WEBVTT - Tech News: Drones Over New Jersey 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:12.440 Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey thereon 0:00:12.600 --> 0:00:16.200 Welcome to Tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm 0:00:16.200 --> 0:00:19.360 an executive producer with iHeart Podcasts and how the tech 0:00:19.400 --> 0:00:21.840 are you. It's time for the tech news for the 0:00:21.880 --> 0:00:27.000 week ending on Friday the thirteenth in December of twenty 0:00:27.160 --> 0:00:31.520 twenty four. So let's start off with something kind of 0:00:31.560 --> 0:00:36.240 spooky for Friday the thirteenth. Apparently, for a few weeks now, 0:00:36.520 --> 0:00:41.560 folks in New Jersey have been reporting strange aircraft flying overhead, 0:00:41.560 --> 0:00:46.519 particularly along coastal regions. Most of the reports have referred 0:00:46.520 --> 0:00:50.800 to the aircraft as drones, though various authorities have said 0:00:50.840 --> 0:00:55.200 that at least in some of these cases, that's a misidentification. 0:00:55.680 --> 0:00:58.720 They say that many of these reports are actually about 0:00:58.720 --> 0:01:03.160 your run of the mill manned aircraft, just plane planes, 0:01:03.680 --> 0:01:06.319 so to speak. But numerous citizens have said there have 0:01:06.360 --> 0:01:10.200 been many instances of drones flying overhead, and we're talking 0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:13.920 like big ones, not your little bitty quad copters, but 0:01:14.040 --> 0:01:17.200 much larger drones. And no one has really come forward 0:01:17.280 --> 0:01:21.600 with an official explanation as to what's going on or 0:01:21.640 --> 0:01:25.080 who's behind it. And when there's a lack of information, 0:01:25.600 --> 0:01:29.120 there will always be a surplus of speculation. We humans 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:33.000 don't like to have big, unanswered questions, right, So if 0:01:33.040 --> 0:01:35.959 we don't have an answer, sometimes we just invent one. 0:01:36.480 --> 0:01:39.720 And that includes one claim that the drones launch from 0:01:39.800 --> 0:01:45.600 an Iranian mothership. That's a story that US Representative Jeff 0:01:45.760 --> 0:01:49.200 Van Drew said to Fox News, though later he clarified 0:01:49.240 --> 0:01:54.000 that he's actually seen no concrete evidence tying any drone 0:01:54.040 --> 0:01:58.600 activity in New Jersey to Iran, so maybe it's not 0:01:58.760 --> 0:02:03.720 an Iranian mothership after all. According to various news outlets, 0:02:04.160 --> 0:02:06.480 most of the reports, like I said, have come along 0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:09.480 the coastal areas of New Jersey, though there have been 0:02:09.560 --> 0:02:13.919 reports of them coming as far inland as parts of Pennsylvania. 0:02:14.000 --> 0:02:17.640 The FBI is asking people to send in videos and 0:02:17.639 --> 0:02:20.240 photos of these drones in action in an attempt to 0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:23.840 suss out what might be going on, if there is 0:02:23.919 --> 0:02:26.960 something going on, because it's always possible that it's not like, 0:02:27.040 --> 0:02:30.800 it's possible that this is all about misidentification and a few, 0:02:31.120 --> 0:02:35.200 you know, completely innocent cases of people just operating drones 0:02:35.240 --> 0:02:39.520 that aren't at all malicious or malevolent. Officials have said 0:02:39.560 --> 0:02:42.760 repeatedly that there's no evidence that the drones are any 0:02:42.840 --> 0:02:46.240 kind of credible threat, and there's no evidence tying them 0:02:46.360 --> 0:02:49.280 to any foreign powers, so they are not suspected to 0:02:49.280 --> 0:02:55.359 be under foreign control. However, with this ongoing lack of information, 0:02:55.960 --> 0:03:00.200 that hasn't stopped people from saying exactly the opposite, and 0:03:00.760 --> 0:03:04.480 I honestly don't know what's going on. My guess is 0:03:04.560 --> 0:03:08.959 knowing how humans behave. The explanations or lack thereof that 0:03:09.080 --> 0:03:11.480 the officials have given so far are not going to 0:03:11.520 --> 0:03:15.800 satisfy people, and speculation will just continue to grow over 0:03:15.840 --> 0:03:19.440 the coming days. Generally, when these sort of things happen, 