technology while it is scanning.

471
00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:32,120
Speaker 1: They tend to be really um well because they're tracking

472
00:27:32,160 --> 00:27:35,040
Speaker 1: everything that's going on in an attempt to protect you,

473
00:27:35,200 --> 00:27:37,600
Speaker 1: and that can slow your computer down. Yes, exactly. Their

474
00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:40,199
Speaker 1: resource hogs is what they really are. UM. I mean,

475
00:27:40,240 --> 00:27:42,560
Speaker 1: they're very important to have, but they're gonna they're gonna

476
00:27:42,560 --> 00:27:45,480
Speaker 1: slow your computer down while they're running. UM Now, they'll

477
00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:47,919
Speaker 1: just run in order to scan, and once they've scanned,

478
00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:49,320
Speaker 1: you should be all right. Now. A lot of them

479
00:27:49,400 --> 00:27:52,280
Speaker 1: have kind of ongoing software that will continue to monitor

480
00:27:52,680 --> 00:27:55,879
Speaker 1: traffic as you are using your computer. UM, Like it

481
00:27:55,960 --> 00:27:59,280
Speaker 1: might check your email attachments as they're downloaded to your

482
00:27:59,280 --> 00:28:01,879
Speaker 1: computer and going, hey, this one's not good, right, don't

483
00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:06,159
Speaker 1: open that um So, but yeah, just keep in mind it. Well,

484
00:28:06,720 --> 00:28:08,720
Speaker 1: these are very resource heavy. It's not something you don't

485
00:28:08,720 --> 00:28:11,440
Speaker 1: want to constantly be scanning your computer. It's just gonna

486
00:28:11,720 --> 00:28:15,240
Speaker 1: make take forever to do anything else. And uh also

487
00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:17,480
Speaker 1: remember to keep it up to date. No matter what

488
00:28:17,760 --> 00:28:21,359
Speaker 1: software you choose, UM make sure that you are. If

489
00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:24,840
Speaker 1: it has an option to update automatically, I strongly suggest

490
00:28:24,880 --> 00:28:27,400
Speaker 1: you activate it. Yeah, there's a new trend to um

491
00:28:27,480 --> 00:28:33,119
Speaker 1: cloud security where basically the software is there's like a

492
00:28:33,160 --> 00:28:36,560
Speaker 1: little client in your computer, and it's basically constantly updating

493
00:28:36,600 --> 00:28:41,040
Speaker 1: with virus definitions from the cloud. The bulk of the

494
00:28:41,320 --> 00:28:45,160
Speaker 1: software is actually in UM on a computer somewhere else

495
00:28:45,200 --> 00:28:48,480
Speaker 1: on the Internet, which is kind of cool. UM, But

496
00:28:48,560 --> 00:28:50,640
Speaker 1: you know, it's still very new, so I haven't heard

497
00:28:50,640 --> 00:28:53,680
Speaker 1: a whole lot about how they're doing right now. Obviously

498
00:28:53,720 --> 00:28:56,440
Speaker 1: that the reason why updating, of course is so important

499
00:28:56,480 --> 00:28:59,880
Speaker 1: is that people hackers are always working on new kind

500
00:29:00,080 --> 00:29:03,840
Speaker 1: of viruses and malware. Yeah, they take old viruses and

501
00:29:03,920 --> 00:29:06,920
Speaker 1: add a twist to them so that the old virus

502
00:29:06,920 --> 00:29:10,480
Speaker 1: protection software can't recognize them any right, So that's why

503
00:29:10,520 --> 00:29:11,840
Speaker 1: you want to make sure you keep it up to date,

504
00:29:11,840 --> 00:29:14,600
Speaker 1: because as the security firms find out about them, that

505
00:29:14,640 --> 00:29:17,600
Speaker 1: they add definitions to their software so that it can

506
00:29:17,600 --> 00:29:21,240
Speaker 1: be detected and prevented. So hopefully that answers your question.

507
00:29:21,280 --> 00:29:24,240
Speaker 1: Matt Um, Thank you very much for writing in. I

508
00:29:24,240 --> 00:29:26,720
Speaker 1: thought i'd tell our listeners there's an interesting new way

509
00:29:26,760 --> 00:29:29,720
Speaker 1: you can you can catch our podcast now. Actually catch

510
00:29:29,760 --> 00:29:32,440
Speaker 1: it from the house stuff works dot com website. So

511
00:29:32,440 --> 00:29:33,920
Speaker 1: if you go to house stuff works dot com, you

512
00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:36,240
Speaker 1: go to the little search baring type and tech stuff.

513
00:29:36,280 --> 00:29:39,040
Speaker 1: It'll take you to the tech stuff podcast page, and

514
00:29:39,160 --> 00:29:41,520
Speaker 1: we have a little player and individual player that you

515
00:29:41,520 --> 00:29:44,280
Speaker 1: can listen to episodes right there if you want to.

516
00:29:44,600 --> 00:29:48,080
Speaker 1: It also has nice options for sharing it via email

517
00:29:48,160 --> 00:29:50,760
Speaker 1: or Twitter, Facebook. Um, it's got a little option where

518
00:29:50,800 --> 00:29:53,000
Speaker 1: you can pop the player out of the web page

519
00:29:53,040 --> 00:29:55,120
Speaker 1: and have it being a little independent player on on

520
00:29:55,160 --> 00:29:58,640
Speaker 1: the side. A lot of neat features and uh so,

521
00:29:58,760 --> 00:30:00,320
Speaker 1: I just want to let you guys be a you know,

522
00:30:00,520 --> 00:30:02,600
Speaker 1: make you guys aware of that. In case you're ever

523
00:30:02,680 --> 00:30:04,560
Speaker 1: on a different computer and you don't have your iTunes

524
00:30:04,560 --> 00:30:06,959
Speaker 1: accounts set up or something like that. Um, you can

525
00:30:06,960 --> 00:30:10,960
Speaker 1: still listen to us. Please please listen to us. We're lonely,

526
00:30:12,240 --> 00:30:14,239
Speaker 1: and if you have anything you want to say to us,

527
00:30:14,520 --> 00:30:17,120
Speaker 1: you can send us an email or addresses tech stuff

528
00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:19,560
Speaker 1: at how stuff works dot com. And you can learn

529
00:30:19,560 --> 00:30:23,360
Speaker 1: all about airplanes and technology and computer viruses and security

530
00:30:23,480 --> 00:30:25,520
Speaker 1: all at how stuff works dot com. Crispy and I

531
00:30:25,560 --> 00:30:31,360
Speaker 1: will taught you again really soon. For more on this

532
00:30:31,560 --> 00:30:34,280
Speaker 1: and thousands of other topics, visit how stuff works dot

533
00:30:34,280 --> 00:30:36,360
Speaker 1: com and be sure to check out the new tech

534
00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:44,000
Speaker 1: stuff blog now on the house stuff Works homepage. Brought

535
00:30:44,040 --> 00:30:47,240
Speaker 1: to you by the Reinvented two thousand twelve camera, it's ready.

536
00:30:47,400 --> 00:30:47,920
Speaker 1: Are you