WEBVTT - Tech News: Flying Taxis and Metaverses in South Korea 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tex Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:12.119 --> 0:00:14.840 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host 0:00:15.000 --> 0:00:17.920 job in Strickland. I'm an executive producer with iHeart Radio 0:00:17.960 --> 0:00:20.560 and a love all things tech, and let me cover 0:00:20.640 --> 0:00:22.799 a couple of things before we get to the news today. 0:00:22.920 --> 0:00:25.400 One of those is that I might sound a little different. 0:00:25.480 --> 0:00:29.440 That's because super producer Tari sent me a brand new 0:00:29.520 --> 0:00:33.519 microphone that is a serious upgrade from the one I 0:00:33.600 --> 0:00:35.960 had been using, So if it sounds a little different, 0:00:36.479 --> 0:00:40.400 that's why. Uh. Second, I will be on vacation next week, 0:00:40.800 --> 0:00:45.320 but I will be running some reruns about General Electric 0:00:45.640 --> 0:00:48.400 during the time I'm gone. Since we now know that 0:00:48.560 --> 0:00:51.000 g E is going to split up into three companies 0:00:51.040 --> 0:00:53.600 in the near future, I thought it would be a 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:56.200 good thing to go back over the history of that company. 0:00:56.240 --> 0:00:59.319 So those will be publishing next week as well as 0:00:59.320 --> 0:01:02.600 well as a Smart Talks with IBM episode which should 0:01:02.640 --> 0:01:05.800 come out Thursday, and then I'll be back for part 0:01:05.800 --> 0:01:08.399 of the following week and then we go into US Thanksgiving. 0:01:08.720 --> 0:01:12.319 But that's all of the way. Now let's cover the 0:01:12.360 --> 0:01:18.039 tech news for Thursday, November eleven one. So I'm going 0:01:18.080 --> 0:01:21.160 to start off this News episode with a correction and 0:01:21.280 --> 0:01:24.640 an explanation about the story that I mentioned earlier this week. 0:01:25.000 --> 0:01:27.679 So on Tuesday, I talked about how Elon Musk had 0:01:27.720 --> 0:01:30.720 set up a Twitter poll about whether or not he 0:01:30.760 --> 0:01:33.160 should sell off ten percent of the stock he was 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:36.640 holding in Tesla, and he framed it as a response 0:01:36.680 --> 0:01:41.759 to US lawmakers who said that, you know, stocks are 0:01:41.880 --> 0:01:44.600 unrealized gains that wouldn't be taxed, and that this was 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:48.559 a way that the ultra rich billionaires like Elon Musk 0:01:49.200 --> 0:01:51.720 use in order so that they don't have to pay 0:01:51.800 --> 0:01:55.440 taxes on that. So essentially he was saying the US says, 0:01:55.440 --> 0:01:57.960 I'm trying to avoid paying taxes, should I sell ten 0:01:58.000 --> 0:02:02.240 percent of my stock? Because then you see, by selling 0:02:02.280 --> 0:02:03.920 the stock, he would have to pay taxes on the 0:02:03.920 --> 0:02:06.880 money he earned from that sale. Now, in the story, 0:02:06.960 --> 0:02:09.720 I believe I mentioned that it would be worth around 0:02:09.720 --> 0:02:15.400 twenty one billion dollars. Business Insider reports that Musk exercise 0:02:15.560 --> 0:02:18.760 two point one five million stock options for six dollars 0:02:19.320 --> 0:02:22.640 cents a share each. That means he actually purchased the 0:02:22.720 --> 0:02:26.120 stock at that price that set him back thirteen point 0:02:26.200 --> 0:02:29.000 four billion bucks. Then he sold off around four and 0:02:29.040 --> 0:02:31.919 a half million shares for a total of around five 0:02:32.000 --> 0:02:36.040 billion dollars, And you might say, hey, five billion dollars 0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:40.520 is significantly less than twenty one billion. But then Musk 0:02:40.639 --> 0:02:43.200 sold off less than his ten percent of holdings he 0:02:43.240 --> 0:02:46.240 had mentioned in Twitter. In fact, it was less than 0:02:46.360 --> 0:02:51.919 three percent that he sold off, So that is where 0:02:51.960 --> 0:02:54.359 part of that discrepancy comes in. But the big thing 0:02:54.400 --> 0:02:57.280 that Business Insider reported was that Musk had been planning 0:02:57.360 --> 0:03:00.520 to sell off that stock for months and that the 0:03:00.560 --> 0:03:03.840 poll was really more of a stunt than anything else. 