WEBVTT - Tech News: Hackers and Vulnerabilities and APIs, Oh My! 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:12.360 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Be there 0:00:12.400 --> 0:00:16.040 and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. 0:00:16.040 --> 0:00:20.200 I'm an executive producer with iHeartRadio. And how the tech 0:00:20.320 --> 0:00:24.440 are you. It's time for the news for Thursday October 0:00:24.600 --> 0:00:28.360 twenty six, twenty twenty three, and let's start off with 0:00:28.440 --> 0:00:33.280 some news about hackers and vulnerability, shall we. Ours Technica 0:00:33.320 --> 0:00:37.839 has an article titled pro Russia hackers target inboxes with 0:00:38.120 --> 0:00:42.959 zero day in webmail app used by millions. The webmail 0:00:43.120 --> 0:00:49.280 app in question is round cubes webmail application. Many organizations, 0:00:49.320 --> 0:00:53.599 like a lot of universities, rely upon round cube and 0:00:53.760 --> 0:00:57.000 they reskin it as a different email service, but they 0:00:57.080 --> 0:01:00.280 use that for their staff and students. It's real least 0:01:00.320 --> 0:01:05.520 under the GNU or GANW General Public License. It's available 0:01:05.520 --> 0:01:09.680 for anyone to download, deploy, and distribute. But it turns 0:01:09.720 --> 0:01:13.480 out that until very recently it had a vulnerability in 0:01:13.560 --> 0:01:17.240 cross site scripting that gives hackers the chance to actually 0:01:17.280 --> 0:01:24.080 compromise email servers and user computers and then intercept communications 0:01:24.600 --> 0:01:30.120 sent across that machine's email. So the attack is pretty insidious. 0:01:30.160 --> 0:01:34.319 The hackers hide the attack inside an email. The only 0:01:34.400 --> 0:01:36.440 thing that the victim has to do in order for 0:01:36.480 --> 0:01:39.120 the attack to launch is to view the email. They 0:01:39.120 --> 0:01:41.720 don't have to click on any links. This isn't like 0:01:41.760 --> 0:01:44.319 a phishing attack, or at least not your traditional kind. 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:49.400 Just opening the email will do it because it initiates 0:01:49.840 --> 0:01:53.920 a pretty diabolical sequence of events. So the hackers create 0:01:53.960 --> 0:01:58.920 an attack encoded in JavaScript, and that attack is triggered 0:01:59.400 --> 0:02:03.800 if the target computer detects and error. So you might think, well, 0:02:03.840 --> 0:02:07.680 if there's no error detected, then this attack goes untriggered. However, 0:02:07.760 --> 0:02:11.480 the tag itself in the email contains an error, so 0:02:11.800 --> 0:02:16.399 viewing the email creates the error report, which then initiates 0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:20.840 the actual attack included within the coding of that email, 0:02:21.480 --> 0:02:24.520 and the attack is invisible to the victim. It results 0:02:24.520 --> 0:02:27.720 in the hackers gaining access essentially to the victim's emails. 0:02:28.400 --> 0:02:32.480 The hacker group responsible for exploiting this vulnerability is called 0:02:32.919 --> 0:02:37.560 Winter Vivern. In the past, they've mostly focused on targeting 0:02:37.760 --> 0:02:42.359 government officials in the United States, particularly government officials who 0:02:42.440 --> 0:02:46.120 showed support for Ukraine, which again points to this being 0:02:46.160 --> 0:02:51.359 a Russian backed hacker attack. Fortunately, the security firm e 0:02:51.560 --> 0:02:55.640 Set detected the attacks a day after they had first 0:02:55.639 --> 0:02:59.240 started to launch and then immediately reached out to the 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:03.680 developers over a Roundcube. So three days after the attacks began, 0:03:04.320 --> 0:03:08.200 Roundcube issued a patch. Now, the patch does require server 0:03:08.320 --> 0:03:12.880 admins to install it, or for end users who are 0:03:13.000 --> 0:03:18.160 using round Cube based webmail to run, make sure that 0:03:18.160 --> 0:03:20.920 the software running is a patched version of that software, 0:03:21.240 --> 0:03:23.320 or else you run the risk of becoming one of 0:03:23.360 --> 0:03:27.560 the targets. Over on the Apple side, Ours Technica has 0:03:27.639 --> 0:03:31.000 another article. Ours Technica is just a great site, y'all. Again, 