0:03:20.080 --> 0:03:23.440 I typically see this culminating in one of two ways. 0:03:23.720 --> 0:03:27.880 Either we eventually do figure out what's happening, whether that's 0:03:28.560 --> 0:03:32.760 some sort of concentrated effort to have drones fly over 0:03:32.840 --> 0:03:36.840 New Jersey for one reason or another, or it eventually 0:03:36.920 --> 0:03:38.880 will just kind of fade away and people will forget 0:03:38.920 --> 0:03:41.800 about it. That's it, Like, I don't think there's anything 0:03:41.800 --> 0:03:45.200 else that comes of this. Also, just to remind folks, 0:03:45.680 --> 0:03:50.920 the way the US regulates drone use here is typically 0:03:50.960 --> 0:03:55.240 tied to drone weight, So if a drone weighs less 0:03:55.240 --> 0:03:59.200 than fifty five pounds, then you can operate it with 0:03:59.360 --> 0:04:03.040 fewer restrictions and regulations. Although you are supposed to have 0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:07.760 like an identifier tag, a digital tag that links the 0:04:07.880 --> 0:04:13.000 drone to you, like that you are the authorized operator 0:04:13.080 --> 0:04:15.960 of that drone. When you get above fifty five pounds, 0:04:16.000 --> 0:04:19.039 then a lot more strict regulations come into play. But 0:04:19.160 --> 0:04:22.280 that being said, while larger drones do weigh more than 0:04:22.320 --> 0:04:25.160 smaller ones, there's also been a lot of advancements made 0:04:25.440 --> 0:04:30.080 in lightweight materials like carbon fiber that have allowed for 0:04:30.600 --> 0:04:35.920 larger drones that surprisingly don't weigh that much. So I 0:04:35.960 --> 0:04:38.720 don't know what's going on here, but I do know 0:04:39.080 --> 0:04:41.840 that it's been going on long enough that it's become 0:04:41.960 --> 0:04:45.480 national news for a while. Apparently it was just news 0:04:45.520 --> 0:04:49.039 in New Jersey and hadn't really gone much further than that. 0:04:49.200 --> 0:04:51.440 This is the first I've heard of it, so we'll 0:04:51.480 --> 0:04:53.840 see where it goes from here, if it goes anywhere. 0:04:54.560 --> 0:04:58.760 Matt Novak of Gizmoto has a piece titled Trump's pick 0:04:58.839 --> 0:05:02.599 for FTC chair is ready to undo the good things 0:05:02.680 --> 0:05:05.880 from Lena Kahn, and I think it's well worth a read. 0:05:06.200 --> 0:05:08.520 So a lot of what is said in the article 0:05:08.640 --> 0:05:12.360 isn't exactly a surprise. If you know how US politics work. 0:05:12.720 --> 0:05:16.279 Every time there's a change in administrations and someone's tenure 0:05:16.440 --> 0:05:20.360 is up, departments like the FTC are affected. Even if 0:05:20.400 --> 0:05:23.280 the new president is from the exact same party as 0:05:23.360 --> 0:05:26.160 the outgoing president, you can expect things to shake up 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:29.200 a bit. But obviously it's more dramatic when there's a 0:05:29.240 --> 0:05:33.479 shift in power dynamics between Democrat and Republican leaders. So 0:05:34.040 --> 0:05:38.080 this is an overwhelmingly Republican administration that's coming in next year. 0:05:38.320 --> 0:05:40.720 And in this case, Trump's pick is a guy named 0:05:40.720 --> 0:05:44.719 Andrew Ferguson, who is already on the FTC. He's part 0:05:44.720 --> 0:05:48.120 of the commission already, he was appointed under Joe Biden. 0:05:48.360 --> 0:05:51.039 So the way the FTC works is there are five 0:05:51.320 --> 0:05:54.440 members of the Commission, and at most three of those 0:05:54.440 --> 0:05:57.479 members can come from a single political party. And since 0:05:57.480 --> 0:06:00.440 in the United States we effectively just have two political parties, 0:06:00.480 --> 0:06:02.880 I mean there are others, but they represent such a 0:06:02.920 --> 0:06:06.040 small slice that you really just talk about two Republican 0:06:06.080 --> 0:06:08.480 and Democrat, it means, in effect you get three from 0:06:08.520 --> 0:06:11.360 one to two from the other. Novak says that Ferguson 0:06:11.440 --> 0:06:13.480 is poised to roll back some of the moves the 0:06:13.560 --> 0:06:16.240 FTC has made over the last few years. So, for example, 0:06:16.720 --> 0:06:20.880 one of the changes that Lena Kahn's FTC made was 0:06:20.960 --> 0:06:24.560 to ban non compete clauses. Now, if you've never had 