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:06.520 And honestly, if I had used a little bit of 0:03:06.560 --> 0:03:10.280 critical thinking, if I had taken my own advice, I 0:03:10.400 --> 0:03:13.399 might have come to a similar conclusion. But I fell 0:03:13.480 --> 0:03:16.080 short on that, which just goes to show that critical 0:03:16.120 --> 0:03:20.400 thinking is an active skill that you have to work at. Anyway. 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:24.640 According to Business Insider, regulatory filings showed that Musk always 0:03:24.720 --> 0:03:28.240 planned on this course of action because those stock options 0:03:28.240 --> 0:03:31.640 that he exercised were set to expire next year and 0:03:31.639 --> 0:03:34.680 he had to act before they actually did expire. On 0:03:34.760 --> 0:03:37.880 top of that, he's going to face a pretty big 0:03:37.920 --> 0:03:40.960 tax bill coming up, like a ten billion dollar one, 0:03:41.360 --> 0:03:44.920 so liquidation was kind of a necessity. So might did 0:03:44.920 --> 0:03:47.760 he post the Twitter poll. If all this was already 0:03:47.800 --> 0:03:51.800 planned well, Speculation says that Musk might have done this 0:03:51.840 --> 0:03:54.760 in order to soften the news that the CEO of 0:03:54.760 --> 0:03:57.640 a company was selling off a large block of stocks 0:03:57.800 --> 0:04:00.800 in that company, because that's a message that could have 0:04:00.880 --> 0:04:04.920 a dramatic impact on the company's stock price. So instead 0:04:04.960 --> 0:04:08.560 of the media saying Musk suddenly dumps millions of shares 0:04:08.560 --> 0:04:12.720 of Tesla, the media says, Musk asks Twitter if he 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:17.600 should sell stock. So the price of Tesla stock still 0:04:17.640 --> 0:04:22.200 took a hit, but by shifting accountability to Twitter rather 0:04:22.240 --> 0:04:26.359 than to himself, Musk can avoid the appearance that the 0:04:26.480 --> 0:04:30.760 CEO of a company has lost confidence in their own company, 0:04:30.800 --> 0:04:34.840 because that really that doesn't reflect reality anyway. So yeah, 0:04:35.000 --> 0:04:37.960 I was one of those stooges who pushed that narrative forward. 0:04:38.920 --> 0:04:41.359 Dang it critical thinking, why are you got to be 0:04:41.440 --> 0:04:46.120 so hard? I also mentioned on Tuesday that hackers accessed 0:04:46.279 --> 0:04:50.919 user information on the broker company robin Hood's internal systems, 0:04:51.560 --> 0:04:55.640 robin Hood allowing people to create accounts and then you know, 0:04:55.760 --> 0:04:59.719 get involved in in stock market trades and stuff. Initially, 0:04:59.760 --> 0:05:03.200 it's sounded as though the information that hackers accessed was 0:05:03.279 --> 0:05:07.280 limited to stuff like email addresses for the vast majority 0:05:07.360 --> 0:05:10.800 of those affected, UH, the names and physical addresses, and 0:05:10.880 --> 0:05:16.039 some similar information for a smaller number. So the vast 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:19.839 the vast majority of users who were affected, it was 0:05:19.960 --> 0:05:25.160 supposedly just their email address. Now Motherboard has released screenshots 0:05:25.160 --> 0:05:28.560 showing the internal tools that the hackers used to get 0:05:28.560 --> 0:05:31.680 a closer look of at least a few accounts, maybe 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:34.560 as few as ten UH, and they had access to 0:05:34.600 --> 0:05:39.080 stuff like bank transfer histories, which devices were authorized to 0:05:39.160 --> 0:05:44.200 access the account customers, support conversations with certain users, and 0:05:44.279 --> 0:05:46.800 that kind of thing. There's no word on whether the 0:05:46.839 --> 0:05:49.840 hackers actually used the tools to make changes to the accounts. 