0:03:31.040 --> 0:03:33.400 I have no connection to ours Technica. They just do 0:03:33.480 --> 0:03:37.160 great work anyway. They have another article titled hackers can 0:03:37.280 --> 0:03:42.240 force iOS and macOS browsers to divulge passwords and much 0:03:42.400 --> 0:03:47.200 more so. Unlike the first story, today, as far as 0:03:47.240 --> 0:03:50.480 we know, this particular exploit has not been used in 0:03:50.520 --> 0:03:54.960 the wild. Instead, some security researchers discovered it on iOS 0:03:54.960 --> 0:03:59.800 and macOS devices that are running on hardware that has 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:04.320 Apple's A or M series CPUs in them, so it 0:04:04.320 --> 0:04:07.520 doesn't affect every Apple product, just Apple products that have 0:04:07.640 --> 0:04:12.560 a A or M series CPU. They have called their 0:04:12.640 --> 0:04:16.320 exploit eye Leakage, in a cute little nod to Apples 0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:20.600 naming conventions. Now, according to ours technica. This attack is 0:04:20.720 --> 0:04:24.480 not a simple one. It actually requires a fairly significant 0:04:24.520 --> 0:04:29.120 familiarity with an understanding of Apple hardware in order to 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:32.200 pull it off. But the attack targets what is called 0:04:32.240 --> 0:04:34.599 a side channel, and you can kind of think of 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:37.279 as a side channel as sort of you're looking not 0:04:37.600 --> 0:04:42.160 at the data itself, instead you're looking at evidence that 0:04:42.360 --> 0:04:45.920 data was there. So I'm talking about stuff like electromagnetic 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:50.680 emanations things like that. You know, it's like seeing evidence 0:04:50.720 --> 0:04:53.840 that something has been there and then reverse engineering it. 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:57.320 So it is really complicated stuff. But the researcher showed 0:04:57.360 --> 0:05:01.320 that through a process that's called speculative to execution, which 0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:04.120 has been at the root of a lot of exploits 0:05:04.120 --> 0:05:08.359 in the last few years, and by using a malicious website, 0:05:08.400 --> 0:05:12.240 the researchers could execute a JavaScript application that would then 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:15.560 give them the ability to open a new window that 0:05:15.680 --> 0:05:19.400 was running on the target device and be able to 0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:22.560 access stuff as if they were the user. So, for example, 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:26.360 let's say that I use this attack, I exploited your 0:05:26.440 --> 0:05:29.480 Apple device, and then it would open up a window 0:05:29.520 --> 0:05:33.320 on my screen where I could say, navigate to YouTube 0:05:33.360 --> 0:05:36.440 and look at your YouTube view history, or I could 0:05:36.520 --> 0:05:40.039 navigate to a login page, and if you had enabled 0:05:40.520 --> 0:05:45.200 auto complete or autofill passwords or whatever, I could get 0:05:45.240 --> 0:05:48.600 access to your account through that. Potentially I could even 0:05:49.040 --> 0:05:51.760 do things like figure out what your password was and 0:05:51.800 --> 0:05:55.080 then maybe change it so that then I control whatever 0:05:55.160 --> 0:05:58.880 account I was snooping on. So yeah, it's a pretty 0:05:59.040 --> 0:06:03.520 serious vulnerable ability here. But again it is a very 0:06:03.960 --> 0:06:08.520 sophisticated and difficult attack, So it's not something that is, 0:06:09.279 --> 0:06:13.880 as far as we know, readily active out in the wild. 0:06:14.120 --> 0:06:17.560 Apple has said that they are aware of the vulnerability, 0:06:17.560 --> 0:06:22.000 they're working on addressing it. And because there's no known 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:25.800 actual live attacks using this method, because there's such a 0:06:25.880 --> 0:06:29.200 high learning curve as to how to use it. For 0:06:29.279 --> 0:06:33.760 the meantime, Apple users don't necessarily have anything to worry about. Obviously. 