1
00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800
Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio.

2
00:00:12,119 --> 00:00:15,280
Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host,

3
00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:18,520
Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio

4
00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:21,320
Speaker 1: and I love all things tech. And this is the

5
00:00:21,360 --> 00:00:26,800
Speaker 1: tech news for Thursday, January seventh, twenty twenty one. And

6
00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:30,280
Speaker 1: we are going to pick up with a story that

7
00:00:30,480 --> 00:00:34,680
Speaker 1: really got started in twenty and that is the mysterious

8
00:00:34,840 --> 00:00:40,559
Speaker 1: disappearance of Jack Ma. And that's a billionaire co founder

9
00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:46,120
Speaker 1: of the Chinese company Ali Baba, which is an e commerce, retail, internet,

10
00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:49,839
Speaker 1: you name it, tech company. And he made a speech

11
00:00:50,080 --> 00:00:55,680
Speaker 1: in October of twenty twenty criticizing industry regulators in China

12
00:00:56,080 --> 00:01:00,120
Speaker 1: as well as the financial industry in that country, and

13
00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:05,640
Speaker 1: then regulators went kind of nuclear on the company. The

14
00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:10,160
Speaker 1: company had been in preparation of launching its initial public offering,

15
00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:13,720
Speaker 1: or i p O when it becomes a publicly traded company,

16
00:01:13,959 --> 00:01:18,120
Speaker 1: but regulators canceled the scheduled i p O for Ali Baba,

17
00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:21,240
Speaker 1: and then they mandated that the company had to go

18
00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:26,959
Speaker 1: through some major restructuring and it is now under antitrust

19
00:01:27,200 --> 00:01:32,199
Speaker 1: investigation in China. Ma has not been heard from since

20
00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:36,840
Speaker 1: that October speech now he may be laying low in

21
00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:42,959
Speaker 1: China to avoid further retaliation. China's Communist Party might be

22
00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:47,440
Speaker 1: reeling ma in a bit to restrict him a little more.

23
00:01:47,520 --> 00:01:50,840
Speaker 1: He had been enjoying a lot of leniency due to

24
00:01:50,880 --> 00:01:54,080
Speaker 1: the importance of his business and how it helped elevate

25
00:01:54,120 --> 00:01:57,840
Speaker 1: industry in China in general. But his absence has led

26
00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:01,320
Speaker 1: to a lot of speculation. There are people who wonder

27
00:02:01,640 --> 00:02:04,120
Speaker 1: if he's just laying low like like a lot of

28
00:02:04,120 --> 00:02:08,560
Speaker 1: analysts have suspected to potentially more sinister outcomes, like he

29
00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:11,800
Speaker 1: might be in custody now. We just don't know. And

30
00:02:11,840 --> 00:02:17,640
Speaker 1: this kind of illustrates the difficult situation in China for

31
00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:21,080
Speaker 1: companies in general, not just Chinese ones, but American ones

32
00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:26,000
Speaker 1: that are operating within China. The Communist Party has a

33
00:02:26,160 --> 00:02:31,320
Speaker 1: delicate balance between the power it wants to retain and

34
00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:35,200
Speaker 1: the moves it needs to make in order to build

35
00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:40,959
Speaker 1: China's economy and make it an even more powerful world power.

36
00:02:41,919 --> 00:02:45,000
Speaker 1: That is something that the Communist Party has been struggling

37
00:02:45,040 --> 00:02:49,760
Speaker 1: with for a while, and we have seen multiple instances

38
00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:55,720
Speaker 1: of the Communist Party becoming more involved directly with company procedures,

39
00:02:56,120 --> 00:02:58,800
Speaker 1: and it's a general rule of thumb that if you

40
00:02:58,880 --> 00:03:03,480
Speaker 1: operate a business, particularly a large one in China, you

41
00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:07,880
Speaker 1: are required to have a member of the Communist Party

42
00:03:07,960 --> 00:03:10,960
Speaker 1: on the board of directors. There has to be a

43
00:03:11,120 --> 00:03:16,120
Speaker 1: presence of the Communist Party in that company. So while

44
00:03:16,639 --> 00:03:20,040
Speaker 1: Ma had enjoyed a great deal of freedom for quite

45
00:03:20,080 --> 00:03:23,200
Speaker 1: some time, that looks like it has at least come

46
00:03:23,200 --> 00:03:27,000
Speaker 1: to a temporary end, and we will continue to update

47
00:03:27,040 --> 00:03:31,520
Speaker 1: the story as we learn more over the year. Sticking

48
00:03:31,520 --> 00:03:34,800
Speaker 1: with China, there is more to talk about with the

49
00:03:34,920 --> 00:03:38,400
Speaker 1: trade war. That's one thing that's been consistent during President

50
00:03:38,400 --> 00:03:43,960
Speaker 1: Trump's term in office is that ongoing trade war with China. Recently,

51
00:03:44,360 --> 00:03:49,200
Speaker 1: the President signed an executive order that bands transactions with

52
00:03:49,440 --> 00:03:53,640
Speaker 1: a group of Chinese apps, among them we Chat Pay

53
00:03:53,680 --> 00:03:56,800
Speaker 1: and Ali Pay. And that last one is a digital

54
00:03:56,800 --> 00:04:00,440
Speaker 1: wallet app that's part of the Ali Baba Empire, being,

55
00:04:00,520 --> 00:04:03,040
Speaker 1: you know, the company that Jack Ma is associated with.

56
00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:06,760
Speaker 1: So this new executive order is kind of similar to

57
00:04:06,920 --> 00:04:11,960
Speaker 1: a previous executive order Trump signed earlier in twenty twenty.

58
00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:15,520
Speaker 1: That band deals with the wee chat messaging app as

59
00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:19,880
Speaker 1: well as the social media video platform TikTok. Now. The

60
00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:23,360
Speaker 1: order calls for this new band to go into effect

61
00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:27,080
Speaker 1: forty five days after it was signed, but that actually

62
00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:31,359
Speaker 1: means that the start date would be after the day

63
00:04:31,400 --> 00:04:35,520
Speaker 1: that President elect Joe Biden takes office, which is January twenty.