0:06:24.600 --> 0:06:27.200 one of these hanging over you, let me kind of 0:06:27.240 --> 0:06:30.760 clue you in. So these clauses are measures that companies 0:06:30.800 --> 0:06:34.000 put into place in employee agreements, and they state that 0:06:34.040 --> 0:06:37.159 you're not allowed to work for a competing company for 0:06:37.279 --> 0:06:40.560 a certain length of time once your employment with your 0:06:40.640 --> 0:06:45.359 current employer ends. So typically the non compete might be 0:06:45.440 --> 0:06:48.479 something like six months. So if I were under a 0:06:48.560 --> 0:06:51.400 non compete like that, I'm not saying I am and 0:06:51.440 --> 0:06:54.760 I'm not not saying that I'm not or whatever. That 0:06:54.880 --> 0:06:56.440 was so many negatives. I don't even know where I 0:06:56.480 --> 0:06:59.200 am now. Anyway, if I had that kind of non 0:06:59.240 --> 0:07:02.120 compete clause, I would mean that should my employment with 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:06.120 iHeart end tomorrow for whatever reason, whether I quit or 0:07:06.160 --> 0:07:08.320 they lay me off, or whatever it might be, I 0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:12.440 would not be allowed to seek employment with a company 0:07:12.520 --> 0:07:15.560 like Spotify for half a year or so, or else 0:07:15.680 --> 0:07:19.040 risk legal action because I would have violated the non 0:07:19.080 --> 0:07:23.160 compete clause. Cohn and her fellow Democrat commissioners argued that 0:07:23.200 --> 0:07:26.640 these clauses are hurtful to employees, which I agree with 0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:29.880 they are, and they're mostly used by companies as a 0:07:29.920 --> 0:07:33.480 way to intimidate their employees into staying on board rather 0:07:33.520 --> 0:07:36.200 than jumping ship to a better opportunity. Let's say that 0:07:36.320 --> 0:07:39.480 I had risen to a certain level within iHeart, and 0:07:39.520 --> 0:07:45.040 I had deep knowledge of proprietary information in the company 0:07:45.120 --> 0:07:47.880 that really, you know, it's part of the trade secrets 0:07:47.880 --> 0:07:51.920 that let iHeart do what it does. Obviously, there'd be 0:07:51.960 --> 0:07:54.480 a vested interest in making sure I don't take that 0:07:54.560 --> 0:07:58.360 information with me when I leave and then give that 0:07:58.760 --> 0:08:01.520 to the benefit of some other competitor. That would be bad, 0:08:01.760 --> 0:08:03.600 so you can see it from that level. But more 0:08:03.640 --> 0:08:06.240 often than not, these non competes get thrown in on 0:08:07.720 --> 0:08:10.960 positions that just don't have that big of an impact 0:08:11.040 --> 0:08:13.960 to the overall organization, but it has an enormous impact 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:18.000 to the individual, right like iHeart. If they got rid 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:20.400 of me, I'm sure they would miss me, but they 0:08:20.520 --> 0:08:23.720 do they'd be fine. I, on the other hand, would 0:08:23.720 --> 0:08:25.680 be struggling to figure out what the heck I'm going 0:08:25.760 --> 0:08:28.480 to do if I can't get another job in this 0:08:28.640 --> 0:08:31.640 field within six months. That would be really tough on me. 0:08:31.880 --> 0:08:35.600 So the FTC made this big change. And the concern 0:08:35.640 --> 0:08:39.880 that Novak raises is that the new FTC under Trump's 0:08:40.080 --> 0:08:44.560 administration is going to start rolling back the protections that 0:08:44.600 --> 0:08:47.960 the previous administration put in place in order to benefit 0:08:48.240 --> 0:08:52.280 employees versus businesses. And the thought is that the FTC 0:08:52.480 --> 0:08:55.760 moving forward is going to be much more friendly with 0:08:55.960 --> 0:09:00.000 the folks who own and operate businesses and much less 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:02.680 less helpful to those who work for them. Will have 0:09:02.840 --> 0:09:06.040 to see. Meanwhile, big tech companies are lining up in 0:09:06.080 --> 0:09:09.160 what looks like an attempt to get on Trump's good side. 0:09:09.520 --> 0:09:13.240 Both Meta and Amazon have contributed the equivalent of a 0:09:13.320 --> 0:09:18.680 million dollars each to Trump's inaugural fund, as in the 0:09:18.760 --> 