0:05:49.920 --> 0:05:53.160 Robin Hood says that did not happen, but it does 0:05:53.240 --> 0:05:55.240 look like they would have at least been able to 0:05:55.640 --> 0:05:58.679 if they had wanted to. Also, no word on whether 0:05:58.720 --> 0:06:02.400 the hackers purposefully targeted the small number of accounts that 0:06:02.440 --> 0:06:05.320 received a more extensive probing or whether that was just 0:06:05.839 --> 0:06:10.280 you know, random. In YouTube News, the platform is saying 0:06:10.320 --> 0:06:13.080 goodbye to a feature that's been around for years, and 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:18.039 that is of the public dislike tally. The dislike button 0:06:18.120 --> 0:06:21.760 is sticking around, but the tally is going away. Anyone 0:06:21.839 --> 0:06:25.080 familiar with YouTube knows that the like and dislike options 0:06:25.120 --> 0:06:27.599 below a video or there. I mean, you often have 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:30.680 creators saying, if you enjoyed this video, hit that little 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:35.320 like button. Like that's pretty common, and the assumption goes 0:06:35.360 --> 0:06:39.320 that the likes factor into YouTube's recommendation algorithm and thus 0:06:39.360 --> 0:06:42.680 makes it more likely that the video will one get 0:06:42.680 --> 0:06:46.160 greater exposure to other users, and two that if you 0:06:46.200 --> 0:06:49.000 like a video, YouTube is going to probably serve you 0:06:49.080 --> 0:06:53.320 up stuff that's similar. Now, I say assumption because YouTube 0:06:53.320 --> 0:06:56.600 is pretty darn quiet about how it's recommendation engine actually works, 0:06:57.000 --> 0:07:00.200 and it's frequently tweaking the system. And for a just 0:07:00.600 --> 0:07:04.640 you could actually see the tally of likes and dislikes 0:07:04.680 --> 0:07:07.840 below the video. But now YouTube is going to hide 0:07:08.080 --> 0:07:11.400 the number of dislikes that a video actually receives. The 0:07:11.480 --> 0:07:13.920 dislike button is still going to be there, but you 0:07:13.960 --> 0:07:17.000 won't see how many times folks have clicked on this. Uh, 0:07:17.040 --> 0:07:19.160 this YouTube says is meant to prevent a kind of 0:07:19.200 --> 0:07:23.080 snowball effect that sometimes happens where folks will dislike a 0:07:23.200 --> 0:07:26.080 video and the number will go up, and then more 0:07:26.120 --> 0:07:28.240 people will pile on and it becomes kind of an 0:07:28.240 --> 0:07:31.200 avalanche of dislikes, and some folks join in on that 0:07:31.240 --> 0:07:33.560 activity even if they've never watched the video in the 0:07:33.600 --> 0:07:36.720 first place. I made this argument on Twitter that for 0:07:36.760 --> 0:07:40.520 a very long time, the Justin Bieber music video for 0:07:40.640 --> 0:07:45.000 Baby was the most disliked video on YouTube, and I 0:07:45.040 --> 0:07:48.880 am certain that a large number of people who hit 0:07:49.040 --> 0:07:52.240 dislike on that video had never bothered to watch it. 0:07:52.280 --> 0:07:54.080 They just kind of thought it was funny to pile 0:07:54.160 --> 0:07:56.640 on and dislike the video. I'm not saying the video 0:07:56.680 --> 0:07:58.920 is good, by the way, I'm just saying that I 0:07:59.120 --> 0:08:03.480 am convinced that it earned way more dislikes than people 0:08:03.520 --> 0:08:08.320 actually watched in that in that sense, So the ideas 0:08:08.360 --> 0:08:12.240 this will help prevent those kind of instance and you know, 0:08:12.320 --> 0:08:16.840 hopefully reduce the amount of abuse people have heaped onto 0:08:16.880 --> 0:08:21.520 creators using the dislike button. Now, the video creators will 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:24.520 still be able to see dislike counts through their analytics, 0:08:24.960 --> 0:08:28.840 and the dislikes should help YouTube continue to tune recommendations 0:08:28.880 --> 0:08:31.920 more to the individual users so that you're not flooded 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:34.480 with more videos that you don't like. And I actually 0:08:34.520 --> 0:08:37.160 do like that because I I recently, you know, this 0:08:37.240 --> 0:08:40.000 is a personal story, I watched some videos about camping. 