64
00:04:35,920 --> 00:04:38,920
Speaker 1: So it remains to be seen if this new band

65
00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:42,640
Speaker 1: actually has any impact. It could be that Biden reverses

66
00:04:42,680 --> 00:04:46,000
Speaker 1: it or just doesn't enforce it. And the TikTok and

67
00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:49,240
Speaker 1: we chat stories are also still playing out the ones

68
00:04:49,279 --> 00:04:52,400
Speaker 1: from earlier in twenty like that was over the summer

69
00:04:52,440 --> 00:04:55,960
Speaker 1: of the U S government had been pushing very hard

70
00:04:56,200 --> 00:04:59,440
Speaker 1: for an American company to take over the operations of

71
00:04:59,440 --> 00:05:05,080
Speaker 1: TikTok from TikTok's parent company, Bite Dance, which is in China,

72
00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:09,560
Speaker 1: but that hasn't actually happened yet. Oracle and Walmart were

73
00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:13,039
Speaker 1: set to take over some, but not all, of the

74
00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:16,680
Speaker 1: stock in TikTok. It would give them quite a bit

75
00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:19,960
Speaker 1: of influence over TikTok, but not necessarily full control of

76
00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:24,600
Speaker 1: the company. However, that process stalled out in November twenty twenty,

77
00:05:24,760 --> 00:05:28,320
Speaker 1: largely because the US government failed to do anything to

78
00:05:28,600 --> 00:05:32,760
Speaker 1: enforce the executive order. But then I guess the US

79
00:05:32,839 --> 00:05:36,200
Speaker 1: government has had a lot on its mind lately. One

80
00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:39,560
Speaker 1: thing that did happen that relates back to this trade

81
00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:43,480
Speaker 1: war is that the New York Stock Exchange announced that,

82
00:05:43,680 --> 00:05:47,800
Speaker 1: in accordance with a Trump executive order, it will delist

83
00:05:48,279 --> 00:05:53,400
Speaker 1: three Chinese telecommunications companies from the Stock Exchange starting on

84
00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:58,120
Speaker 1: January eleven, two thousand twenty one. And those three companies

85
00:05:58,160 --> 00:06:03,479
Speaker 1: are China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom. Now I

86
00:06:03,560 --> 00:06:07,800
Speaker 1: need to kind of hedge this a bit because at

87
00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:10,920
Speaker 1: the time of this recording, that's what the New York

88
00:06:10,960 --> 00:06:15,080
Speaker 1: Stock Exchange says it's going to do. However, last week,

89
00:06:15,480 --> 00:06:20,400
Speaker 1: the last week of December twenty twenty, that same entity,

90
00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:23,039
Speaker 1: the New York Stock Exchange, said they were going to

91
00:06:23,240 --> 00:06:27,080
Speaker 1: bar those three companies. Then they reversed course and said,

92
00:06:27,320 --> 00:06:29,800
Speaker 1: you know what, we thought it over and no, we're

93
00:06:29,839 --> 00:06:33,400
Speaker 1: not going to bar them. And now they say, you

94
00:06:33,440 --> 00:06:36,880
Speaker 1: know what, we are going to bar them after all.

95
00:06:36,920 --> 00:06:39,719
Speaker 1: So by the time you hear this, things might have changed.

96
00:06:40,440 --> 00:06:44,760
Speaker 1: And if you listened to Tuesday's episode of Tech Stuff,

97
00:06:44,960 --> 00:06:48,200
Speaker 1: you heard me talk about how a UK judge denied

98
00:06:48,279 --> 00:06:52,320
Speaker 1: a US request to extradite Julian Assange to stand trial

99
00:06:52,480 --> 00:06:57,800
Speaker 1: for multiple charges, including a computer intrusion charge and several

100
00:06:57,839 --> 00:07:01,960
Speaker 1: allegations in an indict men charges them, not allegations that

101
00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:05,920
Speaker 1: are related to the US Espionage Act of nineteen seventeen.

102
00:07:06,640 --> 00:07:10,360
Speaker 1: Julian Assange, in case you don't know, is often credited

103
00:07:10,440 --> 00:07:15,240
Speaker 1: as the founder and leader of Wiki Leaks, the organization

104
00:07:15,400 --> 00:07:22,160
Speaker 1: dedicated to publishing leaked reports from companies and governments. Usually

105
00:07:22,240 --> 00:07:26,400
Speaker 1: it's stuff that people don't want other folks to see.

106
00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:33,760
Speaker 1: And Assange had sought asylum at the Ecuador embassy in London,

107
00:07:34,440 --> 00:07:39,920
Speaker 1: but the embassy revoked his asylum privileges and UK officials

108
00:07:40,360 --> 00:07:45,240
Speaker 1: arrested him. And they arrested him because he had jumped

109
00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:49,080
Speaker 1: bail for a charge that stemmed out of a two

110
00:07:49,120 --> 00:07:53,680
Speaker 1: thousand twelve case from Sweden. Will the judge who denied

111
00:07:53,720 --> 00:07:59,280
Speaker 1: that extradition claim, has also denied Assange's request for bail

112
00:07:59,800 --> 00:08:02,640
Speaker 1: as the court awaits a U S appeal. The US

113
00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:06,000
Speaker 1: has two weeks to file an appeal since the judge

114
00:08:06,040 --> 00:08:10,520
Speaker 1: had denied the extradition request, and the reasoning behind this

115
00:08:10,760 --> 00:08:13,720
Speaker 1: denial of bail is that the judge has declared that

116
00:08:13,760 --> 00:08:18,320
Speaker 1: Assange represents a flight risk and considering the fact that

117
00:08:18,680 --> 00:08:22,720
Speaker 1: the reason why he got arrested by UK officials is

118
00:08:22,760 --> 00:08:26,560
Speaker 1: that he had previously jumped bail and sought asylum at

119
00:08:26,600 --> 00:08:30,000
Speaker 1: the Ecuador embassy. I guess you could say there's some

120
00:08:30,080 --> 00:08:33,720
Speaker 1: good reason for that logic. And while we're on the

121
00:08:33,840 --> 00:08:38,679
Speaker 1: subject of legal issues, do you know those terms of

122
00:08:38,720 --> 00:08:42,560
Speaker 1: service that come along with pretty much everything you sign

123
00:08:42,679 --> 00:08:45,720
Speaker 1: up for these days? You know, I'm talking about the

124
00:08:45,720 --> 00:08:49,360
Speaker 1: ones that are like twenty pages long and hardly anyone

125
00:08:49,640 --> 00:08:53,320
Speaker 1: ever bothers to read them. Some people do, but most

126
00:08:53,360 --> 00:08:56,120
Speaker 1: of us, and I include myself in this group, we

127
00:08:56,240 --> 00:08:59,439
Speaker 1: just kind of scroll all the way down past them

128
00:08:59,440 --> 00:09:01,240
Speaker 1: so that we can get to the next page and

129
00:09:01,280 --> 00:09:03,920
Speaker 1: sign up for whatever it is we're interested in. Well,

130
00:09:04,040 --> 00:09:09,760
Speaker 1: a court in Massachusetts recently told Uber that Uber cannot

131
00:09:09,800 --> 00:09:13,240
Speaker 1: rely on its own approach with terms of service to

132
00:09:13,400 --> 00:09:19,400
Speaker 1: force a case that involves discrimination into arbitration. So here's

133
00:09:19,440 --> 00:09:25,079
Speaker 1: what happened. And Uber user named Christopher Cauters filed this case.

134
00:09:25,160 --> 00:09:28,000
Speaker 1: And Cauders is blind and he has a guide dog,

135
00:09:28,640 --> 00:09:31,760
Speaker 1: and on at least three occasions when he was using

136
00:09:31,880 --> 00:09:35,760
Speaker 1: Uber to hail a ride, he was denied by drivers

137
00:09:36,120 --> 00:09:39,160
Speaker 1: to get into the car because he had a dog.

