WEBVTT - Tech News: Coups and CES 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:12.080 --> 0:00:14.880 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:15.040 --> 0:00:18.360 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 0:00:18.400 --> 0:00:21.840 and I love all things tech and this is the 0:00:22.000 --> 0:00:28.560 tech News episode for Tuesday, January twelve, twenty one. Before 0:00:28.600 --> 0:00:31.240 I jump into it, I should also point out that 0:00:31.320 --> 0:00:34.320 when I record these episodes, I record them the day 0:00:34.479 --> 0:00:38.760 before they published. That gives my super producer TORII, enough 0:00:38.800 --> 0:00:43.920 time to edit and publish these episodes, which explains why 0:00:44.520 --> 0:00:48.760 when I recorded last Thursday's episode, I didn't have any 0:00:48.800 --> 0:00:54.080 mention of the assault on the United States Capital at all, 0:00:54.120 --> 0:00:57.000 because as I was recording that episode, that had not 0:00:57.160 --> 0:01:00.160 yet happened. In fact, it was right after I had 0:01:00.160 --> 0:01:03.160 finished recording and I was starting to go back and 0:01:03.320 --> 0:01:07.640 listen to that recording that the news was starting to 0:01:07.680 --> 0:01:12.440 break about that situation. And so today's episode has some 0:01:12.680 --> 0:01:18.240 of the fallout from that from the tech perspective. So 0:01:18.280 --> 0:01:20.959 since our last news episode, there's been a ton of 0:01:21.000 --> 0:01:25.240 developments in the United States involving social media. The President 0:01:25.280 --> 0:01:31.440 of the United States and a platform called Parlor. Twitter, Twitch, Facebook, 0:01:31.640 --> 0:01:36.080 and Instagram have all banned Trump from posting to their platforms. 0:01:36.400 --> 0:01:40.759 YouTube has been removing videos. Reddit shut down a subreddit 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:45.720 called our slash Donald Trump for violating policies that involve 0:01:46.240 --> 0:01:50.840 the restrictions against promoting hate speech or encouraging violence. And 0:01:50.920 --> 0:01:54.000 TikTok has been removing videos that relate to the riots 0:01:54.040 --> 0:01:58.520 on Capitol Hill, leading to some people joking that TikTok 0:01:58.680 --> 0:02:03.400 band Donald Trump before Trump could ban TikTok. Each of 0:02:03.440 --> 0:02:06.760 these platforms have done this because of the content and 0:02:06.920 --> 0:02:10.720 tone of the President's messaging leading up to and including 0:02:10.800 --> 0:02:13.760 the day of riots, saying that he is continuing to 0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:18.360 encourage seditious acts. There are critics of the platforms on 0:02:18.440 --> 0:02:22.560 both sides of the ideological spectrum. You've got people arguing 0:02:22.600 --> 0:02:25.800 that the platforms are trampling on the First Amendment, which 0:02:25.919 --> 0:02:29.160 seems pretty simple to dismiss as these platforms are all 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:33.000 extensions of the private sector and the First Amendment protects 0:02:33.080 --> 0:02:37.440 citizens from government censorship. There have been multiple references to 0:02:37.840 --> 0:02:43.560 Orwell and Orwellian practices, which is particularly rich and suggests 0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:45.919 to me that a lot of people invoking the name 0:02:46.160 --> 0:02:50.000 or Well have never actually read or Well. There have 0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:54.400 also been many criticisms about the power that these tech 0:02:54.520 --> 0:02:58.160 companies have, which interestingly is also a talking point on 0:02:58.320 --> 0:03:01.880 the opposite end of the ideal logical spectrum, though that 0:03:01.919 --> 0:03:05.320 point extends to corporations as a whole, and how over 0:03:05.360 --> 0:03:08.320 the last couple of decades the United States government has 0:03:08.360 --> 0:03:12.880 granted corporations more power year by year, enabling them to 0:03:12.919 --> 0:03:17.200 have enormous political influence in the process. And then on 0:03:17.280 --> 0:03:20.320 the more liberal side of things, you've got critics saying 0:03:20.360 --> 0:03:23.840 that these platforms are moving to ban Trump, but they've 