1 00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:12,360 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 2 00:00:12,400 --> 00:00:15,760 Speaker 1: and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host Jonathan Strickland. 3 00:00:15,840 --> 00:00:18,639 Speaker 1: I'm an executive producer with iHeart Podcasts and how the 4 00:00:18,680 --> 00:00:21,960 Speaker 1: tech are you. It's time for the tech news or Tuesday, 5 00:00:22,079 --> 00:00:26,079 Speaker 1: December twelfth, twenty twenty three, and we'll start off with 6 00:00:26,120 --> 00:00:30,080 Speaker 1: the story about how hackers can really cause widespread problems 7 00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:35,080 Speaker 1: due to how various regions have computerized and networked vital infrastructure, 8 00:00:35,080 --> 00:00:38,639 Speaker 1: which is not a bad thing, like updating infrastructure so 9 00:00:38,680 --> 00:00:42,640 Speaker 1: that it runs efficiently is important. The problem is when 10 00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:48,440 Speaker 1: components within that infrastructure provide vulnerabilities. So the story is 11 00:00:48,440 --> 00:00:51,880 Speaker 1: all about a small region in Western Ireland which became 12 00:00:51,920 --> 00:00:55,160 Speaker 1: the target of hackers and they managed to shut down 13 00:00:55,200 --> 00:00:58,000 Speaker 1: that area's water system for around one hundred and sixty 14 00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:01,600 Speaker 1: households for two days. The hackers were able to do 15 00:01:01,640 --> 00:01:06,880 Speaker 1: this by targeting a programmable logic controller or PLC. These 16 00:01:06,959 --> 00:01:12,280 Speaker 1: are microprocessors that are common in industrial use in lots 17 00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:17,319 Speaker 1: of different industries. So unlike the CPU that's in your computer, 18 00:01:18,040 --> 00:01:21,640 Speaker 1: these PLCs are meant to handle a very small selection 19 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:26,080 Speaker 1: of jobs and as such they are typically far less 20 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:29,680 Speaker 1: complex in design. Than a CPU, and they can also 21 00:01:29,760 --> 00:01:33,679 Speaker 1: run extremely fast and efficiently. Because of that right, they 22 00:01:33,720 --> 00:01:35,840 Speaker 1: don't have to do everything. They have to do this 23 00:01:36,120 --> 00:01:40,560 Speaker 1: subset of tasks and they just do it as fast 24 00:01:40,600 --> 00:01:44,120 Speaker 1: as they can. Now on the flip side, if someone 25 00:01:44,400 --> 00:01:49,800 Speaker 1: is able to sabotage the PLCs in a vital industrial system, 26 00:01:50,280 --> 00:01:54,240 Speaker 1: well then we get a situation like what happened in Ireland. 27 00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:57,360 Speaker 1: But why did the hackers do this? Why would some 28 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:02,000 Speaker 1: rural area in iron And be the target of hackers? 29 00:02:02,080 --> 00:02:06,600 Speaker 1: What could possibly be the motivation? Well, according to the record, 30 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:10,760 Speaker 1: it was because these hackers discovered the water system that 31 00:02:10,800 --> 00:02:14,320 Speaker 1: this region used had components inside it that came from 32 00:02:14,360 --> 00:02:19,240 Speaker 1: an Israeli company called Unitronics. So they weren't singling out 33 00:02:19,360 --> 00:02:23,520 Speaker 1: this area of Ireland for any other reason other than 34 00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:27,120 Speaker 1: the fact that its water system had components from this 35 00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:31,720 Speaker 1: one company incorporated into it. So it really didn't matter 36 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:34,720 Speaker 1: where this was happening. It was the fact that it 37 00:02:34,760 --> 00:02:38,520 Speaker 1: was this one specific company's product within their system. The 38 00:02:38,680 --> 00:02:42,480 Speaker 1: hackers appear to be part of the cyber Avengers group, 39 00:02:42,919 --> 00:02:48,400 Speaker 1: and the Avengers in this case is spelled av iree Nngers. 40 00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:52,440 Speaker 1: That's how you know how LTE These hackers are reportedly 41 00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:55,880 Speaker 1: this group has ties to Iran, meaning this was a 42 00:02:55,919 --> 00:03:00,680 Speaker 1: politically motivated attack. What's more, other water systems around the world, 43 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:04,280 Speaker 1: including here in the United States, had similar attacks on 44 00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:08,919 Speaker 1: their systems that also had Unitronics PLCs incorporated in them, 45 00:03:09,240 --> 00:03:11,360 Speaker 1: though in those cases it seems like there was actually 46 00:03:11,360 --> 00:03:15,320 Speaker 1: no loss of water service in those areas. I recommend 47 00:03:15,360 --> 00:03:19,440 Speaker 1: reading the article on the record. It's by Alexander Martin. 48 00:03:19,639 --> 00:03:22,920 Speaker 1: It's titled two day water outage and Remote Irish Region 49 00:03:23,360 --> 00:03:27,160 Speaker 1: caused by pro Iran hackers. Has some more information about 50 00:03:27,160 --> 00:03:29,880 Speaker 1: the political side of things that I find really interesting 51 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:33,519 Speaker 1: and also infuriating. There's a whole bunch of stuff about 52 00:03:34,080 --> 00:03:38,040 Speaker 1: lobbying groups here in the United States that actively lobbied 53 00:03:38,400 --> 00:03:42,960 Speaker 1: the US government against adopting measures that would have increased 54 00:03:43,040 --> 00:03:47,120 Speaker 1: security around this sort of stuff. It really does drive 55 00:03:47,160 --> 00:03:51,839 Speaker 1: you nuts when you see how companies and politicians will 56 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:55,960 Speaker 1: make bad decisions when it comes to security in favor 57 00:03:56,040 --> 00:04:01,520 Speaker 1: of solutions that are less expensive. Check out that article 58 00:04:01,560 --> 00:04:04,560 Speaker 1: to read more about it. Now. I didn't actually put 59 00:04:04,560 --> 00:04:05,920 Speaker 1: this in my notes, but I feel like I do 60 00:04:06,040 --> 00:04:08,880 Speaker 1: need to say it because it's certainly in the tech 61 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:15,440 Speaker 1: news sphere. Elon Musk has reinstated the Twitter slash x 62 00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:20,680 Speaker 1: profile for Alex Jones, the former radio host who got 63 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:26,720 Speaker 1: into incredible trouble due to his misleading information and disinformation 64 00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:31,360 Speaker 1: around the tragic Sandy Hook shooting incident, as well as 65 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:36,440 Speaker 1: multiple other instances of him saying horrible stuff you were 66 00:04:36,480 --> 00:04:40,760 Speaker 1: talking about, you know, racist kind of of talk, misogynist talk. 67 00:04:40,800 --> 00:04:44,080 Speaker 1: It's the list is almost endless, and Alex Jones have 68 00:04:44,160 --> 00:04:47,559 Speaker 1: been banned years ago from Twitter due to these kinds 69 00:04:47,600 --> 00:04:51,520 Speaker 1: of activities. And then Musk ran a poll, and the 70 00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:56,600 Speaker 1: poll found in favor of reinstating Alex Jones's account, and 71 00:04:56,640 --> 00:05:00,480 Speaker 1: so Musk did it. I'll remind you that my usually 72 00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:05,880 Speaker 1: has the most followers