1 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:07,480 Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from stuff 2 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:14,320 Speaker 1: works dot com. Hey there, and welcome to tex Stuff. 3 00:00:14,360 --> 00:00:18,279 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland, and today we're going to 4 00:00:18,440 --> 00:00:23,079 Speaker 1: start our yearly look back on the previous twelve months. 5 00:00:23,120 --> 00:00:25,400 Speaker 1: I'm gonna talk about some of the big tech news 6 00:00:25,400 --> 00:00:28,479 Speaker 1: stories of and there were a lot of them. So 7 00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:31,160 Speaker 1: I'm dividing this up into two episodes. Today we're gonna 8 00:00:31,160 --> 00:00:34,120 Speaker 1: look at January through May. And I know that's not 9 00:00:34,920 --> 00:00:37,599 Speaker 1: fully half a year, but some of these stories are 10 00:00:37,600 --> 00:00:41,000 Speaker 1: really heavily front loaded. So instead of just saying, hey, 11 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:44,320 Speaker 1: the story began in say, February, and then in September 12 00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:47,760 Speaker 1: this happened, and then in December this happened. For for 13 00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:50,520 Speaker 1: big stories, I'm doing it all at the front. So 14 00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:54,720 Speaker 1: the second half is a little more sparse. I don't 15 00:00:54,760 --> 00:00:58,960 Speaker 1: go back and recover stories I had already talked about. Also, 16 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:04,200 Speaker 1: let's get out there was kind of crappy for lots 17 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:07,880 Speaker 1: of reasons, and I'm going to talk about some of them, 18 00:01:07,959 --> 00:01:11,800 Speaker 1: and yeah, you can't get it around it. I mean, 19 00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:17,319 Speaker 1: you just gotta accept it and move on, I guess. 20 00:01:17,560 --> 00:01:24,360 Speaker 1: So we're gonna start in January with what set the 21 00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:26,360 Speaker 1: tone for the rest of the year. I am, of 22 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:30,119 Speaker 1: course talking about c e S. And this is where 23 00:01:30,200 --> 00:01:33,839 Speaker 1: my producer Dylan gets to feel a sense of dread 24 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:37,759 Speaker 1: creep into his very bones, because he will be going 25 00:01:37,840 --> 00:01:41,679 Speaker 1: to c e S ten along with several of us 26 00:01:41,720 --> 00:01:45,760 Speaker 1: here at How Stuff Works. So Dylan, I'm sorry, you're 27 00:01:45,760 --> 00:01:49,880 Speaker 1: gonna have to hear this man he's he's just grinning 28 00:01:49,960 --> 00:01:53,400 Speaker 1: at me, but but his eyes are dead, all right. 29 00:01:53,520 --> 00:01:57,320 Speaker 1: So it was my eighth time attending c e S 30 00:01:57,400 --> 00:02:01,000 Speaker 1: and it was a bit different. Three other people from 31 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:03,520 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works went with me, and I got to 32 00:02:03,520 --> 00:02:06,400 Speaker 1: see ce S through their eyes, and they were excited 33 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:11,080 Speaker 1: and impressed by something that I had really begun to 34 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:14,240 Speaker 1: feel like it was old and stale and and therefore 35 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:17,440 Speaker 1: it was something to dread. It was actually a little 36 00:02:17,480 --> 00:02:19,480 Speaker 1: fun to see it through the eyes of people who 37 00:02:19,480 --> 00:02:22,320 Speaker 1: had never been there and then just kind of slowly 38 00:02:22,360 --> 00:02:26,280 Speaker 1: shake your head and just say, these children, but what 39 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:28,520 Speaker 1: was going on there? While VR was a big hit 40 00:02:29,200 --> 00:02:31,560 Speaker 1: at c e S and at that time, the Oculus, 41 00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:35,080 Speaker 1: the HTC Vibe, and the PlayStation VR had yet to 42 00:02:35,160 --> 00:02:39,800 Speaker 1: make their debut, everyone was anticipating that the year was 43 00:02:39,840 --> 00:02:42,440 Speaker 1: going to be the year for virtual reality, but more 44 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:44,680 Speaker 1: on that a little bit later. We also saw a 45 00:02:44,720 --> 00:02:48,560 Speaker 1: lot of drones, including ones that have ultra high definition 46 00:02:48,639 --> 00:02:51,840 Speaker 1: camera systems, and that blew my mind because just a 47 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:55,320 Speaker 1: few years ago, buying just an ultra high definition camera 48 00:02:55,720 --> 00:02:59,560 Speaker 1: would cost somewhere in the neighborhood of thirty dollars, and 49 00:02:59,639 --> 00:03:02,600 Speaker 1: now today, for less than a grand, you can buy 50 00:03:02,639 --> 00:03:05,480 Speaker 1: a remote controlled drone that flies through the air and 51 00:03:05,639 --> 00:03:08,280 Speaker 1: has a u h D camera on it, which is 52 00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:13,919 Speaker 1: crazy to me. It also really shows how electronics can 53 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:19,160 Speaker 1: can drop dramatically in cost. Also, drones can drop dramatically 54 00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:21,840 Speaker 1: from the air when I have the controls in my hands. 55 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:25,160 Speaker 1: That's a different story. Over in the auto world, it 56 00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:29,000 Speaker 1: was all about AI and connected cars. Nearly every auto 57 00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:32,400 Speaker 1: maker at CS had something to show off in those arenas, 58 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:35,320 Speaker 1: and uh I was at CS covering a lot of stuff, 59 00:03:35,360 --> 00:03:40,040 Speaker 1: including Toyota's press event. Full disclosure, Toyota is the sponsor 60 00:03:40,280 --> 00:03:43,840 Speaker 1: of the show I host called Forward Thinking, and their 61 00:03:43,880 --> 00:03:48,160 Speaker 1: big announcement revolved around the company's billion dollar investment into 62 00:03:48,280 --> 00:03:50,960 Speaker 1: research and development of AI, and I think we're gonna 63 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:54,640 Speaker 1: hear a lot more about that in seventeen, so stay 64 00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:57,680 Speaker 1: tuned to Forward Thinking to find out more about that 65 00:03:57,760 --> 00:04:01,520 Speaker 1: in the near future. Over at Intel, the emphasis was 66 00:04:01,560 --> 00:04:04,760 Speaker 1: on small processors that can track various points of data 67 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:08,280 Speaker 1: and other products. So Intel makes the chips that go 68 00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:11,840 Speaker 1: into other things, and they they explored this with a 69 00:04:11,840 --> 00:04:16,599 Speaker 1: lot of different applications. One was a an electronic bracelet 70 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:18,840 Speaker 1: you would wear that would allow you to interact with 71 00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:23,039 Speaker 1: giant display and control elements on the display by waving 72 00:04:23,080 --> 00:04:26,600 Speaker 1: your hand around. Another was a mountain bike, and the 73 00:04:26,680 --> 00:04:30,360 Speaker 1: processors had things like accelerometers and and gyroscopes that could 74 00:04:30,360 --> 00:04:34,479 Speaker 1: track movement and orientation and give real time feedback to 75 00:04:34,839 --> 00:04:38,479 Speaker 1: another device. So you could have a smartphone open with 76 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:42,600 Speaker 1: the appropriate app and get real time information about the 77 00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:47,159 Speaker 1: forces that were being uh felt by a rider on 78 00:04:47,200 --> 00:04:50,039 Speaker 1: one of these bicycles, and uh so you do like 79 00:04:50,080 --> 00:04:54,520 Speaker 1: a crazy you know, flip or or some other trick 80 00:04:54,600 --> 00:04:56,640 Speaker 1: on these bikes and you would get the real time 81 00:04:56,720 --> 00:04:59,800 Speaker 1: data feedback, which was kind of neat to actually see 82 00:04:59,800 --> 00:05:03,840 Speaker 1: this working in real time. One item over at Intel 83 00:05:03,920 --> 00:05:07,960 Speaker 1: was the Segue Advanced Personal Robot, which was a project 84 00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:12,320 Speaker 1: that was formed from a partnership between Segue, Intel and 85 00:05:12,520 --> 00:05:17,359 Speaker 1: a company called shoo Me, and it's part Segue device 86 00:05:17,520 --> 00:05:22,400 Speaker 1: you know, like the personalized mobile devices and part Butler, 87 00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:25,240 Speaker 1: so you could write it around kind of like a hoverboard. 88 00:05:25,720 --> 00:05:27,640 Speaker 1: I know those are terrible names for those things because 89 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:29,760 Speaker 1: they don't hover, but you know what I'm talking about 90 00:05:29,800 --> 00:05:33,039 Speaker 1: those electronic scooters that are kind of like skateboards in 91 00:05:33,040 --> 00:05:35,920 Speaker 1: a way. Uh. They were all really popular for a 92 00:05:35,960 --> 00:05:39,360 Speaker 1: while until they started catching fire. But anyway, this one 93 00:05:39,560 --> 00:05:41,200 Speaker 1: was like a hoverboard, but you could also attach a 94 00:05:41,240 --> 00:05:42,880 Speaker 1: screen to it, and the screen would have like a 95 00:05:42,880 --> 00:05:45,159 Speaker 1: little simple face and turn it into an assistant robot. 