0:09:24.240 money going to his inauguration ceremony. Dana Mattioli and Rebecca 0:09:24.320 --> 0:09:28.160 Balhause of The Wall Street Journal wrote that Zuckerberg appears 0:09:28.160 --> 0:09:30.920 to be trying to mend defenses. You know, Trump has 0:09:31.000 --> 0:09:35.200 long held a rather acrimonious stance against Meta, So why 0:09:35.280 --> 0:09:37.720 is that? A Couple of reasons. One is he got 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:41.200 banned from Meta's Facebook platform after the whole January sixth 0:09:41.280 --> 0:09:44.600 debacle several years back. Another is that he has long 0:09:44.679 --> 0:09:49.319 maintained that various online platforms, including stuff like Google and Facebook, 0:09:49.440 --> 0:09:53.160 have long held an anti conservative bias and actively suppressed 0:09:53.200 --> 0:09:56.440 free speech. And seeing how folks like Zuckerberg and Bezos 0:09:56.480 --> 0:10:00.800 are accustomed to accumulating vast amounts of wealth, they appear 0:10:00.840 --> 0:10:03.360 to be taking steps to keep that trend going strong 0:10:03.679 --> 0:10:08.640 and not inviting Trump to make things harder for them. Meanwhile, 0:10:08.720 --> 0:10:12.720 Amazon's going to carry the inauguration ceremonies on Amazon Prime Video, 0:10:13.040 --> 0:10:14.760 and I expect we're going to see a lot more 0:10:14.800 --> 0:10:18.280 moves from leaders and big tech companies that are similar 0:10:18.280 --> 0:10:22.040 to this in an effort to avoid Trump's rather mercurial wrath. 0:10:22.559 --> 0:10:27.040 Speaking of that, TikTok's clock is running mighty low here 0:10:27.040 --> 0:10:29.920 in the United States. Now. You could recall that earlier 0:10:29.960 --> 0:10:33.440 this year, Congress passed a law that would require TikTok's 0:10:33.480 --> 0:10:37.439 parent company, Bye Dance to divest itself of TikTok or 0:10:37.480 --> 0:10:41.080 else face a nationwide ban on the app. Bye Dance 0:10:41.120 --> 0:10:44.199 being a Chinese company, and the worry here is that 0:10:44.360 --> 0:10:47.920 TikTok could just be a siphon for information that could 0:10:47.920 --> 0:10:51.560 go direct to China. So anyway, TikTok has been fighting 0:10:51.600 --> 0:10:54.120 this law ever since and challenged it in court by 0:10:54.280 --> 0:10:56.760 arguing that it goes against the First Amendment, the right 0:10:56.840 --> 0:10:59.520 of free speech. But a court found otherwise, and an 0:10:59.559 --> 0:11:02.640 appeal panel has agreed, which is not a good sign 0:11:02.679 --> 0:11:06.280 for TikTok. The agreement comes down to a few things. One, 0:11:06.679 --> 0:11:09.680 the judicial system in the United States traditionally is reluctant 0:11:09.720 --> 0:11:13.800 to contradict Congress, particularly in matters that involve national security, 0:11:14.000 --> 0:11:16.240 and that, of course, is how the TikTok ban has 0:11:16.320 --> 0:11:20.040 been framed, so that's one potential reason why the court 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:23.960 was reluctant to overturn this. Secondly, the court has found 0:11:23.960 --> 0:11:26.959 that TikTok could operate in the United States without issue 0:11:27.040 --> 0:11:30.160 if byte Edance actually divested itself of the company. So, 0:11:30.200 --> 0:11:32.880 in other words, the court has essentially said there's no 0:11:32.960 --> 0:11:36.160 freedom of speech issue here because TikTok has a solution 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:39.520 to this problem. Just separate from the Chinese parent company 0:11:39.679 --> 0:11:43.640 and you can continue as per usual. TikTok has appealed 0:11:43.679 --> 0:11:45.959 to the Supreme Court, but there are doubts that the 0:11:46.040 --> 0:11:48.439 highest court in the United States will hear the case, 0:11:48.679 --> 0:11:51.480 which means they'll just have to abide by the rulings 0:11:51.520 --> 0:11:54.559 of the lower courts. TikTok has also filed an emergency 0:11:54.600 --> 0:11:57.800 request to delay the law's effects until the Supreme Court 0:11:57.840 --> 0:12:00.640 can weigh in and until the Trump administry can say 0:12:00.640 --> 0:12:04.960 something about it. And the US government opposes this move, 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:06.800 So we haven't seen how this is going to turn 0:12:06.800 --> 0:12:10.199 out yet. The ban