0:06:34.320 --> 0:06:36.440 You always have to worry about the types of websites 0:06:36.480 --> 0:06:39.279 you visit. That's just a given, like you should not 0:06:39.440 --> 0:06:42.320 just be going willy nilly to websites you don't know 0:06:42.920 --> 0:06:46.040 if you can manage that. But apart from that, it's 0:06:46.240 --> 0:06:49.160 not likely to be an active attack in Apple, as 0:06:49.200 --> 0:06:52.599 I said, is aware of it and attempting to mitigate 0:06:52.760 --> 0:06:56.120 the problem. I mentioned in an earlier news episode that 0:06:56.240 --> 0:06:59.719 hackers gained access to user data on twenty three and meters, 0:06:59.760 --> 0:07:03.159 the genetic testing service, and the company maintains that the 0:07:03.200 --> 0:07:06.120 hackers didn't get access on the corporate side, like they 0:07:06.160 --> 0:07:10.280 didn't get access into twenty three and me's systems through 0:07:10.360 --> 0:07:13.880 some sort of breach attack. Instead, they say that the 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:18.080 hackers essentially they just used usernames and passwords from other 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:21.640 data leaks and then tried them to access twenty three 0:07:21.640 --> 0:07:25.200 and meters and sometimes it worked, which again reminds us 0:07:25.240 --> 0:07:28.360 that we need to have unique passwords for every service 0:07:28.400 --> 0:07:32.240 we use, even though that's a pain in the tukis. Anyway, 0:07:32.400 --> 0:07:35.320 I mentioned in that news item that there were rumors 0:07:35.320 --> 0:07:39.880 the hackers were targeting specific ethnic groups, particularly Jewish people. 0:07:40.480 --> 0:07:43.800 Now NBC reports that some hackers have published a database 0:07:44.240 --> 0:07:48.280 on dark web forums that lists one person shy of 0:07:48.360 --> 0:07:52.320 one million people, so nine hundred nine, nine hundred ninety 0:07:52.400 --> 0:07:56.400 nine people who share an Ashkenazi heritage, so Ashkenazi Jews, 0:07:57.120 --> 0:08:01.760 and considering historical threats of anti Semitism in general, and 0:08:01.920 --> 0:08:05.920 that there's been a rise in those kinds of sentiments 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:10.080 across the world recently, this is a pretty alarming incident. 0:08:10.160 --> 0:08:13.360 You know whether the hacker or hackers actually harbor antisemitic 0:08:13.440 --> 0:08:17.280 views themselves, or they just callously wish to profit off 0:08:17.320 --> 0:08:21.160 others who do have those feelings. I don't know the 0:08:21.200 --> 0:08:24.239 answer to that, but it is generally a very bad 0:08:24.360 --> 0:08:27.400 thing whenever anyone starts to make long lists of people 0:08:27.400 --> 0:08:32.040 who share a particular background. Also, I should add that 0:08:32.160 --> 0:08:35.480 I believe this to be true no matter what the background. 0:08:35.960 --> 0:08:38.200 I try to use critical thinking and compassion as by 0:08:38.280 --> 0:08:42.320 guiding principles in general, and as such I object to 0:08:42.400 --> 0:08:47.400 violence acted out against innocent people, innocent civilians, no matter 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:51.920 what their ethnicity, nationality, or religion happens to be. I 0:08:51.960 --> 0:08:56.400 also know I am vastly under educated in things like 0:08:56.960 --> 0:09:02.680 Middle Eastern culture and politics, and that of Israel and Palestine, 0:09:02.760 --> 0:09:05.160 so I know I am not qualified to make any 0:09:05.160 --> 0:09:09.400 sort of judgment about what is going on beyond the 0:09:09.559 --> 0:09:13.000 need to end attacks against civilians, whether in Israel or 0:09:13.080 --> 0:09:16.439 Gaza or beyond that, I think is just true as 0:09:16.480 --> 0:09:21.160 a blanket statement. But beyond that, I admit I am 0:09:21.240 --> 0:09:26.319 too ignorant to weigh in on anything more substantive than that. 