96 00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:48,040 Speaker 1: It's really cute. It could respond to commands and talk 97 00:05:48,080 --> 00:05:51,360 Speaker 1: to you, and it was adorable. Didn't get a chance 98 00:05:51,400 --> 00:05:53,440 Speaker 1: to write on it, though. Actually I think I'd feel 99 00:05:53,480 --> 00:05:56,800 Speaker 1: a little conflicted stepping on something that was that adorable 100 00:05:57,279 --> 00:06:00,279 Speaker 1: and then commanding it to take me places. Uh. I 101 00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:02,880 Speaker 1: don't know how. I probably have a complicated relationship with 102 00:06:02,920 --> 00:06:07,360 Speaker 1: that kind of technology. Another thing that our team in 103 00:06:07,400 --> 00:06:11,880 Speaker 1: particular was interested in was a new Super eight camera 104 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:14,760 Speaker 1: from Kodak. In fact, two of the guys who went 105 00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:17,400 Speaker 1: with me are from the video team, and both of them, 106 00:06:17,480 --> 00:06:19,719 Speaker 1: as soon as they saw it, thought we have to 107 00:06:19,720 --> 00:06:22,280 Speaker 1: shoot a video about this thing because it reminded us 108 00:06:22,279 --> 00:06:24,520 Speaker 1: all of our childhood and how we got into film 109 00:06:24,680 --> 00:06:27,559 Speaker 1: when we were kids, and it shoots both on film 110 00:06:27,600 --> 00:06:32,120 Speaker 1: and digital form formats, which is really neat. Also, this 111 00:06:32,200 --> 00:06:36,160 Speaker 1: gave me the opportunity to eat some crow because my 112 00:06:36,400 --> 00:06:39,520 Speaker 1: friend i As and I had done an episode of 113 00:06:39,560 --> 00:06:43,120 Speaker 1: Tech Stuff where we talked about obsolete technology, and one 114 00:06:43,160 --> 00:06:45,520 Speaker 1: of the things we talked about was eight millimeter film. 115 00:06:45,600 --> 00:06:47,480 Speaker 1: And there I was at c e S looking at 116 00:06:47,480 --> 00:06:52,720 Speaker 1: a brand new super eight camera. So that was awkward 117 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:55,360 Speaker 1: but super cool. I really liked the design of it. 118 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:58,240 Speaker 1: It definitely had that retro look and yet included a 119 00:06:58,279 --> 00:07:01,200 Speaker 1: lot of modern conveniences that you would find in digital 120 00:07:01,240 --> 00:07:04,880 Speaker 1: cameras these days. So it was neat. Uh. But that's 121 00:07:04,960 --> 00:07:06,919 Speaker 1: enough about ce S. There was tons of other stuff 122 00:07:06,960 --> 00:07:09,840 Speaker 1: going on. Those were the things we were specifically looking at, 123 00:07:09,880 --> 00:07:13,080 Speaker 1: but we also saw a lot of focus on wearables, 124 00:07:13,080 --> 00:07:16,720 Speaker 1: on health tech, on mental health tech, a lot of 125 00:07:16,760 --> 00:07:20,400 Speaker 1: technology meant to help you try and relax or relieve 126 00:07:20,480 --> 00:07:23,800 Speaker 1: stress or anxiety. Lots of stuff in that realm. I'm 127 00:07:23,800 --> 00:07:26,080 Speaker 1: betting we're gonna see a lot more of that this 128 00:07:26,200 --> 00:07:30,360 Speaker 1: coming year. But January seen also saw some rough news 129 00:07:30,440 --> 00:07:33,560 Speaker 1: for Twitter, which would pretty much follow throughout the rest 130 00:07:33,560 --> 00:07:36,040 Speaker 1: of the year for that company, top executives began to 131 00:07:36,120 --> 00:07:39,960 Speaker 1: jump ship and Twitter stock price struggled throughout twenty sixteen 132 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:42,640 Speaker 1: and rallied briefly when there was talk of Twitter looking 133 00:07:42,720 --> 00:07:46,680 Speaker 1: for a buyer, but then no one stepped forward to 134 00:07:46,840 --> 00:07:49,680 Speaker 1: buy it, and the stock price began to struggle again. 135 00:07:49,840 --> 00:07:53,440 Speaker 1: So it's been pretty rough. We don't know what Twitter's 136 00:07:53,480 --> 00:07:57,200 Speaker 1: long term prospects are at this point. It's crazy because 137 00:07:57,240 --> 00:07:59,880 Speaker 1: it's still a huge platform that a lot of people 138 00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:02,160 Speaker 1: use and a lot of people depend upon it in 139 00:08:02,280 --> 00:08:05,920 Speaker 1: order to maintain their brand. But at the same time, 140 00:08:05,920 --> 00:08:08,640 Speaker 1: it's still not really a revenue generator, so it may 141 00:08:08,640 --> 00:08:14,120 Speaker 1: be that it's living on borrowed time. We'll see. Also 142 00:08:14,280 --> 00:08:18,440 Speaker 1: in January, Uber, which is always a controversial company, saw 143 00:08:18,560 --> 00:08:22,080 Speaker 1: resistance in several markets as it tried to expand services 144 00:08:22,120 --> 00:08:26,680 Speaker 1: into various countries. For example, in France, cab drivers began 145 00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:32,000 Speaker 1: to set fire to tires in protest. So yeah, Uber 146 00:08:32,480 --> 00:08:38,520 Speaker 1: definitely has seen a lot of resistance, particularly among cab 147 00:08:38,600 --> 00:08:42,840 Speaker 1: driving unions and companies in various regions where it's tried 148 00:08:42,880 --> 00:08:47,680 Speaker 1: to move in. And uh, I mean, it's it's the 149 00:08:47,720 --> 00:08:51,160 Speaker 1: sign of progress. You could argue it may not be 150 00:08:51,240 --> 00:08:54,160 Speaker 1: progress for the cab drivers, but for consumers who want 151 00:08:54,200 --> 00:08:57,680 Speaker 1: to have that choice. UH, it frequently is viewed as 152 00:08:57,720 --> 00:09:01,440 Speaker 1: progress and an early example of a problem that would 153 00:09:01,480 --> 00:09:04,679 Speaker 1: pop up throughout the year. Hackers managed to take down 154 00:09:04,720 --> 00:09:09,480 Speaker 1: power plants in the Ukraine through malware. That particular threat 155 00:09:09,520 --> 00:09:13,800 Speaker 1: was relatively easy to thwart. It wasn't something that was catastrophic, 156 00:09:14,360 --> 00:09:18,960 Speaker 1: but it certainly got people's attention. The idea that malware 157 00:09:19,080 --> 00:09:24,200 Speaker 1: could affect critical infrastructure. I mean, it's something we've known about, 158 00:09:24,720 --> 00:09:29,120 Speaker 1: but to see it actually happened was pretty sobering. Also 159 00:09:29,120 --> 00:09:32,120 Speaker 1: in January, Time Warner suffered one of the earliest security 160 00:09:32,120 --> 00:09:36,360 Speaker 1: breaches of UH. You might remember I think I called 161 00:09:37,160 --> 00:09:39,839 Speaker 1: the Year of security breaches. Well seen gave it a 162 00:09:39,920 --> 00:09:42,880 Speaker 1: run for the money. According to a Reuter's report, up 163 00:09:42,920 --> 00:09:46,839 Speaker 1: to three twenty thousand Time Warner customers had their email 164 00:09:46,880 --> 00:09:53,000 Speaker 1: passwords stolen in an attack. Lenovo in January officially ditched 165 00:09:53,080 --> 00:09:57,760 Speaker 1: the Motorola name. Lenovo had acquired Motorola Mobile from Google. 166 00:09:58,360 --> 00:10:01,360 Speaker 1: It kept the brand name motto for high end phones, 167 00:10:01,840 --> 00:10:05,920 Speaker 1: along with that bat wing m logo that Motorola made famous, 168 00:10:06,080 --> 00:10:11,480 Speaker 1: but Motorola as a mobile brand is a no more. 169 00:10:13,120 --> 00:10:16,000 Speaker 1: Early rumors in January stated that the next iPhone would 170 00:10:16,040 --> 00:10:20,079 Speaker 1: not have a headphone jack, and as we learned later 171 00:10:20,120 --> 00:10:22,680 Speaker 1: on the year, those turned out to be absolutely true. 172 00:10:22,760 --> 00:10:27,000 Speaker 1: But I'll talk about the iPhone more in the next episode, 173 00:10:27,280 --> 00:10:32,440 Speaker 1: since that did not debut until late Nielsen put out 174 00:10:32,520 --> 00:10:36,760 Speaker 1: it's twenty fifteen year in report on digital music, and 175 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:40,920 Speaker 1: it showed that sales of digital music were down, but 176 00:10:41,040 --> 00:10:45,079 Speaker 1: streaming service subscriptions were way up, and more people were 177 00:10:45,200 --> 00:10:48,840 Speaker 1: using streaming services to access music than ever before. This 178 00:10:48,920 --> 00:10:53,160 Speaker 1: would continue to be a big story in twos and 179 00:10:53,280 --> 00:10:57,800 Speaker 1: on January, Oh man, I'm gonna have to do this 180 00:10:57,880 --> 00:11:01,840 Speaker 1: so many times. In this episode January tenth, David Bowie 181 00:11:01,840 --> 00:11:04,880 Speaker 1: passed away. So you might wonder why I talk about 182 00:11:04,920 --> 00:11:07,960 Speaker 1: David Bowie when I'm talking about technology. Well, he his 183 00:11:08,040 --> 00:11:12,040 Speaker 1: influence in popular music is tangential to technology, but he 184 00:11:12,120 --> 00:11:16,400 Speaker 1: was also heavily influenced by and subsequently became an influencer 185 00:11:16,600 --> 00:11:19,880 Speaker 1: of science fiction, which in turn has a very close 186 00:11:19,920 --> 00:11:25,320 Speaker 1: relationship with technology. So seeing the news about him passing 187 00:11:25,360 --> 00:11:30,440 Speaker 1: away so shortly after his final album came out was 188 00:11:30,640 --> 00:11:36,400 Speaker 1: really sobering and would become one of many stories of 189 00:11:36,800 --> 00:11:41,400 Speaker 1: beloved figures in pop culture as well as technology who 190 00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:46,360 Speaker 1: we lost in So let's move on to February, which, 191 00:11:46,960 --> 00:11:50,000 Speaker 1: at least, if nothing else, has the benefit of being 192 00:11:50,040 --> 00:11:54,760 Speaker 1: the shortest month in the tech world. Was a buzz 193 00:11:54,840 --> 00:11:58,920 Speaker 1: in February about startups competing to bring Elon Musk's hyper 194 00:11:58,960 --> 00:12:04,840 Speaker 1: loop proposal, which he first unveiled back in a Reality Now. 195 00:12:04,880 --> 00:12:09,240 Speaker 1: One of those companies was called hyper Loop Technologies and 196 00:12:09,320 --> 00:12:12,840 Speaker 1: later hyper Loop One, and that became ground zero for 197 00:12:13,040 --> 00:12:17,280 Speaker 1: serious drama among its co founders. One of those co founders, 198 00:12:17,640 --> 00:12:22,040 Speaker 1: formerly named Kevin Brogan now known as Brogan Bam Brogan 199 00:12:23,160 --> 00:12:26,760 Speaker 1: and no, that's not a joke, would be forced out 200 00:12:26,800 --> 00:12:29,880 Speaker 1: of the company. He was essentially ousted from the company 201 00:12:29,920 --> 00:12:33,880 Speaker 1: he co founded, and he would later on sue that company. 202 00:12:34,280 --> 00:12:38,800 Speaker 1: The company would then counter sue Brogan bam Brogan, saying 203 00:12:38,800 --> 00:12:43,240 Speaker 1: that he was passing off untruths that he was slandering 204 00:12:43,400 --> 00:12:46,679 Speaker 1: the company. Uh. For one thing, Bam Brogan said that 205 00:12:46,800 --> 00:12:50,880 Speaker 1: another executive at the company had at one point attempted 206 00:12:50,920 --> 00:12:55,440 Speaker 1: to intimidate him by laying a noose on his desk. 207 00:12:56,800 --> 00:13:01,200 Speaker 1: Doesn't sound like a very healthy corporate culture if true. Uh. 208 00:13:01,600 --> 00:13:05,559 Speaker 1: Eventually those lawsuits were settled out of court. So look 209 00:13:05,600 --> 00:13:07,800 Speaker 1: forward to a future tech Stuff episode where I'm going 210 00:13:07,840 --> 00:13:11,040 Speaker 1: to look at that whole story in much greater detail 211 00:13:11,080 --> 00:13:14,880 Speaker 1: in the future. I think it's too crazy not to. 212 00:13:15,120 --> 00:13:19,400 Speaker 1: It's something that I really want to explore. Also in February, 213 00:13:19,800 --> 00:13:23,199 Speaker 1: Nature dot Com ran an article stating that the semiconductor 214 00:13:23,240 --> 00:13:27,800 Speaker 1: industry would formally announce it would no longer strive to 215 00:13:27,880 --> 00:13:30,680 Speaker 1: keep up with Moore's Law. Now. I know most of 216 00:13:30,679 --> 00:13:32,600 Speaker 1: you know this, but just in case some of you 217 00:13:32,640 --> 00:13:36,960 Speaker 1: aren't unfamiliar, Moore's Laws really about an observation that a 218 00:13:36,960 --> 00:13:39,960 Speaker 1: man named Gordon Moore made. He's a co founder of Intel. 