WEBVTT - Week in Tech: Tariffs, Ands Or Buts 0:00:02.120 --> 0:00:05.840 Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production of iHeart Podcasts and Kaleidoscope. 0:00:06.200 --> 0:00:08.920 I'm Osvoloshin and today Kara Price and I will bring 0:00:08.960 --> 0:00:12.959 you the headlines this week, well tariffs, obviously, but also 0:00:13.119 --> 0:00:16.159 a dating game. Then on Tech Support, we'll talk to 0:00:16.200 --> 0:00:19.520 The Wall Street Journal's Family and Tech columnist Julie Jargon 0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:22.919 about a mother's worst fear, a cry for help over 0:00:22.960 --> 0:00:26.360 the phone that sounded like her youngest daughter, all of 0:00:26.360 --> 0:00:40.320 that on the Weekend Tech. It's Friday, April eleventh. Kara, Hello, Hello, Hello, ohs. 0:00:40.880 --> 0:00:43.040 I think I'm going to start this thing called Kara's 0:00:43.080 --> 0:00:45.400 Hats of the Week. And just for people who can't 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:48.239 see me, I'm wearing a hat today that says, and 0:00:48.280 --> 0:00:50.080 this is from a show called Summer Heatsie. If you 0:00:50.120 --> 0:00:53.640 ever watched Summerheatsie, I'm a naughty girl with a bad habit. 0:00:53.920 --> 0:00:55.639 What is the bad habit in the. 0:00:55.600 --> 0:00:59.200 Show, It's for drugs. If I had preempted today's top story, 0:00:59.200 --> 0:01:01.720 it would have said, with a bad habit for tariffs. 0:01:01.800 --> 0:01:05.600 Uh huh. That would have been fast fashion. Indeed, that's 0:01:05.600 --> 0:01:08.480 a good one. But today's news is all about quote. 0:01:08.720 --> 0:01:10.479 The most beautiful word in the dictionary. 0:01:10.560 --> 0:01:13.080 Well, I don't know anything about the dictionary, but I 0:01:13.240 --> 0:01:16.480 looked up the word tariff with chat GPT. 0:01:16.640 --> 0:01:18.959 The Dictionary twenty twenty five correct. 0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:22.040 Correct, and the thesaurus and also what we'll eventually write 0:01:22.120 --> 0:01:26.960 someone's wedding vesse. I asked chat Gpt what a tariff is, 0:01:27.360 --> 0:01:30.479 and she responded because she's a she yea in my book. 0:01:30.520 --> 0:01:33.280 In your book, a tariff is a tax or fee 0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:37.000 that a government imposes on imported or exported goods. But 0:01:37.160 --> 0:01:41.559 most importantly, chat Gpt says tariffs can impact the price 0:01:41.560 --> 0:01:45.039 of goods, trade relationships, and the global economy. 0:01:45.280 --> 0:01:49.960 Oh my prophetic soul can and do. 0:01:50.680 --> 0:01:53.800 Chat Gipt was onto something there because Trump's tariff announcement 0:01:54.040 --> 0:01:57.120 definitely shook up the global economy and trade relationships, and 0:01:57.200 --> 0:02:00.000 everything is still evolving. I mean, there's basically a new 0:02:00.240 --> 0:02:03.960 update every hour. Just this week, tariffs on about ninety 0:02:04.000 --> 0:02:06.960 countries went into effect. Then Trump issued a pause on 0:02:07.000 --> 0:02:09.400 most of them. But the country who's been pummeled the 0:02:09.400 --> 0:02:12.840 most is China. As of Thursday midday, Trump has increased 0:02:12.880 --> 0:02:15.760 tariffs on the country's imports by one hundred and twenty 0:02:15.760 --> 0:02:19.120 five percent. So with everything going on, the technology industry 0:02:19.160 --> 0:02:20.680 has been feeling some effects. 0:02:21.040 --> 0:02:23.359 There's a headline in the Washington Post earlier this week 0:02:23.440 --> 0:02:27.079 that was delicious in its understated irony. Big tech bet 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:29.440 on Trump. It's still waiting for the payoff. 0:02:29.760 --> 0:02:31.800 I'm just thinking about when we first started this version 0:02:31.800 --> 0:02:33.600 of tech stuff. All of those tech bros were at 0:02:33.600 --> 0:02:36.359 the inauguration, and now they're all scrambling to rethink their 0:02:36.360 --> 0:02:37.160 supply chains. 