138
00:09:39,679 --> 00:09:43,760
Speaker 1: And the lawsuit states he's being discriminated against and Originally

139
00:09:43,880 --> 00:09:47,000
Speaker 1: Uber pushed back on Deskin. He put they pushed it

140
00:09:47,040 --> 00:09:50,360
Speaker 1: to go into arbitration, and they had two big arguments.

141
00:09:50,400 --> 00:09:56,640
Speaker 1: One is that Uber drivers aren't employees of Uber. This

142
00:09:56,840 --> 00:10:01,880
Speaker 1: was the whole crux of the Proposition twenty two argument

143
00:10:01,920 --> 00:10:05,680
Speaker 1: out in California. The goal to make sure that these

144
00:10:05,760 --> 00:10:09,560
Speaker 1: drivers are thought of as contract workers not as full

145
00:10:09,559 --> 00:10:13,280
Speaker 1: time employees. That relieves Uber of a lot of accountability

146
00:10:13,320 --> 00:10:17,679
Speaker 1: and responsibility with them being contract workers. And the second

147
00:10:17,840 --> 00:10:20,559
Speaker 1: big argument Uber was making was that Cauters had agreed

148
00:10:20,600 --> 00:10:23,480
Speaker 1: to the terms of service. But here's the thing. To

149
00:10:23,640 --> 00:10:27,800
Speaker 1: sign up for Uber, Cauters never had to agree to

150
00:10:27,960 --> 00:10:31,520
Speaker 1: any terms of service. There were links to the terms

151
00:10:31,600 --> 00:10:34,520
Speaker 1: of service, and they were mentioned on a couple of pages,

152
00:10:34,960 --> 00:10:38,360
Speaker 1: but there was never a requirement that he actually visit

153
00:10:38,440 --> 00:10:40,960
Speaker 1: a page that had the terms of service on it.

154
00:10:41,480 --> 00:10:44,040
Speaker 1: There was never a box he had to click to

155
00:10:44,120 --> 00:10:47,360
Speaker 1: say I agree to these terms of service. So the

156
00:10:47,440 --> 00:10:51,720
Speaker 1: court has ruled that Uber cannot hold Cauters accountable for

157
00:10:51,800 --> 00:10:55,720
Speaker 1: a contract that he never signed. Now, this does not

158
00:10:55,960 --> 00:10:59,440
Speaker 1: mean that Cauters will necessarily win his case in the future,

159
00:10:59,480 --> 00:11:02,640
Speaker 1: but it does mean Uber cannot get out of going

160
00:11:02,960 --> 00:11:06,079
Speaker 1: to court over the matter, and it might serve as

161
00:11:06,120 --> 00:11:08,960
Speaker 1: a lesson for other services out there to make sure

162
00:11:09,600 --> 00:11:13,520
Speaker 1: that when they presented terms of service that there is

163
00:11:13,760 --> 00:11:17,640
Speaker 1: a way of tracking that people have actually read it

164
00:11:17,880 --> 00:11:21,000
Speaker 1: or at least agreed to it. That's why you see

165
00:11:21,240 --> 00:11:25,160
Speaker 1: that little box typically in the bottom that says agree

166
00:11:25,559 --> 00:11:29,360
Speaker 1: before you can go any further in the process. It

167
00:11:29,520 --> 00:11:33,920
Speaker 1: relieves those companies of that burden of responsibility. They can say, hey,

168
00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:37,679
Speaker 1: you agreed to those terms. Here's the proof. Uber did

169
00:11:37,679 --> 00:11:40,000
Speaker 1: not have that in this case, and that's where the

170
00:11:40,040 --> 00:11:42,920
Speaker 1: problem lies. There's a lot more to be said about

171
00:11:43,120 --> 00:11:46,360
Speaker 1: terms of service in general and how enforceable they are

172
00:11:46,400 --> 00:11:50,000
Speaker 1: and how legally binding they are. There are a lot

173
00:11:50,040 --> 00:11:54,920
Speaker 1: of terms of service out there that are questionably legal,

174
00:11:55,320 --> 00:11:58,120
Speaker 1: but that's a matter for a full episode of tech

175
00:11:58,160 --> 00:12:01,720
Speaker 1: stuff that I'll probably tackle future. I have a lot

176
00:12:01,800 --> 00:12:04,760
Speaker 1: more news to cover, but before we get into any more,

177
00:12:05,160 --> 00:12:15,480
Speaker 1: let's take a quick break. Well, we're at the beginning

178
00:12:15,559 --> 00:12:20,000
Speaker 1: of twenty one and next week we see the official

179
00:12:20,120 --> 00:12:24,640
Speaker 1: kickoff of c e S one. Now. C e S

180
00:12:24,760 --> 00:12:29,320
Speaker 1: is the big consumer electronics showcase. It's a industry trade

181
00:12:29,360 --> 00:12:33,199
Speaker 1: show and companies from all over the world would typically

182
00:12:33,280 --> 00:12:37,800
Speaker 1: gather in Las Vegas, Nevada for a week in January

183
00:12:38,280 --> 00:12:41,240
Speaker 1: in order to show off what they have to offer

184
00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:44,400
Speaker 1: for the following year. And you have all these different

185
00:12:44,520 --> 00:12:48,400
Speaker 1: industry professionals come to c e S. There are of

186
00:12:48,440 --> 00:12:51,960
Speaker 1: course the media people like me who go to cover everything,

187
00:12:52,360 --> 00:12:56,160
Speaker 1: but there are buyers, retailers, all sorts of folks going

188
00:12:56,200 --> 00:12:58,120
Speaker 1: to see what sort of things are going to be

189
00:12:58,200 --> 00:13:03,439
Speaker 1: on offer that year, to get customers excited and engaged

190
00:13:03,559 --> 00:13:07,400
Speaker 1: so that they go and spend all their money buying electronics. Well,

191
00:13:07,679 --> 00:13:12,080
Speaker 1: this year, with the pandemic, it's going all virtual. This

192
00:13:12,240 --> 00:13:15,560
Speaker 1: was a decision that the the organization that throws c

193
00:13:15,640 --> 00:13:19,440
Speaker 1: e S had made back in and I think it

194
00:13:19,520 --> 00:13:23,240
Speaker 1: was the right call. Will likely have lots of stories

195
00:13:23,280 --> 00:13:27,319
Speaker 1: to talk about next week as the show actually unfolds.