is scheduled to begin on January nineteenth, 0:12:10.400 --> 0:12:14.920 one day before Trump's inauguration, so time is running out. Interestingly, 0:12:15.000 --> 0:12:18.160 during Trump's first term as president, he led the charge 0:12:18.160 --> 0:12:20.400 on banning TikTok. He's the one who brought it up. 0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:24.400 He even passed an executive order demanding TikTok separate from Byteedance, 0:12:24.640 --> 0:12:28.040 but that order was never enforced. During his campaign, however, 0:12:28.080 --> 0:12:31.560 Trump appeared to have reversed his decision because, well, he said, 0:12:31.559 --> 0:12:33.559 it's because lots of people like to use the app, 0:12:33.640 --> 0:12:36.240 which I mean, that's true, But I don't see how 0:12:36.240 --> 0:12:39.920 that actually addresses the supposed risk to national security that 0:12:39.960 --> 0:12:42.880 he was concerned about a few years earlier. All I'm 0:12:42.880 --> 0:12:46.240 saying is that Trump changes his mind a lot, and 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:49.080 if he had said something like upon further reflection, I 0:12:49.160 --> 0:12:52.200 determined that there's no risk to national security, at least 0:12:52.440 --> 0:12:55.440 I think his decision to reverse his stance would make 0:12:55.480 --> 0:12:58.400 more sense. But honestly, I think the real reason he 0:12:58.440 --> 0:13:00.800 reversed his stance, at least during the campaign, is that 0:13:00.960 --> 0:13:03.280 one of his big campaign donors also happened to be 0:13:03.280 --> 0:13:06.800 someone who is heavily invested in byte dance and TikTok 0:13:07.240 --> 0:13:10.760 so in order to keep those dollars coming into his campaign. 0:13:11.240 --> 0:13:14.840 This is my opinion. Trump said whatever he thought would 0:13:14.840 --> 0:13:17.880 get him that money, and now since he's gotten what 0:13:18.000 --> 0:13:20.920 he wanted that he got elected president, I don't know 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:24.280 that he's so concerned about it. We'll see. I don't 0:13:24.360 --> 0:13:26.440 know if he's going to follow through. All Right, We've 0:13:26.480 --> 0:13:28.640 got a lot more news to cover before we get 0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:30.480 to that, though. Let's take a quick break to thank 0:13:30.520 --> 0:13:43.040 our sponsors. Okay, we're back, and we're switching gears away 0:13:43.040 --> 0:13:46.960 from politics, for which I am thankful. So let's talk 0:13:47.080 --> 0:13:52.079 about Google's latest push into the world of mixed reality. 0:13:52.360 --> 0:13:55.200 Kevin Party of Ours Technica has a piece about this. 0:13:55.400 --> 0:14:01.920 It's titled Google steps into extended Reality again with Android XR. 0:14:02.360 --> 0:14:05.840 I had not heard the term extended reality before. I've 0:14:05.840 --> 0:14:09.520 heard mixed reality, I've heard augmented, I've heard virtual, extended 0:14:09.520 --> 0:14:11.640 as a new one for me, or if it's not new, 0:14:11.800 --> 0:14:14.240 I hadn't I didn't remember it. But some of y'all 0:14:14.320 --> 0:14:18.360 might recall that years ago Google really got things moving 0:14:18.440 --> 0:14:20.840 in the AR space, at least as far as the 0:14:20.960 --> 0:14:26.240 general tech consumer is concerned, when they launched Google Glass. Now, 0:14:26.280 --> 0:14:29.360 to be clear, Google Glass was not the first example 0:14:29.400 --> 0:14:32.600 of augmented reality, not by far. It was just an 0:14:32.640 --> 0:14:37.120 early example of a technology that was somewhat consumer facing. Now, 0:14:37.160 --> 0:14:41.000 I say somewhat because Google Glass was really limited upon release. 0:14:41.040 --> 0:14:42.960 It was very expensive. I think it was like fifteen 0:14:43.040 --> 0:14:45.880 hundred dollars for one of those sets, and it never 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:50.040 really evolved beyond that very limited run for the average consumer. 0:14:50.080 --> 0:14:53.480 It did become an enterprise tool for some companies, but 0:14:53.960 --> 0:14:55.800 that and it kind of found a place there at 0:14:55.880 --> 0:14:59.440 least I think until twenty twenty three, but it hasn't 0:14:59.480 --> 0:15:03.080 really had a larger impact. Now, Google is promoting a 0:15:03.120 --> 0:15:06.920 mixed reality platform that's built upon the Android operating system 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:10.920 that's best known for the operating system for mobile devices. 