0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:40.320 But it's also about the threat of reciprocal tariffs. And 0:02:40.360 --> 0:02:43.800 in that Washington Post story, the writers quip those tech 0:02:43.840 --> 0:02:47.000 giants are in another front row, lol, not the front 0:02:47.080 --> 0:02:50.840 row the inauguration as targets for US trade partners looking 0:02:50.840 --> 0:02:53.480 for ways to strike back at the US economy. 0:02:53.919 --> 0:02:56.600 Yeah. I heard at one point the EU is considering 0:02:56.639 --> 0:03:01.000 tariffs on digital products like Netflix subscriptions and Google Cloud storage, 0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:05.079 which I honestly didn't even know was possible. But another 0:03:05.120 --> 0:03:07.480 area of concern for the tech industry is how these 0:03:07.520 --> 0:03:11.400 tariffs will affect semiconductors, because they really do power the 0:03:11.440 --> 0:03:16.120 modern world. Everything from consumer tech, data centers, even cars, 0:03:16.240 --> 0:03:17.880 they all use semiconductors. 0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:21.560 And here's where the kind of ironies continue to abound, because, 0:03:21.560 --> 0:03:25.000 of course, you know, President Trump has made AI supremacy 0:03:25.080 --> 0:03:28.720 a key element of his policy for this term, and 0:03:28.880 --> 0:03:34.480 so technically the tariffs announce an exemption for semiconductors, but 0:03:34.960 --> 0:03:37.560 as it turns out, many of the semiconductors imported are 0:03:37.600 --> 0:03:41.360 actually bundled into other products like GPU chips and service 0:03:41.560 --> 0:03:44.680 to train AI models. That's per wired to have a 0:03:44.720 --> 0:03:47.920 story under the headline Trump's tariffs are threatening the US 0:03:48.000 --> 0:03:51.640 semiconductor revival. Wide also points out that all of the 0:03:51.680 --> 0:03:56.160 machinery and the underlying materials to manufacture semiconductors here in 0:03:56.200 --> 0:03:59.600 the US will become far more expensive with these tariffs 0:03:59.720 --> 0:04:01.840 make it less attractive to manufacture domestically. 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:04.280 Yeah, you know this is a little bit heady, but 0:04:04.400 --> 0:04:07.080 needless to say, it is a consumer tech story. You know, 0:04:07.160 --> 0:04:10.040 there are many articles circulating about how these tariffs could 0:04:10.120 --> 0:04:13.320 affect the price of something as ubiquitous as the iPhone. 0:04:13.360 --> 0:04:15.840 Have you been stoking up for your ebase sales. 0:04:15.600 --> 0:04:18.560 Of my iPhone? Oh to sell iPhones? Oh yeah, it's 0:04:18.600 --> 0:04:20.640 not a bad idea. Actually, I hadn't thought about it, 0:04:21.000 --> 0:04:22.120 you know. And just to give a shout out to 0:04:22.160 --> 0:04:24.080 four A form Meta who we love, you know, they 0:04:24.160 --> 0:04:28.440 pointed out that on Apple's own supply chain website. The 0:04:28.520 --> 0:04:32.480 big beautiful bold text that overlays the video of people 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:37.760 making iPhones in a factory says, designed by Apple in California, 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:42.600 made by people everywhere. And it's true, you know, as 0:04:42.640 --> 0:04:46.720 a device exemplifies globalization. The materials for the batteries come 0:04:46.760 --> 0:04:50.280 from one country, the display from another. Almost every part 0:04:50.279 --> 0:04:52.760 of the iPhone comes from a different country, and then 0:04:52.760 --> 0:04:56.440 they are predominantly assembled in China. So if things go 0:04:56.560 --> 0:04:59.400 the way they're going and tariffs on Chinese imports remain, 0:04:59.720 --> 0:05:03.480 these phones could get a lot more expensive. And I'm 0:05:03.520 --> 0:05:05.159 going to get the burner phone that I plan on 0:05:05.200 --> 0:05:06.479 getting the summer anyway. 