219 00:13:40,040 --> 00:13:44,560 Speaker 1: He made it several decades ago about the tendency for 220 00:13:44,679 --> 00:13:48,559 Speaker 1: the number of discrete components on a semiconductor chip to 221 00:13:48,800 --> 00:13:52,520 Speaker 1: double every two years or so. And by discrete components, 222 00:13:52,520 --> 00:13:56,480 Speaker 1: we're really talking about transistors. Now. The important thing to 223 00:13:56,480 --> 00:13:59,480 Speaker 1: remember about this, as always, is that this was more 224 00:13:59,559 --> 00:14:04,000 Speaker 1: or less observation about the financial viability of adding more 225 00:14:04,040 --> 00:14:08,240 Speaker 1: transistors to a semiconductor. It wasn't that there was some 226 00:14:08,400 --> 00:14:12,880 Speaker 1: magical law dictating this, but rather that the economy of 227 00:14:12,920 --> 00:14:18,000 Speaker 1: scale and the improvement in UH in manufacturing technologies would 228 00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:19,920 Speaker 1: allow for this to happen, and that there would be 229 00:14:19,960 --> 00:14:25,600 Speaker 1: a demand for more powerful semiconductors and microprocessors um and 230 00:14:25,720 --> 00:14:28,640 Speaker 1: as a result, uh, well not as a result. But 231 00:14:28,880 --> 00:14:31,000 Speaker 1: it turns out this has been a true observation and 232 00:14:31,040 --> 00:14:33,160 Speaker 1: a lot of companies have been striving to keep it 233 00:14:33,240 --> 00:14:37,760 Speaker 1: true over the years, and we've sort of fudged with 234 00:14:37,800 --> 00:14:41,240 Speaker 1: the definition a bit. Looking at it more as every 235 00:14:41,240 --> 00:14:46,560 Speaker 1: two years microprocessors essentially double in processing power, maybe not 236 00:14:46,680 --> 00:14:50,280 Speaker 1: necessarily in components or transistors, but in the ability to 237 00:14:50,400 --> 00:14:56,680 Speaker 1: actually process information. According to this report, however, the semiconductor 238 00:14:56,720 --> 00:14:59,400 Speaker 1: industry is essentially ready to give up on that, saying 239 00:14:59,440 --> 00:15:03,200 Speaker 1: it is no longer feasible to try and keep Moore's 240 00:15:03,280 --> 00:15:07,400 Speaker 1: law active. And this is because of two different things. 241 00:15:08,760 --> 00:15:12,160 Speaker 1: One of the factors that is a problem when you're 242 00:15:12,160 --> 00:15:15,720 Speaker 1: talking about sustaining More's law is that the smaller the 243 00:15:15,720 --> 00:15:19,880 Speaker 1: components get, the more they're affected by quantum mechanics. One 244 00:15:19,920 --> 00:15:23,440 Speaker 1: of the aspects of quantum mechanics is something called electron tunneling, 245 00:15:23,720 --> 00:15:25,960 Speaker 1: and you can really think of it in this way. 246 00:15:26,080 --> 00:15:30,520 Speaker 1: Electrons have a probability to exist in any given location 247 00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:34,240 Speaker 1: around uh, kind of like a cloud. Think of it like, 248 00:15:34,760 --> 00:15:37,240 Speaker 1: you can't really dictate exactly where the electron is going 249 00:15:37,280 --> 00:15:39,280 Speaker 1: to be. It's gonna be within a cloud, and there's 250 00:15:39,280 --> 00:15:42,040 Speaker 1: a probability for it to be anywhere inside that cloud. 251 00:15:42,800 --> 00:15:46,000 Speaker 1: If that cloud were to overlap a gate like a 252 00:15:46,040 --> 00:15:50,320 Speaker 1: transistor gate, then that means there is a probability, however small, 253 00:15:50,920 --> 00:15:53,560 Speaker 1: that the electron could be on the opposite side of 254 00:15:53,560 --> 00:15:56,000 Speaker 1: the gate that it's supposed to be on. And if 255 00:15:56,000 --> 00:15:59,520 Speaker 1: there is a probability, that means sometimes it happens that way. 256 00:15:59,560 --> 00:16:03,440 Speaker 1: So when you make these components smaller and smaller and smaller, 257 00:16:03,440 --> 00:16:06,320 Speaker 1: it becomes more challenging to figure out the materials you 258 00:16:06,360 --> 00:16:09,560 Speaker 1: need and the architecture you need to prevent electron tunneling 259 00:16:09,600 --> 00:16:11,800 Speaker 1: from becoming a big problem, because if you can't control 260 00:16:11,800 --> 00:16:15,200 Speaker 1: the flow of electrons, you can't really have logic gates. 261 00:16:15,800 --> 00:16:19,080 Speaker 1: Otherwise you're gonna have errors passed through and then you 262 00:16:19,200 --> 00:16:23,640 Speaker 1: just keep having mistakes pop up and your programs won't run. 263 00:16:25,080 --> 00:16:27,840 Speaker 1: The other issue is that the more components you cram 264 00:16:27,880 --> 00:16:31,160 Speaker 1: onto a chip, the more heat it generates, and in general, 265 00:16:31,200 --> 00:16:35,120 Speaker 1: heat and electronics don't work so well together, so trying 266 00:16:35,120 --> 00:16:39,800 Speaker 1: to manage heat becomes a bigger and bigger challenge. Anyway, 267 00:16:40,160 --> 00:16:43,120 Speaker 1: it looks like we're getting towards the end of Moore's 268 00:16:43,200 --> 00:16:47,320 Speaker 1: law using conventional semiconductor chips. That doesn't mean we won't 269 00:16:47,320 --> 00:16:50,200 Speaker 1: come up with some alternative, but it may mean that 270 00:16:50,560 --> 00:16:54,200 Speaker 1: we'll see progress slow in the short term as we 271 00:16:54,240 --> 00:17:01,000 Speaker 1: start to explore other ways of increasing that processing power. Now, 272 00:17:01,040 --> 00:17:05,280 Speaker 1: one of the biggest stories of in tech began in February. 273 00:17:06,160 --> 00:17:09,560 Speaker 1: That's when the FBI and Apple got into a real 274 00:17:09,640 --> 00:17:13,160 Speaker 1: tiff with one another. In February, a court case made 275 00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:16,800 Speaker 1: headlines when the FBI pursued an order against Apple to 276 00:17:16,960 --> 00:17:20,320 Speaker 1: force the company to deactivate a feature on the iPhone 277 00:17:20,320 --> 00:17:23,760 Speaker 1: five C, and the key point was the FBI wanted 278 00:17:23,800 --> 00:17:28,200 Speaker 1: to be able to deactivate the feature that would erase 279 00:17:28,400 --> 00:17:32,679 Speaker 1: and an encryption key after ten failed password attempts. In 280 00:17:32,720 --> 00:17:37,600 Speaker 1: other words, you lock your iPhone, use a password to 281 00:17:37,680 --> 00:17:40,320 Speaker 1: unlock it. If someone else gets hold of your phone 282 00:17:40,880 --> 00:17:44,560 Speaker 1: and tries brute force attacks to unlock your phone after 283 00:17:44,960 --> 00:17:50,240 Speaker 1: ten failed attempts, the key that would decrypt all the 284 00:17:50,280 --> 00:17:53,440 Speaker 1: information on your phone would delete itself, and then you 285 00:17:53,440 --> 00:17:57,160 Speaker 1: would have an even harder time being able to decrypt 286 00:17:57,240 --> 00:17:59,359 Speaker 1: that information like you could you might be able to 287 00:17:59,359 --> 00:18:03,040 Speaker 1: finally get access to it, but it would all be gibberish, 288 00:18:03,040 --> 00:18:05,120 Speaker 1: and then you would have to go through the process 289 00:18:05,119 --> 00:18:09,560 Speaker 1: of trying to decrypt the information. Now, the phone in 290 00:18:09,720 --> 00:18:13,640 Speaker 1: question belonged to a couple that committed the December two 291 00:18:13,680 --> 00:18:17,520 Speaker 1: thousand and fifteen attack in San Bernardino, California, which resulted 292 00:18:17,520 --> 00:18:21,560 Speaker 1: in fourteen deaths and twenty two serious injuries. So there 293 00:18:21,600 --> 00:18:25,720 Speaker 1: was a very emotional case and very politically charged, and 294 00:18:25,760 --> 00:18:29,119 Speaker 1: it also brought up serious questions about security, privacy and 295 00:18:29,160 --> 00:18:34,359 Speaker 1: the boundaries of law. Apple resisted the FBI's requests, and 296 00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:37,360 Speaker 1: later in March, the FBI claimed it had found another 297 00:18:37,400 --> 00:18:42,080 Speaker 1: way to reach the security without Apple's participation. The Washington 298 00:18:42,160 --> 00:18:46,520 Speaker 1: Post would later report in April that professional hackers had 299 00:18:46,560 --> 00:18:50,359 Speaker 1: sold a zero day exploit to the FBI in order 300 00:18:50,359 --> 00:18:53,359 Speaker 1: to unlock the phone. But for that month and a 301 00:18:53,440 --> 00:18:56,720 Speaker 1: half in February and and March, everyone chimed in on 302 00:18:56,760 --> 00:19:00,680 Speaker 1: the case, including representatives from Google and Microsoft and Bill 303 00:19:00,720 --> 00:19:04,760 Speaker 1: Gates himself. Now, some of them felt the FBI's request 304 00:19:04,359 --> 00:19:08,359 Speaker 1: constitute a back door into a secure system, which is 305 00:19:08,400 --> 00:19:11,639 Speaker 1: a terrible idea. It's always a terrible idea because if 306 00:19:11,640 --> 00:19:14,720 Speaker 1: you create a backdoor into a secure system, you've created 307 00:19:14,720 --> 00:19:19,159 Speaker 1: a potential vulnerability that others can exploit. Other people, however, 308 00:19:19,320 --> 00:19:23,840 Speaker 1: felt that the FBI's request was specific for one particular 309 00:19:23,920 --> 00:19:26,719 Speaker 1: phone and that nothing more would come of it, and 310 00:19:26,760 --> 00:19:29,240 Speaker 1: so therefore it would have made more sense for Apple 311 00:19:29,280 --> 00:19:34,560 Speaker 1: to acquiesce to the FBI's demands. Uh. But it ended 312 00:19:34,640 --> 00:19:36,840 Speaker 1: up being a moot point because the FBI eventually was 313 00:19:36,880 --> 00:19:42,439 Speaker 1: able to access the phone without Apple's participation. Also in February, 314 00:19:42,840 --> 00:19:46,240 Speaker 1: HTC would open up pre orders for the Vibe headset. 315 00:19:46,520 --> 00:19:49,879 Speaker 1: It's a virtual reality headset and had the goal of 316 00:19:49,880 --> 00:19:55,240 Speaker 1: shipping headsets out starting April one, and the headsets cost seven, 317 00:19:55,760 --> 00:19:58,680 Speaker 1: which does not include the beefy computer you would need 318 00:19:58,720 --> 00:20:02,280 Speaker 1: to run the software the HTC Vibe uses at a 319 00:20:02,359 --> 00:20:05,280 Speaker 1: decent clip. But the Vibe is pretty cool and he 320 00:20:05,400 --> 00:20:09,439 Speaker 1: uses external sensors called lighthouses to provide additional tracking and 321 00:20:09,520 --> 00:20:13,520 Speaker 1: orientation station data, which means you can actually move around 322 00:20:14,200 --> 00:20:18,880 Speaker 1: inside a physical space while the the things you see 323 00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:22,600 Speaker 1: and here would be within a virtual space. And that's 324 00:20:22,640 --> 00:20:24,800 Speaker 1: pretty neat. I actually like it a lot. I got 325 00:20:24,840 --> 00:20:27,240 Speaker 1: to try it out not too long ago, and I 326 00:20:27,359 --> 00:20:33,119 Speaker 1: really like the htc vive experience in UH In February, 327 00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:37,880 Speaker 1: Joshua Browder would launch a bot that can contest parking 328 00:20:37,880 --> 00:20:41,440 Speaker 1: tickets in the United Kingdom. So Browner has created a 329 00:20:41,440 --> 00:20:45,560 Speaker 1: few algorithms that work really well within structured environments, things 330 00:20:45,600 --> 00:20:49,480 Speaker 1: where you have a limited number of choices and there 331 00:20:49,520 --> 00:20:51,560 Speaker 1: are you know, different pathways. You can almost think of 332 00:20:51,560 --> 00:20:55,320 Speaker 1: it as choose your own adventure, and online forms like 333 00:20:55,400 --> 00:20:57,560 Speaker 1: the ones you would use to contest a parking ticket 334 00:20:57,760 --> 00:21:02,479 Speaker 1: in the UK fit that bill. So the AI can 335 00:21:02,480 --> 00:21:05,879 Speaker 1: actually argue on behalf of the person ticketed, and they 336 00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:09,600 Speaker 1: actually has a decent chance of success for contesting tickets 337 00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:15,840 Speaker 1: assuming that you have a valid case. So essentially, people 338 00:21:15,840 --> 00:21:17,840 Speaker 1: who would receive a parking ticket that they felt was 339 00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:22,200 Speaker 1: unfair could go through use this AI. The AI would 340 00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:25,399 Speaker 1: fill out all of the paperwork necessary based on a 341 00:21:25,400 --> 00:21:27,919 Speaker 1: few questions that would ask the person to fill in 342 00:21:27,960 --> 00:21:30,080 Speaker 1: a little bit of information and then it would take 343 00:21:30,119 --> 00:21:32,320 Speaker 1: care of all the forms, send the forms to the 344 00:21:32,520 --> 00:21:36,280 Speaker 1: appropriate office, and often that was enough to get the 345 00:21:36,280 --> 00:21:40,000 Speaker 1: ticket thrown out. So pretty cool use of AI, and 346 00:21:40,040 --> 00:21:45,040 Speaker 1: it shows that if you have a very structured system, 347 00:21:45,119 --> 00:21:49,080 Speaker 1: AI can navigate it pretty well. The more unstructured the 348 00:21:49,080 --> 00:21:51,520 Speaker 1: system is the more challenging it is for AI to 349 00:21:51,600 --> 00:21:55,760 Speaker 1: be able to complete a task successfully. But something like 350 00:21:55,840 --> 00:22:00,760 Speaker 1: a government bureaucracy is, by its very nature very a structured, 351 00:22:01,080 --> 00:22:02,600 Speaker 1: so it turned out to be a good use for 352 00:22:02,680 --> 00:22:08,200 Speaker 1: AI around that time. In February, consumer advocacy groups, advertisers, 353 00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:12,919 Speaker 1: and content companies began to butt heads over online advertising 354 00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:16,720 Speaker 1: and ad blockers, and since then we've seen cases of 355 00:22:16,760 --> 00:22:21,800 Speaker 1: advocacy groups arguing that anti ad blocking strategies amount to 356 00:22:21,800 --> 00:22:25,800 Speaker 1: an invasion of privacy, meaning that if a web browser 357 00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:28,440 Speaker 1: or a website rather is telling you, hey, I see 358 00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:33,359 Speaker 1: that you're using ad blocking software, then the advocacy groups 359 00:22:33,480 --> 00:22:35,720 Speaker 1: argue that's an invasion of privacy on the part of 360 00:22:35,760 --> 00:22:39,720 Speaker 1: the person browsing that web page. Uh. Content creators, on 361 00:22:39,760 --> 00:22:41,960 Speaker 1: the other hand, say well, we have to make money 362 00:22:42,080 --> 00:22:45,840 Speaker 1: or else we can't create content. If we don't make money, 363 00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:48,440 Speaker 1: then we can't afford to pay people to make the content, 364 00:22:48,600 --> 00:22:50,600 Speaker 1: we can't afford to pay people to host the content, 365 00:22:51,400 --> 00:22:54,399 Speaker 1: and the content goes away. So it's a complicated issue, 366 00:22:55,520 --> 00:22:56,919 Speaker 1: and there are a lot of people who have valid 367 00:22:56,920 --> 00:23:00,280 Speaker 1: points on both sides. Um and a lot of people 368 00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:03,399 Speaker 1: are making very emotional arguments in order to try and 369 00:23:03,440 --> 00:23:06,840 Speaker 1: support their side of it um. But as for my 370 00:23:06,880 --> 00:23:10,040 Speaker 1: own personal opinion, it's complicated. I work in a in 371 00:23:10,119 --> 00:23:14,520 Speaker 1: an industry where I want to make a living, which 372 00:23:14,560 --> 00:23:18,720 Speaker 1: means I want to have revenue coming in so that 373 00:23:18,760 --> 00:23:23,760 Speaker 1: I can, you know, get get paid. So on certain levels, 374 00:23:23,760 --> 00:23:26,959 Speaker 1: I definitely think online advertising is necessary. I think there 375 00:23:26,960 --> 00:23:29,199 Speaker 1: are good ways and bad ways to implement it, and 376 00:23:29,240 --> 00:23:32,320 Speaker 1: I've seen plenty of bad ways, and I much prefer 377 00:23:32,640 --> 00:23:36,879 Speaker 1: the non intrusive good ways. But it is a complicated landscape. 378 00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:41,720 Speaker 1: At the end of February, Microsoft began taking pre orders 379 00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:45,600 Speaker 1: for the Hollow Lens, it's augmented reality headset. Now these 380 00:23:45,600 --> 00:23:49,439 Speaker 1: were for developer editions of the headset, so they weren't 381 00:23:49,440 --> 00:23:51,680 Speaker 1: meant to be a consumer product, which is a good 382 00:23:51,680 --> 00:23:56,160 Speaker 1: thing because they cost three thousand dollars a pop, expensive 383 00:23:56,320 --> 00:23:59,560 Speaker 1: for an augmented reality headset. But again it was more 384 00:23:59,640 --> 00:24:03,159 Speaker 1: meant as a developer tool, not as something for the 385 00:24:03,200 --> 00:24:06,520 Speaker 1: average consumer, and in fact, we may never see a 386 00:24:06,560 --> 00:24:09,760 Speaker 1: consumer version of the Hollow Lens ever offered. It may 387 00:24:09,760 --> 00:24:14,280 Speaker 1: be that the augmented reality applications that the Hollow Lens 388 00:24:14,359 --> 00:24:17,639 Speaker 1: can support will end up finding their way into other products, 389 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:21,320 Speaker 1: but not specifically a consumer version of the hollow lens. 390 00:24:21,359 --> 00:24:24,760 Speaker 1: That's a possibility. All Right, We've got a lot more 391 00:24:24,760 --> 00:24:27,800 Speaker 1: to talk about with two thousand and sixteen, but before 392 00:24:27,800 --> 00:24:30,520 Speaker 1: we jump into that, let's take a quick break to 393 00:24:30,600 --> 00:24:42,440 Speaker 1: thank our sponsor. Alright, we're back, and that means we're 394 00:24:42,480 --> 00:24:46,560 Speaker 1: moving into March two thousand and sixteen. That's when south 395 00:24:46,600 --> 00:24:50,320 Speaker 1: By Southwest happened and how Stuff Works was there. We 396 00:24:50,440 --> 00:24:53,159 Speaker 1: ended up having several panels at south By Southwest. We 397 00:24:53,760 --> 00:24:57,320 Speaker 1: hosted several events in a house that was rented by 398 00:24:57,840 --> 00:25:00,840 Speaker 1: the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, and it was a pretty 399 00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:03,760 Speaker 1: interesting experience. We also got to see a lot of 400 00:25:03,840 --> 00:25:09,520 Speaker 1: cool companies talk about really cutting edge ideas, particularly in 401 00:25:09,640 --> 00:25:13,359 Speaker 1: areas like artificial intelligence and autonomous cars and lots of 402 00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:20,800 Speaker 1: other uh tangential technological areas. Shortly after south By Southwest ended, 403 00:25:21,280 --> 00:25:24,919 Speaker 1: the city of Austin made some demands of Uber and Left, 404 00:25:25,520 --> 00:25:29,400 Speaker 1: specifically about background checks and some other issues that affect 405 00:25:29,480 --> 00:25:36,879 Speaker 1: drivers now. Uber and Left weren't really keen on those demands, 406 00:25:37,880 --> 00:25:39,679 Speaker 1: and as a result, there was kind of a stalemate 407 00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:44,040 Speaker 1: between the companies and Austin, and eventually the company said 408 00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:47,840 Speaker 1: all right, we're leaving and gave their drivers about forty 409 00:25:47,880 --> 00:25:52,080 Speaker 1: eight hours notice before they left town. UH So, Uber 410 00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:55,880 Speaker 1: and Lift, we're both left without support in the city 411 00:25:55,880 --> 00:25:58,679 Speaker 1: of Austin, Texas. A lot of people say this was 412 00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:01,600 Speaker 1: a move specifically to a pressure on the state of 413 00:26:01,600 --> 00:26:06,560 Speaker 1: Texas as a whole to create a rules and regulations 414 00:26:06,600 --> 00:26:10,199 Speaker 1: that that governed the entire state, rather than having to 415 00:26:10,240 --> 00:26:12,879 Speaker 1: go through this and do it for city by city 416 00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:16,359 Speaker 1: or region by region, which would be complicated for a 417 00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:21,200 Speaker 1: company that spans multiple states to have to manage. UH. 418 00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:23,760 Speaker 1: But it made a lot of people really upset. I 419 00:26:23,840 --> 00:26:27,760 Speaker 1: listened to podcasts from folks who record out in Austin, Texas, 420 00:26:27,880 --> 00:26:30,879 Speaker 1: and while they saw both sides of the issue, the 421 00:26:30,920 --> 00:26:34,760 Speaker 1: personal impact on their lives was very apparent. Near the 422 00:26:34,880 --> 00:26:38,560 Speaker 1: end of March, the Oculus Rift was released with a 423 00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:43,359 Speaker 1: US price tag of six hundred dollars, which, again, like 424 00:26:43,480 --> 00:26:47,280 Speaker 1: the HTC Vibe, doesn't include the beefy computer. You actually 425 00:26:47,280 --> 00:26:50,199 Speaker 1: need to run the VR software at a level that's acceptable. 426 00:26:51,119 --> 00:26:55,480 Speaker 1: A new VR system with headset is closer to about 427 00:26:55,920 --> 00:26:59,160 Speaker 1: one thousand, nine hundred dollars as a as a starting point, 428 00:26:59,600 --> 00:27:05,919 Speaker 1: So about PC with the six D dollar headset. Uh, 429 00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:07,919 Speaker 1: there are those who argue you could get away with 430 00:27:08,320 --> 00:27:12,359 Speaker 1: a less expensive PC. You don't necessarily need the cutting 431 00:27:12,440 --> 00:27:17,920 Speaker 1: edge GPUs to run VR, but many people advocate for 432 00:27:18,920 --> 00:27:21,960 Speaker 1: close to cutting edge technology so that you don't run 433 00:27:21,960 --> 00:27:25,280 Speaker 1: into any choppiness or problems when it's rendering to the 434 00:27:25,359 --> 00:27:30,879 Speaker 1: virtual reality headset. And Uh that high price and a 435 00:27:30,920 --> 00:27:34,800 Speaker 1: limited game library would keep VR and kind of a 436 00:27:34,920 --> 00:27:39,040 Speaker 1: niche market for most often. Same thing is true for 437 00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:43,800 Speaker 1: HTC VIVE. I mean, these systems are expensive, and I 438 00:27:43,880 --> 00:27:47,680 Speaker 1: don't think that the killer app has been created yet 439 00:27:48,080 --> 00:27:51,000 Speaker 1: for virtual reality. Not something that's going to convince people 440 00:27:51,440 --> 00:27:54,639 Speaker 1: that it is a must have piece of technology in 441 00:27:54,680 --> 00:27:58,639 Speaker 1: their homes. Maybe we'll see that in Seen, but it 442 00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:03,000 Speaker 1: hasn't happened yet. In When He's Sixteen. Also in March, 443 00:28:03,160 --> 00:28:07,440 Speaker 1: Ray Tomlinson, who is credited as the inventor of email 444 00:28:07,600 --> 00:28:12,720 Speaker 1: passed Away. It was Tomlinson who decided that email addresses 445 00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:16,679 Speaker 1: would consist of a person's name or handle, and then 446 00:28:16,880 --> 00:28:20,280 Speaker 1: the name of the machine that they were using, and 447 00:28:20,320 --> 00:28:22,560 Speaker 1: that the two would be separated from each other with 448 00:28:22,720 --> 00:28:26,000 Speaker 1: the AT symbol. Tomlinson said it was the only preposition 449 00:28:26,080 --> 00:28:31,160 Speaker 1: on the keyboard, so that's kind of interesting. In March, 450 00:28:31,320 --> 00:28:35,479 Speaker 1: Deep Minds Alpha Go AI would end up going up 451 00:28:35,520 --> 00:28:41,240 Speaker 1: against Go Champion player Human Go Champion player Lee C 452 00:28:41,480 --> 00:28:44,880 Speaker 1: Doll in a series of five games, and the AI 453 00:28:45,040 --> 00:28:48,800 Speaker 1: won four out of the five matches. So Go was 454 00:28:48,800 --> 00:28:51,480 Speaker 1: one of those holdout games in which humans were still 455 00:28:52,160 --> 00:28:56,880 Speaker 1: better than machines at least championship level. Humans were better 456 00:28:56,920 --> 00:29:01,040 Speaker 1: than machines. But it's no Go, no Mo. Machines are 457 00:29:01,080 --> 00:29:05,760 Speaker 1: beating us at everything, Dylan smirked, in case you could 458 00:29:05,800 --> 00:29:09,360 Speaker 1: hear it. The FCC created new rules in March limiting 459 00:29:09,400 --> 00:29:13,280 Speaker 1: the data Internet service providers can use for marketing purposes. 