0:08:40.600 --> 0:08:42.960 Not that I think I'm gonna go camping anytime soon, 0:08:43.000 --> 0:08:45.160 but for some reason I got on this camping kick, 0:08:45.720 --> 0:08:50.800 and now YouTube occasionally suggests hunting videos to me. And 0:08:50.840 --> 0:08:54.080 I've got nothing against hunting, at least as long as 0:08:54.120 --> 0:08:57.120 it's not trophy hunting. I think trophy hunting is cruel 0:08:57.200 --> 0:09:02.760 and horrifying and awful and unnecessary. But whether it's you know, 0:09:02.920 --> 0:09:06.200 subsistence hunting or not, I don't want to watch videos 0:09:06.200 --> 0:09:09.960 about it. That's not my bag. So knowing the dislike 0:09:10.000 --> 0:09:13.280 feature is really more so that viewers can shape their 0:09:13.320 --> 0:09:17.520 recommendations and less about mob mentality is cool. Whether or 0:09:17.520 --> 0:09:20.360 not it works remains to be seen. I'm sure there 0:09:20.360 --> 0:09:24.280 will still be campaigns against certain videos or creators that 0:09:24.320 --> 0:09:27.679 will commence tons of folks to dislike specific videos, even 0:09:27.760 --> 0:09:30.560 if they've never watched the video. But maybe it won't 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:32.520 be as bad as it was before because you won't 0:09:32.559 --> 0:09:35.080 see how effective the attack is. There will be no 0:09:35.200 --> 0:09:39.959 number associated with dislikes. Also, let's take a moment to 0:09:40.200 --> 0:09:44.160 mourn the passing of an amazing internet meme joke, and 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:47.680 that is of the neutral Response video, which is a 0:09:47.720 --> 0:09:51.120 clip from the show Futurama and in the clip, there's 0:09:51.160 --> 0:09:54.440 an alien from this planet that's just filled with people 0:09:54.480 --> 0:09:58.360 who have neutral tendencies, and the alien says, I have 0:09:58.440 --> 0:10:01.760 no strong feelings one way or the other. And the 0:10:01.840 --> 0:10:05.240 joke was that the number of likes and dislikes for 0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:08.920 that video have balanced out, like whenever anyone would like 0:10:09.040 --> 0:10:10.959 the video, someone else would come along and dislike it 0:10:11.000 --> 0:10:13.960 in order to keep them even so, the current tally 0:10:14.400 --> 0:10:18.720 is at five fifty four thousand each more or less. Well, 0:10:18.800 --> 0:10:24.440 once dislikes disappear, that collective joke will be over. So 0:10:24.640 --> 0:10:28.280 that's a little sad. It seems like the concept of 0:10:28.280 --> 0:10:30.680 the metaverse is gonna be a theme for a while. 0:10:31.080 --> 0:10:32.959 I think it's a little bit odd because the concept 0:10:32.960 --> 0:10:36.680 itself isn't really that new, and arguably you could even 0:10:36.720 --> 0:10:39.839 call stuff like Second Life a type of metaverse, and 0:10:40.080 --> 0:10:42.880 that's been around for ages. Anyway. The reason I even 0:10:42.960 --> 0:10:46.360 mentioned it is that the Soul Metropolitan Government, as in 0:10:46.559 --> 0:10:49.959 Soul Korea, has announced it will create its own metaverse 0:10:50.000 --> 0:10:53.760 with Blackjack and no way, I'm still thinking about Futurama quotes. 0:10:53.840 --> 0:10:56.280 No uh, I mean it's going to create a metaverse 0:10:56.360 --> 0:11:00.280 meant to allow quote citizens to conveniently meet with Avatar 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:04.200 officials to deal with civil complaints and consultations end quote. 0:11:04.520 --> 0:11:07.880 So essentially, this would replace the need to physically travel 0:11:07.920 --> 0:11:11.480 to a municipal office for an in person appointment, which 0:11:11.520 --> 0:11:13.320 is not a bad thing considering it, you know, there's 0:11:13.360 --> 0:11:16.720 a pandemic going at all. It's interesting that they're going 0:11:16.840 --> 0:11:20.520 the avatar route. To me, I'm not sure how that 0:11:20.679 --> 0:11:25.360 is more beneficial oversay a video conference called directly with 0:11:25.400 --> 0:11:27.599 whomever it is you need to meet, Like, how is 0:11:27.640 --> 0:11:31.040 it better than that? But the city government is willing 0:11:31.080 --> 0:11:34.400 to invest around three billion dollars into the project, which 0:11:34.440 --> 0:11:36.760 is part of a larger city plan that aims to 0:11:36.840 --> 0:11:41.160 transform Soul by twenty and I guess one benefit is 0:11:41.400 --> 0:11:44.839 the metaverse proposal would also include the ability to virtually 0:11:44.960 --> 0:11:49.520 