0:05:06.200 --> 0:05:08.400 Okay, good, Yeah, Well this will be another inducement for 0:05:08.480 --> 0:05:11.719 us to get dumb phones, but that that might be 0:05:11.800 --> 0:05:13.719 enough for us on Tarish this week. I feel this 0:05:13.720 --> 0:05:15.839 is probably something going to be coming back to again 0:05:15.880 --> 0:05:17.279 and again. So time for a game. 0:05:17.520 --> 0:05:20.279 I have been sitting on my hands for this entire 0:05:20.360 --> 0:05:22.960 show as we talk about tariffs, to play a game 0:05:23.040 --> 0:05:25.640 with you that came out last week for April Fools. 0:05:26.080 --> 0:05:28.520 I will catch people up a little bit. Last week, 0:05:28.600 --> 0:05:32.160 Tinder launched an in app game called The Game Game. 0:05:32.279 --> 0:05:34.840 The Game Game it sounds a bit like that seventies 0:05:34.880 --> 0:05:37.960 dating show, the dating game with a sprinkle of my 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:39.520 hero Neil Strauss. 0:05:39.680 --> 0:05:41.960 I think they were definitely going for seventies dating show. 0:05:41.960 --> 0:05:43.640 I don't think they were going for a sprinkle of 0:05:43.680 --> 0:05:47.280 Neil Strauss. But that's your drama. So basically, Open AI's Chat, 0:05:47.360 --> 0:05:51.080 GPT four oh and Tinder partner together to create this 0:05:51.120 --> 0:05:54.960 thing called the Game Game, which allows real Tinder users 0:05:55.480 --> 0:05:59.080 to enter pretend scenarios and talk to AI characters. 0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:02.640 This was a meet cute between chat ChiPT and Tinder, 0:06:03.360 --> 0:06:04.359 good one if you will. 0:06:04.440 --> 0:06:07.320 It was a me cute between altman and Tinder. Absolutely, 0:06:07.720 --> 0:06:10.680 But there's also a competitive part of the game, which 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:13.120 is that as you talk into your phone, you try 0:06:13.160 --> 0:06:15.520 your best to flirt with the AI, and you get 0:06:15.560 --> 0:06:19.960 points for how suave or empathetic or interesting your responses are. 0:06:20.120 --> 0:06:23.480 And here's how it works. You entered a preferred scenario 0:06:23.880 --> 0:06:28.080 like I'm on a train and my shoes untied and 0:06:28.120 --> 0:06:31.800 a man says, miss, your shoes untied and I say, sir, 0:06:32.480 --> 0:06:34.440 I'm into women. That would be the end of that. 0:06:34.640 --> 0:06:36.880 But no, if I were straight, he would say, mam, 0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:39.320 your shoes untied and I'd look up and it would 0:06:39.320 --> 0:06:46.600 get no. But our producer Tory actually played it and 0:06:46.720 --> 0:06:50.280 she talked to a character named Nathan, who was interested 0:06:50.279 --> 0:06:53.920 in technology and had a Southern accent. But after their 0:06:53.960 --> 0:06:58.080 conversation ended, Tinder told Tory that her replies were charming, 0:06:58.440 --> 0:07:01.200 but that her conversation could have fload a little better 0:07:01.400 --> 0:07:04.760 as she jumped between topics too quickly. Now, as a producer, 0:07:04.800 --> 0:07:05.640 that's a great quality. 0:07:05.920 --> 0:07:08.440 Yeah, exactly, short attention span. I think Tory may have 0:07:08.440 --> 0:07:11.680 had it right and the and the app wrong, but 0:07:12.160 --> 0:07:14.280 I would love to hear you try it. 0:07:15.240 --> 0:07:19.040 My phone is ready and Tinder is downloaded. So let's 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:27.320 the game game. So what happens first is the prompt 0:07:27.360 --> 0:07:30.720 comes up in the game. It's in the Tinder app. 0:07:30.920 --> 0:07:34.880 Well, I mean, let's not pass over this soundtrack and 0:07:35.000 --> 0:07:35.800 loving it. 0:07:35.800 --> 0:07:36.520 It's fantastic. 0:07:36.440 --> 0:07:38.240 This is like old New York. 0:07:39.240 --> 0:07:45.239 We're going to Cafe Carlisle for a drink and a smoke. Okay, 0:07:45.240 --> 0:07:47.360 I'm done, but let me read you the prompt so 0:07:47.400 --> 0:07:48.160 we can start the game. 0:07:48.240 --> 0:07:48.560 Okay. 0:07:50.120 --> 0:07:51.840 And by the way, it lets you re roll, so 0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:53.960 if you don't like the person you're introduced to, it 0:07:53.960 --> 0:07:55.960 gives you another prompt, which I don't think should happen. 