196
00:13:27,360 --> 00:13:31,000
Speaker 1: But one thing that we know for sure already is

197
00:13:31,040 --> 00:13:34,319
Speaker 1: that five G is going to play a big part

198
00:13:34,600 --> 00:13:38,079
Speaker 1: of the various announcements at this event. It would played

199
00:13:38,080 --> 00:13:41,679
Speaker 1: a big part in we expected to be even more

200
00:13:41,679 --> 00:13:45,880
Speaker 1: prevalent at one and five G just as a refresher

201
00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:49,920
Speaker 1: refers to the next generation of wireless data technologies. And

202
00:13:49,960 --> 00:13:54,240
Speaker 1: there is a ton of confusion and misinformation about five

203
00:13:54,320 --> 00:13:58,440
Speaker 1: G and largely that's fueled by some misleading marketing claims

204
00:13:58,800 --> 00:14:01,640
Speaker 1: as well as some crazy conspiracy theories that we will

205
00:14:01,640 --> 00:14:04,800
Speaker 1: cover in a minute. Five G comes in a couple

206
00:14:04,800 --> 00:14:09,599
Speaker 1: of different flavors depending upon which band of the frequency

207
00:14:09,679 --> 00:14:13,200
Speaker 1: spectrum you're talking about. Because five G actually covers three

208
00:14:13,280 --> 00:14:18,880
Speaker 1: different general speaking bands of frequencies, you could get, you know,

209
00:14:19,040 --> 00:14:22,920
Speaker 1: good data transfer rates that are faster than what we

210
00:14:22,960 --> 00:14:26,160
Speaker 1: would typically see with four G, or you might hit

211
00:14:26,320 --> 00:14:30,840
Speaker 1: data speeds equivalent to a fiber connection. We're talking super

212
00:14:31,040 --> 00:14:35,680
Speaker 1: fast data transfer rates, but that super fast connection depends

213
00:14:35,760 --> 00:14:39,120
Speaker 1: upon frequencies that don't have a lot of penetration power,

214
00:14:39,200 --> 00:14:42,520
Speaker 1: meaning they can't go through walls very effectively, and they

215
00:14:42,520 --> 00:14:46,320
Speaker 1: don't go very far from the source, so you have

216
00:14:46,400 --> 00:14:50,240
Speaker 1: to be close to the antennas that are transmitting those

217
00:14:50,280 --> 00:14:52,520
Speaker 1: signals in order for you to take advantage of it.

218
00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:57,960
Speaker 1: So you're only likely to find that super fast five

219
00:14:58,040 --> 00:15:02,200
Speaker 1: G connection and really dense areas where companies can put

220
00:15:02,280 --> 00:15:06,000
Speaker 1: up a lot of different five G antennas around the space.

221
00:15:06,680 --> 00:15:10,040
Speaker 1: So you might have a little pockets of super fast service,

222
00:15:10,760 --> 00:15:14,680
Speaker 1: but it's not likely to extend throughout entire cities, and

223
00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:16,960
Speaker 1: it would be very difficult for you to get it

224
00:15:17,040 --> 00:15:19,400
Speaker 1: even for your home, unless you were to mount an

225
00:15:19,400 --> 00:15:22,720
Speaker 1: antenna on the outside of your house. It's pointed right

226
00:15:22,760 --> 00:15:26,760
Speaker 1: at one of these five G towers. The five G

227
00:15:26,960 --> 00:15:30,840
Speaker 1: signals at lower frequencies will still deliver speeds better than

228
00:15:30,840 --> 00:15:34,200
Speaker 1: what we've seen with LTE, and those signals will travel

229
00:15:34,440 --> 00:15:38,520
Speaker 1: further than the high frequency ones, but we won't see

230
00:15:38,520 --> 00:15:42,080
Speaker 1: the results we hear about from marketing materials. It won't

231
00:15:42,120 --> 00:15:45,480
Speaker 1: be you'll be able to download a four K film

232
00:15:45,480 --> 00:15:48,800
Speaker 1: in a matter of minutes kind of speed. Anyway, at

233
00:15:48,880 --> 00:15:50,880
Speaker 1: c E S, we expect to see a lot of

234
00:15:50,920 --> 00:15:55,240
Speaker 1: devices with built in five G capabilities. Samsung is expected

235
00:15:55,280 --> 00:15:58,720
Speaker 1: to launch at least one true five G phone while

236
00:15:58,800 --> 00:16:01,280
Speaker 1: c E S is going on, although technically that will

237
00:16:01,280 --> 00:16:04,400
Speaker 1: be an event that's running concurrently with c E S

238
00:16:04,440 --> 00:16:08,080
Speaker 1: but isn't officially part of c E S. That's something

239
00:16:08,120 --> 00:16:11,680
Speaker 1: that we frequently see at CES as well, companies holding

240
00:16:11,720 --> 00:16:16,160
Speaker 1: their own little events, sometimes just adjacent to where ce

241
00:16:16,440 --> 00:16:20,280
Speaker 1: S is happening. Uh, that's not unusual. It's one way

242
00:16:20,320 --> 00:16:23,000
Speaker 1: for companies to try and stand out from all the

243
00:16:23,040 --> 00:16:25,840
Speaker 1: other news that's coming out. So we'll cover more of

244
00:16:25,880 --> 00:16:30,000
Speaker 1: that next week. Now, longtime Tech stuff listeners know that

245
00:16:30,080 --> 00:16:33,880
Speaker 1: I advocate for critical thinking, and this next story is

246
00:16:33,920 --> 00:16:38,920
Speaker 1: an illustration of why that's important. A software engineer named

247
00:16:38,960 --> 00:16:42,560
Speaker 1: Mario Fusco blew the lid off of a really dumb

248
00:16:42,640 --> 00:16:47,400
Speaker 1: conspiracy theory involving a diagram of an electric circuit. Now,

249
00:16:47,440 --> 00:16:51,760
Speaker 1: according to this diagram, the actual lagabel on the diagram

250
00:16:51,960 --> 00:16:56,120
Speaker 1: the circuit was a quote COVID nineteen five g chip

251
00:16:56,320 --> 00:16:59,680
Speaker 1: end quote. So the suggestion was that this was some

252
00:16:59,760 --> 00:17:05,119
Speaker 1: sort of nano chip microprocessor that is somehow housed within

253
00:17:05,480 --> 00:17:09,439
Speaker 1: a dose of COVID nineteen vaccine, so that if you

254
00:17:09,440 --> 00:17:12,520
Speaker 1: were to go and get the vaccinated against COVID nineteen,

255
00:17:12,960 --> 00:17:16,080
Speaker 1: you would be injected with a substance that would include

256
00:17:16,480 --> 00:17:23,080
Speaker 1: this microchip, and somehow this microchip would directly interface with

257
00:17:23,240 --> 00:17:26,680
Speaker 1: your brain, with your nervous system, and it would allow

258
00:17:26,800 --> 00:17:30,159
Speaker 1: somebody else to control you. And I don't think I

259
00:17:30,240 --> 00:17:32,679
Speaker 1: really need to say this to you guys, but that

260
00:17:32,840 --> 00:17:36,879
Speaker 1: is impossible and it's dumb. There is no means for

261
00:17:36,920 --> 00:17:41,280
Speaker 1: this to magically integrate with anyone's nervous system. There's no

262
00:17:41,359 --> 00:17:46,240
Speaker 1: conspiracy to control people through vaccines, and likewise, five gen

263
00:17:46,280 --> 00:17:49,640
Speaker 1: networks have nothing to do with controlling you other than

264
00:17:49,720 --> 00:17:52,520
Speaker 1: the fact that it's a communications network which allows for

265
00:17:52,520 --> 00:17:55,119
Speaker 1: the transfer of data. So if you do want to

266
00:17:55,160 --> 00:17:59,720
Speaker 1: get super lucy goosey, you could talk about how such

267
00:17:59,760 --> 00:18:03,600
Speaker 1: a network can facilitate the ability for companies to keep

268
00:18:03,640 --> 00:18:05,879
Speaker 1: track of what we're doing when we do it. But

269
00:18:05,920 --> 00:18:10,000
Speaker 1: in that case, no one's controlling us. We are voluntarily

270
00:18:10,119 --> 00:18:12,520
Speaker 1: giving up information about who we are and what we

271
00:18:12,600 --> 00:18:15,000
Speaker 1: do and what we're interested in. We do that just

272
00:18:15,080 --> 00:18:19,280
Speaker 1: by carrying our phones wherever we go. That's us being complicit.