of anyone on x also appears 73 00:05:05,920 --> 00:05:08,719 Speaker 1: to have a ton of followers who have little to 74 00:05:08,880 --> 00:05:15,080 Speaker 1: no activity on the service, which suggests it doesn't necessarily prove, 75 00:05:15,160 --> 00:05:17,960 Speaker 1: but it suggests that a lot of those accounts maybe 76 00:05:18,160 --> 00:05:22,880 Speaker 1: bots and not actual people. A lot of the accounts 77 00:05:22,920 --> 00:05:26,720 Speaker 1: have very few followers of their own, so that it's 78 00:05:26,920 --> 00:05:30,960 Speaker 1: not a good indication that perhaps any pole Musk puts 79 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:34,760 Speaker 1: out is actually reliable. There's no telling how much of 80 00:05:34,760 --> 00:05:37,960 Speaker 1: that activity is controlled by just a few entities. That 81 00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:43,080 Speaker 1: maybe have bought armies under their administration. So making these 82 00:05:43,200 --> 00:05:46,839 Speaker 1: kinds of decisions by arguing that but people have spoken 83 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:51,680 Speaker 1: seems really disingenuous to me. And it also seems like 84 00:05:51,920 --> 00:05:57,080 Speaker 1: Elon Musk is just hell bent on running Twitter into 85 00:05:57,120 --> 00:06:01,800 Speaker 1: the ground. Even further, like, the decisions he's made are 86 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:07,480 Speaker 1: completely antithetical to trying to grow and protect a company, 87 00:06:07,839 --> 00:06:11,720 Speaker 1: so very confusing. If in fact he wants Twitter to 88 00:06:11,880 --> 00:06:16,000 Speaker 1: be a thing, maybe he doesn't. Next up, John Broadkin 89 00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:19,760 Speaker 1: of ours Tetnica has an article titled Tesla again threatens 90 00:06:19,800 --> 00:06:22,400 Speaker 1: to sue cyber truck buyers who try to resell their 91 00:06:22,480 --> 00:06:25,600 Speaker 1: cars and or resell I should say that was a 92 00:06:25,640 --> 00:06:29,000 Speaker 1: weird way of pronouncing that. Anyway, that's the whole story really, 93 00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:31,239 Speaker 1: but hear me out. So I am not a fan 94 00:06:31,320 --> 00:06:35,400 Speaker 1: of scalpers or people who use their access to you know, 95 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:38,760 Speaker 1: purchasing power in order to buy up a limited supply 96 00:06:38,880 --> 00:06:41,279 Speaker 1: of whatever it is and then turn it around and 97 00:06:41,320 --> 00:06:43,880 Speaker 1: sell it at a huge markup. I think that stinks. 98 00:06:44,760 --> 00:06:47,680 Speaker 1: I think that stinks if you're talking about tickets to 99 00:06:47,760 --> 00:06:51,480 Speaker 1: an event, it stinks with you know, like graphics cards. 100 00:06:51,520 --> 00:06:54,240 Speaker 1: We saw that happen a lot especially during the pandemic 101 00:06:54,600 --> 00:06:58,880 Speaker 1: and during the crypto coin boost or spike. I think 102 00:06:58,920 --> 00:07:02,600 Speaker 1: it stinks with limited runs of collectibles. I'm specifically looking 103 00:07:02,640 --> 00:07:04,640 Speaker 1: at you folks who would end up buying up all 104 00:07:04,680 --> 00:07:07,720 Speaker 1: the tiki mugs from Trader Sam's and then turn around 105 00:07:07,760 --> 00:07:09,680 Speaker 1: and sell them at like one hundred and fifty percent 106 00:07:09,760 --> 00:07:12,760 Speaker 1: price increase. But at the same time, I also believe 107 00:07:13,080 --> 00:07:15,880 Speaker 1: that if you buy something, then you should have the 108 00:07:15,960 --> 00:07:19,120 Speaker 1: right to resell that thing if you want to. I mean, 109 00:07:19,160 --> 00:07:21,280 Speaker 1: if someone's willing to buy it and you're you want 110 00:07:21,320 --> 00:07:22,760 Speaker 1: to sell it, I think you should be able to, 111 00:07:22,960 --> 00:07:26,400 Speaker 1: because once you buy something, it's yours right. Well not. 112 00:07:26,440 --> 00:07:30,239 Speaker 1: According to Tesla, the company had a clause that stated 113 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:33,600 Speaker 1: it could sue a cyber truck owner for up to 114 00:07:33,720 --> 00:07:37,560 Speaker 1: fifty thousand dollars if they resold their vehicle within the 115 00:07:37,560 --> 00:07:40,640 Speaker 1: first year of their ownership. Now, this actually used to 116 00:07:40,640 --> 00:07:44,800 Speaker 1: be in the publicly viewable version of that contract, but 117 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:48,680 Speaker 1: Tesla then nixed that after you know, folks noticed it 118 00:07:48,960 --> 00:07:52,360 Speaker 1: and some began to have something to say about that policy, 119 00:07:52,600 --> 00:07:56,000 Speaker 1: so it got deleted from the publicly viewable version. However, 120 00:07:56,720 --> 00:08:00,400 Speaker 1: according to Broadkin, the clause is very much still in place, 121 00:08:00,440 --> 00:08:03,360 Speaker 1: it's just not listed in the publicly viewable version of 122 00:08:03,400 --> 00:08:07,800 Speaker 1: the agreement. So according to this now non public agreement, 123 00:08:08,240 --> 00:08:12,240 Speaker 1: Tesla has right of first refusal, essentially meaning that if 124 00:08:12,280 --> 00:08:14,440 Speaker 1: you purchase your cyber truck and you've had it for 125 00:08:14,520 --> 00:08:16,600 Speaker 1: less than a year and you decide you want to 126 00:08:16,640 --> 00:08:20,119 Speaker 1: sell it, you first have to offer Tesla the chance 127 00:08:20,200 --> 00:08:24,320 Speaker 1: to buy back the vehicle themselves. I'm guessing this is 128 00:08:24,320 --> 00:08:27,080 Speaker 1: because Tesla has a very long list of folks who 129 00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:30,520 Speaker 1: have reserved an order for a cyber truck, and from 130 00:08:30,600 --> 00:08:33,280 Speaker 1: what we understand, Tesla will not be able to meet 131 00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:36,920 Speaker 1: that demand anytime soon, as in, it could be years 132 00:08:37,320 --> 00:08:40,080 Speaker 1: before someone who is just now getting interested in a 133 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:43,080 Speaker 1: cyber truck would be able to buy one, because Tesla 134 00:08:43,120 --> 00:08:46,600 Speaker 1: will still be filling out those reserve orders that had 135 00:08:46,640 --> 00:08:49,880 Speaker 1: already been placed. Also, to make matters worse, it sounds 136 00:08:49,880 --> 00:08:52,440 Speaker 1: like buyers are not made aware of this clause until 137 00:08:52,520 --> 00:08:55,959 Speaker 1: after they have submitted a non refundable two hundred and 138 00:08:55,960 --> 00:08:59,680 Speaker 1: fifty dollars order fee, which means they're effectively agreeing to 139 00:08:59,679 --> 00:09:03,040 Speaker 1: a claw that they aren't even allowed to see beforehand, 140 00:09:03,400 --> 00:09:07,320 Speaker 1: which sounds shady to me. Sticking with the cyber truck. 141 00:09:07,600 --> 00:09:11,079 Speaker 1: Niko di Matia over at Yahoo has an article titled 142 00:09:11,440 --> 00:09:16,760 Speaker 1: Tesla's cybertruck owner discovers unexplained wade mode buried in settings 143 00:09:17,200 --> 00:09:20,880 Speaker 1: so as the story goes, a fellow named Nick Kruz 144 00:09:20,960 --> 00:09:25,240 Speaker 1: Patan or Pataine shared some pictures of the cyber truck 145 00:09:25,360 --> 00:09:28,720 Speaker 1: infotainment screen that indicated some features that the company hasn't 146 00:09:28,720 --> 00:09:32,160 Speaker 1: actually talked about in its reveal of the cyber truck. 147 00:09:32,400 --> 00:09:36,760 Speaker 1: So among those features is the aforementioned wade mode, which 148 00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:41,760 Speaker 1: includes a description that reads raises ride height and pressurizes 149 00:09:41,840 --> 00:09:46,000 Speaker 1: battery when driving through water. Now that kind of makes sense. 