attend mass events like imagine a giant concert that kind 0:11:49.559 --> 0:11:52.080 of thing. You could virtually be there and you would 0:11:52.080 --> 0:11:56.600 be surrounded by other virtual people watching a virtual concert, 0:11:57.040 --> 0:11:58.920 so you could still be part of a group experience 0:11:58.920 --> 0:12:01.840 without actually having to leave house. Now, again, it's hard 0:12:01.840 --> 0:12:05.160 for me to see this as being better than just say, 0:12:05.200 --> 0:12:09.040 watching a live stream video of the concert. Uh. I 0:12:09.080 --> 0:12:12.360 know that virtual reality can be really immersive. I've experienced 0:12:12.360 --> 0:12:15.480 that myself. I get that, and probably there is some 0:12:15.520 --> 0:12:18.280 sort of psychological boost compared to just watching a live 0:12:18.320 --> 0:12:21.240 stream video on a classic screen. But I think part 0:12:21.240 --> 0:12:23.320 of me would still be thinking to myself, it's weird 0:12:23.360 --> 0:12:25.160 that I have to put on all this VR gear 0:12:25.280 --> 0:12:29.240 just to witness this. You know. Then again, I've also 0:12:29.480 --> 0:12:32.720 always been a little anxious in crowds. That has actually 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:37.080 gotten way worse since the pandemic. So maybe it's just 0:12:37.200 --> 0:12:40.240 that this particular thing is not for me anyway. There's 0:12:40.280 --> 0:12:42.679 some aspects to VR metaverse stuff that I can totally 0:12:42.679 --> 0:12:46.720 get behind, like the idea of improved accessibility for folks 0:12:46.760 --> 0:12:50.720 who otherwise would have trouble attending physical events. I think 0:12:50.800 --> 0:12:54.000 that's great to give people who otherwise couldn't have that 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:57.839 chance to do it. That is fantastic. However, you also 0:12:58.000 --> 0:13:02.400 have to acknowledge this has improved accessibility assuming you're able 0:13:02.440 --> 0:13:04.920 to afford the hardware you need in order to run 0:13:05.000 --> 0:13:10.200 VR properly. To me, that's still an accessibility barrier. We 0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:12.200 have a few more stories to cover, but before we 0:13:12.240 --> 0:13:21.640 get to that, let's take a quick break. Before the break, 0:13:21.679 --> 0:13:24.640 I talked a little bit about accessibility. Sticking with that 0:13:25.120 --> 0:13:28.200 that theme, of the United States government has sued the 0:13:28.320 --> 0:13:32.080 ride hailing company Uber, saying that the company has failed 0:13:32.120 --> 0:13:37.000 to ensure equitable fairs for passengers with disabilities. So Uber 0:13:37.080 --> 0:13:42.280 has this weight time fee, and it's the idea is 0:13:42.320 --> 0:13:45.520 that the weight time fee charges a passenger if they 0:13:46.760 --> 0:13:49.680 force a driver to wait a couple of minutes once 0:13:49.720 --> 0:13:52.960 they arrive at a destination UH to pick someone up. So, 0:13:53.280 --> 0:13:55.600 in other words, if I call an Uber and the 0:13:55.679 --> 0:13:58.640 Uber pulls up outside my house, but I'm still inside 0:13:58.720 --> 0:14:01.840 puttering around, trying to get stuff done, putting on shoes, 0:14:02.040 --> 0:14:04.760 whatever it may be, and I'm making the driver weight, 0:14:05.200 --> 0:14:07.880 then Uber charges me for the fact that I have 0:14:08.400 --> 0:14:13.040 inconvenience the driver, I have taken time away from the driver. 0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:16.079 That's time that they could potentially be earning on another fair. 0:14:16.440 --> 0:14:21.360 That's the idea behind the policy. Unfortunately, this policy would 0:14:21.440 --> 0:14:25.440 also adversely affect people with disabilities who need more time 0:14:25.480 --> 0:14:28.360 to get into a vehicle. If they are actually taking 0:14:28.400 --> 0:14:32.560 more time to get into the vehicle and the driver 0:14:32.720 --> 0:14:35.200 is sitting there for a few minutes, this policy would 0:14:35.280 --> 0:14:40.120 pop into effect and the passengers would be essentially monetarily 0:14:40.200 --> 0:14:42.400 penalized for the fact that they can't get into a 0:14:42.440 --> 0:14:46.600 car very fast, and that's just discrimination as defined by 0:14:46.640 --> 0:14:49.760 the Americans with Disabilities Act. So that's why the United 0:14:49.760 --> 0:14:53.080 States government has sued Uber. Uber, by the way, has 0:14:53.400 --> 0:14:57.400 introduced a feature in its app that will waive weight 0:14:57.480 --> 0:15:02.880 time fees for passengers who are certified as being disabled. 