0:03:23.840 --> 0:03:26.680 proven that they could have done that if they had 0:03:26.760 --> 0:03:30.320 wanted to at any point before now, which leads to 0:03:30.400 --> 0:03:33.160 questions about why it took so long after there were 0:03:33.240 --> 0:03:37.840 numerous examples of violations of policies over the last few years, 0:03:37.840 --> 0:03:42.279 in other words, that the president had clearly violated policies 0:03:42.320 --> 0:03:46.680 of these different platforms policies that if someone that was 0:03:46.760 --> 0:03:49.280 not the president had done this, they would have found 0:03:49.320 --> 0:03:53.800 themselves facing consequences. So essentially, these critics are saying that 0:03:53.960 --> 0:03:57.480 now that we're two weeks out from Biden's inauguration, sooner 0:03:57.520 --> 0:04:01.080 than that, really one week out now, that's when the 0:04:01.200 --> 0:04:06.400 platforms have finally deemed it possible to remove Trump from them. 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:10.000 So no one's really happy about how this was done. 0:04:10.040 --> 0:04:12.800 But some people view it as necessity to reduce the 0:04:12.880 --> 0:04:16.200 chance for further chaos, and other people see it as 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:18.720 an attack on freedoms and a sign of too much 0:04:18.760 --> 0:04:22.640 political power. And these two lines of thought don't necessarily 0:04:22.680 --> 0:04:26.640 fall equally into the camps of democrat and republican. It 0:04:26.800 --> 0:04:31.880 is a complicated and messy situation. Meanwhile, let's talk about Parlor, 0:04:32.160 --> 0:04:35.960 which bills itself as a free speech social network. Now, 0:04:36.000 --> 0:04:40.039 this social network receives a lot of funding from conservative 0:04:40.040 --> 0:04:44.400 hedge fund manager Robert Mercer and his daughter Rebecca. Mercer 0:04:44.520 --> 0:04:47.760 was a big investor in Cambridge Analytica back in the 0:04:47.839 --> 0:04:51.720 day and is a notable financial supporter of various right 0:04:51.760 --> 0:04:57.120 wing organizations. Parlor itself is associated with conservatives in general, 0:04:57.440 --> 0:05:00.760 and while the company says it is new role, the 0:05:00.839 --> 0:05:04.159 fact is that the vast majority of activity on Parlor 0:05:04.600 --> 0:05:08.400 falls on the conservative and frequently the far right wing 0:05:08.560 --> 0:05:12.200 side of the political spectrum. Parlor is also where a 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:14.960 lot of the people involved in the riots on Capitol 0:05:15.040 --> 0:05:18.680 Hill have accounts, and it's a place that has been 0:05:18.800 --> 0:05:23.400 used to organize activities like that. As such, people concerned 0:05:23.440 --> 0:05:27.039 with Parlor's role in facilitating violence and assaults on the 0:05:27.080 --> 0:05:31.000 foundations of democracy began to pressure Google and Apple to 0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:35.279 remove Parlor from their respective app stores. The two companies 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:39.920 ultimately complied, removing access to those apps, and then Amazon 0:05:39.960 --> 0:05:44.279 announced it was booting Parlor from their web services platform 0:05:44.320 --> 0:05:48.719 by eleven nine pm Pacific time on Sunday, January tent which, 0:05:48.839 --> 0:05:52.520 as I record, this was yesterday, So it is no 0:05:52.600 --> 0:05:56.800 longer on those servers. A company representative route to Parlor, 0:05:56.960 --> 0:06:00.760 stating quote, Recently, we've seen a steady increase in this 0:06:00.920 --> 0:06:04.560 violent content on your website, all of which violates our terms. 0:06:04.960 --> 0:06:08.000 It's clear that Parlor does not have an effective process 0:06:08.000 --> 0:06:12.240 to comply with the a WS terms of service end quote. 0:06:12.520 --> 0:06:16.520 That's an Amazon Web Services That's what aw S means. 