273
00:18:19,560 --> 00:18:23,840
Speaker 1: There's no need for this kind of conspiracy for folks

274
00:18:23,880 --> 00:18:28,080
Speaker 1: to get a look at what we're doing. Moreover, the

275
00:18:28,119 --> 00:18:32,360
Speaker 1: FUSCO pointed out that the circuit that was in that picture,

276
00:18:33,200 --> 00:18:36,240
Speaker 1: it was a real circuit, wasn't a COVID nineteen five

277
00:18:36,280 --> 00:18:39,399
Speaker 1: g chyp No. That circuit was a drawing of circuit

278
00:18:39,680 --> 00:18:44,560
Speaker 1: found in the boss metal zone empty two guitar pedal.

279
00:18:45,040 --> 00:18:47,320
Speaker 1: So this is a guitar effects pedal, one that you

280
00:18:47,359 --> 00:18:51,160
Speaker 1: would plug into an amplifier in your in your power chain,

281
00:18:51,640 --> 00:18:55,239
Speaker 1: so that when you're playing guitar you can really have

282
00:18:55,520 --> 00:18:59,920
Speaker 1: all these different effects on it, in this case metal effect,

283
00:19:00,080 --> 00:19:03,280
Speaker 1: So you wouldn't be able to control people, but you

284
00:19:03,359 --> 00:19:07,240
Speaker 1: might be able to shred on guitar. Moving on, but

285
00:19:07,320 --> 00:19:10,879
Speaker 1: sticking with phones for a bit, we're gonna talk about

286
00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:14,280
Speaker 1: Verizon deciding to hold off on shutting down its three

287
00:19:14,320 --> 00:19:17,200
Speaker 1: G networks. The Verizon first started rolling out four G

288
00:19:17,640 --> 00:19:21,040
Speaker 1: LTE service way back in two thousand twelve, but it

289
00:19:21,080 --> 00:19:25,440
Speaker 1: continued to support legacy cellular networks in the three G

290
00:19:25,680 --> 00:19:27,360
Speaker 1: range because there were a lot of people who had

291
00:19:27,359 --> 00:19:30,000
Speaker 1: three G phones that would not be compatible with four G.

292
00:19:30,600 --> 00:19:33,840
Speaker 1: The company had previously announced plans to shut down those

293
00:19:33,960 --> 00:19:37,480
Speaker 1: three G networks by the end of twenty nineteen, but

294
00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:40,880
Speaker 1: then Verizon pushed that back to twenty twenty, and now

295
00:19:40,920 --> 00:19:43,720
Speaker 1: the company says it's holding off on any plans to

296
00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:47,240
Speaker 1: shut down the three G network, probably out of a

297
00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:50,480
Speaker 1: concern that a lot of the company's customers are still

298
00:19:50,520 --> 00:19:54,320
Speaker 1: relying on older three G devices that again are not

299
00:19:54,400 --> 00:19:59,600
Speaker 1: compatible with later generations of cellular networks. Verizon stopped activating

300
00:19:59,720 --> 00:20:02,359
Speaker 1: new three G devices on their network way back in

301
00:20:02,840 --> 00:20:06,679
Speaker 1: eighteen and an effort to kind of sunset the technology,

302
00:20:06,720 --> 00:20:09,280
Speaker 1: but there must still be a significant number of customers

303
00:20:09,359 --> 00:20:12,840
Speaker 1: that are on three G handsets, Otherwise Verizon wouldn't delay

304
00:20:12,920 --> 00:20:17,480
Speaker 1: shutting down the network because it costs money to maintain

305
00:20:17,520 --> 00:20:21,000
Speaker 1: these networks, and that means that Verizon wants to shut

306
00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:23,560
Speaker 1: it down if there's no reason to keep it going,

307
00:20:23,720 --> 00:20:27,280
Speaker 1: then you can consolidate and save cash not having to

308
00:20:27,359 --> 00:20:31,320
Speaker 1: maintain these older pieces of technology. It's really likely that

309
00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:34,360
Speaker 1: Verizon is going to spend much of its marketing budget

310
00:20:34,640 --> 00:20:38,480
Speaker 1: on convincing customers to upgrade two more current handsets this year.

311
00:20:38,840 --> 00:20:42,320
Speaker 1: Maybe we'll see some interesting deals in order to create

312
00:20:42,359 --> 00:20:45,880
Speaker 1: an incentive for customers to move from one hand set

313
00:20:45,960 --> 00:20:49,920
Speaker 1: to another. That might be the case because Verizon stands

314
00:20:49,960 --> 00:20:52,080
Speaker 1: to save a lot of money by shutting down that

315
00:20:52,320 --> 00:20:58,679
Speaker 1: that old network. Speaking of data and networks, Comcast, the

316
00:20:58,840 --> 00:21:03,480
Speaker 1: mega corporation that is, among other things, and internet service provider,

317
00:21:04,040 --> 00:21:08,159
Speaker 1: has come under fire from politicians in Massachusetts. Back in

318
00:21:08,240 --> 00:21:13,520
Speaker 1: mass again, uh, the company has recently extended their one

319
00:21:13,600 --> 00:21:18,879
Speaker 1: point to terabyte data cap to customers in Massachusetts. The

320
00:21:18,920 --> 00:21:21,760
Speaker 1: company has similarly done this to customers and lots of

321
00:21:21,800 --> 00:21:24,399
Speaker 1: other states, including the one I live in. That data

322
00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:26,800
Speaker 1: cap has been a thing for a long time here

323
00:21:26,800 --> 00:21:30,280
Speaker 1: in Georgia. And if you go over this data cap,

324
00:21:30,359 --> 00:21:33,600
Speaker 1: if you consume more than one point to terabytes of

325
00:21:33,680 --> 00:21:37,679
Speaker 1: data in a month, you face overage fees. And the

326
00:21:37,720 --> 00:21:40,800
Speaker 1: politicians in Massachusetts objected to that. They said that in

327
00:21:40,840 --> 00:21:44,560
Speaker 1: a pandemic where you've got people working from home, it

328
00:21:44,680 --> 00:21:48,280
Speaker 1: is far more common for folks to exceed that data cap.