460 00:29:13,600 --> 00:29:18,760 Speaker 1: The telecom companies objected to that ruling, of course, and 461 00:29:18,880 --> 00:29:22,360 Speaker 1: said that that would limit their ability way beyond what 462 00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:24,840 Speaker 1: other companies could do. So what they were saying the 463 00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:28,880 Speaker 1: I s p s were saying, hey, brow web web services. 464 00:29:28,920 --> 00:29:34,560 Speaker 1: Web sites like Google or Amazon can gather a lot 465 00:29:34,600 --> 00:29:38,360 Speaker 1: of information about people through their behaviors, So why are 466 00:29:38,360 --> 00:29:42,479 Speaker 1: we being punished when companies like Google and Amazon aren't 467 00:29:42,560 --> 00:29:46,600 Speaker 1: being punished? And the f c C said, well, that's 468 00:29:46,640 --> 00:29:50,400 Speaker 1: because we don't govern what companies like Google and Amazon do. 469 00:29:50,520 --> 00:29:54,280 Speaker 1: They're overseen by the Federal Trade commission the f TC, 470 00:29:55,160 --> 00:29:57,680 Speaker 1: but we oversee what you do. We're the f c C, 471 00:29:58,760 --> 00:30:05,720 Speaker 1: so sorry. Sony would announce that the PlayStation VR would 472 00:30:05,800 --> 00:30:11,680 Speaker 1: launch in October with the price tag of three dollars. 473 00:30:12,360 --> 00:30:16,280 Speaker 1: If you wanted to also supplement that with the other 474 00:30:16,440 --> 00:30:19,040 Speaker 1: materials needed to make a full system, you would need 475 00:30:19,200 --> 00:30:22,600 Speaker 1: a ps camera and move controllers, which we mean you 476 00:30:22,600 --> 00:30:23,920 Speaker 1: had to pay a little bit more. I think they 477 00:30:23,920 --> 00:30:26,880 Speaker 1: had a bundle for five dollars for to move controllers, 478 00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:31,640 Speaker 1: the camera, and the PSVR headset, and in addition to that, 479 00:30:31,720 --> 00:30:35,080 Speaker 1: of course, you would also need a PlayStation four. However, 480 00:30:35,200 --> 00:30:38,360 Speaker 1: have a lot of people saying that PlayStation was ahead 481 00:30:38,400 --> 00:30:40,600 Speaker 1: of the game because even though the specs for the 482 00:30:40,640 --> 00:30:44,800 Speaker 1: ps VR are not as powerful as those on the 483 00:30:44,960 --> 00:30:48,880 Speaker 1: HTC Vibe or the Oculus Rift, lots of people already 484 00:30:48,920 --> 00:30:52,680 Speaker 1: own a PlayStation four, and since that's all you need 485 00:30:52,960 --> 00:30:56,960 Speaker 1: on the computing end to run the headset, it gave 486 00:30:57,240 --> 00:30:59,480 Speaker 1: those consumers an advantage they didn't have to go out 487 00:30:59,520 --> 00:31:03,160 Speaker 1: and buy a new gaming rig in order to run 488 00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:08,000 Speaker 1: VR programs. But on the flip side, people argued while 489 00:31:08,040 --> 00:31:13,480 Speaker 1: the experiences wouldn't be necessarily as uh as innovative or 490 00:31:13,520 --> 00:31:16,320 Speaker 1: immersive as what you would see on Oculus or Vive. 491 00:31:16,880 --> 00:31:20,480 Speaker 1: Turns out, everybody was kind of a a loser this 492 00:31:20,560 --> 00:31:22,920 Speaker 1: year in Steen when it comes to VR, no one 493 00:31:23,040 --> 00:31:28,200 Speaker 1: was able to really make great sales in including the 494 00:31:28,200 --> 00:31:33,960 Speaker 1: ps VR, so it's been a rough year for virtual reality. 495 00:31:34,720 --> 00:31:37,480 Speaker 1: Towards the end of the month, Oculus Rift headsets began 496 00:31:37,560 --> 00:31:41,440 Speaker 1: to actually ship to consumers, but there were some manufacturing 497 00:31:41,480 --> 00:31:45,000 Speaker 1: problems and some component shortages which meant a lot of 498 00:31:45,040 --> 00:31:48,000 Speaker 1: people had to wait a really long time to get 499 00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:52,240 Speaker 1: their promised gear. And more on that in a little bit. Uh. 500 00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:56,280 Speaker 1: One of my favorite stories from Sten happened in March. 501 00:31:56,880 --> 00:32:01,400 Speaker 1: That's when Microsoft launched a chat bought aimed Tay. Do 502 00:32:01,400 --> 00:32:05,680 Speaker 1: you remember Tay, Dylan? You remember Tay, right, Dylan's nodding. 503 00:32:06,440 --> 00:32:12,760 Speaker 1: Tay was not long for this world unfortunately. Uh. Tay 504 00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:15,840 Speaker 1: was kind of kind of presented in the way of 505 00:32:15,880 --> 00:32:22,160 Speaker 1: like a like a teenage female PERSONA and Ta could 506 00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:26,160 Speaker 1: communicate on various social media platforms like Twitter and a 507 00:32:26,160 --> 00:32:30,320 Speaker 1: couple of others. Within twenty four hours, Microsoft would take 508 00:32:30,360 --> 00:32:35,200 Speaker 1: Tay offline because Tay or in a little cray cray. 509 00:32:35,840 --> 00:32:37,400 Speaker 1: Part of the problem was that you could tell Tay 510 00:32:37,480 --> 00:32:40,320 Speaker 1: to parrot what you said, so you can get Tay 511 00:32:40,400 --> 00:32:42,720 Speaker 1: to repeat what you said, and Tay would end up 512 00:32:42,760 --> 00:32:46,440 Speaker 1: adding little, little quirky elements to whatever you said. But 513 00:32:46,520 --> 00:32:49,080 Speaker 1: that meant that they ended up making some really awful, 514 00:32:49,200 --> 00:32:53,400 Speaker 1: awful statements, things that were racist or sexist or just 515 00:32:53,600 --> 00:32:58,520 Speaker 1: playing ugly, and then Tay would eventually start to incorporate 516 00:32:58,560 --> 00:33:03,680 Speaker 1: those into other responses is and became an incredibly absurd 517 00:33:03,880 --> 00:33:07,560 Speaker 1: internet troll within twenty four hours, and Microsoft pulled the 518 00:33:07,560 --> 00:33:12,040 Speaker 1: plug on Ta. There's a valuable lesson teaching us that 519 00:33:12,160 --> 00:33:15,120 Speaker 1: people are terrible and you should never give them anything. 520 00:33:16,400 --> 00:33:19,760 Speaker 1: Pebble would announce that it would lay off forty employees 521 00:33:20,080 --> 00:33:22,920 Speaker 1: in March. That's a big deal for Pebble because that 522 00:33:22,960 --> 00:33:27,720 Speaker 1: was about of its staff. And spoiler alert for December. 523 00:33:27,760 --> 00:33:29,640 Speaker 1: I'm gonna go ahead and tell you the Pebble story 524 00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:33,520 Speaker 1: for so this is what I mean by front loading 525 00:33:33,520 --> 00:33:37,560 Speaker 1: this episode. At the end of the year, Fitbit announced 526 00:33:37,600 --> 00:33:42,400 Speaker 1: it would acquire Pebble's software assets, so Pebble owners were 527 00:33:42,520 --> 00:33:46,760 Speaker 1: told that over time there'd be less and less support 528 00:33:46,920 --> 00:33:50,120 Speaker 1: for their devices. If you had ordered a Pebble two 529 00:33:50,240 --> 00:33:54,320 Speaker 1: or any other Pebble device after this, moment then they 530 00:33:54,360 --> 00:33:59,720 Speaker 1: were Pebbles going to refund your money. Um you Otherwise 531 00:33:59,760 --> 00:34:02,920 Speaker 1: if you if you had bought something before December seven, 532 00:34:03,040 --> 00:34:05,800 Speaker 1: you could get a refund, but army after December seven 533 00:34:05,840 --> 00:34:08,320 Speaker 1: you could get a refund, but not before. Uh. Yeah, 534 00:34:08,840 --> 00:34:12,960 Speaker 1: rough time for Pebble. So Fitbit was acquiring Pebble because 535 00:34:12,960 --> 00:34:18,040 Speaker 1: Pebbles company just couldn't support itself through sales anymore. Their 536 00:34:18,080 --> 00:34:20,440 Speaker 1: sales were not strong enough for them to be a 537 00:34:20,520 --> 00:34:25,880 Speaker 1: viable company. So uh. They were also having an issue 538 00:34:26,320 --> 00:34:30,080 Speaker 1: trying to move smart watches, which was a crowded market 539 00:34:30,440 --> 00:34:34,840 Speaker 1: in and it's not good when you have a crowded 540 00:34:34,880 --> 00:34:38,600 Speaker 1: market and you pair that with consumer apathy. There's just 541 00:34:38,640 --> 00:34:41,759 Speaker 1: not a lot of compelling reasons to go out and 542 00:34:41,800 --> 00:34:44,360 Speaker 1: buy a smart watch. If you want one, you probably 543 00:34:44,360 --> 00:34:48,239 Speaker 1: went out and bought one. But there's probably not a 544 00:34:48,239 --> 00:34:51,160 Speaker 1: lot of reasons out there that would convince someone, oh, 545 00:34:51,280 --> 00:34:54,200 Speaker 1: I need one of these if they didn't already want it. 546 00:34:54,600 --> 00:34:56,680 Speaker 1: And I say this as someone who owns a Pebble, 547 00:34:57,880 --> 00:35:00,960 Speaker 1: I I'm sad to see this news. On top of that, 548 00:35:01,080 --> 00:35:06,240 Speaker 1: Fitbit has had a really rough year. They have consistently 549 00:35:06,280 --> 00:35:10,400 Speaker 1: seen their stock price dropped throughout the year they had 550 00:35:10,400 --> 00:35:12,600 Speaker 1: a high of around fifty dollars a share and now 551 00:35:12,600 --> 00:35:15,239 Speaker 1: it's somewhere close to eight dollars a share. So it's 552 00:35:15,280 --> 00:35:20,280 Speaker 1: been rough And in fact, some people argue that Fitbit 553 00:35:20,360 --> 00:35:25,080 Speaker 1: acquiring Pebbles software assets is really the sign of two 554 00:35:25,239 --> 00:35:31,759 Speaker 1: sinking ships lashing themselves together and then sinking slightly slower. Um. 555 00:35:31,840 --> 00:35:34,080 Speaker 1: That's some of the more cynical people in the tech world. 556 00:35:34,120 --> 00:35:36,680 Speaker 1: Others say, well, maybe this is the right fit. Maybe 557 00:35:36,960 --> 00:35:42,239 Speaker 1: Fitbit using Pebble software can create really compelling wearables that 558 00:35:42,320 --> 00:35:45,279 Speaker 1: are able to turn the prospects around and maybe make 559 00:35:45,719 --> 00:35:49,440 Speaker 1: a compelling case for people who haven't bought a wearable 560 00:35:49,520 --> 00:35:53,000 Speaker 1: device to go out and do so. But it was 561 00:35:53,000 --> 00:35:56,880 Speaker 1: a really rough time for both companies. Uh, not a 562 00:35:56,920 --> 00:36:00,680 Speaker 1: great year for either Fitbit or Pebble. Maybe twin seventeen 563 00:36:00,920 --> 00:36:05,680 Speaker 1: will be different, although it's it's an odd world. I mean, 564 00:36:05,719 --> 00:36:08,920 Speaker 1: the the CEO, the founder of Pebble will not be 565 00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:12,280 Speaker 1: going with Pebble employees who are moving over to Fitbit. 