0:06:16.560 --> 0:06:20.919 So this means that the actual servers that Parlor used 0:06:21.000 --> 0:06:24.920 to host their network are now no longer available to Parlor, 0:06:25.360 --> 0:06:30.520 effectively d platforming the platform. The admins of Parlor initially 0:06:30.560 --> 0:06:33.919 said that the plan was to relaunch Parlor on another 0:06:34.120 --> 0:06:37.200 web service, but that the platform might be down for 0:06:37.240 --> 0:06:40.000 about a week as a result. They also said that 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:42.839 the plan was to rebuild Parlor from scratch, but that 0:06:42.920 --> 0:06:46.880 seems unrealistic to me. Rebuilding would take a lot longer 0:06:46.920 --> 0:06:51.040 than just a week from a coding perspective. Moreover, subsequent 0:06:51.080 --> 0:06:54.000 reports indicate that the founders aren't having much luck when 0:06:54.000 --> 0:06:56.720 it comes to finding a new home for the platform, 0:06:56.760 --> 0:07:01.080 and even the company's own legal team quit again. This 0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:05.200 brought out First Amendment defenders, but opponents pointed out that 0:07:05.279 --> 0:07:09.800 speech that incites violence or encourages sedition or treason are 0:07:09.840 --> 0:07:13.960 not protected by the First Amendment, as the saying goes, 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:17.280 the right to swing your fist ends where the other 0:07:17.360 --> 0:07:23.440 man's nose begins. These recent developments have elevated conversations that 0:07:23.560 --> 0:07:26.280 have been going on for years about the role of 0:07:26.320 --> 0:07:31.120 social networks and their responsibility to moderate. In the United States, 0:07:31.440 --> 0:07:35.880 Section to thirty gives platforms an effective immunity against legal 0:07:35.920 --> 0:07:40.280 action for the content that users post to those platforms. 0:07:40.320 --> 0:07:45.040 Some have said that it prevents those platforms from moderating discussions, 0:07:45.080 --> 0:07:49.240 which is actually the opposite of the intent of that 0:07:49.360 --> 0:07:53.960 piece of legislation. It was meant to encourage platforms to 0:07:54.040 --> 0:07:57.800 moderate content on them, also without fear of legal action 0:07:57.920 --> 0:08:00.400 for doing so so. If a platform were to, say, 0:08:00.480 --> 0:08:04.680 remove all posts that referenced violence, the platform would not 0:08:04.720 --> 0:08:08.200 be held legally liable if someone felt that the platform 0:08:08.280 --> 0:08:12.960 was overstepping its bounds. However, rather than seeing these platforms 0:08:13.000 --> 0:08:17.360 take a more active role in moderating content, the opposite 0:08:17.440 --> 0:08:20.720 has largely been the case, and in fact, platforms have 0:08:20.840 --> 0:08:25.040 found it profitable to do so because the inflammatory content 0:08:25.560 --> 0:08:29.280 drives a lot of engagement, and that ultimately boils down 0:08:29.280 --> 0:08:33.160 to people spending more time on these platforms and thus 0:08:33.200 --> 0:08:37.319 earning those platforms more money as a result thanks to advertising. 0:08:38.160 --> 0:08:42.440 And so there has been an incentive for platforms to 0:08:42.520 --> 0:08:45.920 kind of let things be until the situation boils over 0:08:46.440 --> 0:08:50.720 because it was more profitable that way. Once things escalate 0:08:50.760 --> 0:08:54.400 beyond a certain point, the risks of housing the material 0:08:54.800 --> 0:08:58.199 end up being greater than the reward of hosting it, 0:08:58.600 --> 0:09:01.160 and that's when we see platfor worms leap to action. 0:09:01.520 --> 0:09:04.360 Now that's not to say that all social network leaders 0:09:04.400 --> 0:09:08.360 feel no responsibility for what happens on the platforms. It's 0:09:08.440 --> 0:09:11.320 more of a commentary on how the whole business is 0:09:11.520 --> 0:09:16.360 a moral in nature, not immoral necessarily, but a moral 0:09:17.280 --> 0:09:21.440 and moving forward with Democrats in control of both Houses 0:09:21.480 --> 0:09:25.600 of Congress plus the White House, after January twenty. There's 0:09:25.600 --> 0:09:28.640 a growing expectation that the US government will be taking 0:09:28.679 --> 0:09:32.480 a harder look at big tech with regulations and reform 0:09:32.600 --> 0:09:36.240 in mind, which could include a renewed push to break 0:09:36.320 --> 0:09:39.360 up some of those big companies that the government deems 0:09:39.400 --> 0:09:42.000 to be either a monopoly or at the very least 0:09:42.080 --> 0:09:47.520 practice anti competitive strategies. That's one extreme we can see. 0:09:47.600 --> 0:09:50.960 It's also possible that we'll see the government create incentives 0:09:51.080 --> 0:09:54.480 or find ways to pressure social networking companies to take 0:09:54.520 --> 0:09:58.640 a more active and transparent approach to moderating content on 0:09:58.679 --> 0:10:02.240 the networks themselves. This is something that the platforms have 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:06.559 said might be a necessity, including Mark Zuckerberg. There's also 0:10:06.640 --> 0:10:10.440 the possibility that Section to thirty will come under fire again, 0:10:10.720 --> 0:10:13.600 which is interesting because it's a piece of legislation that 0:10:13.600 --> 0:10:17.920 gets targeted both by conservatives and by certain Democrats, but 0:10:18.040 --> 0:10:23.080 for very different reasons. Representatives from organizations like Tech Freedom 0:10:23.320 --> 0:10:27.440 argue that removing or changing Section to thirty will not 0:10:27.600 --> 0:10:30.640 solve the problem, and that any approach will require a 0:10:30.720 --> 0:10:34.360 great deal of thought and care behind it, or else 0:10:34.520 --> 0:10:37.560 it will be doomed to fail. Removing to thirty would 0:10:37.600 --> 0:10:40.760 then be nothing more than a symbolic gesture, and further, 0:10:40.880 --> 0:10:43.800 it could hurt smaller platforms and thus make the anti 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:48.360 competitive problem in tech even worse. So the message here 0:10:48.360 --> 0:10:51.640 seems to be think carefully about the solution and don't 0:10:51.679 --> 0:10:54.920 make it something that makes the problem even worse than 0:10:54.960 --> 0:10:58.080 it already is, or just doesn't even address the problem 0:10:58.200 --> 0:11:02.600 in the first place. While there are ongoing investigations into 0:11:02.640 --> 0:11:06.440 the security failures that allowed dozens of rioters to roam 0:11:06.480 --> 0:11:10.000 the halls of the US Capital, there's a parallel effort 0:11:10.160 --> 0:11:13.960 to address the information security problems that arose as a 0:11:14.040 --> 0:11:18.440 result of unauthorized people having access to numerous computers and 0:11:18.600 --> 0:11:22.800 systems in the capital during the incident. The physical access 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:26.000 to facilities and equipment means there's a possibility one or 0:11:26.040 --> 0:11:29.920 more people not only accessed information they should not have, 0:11:30.520 --> 0:11:35.520 but potentially they could have bugged offices, copied data, stolen computers. 0:11:35.520 --> 0:11:38.440 In fact, we know for a fact that some computers 0:11:38.440 --> 0:11:41.120 have been stolen or at least have been reported as 0:11:41.160 --> 0:11:44.720 being stolen, or maybe stolen other equipment. They could have 0:11:44.760 --> 0:11:49.040 injected malware into computer systems or more. With this sort 0:11:49.040 --> 0:11:52.520 of intrusion, you have to move forward assuming the worst 0:11:52.720 --> 0:11:56.760 that is that everything has been compromised. Otherwise you leave 0:11:56.800 --> 0:12:01.360 yourself vulnerable to the worst. It's pretty much the worst 0:12:01.440 --> 0:12:06.280 case scenario for computer security. That being said, effectively, each 0:12:06.320 --> 0:12:10.960 member of Congress has their own information system, which means 0:12:11.200 --> 0:12:15.760 there is some decentralization at play here. They're not all 0:12:16.320 --> 0:12:19.400 just automatically linked together. They're all kind of their own 0:12:19.640 --> 0:12:23.199 little silos, but they are connected to so in other words, 0:12:23.480 --> 0:12:26.800 if someone does gain access to one specific account, they 0:12:26.800 --> 0:12:31.439 do not necessarily have access to all other accounts across Congress. 