0:07:56.040 --> 0:07:59.200 I think you should happen. But that's how Tinder works, 0:07:59.200 --> 0:08:01.520 That's how chatchy be T four zero works. At a 0:08:01.520 --> 0:08:05.960 bustling dog park, your curious dog eagerly runs up to Penelope, 0:08:06.320 --> 0:08:10.200 a customer service representative, and starts playing with her dog. 0:08:10.560 --> 0:08:13.880 How does your dog know what Penelope's job is? Oh, 0:08:13.920 --> 0:08:14.720 you find that out later. 0:08:14.960 --> 0:08:18.320 Hello, get my dog's like? Whoa, she's in customer service. 0:08:18.360 --> 0:08:22.360 You should chase her down. No, and so my dog 0:08:22.600 --> 0:08:25.559 goes up to Penelope's dog and starts playing with her dog. 0:08:26.000 --> 0:08:30.960 This unexpected encounter creates the perfect excuse to strike up 0:08:31.000 --> 0:08:35.000 a conversation with the one and only Penelope from Customer Service. 0:08:35.400 --> 0:08:39.480 Let's go, I'm not rerolling, I'm taking my first card. 0:08:40.840 --> 0:08:44.080 Well, hey, there looks like your dog's got quite a 0:08:44.120 --> 0:08:47.000 bit of energy, don't they. My pup here is pretty 0:08:47.000 --> 0:08:49.920 friendly too. Seems they're getting along just fine. 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:58.360 What's their name? My dog's name is Astrid Pastrid. 0:08:58.480 --> 0:09:02.400 Huh, that's a fun name. Seems like an estrid. It's 0:09:02.400 --> 0:09:05.800 a real social butterfly. Does she usually make friends this quick? 0:09:06.280 --> 0:09:09.000 Honestly? No, your dog is the first dog she's ever 0:09:09.040 --> 0:09:14.280 taken any interest in her? Well, ain't that something special? 0:09:14.679 --> 0:09:16.280 Looks like they found the money today. 0:09:16.720 --> 0:09:17.880 Must be a good match. 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:21.319 Maybe Astrid knows a kindred spirit when she sees one. 0:09:21.920 --> 0:09:24.800 So how often do you come to the park. I've 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:27.439 tried to go to the dog park more now because 0:09:27.600 --> 0:09:30.600 Astroid's gotten kind of crazy inside, so have I I mean, 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:33.080 post COVID it's really hard to get outside even now. 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:37.120 Why I hear you. It's been tough all around. 0:09:37.679 --> 0:09:40.440 The fresh air and space can do wonders for both 0:09:40.480 --> 0:09:43.600 you and Astro. Charleston's got a lot of beauty if 0:09:43.600 --> 0:09:44.800 you take time to notice it. 0:09:45.440 --> 0:09:45.599 You know. 0:09:45.720 --> 0:09:48.800 Pela. Sorry, Penelte, I'm so sorry to cut you off. 0:09:49.640 --> 0:09:53.200 No worries at all, I understand it. I don't want 0:09:53.200 --> 0:09:55.679 to chat about the park or just need a friendly here. 0:09:56.040 --> 0:09:56.480 I'm here. 0:09:57.040 --> 0:10:01.360 Take care of yourself and Astrid. Penelope, would you be 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:08.480 interested in either giving me or getting Did she go away? 0:10:07.400 --> 0:10:17.920 Oh you're still here, Penelope? Sorry, so Penelope, I want 0:10:18.000 --> 0:10:19.720 another go But he just like girl. 0:10:19.600 --> 0:10:22.400 You have no no. I like the way you dropped 0:10:22.400 --> 0:10:23.200 your voice a little bit. 0:10:24.120 --> 0:10:26.040 Wait, do you want to try it? We have to 0:10:26.120 --> 0:10:28.040 have things to do on the show, but that's really 0:10:28.080 --> 0:10:31.920 how it goes. CHATPG is kind of incredible. So guys, 0:10:32.760 --> 0:10:34.880 that is the game game. 0:10:35.080 --> 0:10:37.800 I love the game game. I'm also curious as to 0:10:37.880 --> 0:10:41.679 why both your and Torri's match as a Southern accent is. 0:10:42.200 --> 0:10:46.600 Is this a subtle kind of white loticification of society. 