566 00:36:12,400 --> 00:36:15,480 Speaker 1: He will instead be going over to an incubator company 567 00:36:15,520 --> 00:36:20,640 Speaker 1: to work on other startups. So um, rough end, especially 568 00:36:21,080 --> 00:36:24,520 Speaker 1: for someone like me who really believed in the company 569 00:36:24,760 --> 00:36:30,440 Speaker 1: and purchased a smart watch. I bought a Pebble shortly 570 00:36:30,560 --> 00:36:33,560 Speaker 1: after the Kickstarter campaign had ended. I pre ordered one 571 00:36:33,680 --> 00:36:36,160 Speaker 1: after seeing one in person at c ES a couple 572 00:36:36,160 --> 00:36:38,719 Speaker 1: of years ago, and the company was kind enough to 573 00:36:38,760 --> 00:36:43,640 Speaker 1: send me a red Kickstarter edition Pebble watch. Um, so, 574 00:36:43,680 --> 00:36:47,800 Speaker 1: I guess that's a collector's item. Now. Moving into April, 575 00:36:49,239 --> 00:36:53,399 Speaker 1: April first rolled around, and boy, oh boy, we saw 576 00:36:53,520 --> 00:36:58,360 Speaker 1: lots of gags, pranks, jokes, and attempts at humor and 577 00:36:58,440 --> 00:37:01,719 Speaker 1: people either loved it or they hated it. I know 578 00:37:01,800 --> 00:37:05,680 Speaker 1: it's a lot of tech journalists despise April Fool's Day, 579 00:37:05,960 --> 00:37:08,640 Speaker 1: largely because you can't really trust any news that gets 580 00:37:08,640 --> 00:37:12,600 Speaker 1: published on April Fool's Day, and tech journalists hate that. 581 00:37:13,560 --> 00:37:16,839 Speaker 1: I think that if you can make a fun joke, 582 00:37:17,440 --> 00:37:21,040 Speaker 1: it's great and it shows some lightheartedness. And no, not 583 00:37:21,160 --> 00:37:23,080 Speaker 1: all the jokes are a big hit. Some of them 584 00:37:23,080 --> 00:37:28,160 Speaker 1: are dorky or corny, and I think those are fine too. Uh. 585 00:37:28,239 --> 00:37:31,560 Speaker 1: Some of them are misjudged and those are more problematic, 586 00:37:31,600 --> 00:37:34,720 Speaker 1: And in fact, we saw one of those in Google 587 00:37:35,560 --> 00:37:41,839 Speaker 1: included a feature called Google's Send with in Gmail, and 588 00:37:41,880 --> 00:37:44,040 Speaker 1: that ended up being backfiring in a big way. The 589 00:37:44,120 --> 00:37:47,560 Speaker 1: send with button would send a message and include an 590 00:37:47,560 --> 00:37:51,120 Speaker 1: animated gift of a minion from the Despicable Me franchise 591 00:37:51,239 --> 00:37:55,160 Speaker 1: dropping a microphone. But some people were hitting send with 592 00:37:55,160 --> 00:37:58,920 Speaker 1: without realizing that it wasn't truly a replacement for the 593 00:37:58,960 --> 00:38:03,640 Speaker 1: send button, and so then you had folks sending messages 594 00:38:03,719 --> 00:38:07,160 Speaker 1: that really did not need to have an animated character 595 00:38:07,200 --> 00:38:11,680 Speaker 1: dropping a microphone attached to them. Imagine sending something of 596 00:38:12,440 --> 00:38:18,120 Speaker 1: sensitive nature to somebody, or you're consoling a friend who 597 00:38:18,200 --> 00:38:20,640 Speaker 1: is having a particularly rough time for one reason or another, 598 00:38:20,960 --> 00:38:25,560 Speaker 1: having a mic drop moment probably was not the most 599 00:38:25,600 --> 00:38:29,000 Speaker 1: appropriate of actions, and in fact, Google removed the feature 600 00:38:29,120 --> 00:38:32,640 Speaker 1: and even wrote that they must have they accidentally pranked 601 00:38:32,680 --> 00:38:40,000 Speaker 1: themselves in The HTC Vibe was released as promised in 602 00:38:40,080 --> 00:38:44,799 Speaker 1: early April, and uh so it started to to make 603 00:38:44,840 --> 00:38:49,000 Speaker 1: some sales and started to arrive at uh the homes 604 00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:51,759 Speaker 1: of folks who preordered it. Meanwhile, the Oculus was still 605 00:38:51,800 --> 00:38:57,080 Speaker 1: having issues with their their supply chain, so they were 606 00:38:57,080 --> 00:39:00,640 Speaker 1: still very slowly trickling out to the folks who had 607 00:39:00,719 --> 00:39:07,040 Speaker 1: ordered it. US Senators Richard Burr and Diane Feinstein drafted 608 00:39:07,040 --> 00:39:10,160 Speaker 1: a bill that would force tech companies to build in 609 00:39:10,360 --> 00:39:14,000 Speaker 1: systems allowing them to decrypt information on their own devices 610 00:39:14,480 --> 00:39:18,120 Speaker 1: that allow for encryption. So, in other words, this would 611 00:39:18,160 --> 00:39:23,800 Speaker 1: require smartphone companies that have encryption built into their phones 612 00:39:24,400 --> 00:39:28,279 Speaker 1: to have a back door for law enforcement to decrypt 613 00:39:28,320 --> 00:39:33,480 Speaker 1: a phone if necessary. Uh I mentioned earlier that backdoors 614 00:39:33,520 --> 00:39:36,880 Speaker 1: are a terrible idea. I wanna double down on that 615 00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:40,600 Speaker 1: right here. Back Doors are a terrible idea. You might 616 00:39:40,640 --> 00:39:44,000 Speaker 1: as well not have encryption at all if you are 617 00:39:44,000 --> 00:39:48,080 Speaker 1: building in back doors, because you've created a vulnerability. There's 618 00:39:48,120 --> 00:39:52,000 Speaker 1: a bright, shiny target for every single hacker out there 619 00:39:52,440 --> 00:39:56,280 Speaker 1: to exploit. And at that point, you don't need encryption 620 00:39:56,880 --> 00:39:59,640 Speaker 1: because if you if you have a lock on your door, 621 00:39:59,719 --> 00:40:01,799 Speaker 1: but you give everyone in the world a copy of 622 00:40:01,840 --> 00:40:06,680 Speaker 1: the key, what's the point of the lock. So um, 623 00:40:06,840 --> 00:40:15,560 Speaker 1: I understand that there is a political motivation to reducing 624 00:40:15,800 --> 00:40:21,600 Speaker 1: the impact of encryption, but it's I think it's misplaced 625 00:40:22,800 --> 00:40:27,040 Speaker 1: by may. This particular bill, this this version of that 626 00:40:27,080 --> 00:40:30,839 Speaker 1: bill had fizzled out. It did not get passed into law, 627 00:40:31,239 --> 00:40:36,400 Speaker 1: but in September burn Feinstein began crafting an updated version 628 00:40:36,960 --> 00:40:40,759 Speaker 1: with a narrower scope and refined language that was a 629 00:40:40,760 --> 00:40:44,840 Speaker 1: little sneaky in my opinion, Ultimately, it still requires companies 630 00:40:44,880 --> 00:40:47,840 Speaker 1: to have what amounts to a backdoor to bypass encryption, 631 00:40:48,760 --> 00:40:55,200 Speaker 1: and I still think that's completely misguided. Uh. It was 632 00:40:55,200 --> 00:40:57,839 Speaker 1: such a huge story throughout that you can really think 633 00:40:57,880 --> 00:40:59,720 Speaker 1: of that year as being the one in which lots 634 00:40:59,760 --> 00:41:03,960 Speaker 1: of lawmakers were looking for ways to make encryption effectively 635 00:41:04,120 --> 00:41:11,359 Speaker 1: illegal or at least unnecessary or irrelevant. And uh, it's 636 00:41:11,360 --> 00:41:17,480 Speaker 1: something that we continue to see happen right now. All right, 637 00:41:17,520 --> 00:41:20,440 Speaker 1: we've had another one of those dates, folks. On April one, 638 00:41:21,280 --> 00:41:25,320 Speaker 1: that's when we lost Prince. So, like David Bowie, Prince 639 00:41:25,400 --> 00:41:28,080 Speaker 1: was a huge influence in popular music. He was also 640 00:41:29,239 --> 00:41:33,760 Speaker 1: he had a very complicated relationship with technology and the internet, 641 00:41:33,800 --> 00:41:37,120 Speaker 1: in particular, in two thousand seven, he became the first 642 00:41:37,400 --> 00:41:43,200 Speaker 1: artist to release an album exclusively online. However, he also 643 00:41:43,760 --> 00:41:48,320 Speaker 1: was famous for battling lots of online platforms like YouTube 644 00:41:48,400 --> 00:41:54,160 Speaker 1: and others, uh, specifically for sharing music what he felt 645 00:41:54,239 --> 00:41:58,560 Speaker 1: was robbing him and robbing other artists of their livelihood. 646 00:41:59,120 --> 00:42:02,520 Speaker 1: He didn't want users to have the ability to upload 647 00:42:03,320 --> 00:42:08,040 Speaker 1: videos that featured music without an artist's permission, which is understandable, 648 00:42:08,840 --> 00:42:15,239 Speaker 1: but it meant that he took very powerful movements like 649 00:42:15,280 --> 00:42:17,880 Speaker 1: he made made it his mission to make sure his 650 00:42:17,960 --> 00:42:21,760 Speaker 1: music was not easily available online. He fought it tooth 651 00:42:21,840 --> 00:42:27,320 Speaker 1: and nail um. All that being said, the tech world 652 00:42:27,960 --> 00:42:32,279 Speaker 1: very much mourned his passing once news broke out about it. 653 00:42:33,400 --> 00:42:37,040 Speaker 1: Very complicated personally. Also, in declared the Internet to be dead, 654 00:42:38,360 --> 00:42:41,480 Speaker 1: but I think that's largely misinterpreted. I don't think Prince 655 00:42:41,560 --> 00:42:44,680 Speaker 1: was actually saying the Internet itself was a dead medium, 656 00:42:44,680 --> 00:42:49,080 Speaker 1: but rather for artists who want to make a living 657 00:42:49,480 --> 00:42:55,080 Speaker 1: using the Internet, as that means was not really a 658 00:42:55,200 --> 00:42:58,600 Speaker 1: viable approach. I think that's really what he was intending 659 00:42:59,040 --> 00:43:04,800 Speaker 1: by that statement. That's my own interpretation. However, in late April, 660 00:43:04,840 --> 00:43:07,640 Speaker 1: we learned that Google was creating a startup incubator in 661 00:43:07,760 --> 00:43:12,040 Speaker 1: house to help retain employees. Google had seen employees leave 662 00:43:12,120 --> 00:43:14,759 Speaker 1: the company in order to pursue their own ideas and 663 00:43:14,800 --> 00:43:19,680 Speaker 1: their create their own companies, sort of leaving with their 664 00:43:19,719 --> 00:43:25,040 Speaker 1: own personal projects. You know. Google gives every employee, or 665 00:43:25,040 --> 00:43:30,120 Speaker 1: at least used to, of their time to develop projects 666 00:43:30,120 --> 00:43:34,040 Speaker 1: that aren't directly related to their normal work, and by 667 00:43:34,080 --> 00:43:37,520 Speaker 1: creating the startup incubator, it was sort of an attempt 668 00:43:37,600 --> 00:43:41,080 Speaker 1: to keep those folks in the Google family rather than 669 00:43:41,320 --> 00:43:44,359 Speaker 1: encourage them to go out and strike out on their own, 670 00:43:44,400 --> 00:43:50,920 Speaker 1: and thus Google is bereft of their talent. Uh. Also 671 00:43:50,960 --> 00:43:54,840 Speaker 1: in April, music streaming service Title land and ex landed 672 00:43:54,880 --> 00:43:58,920 Speaker 1: an exclusive deal would Beyonce to feature her album Lemonade 673 00:43:58,960 --> 00:44:02,239 Speaker 1: for one weekend before became available on iTunes and Amazon. 674 00:44:03,120 --> 00:44:07,600 Speaker 1: This was another big story throughout not Beyonce's Lemonade in particular, 675 00:44:07,640 --> 00:44:09,959 Speaker 1: although that did make quite the stir when it came out, 676 00:44:10,480 --> 00:44:14,440 Speaker 1: but rather the way that streaming music services were trying 677 00:44:14,440 --> 00:44:19,400 Speaker 1: to differentiate themselves, largely through exclusive deals with artists. UH. 678 00:44:19,480 --> 00:44:22,160 Speaker 1: These exclusive deals tend to last a certain amount of 679 00:44:22,160 --> 00:44:25,640 Speaker 1: time and then the exclusivity ends. But Title is not 680 00:44:25,680 --> 00:44:27,759 Speaker 1: the only one that did it. Apple Music has done 681 00:44:27,760 --> 00:44:32,760 Speaker 1: it several times in sixteen, and we would see revenue 682 00:44:32,800 --> 00:44:37,080 Speaker 1: from streaming services out performing revenue from digital downloads for 683 00:44:37,120 --> 00:44:41,600 Speaker 1: the first time ever. So, in other words, more people 684 00:44:41,800 --> 00:44:46,600 Speaker 1: are subscribing to music streaming services paying for a subscription 685 00:44:47,080 --> 00:44:52,640 Speaker 1: to streaming music services than they are purchasing music online. UH. 686 00:44:52,840 --> 00:44:58,040 Speaker 1: So iTunes is seeing much lower numbers for people buying music, 687 00:44:58,280 --> 00:45:01,279 Speaker 1: but higher numbers for people using Apple Music and subscribing 688 00:45:01,320 --> 00:45:05,120 Speaker 1: to that service. I also saw a really interesting article 689 00:45:05,840 --> 00:45:11,120 Speaker 1: um that claimed at least that artists aren't really suffering 690 00:45:11,200 --> 00:45:15,239 Speaker 1: because of this, that the numbers generated through streaming are 691 00:45:15,320 --> 00:45:18,759 Speaker 1: pretty much the same as what they would be for 692 00:45:18,960 --> 00:45:23,879 Speaker 1: digital sales of that same music. So even though there's 693 00:45:23,920 --> 00:45:27,160 Speaker 1: some artists like Taylor Swift who have famously said that 694 00:45:27,280 --> 00:45:30,920 Speaker 1: streaming is robbing artists of revenue and that it's a 695 00:45:31,040 --> 00:45:36,560 Speaker 1: terrible thing, the numbers appear to not support that argument. 