0:15:02.920 --> 0:15:07.040 I'm not sure what that certification process actually is. I 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:10.080 don't know how they determine that, but the Department of 0:15:10.120 --> 0:15:14.840 Justice is seeking damages from Uber to compensate passengers who 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:17.960 had been affected by this policy, as well as just 0:15:18.040 --> 0:15:22.520 mandating that that policy cannot apply to people with disabilities 0:15:22.560 --> 0:15:26.880 because otherwise it does discriminate and the Americans with disabilities 0:15:26.880 --> 0:15:32.400 that makes that illegal. So interesting story. Sony has recently 0:15:32.440 --> 0:15:35.720 revealed that, due to ongoing supply chain issues, the company 0:15:35.760 --> 0:15:39.720 expects to produce fewer PlayStation five consoles than they had 0:15:39.760 --> 0:15:43.320 originally planned, by the tune of one million units. Now. 0:15:43.400 --> 0:15:46.760 Their fiscal year ends in March or at the beginning 0:15:46.800 --> 0:15:48.960 of March, I believe, and so I think the original 0:15:49.000 --> 0:15:51.560 plan was to produce sixteen million units. It's going to 0:15:51.640 --> 0:15:54.280 be closer to fifteen million, and the sales goal was 0:15:54.320 --> 0:15:57.800 for fourteen point eight million, which means there's not a 0:15:57.800 --> 0:16:00.000 whole lot of margin there. They have to pray much 0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:03.240 sell every single unit they make in order to meet 0:16:03.280 --> 0:16:06.520 the numbers that they had projected. The PS five launched 0:16:06.680 --> 0:16:09.640 almost exactly a year ago. The original launch date was 0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:14.520 November twelve, and it has been consistently challenging to find 0:16:14.520 --> 0:16:17.480 in stores. You know, actually had the chance to snag 0:16:17.560 --> 0:16:20.160 one a couple of weeks ago, but a dilly dallied 0:16:20.480 --> 0:16:24.240 and then that chance went bye bye. And you know, 0:16:24.480 --> 0:16:26.160 I'm sure a lot of you gamers out there have 0:16:26.280 --> 0:16:29.960 had similar experiences. And unfortunately, this means there will be 0:16:30.040 --> 0:16:33.840 fewer consoles produced than planned. That means it's still going 0:16:33.880 --> 0:16:36.120 to be difficult to find them in stores, which is 0:16:36.120 --> 0:16:39.320 a real blow, particularly since we're into the holiday gift 0:16:39.440 --> 0:16:42.800 buying season. Uh that, by the way, is sure to 0:16:42.840 --> 0:16:45.520 be impacted by various supply chain issues. A lot of 0:16:45.520 --> 0:16:48.240 people have found that just the stuff that they were 0:16:48.480 --> 0:16:50.800 planning on buying is taking way longer to get to 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:54.960 them than they had originally thought. That's gonna keep going, right, 0:16:55.040 --> 0:16:57.640 I mean, the supply chain crunch is a real one, 0:16:57.760 --> 0:17:02.640 and it has created bottle throughout the entire system where 0:17:03.200 --> 0:17:07.679 you know, suddenly a facility gets flooded with products and 0:17:07.720 --> 0:17:09.640 then it has to figure out how does it deal 0:17:09.680 --> 0:17:12.040 with that to pass it further down the chain. This 0:17:12.160 --> 0:17:14.800 is a domino effect, a cascading effect that we see 0:17:14.800 --> 0:17:19.359 throughout the supply chain. So as a tech person, typically 0:17:19.480 --> 0:17:22.360 I would be expected to suggest certain like Black Friday 0:17:22.480 --> 0:17:25.359 or Cyber Monday deals that focus on stuff like TVs 0:17:25.480 --> 0:17:29.040 and electronics and sound systems, that kind of thing. This year, 0:17:29.200 --> 0:17:34.000 I humbly suggest that if you plan on buying holiday presents, 0:17:34.119 --> 0:17:39.480 patronize like local shop owners and artists and tradespeople instead, 0:17:40.080 --> 0:17:43.000 it will be a bigger benefit to your immediate community. 