150 00:09:46,040 --> 00:09:47,720 Speaker 1: I mean, if I'm sure at some point you have 151 00:09:47,840 --> 00:09:51,320 Speaker 1: encountered a really deep puddle across a road and you 152 00:09:51,440 --> 00:09:54,080 Speaker 1: had that moment of do I try to drive through 153 00:09:54,080 --> 00:09:56,520 Speaker 1: this or do I need to turn around? I'm actually 154 00:09:56,600 --> 00:09:59,560 Speaker 1: reminded of a trip up to Pennsylvania where my partner 155 00:09:59,559 --> 00:10:02,199 Speaker 1: and I debated on that very issue for about two 156 00:10:02,240 --> 00:10:05,840 Speaker 1: minutes before we decided to chance it. Luckily we made 157 00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:08,040 Speaker 1: it through, but it was never a guarantee because it 158 00:10:08,080 --> 00:10:11,280 Speaker 1: was a very deep puddle. So a setting that could 159 00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:14,199 Speaker 1: raise the ride height and protect the battery from water 160 00:10:14,640 --> 00:10:17,679 Speaker 1: makes sense It's a little odd that we found out 161 00:10:17,679 --> 00:10:20,959 Speaker 1: about this from a Twitter user sharing a picture of 162 00:10:21,200 --> 00:10:24,760 Speaker 1: this feature online. I should add that Elon Musk has 163 00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:26,920 Speaker 1: previously claimed that the cyber truck would be able to 164 00:10:26,960 --> 00:10:30,480 Speaker 1: do some pretty darn spectacular stuff like almost on the 165 00:10:30,559 --> 00:10:33,800 Speaker 1: level of Chitty Chitty Bang bang, like float on deeper 166 00:10:33,880 --> 00:10:38,600 Speaker 1: waters like lakes and rivers like an amphibious vehicle. So maybe, 167 00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:42,080 Speaker 1: you know, wade mode was just not deemed interesting enough 168 00:10:42,080 --> 00:10:44,559 Speaker 1: to talk about, like, oh, sure, it can raise its 169 00:10:44,559 --> 00:10:48,120 Speaker 1: height and glide over a deep puddle. This thing's gonna 170 00:10:48,520 --> 00:10:51,600 Speaker 1: sail the Seven Seas. We should probably also wait for 171 00:10:51,679 --> 00:10:55,280 Speaker 1: proof that the cyber truck can float on water before 172 00:10:55,320 --> 00:10:59,439 Speaker 1: folks actually try that. We've already have issues with features 173 00:10:59,440 --> 00:11:02,600 Speaker 1: called autopilot and full self driving in other Tesla vehicles that, 174 00:11:02,679 --> 00:11:05,760 Speaker 1: in my opinion at least fall far short of what 175 00:11:05,880 --> 00:11:09,520 Speaker 1: their names at least suggest those features can do. And 176 00:11:09,600 --> 00:11:12,560 Speaker 1: speaking of that, the Department of Motor Vehicles in the 177 00:11:12,559 --> 00:11:17,040 Speaker 1: state of California filed a lawsuit against Tesla last year 178 00:11:17,520 --> 00:11:21,000 Speaker 1: that actually focuses on how the company has advertised the 179 00:11:21,040 --> 00:11:24,800 Speaker 1: autopilot and full self driving features. So the DMV of 180 00:11:24,840 --> 00:11:31,160 Speaker 1: California has argued that Tesla misled consumers through the advertisement 181 00:11:31,240 --> 00:11:34,400 Speaker 1: of these features, misleading them into thinking that they could 182 00:11:34,400 --> 00:11:37,439 Speaker 1: do more than what the features are actually intended to do. 183 00:11:37,800 --> 00:11:41,320 Speaker 1: In other words, arguing that these are more autonomous vehicle 184 00:11:41,440 --> 00:11:48,160 Speaker 1: features as opposed to advanced driver assist features. That's the 185 00:11:48,200 --> 00:11:52,280 Speaker 1: core of this lawsuit. Well, now Tesla has shown a 186 00:11:52,320 --> 00:11:57,319 Speaker 1: couple of defenses to this lawsuit. First of all, Tesla 187 00:11:57,400 --> 00:11:59,920 Speaker 1: says the case should just be dismissed. It shouldn't even 188 00:11:59,960 --> 00:12:04,240 Speaker 1: go any further because the First Amendment protects Tesla, and 189 00:12:04,320 --> 00:12:09,400 Speaker 1: the lawsuit will quote restrict Tesla's truthful and non misleading 190 00:12:09,440 --> 00:12:13,280 Speaker 1: speech about its vehicles and their features end quote. But 191 00:12:13,679 --> 00:12:15,480 Speaker 1: I think the whole point of the case that the 192 00:12:15,600 --> 00:12:19,199 Speaker 1: DMV is making is that the speech about the vehicles 193 00:12:19,240 --> 00:12:22,679 Speaker 1: and their features is non truthful and it is misleading, 194 00:12:23,240 --> 00:12:24,920 Speaker 1: and I think that's an argument that would need to 195 00:12:24,920 --> 00:12:28,080 Speaker 1: play out in court. So what Tesla is saying is, no, 196 00:12:28,240 --> 00:12:30,160 Speaker 1: everything we said was true, and if we let this 197 00:12:30,240 --> 00:12:32,760 Speaker 1: lawsuit go forward, it restricts our free speech, So you 198 00:12:32,800 --> 00:12:35,320 Speaker 1: got to throw it out. But the court hasn't determined 199 00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:37,480 Speaker 1: that the speech is true yet. This is kind of 200 00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:41,080 Speaker 1: a crazy, proactive defense. In my opinion, I am not 201 00:12:41,160 --> 00:12:44,880 Speaker 1: a lawyer, so what do I know. But other legal 202 00:12:44,960 --> 00:12:49,840 Speaker 1: arguments that the Tesla team has made include them essentially saying, hey, 203 00:12:50,480 --> 00:12:53,439 Speaker 1: we've been using these terms autopilot and full self driving 204 00:12:53,480 --> 00:12:55,960 Speaker 1: for years and you never told us to cut it 205 00:12:56,000 --> 00:12:59,800 Speaker 1: out before, so you really can't start doing that now 206 00:13:00,200 --> 00:13:03,520 Speaker 1: or something. Again, I'm not a lawyer, so who am 207 00:13:03,520 --> 00:13:06,640 Speaker 1: I to judge on these matters, But in my opinion, 208 00:13:07,480 --> 00:13:10,200 Speaker 1: this all starts to sound a lot like when little 209 00:13:10,320 --> 00:13:13,719 Speaker 1: kids on a playground are arbitrarily making up rules to 210 00:13:13,840 --> 00:13:16,480 Speaker 1: a game that they're currently in the middle of, right, 211 00:13:17,120 --> 00:13:19,280 Speaker 1: Like like, no, you can't. You can't shoot me with 212 00:13:19,360 --> 00:13:21,520 Speaker 1: that gun because I have a special force field that 213 00:13:21,559 --> 00:13:23,319 Speaker 1: protects against that kind of gun. You have to have 214 00:13:23,360 --> 00:13:25,480 Speaker 1: a different kind of gun, and you don't have access 215 00:13:25,480 --> 00:13:27,720 Speaker 1: to that yet. Like that kind of stuff where you 216 00:13:27,840 --> 00:13:30,840 Speaker 1: just change the rules as you go, Calvin ball, as 217 00:13:30,840 --> 00:13:34,120 Speaker 1: you might call it. So I remain skeptical that Tesla's 218 00:13:34,160 --> 00:13:36,880 Speaker 1: move to have the case dismissed will be a success, 219 00:13:37,360 --> 00:13:39,520 Speaker 1: but I guess it all depends upon the judge, So 220 00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:42,880 Speaker 1: we'll have to wait and see. All right, I've got 221 00:13:42,920 --> 00:13:46,240 Speaker 1: a ton of other news items to talk about today. 