696 00:45:36,600 --> 00:45:41,360 Speaker 1: They they seem to say, it's it's the same amount 697 00:45:41,360 --> 00:45:45,080 Speaker 1: of money. It's a different delivery system, but artists, or 698 00:45:45,120 --> 00:45:49,080 Speaker 1: at least music labels should be making the same amount. Now, 699 00:45:49,120 --> 00:45:51,520 Speaker 1: if an artist is making less because of their agreement 700 00:45:51,560 --> 00:45:54,880 Speaker 1: with their music label, that's a different issue. That's not 701 00:45:54,960 --> 00:45:59,880 Speaker 1: so much the delivery system that's allows the contract towards 702 00:45:59,880 --> 00:46:03,000 Speaker 1: the Into April, the Supreme Court approved a change to 703 00:46:03,080 --> 00:46:06,960 Speaker 1: the federal rule of criminal procedure, and it would allow 704 00:46:07,000 --> 00:46:10,520 Speaker 1: the FBI to get permission to search computers and drives remotely. 705 00:46:11,120 --> 00:46:14,759 Speaker 1: In other words, it gave the FBI greater authority to 706 00:46:14,880 --> 00:46:18,360 Speaker 1: hack into machines. And the logic behind this decision was 707 00:46:18,440 --> 00:46:23,400 Speaker 1: that a suspect might be within one jurisdiction, but because 708 00:46:23,440 --> 00:46:26,480 Speaker 1: of the nature of the Internet. The suspect might be 709 00:46:26,600 --> 00:46:30,160 Speaker 1: using machines that are in totally different jurisdictions or entirely 710 00:46:30,160 --> 00:46:34,760 Speaker 1: different countries in some cases, and it would be impossible 711 00:46:35,160 --> 00:46:39,080 Speaker 1: for some law enforcement to get access to those machines 712 00:46:39,760 --> 00:46:43,120 Speaker 1: because they're outside of the jurisdiction. So the only alternative 713 00:46:43,680 --> 00:46:46,960 Speaker 1: is to hack into the service and look for evidence 714 00:46:47,040 --> 00:46:51,840 Speaker 1: that way. But the a c l U and companies 715 00:46:51,840 --> 00:46:55,239 Speaker 1: like Google argued against it, saying it amounts to unreasonable 716 00:46:55,280 --> 00:46:59,080 Speaker 1: search and seizure because it affects not only a suspect, 717 00:46:59,360 --> 00:47:02,520 Speaker 1: but also innocent people as well, or or not the 718 00:47:02,560 --> 00:47:06,000 Speaker 1: suspect could be innocent. It affects people not related to 719 00:47:06,040 --> 00:47:10,640 Speaker 1: the to the the investigation. And uh so this is 720 00:47:10,680 --> 00:47:13,640 Speaker 1: a complicated matter that I'm sure we will see pop 721 00:47:13,719 --> 00:47:18,920 Speaker 1: up again in all Right, we're getting close to the end. 722 00:47:19,120 --> 00:47:21,000 Speaker 1: We have one more month to get through. There's a 723 00:47:21,040 --> 00:47:24,440 Speaker 1: lot of information in it. But before I jump into May, 724 00:47:24,960 --> 00:47:35,839 Speaker 1: let's take another break to thank our sponsor. All Right, 725 00:47:36,360 --> 00:47:42,560 Speaker 1: home stretch. May. On May seven, a man named Joshua 726 00:47:42,640 --> 00:47:46,560 Speaker 1: Brown died in a car accident. He was driving a 727 00:47:46,719 --> 00:47:52,680 Speaker 1: Tesla Models and reportedly the autopilot driver assist system was 728 00:47:52,800 --> 00:47:57,520 Speaker 1: engaged and also reportedly he was traveling at nine miles 729 00:47:57,520 --> 00:47:59,920 Speaker 1: over the speed limit for the highway he was on. 730 00:48:01,320 --> 00:48:03,520 Speaker 1: The car he was in collided with the side of 731 00:48:03,560 --> 00:48:07,600 Speaker 1: a tractor trailer. Now, initial reports suggested the autopilot system 732 00:48:07,680 --> 00:48:11,920 Speaker 1: was unable to distinguish the trailer from the bright sky 733 00:48:11,960 --> 00:48:15,120 Speaker 1: that was present that day, and the car failed to 734 00:48:15,160 --> 00:48:18,360 Speaker 1: break as it should have because it didn't recognize that 735 00:48:18,400 --> 00:48:20,680 Speaker 1: there was an obstacle in the way. The radar and 736 00:48:20,719 --> 00:48:25,880 Speaker 1: the cameras didn't pick anything up. Other accidents, including another 737 00:48:25,920 --> 00:48:29,360 Speaker 1: fatal one, would follow later in the year that involved 738 00:48:29,680 --> 00:48:34,920 Speaker 1: or allegedly involved Tesla autopilot being in play. Now, Tesla's 739 00:48:34,960 --> 00:48:38,560 Speaker 1: autopilot feature is meant to be a driver augmented experience, 740 00:48:38,600 --> 00:48:43,440 Speaker 1: a driver assist feature, not a replacement for drivers, and 741 00:48:43,480 --> 00:48:46,520 Speaker 1: to enable it, drivers have to acknowledge they understand this. 742 00:48:46,640 --> 00:48:50,520 Speaker 1: They read a warning message saying as much. But this 743 00:48:50,719 --> 00:48:54,600 Speaker 1: was a rough rough year for Tesla because of that. 744 00:48:56,200 --> 00:49:00,080 Speaker 1: Later in May, a University of Michigan survey revealed that 745 00:49:00,200 --> 00:49:05,200 Speaker 1: the vast majority of people don't really want a driverless 746 00:49:05,239 --> 00:49:08,160 Speaker 1: car or want to ride in a driverless car that 747 00:49:08,239 --> 00:49:12,399 Speaker 1: doesn't have at least some sort of manual override system. 748 00:49:12,520 --> 00:49:14,120 Speaker 1: Many said they were afraid to be in a self 749 00:49:14,200 --> 00:49:18,719 Speaker 1: driving car at all, said they'd rather have control themselves, 750 00:49:18,760 --> 00:49:24,640 Speaker 1: manual control and and no self driving car elements included. Now, personally, 751 00:49:25,640 --> 00:49:29,239 Speaker 1: I hate the idea of having manual override controls in 752 00:49:29,280 --> 00:49:32,080 Speaker 1: an autonomous car. And I've said this before because it 753 00:49:32,120 --> 00:49:34,520 Speaker 1: amounts to the same thing as someone saying in the 754 00:49:34,520 --> 00:49:36,960 Speaker 1: passenger seat and reaching over and grabbing your steering wheel 755 00:49:37,160 --> 00:49:40,560 Speaker 1: or stomping on your foot to hit the accelerator or 756 00:49:40,600 --> 00:49:44,840 Speaker 1: the break. Uh, it's not safe. It's much more safe 757 00:49:44,880 --> 00:49:49,040 Speaker 1: to have a fully autonomous car, assuming that the system 758 00:49:49,080 --> 00:49:52,560 Speaker 1: has been designed properly. Obviously, you make a really crappy 759 00:49:52,600 --> 00:49:56,320 Speaker 1: autonomous car, then it's not safe. But if you're following 760 00:49:56,320 --> 00:50:00,279 Speaker 1: the best practices, it's much more safe to give troll 761 00:50:00,360 --> 00:50:03,680 Speaker 1: to the vehicle and not struggle with it. But I 762 00:50:03,719 --> 00:50:06,640 Speaker 1: also say that as someone who doesn't drive, so perhaps 763 00:50:06,680 --> 00:50:11,040 Speaker 1: I'm heavily biased. In fact, I am heavily biased. I mean, 764 00:50:11,040 --> 00:50:15,719 Speaker 1: there's no no perhaps about it. Another big story in 765 00:50:15,760 --> 00:50:20,120 Speaker 1: May um a crazy story, was that there was an 766 00:50:20,160 --> 00:50:24,800 Speaker 1: Australian businessman named Craig Wright who came forward and claimed 767 00:50:24,880 --> 00:50:30,680 Speaker 1: he was Satoshi Nakamoto a k a. The creator of bitcoin, 768 00:50:32,040 --> 00:50:37,640 Speaker 1: and well, the media essentially said, say, what can you 769 00:50:37,719 --> 00:50:41,400 Speaker 1: prove it? And Craig Wright said, boy, how do I 770 00:50:41,440 --> 00:50:44,839 Speaker 1: can prove it? Here's some cryptography for you. And then 771 00:50:44,880 --> 00:50:49,359 Speaker 1: the cryptography community said this is really lousy. And then 772 00:50:49,400 --> 00:50:53,439 Speaker 1: eventually Craig Wright removed the posts he had that quote 773 00:50:53,520 --> 00:50:58,760 Speaker 1: unquote contained the proof of his identity. A London Review 774 00:50:58,800 --> 00:51:02,360 Speaker 1: of Books investigation concluded that Right was making a baseless 775 00:51:02,400 --> 00:51:06,000 Speaker 1: claim and went so far as to suggest perhaps the 776 00:51:06,040 --> 00:51:10,319 Speaker 1: motivation for claiming to be Nakamoto was that he was 777 00:51:10,400 --> 00:51:15,640 Speaker 1: trying to make money through selling patents related to bitcoin 778 00:51:16,160 --> 00:51:19,040 Speaker 1: in order to cover other debts that he had amassed 779 00:51:19,200 --> 00:51:24,760 Speaker 1: through various business ventures. Uh. It was not a pretty 780 00:51:24,840 --> 00:51:30,120 Speaker 1: story at all, but kind of crazy. Also in May, 781 00:51:30,160 --> 00:51:33,120 Speaker 1: Oculus announced that it had it was going to create 782 00:51:33,160 --> 00:51:37,080 Speaker 1: a limited number of Oculus Rift headsets for sale at 783 00:51:37,560 --> 00:51:41,719 Speaker 1: brick and mortar Best Buy stores. They were gonna make 784 00:51:41,840 --> 00:51:46,360 Speaker 1: just a limited number available for physical purchase at these stores, 785 00:51:47,120 --> 00:51:52,080 Speaker 1: and that drove some preorder customers absolutely bonkers because they 786 00:51:52,080 --> 00:51:55,640 Speaker 1: still had not received their sets that they had pre ordered. 787 00:51:56,520 --> 00:52:00,200 Speaker 1: Oculus solution to this problem was to say, hey, if 788 00:52:00,239 --> 00:52:02,520 Speaker 1: you go and buy it at the best Buy, we 789 00:52:02,560 --> 00:52:06,239 Speaker 1: will preserve the preorder perks that come along with the 790 00:52:06,280 --> 00:52:09,040 Speaker 1: preorder set, so you'll you'll still get the perks that 791 00:52:09,120 --> 00:52:11,799 Speaker 1: you should have, but you can go and get your 792 00:52:11,800 --> 00:52:14,920 Speaker 1: set this way rather than wait for it. That did 793 00:52:14,920 --> 00:52:19,120 Speaker 1: not go over very well. Uh. I think describing the 794 00:52:19,160 --> 00:52:25,440 Speaker 1: Oculus Riffs launch as rocky or problematic is probably being generous. 795 00:52:25,680 --> 00:52:30,280 Speaker 1: It did not. It did not go very smoothly. Um, 796 00:52:30,320 --> 00:52:34,160 Speaker 1: and not all of that was necessarily Oculus's fault, but 797 00:52:34,239 --> 00:52:36,640 Speaker 1: it did not reflect well in the company when these 798 00:52:36,640 --> 00:52:41,680 Speaker 1: sort of things happened. Also in May, Radiohead fans began 799 00:52:41,719 --> 00:52:44,759 Speaker 1: to scratch their heads because the band was doing some 800 00:52:44,840 --> 00:52:48,520 Speaker 1: odd stuff. The entire Twitter and Facebook history of the 801 00:52:48,520 --> 00:52:52,359 Speaker 1: band got deleted and their web page was replaced with 802 00:52:52,440 --> 00:52:55,400 Speaker 1: a blank white page. Now all of that ended up 803 00:52:55,440 --> 00:52:57,360 Speaker 1: being part of a campaign to promote a new album, 804 00:52:57,400 --> 00:53:01,800 Speaker 1: but at the time people were wondering exactly what was up. Also, 805 00:53:02,160 --> 00:53:07,000 Speaker 1: a ten year old kid in Finland earned ten thousand 806 00:53:07,280 --> 00:53:12,160 Speaker 1: dollars because he found a flaw in Instagram's app, and 807 00:53:12,239 --> 00:53:15,600 Speaker 1: that flaw would allow him to delete any comments left 808 00:53:15,840 --> 00:53:20,200 Speaker 1: on Instagram. He alerted Facebook. He said, hey, I found 809 00:53:20,200 --> 00:53:24,200 Speaker 1: this this flaw, you need to fix it, and Facebook 810 00:53:24,239 --> 00:53:28,640 Speaker 1: said thanks and then paid him ten grand for the discovery. 