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:14.400 Party writes that Samsung will be coming out with a 0:15:14.440 --> 0:15:18.400 mixed reality headset built on Android XR at some point 0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:21.760 next year. Currently, it's known as project Mouhan, though I'm 0:15:21.800 --> 0:15:23.480 sure it's going to have a very different name by 0:15:23.520 --> 0:15:26.920 the time it's an actual product. Google's video that promotes 0:15:27.000 --> 0:15:30.800 the Android XR project is a little light on details, 0:15:30.960 --> 0:15:33.760 but it indicates that users should expect to be able 0:15:33.800 --> 0:15:37.720 to tap into features found in other existing Google products, 0:15:37.720 --> 0:15:40.920 such as like Google Lens or you know, auto translation 0:15:41.040 --> 0:15:43.800 tools and maps and that kind of thing. I honestly 0:15:43.920 --> 0:15:49.600 don't know if there really is a market for XR headsets. 0:15:49.760 --> 0:15:51.880 You know. I know that Meta has been offering ar 0:15:52.000 --> 0:15:54.880 light glasses for quite some time now. You can get 0:15:54.920 --> 0:15:57.640 you know, those those Meta ray bands or whatever, and 0:15:57.680 --> 0:16:00.040 those are popular with some folks. I don't know, you 0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:03.680 know how large that customer base is. And of course, 0:16:03.760 --> 0:16:06.960 Apple came out with the Vision Pro early this year, 0:16:07.000 --> 0:16:09.920 but the lack of support for that platform suggests to 0:16:09.960 --> 0:16:12.600 me that Apple at the very least is backing off 0:16:13.000 --> 0:16:16.840 on pushing AR headsets for a while. Maybe they won't 0:16:17.080 --> 0:16:21.120 totally end development, but I imagine it's no longer a priority 0:16:21.320 --> 0:16:26.840 because while everyone who tried the Apple Vision Pro said 0:16:26.880 --> 0:16:30.040 they were pretty impressed by it, it just didn't have 0:16:30.560 --> 0:16:35.160 the splash needed to establish a foundation for Apple to 0:16:35.200 --> 0:16:40.000 really build upon and the lack of ongoing interest from 0:16:40.720 --> 0:16:44.920 the general public. I think then translated to Apple's own 0:16:45.720 --> 0:16:48.640 lack of interest in supporting it. So yeah, I don't 0:16:48.680 --> 0:16:52.360 know if Google's going to crack the nut on consumer 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:56.040 mixed reality. Maybe we'll see, But I mean Google has 0:16:56.120 --> 0:17:00.800 been instrumental in releasing tons and tons and tons of 0:17:00.840 --> 0:17:06.719 different products that received middling to low success rates, and 0:17:06.760 --> 0:17:11.840 then those elements would get engulfed into other Google efforts 0:17:11.960 --> 0:17:14.720 and whatever it was that was launched would just disappear. 0:17:14.800 --> 0:17:16.880 So I guess what I'm saying is that when these 0:17:16.920 --> 0:17:21.680 mixed reality headsets hit the market, be cautious before adopting it, 0:17:21.720 --> 0:17:25.840 because Google has a very long history of abandoning stuff 0:17:26.400 --> 0:17:29.840 not long after launch, so that's not necessarily going to 0:17:29.880 --> 0:17:31.919 be the case here. I'm just saying, if it's going 0:17:32.000 --> 0:17:35.080 to be really expensive and you don't necessarily have the 0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:39.440 money to spare, maybe hold back for generation two or three, 0:17:39.840 --> 0:17:41.920 just to make sure that it's going to stick around. 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:45.600 Emmanuel Meberg of four h four Media has an article 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:52.400 titled YouTube enhances comment section with AI generated nonsense, and y'all, 0:17:52.480 --> 0:17:55.639 I just can't. I mean, YouTube's comment section is already 0:17:55.680 --> 0:17:58.879 a breeding ground for nonsense. Now, don't get me wrong, 0:17:59.080 --> 0:18:01.879 there are actually some great community members out there in 0:18:01.960 --> 0:18:06.000 various communities who post positive and supportive and helpful comments. 