0:10:46.120 --> 0:10:49.120 Where chat GPT four roh is just like, you know what, 0:10:49.160 --> 0:10:52.160 they're getting Southern girls and that's about it, or southern boys. 0:10:52.160 --> 0:10:54.640 In the case of Tory, Nathan was southern. I live 0:10:54.679 --> 0:10:56.200 in New York and one of the things that I 0:10:56.240 --> 0:11:00.679 saw come up and I was talking to Penelope was 0:11:01.520 --> 0:11:04.440 plus plus empathetic. Now, if I was talking to New York, 0:11:04.440 --> 0:11:06.640 I would have been like, yo, girl, what's up. I'm 0:11:06.640 --> 0:11:09.160 talking to Penelope. I'm like, well, girl, would you like 0:11:09.240 --> 0:11:10.880 to meet me at the park again? 0:11:12.200 --> 0:11:15.040 I thought that you're lying about how Astroid had never 0:11:15.120 --> 0:11:17.719 approached any other dogs. Was I mean that was you 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:20.760 gotta make them feel speak. 0:11:21.400 --> 0:11:25.000 I hope this podcast never comes out. I love that 0:11:25.160 --> 0:11:27.200 more than anything. I will be playing that all day 0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:28.800 and I think I will, by the end of it 0:11:28.840 --> 0:11:32.880 have a Southern accent, just to get a little bit 0:11:32.920 --> 0:11:34.839 more serious about this story. You know, the Washington Post 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:37.080 reached out to the vice president of Product Growth and 0:11:37.120 --> 0:11:40.200 Revenue at Tinder, and she said that the game is 0:11:40.280 --> 0:11:43.040 meant to be silly and that the company quote leaned 0:11:43.080 --> 0:11:47.120 into the campiness. Apparently, though, She went on to call 0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:50.440 gen Z a socially anxious generation, and while the game 0:11:50.520 --> 0:11:53.319 might be cringe, it's a generation that might look past 0:11:53.400 --> 0:11:56.400 that if it indeed leads to a real connection. 0:11:56.960 --> 0:11:58.800 I had to say, I mean, it was definitely fun 0:11:58.960 --> 0:12:02.680 watching you play. I have never before myself, and I 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:04.520 didn't just time either, but I've never had a conversation 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:06.920 directly using my voice with an ali before. Was that 0:12:06.960 --> 0:12:08.040 Was that a first for you or. 0:12:08.880 --> 0:12:11.400 Only when I tried to scam my cousin? Actually? 0:12:11.480 --> 0:12:11.880 Yeah, yeah? 0:12:12.040 --> 0:12:14.600 So crazy? Is the pressure cooker that that just created 0:12:14.679 --> 0:12:16.840 for me? Felt like there was literally a gun to 0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:18.359 my head that was like flirt. 0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:21.880 That's what it felt like. It's getting hot in here. 0:12:21.920 --> 0:12:24.520 So we're going to take a quick break when we 0:12:24.559 --> 0:12:38.320 come back some more headlines. Now to pivot back to 0:12:38.360 --> 0:12:41.640 the headlines, We've got a few more for today, continuing 0:12:41.679 --> 0:12:45.600 the theme of sex, deaths, and money. Well, no death, thankfully, 0:12:46.000 --> 0:12:48.520 but we've had sex in the form of flirting now 0:12:48.559 --> 0:12:50.040 for money taxes. 0:12:52.559 --> 0:12:55.120 We know it's tax month, and one of the stories 0:12:55.160 --> 0:12:57.560 has to do with two things you never want to 0:12:57.600 --> 0:13:02.600 hear put together, which is IRS and hackathon. And of 0:13:02.679 --> 0:13:07.080 course what does this start with the Department of Government 0:13:07.160 --> 0:13:11.200 Efficiency is planning to stage a hackathon event. I sound 0:13:11.280 --> 0:13:14.160 sad because I am is planning to stage a hackathon 0:13:14.200 --> 0:13:18.280 event with the best engineers at the Internal Revenue Service. 0:13:18.600 --> 0:13:22.000 According to Wired, DOE is planning to host dozens of 0:13:22.040 --> 0:13:24.679 them in DC to build a mega API. 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:28.400 A mega API, that's actually what I read process. 0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:31.840 It is a MEGAAPI essentially, which would make it easier 0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:36.199 to access taxpayer data across different applications and cloud platforms. 