0:17:43.520 --> 0:17:46.040 And if enough of us actually do that, it will 0:17:46.080 --> 0:17:48.679 relieve some of the insane pressure that's on the supply 0:17:48.840 --> 0:17:53.000 side of the supply chain economy right now, and things 0:17:53.119 --> 0:17:56.760 can get to a better equilibrium. But only if enough 0:17:56.800 --> 0:17:59.920 of us actually kind of at least remove that part 0:18:00.080 --> 0:18:03.080 to the pressure on the system, Like the demand side 0:18:03.680 --> 0:18:08.080 is still super high, and that's just kind of exacerbating 0:18:08.080 --> 0:18:12.520 an already tough situation. Okay, let's go back to South Korea. 0:18:12.680 --> 0:18:16.000 I mentioned them earlier in the episode. Well, the country 0:18:16.040 --> 0:18:19.760 recently unveiled a traffic control system designed to handle urban 0:18:19.960 --> 0:18:24.000 air mobility vehicles or u a m s, which is 0:18:24.240 --> 0:18:27.840 a fancy way of saying flying machines what take passengers 0:18:27.880 --> 0:18:31.600 from one place to another place, or a flying taxi 0:18:31.640 --> 0:18:34.760 in other words. And these typically take the form factor 0:18:34.880 --> 0:18:38.960 of a really large multi rotor drone type thing, because 0:18:38.960 --> 0:18:42.679 it's not drones, more like a multi rotor helicopter in 0:18:42.680 --> 0:18:45.040 a way. So think of like like the drones you 0:18:45.040 --> 0:18:49.080 would see that are remote controlled, but much much bigger 0:18:49.240 --> 0:18:53.160 and sometimes with more rotors. The traffic control system would 0:18:53.200 --> 0:18:55.919 be a necessary component if flying taxis are to be, 0:18:56.200 --> 0:18:58.800 you know, a real thing, Like if they're to become 0:18:59.480 --> 0:19:04.360 an integral component in transportation, then you've got you've got 0:19:04.359 --> 0:19:06.040 to have some sort of system to be able to 0:19:06.080 --> 0:19:09.520 handle that. So the country is actually testing this to 0:19:09.600 --> 0:19:12.119 kind of work out the design flaws and to tweak 0:19:12.160 --> 0:19:14.800 things in order to set a foundation for a future 0:19:14.840 --> 0:19:18.919 with flying vehicles that are actually an actively carrying people 0:19:19.000 --> 0:19:22.080 to and fro. The test involved a vehicle made by 0:19:22.119 --> 0:19:25.800 a company called Volocopter, and according to the Korean Times, 0:19:26.280 --> 0:19:30.240 that particular vehicle is one that can either be piloted 0:19:30.280 --> 0:19:35.040 by a human or it can operate in an autonomous mode. Currently, 0:19:35.320 --> 0:19:38.960 South Korea requires a pilot to be present should any 0:19:39.040 --> 0:19:42.520 passengers be inside the vehicle, so you cannot, you know, 0:19:42.640 --> 0:19:46.520 use this like an autonomous taxi under South Korean law currently. 0:19:46.600 --> 0:19:49.560 I think that's a wise decision. The government says it's 0:19:49.640 --> 0:19:52.400 necessary both as a safety measure and also to help 0:19:52.440 --> 0:19:56.159 secure passenger confidence in the system. Makes sense to me. 0:19:56.680 --> 0:20:00.119 The Korean Times also reports that the expected cost or 0:20:00.119 --> 0:20:03.760 a customer to take a ride from the Incheon International 0:20:03.800 --> 0:20:08.680 Airport to Central Soul to be around nine dollars American 0:20:08.760 --> 0:20:13.320 the equivalent of ninety dollars when the pilot program No 0:20:13.440 --> 0:20:17.359 Pun Intended launches No Pun Intended, which is supposed to 0:20:17.359 --> 0:20:21.280 be in However, they say that that price should drop 0:20:21.400 --> 0:20:27.720 dramatically once the technology and the business matures, so within 0:20:27.760 --> 0:20:31.560 a decade they expect the cost to drop low enough 0:20:31.600 --> 0:20:33.720 so that it would be the equivalent of less than 0:20:33.760 --> 0:20:37.240 twenty dollars per trep. That to me is phenomenal. I 0:20:37.240 --> 0:20:40.080 think it's really optimistic, but I would love to see 0:20:40.080 --> 0:20:42.960 it happen, assuming, of course, that the system has proven 0:20:43.000 --> 0:20:46.920 to be safe and reliable. Finally, I've written and talked 0:20:46.960 --> 0:20:50.080 