0:12:32.320 --> 0:12:35.280 That's a small comfort, but since we don't yet know 0:12:35.480 --> 0:12:39.360 the extent to which systems were compromised, it's also a 0:12:39.400 --> 0:12:41.960 bit of a moot point. And depending on the level 0:12:41.960 --> 0:12:44.720 of access people were able to get, the damage they 0:12:44.720 --> 0:12:49.160 could do could still be considerable. And there's the possibility 0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:51.960 that foreign agents could have played a part in the 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:55.640 riots on January six as well, as has been widely 0:12:55.679 --> 0:12:59.840 reported though far too late. The planning that led to 0:13:00.040 --> 0:13:03.560 these riots was largely done on platforms like Parlor and Reddit, 0:13:04.000 --> 0:13:07.719 and while there appears to have been no centralized leadership, 0:13:08.120 --> 0:13:11.679 the various smaller groups that made up the whole each 0:13:11.840 --> 0:13:16.679 shared plans extensively within their respective groups. So any foreign 0:13:16.760 --> 0:13:20.400 agency that was paying more attention than the media was 0:13:20.760 --> 0:13:23.680 could have followed along and played a part as well 0:13:23.840 --> 0:13:28.720 and taken the opportunity of access to compromise cybersecurity in 0:13:28.760 --> 0:13:32.520 the nation's capital. It will likely take many days to 0:13:32.800 --> 0:13:36.400 assess the full level of damage, and even then we 0:13:36.559 --> 0:13:41.800 likely won't know the whole story, and maybe we never will. Well, 0:13:42.559 --> 0:13:46.640 that's enough doom and gloom from the rioting at the 0:13:46.760 --> 0:13:49.679 nation's capital. I think when we come back, we're going 0:13:49.720 --> 0:13:52.400 to take a look at a totally different topic what 0:13:52.720 --> 0:13:56.080 c e S twenty twenty one is shaping up to 0:13:56.200 --> 0:13:59.520 be this week. But first let's take a quick break. 0:14:07.160 --> 0:14:09.600 So before the break, I mentioned it is c e 0:14:09.960 --> 0:14:12.400 S week. Now I talked about this last week. It 0:14:12.520 --> 0:14:16.319 is a very different show than what we would normally see. 0:14:16.720 --> 0:14:20.000 C e S is the Consumer Electronics Show. It's an 0:14:20.160 --> 0:14:24.160 enormous industry trade show that has had at least one 0:14:24.480 --> 0:14:28.160 big event in a physical location every year since nineteen 0:14:28.200 --> 0:14:32.920 sixty seven until now. In fact, since it has been 0:14:32.920 --> 0:14:38.040 held exclusively at Las Vegas in January, well, COVID has 0:14:38.120 --> 0:14:41.360 forced c e S to go virtual like lots of 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:44.320 other events in the world, and The shift and venue 0:14:44.440 --> 0:14:47.080 is just one of the changes that we're seeing this 0:14:47.160 --> 0:14:51.480 week in c e S had more than four thousand 0:14:51.560 --> 0:14:56.080 exhibitors officially at the event, and that doesn't count the 0:14:56.200 --> 0:14:59.360 number of companies that set up shop in hotel suites 0:14:59.360 --> 0:15:01.960 but are not in an official part of the show. 0:15:02.440 --> 0:15:04.600 I didn't realize that was a thing until I started 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:07.080 going to c e S. And now we get invites 0:15:07.160 --> 0:15:10.600 to go to different hotel suites to check out technology, 0:15:10.640 --> 0:15:13.200 and I realized, Oh, the reason you did this is 0:15:13.240 --> 0:15:16.520 because renting out a hotel suite is cheaper than establishing 0:15:16.880 --> 0:15:20.880 show floor space at CEES. Plus you're not competing against 0:15:20.920 --> 0:15:25.000 everybody else in the immediate area for attention. However, in 0:15:25.960 --> 0:15:29.760 one the list of exhibitors is less than half of 0:15:29.800 --> 0:15:32.360 what it was last year. It is one thousand, nine 0:15:32.640 --> 0:15:36.800 D sixty seven. Some big companies, including companies like Ford 0:15:36.920 --> 0:15:40.640 and Toyota, aren't participating this year. And while ce S 0:15:40.720 --> 0:15:43.800 isn't exactly a car trade show, we usually see a 0:15:43.800 --> 0:15:48.320 pretty big representation of car company technology on display during 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:51.920 the event, and it shouldn't come as a big surprise 0:15:52.000 --> 0:15:54.080 that a lot of the technology we expect to see 0:15:54.120 --> 0:15:58.440 this week and beyond into the rest of one will 0:15:58.480 --> 0:16:03.320 play into how co it has affected our lives. Companies 0:16:03.400 --> 0:16:07.680 will be introducing technologies designed to promote safety and wellness 0:16:07.720 --> 0:16:11.760 in office spaces. So we're anticipating a time when people 