0:13:36.240 --> 0:13:38.600 We don't yet have a lot of details on the hackathon, 0:13:38.760 --> 0:13:41.040 but I do hope they keep it tight because the 0:13:41.080 --> 0:13:45.200 idea of highly sensitive tax data moving freely between what 0:13:45.240 --> 0:13:48.719 maybe third party applications is a little frightening. There is 0:13:48.760 --> 0:13:52.200 a broader controversy roiling the IRS. Several officials, including the 0:13:52.240 --> 0:13:56.360 acting Commissioner, are quitting over the Trump administration's insistence that 0:13:56.480 --> 0:14:01.880 the agency disclosed taxpayer information to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 0:14:02.160 --> 0:14:05.719 The IRIS has typically kept taxpay information confidential, even from 0:14:05.840 --> 0:14:10.920 other government agencies, and that includes information submitted by undocumented immigrants. 0:14:11.360 --> 0:14:13.960 But in a new agreement which appeared redacted in a 0:14:14.000 --> 0:14:17.480 court filing, ICE officials can now ask the IRS for 0:14:17.520 --> 0:14:21.120 information about people they're investigating or who've been ordered to 0:14:21.200 --> 0:14:22.280 leave the US. 0:14:22.360 --> 0:14:24.760 And in a story that takes us elsewhere into a 0:14:24.800 --> 0:14:27.360 topic I am personally obsessed with, which is right to 0:14:27.400 --> 0:14:28.280 repair laws? 0:14:28.480 --> 0:14:29.200 What does that mean? 0:14:29.600 --> 0:14:32.160 Right to repair law is basically like laws that say 0:14:32.160 --> 0:14:35.640 that companies have to provide information to people who buy 0:14:35.680 --> 0:14:38.800 things that teach them how to repair it, so one 0:14:38.880 --> 0:14:41.320 you're not just buying new things every time they come out, 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:44.640 and two that you're able to actually know how to, 0:14:44.800 --> 0:14:47.360 for example, repair a tractor. I was drawn to this 0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:50.840 headline from The Verge with the perfect subhead quote, India's 0:14:50.920 --> 0:14:54.280 repair culture gives new life to dead tech. 0:14:54.440 --> 0:14:56.400 So we had sex, some money, and we do indeed have. 0:14:57.920 --> 0:15:00.640 Oh dead technology, which is about the least sexy thing 0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:04.800 on the planet. There's a rise of Frankenstein laptops in India. Now, 0:15:04.800 --> 0:15:06.800 when I say Frankenstein laptops, what do you think? 0:15:07.320 --> 0:15:11.320 Uh, gosh, I guess I think about laptops assembled from 0:15:11.320 --> 0:15:12.040 all different parts. 0:15:12.400 --> 0:15:14.320 I thought you were gonna say laptops with two bolts 0:15:14.360 --> 0:15:18.000 on the side of that, But yes, they're basically resurrected 0:15:18.040 --> 0:15:21.080 computers made with parts from trash older laptops and other 0:15:21.160 --> 0:15:24.480 e waste ewtes, meaning trash that is of the electronic 0:15:24.520 --> 0:15:27.600 variety at a fraction of the price. These laptops are 0:15:27.600 --> 0:15:31.400 a good option for students, freelancers, or really anyone who 0:15:31.480 --> 0:15:34.000 needs to be a part of India's growing digital economy 0:15:34.120 --> 0:15:36.640 but may not be able to afford to participate otherwise. 0:15:36.680 --> 0:15:38.960 Yeah, I think I read that you can basically get 0:15:39.080 --> 0:15:41.800 a functional laptop from one of these one of these 0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:45.280 Frankenstein laptops for around one hundred US dollars, which is 0:15:45.320 --> 0:15:47.880 like an eighth of the price of any decent new laptop. 0:15:47.920 --> 0:15:49.120 So it's pretty cool story. 