about brain computer interfaces quite a few times. I always 0:20:50.119 --> 0:20:54.520 find them fascinating. Creating technology that can detect and interpret 0:20:54.560 --> 0:20:57.600 brain waves and then produce some sort of meaningful output 0:20:58.359 --> 0:21:01.920 is really cool, particularly for people who have limited or 0:21:02.000 --> 0:21:05.640 no motor functions and who otherwise would find it challenging 0:21:05.760 --> 0:21:09.840 or even impossible to communicate well. Science Alert reported earlier 0:21:09.880 --> 0:21:12.960 this week on a research program called brain Gate that 0:21:13.040 --> 0:21:16.840 has developed an interface that allows a paralyzed subject, a 0:21:16.920 --> 0:21:20.520 man who volunteered to be part of this, to generate 0:21:20.640 --> 0:21:25.399 text on a screen just by imagining his own handwriting, 0:21:25.720 --> 0:21:29.680 so he can think about writing a word by hand, 0:21:29.880 --> 0:21:33.760 even though he lost all uh control of his limbs 0:21:33.840 --> 0:21:37.760 years ago, and that thought will then be interpreted by 0:21:37.760 --> 0:21:40.439 the system, and then the text will appear on a 0:21:40.520 --> 0:21:44.880 screen reflecting the letters he was imagining himself writing. Now, 0:21:44.880 --> 0:21:48.040 I've heard of other systems that use training sessions so 0:21:48.080 --> 0:21:50.639 that someone can learn how to control a cursor with 0:21:50.720 --> 0:21:53.040 their mind, and they can move the cursor around to 0:21:53.240 --> 0:21:56.080 kind of type things out on an on screen keyboard, 0:21:56.160 --> 0:21:58.439 very similar to how you would use an on screen 0:21:58.520 --> 0:22:01.120 touch keyboard. But this is the first time I've heard 0:22:01.160 --> 0:22:05.119 about something that can interpret the thoughts about writing a 0:22:05.160 --> 0:22:09.960 word and use that to display that same word on screen. Now, 0:22:10.000 --> 0:22:12.880 it's still a slow process. The subject in the research 0:22:12.920 --> 0:22:17.160 project could right around nine characters per minute, that's about 0:22:17.200 --> 0:22:20.119 eighteen words per minute, but they could do it with 0:22:20.200 --> 0:22:25.840 like accuracy before auto correct was brought in. And it 0:22:26.000 --> 0:22:29.959 still requires surgery to implant electrodes into the brain, so 0:22:30.000 --> 0:22:33.119 this is not like some hat you put on and 0:22:33.160 --> 0:22:36.560 you can use it. It is an invasive process, but 0:22:36.640 --> 0:22:39.560 for people who would otherwise find themselves unable to communicate, 0:22:40.080 --> 0:22:43.840 this technology is incredibly powerful. It's also fascinating to me 0:22:43.880 --> 0:22:47.119 that the brain can retain abilities related to fine motor 0:22:47.160 --> 0:22:52.040 movements even years after someone has lost that actual physical capability. 0:22:52.119 --> 0:22:54.679 So not only are we learning more about how to 0:22:54.760 --> 0:22:59.359 develop these systems, we're learning more about the resilience of 0:22:59.040 --> 0:23:03.080 the brain and how the brain operates. So those learnings 0:23:03.119 --> 0:23:07.760 will inform future implementations which will continue to improve. And 0:23:07.880 --> 0:23:11.720 my hope is that in the future will have systems 0:23:11.760 --> 0:23:15.239 that give people a lot more independence and autonomy and 0:23:15.280 --> 0:23:20.480 communication abilities and to dramatically improve their quality of life, 0:23:21.280 --> 0:23:24.920 even in the case where they have lost or maybe 0:23:25.040 --> 0:23:28.960 never even had abilities to to move around. I think 0:23:28.960 --> 0:23:33.240 that that is really phenomenal. All right, that wraps up 0:23:33.280 --> 0:23:37.640 the news episode for Thursday, November eleven, twenty one. If 0:23:37.640 --> 0:23:39.760 you have suggestions for topics I should cover in future 0:23:39.800 --> 0:23:42.440 episodes of tech Stuff, please reach out. The best way 0:23:42.480 --> 0:23:44.520 to do that is on Twitter. The handle for the 0:23:44.520 --> 0:23:48.040 show is tech Stuff hs W. I'm out next week. 0:23:48.280 --> 0:23:51.640 You'll get your g E episodes in place of me, 0:23:52.400 --> 0:23:54.840 and there will also be a Smart Talks with IBM 0:23:54.840 --> 0:23:58.640