0:16:11.800 --> 0:16:14.080 will be able to work together in the same physical 0:16:14.120 --> 0:16:18.200 location in relative safety across more of the world. And 0:16:18.240 --> 0:16:20.440 there's likely going to be a lot more technology that 0:16:20.520 --> 0:16:23.600 supports those who will be working from home. As kind 0:16:23.600 --> 0:16:26.480 of an ongoing arrangement, We've heard from a lot of 0:16:26.520 --> 0:16:29.720 companies over the course of twenty twenty last year that 0:16:30.120 --> 0:16:33.400 moving forward they are going to allow more of their 0:16:33.560 --> 0:16:36.920 employees to work from home, you know, just as a 0:16:36.960 --> 0:16:40.840 matter of course, even after we reach something like herd 0:16:40.840 --> 0:16:45.000 immunity with COVID. One of the things that happens at 0:16:45.120 --> 0:16:49.800 c S is that the Consumer Technology Association brings together 0:16:49.880 --> 0:16:54.080 a panel of judges to pour over thousands of products 0:16:54.120 --> 0:16:57.920 and select some that are standouts in their respective categories. 0:16:58.440 --> 0:17:01.960 The judges come from various sectors and include executives from 0:17:02.040 --> 0:17:09.280 companies like Intel, Spotify, Comcast, Amazon, Apple, Google, and more. 0:17:09.840 --> 0:17:14.239 Oh and that more includes some really interesting outliers Like 0:17:14.480 --> 0:17:17.160 this year, one of the judges is a representative from 0:17:17.320 --> 0:17:22.480 Cirque to Sola Entertainment Group, which famously had a financial 0:17:22.520 --> 0:17:26.560 collapse last year. Somehow my invitation to be part of 0:17:26.560 --> 0:17:29.240 this must have been lost in the mail. But I'm 0:17:29.280 --> 0:17:32.560 just joking because I'm neither qualified to really judge this 0:17:32.600 --> 0:17:35.119 sort of stuff, nor do I relish the thought of 0:17:35.200 --> 0:17:40.280 having to examine countless examples of technology and then start 0:17:40.359 --> 0:17:45.000 assigning scores to them. Anyway, we already know the winners 0:17:45.080 --> 0:17:49.000 for this year's ce S Best of Innovation. Now. The 0:17:49.080 --> 0:17:55.399 honorees in total include two products from companies. Obviously, I 0:17:55.440 --> 0:17:58.639 am not going to list them all. That would be ludicrous, 0:17:58.880 --> 0:18:01.119 So I'm just gonna give you a a couple that 0:18:01.119 --> 0:18:04.480 that stood out to me. A Canadian company called E 0:18:04.720 --> 0:18:09.159 two I p E twip, I don't know, anyway, they 0:18:09.160 --> 0:18:13.480 submitted a product called Engineered electro Magnetic Surfaces that I 0:18:13.520 --> 0:18:17.280 think is really cool. Now, these are sheets of plastic 0:18:17.520 --> 0:18:20.840 that are very very thin, and they're semi transparent, and 0:18:20.880 --> 0:18:26.880 the sheets can reflect, redirect, or block specific radio frequency waves. 0:18:26.920 --> 0:18:30.520 So you can engineer this stuff to allow certain radio 0:18:30.560 --> 0:18:33.280 frequency waves to pass through and to block other ones 0:18:33.320 --> 0:18:37.040 and so on. The applications for such material are numerous, 0:18:37.320 --> 0:18:40.119 so you could use it to help focus signals like 0:18:40.280 --> 0:18:44.280 five G radio frequency signals to a particular location. So 0:18:44.440 --> 0:18:47.119 let's say that you wanted to have a five G 0:18:47.320 --> 0:18:49.879 wireless connection to your home. You want to set up 0:18:49.880 --> 0:18:54.160 an antenna pick up five G transmission signals and use 0:18:54.240 --> 0:18:56.919 that for your home network. You've got a router and 0:18:57.359 --> 0:19:00.399 the five G signals come in to the router and 0:19:00.440 --> 0:19:03.919 then you can connect your local network that way. Well, 0:19:04.080 --> 0:19:06.600 we know that the ultra fast version of five G 0:19:07.040 --> 0:19:09.439 has a very limited range, so you need to be 0:19:09.480 --> 0:19:12.800 close to these antenna and it also has a limited 0:19:12.800 --> 0:19:15.800 ability to penetrate walls. So even if you are close, 0:19:16.359 --> 0:19:18.159 you wouldn't be able to pick this up with a 0:19:18.240 --> 0:19:22.520 router antenna inside your home because the signals themselves wouldn't 0:19:22.560 --> 0:19:25.040 get into your home in the first place. So you 0:19:25.119 --> 0:19:28.639 might need something akin to a satellite dish that uses 0:19:28.720 --> 0:19:34.480 this engineered material to help direct signals to the antenna. 