0:18:06.400 --> 0:18:09.200 There are others who might be a little more abrasive, 0:18:09.560 --> 0:18:13.360 but they clearly mean well in their criticism. Then there's 0:18:13.400 --> 0:18:16.119 the ones who don't mean well in their criticisms, and 0:18:16.160 --> 0:18:20.200 then the outright jokesters and trolls. The jokesters just want 0:18:20.240 --> 0:18:23.640 an opportunity to crack a punchline and work on their material, 0:18:23.840 --> 0:18:26.359 and the trolls just want to upset whomever they can. 0:18:26.880 --> 0:18:29.760 And then you've got like stalkers who are fostering unhealthy 0:18:29.760 --> 0:18:33.560 parasocial relationships online. And then you've got bots that are 0:18:33.600 --> 0:18:36.199 just trying to trick people into going to malicious or 0:18:36.240 --> 0:18:39.359 shady websites. Do we really need to add more AI 0:18:39.480 --> 0:18:42.600 to this mix? Who? Apparently, YouTube's answer is yes. Now, 0:18:42.640 --> 0:18:45.640 in this case, the AI is actually intended to give 0:18:45.800 --> 0:18:48.960 content creators the ability to interact with, or at least 0:18:48.960 --> 0:18:53.400 to appear to interact with their communities without as much effort. 0:18:53.760 --> 0:18:57.840 It's meant to let creators reply to comments faster and easier, But, 0:18:58.000 --> 0:19:02.200 as my Berg writes, the results aren't always helpful. In fact, 0:19:02.200 --> 0:19:07.760 in his words, they sometimes can end up being quote misleading, nonsensical, 0:19:08.000 --> 0:19:11.720 or weirdly intimate end quote. Now, this tool is not 0:19:11.880 --> 0:19:14.600 fully automated. It's not like it just automatically goes and 0:19:14.640 --> 0:19:18.760 starts answering every comment left on a creator's channel. Instead, 0:19:19.080 --> 0:19:22.679 it sort of auto suggests a reply, and if the 0:19:22.760 --> 0:19:25.520 reply is one that the content creator likes, they can 0:19:25.600 --> 0:19:27.960 just post it. So that's pretty good, right. It gives 0:19:27.960 --> 0:19:31.320 the creator the ultimate editorial control to whether you know, 0:19:31.440 --> 0:19:34.920 they post it or just write their own response. It's 0:19:35.000 --> 0:19:37.400 kind of like the auto messages that are generated by 0:19:37.440 --> 0:19:40.439 a lot of different texting or messaging apps these days. 0:19:40.880 --> 0:19:43.440 I suggest reading My Bird's piece for a full rundown 0:19:43.480 --> 0:19:46.560 on the topic, as it includes some amusing examples of 0:19:46.560 --> 0:19:49.720 how the AI suggested replies that maybe just aren't the 0:19:49.760 --> 0:19:53.440 best fit for the comments that were left behind. Brandon 0:19:53.520 --> 0:19:56.879 Viiglia Rollo of The Register has a headline that definitely 0:19:56.880 --> 0:20:00.560 caught my attention this week. The headline is America cops 0:20:00.640 --> 0:20:04.920 are using AI to draft police reports and the ACLU 0:20:05.119 --> 0:20:09.480 isn't happy. So police officers cops they have to write 0:20:09.560 --> 0:20:13.240 up reports detailing their work they have to document everything 0:20:13.280 --> 0:20:16.000 that they're doing when it relates to their interactions with 0:20:16.080 --> 0:20:19.600 the public and pursuing suspects and all that stuff. They 0:20:19.640 --> 0:20:22.520 have to report everything because all of those details matter, 0:20:22.600 --> 0:20:26.800 particularly once an issue reaches the court system, where prosecutors 0:20:26.840 --> 0:20:30.640 are reliant upon these reports in order to make their case. Now, 0:20:30.680 --> 0:20:35.960 once upon a time, many many many years ago, one 0:20:36.000 --> 0:20:41.600 of my first jobs was to transcribe similar reports. Now 0:20:42.040 --> 0:20:45.160 I had to take handwritten reports, and then I would 0:20:45.240 --> 0:20:47.760 have to type those reports up. This was for a 0:20:47.800 --> 0:20:50.800 security firm. It was not a police station. It was 0:20:50.840 --> 0:20:53.880 a police force. But several members of the security team 0:20:53.920 --> 0:20:57.439 were either active cops or former cops and they were 0:20:58.000 --> 0:21:01.360 moonlighting as security officers. And y'all to say those reports 0:21:01.359 --> 0:21:06.480 were often incomprehensible is being too generous. Not all police 0:21:06.480 --> 0:21:10.639 officers are gifted with the ability to write