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:29.480 But I think it's our darn good start to stop 0:09:30.160 --> 0:09:34.760 attacks on innocent civilians. All right, I need to preface 0:09:35.120 --> 0:09:39.680 this next story with a content warning. I'm about to 0:09:39.679 --> 0:09:43.400 talk about how people are using generative AI to create 0:09:43.440 --> 0:09:49.640 images depicting sexual violence against children, which is obviously a 0:09:49.720 --> 0:09:52.840 deeply disturbing topic, and I wanted to give you listeners 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:56.920 the opportunity to skip ahead or to stop listening. I 0:09:56.920 --> 0:09:59.800 think it's something we can't ignore, but I also think 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:04.200 that your mental health is important. So if you feel 0:10:04.280 --> 0:10:07.720 the need to just nope out of this next story, 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:12.640 no judgment here, I totally understand. The Guardian posted a 0:10:12.679 --> 0:10:16.839 story about how the Internet Watch Foundation or IWF in 0:10:16.920 --> 0:10:21.439 the UK found almost three thousand instances of AI generated 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:25.600 child abuse images, at least according to this group, So 0:10:25.640 --> 0:10:29.200 the organization says that such material is poised to quote 0:10:29.400 --> 0:10:33.280 overwhelm the Internet end quote. I don't know how true 0:10:33.320 --> 0:10:36.920 that is, but if in fact it is easy to 0:10:37.040 --> 0:10:40.000 produce such content, then it does stand to reason that 0:10:40.040 --> 0:10:42.520 we're going to encounter more of it in the future. So, 0:10:42.640 --> 0:10:45.880 according to the group, people who are using AI to 0:10:45.960 --> 0:10:50.760 make these terrible images are an indication that the AI 0:10:50.840 --> 0:10:55.080 models in question must have had real life images of 0:10:55.120 --> 0:10:59.920 abuse to use as training material. Because generative AI can't 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:01.920 make stuff out of a vacuum. It has to be 0:11:02.000 --> 0:11:07.360 trained first, and that's also really disturbing. The organization also 0:11:07.440 --> 0:11:10.440 said that people were using this technology to take pictures 0:11:10.480 --> 0:11:14.680 of clothed children and then alter those pictures to try 0:11:14.720 --> 0:11:17.480 and show what those children might look like without clothing. 0:11:17.600 --> 0:11:22.480 So it's truly abhorrent stuff. And while the threat of 0:11:22.559 --> 0:11:26.520 a flood of AI generated abuse material is already horrifying, 0:11:27.400 --> 0:11:30.360 the IWF worries that this is going to make real 0:11:30.440 --> 0:11:35.360 world instances of abuse harder to detect and thus make 0:11:35.400 --> 0:11:40.440 it more difficult to rescue child victims from abusive situations. 0:11:40.880 --> 0:11:45.199 The IWF specifically identified a generative AI tool that's called 0:11:45.400 --> 0:11:50.319 stable Diffusion from the company stability AI as the tool 0:11:50.400 --> 0:11:54.520 that these folks were using to create the images. Stability 0:11:54.600 --> 0:11:57.960 AI had a representative that told The Guardian the company 0:11:58.040 --> 0:12:02.560 quote prohibits any missus for illegal or immoral purposes across 0:12:02.600 --> 0:12:06.199 our platforms, and our policies are clear that this includes 0:12:06.360 --> 0:12:09.640 ce sam end quote SEESAM, by the way, stands for 0:12:09.760 --> 0:12:14.000 child sexual abuse material. It is unclear to me if 0:12:14.000 --> 0:12:17.360 this means Stability AI has actually built in guardrails and 0:12:17.400 --> 0:12:21.360 those guardrails have somehow failed, or if the company is 0:12:21.440 --> 0:12:25.000 just attempting to distance itself from the ways its customers 0:12:25.000 --> 0:12:29.560 are using its products. Okay, We're going to now take 0:12:29.960 --> 0:12:32.600 a quick break to think our sponsors. We'll be back 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:44.720 with some more tech news in a moment. We're back 0:12:44.920 --> 0:12:48.000 so here. In the United States, a collection of more 0:12:48.040 --> 0:12:52.240 than thirty attorneys general across the nation have filed a 0:12:52.440 --> 0:12:56.960 lawsuit against the company Meta aka the former Facebook. The 0:12:57.040 --> 0:13:01.960 attorneys general argue that the company has no implemented harmful features, 0:13:02.000 --> 0:13:06.240 including ones meant to addict users to staying with the 0:13:06.240 --> 0:13:08.880 product for as long as possible, and that the company 0:13:08.920 --> 0:13:13.000 has targeted young people, including children, in these efforts. The 0:13:13.160 --> 0:13:17.000 attorney's general argue that the