0:19:34.600 --> 0:19:37.520 So in other words, it's capturing and redirecting more of 0:19:37.560 --> 0:19:40.080 those five G signals to get a nice strong connection, 0:19:40.560 --> 0:19:43.840 and that way you could end up having a five 0:19:43.920 --> 0:19:48.040 G connectivity to the outside world, and then your local 0:19:48.240 --> 0:19:50.880 network connects by a five G that'd be super cool. 0:19:51.200 --> 0:19:54.600 Or imagine using this material to help shield a location 0:19:54.840 --> 0:19:59.440 from outside signals, to make sure that external signals can't 0:19:59.480 --> 0:20:02.160 get into to a facility. If you need to create 0:20:02.200 --> 0:20:05.399 a cyber secure location. Let's say you've got an air gap, 0:20:05.800 --> 0:20:07.960 so you don't want to connect to the internet at large, 0:20:08.119 --> 0:20:10.720 but you still want to have an internal network complete 0:20:10.720 --> 0:20:14.840 with wireless components. So inside the building you're able to 0:20:14.880 --> 0:20:18.520 connect to WiFi, but it's only for the internal network. 0:20:19.119 --> 0:20:21.520 You would want to have something like this to block 0:20:21.560 --> 0:20:25.960 external signals from potentially interfering or snooping on you. There 0:20:26.000 --> 0:20:28.200 are a lot of other potential uses for this material 0:20:28.240 --> 0:20:31.040 as well. I just thought it was super cool. Another 0:20:31.160 --> 0:20:34.719 product that One and Innovation award is the bio Button. 0:20:35.080 --> 0:20:37.720 It is a wearable device about the size of a 0:20:37.800 --> 0:20:43.119 half dollar coin US half dollar. It monitors various bio 0:20:43.200 --> 0:20:47.280 markers like respiratory rate, heart rate, and body temperature, with 0:20:47.359 --> 0:20:51.639 a specific purpose for screening for COVID nineteen. I don't 0:20:51.680 --> 0:20:55.400 know how you wear it. I looked at pictures of this, 0:20:55.720 --> 0:20:58.720 but I didn't see any description of how it's actually warrnt. 0:20:58.720 --> 0:21:01.280 I imagine it has to be worn against the skin. 0:21:01.920 --> 0:21:05.679 If it's monitoring your temperature. Otherwise how would it know. 0:21:06.480 --> 0:21:09.240 But you pair it with a smartphone app and you 0:21:09.280 --> 0:21:13.400 receive notifications based on those bio markers, such as a 0:21:13.480 --> 0:21:16.919 clear or no clear notification before you start your day. 0:21:16.960 --> 0:21:18.760 Maybe this is just something that you use to do 0:21:18.800 --> 0:21:22.879 a quick scan as opposed to consistent monitoring, But that 0:21:23.000 --> 0:21:25.160 wasn't the implication I got when I was reading over 0:21:25.200 --> 0:21:29.200 the material. Anyway, this sort of approach could be critical 0:21:29.240 --> 0:21:33.120 to preventing further spread of the illness, with some big 0:21:33.200 --> 0:21:38.760 qualifiers there, because this approach is dependent upon detecting symptomatic 0:21:38.880 --> 0:21:42.240 cases of COVID nineteen. But we also know it's possible 0:21:42.240 --> 0:21:46.080 to be asymptomatic as well as contagious, and this device 0:21:46.080 --> 0:21:48.720 wouldn't be much help for those cases. I mean, it 0:21:48.880 --> 0:21:53.080 is looking for symptoms of COVID. If you're asymptomatic by definition, 0:21:53.080 --> 0:21:55.720 you don't have those, so it's not like it's a 0:21:55.960 --> 0:22:02.680 failsafe device that is completely dependable. Is one more measure 0:22:02.720 --> 0:22:06.359 to use in the efforts to prevent the transmission of 0:22:06.400 --> 0:22:10.560 COVID nineteam, but shouldn't be seen as the big solution. 0:22:11.359 --> 0:22:14.480 And the last one I want to highlight for This 0:22:14.600 --> 0:22:18.240 episode comes out of IBM. They received a Best of 0:22:18.280 --> 0:22:23.240 Innovation award for the Mayflower Autonomous Ship or m AS design. 