329
00:21:48,880 --> 00:21:51,800
Speaker 1: And considering the difficult financial situation a lot of people

330
00:21:51,840 --> 00:21:54,720
Speaker 1: are finding themselves in, you know, people have lower incomes,

331
00:21:54,720 --> 00:21:57,760
Speaker 1: are already struggling to be able to meet the cost

332
00:21:58,240 --> 00:22:01,520
Speaker 1: of broadband. This is the worse time to have that

333
00:22:01,640 --> 00:22:05,000
Speaker 1: kind of policy in place. And the politicians further argued

334
00:22:05,040 --> 00:22:09,719
Speaker 1: that according to Comcast executives themselves, the company had no

335
00:22:09,800 --> 00:22:13,679
Speaker 1: trouble meeting the increased demands of service during the pandemic.

336
00:22:14,160 --> 00:22:17,639
Speaker 1: So they said, you've already argued that the data cap

337
00:22:17,760 --> 00:22:21,600
Speaker 1: is not necessary. If there's a greater demand and you're

338
00:22:21,680 --> 00:22:25,560
Speaker 1: meeting it, then why is the data cap there. Is

339
00:22:25,560 --> 00:22:28,320
Speaker 1: it just there to demand more money? And if so,

340
00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:32,439
Speaker 1: that's not super cool. So Comcast is currently on the

341
00:22:32,520 --> 00:22:36,000
Speaker 1: defensive in Massachusetts. We'll have to see how that shakes out.

342
00:22:36,240 --> 00:22:38,640
Speaker 1: I don't expect my own data cap to go anywhere

343
00:22:38,680 --> 00:22:43,000
Speaker 1: anytime soon. And to round out this bit of news,

344
00:22:43,560 --> 00:22:48,760
Speaker 1: Vota Phone has a subsidiary in Italy called Ho Mobile,

345
00:22:49,560 --> 00:22:52,960
Speaker 1: and it confirmed. Ho Mobile confirmed that it was the

346
00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:57,840
Speaker 1: target of a severe data breach that compromised the consumer

347
00:22:58,160 --> 00:23:00,880
Speaker 1: data and the company is now offer to swap out

348
00:23:00,960 --> 00:23:04,040
Speaker 1: the SIM cards in the phones of all those who

349
00:23:04,080 --> 00:23:06,760
Speaker 1: are affected by the data breach, and that would be

350
00:23:06,880 --> 00:23:12,080
Speaker 1: two point five million handsets. According to zd net, people

351
00:23:12,200 --> 00:23:16,600
Speaker 1: first begin to learn about this breach in late They

352
00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:20,840
Speaker 1: didn't notice it by looking at the data centers for

353
00:23:21,080 --> 00:23:23,560
Speaker 1: Home Mobile. No one at Home Mobile, as far as

354
00:23:23,560 --> 00:23:26,000
Speaker 1: I can tell, was aware that this was going on.

355
00:23:26,480 --> 00:23:29,440
Speaker 1: The thing that tipped people off was that someone noticed

356
00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:33,119
Speaker 1: that the company's internal data was up for sale on

357
00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:37,160
Speaker 1: the dark web. Yikes. Well, we have a few more

358
00:23:37,240 --> 00:23:40,280
Speaker 1: news stories that we want to close out this day with,

359
00:23:40,760 --> 00:23:52,600
Speaker 1: but first let's take another quick break. We're back, and

360
00:23:52,720 --> 00:23:56,000
Speaker 1: our first story is that David Recording, best known for

361
00:23:56,080 --> 00:23:59,359
Speaker 1: his work in open source and open Eye d Technologies,

362
00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:03,800
Speaker 1: will be the White House Director of Technology under President

363
00:24:03,840 --> 00:24:08,760
Speaker 1: elect Joe Biden's administration, and Recorded is wicked smart. He

364
00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:11,879
Speaker 1: received an award for his work and open source and

365
00:24:11,920 --> 00:24:16,080
Speaker 1: became the youngest recipient of that award in that awards history,

366
00:24:16,520 --> 00:24:20,159
Speaker 1: and he has led many initiatives over the years. Open Source,

367
00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:23,240
Speaker 1: for those who do not know, is a philosophy of

368
00:24:23,359 --> 00:24:27,760
Speaker 1: design where the source code for whatever it is you're

369
00:24:27,760 --> 00:24:31,920
Speaker 1: building is open for other people to see. They can

370
00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:35,840
Speaker 1: take it, they can manipulate it, they can make their

371
00:24:35,880 --> 00:24:39,360
Speaker 1: own versions of it, they can help add to it,

372
00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:41,960
Speaker 1: they can help improve it and test it. The idea

373
00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:45,360
Speaker 1: being that if you have an open source project, then

374
00:24:45,440 --> 00:24:50,280
Speaker 1: the entire world can be your collaborator. And this is

375
00:24:50,320 --> 00:24:54,280
Speaker 1: a different philosophy from the way a lot of companies

376
00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:58,479
Speaker 1: developed their software because with a lot of companies they

377
00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:02,040
Speaker 1: go a proprietary approach is by nature a closed garden.

378
00:25:02,160 --> 00:25:05,560
Speaker 1: They don't want their competitors seeing what they're doing. But

379
00:25:05,640 --> 00:25:09,399
Speaker 1: that means that those projects can only be as good

380
00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:12,440
Speaker 1: as the people who have been hired by that company,

381
00:25:12,440 --> 00:25:17,720
Speaker 1: whereas an open source project has the benefit of being

382
00:25:17,840 --> 00:25:23,280
Speaker 1: open to everybody. I'm oversimplifying. There are different types of

383
00:25:23,280 --> 00:25:26,520
Speaker 1: open source, but the idea being that with this approach,

384
00:25:26,800 --> 00:25:29,080
Speaker 1: you're getting the best ideas no matter where they happen

385
00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:31,760
Speaker 1: to be. You don't have to worry about having the

386
00:25:31,840 --> 00:25:34,720
Speaker 1: smartest person in the room. You have the smartest people

387
00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:39,359
Speaker 1: in the world who can all potentially contribute anyway. Recording

388
00:25:39,480 --> 00:25:44,080
Speaker 1: worked extensively with Facebook on open source initiatives. There he

389
00:25:44,160 --> 00:25:47,439
Speaker 1: was a software engineer with Facebook. He has also served

390
00:25:47,480 --> 00:25:51,720
Speaker 1: as an advisor and technical officer in various government positions.