a clear, 0:21:11.119 --> 0:21:15.480 concise report. Some of those reports they might as well 0:21:15.480 --> 0:21:17.720 have been gibberished. Now, granted, I was working again for 0:21:17.760 --> 0:21:21.040 a security firm, not for a police station, so it 0:21:21.080 --> 0:21:24.159 could have been different because of that. But anyway, I 0:21:24.160 --> 0:21:27.080 can see why police forces might wish to experiment with 0:21:27.119 --> 0:21:29.960 a tool that makes writing reports a lot easier to 0:21:30.000 --> 0:21:33.479 do and easier to understand and reference, you know, easier 0:21:33.480 --> 0:21:36.080 to follow. Like some of those reports, I would type 0:21:36.240 --> 0:21:39.640 literally what had been written, but I couldn't tell you 0:21:39.720 --> 0:21:43.119 what the report was actually saying, because it wasn't written 0:21:43.160 --> 0:21:46.240 in a way that followed a clear line of thought, 0:21:46.240 --> 0:21:49.680 at least not from my perspective. But there's an understandable 0:21:49.680 --> 0:21:53.320 concern that an automated approach to generating reports could result 0:21:53.320 --> 0:21:58.680 in documentation that's treated as official but as fundamentally incorrect, misleading, 0:21:59.080 --> 0:22:04.600 or militia, even if it's not intentionally malicious. The technology 0:22:04.640 --> 0:22:08.800 that viglia Rollo alludes to is called Draft one. It's 0:22:08.800 --> 0:22:13.040 from a company called Axon. So this technology takes footage 0:22:13.480 --> 0:22:17.120 captured by body cameras that are warned by police officers, 0:22:17.320 --> 0:22:21.959 and it then generates reports based off that footage. Cops 0:22:22.000 --> 0:22:24.560 then have the ability to edit these reports, and so 0:22:24.640 --> 0:22:27.120 they can go in and correct any mistakes that might 0:22:27.119 --> 0:22:30.600 be in the generated report. They might elaborate on points 0:22:30.640 --> 0:22:34.159 that weren't captured by the camera or the AI tool. 0:22:34.520 --> 0:22:37.760 But the ACLU has pointed out that offloading reports to 0:22:37.840 --> 0:22:42.840 AI reports that again prosecutors rely upon during criminal trials 0:22:43.080 --> 0:22:46.719 that's inevitably going to lead to civil rights violations and 0:22:46.760 --> 0:22:51.240 related issues, and I think that's a pretty safe bet 0:22:51.640 --> 0:22:54.000 that there will be these negative consequences. I mean, we've 0:22:54.000 --> 0:22:58.760 already talked multiple times on this show about how certain technologies, 0:22:58.760 --> 0:23:03.400 such as facial recognition algorithms, frequently have massive blind spots 0:23:03.440 --> 0:23:07.960 that disproportionately affect already vulnerable populations. So in the case 0:23:08.000 --> 0:23:11.760 with facial recognition tools, if you're not a white male, 0:23:12.400 --> 0:23:16.240 the success rate for those tools begins to fall, and 0:23:16.680 --> 0:23:20.000 you know, depending upon what demographic you fall into, you 0:23:20.000 --> 0:23:23.520 could end up being the victim of a false positive 0:23:23.840 --> 0:23:26.320 or a false negative. I mean, it's proven to be 0:23:26.359 --> 0:23:31.199 an unreliable technology because of the inherent bias that underlies 0:23:31.320 --> 0:23:34.159 the tech. Not saying that the tech can't get to 0:23:34.200 --> 0:23:37.280 a point where it could reliably identify people, but as 0:23:37.320 --> 0:23:42.639 it has been trained and designed, it doesn't for certain populations. 0:23:42.920 --> 0:23:47.720 And often these are the same populations that are disproportionately criminalized. 0:23:48.119 --> 0:23:51.400 And to get into that gets into a whole sociology 0:23:51.440 --> 0:23:53.960 thing that goes so far beyond tech. So we're not 0:23:54.040 --> 0:23:56.400 going to do that. I'm just saying tools like this 0:23:56.560 --> 0:24:00.160 can add to those problems. And make them worse. So well, 0:24:00.200 --> 0:24:04.720 the ACLU is urging that police not use this tool. 0:24:04.880 --> 0:24:09.240 That in fact, municipalities end up banning the use of 0:24:09.800 --> 0:24:14.080 AI generated police reports because of the potential harm it 0:24:14.119 --> 0:24:18.280 can have on innocent citizens or just citizens in general, 0:24:18.320 --> 0:24:21.920 Like it can violate your rights, and that's something that 0:24:22.680 --> 0:24:25.520