company's practices have led to 0:13:17.080 --> 0:13:21.000 harm by promoting material by algorithm, and that some of 0:13:21.000 --> 0:13:24.640 this material contributes to mental health issues and other problems 0:13:24.640 --> 0:13:29.240 like eating disorders. The lawsuits argue that Meta has encouraged 0:13:29.280 --> 0:13:33.080 and profited off of hurting young people and contributing to 0:13:33.120 --> 0:13:37.120 a decline in mental health. Andy Stone, whom I think 0:13:37.120 --> 0:13:40.880 of as the mouth of Meta, said, we're disappointed that, 0:13:41.000 --> 0:13:44.040 instead of working productively with companies across the industry, to 0:13:44.040 --> 0:13:47.960 create clear, age appropriate standards for the many apps teens use. 0:13:48.360 --> 0:13:52.800 The Attorneys general have chosen this path, and I imagine 0:13:52.800 --> 0:13:58.240 Meta is very disappointed now, y'all. I have been extremely 0:13:58.320 --> 0:14:01.680 critical of Meta as well as platforms, and I do 0:14:01.760 --> 0:14:05.160 believe these companies profit off of misery in lots of 0:14:05.200 --> 0:14:09.400 different ways. I would suggest that the extent to which 0:14:09.400 --> 0:14:15.280 these companies actually cause misery is not fully known or understood. 0:14:15.960 --> 0:14:19.920 I'm not sure that we can draw firm conclusions between 0:14:19.920 --> 0:14:24.200 correlation and causation here. So I've said this before. There's 0:14:24.200 --> 0:14:27.720 sometimes a tendency to say that people encounter problems with 0:14:27.760 --> 0:14:34.040 mental health after they spend increasingly long hours on social media. However, 0:14:34.680 --> 0:14:38.440 it could be that people who already have mental health 0:14:38.480 --> 0:14:42.720 issues are more prone to being active on social media 0:14:42.800 --> 0:14:46.960 for longer hours, rather than the other way around. I 0:14:47.000 --> 0:14:50.200 don't know where the truth lies. I'm sure it's somewhere 0:14:50.480 --> 0:14:53.000 in the middle. I doubt it's as easy as one 0:14:53.040 --> 0:14:55.880 extreme or the other. But my point is this is 0:14:55.920 --> 0:14:58.760 a really tricky issue. You know, clearly, we do have 0:14:58.800 --> 0:15:02.240 an obligation to protect you generations. That is important. We 0:15:02.280 --> 0:15:07.320 should be prioritizing the health and wellness of people in general. 0:15:08.000 --> 0:15:10.320 But we also need to make sure whatever measures we 0:15:10.400 --> 0:15:14.400 take to do that actually addresses the issue and not 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:19.360 just a symptom. And I am not sure that we've 0:15:20.000 --> 0:15:23.840 identified the issue right. I mean, the symptom is clearly there. 0:15:23.880 --> 0:15:29.160 It is undeniable to say that metas algorithms have promoted 0:15:29.240 --> 0:15:33.200 things that are not healthy to various users. I've seen 0:15:33.200 --> 0:15:37.760 it myself. For me, I have seen when logging into Facebook, 0:15:37.960 --> 0:15:41.960 promotions of stuff that is clearly not healthy. Uh. And 0:15:42.800 --> 0:15:48.240 so that's obvious. But whether that's actually contributing to harm, 0:15:48.560 --> 0:15:52.160 that's harder to say. I'm not saying that it doesn't exist, 0:15:52.560 --> 0:15:56.240 but that we kind of need more information about it 0:15:56.280 --> 0:15:59.600 before we can make definitive conclusions. If it does mean 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:02.480 that we cut back on the harmful stuff or the 0:16:02.480 --> 0:16:06.040 stuff that scams or are promoting things that are bad, 0:16:06.640 --> 0:16:08.360 I'm all for it. I would like to see less 0:16:08.360 --> 0:16:10.800 of that anyway. I just don't know that you can 0:16:10.960 --> 0:16:14.920 justify it as someone needs to protect the children. It's 0:16:14.960 --> 0:16:19.200 a complicated issue, and I normally keep article recommendations for 0:16:19.280 --> 0:16:21.920 the end of episodes, but in this case, I actually 0:16:22.000 --> 0:16:25.520 have one that is relevant to this story. I think 0:16:25.840 --> 0:16:29.000 it's by Caitlin Vogus of the Freedom of the Press Foundation. 