811 00:53:29,080 --> 00:53:34,640 Speaker 1: So good for that kid, Ice creams on him. IBM 812 00:53:34,680 --> 00:53:38,479 Speaker 1: opened up it's quantum computing platform to researchers in May 813 00:53:38,640 --> 00:53:41,160 Speaker 1: of twenty sixteen, saying that if you want to run 814 00:53:41,400 --> 00:53:44,960 Speaker 1: quantum computing experiments on our equipment, you can. You can 815 00:53:45,040 --> 00:53:48,359 Speaker 1: use the online portal and do that. They just had 816 00:53:48,400 --> 00:53:50,880 Speaker 1: to request an invite to create experiments to run on 817 00:53:50,960 --> 00:53:54,719 Speaker 1: quantum logic gates, which is pretty cool. We still don't 818 00:53:54,719 --> 00:53:59,680 Speaker 1: know what the full potential for quantum computing is. We 819 00:53:59,760 --> 00:54:06,720 Speaker 1: know that it could absolutely transform cryptography and encryption and 820 00:54:06,719 --> 00:54:11,520 Speaker 1: and related fields, but beyond that, it's uh. There's still 821 00:54:11,520 --> 00:54:13,960 Speaker 1: a lot of questions about what quantum computing will be 822 00:54:14,000 --> 00:54:18,240 Speaker 1: great for. The Wall Street Journal would publish an article 823 00:54:18,280 --> 00:54:21,520 Speaker 1: that said LIFT and GM had entered a partnership to 824 00:54:21,520 --> 00:54:25,280 Speaker 1: start testing autonomous Chevy Bolt cars as a cab service, 825 00:54:26,440 --> 00:54:32,560 Speaker 1: aiming for a a soft launch in and Google published 826 00:54:32,560 --> 00:54:36,280 Speaker 1: a blog post explaining that researchers had been feeding romance 827 00:54:36,400 --> 00:54:40,440 Speaker 1: novels along with other materials, to artificial intelligence to help 828 00:54:40,640 --> 00:54:45,640 Speaker 1: its ability to understand conversational language. And lots of bodices 829 00:54:45,680 --> 00:54:49,960 Speaker 1: began ripping all over the place in AI Land. Actually, uh, 830 00:54:50,160 --> 00:54:52,359 Speaker 1: it makes sense when you really look into it. First 831 00:54:52,360 --> 00:54:55,279 Speaker 1: of all, it wasn't just romance novels, but that's how 832 00:54:55,320 --> 00:54:58,320 Speaker 1: it was widely reported because it was the the most 833 00:54:58,440 --> 00:55:01,879 Speaker 1: amusing part of the story. The real way to think 834 00:55:01,920 --> 00:55:04,879 Speaker 1: about this is that we humans tend to have lots 835 00:55:04,880 --> 00:55:07,520 Speaker 1: of different ways to say the same thing. Like you 836 00:55:07,560 --> 00:55:11,040 Speaker 1: can use different turns of phrase or figures of speech 837 00:55:11,080 --> 00:55:15,320 Speaker 1: in order to express the same idea a hundred different ways, 838 00:55:15,400 --> 00:55:19,560 Speaker 1: and this is difficult for computers to parse. So by 839 00:55:19,680 --> 00:55:26,080 Speaker 1: feeding romance novels, which are largely formulaic, to AI, it 840 00:55:26,239 --> 00:55:28,280 Speaker 1: kind of shows that there are lots of different ways 841 00:55:28,320 --> 00:55:32,400 Speaker 1: to say basically the same thing. If most romance novels 842 00:55:32,680 --> 00:55:36,640 Speaker 1: follow a particular formula, but they each contain their own 843 00:55:36,680 --> 00:55:41,200 Speaker 1: specific language, as created by the author, then you know 844 00:55:41,239 --> 00:55:44,480 Speaker 1: their own way of expressing these same basic ideas. It's 845 00:55:44,480 --> 00:55:46,359 Speaker 1: a good way to teach computers, Hey, there's all these 846 00:55:46,360 --> 00:55:49,920 Speaker 1: different ways to get across the same basic notion. So 847 00:55:49,960 --> 00:55:51,680 Speaker 1: it made sense if you looked at it from a 848 00:55:52,480 --> 00:55:55,560 Speaker 1: little further back than just saying, hey, they're reading a 849 00:55:55,560 --> 00:56:01,200 Speaker 1: lot of Harlequin romance books. And around that same time, 850 00:56:01,520 --> 00:56:05,319 Speaker 1: a former Facebook employee made big waves out in the 851 00:56:05,360 --> 00:56:08,480 Speaker 1: tech world by saying that Facebook as a rule was 852 00:56:08,560 --> 00:56:13,239 Speaker 1: suppressing conservative news stories from the Trending news section on Facebook, 853 00:56:14,480 --> 00:56:19,400 Speaker 1: which is partly curated by Facebook employees. Now. Facebook denied 854 00:56:19,640 --> 00:56:22,640 Speaker 1: the allegations, saying the company worked very hard to avoid 855 00:56:22,680 --> 00:56:27,120 Speaker 1: bias or prioritization of any news or philosophy over any other. 856 00:56:28,200 --> 00:56:32,479 Speaker 1: But that definitely made headlines for quite some time in 857 00:56:32,480 --> 00:56:38,320 Speaker 1: in May sixteen. Also in that time, Amazon Video Direct 858 00:56:38,400 --> 00:56:42,600 Speaker 1: launched and that allows professional content creators to use Amazon 859 00:56:42,640 --> 00:56:45,320 Speaker 1: as a video platform, and one of the launch partners 860 00:56:46,000 --> 00:56:49,799 Speaker 1: was a scrappy little company called how Stuff Works. So 861 00:56:49,840 --> 00:56:51,520 Speaker 1: if you go to Amazon Video and you search for 862 00:56:51,520 --> 00:56:54,000 Speaker 1: how Stuff Works, you'll find videos that have me and 863 00:56:54,040 --> 00:56:57,240 Speaker 1: my co workers in them. Kind of neat. You should 864 00:56:57,239 --> 00:57:00,960 Speaker 1: do that thing. If you have Amazon Video, you go 865 00:57:01,120 --> 00:57:06,719 Speaker 1: check it out. I'm on brain stuff. Instagram updated its 866 00:57:06,760 --> 00:57:10,319 Speaker 1: logo and people went nuts and ridiculed it, and now 867 00:57:10,600 --> 00:57:12,520 Speaker 1: I bet you can't even remember what the old logo 868 00:57:12,560 --> 00:57:17,720 Speaker 1: looked like. So there. Disney would close down its video 869 00:57:17,800 --> 00:57:21,480 Speaker 1: game division in May, including the Disney Infinity line of games. 870 00:57:21,480 --> 00:57:25,840 Speaker 1: And collectibles. The company decided instead that it would license 871 00:57:25,920 --> 00:57:30,040 Speaker 1: intellectual property out to other video game developers and then 872 00:57:30,080 --> 00:57:36,240 Speaker 1: they would just avoid building stuff in house Mouse House. Now, 873 00:57:36,320 --> 00:57:39,920 Speaker 1: towards the end of May, Google would have its big 874 00:57:39,920 --> 00:57:43,480 Speaker 1: event and start announcing stuff like crazy, including the Google 875 00:57:43,560 --> 00:57:46,840 Speaker 1: Home device. Google Home is Google's take on a smart 876 00:57:46,920 --> 00:57:51,520 Speaker 1: speaker with a personal digital audio assistant similar to Amazon's Echo, 877 00:57:52,400 --> 00:57:55,480 Speaker 1: and the company also introduced a messaging service called l O, 878 00:57:56,040 --> 00:58:00,640 Speaker 1: a l l O that incorporates the personal digit assistant 879 00:58:01,120 --> 00:58:05,440 Speaker 1: the audio assistant, just like Google Home does. So you 880 00:58:05,480 --> 00:58:08,360 Speaker 1: could have a text message with somebody else, a real, 881 00:58:08,440 --> 00:58:14,200 Speaker 1: live human being, and Aloe could help. Let's say that 882 00:58:14,240 --> 00:58:16,479 Speaker 1: you start having a discussion with someone about a place 883 00:58:16,520 --> 00:58:18,800 Speaker 1: you want to go and eat. Aloe might end up 884 00:58:18,840 --> 00:58:21,320 Speaker 1: pulling up open table so that you can make a reservation. 885 00:58:21,440 --> 00:58:25,560 Speaker 1: That sort of thing. It's a little creepy, can feel 886 00:58:25,560 --> 00:58:29,560 Speaker 1: a little invasive, maybe if you aren't really in the 887 00:58:29,600 --> 00:58:33,120 Speaker 1: mind to have a digital assistant kind of button and say, hey, 888 00:58:33,160 --> 00:58:35,080 Speaker 1: I see you're talking about this thing. Let me help 889 00:58:35,080 --> 00:58:39,400 Speaker 1: you out with that. But fortunately, this is a dedicated app. 890 00:58:39,600 --> 00:58:42,000 Speaker 1: It's not like it's built into all of Google services, 891 00:58:42,000 --> 00:58:44,520 Speaker 1: so you can just not download it and use it 892 00:58:44,560 --> 00:58:48,080 Speaker 1: if you'd rather avoid that sort of stuff. Google would 893 00:58:48,120 --> 00:58:51,040 Speaker 1: also show off day Dream. It's a it's a virtual 894 00:58:51,120 --> 00:58:54,800 Speaker 1: reality platform, so that makes that VR crowded space even 895 00:58:54,840 --> 00:58:58,920 Speaker 1: more crowded. And Google debuted Magenta, which is an AI 896 00:58:59,000 --> 00:59:01,520 Speaker 1: program that explores deep learning to create art in a 897 00:59:01,560 --> 00:59:06,280 Speaker 1: real trippy way. Pretty cool and weird. Um not something 898 00:59:06,320 --> 00:59:11,840 Speaker 1: I would typically associate with engineers. Towards the end of 899 00:59:11,880 --> 00:59:15,280 Speaker 1: a the Pittsburgh Tribune confirmed that Uber had begun testing 900 00:59:15,320 --> 00:59:20,560 Speaker 1: autonomous cars in Pittsburgh. Now, in those cases, you still 901 00:59:20,600 --> 00:59:24,560 Speaker 1: had someone writing in the driver's seat. They weren't completely 902 00:59:24,760 --> 00:59:27,320 Speaker 1: without a driver, but the driver. The driver was meant 903 00:59:27,320 --> 00:59:32,840 Speaker 1: to be passive unless absolutely necessary. And Uber has made 904 00:59:32,920 --> 00:59:37,000 Speaker 1: no secret that it intends to adopt autonomous car technology 905 00:59:37,040 --> 00:59:41,360 Speaker 1: as soon as that technology is mature and legal. And 906 00:59:42,280 --> 00:59:45,240 Speaker 1: that's tough because if you're a company and your employees 907 00:59:45,240 --> 00:59:48,880 Speaker 1: are largely drivers, and you're telling them, hey, your job 908 00:59:49,120 --> 00:59:52,760 Speaker 1: is limited, You've you've got a limited time span. Eventually 909 00:59:52,760 --> 00:59:55,720 Speaker 1: we're gonna replace you with a robot. It's got to 910 00:59:55,760 --> 01:00:00,080 Speaker 1: hurt employee morale, I would think. And that is it 911 01:00:00,720 --> 01:00:04,280 Speaker 1: for the first half of a little less than first half, 912 01:00:04,840 --> 01:00:07,720 Speaker 1: So join me next week for the exciting conclusion to 913 01:00:08,800 --> 01:00:12,280 Speaker 1: when I look at these stories from June through as 914 01:00:12,360 --> 01:00:14,320 Speaker 1: much of December as we are through by the time 915 01:00:14,360 --> 01:00:20,280 Speaker 1: I record it, and we'll talk about more interesting stories, triumphs, 916 01:00:20,320 --> 01:00:23,560 Speaker 1: tragedies and everything in between. If you guys have any 917 01:00:23,600 --> 01:00:26,640 Speaker 1: suggestions for future episodes, or if there's a story that 918 01:00:26,680 --> 01:00:28,440 Speaker 1: I skipped over that you think I really should have 919 01:00:28,440 --> 01:00:32,000 Speaker 1: talked about, write me let me know. The email address 920 01:00:32,080 --> 01:00:35,120 Speaker 1: is tech stuff at how stuff works dot com, or 921 01:00:35,160 --> 01:00:37,440 Speaker 1: you can drop me a line on Facebook or Twitter, 922 01:00:37,480 --> 01:00:39,480 Speaker 1: or the handle at both of those is tech Stuff 923 01:00:39,800 --> 01:00:43,480 Speaker 1: H s W. And I'll talk to you again really 924 01:00:43,520 --> 01:00:51,040 Speaker 1: soon for more on this and thousands of other topics. 925 01:00:51,280 --> 01:01:00,400 Speaker 1: Is that how stuff works dot com. Eight