391
00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:55,520
Speaker 1: Before I recommend checking out one of his talks. There

392
00:25:55,520 --> 00:25:58,560
Speaker 1: are a lot of them on YouTube, but be warned

393
00:25:58,600 --> 00:26:00,840
Speaker 1: if you're not, you know, fair really well versed in

394
00:26:00,960 --> 00:26:04,080
Speaker 1: open source technology in general, a lot of it might

395
00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:06,439
Speaker 1: go right over your head. I mean it went right

396
00:26:06,480 --> 00:26:09,000
Speaker 1: over my head. And I've written and talked about this

397
00:26:09,040 --> 00:26:12,560
Speaker 1: stuff a lot, but Recording is the real deal when

398
00:26:12,600 --> 00:26:15,159
Speaker 1: it comes to expertise in this area. And he has

399
00:26:15,200 --> 00:26:18,639
Speaker 1: said that the United States and the world face enormous

400
00:26:18,720 --> 00:26:22,720
Speaker 1: challenges from the pandemic to cybersecurity threats and beyond, but

401
00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:25,640
Speaker 1: that he has confidence in our ability to rise and

402
00:26:25,720 --> 00:26:30,119
Speaker 1: meet those challenges, which is just nice to hear, and

403
00:26:30,160 --> 00:26:35,520
Speaker 1: I sure hope it's true. Sticking with Facebook, back in fourteen,

404
00:26:35,800 --> 00:26:40,720
Speaker 1: Facebook made a nineteen billion dollar acquisition when it bought

405
00:26:40,800 --> 00:26:44,000
Speaker 1: the messaging service What's App, and that was a shock

406
00:26:44,080 --> 00:26:47,480
Speaker 1: to a lot of Americans, including myself, because a lot

407
00:26:47,520 --> 00:26:50,760
Speaker 1: of us were unfamiliar with What's App has a huge

408
00:26:50,880 --> 00:26:54,560
Speaker 1: user base outside of the United States, but had a

409
00:26:54,640 --> 00:26:59,960
Speaker 1: relatively small reach inside the US well. Recently, Facebook update

410
00:27:00,119 --> 00:27:03,920
Speaker 1: did the privacy policy on WhatsApp, and that has raised

411
00:27:04,040 --> 00:27:07,480
Speaker 1: some eyebrows in the tech community. The new policy takes

412
00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:11,800
Speaker 1: effect on February eight one, and it gives the app

413
00:27:11,840 --> 00:27:16,879
Speaker 1: permission to share user information from within the app to Facebook.

414
00:27:17,359 --> 00:27:20,280
Speaker 1: That includes stuff like information about the device that was

415
00:27:20,440 --> 00:27:23,439
Speaker 1: used to access the app, so in other words, your phone,

416
00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:30,040
Speaker 1: uh the IP address, service related information, interaction information, and more.

417
00:27:30,720 --> 00:27:33,760
Speaker 1: WhatsApp users will not be given the choice on whether

418
00:27:33,880 --> 00:27:37,520
Speaker 1: or not to accept those terms because it's all mandatory.

419
00:27:37,800 --> 00:27:40,560
Speaker 1: If you plan to keep using WhatsApp, you have to

420
00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:43,080
Speaker 1: just accept the fact that this is going to happen.

421
00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:45,520
Speaker 1: The only way for it to not happen is for

422
00:27:45,600 --> 00:27:48,760
Speaker 1: you to not use WhatsApp. Facebook says it plans to

423
00:27:48,840 --> 00:27:51,919
Speaker 1: use the information to improve user experience, but I expect

424
00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:55,960
Speaker 1: we'll see people raise privacy concerns in response to this move.

425
00:27:56,720 --> 00:28:00,520
Speaker 1: Let's move on to space. NASA has a proved the

426
00:28:00,560 --> 00:28:05,440
Speaker 1: preliminary design for the sphere X space telescope, which will

427
00:28:05,480 --> 00:28:08,960
Speaker 1: be a satellite telescope that aims to study cosmic stuff

428
00:28:09,400 --> 00:28:12,800
Speaker 1: like the origins of galaxies than the Big Bang itself.

429
00:28:13,320 --> 00:28:17,320
Speaker 1: The space telescope will weigh one point two tons, but

430
00:28:17,920 --> 00:28:21,400
Speaker 1: um only here on Earth, because in space it will

431
00:28:21,440 --> 00:28:24,400
Speaker 1: be in you know, microgravity, so that's different. It will

432
00:28:24,440 --> 00:28:27,840
Speaker 1: analyze light in the near infrared spectrum and will be

433
00:28:27,880 --> 00:28:31,840
Speaker 1: capable of detecting the different frequencies within that spectrum, which

434
00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:35,800
Speaker 1: in turn will tell very smart scientists more about what

435
00:28:36,119 --> 00:28:39,480
Speaker 1: stuff out in space is actually made out of. One

436
00:28:39,520 --> 00:28:42,160
Speaker 1: thing the scientists are going to be looking for is

437
00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:46,240
Speaker 1: evidence of inflation. Now, that's not the inflation we deal

438
00:28:46,280 --> 00:28:50,200
Speaker 1: with in our currency. In this case, inflation is talking

439
00:28:50,240 --> 00:28:54,120
Speaker 1: about an instant, a fraction of a fraction of a

440
00:28:54,240 --> 00:28:56,840
Speaker 1: fraction of a second, like a billionth of a billionth

441
00:28:56,840 --> 00:29:03,680
Speaker 1: of a second, when space itself experienced exponential expansion. Imagine

442
00:29:03,720 --> 00:29:08,640
Speaker 1: that you've got a golf ball and before you can

443
00:29:08,720 --> 00:29:12,480
Speaker 1: even blink, that golf ball turns into a ball the

444
00:29:12,520 --> 00:29:15,960
Speaker 1: size of Yankee Stadium. That's the sort of thing we're

445
00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:19,000
Speaker 1: talking about. But even that scale doesn't even come close

446
00:29:19,040 --> 00:29:22,360
Speaker 1: to what happened in inflation. Now, there is broad acceptance

447
00:29:22,400 --> 00:29:25,160
Speaker 1: that cosmic inflation was part of how our universe came

448
00:29:25,200 --> 00:29:27,800
Speaker 1: to be, But there's a lot that we don't actually

449
00:29:27,920 --> 00:29:32,640
Speaker 1: know about cosmic inflation or why it happened or why

450
00:29:32,640 --> 00:29:36,840
Speaker 1: it stopped happening, or if it happened, we think it did,

451
00:29:37,800 --> 00:29:40,080
Speaker 1: but we need to learn more. So this telescope could

452
00:29:40,080 --> 00:29:43,600
Speaker 1: help us learn more about the fundamental laws that govern

453
00:29:43,680 --> 00:29:47,720
Speaker 1: the creation of our universe, which is pretty darn nifty.

454
00:29:47,760 --> 00:29:50,960
Speaker 1: And it also reminds me that, barring any more delays,

455
00:29:51,320 --> 00:29:55,200
Speaker 1: we should also see the James web Space Telescope finally

456
00:29:55,280 --> 00:29:59,320
Speaker 1: launched into orbit in October this year. I sure hope

457
00:29:59,360 --> 00:30:02,840
Speaker 1: that happens. Heck, I've got a tattoo because of the

458
00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:06,400
Speaker 1: James Webb Space Telescope. In fact, there's a video of

459
00:30:06,480 --> 00:30:10,959
Speaker 1: me talking about the James Webb Telescope while I got

460
00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:15,000
Speaker 1: the tattoo, and it's over on the Forward Thinking YouTube channel,

461
00:30:15,200 --> 00:30:17,560
Speaker 1: so you can search for that if you want to

462
00:30:17,560 --> 00:30:22,240
Speaker 1: see me getting tattooed on video while I talk about telescopes.