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:52.160 But these Frankenstein tinkers don't have it so easy. There 0:15:52.200 --> 0:15:56.080 are actually many global tech giants who restrict access to 0:15:56.120 --> 0:15:59.600 spare parts or use proprietary hardware, which means people are 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:03.440 going through piles of sometimes toxic trash to get the parts, 0:16:03.640 --> 0:16:06.360 and India's government is beginning to discuss right to repair 0:16:06.440 --> 0:16:09.120 laws to address this, but progress has been slow. 0:16:09.840 --> 0:16:12.200 Final story for this week is about a question I 0:16:12.320 --> 0:16:16.160 find quite fascinating. What will be the iPhone of ai? 0:16:16.720 --> 0:16:19.000 Will there be a kind of AI product that becomes 0:16:19.040 --> 0:16:21.880 so ubiquitous that we forget what life was like before 0:16:21.880 --> 0:16:26.440 it existed? Well, the iPhone designer himself, Johnny Ive or 0:16:26.640 --> 0:16:29.960 Sir Johnny I've is working on it. Over a year ago, 0:16:30.000 --> 0:16:33.120 he and Sam Altman, the CEO of Open Ai, began 0:16:33.160 --> 0:16:36.600 discussing a device that might bring to life voice enabled 0:16:36.800 --> 0:16:41.280 AI assistance, partly inspired by Altman's well documented fascination with 0:16:41.360 --> 0:16:44.920 the movie Her. So. Alman and I have this startup together, 0:16:45.080 --> 0:16:48.600 Ioproducts that's raised hundreds of millions of dollars and is 0:16:48.640 --> 0:16:51.880 working on some device concepts, including a quote phone without 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:55.280 a screen, although some sources insist that it's in fact 0:16:55.480 --> 0:17:00.240 not a phone, so the mystery remains. But this into 0:17:00.240 --> 0:17:02.480 a story in the Information, which is also reporting that 0:17:02.560 --> 0:17:07.760 Open Ai executives are considering acquiring a startup Ioproducts. This 0:17:07.800 --> 0:17:09.960 would be a move that could potentially bring the AI 0:17:10.080 --> 0:17:13.960 giant into more direct competition with Apple. It's not clear 0:17:14.080 --> 0:17:17.040 where the negotiation is at the moment, but another of 0:17:17.080 --> 0:17:22.440 these types of XAI X deals perhaps brewing, Although while 0:17:22.440 --> 0:17:24.520 Altman worked close to you with ive on the project. 0:17:24.960 --> 0:17:26.760 Is not clear what his economic stake in it. 0:17:26.800 --> 0:17:29.879 Maybe if the new phone is not a phone. It 0:17:29.920 --> 0:17:31.960 begs the question how the next thing that we cover 0:17:32.200 --> 0:17:35.960 actually is going to happen in a no phone phone universe. 0:17:36.800 --> 0:17:40.159 You're right, and our next segment is all about scammers, 0:17:40.280 --> 0:17:44.720 and specifically scam callers who famously use phones and the 0:17:44.800 --> 0:17:48.400 tech they're using to be more convincing and successful than ever. 0:17:48.960 --> 0:17:51.080 Yeah, And one of the things that I can't stop 0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:53.120 talking about on the show and talked a lot about 0:17:53.119 --> 0:17:58.000 on Sleepwalkers is how much technological progress and innovation happens 0:17:58.040 --> 0:18:01.040 in the sort of seedier parts of society. And then 0:18:01.080 --> 0:18:05.520 it's after everyone hears these sensational stories about criminal ingenuity 0:18:05.680 --> 0:18:08.320 that the tech is more widely adopted by the general public. 0:18:08.600 --> 0:18:11.480 But it's actually the illicit use that forges the way. 0:18:11.600 --> 0:18:13.640 Yeah. I remember, back in twenty nineteen, when we first 0:18:13.680 --> 0:18:16.239 started covering this stuff together, there was a study that 0:18:16.280 --> 0:18:19.080 revealed that more than ninety five percent of all deep 0:18:19.119 --> 0:18:22.400 fake videos on the Internet were non consensual porn. 0:18:22.600 --> 0:18:25.000 Well, I actually didn't even know that three D printing 0:18:25.200 --> 0:18:28.159 was a consumer tech until I heard that blueprints for 0:18:28.240 --> 0:18:31.640 three D printed ghost guns were circulating the internet. 0:18:32.119 --> 0:18:34.400 Together. We actually ran an experiment a few years ago 0:18:34.600 --> 0:18:38.040 to create a deep fake of your voice and scam 0:18:38.119 --> 0:18:40.439 your cousin, and it took us about a week to 0:18:40.480 --> 0:18:42.680 make that clone with the help of a company called 0:18:42.760 --> 0:18:46.240 liar Bird that was subsequently acquired by Descript, the software 0:18:46.280 --> 0:18:49.159 that we use every week to make our podcast. We 0:18:49.200 --> 0:18:51.200 didn't actually get to the scamming apart, but we did 0:18:51.240 --> 0:18:54.600 briefly trick Kara's cousin. That was back in twenty nineteen. 