222 00:13:46,600 --> 00:13:49,760 Speaker 1: Before we jump into any more of that, let's take 223 00:13:49,840 --> 00:14:02,760 Speaker 1: a quick break to thank our sponsors. We're back, Okay. 224 00:14:02,840 --> 00:14:08,000 Speaker 1: So Michael Wayland of CNBC has an article titled Ford 225 00:14:08,160 --> 00:14:11,640 Speaker 1: cuts planned twenty twenty four production of electric f one 226 00:14:11,640 --> 00:14:15,760 Speaker 1: point fifty lightning in half. So this is another blow 227 00:14:16,280 --> 00:14:20,640 Speaker 1: to fans of electric vehicles. So for a while, you know, 228 00:14:20,880 --> 00:14:22,560 Speaker 1: i'd say for the last like year and a half 229 00:14:22,600 --> 00:14:25,760 Speaker 1: two years, the story around electric vehicles was really all 230 00:14:25,800 --> 00:14:31,240 Speaker 1: about how automakers are attempting to scale up manufacturing to 231 00:14:31,280 --> 00:14:36,280 Speaker 1: meet an unprecedented demand, and also about how the production 232 00:14:36,360 --> 00:14:40,840 Speaker 1: of electric vehicles is simpler and cheaper than producing internal 233 00:14:40,880 --> 00:14:44,040 Speaker 1: combustion engine vehicles, at least once you actually have the 234 00:14:44,080 --> 00:14:46,760 Speaker 1: manufacturing process built out. And the reason for that is 235 00:14:46,800 --> 00:14:53,080 Speaker 1: that electric vehicles are mechanically far simpler machines than internal 236 00:14:53,120 --> 00:14:57,800 Speaker 1: combustion engine vehicles. So there are various incentives to really 237 00:14:57,840 --> 00:15:02,400 Speaker 1: get into ev production right, less expensive to do, you 238 00:15:02,400 --> 00:15:06,000 Speaker 1: can make it more efficiently and increase demand. So what 239 00:15:06,120 --> 00:15:10,320 Speaker 1: is going on? Why would Ford cut its production in 240 00:15:10,560 --> 00:15:15,400 Speaker 1: half for twenty twenty four. Well, according to Ford, the 241 00:15:15,560 --> 00:15:19,600 Speaker 1: problem is actually that demand piece of the picture, that 242 00:15:19,640 --> 00:15:23,880 Speaker 1: it's just not as high as what the auto industry anticipated, 243 00:15:24,200 --> 00:15:27,880 Speaker 1: and so Ford plans to match production with demand, when 244 00:15:27,960 --> 00:15:31,320 Speaker 1: that means scaling back a massive investment in the EV production. 245 00:15:31,400 --> 00:15:36,360 Speaker 1: It doesn't make sense to roll out thousands of trucks 246 00:15:36,840 --> 00:15:39,400 Speaker 1: if the demand is only for half that amount. So 247 00:15:39,560 --> 00:15:42,760 Speaker 1: why is there a slower rise in demand than what 248 00:15:42,920 --> 00:15:46,520 Speaker 1: was previously guessed at. Well, it very well may have 249 00:15:46,640 --> 00:15:49,800 Speaker 1: nothing to do with actual interest in electric vehicles in 250 00:15:49,840 --> 00:15:54,720 Speaker 1: general that appears to still be pretty high. It seems 251 00:15:54,760 --> 00:15:57,640 Speaker 1: to have more to do with economics, which makes sense 252 00:15:57,720 --> 00:16:01,880 Speaker 1: right because customers are still having to deal with high 253 00:16:01,880 --> 00:16:06,040 Speaker 1: interest rates, which will affect loans as well as inflation, 254 00:16:06,200 --> 00:16:11,680 Speaker 1: which affects prices. So with high prices and high interest rates, 255 00:16:12,160 --> 00:16:15,440 Speaker 1: there's less incentive to go and invest in a more 256 00:16:15,480 --> 00:16:18,200 Speaker 1: expensive vehicle that you're going to be paying for for 257 00:16:18,280 --> 00:16:21,320 Speaker 1: longer and with those interest rates, paying a lot more 258 00:16:21,440 --> 00:16:25,480 Speaker 1: over time. And that may in fact be the element 259 00:16:25,560 --> 00:16:30,560 Speaker 1: that is holding back electric vehicle production. It's not anything 260 00:16:30,640 --> 00:16:34,920 Speaker 1: other than that, and perhaps if that economic situation is 261 00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:41,360 Speaker 1: to improve, we would see a switch like much more 262 00:16:41,520 --> 00:16:45,280 Speaker 1: interest and thus much more production. So I would say 263 00:16:45,320 --> 00:16:50,200 Speaker 1: that this is dependent heavily on how the economy progresses. 264 00:16:50,320 --> 00:16:53,640 Speaker 1: Over the next twelve months or so, Google and its 265 00:16:53,680 --> 00:16:58,160 Speaker 1: parent company Alphabet received a legal loss relating to monopolistic 266 00:16:58,360 --> 00:17:02,840 Speaker 1: tendencies directly to jail, do not passco did not collect 267 00:17:02,840 --> 00:17:05,840 Speaker 1: two hundred dollars. So you may already be aware that 268 00:17:06,560 --> 00:17:10,120 Speaker 1: Google slash Alphabet faces scrutiny in the United States and 269 00:17:10,200 --> 00:17:14,320 Speaker 1: beyond for alleged any competitive practices. The use of the 270 00:17:14,320 --> 00:17:18,520 Speaker 1: word alleged any competitive practices is being really generous, because 271 00:17:19,040 --> 00:17:21,840 Speaker 1: Google has certainly done some stuff that, at least in 272 00:17:21,880 --> 00:17:26,359 Speaker 1: my opinion, is pretty darn anti competitive, and in fact, 273 00:17:26,400 --> 00:17:29,920 Speaker 1: Google faces an existential threat, if you will, in the 274 00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:34,360 Speaker 1: United States. There's the possibility that US regulatory agencies might 275 00:17:34,480 --> 00:17:39,560 Speaker 1: ultimately demand that Alphabets split up into different companies in 276 00:17:39,680 --> 00:17:43,320 Speaker 1: order to reduce the anti competitive nature of the business. 277 00:17:43,600 --> 00:17:46,960 Speaker 1: While I also read an article by Sean Hollister at 278 00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:51,280 Speaker 1: The Verge, the articles titled epic Win jury decides Google 279 00:17:51,320 --> 00:17:55,119 Speaker 1: has illegal monopoly in app store fight, I am embarrassed 280 00:17:55,119 --> 00:17:58,320 Speaker 1: to admit that I didn't immediately get the reference in 281 00:17:58,520 --> 00:18:01,840 Speaker 1: epic Win, which I'm sure all of you already did. 282 00:18:02,200 --> 00:18:04,959 Speaker 1: Because this lawsuit relates to the video game developer and 283 00:18:05,119 --> 00:18:08,960 Speaker 1: publisher Epic Games. That's the company behind the insanely popular 284 00:18:09,040 --> 00:18:14,199 Speaker 1: title Fortnite. Epic has already waged legal battles against Apple 285 00:18:14,440 --> 00:18:18,159 Speaker 1: on this same sort of issue. Apple arguably got the 286 00:18:18,240 --> 00:18:21,439 Speaker 1: upper hand in those cases. It was not a clean sweep, 287 00:18:21,480 --> 00:18:25,359 Speaker 1: but Apple won more than at lost. But this time 288 00:18:25,600 --> 00:18:29,800 Speaker 1: with the Google case, a jury was firmly on Epic's 289 00:18:30,040 --> 00:18:34,560 Speaker 1: side and reportedly delivered a unanimous decision saying that every 290 00:18:34,680 --> 00:18:40,040 Speaker 1: claim Epic made against Google was had merit that it 291 00:18:40,119 --> 00:18:44,560 Speaker 1: was true, namely that Google's Android platform has a monopolistic 292 00:18:44,600 --> 00:18:47,160 Speaker 1: hold on payment systems, that if you want to run 293 00:18:47,200 --> 00:18:50,360 Speaker 1: an Android you have to go through Google's payment systems 294 00:18:50,359 --> 00:18:53,639 Speaker 1: to do it. They also said that Google essentially has 295 00:18:53,680 --> 00:18:57,640 Speaker 1: an iron grip on Android app distribution, which is interesting 296 00:18:57,680 --> 00:19:02,120 Speaker 1: to me because Android does support loading and has from 297 00:19:02,119 --> 00:19:05,080 Speaker 1: the earliest days of the operating system, which means you 298 00:19:05,080 --> 00:19:07,399 Speaker 1: can actually set your Android device to allow you to 299 00:19:07,480 --> 00:19:11,439 Speaker 1: install apps from places other than the Google Play Store, 300 00:19:11,720 --> 00:19:14,600 Speaker 1: but it isn't particularly obvious that you can do this. 301 00:19:14,760 --> 00:19:18,040 Speaker 1: It does require the user to go through a bit 302 00:19:18,080 --> 00:19:21,119 Speaker 1: of a menu maze to get it to work, and 303 00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:24,119 Speaker 1: also it does mean the user has to accept a 304 00:19:24,160 --> 00:19:27,600 Speaker 1: significant level of risk that the stuff they're downloading could 305 00:19:27,600 --> 00:19:30,560 Speaker 1: be malicious in nature. It's not like everything on Google 306 00:19:30,640 --> 00:19:34,560 Speaker 1: Playstore is not malicious. There's some malicious stuff that has 307 00:19:34,640 --> 00:19:37,159 Speaker 1: been found on there