463
00:30:23,120 --> 00:30:28,440
Speaker 1: Slightly related to space travel is supersonic travel. Supersonic aircraft

464
00:30:28,480 --> 00:30:31,240
Speaker 1: are those that, by definition, fly faster than the speed

465
00:30:31,280 --> 00:30:34,560
Speaker 1: of sound. As such, they create a sonic boom that

466
00:30:34,640 --> 00:30:37,760
Speaker 1: travels with them as they move. At those speeds, the

467
00:30:37,760 --> 00:30:41,200
Speaker 1: aircraft builds up shock waves as it travels faster than sound,

468
00:30:41,520 --> 00:30:43,720
Speaker 1: and these waves call cause a build up and then

469
00:30:43,720 --> 00:30:48,160
Speaker 1: a release of pressure air pressure which then causes that boom,

470
00:30:48,200 --> 00:30:51,080
Speaker 1: and the Concorde was an example of one of these.

471
00:30:51,080 --> 00:30:54,160
Speaker 1: It was a supersonic aircraft, but the Concorde has long

472
00:30:54,280 --> 00:30:57,600
Speaker 1: been out of service. It turned out that it was

473
00:30:58,280 --> 00:31:03,040
Speaker 1: not economically viable in the long run. But now the

474
00:31:03,160 --> 00:31:07,280
Speaker 1: f a A, the Federal Aviation Administration, has set new

475
00:31:07,400 --> 00:31:12,200
Speaker 1: rules to allow companies to test supersonic aircraft in the

476
00:31:12,280 --> 00:31:15,840
Speaker 1: United States, and numerous companies, including startups, are looking to

477
00:31:15,880 --> 00:31:19,840
Speaker 1: bring them back to the skies. Supersonic travel can cover

478
00:31:19,920 --> 00:31:24,480
Speaker 1: great distances in relatively very little time. For example, a

479
00:31:24,760 --> 00:31:28,040
Speaker 1: Concorde aircraft made the flight from London to New York

480
00:31:28,440 --> 00:31:32,280
Speaker 1: in less than three hours back in ninet. That's a

481
00:31:32,320 --> 00:31:35,280
Speaker 1: trip that usually takes between seven to eight hours or

482
00:31:35,320 --> 00:31:39,800
Speaker 1: sometimes longer, depending upon conditions. So companies have been designing

483
00:31:39,800 --> 00:31:43,000
Speaker 1: aircraft to do supersonic travel and bring it back for

484
00:31:43,040 --> 00:31:46,080
Speaker 1: a while, and they've focused on ways to minimize the

485
00:31:46,120 --> 00:31:49,920
Speaker 1: effects of sonic booms, which is an important consideration because

486
00:31:49,920 --> 00:31:52,960
Speaker 1: that effect is disruptive and it tends to lead to

487
00:31:53,000 --> 00:31:57,440
Speaker 1: restrictions regarding where such aircraft are allowed to go supersonic,

488
00:31:57,960 --> 00:32:00,760
Speaker 1: like typically you're only allowed to do it over the

489
00:32:00,840 --> 00:32:03,959
Speaker 1: oceans because otherwise you're going to be causing a boom

490
00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:06,840
Speaker 1: that travels with you. So if you fly over communities,

491
00:32:07,480 --> 00:32:11,000
Speaker 1: everyone here's the boom. Now, perhaps in a few years

492
00:32:11,160 --> 00:32:15,600
Speaker 1: will have new airlines with supersonic service offered to various locations.

493
00:32:16,160 --> 00:32:18,560
Speaker 1: I don't know where we're going in the future, but

494
00:32:18,640 --> 00:32:22,520
Speaker 1: we're going to get there faster. And finally, video game

495
00:32:22,520 --> 00:32:28,160
Speaker 1: analyst Dr Circon Toto predicts that at some point Nintendo

496
00:32:28,240 --> 00:32:31,479
Speaker 1: will introduce a new, souped up version of the Switch

497
00:32:31,600 --> 00:32:37,000
Speaker 1: console capable of pushing out four K resolution video. Dr

498
00:32:37,040 --> 00:32:40,240
Speaker 1: Toto had previously predicted Nintendo would launch such a console

499
00:32:40,560 --> 00:32:45,920
Speaker 1: in twenty but that did not happen, though perhaps the

500
00:32:45,960 --> 00:32:49,720
Speaker 1: pandemic had something to do with that. Dr Toto guesses

501
00:32:49,960 --> 00:32:54,720
Speaker 1: that such a console would have a three dollar price point. Now, again,

502
00:32:55,600 --> 00:32:59,720
Speaker 1: that's all conjecture, everything from Nintendo actually doing it to

503
00:33:00,200 --> 00:33:04,400
Speaker 1: the price would be if Nintendo does it. Nintendo hasn't

504
00:33:04,400 --> 00:33:07,880
Speaker 1: said anything about any of this. Now. I suspect that

505
00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:11,440
Speaker 1: if the company does have such a console planned, we're

506
00:33:11,480 --> 00:33:14,920
Speaker 1: not going to hear anything official until probably spring or

507
00:33:14,960 --> 00:33:18,240
Speaker 1: maybe early summer, because that's the time of year when

508
00:33:18,320 --> 00:33:23,160
Speaker 1: video game companies in general start to ramp up and

509
00:33:23,240 --> 00:33:27,040
Speaker 1: start to market heavily their new products in preparation for

510
00:33:27,080 --> 00:33:30,800
Speaker 1: the following holiday seasons, to get people excited and to

511
00:33:31,040 --> 00:33:34,160
Speaker 1: start the process for people to think ahead about, Oh,

512
00:33:34,240 --> 00:33:36,240
Speaker 1: I'm going to get that for so and so for

513
00:33:36,280 --> 00:33:40,440
Speaker 1: the holidays. The Switch continues to perform well in the market.

514
00:33:40,600 --> 00:33:44,719
Speaker 1: Nintendo has sold more than sixty eight million units around

515
00:33:44,760 --> 00:33:48,840
Speaker 1: the world as of November of and it can still

516
00:33:48,920 --> 00:33:53,080
Speaker 1: be hard to find them in stock, So maybe don't

517
00:33:53,120 --> 00:33:57,240
Speaker 1: hold your breath for a Switch pro. Even if Nintendo

518
00:33:57,400 --> 00:34:00,680
Speaker 1: does follow through, it might be really, really hard to

519
00:34:00,720 --> 00:34:05,320
Speaker 1: get hold of one. And that wraps up this news

520
00:34:05,440 --> 00:34:11,560
Speaker 1: round up for Thursday, January seven, twenty one. Tomorrow we

521
00:34:11,640 --> 00:34:14,799
Speaker 1: will have a classic episode of tech Stuff. Join us

522
00:34:14,840 --> 00:34:18,680
Speaker 1: next week for more tech Stuff episodes, tech Stuff news episodes,

523
00:34:19,120 --> 00:34:22,799
Speaker 1: and more me because he can't get enough Kenya, but

524
00:34:22,920 --> 00:34:27,160
Speaker 1: don't worry, I'll talk to you again really soon. Y

525
00:34:31,440 --> 00:34:34,439
Speaker 1: text Stuff is an I Heart Radio production. For more

526
00:34:34,520 --> 00:34:37,920
Speaker 1: podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the i Heart Radio app,

527
00:34:38,040 --> 00:34:41,200
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,