0:22:24.119 --> 0:22:27.400 This ship will be fully autonomous. It will be guided 0:22:27.480 --> 0:22:31.560 by artificial intelligence from start to finish whenever it takes 0:22:31.600 --> 0:22:35.080 its trip. It's supposed to go on its maiden voyage 0:22:35.200 --> 0:22:38.160 in the spring of this year, where it will set 0:22:38.200 --> 0:22:43.240 forth from Plymouth, England and travel to Plymouth, Massachusetts, under 0:22:43.240 --> 0:22:46.920 its own power, under its own guidance, and thus echoing 0:22:46.960 --> 0:22:50.879 the famous Pilgrim's journey. It is meant to self navigate 0:22:50.920 --> 0:22:54.480 and self operate, and it could be a very valuable 0:22:54.480 --> 0:22:57.760 technology in the future to allow for stuff like cargo 0:22:57.840 --> 0:23:02.160 transportation without putting crews and risk of various hazards like 0:23:02.600 --> 0:23:06.800 storms or even pirates. Really. In addition, scientists will be 0:23:06.880 --> 0:23:09.439 able to learn more about the oceans by looking at 0:23:09.560 --> 0:23:12.720 data that the ship gathers as it navigates through environments 0:23:13.040 --> 0:23:16.160 that would be too dangerous for humans. The m AS 0:23:16.240 --> 0:23:20.040 itself is more of a prototype ship. It looks fairly 0:23:20.080 --> 0:23:22.840 futuristic and nifty, with lots of solar panels on it 0:23:22.920 --> 0:23:26.560 and stuff. It does not look like a cargo vessel 0:23:26.560 --> 0:23:29.200 in other words, and it's not meant to be. Should 0:23:29.320 --> 0:23:33.160 this technology prove viable, I expect we would see more 0:23:33.240 --> 0:23:36.800 industrial versions that would look a lot less science fiction 0:23:36.880 --> 0:23:39.560 in a lot more functional. But I will be following 0:23:39.600 --> 0:23:43.760 this story with interest to see how it develops. I 0:23:43.800 --> 0:23:49.040 think that autonomous shipping is definitely a big area of 0:23:49.480 --> 0:23:53.359 development that will see over the next few years. Uh. 0:23:53.560 --> 0:23:56.200 Kind of along the same lines that we've heard about 0:23:56.200 --> 0:23:59.040 how autonomous driving is really going to make an enormous 0:23:59.040 --> 0:24:01.879 impact in the truck industry. There are a lot of 0:24:01.880 --> 0:24:04.480 other products that received awards. These were just a few 0:24:04.560 --> 0:24:07.199 I found interesting. Let's close out with a couple of 0:24:07.200 --> 0:24:10.520 other brief c e S notes, but we'll cover more 0:24:10.560 --> 0:24:13.879 of c e S in Thursday's episode. So another c 0:24:14.000 --> 0:24:17.120 E S news, l G showed off it's TV lineup 0:24:17.240 --> 0:24:21.400 at its press conference. The smart TV line uses the 0:24:21.520 --> 0:24:25.680 web OS operating system, and the new smart TVs will 0:24:25.720 --> 0:24:29.679 have Google Stadia and in video g force now built 0:24:29.760 --> 0:24:34.120 into them. Both of these are cloud gaming services. They're 0:24:34.240 --> 0:24:37.320 very different. In Video g force Now is all about 0:24:37.400 --> 0:24:41.720 being able to access games that exist in your libraries 0:24:41.760 --> 0:24:45.840 with other services like Steam, whereas Google Stadia is more 0:24:46.000 --> 0:24:49.439 of a walled Garden, where you own the access to 0:24:49.520 --> 0:24:53.080 games within Stadia itself. To learn more about Google Stadia, 0:24:53.240 --> 0:24:56.200 make sure you check out tomorrow's episode of Tech Stuff 0:24:56.400 --> 0:24:58.960 because that's when I'll do a deep dive on that 0:24:59.040 --> 0:25:04.440 cloud gaming service. Also, Samsung showed off some new robots 0:25:04.480 --> 0:25:08.680 designed to help around the house. The butt Handy is 0:25:08.720 --> 0:25:11.080 a robot that looks like a pedestal on top of 0:25:11.119 --> 0:25:15.880 a robotic vacuum and has an articulated arm attached that pedestal, 0:25:16.359 --> 0:25:18.399 and Samsung showed off a video of it doing stuff 0:25:18.440 --> 0:25:21.520 like pouring a glass of wine from a bottle and 0:25:21.640 --> 0:25:25.399 loading a dishwasher, which come on, I mean a dishwasher 0:25:25.480 --> 0:25:29.680 is already a labor saving device, but loading a dishwasher anyway. 0:25:29.920 --> 0:25:33.640 Samsung showed all these off, along with a three other 0:25:33.680 --> 0:25:36.720 types of robots as press conference, so once again we 0:25:36.760 --> 0:25:40.919 see another push for consumer robots. I haven't seen a 0:25:40.960 --> 0:25:46.399 lot of adoption of consumer robots outside of robotic vacuums 0:25:46.440 --> 0:25:50.640 and then a few other specialized robots like gutter cleaners 0:25:50.680 --> 0:25:54.159