in the past, but once you 308 00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:40,160 Speaker 1: get out of that store, all bets are off. Anyway, 309 00:19:40,440 --> 00:19:44,399 Speaker 1: Google representative Wilson White released a statement indicating that the 310 00:19:44,440 --> 00:19:48,920 Speaker 1: company will appeal the jury's decision, arguing that Google does 311 00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:52,880 Speaker 1: compete in the app space, albeit mainly with Apple, which 312 00:19:52,920 --> 00:19:56,360 Speaker 1: is its own kettle of anti competitive fish. As Hollister 313 00:19:56,440 --> 00:19:59,719 Speaker 1: points out in the Verge article, this case and the 314 00:19:59,720 --> 00:20:02,439 Speaker 1: one which a judge ruled more in favor of Apple 315 00:20:02,480 --> 00:20:07,120 Speaker 1: over Epic have several differentiating factors between them. So this 316 00:20:07,160 --> 00:20:10,240 Speaker 1: isn't just like one court finds in favor of app 317 00:20:10,600 --> 00:20:13,480 Speaker 1: Apple and one court finds in favor of Epic. It's 318 00:20:14,040 --> 00:20:17,840 Speaker 1: very different situations. In the Apple versus Epic case, that 319 00:20:17,960 --> 00:20:20,800 Speaker 1: was decided by a judge, not a jury. In the 320 00:20:20,840 --> 00:20:23,080 Speaker 1: Google versus Epic, it was a jury trial, not a 321 00:20:23,320 --> 00:20:27,640 Speaker 1: judge decision. So yeah, there were a lot of differentiating factors. 322 00:20:27,640 --> 00:20:32,280 Speaker 1: Still kind of confusing though. Meanwhile, US Senator Elizabeth Warren 323 00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:36,400 Speaker 1: is scolding Apple for shutting down the app called Beeper. 324 00:20:37,359 --> 00:20:39,960 Speaker 1: That's the app that would give Android users the ability 325 00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:43,960 Speaker 1: to interact with iPhone users by sending messages that would 326 00:20:43,960 --> 00:20:47,880 Speaker 1: then convert over into I message texts. So in other words, 327 00:20:48,160 --> 00:20:50,439 Speaker 1: they would show up an I message as if the 328 00:20:50,480 --> 00:20:53,480 Speaker 1: message had been sent by an iPhone owner, not an 329 00:20:53,520 --> 00:20:57,680 Speaker 1: Android owner, and that way Android users could avoid the 330 00:20:57,760 --> 00:21:01,959 Speaker 1: terrible social stigma of daring to use an Android device 331 00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:05,760 Speaker 1: instead of an iPhone, and it would bypass Apple's policy 332 00:21:05,840 --> 00:21:09,679 Speaker 1: of differentiating these by the color of the text bubble 333 00:21:09,760 --> 00:21:12,800 Speaker 1: within I message. And as far as I can tell, 334 00:21:13,320 --> 00:21:16,000 Speaker 1: this is really only an issue here in America where 335 00:21:16,040 --> 00:21:19,040 Speaker 1: folks get all tribal about the kinds of devices they 336 00:21:19,119 --> 00:21:24,159 Speaker 1: use and start to form opinions about the character of 337 00:21:24,200 --> 00:21:27,800 Speaker 1: a person if their text is appearing in a different 338 00:21:27,840 --> 00:21:31,760 Speaker 1: color of bubble. Anyway, Apple said it had blocked Beeper 339 00:21:32,240 --> 00:21:35,480 Speaker 1: due to the company reverse engineering the I message protocol 340 00:21:35,760 --> 00:21:39,720 Speaker 1: and then using fake credentials to generate these I message 341 00:21:40,720 --> 00:21:44,600 Speaker 1: from Android texts, so they're saying, you know, they violated 342 00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:48,520 Speaker 1: our terms of service. There's also an additional concern that 343 00:21:48,520 --> 00:21:53,520 Speaker 1: Beeper's methodology failed to ensure into end encryption, so there 344 00:21:53,560 --> 00:21:57,600 Speaker 1: were claims that what Beeper was doing was actually storing 345 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:01,080 Speaker 1: messages in clear text, which means that if someone were 346 00:22:01,119 --> 00:22:06,840 Speaker 1: to access that, they could read those messages without any problem. Right, 347 00:22:06,880 --> 00:22:10,280 Speaker 1: there would be no encryption protecting the content of those messages, 348 00:22:10,680 --> 00:22:13,359 Speaker 1: and that would be an enormous security flaw and I 349 00:22:13,400 --> 00:22:17,480 Speaker 1: think a valid reason to shut down the app. But 350 00:22:17,680 --> 00:22:21,320 Speaker 1: for the record, Beeper actually denies this. However, It's also 351 00:22:21,400 --> 00:22:24,120 Speaker 1: true that Beeper did not submit to a third party 352 00:22:24,160 --> 00:22:29,800 Speaker 1: review to make sure that its systems were secure before 353 00:22:29,800 --> 00:22:33,560 Speaker 1: it launched, So it's a complicated issue anyway. If you 354 00:22:33,560 --> 00:22:36,679 Speaker 1: would like to learn more, I recommend Sarah Perez's article 355 00:22:36,680 --> 00:22:41,000 Speaker 1: in tech Crunch titled Senator Warren calls out Apple for 356 00:22:41,040 --> 00:22:46,720 Speaker 1: shutting down Beeper's eye Message to Android solution. CNBC's Jonathan 357 00:22:46,880 --> 00:22:50,719 Speaker 1: Vennian has an article titled more than fifteen percent of 358 00:22:50,760 --> 00:22:55,199 Speaker 1: teens say they're on YouTube or TikTok almost constantly. So 359 00:22:55,960 --> 00:22:58,000 Speaker 1: we need to dig down into this a bit because 360 00:22:58,040 --> 00:23:00,760 Speaker 1: I feel like there are a lot of statements being 361 00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:07,960 Speaker 1: made that potentially lack the support needed to make any 362 00:23:08,040 --> 00:23:11,240 Speaker 1: firm assertions. So let's let's get to it. This is 363 00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:14,800 Speaker 1: according to the Pew Research Center. So Pew Research does 364 00:23:14,880 --> 00:23:17,160 Speaker 1: surveys all the time. They do lots of different research. 365 00:23:17,400 --> 00:23:21,720 Speaker 1: I do not wish to cast dispersions on Pew Research Center, 366 00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:25,960 Speaker 1: but they issued a survey measuring teenage trends online and 367 00:23:26,040 --> 00:23:29,359 Speaker 1: the survey found that ninety three percent of the respondents 368 00:23:29,800 --> 00:23:34,399 Speaker 1: said they use YouTube regularly, so that made YouTube the 369 00:23:34,600 --> 00:23:40,000 Speaker 1: most popular platform among those surveyed. Around sixteen percent of 370 00:23:40,320 --> 00:23:44,639 Speaker 1: that ninety three percent said they're on YouTube almost constantly, 371 00:23:45,040 --> 00:23:47,399 Speaker 1: and that leads to the headline for the article that 372 00:23:47,480 --> 00:23:51,440 Speaker 1: I'm talking about here. The other apps ranked by popularity 373 00:23:51,520 --> 00:23:58,639 Speaker 1: from most popular to least included TikTok, then Snapchat, then Instagram, Facebook, 374 00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:02,359 Speaker 1: and Twitter. Slash x had a much lower response rate. 375 00:24:02,640 --> 00:24:05,120 Speaker 1: That seems to underscore the issues we learned about back 376 00:24:05,160 --> 00:24:08,879 Speaker 1: in twenty twenty one during the whole Facebook slash Meta 377 00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:12,480 Speaker 1: whistleblower leaks, because back then we learned that executives in 378 00:24:12,560 --> 00:24:16,359 Speaker 1: Facebook were really concerned about how younger generations were not 379 00:24:16,720 --> 00:24:20,920 Speaker 1: adopting the Facebook platform the way previous generations had, which 380 00:24:21,240 --> 00:24:25,359 Speaker 1: threatens the long term status of Facebook and potentially of 381 00:24:25,400 --> 00:24:29,360 Speaker 1: the entire company. I'm not sure anything in this survey 382 00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:32,440 Speaker 1: is