0:16:29.320 --> 0:16:33.640 So clearly there is a particular perspective being brought here. 0:16:34.320 --> 0:16:38.360 And the article is titled Kids Online Safety Act will 0:16:38.400 --> 0:16:41.400 censor the News. So this piece is all about how 0:16:41.880 --> 0:16:45.320 a particular piece of legislation could have a chilling effect 0:16:45.320 --> 0:16:48.440 on speech in general, even in ways that go beyond 0:16:48.840 --> 0:16:52.680 the intended purpose of the law. And again, I think 0:16:52.680 --> 0:16:55.480 this is a really complicated issue. It's one that is 0:16:55.640 --> 0:16:59.240 highly charged emotionally because child safety is a factor, right, 0:16:59.280 --> 0:17:03.480 and that's obviously important, but it's also important to consider 0:17:03.600 --> 0:17:07.240 all the factors and consequences of our response to problems, 0:17:07.520 --> 0:17:10.720 because we may just exacerbate problems or create all new 0:17:10.760 --> 0:17:14.280 ones in the process. So, yeah, an important read. I think. 0:17:14.320 --> 0:17:17.960 I don't think it's the definitive answer either. I just 0:17:17.960 --> 0:17:20.080 think it's something that has to be brought into consideration. 0:17:20.400 --> 0:17:23.080 And I can't pretend that I have the answer. I 0:17:23.119 --> 0:17:26.080 certainly don't. I just think it's really important to consider 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:31.520 different perspectives before you make any conclusion. Now we move 0:17:31.560 --> 0:17:35.760 on to X the service formerly known as Twitter. Just 0:17:35.840 --> 0:17:37.760 a couple of little stories to talk about today, So 0:17:37.760 --> 0:17:41.600 I'm not gonna do my normal Twitter dump. So first up, 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:44.000 X is rolling out new features on the platform that 0:17:44.040 --> 0:17:48.400 support audio and video calls, so before I started recording, 0:17:48.400 --> 0:17:51.040 I checked to see if the rollout had reached me, 0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:56.240 but no dice. However, I think this particular feature may 0:17:56.359 --> 0:18:00.000 only be applicable for people who are using the X 0:18:00.480 --> 0:18:04.280 app on their phones. I don't do that. I installed 0:18:04.480 --> 0:18:08.000 Twitter Ages ago and I never put it on when 0:18:08.040 --> 0:18:10.800 it became X, so I don't have the app. I 0:18:10.840 --> 0:18:14.399 only check the service if I use the web browser version. 0:18:14.840 --> 0:18:17.880 So I suspect that I wouldn't have access to this 0:18:18.280 --> 0:18:20.359 one way or the other because I think it only 0:18:20.400 --> 0:18:23.440 goes to people who have the app version. But other 0:18:23.440 --> 0:18:26.679 people report that upon opening their app they see a 0:18:26.720 --> 0:18:31.120 notification announcing the arrival of audio and video calls. These 0:18:31.200 --> 0:18:35.280 work within the Direct Messages system, so if you open 0:18:35.320 --> 0:18:38.600 a DM with a user, you can select a little 0:18:38.600 --> 0:18:42.159 phone icon to try and initiate a call with that person, 0:18:42.640 --> 0:18:45.320 but you can't just call anyone, which I think must 0:18:45.400 --> 0:18:47.440 be a huge relief to a lot of the folks 0:18:47.440 --> 0:18:51.040 who are still using X. So the feature first requires 0:18:51.040 --> 0:18:54.040 that users turn it on with a toggle in the 0:18:54.080 --> 0:18:57.320 settings for Twitter or X in this case, so you 0:18:57.320 --> 0:18:59.760 would be prompted to go into your settings and toggle 0:18:59.880 --> 0:19:04.840 on on the support for audio and video calls. Then 0:19:04.880 --> 0:19:07.359 you can also choose the types of users that you 0:19:07.480 --> 0:19:10.919 will engage in calls with, so that might just be 0:19:10.960 --> 0:19:13.960 people who are on your contact list, it might be 0:19:14.119 --> 0:19:17.760 people that you follow, or it might only be verified users, 0:19:18.160 --> 0:19:21.040 or some combination of the three. And I'm very relieved 0:19:21.040 --> 0:19:22.800 to hear that, because I'm sure there's no shortage of 0:19:22.840 --> 0:19:26.760 folks who still use that service who otherwise would be 0:19:26.880 --> 0:19:29.600 flooded with call requests whenever they open the app, and 0:19:29.640 --> 0:19:33.159 that would be miserable. According to the Verge, it is 0:19:33.200 --> 0:19:36.560 not yet clear if any x user will be able 0:19:36.560 --> 0:19:38.840 to access this feature once it is fully rolled out, 0:19:39.400 --> 0:19:42.400 