0:18:55.119 --> 0:18:57.640 Since then, the state of the art and the kind 0:18:57.680 --> 0:19:01.840 of social risks haveally advanced. And here to tell us 0:19:01.880 --> 0:19:04.720 more is Julie Jargon, the family and tech columnist at 0:19:04.760 --> 0:19:06.960 the Wall Street Journal. Julie, welcome to Tech Stuff. 0:19:07.440 --> 0:19:08.280 Thank you for having me. 0:19:08.640 --> 0:19:12.359 So, just to begin, your article tells the story of 0:19:12.400 --> 0:19:14.520 a woman who gets a terrifying call. Can you tell 0:19:14.600 --> 0:19:18.760 us a little bit more about what happened in this exchange? 0:19:18.960 --> 0:19:21.479 Yeah, absolutely So. There was a woman in Colorado by 0:19:21.480 --> 0:19:23.720 the name of Linda Rohan, and she was just at 0:19:23.760 --> 0:19:26.640 home one night making herself dinner, and her phone rang 0:19:26.760 --> 0:19:29.199 her cell phone and the caller ID showed that the 0:19:29.240 --> 0:19:30.960 call was from a local number, so she thought it 0:19:31.040 --> 0:19:33.840 might be someone she should talk to, so she picked 0:19:33.880 --> 0:19:36.280 it up and immediately heard a voice of a young 0:19:36.280 --> 0:19:39.840 woman that she thought sounded exactly like the youngest of 0:19:39.840 --> 0:19:44.280 her three adult daughters, a panicked, you know message, Mom, 0:19:44.320 --> 0:19:46.879 I'm okay, but something awful has happened and she's sobbing 0:19:46.920 --> 0:19:50.080 and saying she needs help. And that immediately put this 0:19:50.119 --> 0:19:53.760 woman on high alert. And then apparently a man took 0:19:53.800 --> 0:19:57.320 the phone and mentioned the name of her daughter by 0:19:57.600 --> 0:20:00.000 you know by name, and said that she had witnessed 0:20:00.200 --> 0:20:02.919 this drug deal and she screamed and it scared the 0:20:02.920 --> 0:20:05.439 buyers away, and so now he was out all this money, 0:20:05.480 --> 0:20:08.560 and he had pulled this girl into his van and 0:20:08.720 --> 0:20:10.280 now was demanding money. 0:20:10.480 --> 0:20:13.520 We know that this wasn't Linda's real daughter. Where was 0:20:13.600 --> 0:20:15.800 Linda's daughter actually during this. 0:20:15.880 --> 0:20:18.600 She was in her apartment the whole time, safe at home. 0:20:18.800 --> 0:20:21.240 And can you talk a little bit about how this happened. 0:20:21.640 --> 0:20:23.960 I think what happens with these kind of callers is 0:20:24.040 --> 0:20:28.560 they operate on fear and a sense of urgency. And 0:20:28.880 --> 0:20:33.199 this scammer had an elaborate story that he kind of 0:20:33.640 --> 0:20:37.040 kept this woman through this whole time. He told her 0:20:37.080 --> 0:20:39.560 that he needed money in order to free her daughter. 0:20:40.040 --> 0:20:43.520 He told her to go to Walmart and wire money. 0:20:43.560 --> 0:20:46.000 And so she gets in her car and finds the 0:20:46.040 --> 0:20:49.520 nearest Walmart, and he timed how long it took her 0:20:49.560 --> 0:20:51.800 to get there. When she went to the Walmart, he 0:20:51.880 --> 0:20:53.600 wanted to be on speaker the whole time, so he 0:20:53.680 --> 0:20:56.840 had her conceal her phone in her shirt so he 0:20:56.880 --> 0:21:00.200 could hear the conversation. And you know, I think he'd 0:21:00.200 --> 0:21:02.119 made some kind of threats to her and you know, 0:21:02.240 --> 0:21:05.119 her daughter. And when she got to the Walmart, she 0:21:05.160 --> 0:21:07.119 couldn't do the wire transfer because she didn't have a 0:21:07.119 --> 0:21:09.240 debit card. So he told her to go home and 0:21:09.480 --> 0:21:12.520 do it online. And he said, you've got sixteen minutes. 0:21:12.840 --> 0:21:15.080 If you stop anywhere, I'm going to know, because he 0:21:15.160 --> 0:21:16.800 knew how long it had taken her to drive there 0:21:16.800 --> 0:21:18.040 in the first place. And he kept her on the 0:21:18.080 --> 0:21:20.720