a huge surprise. I should also add that at 383 00:24:32,440 --> 00:24:35,000 Speaker 1: the bottom of the article, Vanian reveals that the Pew 384 00:24:35,080 --> 00:24:41,000 Speaker 1: Research Center survey covered only or nearly not even only 385 00:24:41,160 --> 00:24:46,440 Speaker 1: nearly fifteen hundred thirteen to seventeen year olds. So oney, 386 00:24:46,480 --> 00:24:49,760 Speaker 1: five hundred people is actually a pretty small sample size. 387 00:24:50,160 --> 00:24:53,960 Speaker 1: I would caution anyone from making overly broad conclusions based 388 00:24:53,960 --> 00:24:56,199 Speaker 1: on this data. It may very well be that this 389 00:24:56,320 --> 00:25:00,520 Speaker 1: is representative of the overall population of young users, but 390 00:25:00,920 --> 00:25:04,000 Speaker 1: with just fifteen hundred respondents, I don't know that you 391 00:25:04,040 --> 00:25:08,919 Speaker 1: could say there is a nearly fifteen percent population of 392 00:25:08,960 --> 00:25:11,640 Speaker 1: teens out there who are constantly on YouTube. I think 393 00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:15,240 Speaker 1: that that would be stretching the findings of this survey 394 00:25:15,480 --> 00:25:19,920 Speaker 1: beyond what they can support, in my opinion. Business Insider 395 00:25:19,960 --> 00:25:23,240 Speaker 1: has a piece titled a firm providing AI drive through 396 00:25:23,280 --> 00:25:26,520 Speaker 1: tech to fast food chains actually relies on human workers 397 00:25:26,680 --> 00:25:30,359 Speaker 1: to take orders seventy percent of the time. This was 398 00:25:30,359 --> 00:25:34,560 Speaker 1: written by Soda by Mia. The piece is about a 399 00:25:34,600 --> 00:25:39,560 Speaker 1: company called Presto Automations, which previously claimed that ninety five 400 00:25:39,600 --> 00:25:43,119 Speaker 1: percent of orders received by the company's chat bot product 401 00:25:43,720 --> 00:25:47,760 Speaker 1: needed no human intervention, so that if you were to 402 00:25:47,800 --> 00:25:52,920 Speaker 1: interact with a company that used Presto Automations product, ninety 403 00:25:52,920 --> 00:25:55,440 Speaker 1: five percent of the time, it would be a chatbot 404 00:25:55,800 --> 00:25:57,800 Speaker 1: and no one else would ever have to step in, 405 00:25:57,880 --> 00:26:00,320 Speaker 1: and your order would be complete or at least go 406 00:26:00,400 --> 00:26:05,320 Speaker 1: to the kitchen of whatever fast food joint you're interacting with. 407 00:26:05,920 --> 00:26:07,960 Speaker 1: But now it appears that the company has changed its 408 00:26:07,960 --> 00:26:11,000 Speaker 1: tune and admitted that seventy percent of all orders coming 409 00:26:11,040 --> 00:26:17,560 Speaker 1: in through its systems actually receive human oversight and assistance 410 00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:21,719 Speaker 1: in order to work, and that the people who are 411 00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:25,440 Speaker 1: providing this are employees who are working off site. This 412 00:26:25,480 --> 00:26:28,240 Speaker 1: is according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange 413 00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:31,920 Speaker 1: Commission or SEC here in the United States. That might 414 00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:36,240 Speaker 1: explain the massive discrepancy in these claims, because it's one 415 00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:39,120 Speaker 1: thing to say your product works all on its own 416 00:26:39,200 --> 00:26:42,680 Speaker 1: nearly all the time in a general statement. It's another 417 00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:45,320 Speaker 1: thing entirely to make that kind of claim to an 418 00:26:45,359 --> 00:26:49,960 Speaker 1: official regulatory agency. The off site agents are said to 419 00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:52,920 Speaker 1: reside in places like the Philippines, so really you could 420 00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:56,919 Speaker 1: argue that what Presto Automation is actually doing is sending 421 00:26:57,040 --> 00:26:59,920 Speaker 1: minimum wage jobs in the United States in the fast 422 00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:04,800 Speaker 1: food industry offshore to other countries. Of course, the goal 423 00:27:05,480 --> 00:27:09,840 Speaker 1: ultimately with automation is to weed out human beings entirely, 424 00:27:10,240 --> 00:27:13,480 Speaker 1: meaning no one, no matter where they live, would have 425 00:27:13,920 --> 00:27:16,440 Speaker 1: this kind of job. I'm not sure what all those 426 00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:18,479 Speaker 1: high school students here in the United States are going 427 00:27:18,520 --> 00:27:23,240 Speaker 1: to do to secure part time work once all that happens. Currently, 428 00:27:23,280 --> 00:27:27,080 Speaker 1: some of the drive through companies that are using this 429 00:27:27,240 --> 00:27:33,440 Speaker 1: kind of technology include McDonald's, Popeye's, Taco Bell, and Wingstop. Eventually, 430 00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:34,800 Speaker 1: we're going to get to a point where none of 431 00:27:34,880 --> 00:27:38,200 Speaker 1: us have jobs anymore, and the AI powered order takers 432 00:27:38,240 --> 00:27:40,600 Speaker 1: won't have anyone to take orders from because no one 433 00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:43,480 Speaker 1: will be able to afford a bean burrito from Taco Bell. 434 00:27:44,320 --> 00:27:48,320 Speaker 1: Oh the joys of automation. This is what leads into 435 00:27:48,320 --> 00:27:51,359 Speaker 1: discussions for the need for something like a universal basic income. 436 00:27:51,400 --> 00:27:56,720 Speaker 1: But that's the story for another time. Okay, I've got 437 00:27:56,760 --> 00:28:00,520 Speaker 1: a few more stories to cover before we conclude today's episode. 438 00:28:00,560 --> 00:28:13,399 Speaker 1: Before we get to that, let's take another quick break. Okay, 439 00:28:13,560 --> 00:28:16,000 Speaker 1: we've got a few more tech stories to cover before 440 00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:19,640 Speaker 1: I can. Let y'all go. First up, Anton Shy love 441 00:28:19,840 --> 00:28:24,159 Speaker 1: of Tom's hardware as an article titled wi Fi seven 442 00:28:24,240 --> 00:28:27,280 Speaker 1: to get the final seal of approval early next year. 443 00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:31,240 Speaker 1: New standard is up to four point eight times faster 444 00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:35,160 Speaker 1: than Wi Fi six. Now, I feel you don't hear 445 00:28:35,359 --> 00:28:38,880 Speaker 1: as much about Wi Fi standards as you do, say 446 00:28:39,360 --> 00:28:42,880 Speaker 1: wireless phone standards the right Like you'll hear about things 447 00:28:42,880 --> 00:28:46,280 Speaker 1: like LTE and five G and maybe even six G, 448 00:28:46,760 --> 00:28:50,600 Speaker 1: but you don't hear so much about Wi Fi standards now. Obviously, 449 00:28:50,760 --> 00:28:55,280 Speaker 1: engineers are constantly improving the performance and capability of wireless 450 00:28:55,320 --> 00:28:59,680 Speaker 1: transmission technologies. Wi Fi is no exception to that. And 451 00:28:59,720 --> 00:29:02,240 Speaker 1: it's kind of funny to talk about Wi Fi seven 452 00:29:02,520 --> 00:29:06,120 Speaker 1: because at the moment, the most widely used Wi Fi 453 00:29:06,160 --> 00:29:10,480 Speaker 1: standard is eight two point eleven AC, which is also 454 00:29:10,560 --> 00:29:16,000 Speaker 1: known as Wi Fi five. That standard actually was finalized 455 00:29:16,040 --> 00:29:20,960 Speaker 1: back in twenty fourteen wi Fi six aka eight oh 456 00:29:21,080 --> 00:29:26,440 Speaker 1: two point eleven AX, which also covers Wi Fi six E. 457 00:29:27,760 --> 00:29:30,280 Speaker 1: These standards