or if this will be kept just for those who 0:19:42.400 --> 0:19:45.320 subscribe to the premium service. If I had to guess, 0:19:45.560 --> 0:19:48.960 I'd say it was the second category. I think Musk 0:19:49.040 --> 0:19:53.160 has been pushing really hard to create features for premium 0:19:53.280 --> 0:19:57.880 users to encourage more adoption of subscribers. Don't know how 0:19:57.880 --> 0:20:01.400 well it's going, but I suspect that's the case. Also, 0:20:01.880 --> 0:20:05.639 this is related to X. Slack has sunset its integration 0:20:06.359 --> 0:20:09.879 with that platform, so once upon a time, Slack users 0:20:09.920 --> 0:20:13.920 could incorporate Twitter and then later X into their workspace 0:20:14.480 --> 0:20:18.320 and be able to access features of Twitter through Slack, 0:20:18.400 --> 0:20:22.200 But due to changes in x's Application Programming Interface or API, 0:20:22.800 --> 0:20:26.240 Slack has chosen to end that support. The company has 0:20:26.240 --> 0:20:29.919 also announced it is retiring its status account on X, 0:20:29.960 --> 0:20:33.560 so it's closing out its own Twitter profile. So it 0:20:33.560 --> 0:20:36.000 sounds like Slack and X are kind of going their 0:20:36.200 --> 0:20:39.560 separate ways. In a previous News episode, I talked about 0:20:39.560 --> 0:20:43.600 how there's a growing concern among US lawmakers that algorithmically 0:20:43.720 --> 0:20:48.160 driven systems that set things like housing rental prices can 0:20:48.240 --> 0:20:52.040 lead to an anti competitive situation, one in which landlords 0:20:52.080 --> 0:20:56.240 are effectively engaging in collusion, even if they're doing so 0:20:56.440 --> 0:20:59.600 unknowingly by relying on this app to help them set 0:20:59.640 --> 0:21:05.879 rental prices. Essentially, software that's intended to help landlords factor 0:21:05.960 --> 0:21:08.240 in how much they should set their rent based upon 0:21:08.760 --> 0:21:13.240 the competitive market, when it's distributed across enough landlords in 0:21:13.240 --> 0:21:17.840 a region, transforms into a price fixing scheme. Again, that 0:21:17.920 --> 0:21:21.399 might be unintentional, but effectively that's what it's become. You 0:21:21.440 --> 0:21:24.000 get enough people using this tool, the tool starts to 0:21:24.600 --> 0:21:28.040 end up manipulating prices across the entire region, and next thing, 0:21:28.080 --> 0:21:32.359 you know, prices creep up, and you've got yourself in 0:21:32.440 --> 0:21:36.440 any competitive situation. So now the US Department of Justice 0:21:36.440 --> 0:21:40.280 has issued a notice of potential participation, which is a 0:21:40.320 --> 0:21:44.880 sort of preamble into a possible prosecution against the company 0:21:45.040 --> 0:21:48.160 that makes the software. It's called real Page, by the way, 0:21:48.720 --> 0:21:52.080 and the filing states quote. The government has a particularly 0:21:52.119 --> 0:21:55.760 substantial interest in addressing the proper application of Section one 0:21:56.000 --> 0:22:00.359 of the Sherman Act fifteen USC. Section one to the 0:22:00.480 --> 0:22:04.560 use of algorithms by competitors to help set pricing. Company's 0:22:04.640 --> 0:22:07.280 use of algorithms in price setting, often in an effort 0:22:07.320 --> 0:22:11.840 to increase pricing, has become more prevalent in the modern economy. 0:22:12.000 --> 0:22:14.520 As a result, the issues involved in this case are 0:22:14.520 --> 0:22:18.440 of increasing significance to the application of antitrust laws across 0:22:18.440 --> 0:22:23.080 the economy. End quote. Now, the DOJ plans to first 0:22:23.119 --> 0:22:26.800 observe how an ongoing civil case related to this matter 0:22:26.960 --> 0:22:30.600 plays out before it decides on making a move. So 0:22:30.640 --> 0:22:33.360 there's no guarantee yet that the US government will get 0:22:33.440 --> 0:22:36.560 more heavily involved in this matter, but it is a 0:22:36.600 --> 0:22:41.399 distinct possibility. Last year, General Motors and Honda announced a 0:22:41.480 --> 0:22:44.640 project to create an EV platform that would ultimately lead 0:22:44.640 --> 0:22:47.840 to cheaper electric vehicles in markets like the United States, 0:22:48.320 --> 0:22:50.600 North America in general, South America, that kind of thing. 