are just a couple of years old and 458 00:29:30,320 --> 00:29:33,840 Speaker 1: they haven't seen widespread deployment so far. That's not to 459 00:29:33,920 --> 00:29:36,040 Speaker 1: say that there aren't devices out there in the wild 460 00:29:36,120 --> 00:29:39,000 Speaker 1: right now that are Wi Fi six enabled. There are, 461 00:29:39,560 --> 00:29:43,640 Speaker 1: they just are outnumbered by older technologies like Wi Fi five. 462 00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:48,520 Speaker 1: But now we're talking about Wi Fi seven. And also 463 00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:51,240 Speaker 1: just so you know, Wi Fi eight is also in development, 464 00:29:51,600 --> 00:29:54,920 Speaker 1: so it's coming to in a couple of years. If 465 00:29:54,960 --> 00:29:57,600 Speaker 1: you go shopping right now, to make things even more confusing, 466 00:29:57,640 --> 00:30:01,280 Speaker 1: you will already find devices on the mark right now 467 00:30:01,800 --> 00:30:06,800 Speaker 1: tagged as Wi Fi seven capable. So what gives. Well, 468 00:30:07,080 --> 00:30:10,360 Speaker 1: companies have actually been making Wi Fi enabled products using 469 00:30:10,440 --> 00:30:14,880 Speaker 1: the draft specifications for Wi Fi seven. Just you know, 470 00:30:14,960 --> 00:30:19,280 Speaker 1: there are specifications, they just haven't been formally adopted and finalized. 471 00:30:19,680 --> 00:30:22,200 Speaker 1: So these are not so far like, they're not scams. 472 00:30:22,640 --> 00:30:25,240 Speaker 1: It's not like these are products that are making false claims. 473 00:30:25,280 --> 00:30:28,880 Speaker 1: They are Wi Fi seven enabled, and with a firmware update, 474 00:30:28,880 --> 00:30:32,960 Speaker 1: they should conform to the upcoming official standard. So this 475 00:30:32,960 --> 00:30:36,720 Speaker 1: stuff just gets messy now. Mostly, the folks who will 476 00:30:36,760 --> 00:30:40,560 Speaker 1: be largely concerned about Wi Fi seven will typically be 477 00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:44,840 Speaker 1: the administrators who are trying to deploy wireless networks in 478 00:30:44,960 --> 00:30:50,280 Speaker 1: extremely dense populated environments. Like think of like a big 479 00:30:50,360 --> 00:30:53,600 Speaker 1: company with lots and lots and lots of employees, and 480 00:30:53,720 --> 00:30:56,600 Speaker 1: considering now that tons of CEOs are really gung ho 481 00:30:56,720 --> 00:31:00,360 Speaker 1: on making employees come back to the office, I argue 482 00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:03,560 Speaker 1: that this is a necessary thing. So does this mean 483 00:31:03,600 --> 00:31:06,200 Speaker 1: everyone out there will need to go out and get 484 00:31:06,240 --> 00:31:09,800 Speaker 1: a Wi Fi seven enabled router or modem or whatever. 485 00:31:10,440 --> 00:31:15,760 Speaker 1: Not necessarily. I mean, will it technically work faster than 486 00:31:15,840 --> 00:31:19,280 Speaker 1: older technologies, yes, so, but you also have to have 487 00:31:20,160 --> 00:31:22,959 Speaker 1: all your devices capable of working on that standard for 488 00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:25,040 Speaker 1: you to take advantage of that. So it's not as 489 00:31:25,080 --> 00:31:29,240 Speaker 1: simple as swapping out one element in your network. You 490 00:31:29,280 --> 00:31:31,360 Speaker 1: actually have to do a lot of work to make 491 00:31:31,400 --> 00:31:36,280 Speaker 1: it actually, you know, valuable, but still cool that the 492 00:31:36,320 --> 00:31:40,160 Speaker 1: standard will be coming out in the not too distant future. 493 00:31:41,720 --> 00:31:44,000 Speaker 1: And now for a news item that has absolutely no 494 00:31:44,120 --> 00:31:47,560 Speaker 1: relevance to me whatsoever, but still cool, and it could 495 00:31:47,920 --> 00:31:50,800 Speaker 1: ultimately be important for a lot of people if it 496 00:31:50,840 --> 00:31:56,120 Speaker 1: ever goes beyond the concept phase. Laws Blaine, who apart 497 00:31:56,120 --> 00:31:58,960 Speaker 1: from having a kick ass name, wrote an article for 498 00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:03,320 Speaker 1: a new Atlist titled Hyundai unveils car tires with built 499 00:32:03,400 --> 00:32:08,280 Speaker 1: in push button snow chains, which sounds absolutely rad to me. 500 00:32:08,920 --> 00:32:11,240 Speaker 1: In fact, it actually reminds me of a toy from 501 00:32:11,280 --> 00:32:14,560 Speaker 1: the nineteen eighties. You gotta remember, I'm a child of 502 00:32:14,600 --> 00:32:17,200 Speaker 1: the seventies and early eighties. There was this toy called 503 00:32:17,200 --> 00:32:21,280 Speaker 1: the Animal Monster truck, and this toy truck had tires 504 00:32:21,320 --> 00:32:26,040 Speaker 1: that had retractable claws, like almost like tiger claws inside 505 00:32:26,080 --> 00:32:30,200 Speaker 1: the tires. They could extend out to grip on the 506 00:32:30,400 --> 00:32:33,320 Speaker 1: rough landscape. And I know that rocks right, because the 507 00:32:33,360 --> 00:32:37,240 Speaker 1: eighties were a golden age for toys. Now, the eighties 508 00:32:37,240 --> 00:32:41,400 Speaker 1: were simultaneously awful for a lot of other stuff, not music. 509 00:32:41,440 --> 00:32:45,280 Speaker 1: As it turns out, new wave was awesome, but with 510 00:32:45,360 --> 00:32:47,320 Speaker 1: toys and new wave music it was at the top. 511 00:32:47,400 --> 00:32:51,640 Speaker 1: In other areas it was not great. But anyway, this 512 00:32:51,760 --> 00:32:55,840 Speaker 1: Hyundai invention is not a toy. It's a real system 513 00:32:56,200 --> 00:32:59,560 Speaker 1: that could have retractable snow chains, and this could save 514 00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:03,640 Speaker 1: folks a lot of frustration and effort as the season 515 00:33:03,760 --> 00:33:07,360 Speaker 1: changes and heavy snowfalls follow. Now, I don't have to 516 00:33:07,360 --> 00:33:11,320 Speaker 1: worry about that. I live in Atlanta. We might get 517 00:33:11,360 --> 00:33:14,480 Speaker 1: as much as an inch or maybe two inches of 518 00:33:14,520 --> 00:33:17,239 Speaker 1: snow in a very heavy year. And that's not like 519 00:33:17,520 --> 00:33:20,040 Speaker 1: on a single snowfall. I mean that's across all winter. 520 00:33:20,160 --> 00:33:24,840 Speaker 1: You might have accumulatively two inches of snow. Most of 521 00:33:24,840 --> 00:33:26,680 Speaker 1: the time we get a little bit of snow and 522 00:33:26,720 --> 00:33:29,120 Speaker 1: a lot of ice, which is terrible. But for other 523 00:33:29,160 --> 00:33:32,560 Speaker 1: folks this innovation could be really useful. Now. According to 524 00:33:32,560 --> 00:33:37,120 Speaker 1: Blaine's article, the tires are quote partially made using compressed 525 00:33:37,360 --> 00:33:42,120 Speaker 1: shape memory alloys end quote that also sounds cool as hell. 526 00:33:42,840 --> 00:33:45,240 Speaker 1: You push a button, it sends an electric current to 527 00:33:45,280 --> 00:33:48,680 Speaker 1: the tires, and in response to this electric current, they 528 00:33:48,800 --> 00:33:51,440 Speaker 1: change shape. So I may have to do a full 529 00:33:51,480 --> 00:33:55,240 Speaker 1: episode about memory alloys and talk about the technology behind 530 00:33:55,280 --> 00:33:58,680 Speaker 1: them and how this works. It is a fascinating area 531 00:33:58,800 --> 00:34:03,400 Speaker 1: of research and development, and unfortunately so are these tires 532 00:34:04,040 --> 00:34:07,240 Speaker 1: because these are not made for production just yet. It's 533 00:34:07,280 --> 00:34:10,360 Speaker 1: actually a really involved process because you can't just have 534 00:34:10,400 --> 00:34:12,799 Speaker 1: a tire that does this. It has to work with 535 00:34:13,440 --> 00:34:17,520 Speaker 1: a vehicle that has been outfitted to work with these 536 00:34:17,600 --> 00:34:19,239 Speaker 1: kinds of tires, right You have to have a