0:22:51.680 --> 0:22:54.680 But now that project is on the rocks. The companies 0:22:54.720 --> 0:22:57.960 have pulled out of it and stated, quote, after extensive 0:22:58.000 --> 0:23:01.080 studies and analysis, we have come to a mutual decision 0:23:01.119 --> 0:23:05.440 to discontinue the program. Each company remains committed to affordability 0:23:05.480 --> 0:23:09.560 in the EV market end quote. So it appears that 0:23:09.800 --> 0:23:12.840 one of the major hurdles that faced the project has 0:23:12.920 --> 0:23:17.399 been in the field of battery production. GM developed a 0:23:17.400 --> 0:23:22.000 battery called Ultium, and this battery costs less to produce 0:23:22.119 --> 0:23:27.760 than other older types of EV batteries. However, GM ran 0:23:27.800 --> 0:23:32.560 into production bottlenecks all along the supply chain, and those 0:23:32.600 --> 0:23:36.199 bottlenecks meant that there were delays in manufacturing, which of 0:23:36.240 --> 0:23:40.160 course means that critically, there were delays in delivering vehicles 0:23:40.200 --> 0:23:44.600 to customers, and that's a huge problem. Meanwhile, vehicles that 0:23:44.640 --> 0:23:49.160 were built using older, more expensive batteries didn't have these 0:23:49.160 --> 0:23:52.760 same production issues. They've got a production line that is mature, 0:23:53.359 --> 0:23:57.440 so that wasn't interrupted. The cheaper one was the one 0:23:57.440 --> 0:23:59.720 that just could not get established, and for those of 0:23:59.760 --> 0:24:04.119 US EV models that are say, within our price range, 0:24:04.760 --> 0:24:08.920 this is a pretty disappointing setback. All Right, we're gonna 0:24:08.960 --> 0:24:11.440 take another quick break. When we come back. I've got 0:24:11.680 --> 0:24:24.440 a few more news items I want to cover. We're back, 0:24:25.240 --> 0:24:27.359 So Sarah Kay brent Is, one of the co founders 0:24:27.359 --> 0:24:30.520 of Google, has a big old airship that now has 0:24:30.560 --> 0:24:34.280 the green light to go fly In Brinn founded a 0:24:34.320 --> 0:24:39.119 company a few years back named LTA Research. LTA stands 0:24:39.119 --> 0:24:43.000 for Lighter than Air, so the goal was to build 0:24:43.080 --> 0:24:46.800 lighter than air airships that could transport stuff like cargo 0:24:47.160 --> 0:24:52.800 and supplies, specifically for humanitarian aid missions. The first of 0:24:52.880 --> 0:24:56.919 the company's airships is called the Pathfinder one, and now 0:24:57.200 --> 0:25:00.000 it can start to have test flights. It has received 0:25:00.119 --> 0:25:04.800 clearance from the US Federal Aviation Administration or FAA, and 0:25:04.840 --> 0:25:08.080 the Pathfinder one is according to the I triple E 0:25:08.920 --> 0:25:12.760 I EEE or IE, as I used to say, it 0:25:12.840 --> 0:25:18.080 is the largest aircraft to fly since the Hindenberg. However, 0:25:18.640 --> 0:25:24.439 unlike that tragic dirigible, which famously caught fire and exploded, 0:25:26.160 --> 0:25:31.680 it does not rely upon hydrogen as a lifting gas. Instead, 0:25:32.480 --> 0:25:36.680 it relies on the non combustible gas helium to provide lift. 0:25:37.320 --> 0:25:40.800 So again, the Hennenberg relied on hydrogen, which is highly 0:25:40.840 --> 0:25:44.240 combustible and explosive. You know, you get hydrogen and oxygen 0:25:44.800 --> 0:25:46.879 in an environment and you add a flame and you 0:25:46.960 --> 0:25:51.240 get a big flash. Don't do it, by the way, 0:25:51.359 --> 0:25:57.080 it's very dangerous. Helium, however, doesn't do this, And the 0:25:57.200 --> 0:26:01.240 reason why hydrogen was used was not because people just 0:26:01.280 --> 0:26:04.960 thought it would be okay. It's because hydrogen is a 0:26:05.000 --> 0:26:10.199 better lifting gas. It's about eight percent more efficient to 0:26:10.640 --> 0:26:14.960 lift a weight using hydrogen than helium, at least according 0:26:15.000 --> 0:26:18.080 to one estimate I saw. It's capable of lifting more 0:26:18.200 --> 0:26:21.040 mass than helium is, so in order to lift the 0:26:21.080 --> 0:26:24.440 same structure with helium, you have to have much more 0:26:24.440 --> 0:26:30.240 helium right now. To get around this deficit in lifting capacity, 0:26:30.720 --> 0:26:35.439 LTA Research relied heavily on using very lightweight materials like 0:26:35.840 --> 0:26:40.840 polymer tubes, reinforce with carbon fiber, and titanium in an 0:26:40.840 --> 0:26:45.280