way 537 00:34:19,239 --> 00:34:21,720 Speaker 1: of sending that electric signal for one thing to the tire, 538 00:34:22,239 --> 00:34:26,439 Speaker 1: so the whole wheel mechanism has to be designed for this. 539 00:34:26,960 --> 00:34:29,960 Speaker 1: So it's really just a concept right now. But I 540 00:34:29,960 --> 00:34:32,640 Speaker 1: think it's a really cool concept, and I hope Yung 541 00:34:32,719 --> 00:34:35,160 Speaker 1: Day will be able to make these kinds of tires 542 00:34:35,200 --> 00:34:38,840 Speaker 1: practical and affordable, because I really do think this is 543 00:34:38,920 --> 00:34:42,480 Speaker 1: one of those vehicle options that for a subset of 544 00:34:42,520 --> 00:34:46,799 Speaker 1: people would be incredibly helpful and I would love to 545 00:34:46,800 --> 00:34:49,040 Speaker 1: see it. Plus, you know, it's kind of like driving 546 00:34:49,040 --> 00:34:52,800 Speaker 1: a transformer, a very limited transformer, but still pretty cool. 547 00:34:53,320 --> 00:34:56,200 Speaker 1: And now for some article recommendations. I've actually got a 548 00:34:56,239 --> 00:34:58,920 Speaker 1: bunch of these today. There were so many that I 549 00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:02,880 Speaker 1: came across and I felt like y'all need to know 550 00:35:02,920 --> 00:35:05,600 Speaker 1: about them because they might really appeal to you and 551 00:35:05,640 --> 00:35:09,799 Speaker 1: be really informative. So first up, Eric W. Dolan wrote 552 00:35:09,840 --> 00:35:15,120 Speaker 1: a piece for sipost psy Post. The piece is titled 553 00:35:15,480 --> 00:35:19,600 Speaker 1: politically engaged redditors tend to be more toxic even in 554 00:35:19,719 --> 00:35:23,680 Speaker 1: non political subreddits. So it's a good article. It actually 555 00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:27,920 Speaker 1: details the apparent correlation, which I'll remind you is different 556 00:35:27,960 --> 00:35:32,919 Speaker 1: from causation, but the correlation between being politically informed and 557 00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:39,240 Speaker 1: being toxic in online forums anddotally, I would say somewhat 558 00:35:39,239 --> 00:35:43,120 Speaker 1: cynically that becoming more politically informed does tend to lead 559 00:35:43,160 --> 00:35:47,440 Speaker 1: to one becoming more of a pill to be around. Now, 560 00:35:47,480 --> 00:35:50,960 Speaker 1: that's using my own personal experience, because I've I've just 561 00:35:51,080 --> 00:35:54,920 Speaker 1: noticed that when I am actively trying to stay informed politically, 562 00:35:55,320 --> 00:35:58,560 Speaker 1: I also get a lot more prickly in general, like 563 00:35:58,640 --> 00:36:02,200 Speaker 1: no matter what the contact is. But that's anecdotally, right, 564 00:36:02,280 --> 00:36:04,960 Speaker 1: That doesn't that's not really evidence. That's just like, oh, 565 00:36:05,160 --> 00:36:10,399 Speaker 1: my own personal experience seems to reinforce this hypothesis. These 566 00:36:10,480 --> 00:36:12,879 Speaker 1: links have to be thoroughly examined before you can ever 567 00:36:12,920 --> 00:36:16,279 Speaker 1: make any real conclusions. But it's a great article. Check 568 00:36:16,320 --> 00:36:19,840 Speaker 1: it out. Next up, Bene Edwards has a piece in 569 00:36:19,880 --> 00:36:25,360 Speaker 1: Ours Technica titled as chat GPT gets lazy people test 570 00:36:25,719 --> 00:36:29,799 Speaker 1: winter break hypothesis as the cause. All right, So this 571 00:36:29,880 --> 00:36:31,920 Speaker 1: has to do with how some users have reported that 572 00:36:32,080 --> 00:36:37,719 Speaker 1: chat gpt seems to be slacking on occasion recently, like 573 00:36:37,760 --> 00:36:40,959 Speaker 1: you could submit a query to chat gpt and get 574 00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:44,400 Speaker 1: an overly simplified response as opposed to the in depth 575 00:36:44,440 --> 00:36:49,040 Speaker 1: responses you might have received months ago, or it might 576 00:36:49,080 --> 00:36:53,520 Speaker 1: even refuse to answer your question at all. Open Aye 577 00:36:53,560 --> 00:36:56,400 Speaker 1: says it is aware of this problem, it has not 578 00:36:56,520 --> 00:36:59,200 Speaker 1: gone so far as to say what may have caused this, 579 00:37:00,040 --> 00:37:02,719 Speaker 1: and it has led some users to suggest that perhaps 580 00:37:03,239 --> 00:37:07,360 Speaker 1: chat gpt has the equivalent of the winter blues, or 581 00:37:07,480 --> 00:37:12,120 Speaker 1: rather chat GPT is mimicking people who tend to get 582 00:37:12,320 --> 00:37:16,680 Speaker 1: the winter blues and thus are less communicative in winter months. 583 00:37:16,680 --> 00:37:21,200 Speaker 1: So maybe chat gpt is just copying us. Maybe if 584 00:37:21,200 --> 00:37:24,759 Speaker 1: we just convince chat gpt that it is in Australia 585 00:37:25,320 --> 00:37:28,799 Speaker 1: where the weather right now is hot and sunny, it'll 586 00:37:28,800 --> 00:37:32,360 Speaker 1: stop being so gosh darn lazy anyway, check out that article. 587 00:37:32,880 --> 00:37:36,120 Speaker 1: Sticking with open AI, we have another article, this one 588 00:37:36,160 --> 00:37:40,520 Speaker 1: by ed Zetron, and it's an opinion piece on Scientific American. 589 00:37:40,880 --> 00:37:45,480 Speaker 1: It is titled open AI's soap opera collapse bodes ill 590 00:37:45,760 --> 00:37:49,160 Speaker 1: for AI benefiting humanity. Now, I don't want to give 591 00:37:49,160 --> 00:37:51,720 Speaker 1: away the whole point of the article, but it largely 592 00:37:51,800 --> 00:37:55,080 Speaker 1: focuses on how open ai operates in a way that 593 00:37:55,160 --> 00:38:01,080 Speaker 1: seems entirely antithetical to the organization's original purpose, something that 594 00:38:01,239 --> 00:38:05,839 Speaker 1: Elon Musk actually complained about a few years ago. And 595 00:38:06,080 --> 00:38:08,880 Speaker 1: y'all know I am not an Elon Musk fan, but 596 00:38:09,719 --> 00:38:14,880 Speaker 1: on this particular matter, I find myself agreeing with him anyway. Finally, 597 00:38:15,200 --> 00:38:17,520 Speaker 1: we have an article on WES. This one is by 598 00:38:17,760 --> 00:38:23,200 Speaker 1: Jules Roscoe. Is titled Eyes Everywhere. Congress is about to 599 00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:27,719 Speaker 1: vote to expand mass surveillance of Americans, experts Warren. Now, 600 00:38:27,719 --> 00:38:31,640 Speaker 1: that vote is to happen today Tuesday, December twelfth, twenty 601 00:38:31,719 --> 00:38:34,359 Speaker 1: twenty three, at four pm Eastern, So by the time 602 00:38:34,400 --> 00:38:37,880 Speaker 1: you hear this, there may already have been a vote. 603 00:38:38,160 --> 00:38:42,320 Speaker 1: But read the article. It is informative and frankly scary. 604 00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:47,040 Speaker 1: All Right, that wraps up today's news episode of tech Stuff. 605 00:38:47,080 --> 00:38:50,560 Speaker 1: We'll have another one on Thursday. Also, I hope you 606 00:38:50,719 --> 00:38:54,400 Speaker 1: enjoyed yesterday's special episode of tech Stuff. It was a 607 00:38:54,480 --> 00:38:57,640 Speaker 1: huge departure from what I normally do on this show, 608 00:38:58,040 --> 00:39:00,080 Speaker 1: but it was a lot of fun. It's not like 609 00:39:00,239 --> 00:39:03,720 Speaker 1: to ever happen again, so a one time only event, 610 00:39:04,480 --> 00:39:07,200 Speaker 1: but it did let me put on my storytelling shoes, 611 00:39:07,239 --> 00:39:09,480 Speaker 1: which was a lot of fun. I hope you are 612 00:39:09,560 --> 00:39:13,160 Speaker 1: all well, and I'll talk to you again really soon. 613 00:39:19,400 --> 00:39:24,040 Speaker 1: Tech Stuff is an iHeartRadio production. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, 614 00:39:24,360 --> 00:39:28,080 Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 615 00:39:28,120 --> 00:39:32,960 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.