March 25, 2025 • 43 mins
In an extraordinary breach, a journalist was mistakenly included in a Signal group chat where top Trump officials coordinated upcoming military strikes on Yemen. Using Signal—a public messaging app—rather than burdensome government-secured systems suggests a deliberate choice to avoid painful legacy systems; unless something has changed, I do not think the app is approved for … Continue reading Extraordinary Signal Chat Breach Tops Trump Officials #1809
The post Extraordinary Signal Chat Breach Tops Trump Officials #1809 appeared first on Geek News Central.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Lead story for Monday, March 25, an extraordinary
breach of journalist was mistakenly
included
in a signal group chat where top Trump
officials coordinated
upcoming military strikes on Yemen.
The use of single, a public messaging app
rather than burdensome government secured systems
(00:22):
suggest a deliberate choice to avoid painful legacy
systems. Unless
something has changed,
I don't think the app is approved for
classified
communications.
Of course, while waivers can be applied on
a case by case basis,
talking around the subject does not necessarily
(00:43):
mean
it's unclassified.
This is not gonna this is this is
going to have blowback
and rightfully so. I wanna welcome you to
episode 1,809.
I tell you, I I saw this today
and I was blown
away,
that
this actually happened.
(01:04):
And the signal are I mean, the Atlantic
article on this is
woah.
I mean, like,
it's bad.
Really, really, really bad. You know? And and
to be honest with you,
and and it goes back to to the
days
when I was active duty and working for
(01:25):
the government.
I understand.
These communications
is is extraordinarily
extraordinarily
difficult
to have real time communications because
number one, you have to be at your
desk. Number two, you gotta be in front
of a secure computer.
(01:45):
Number three, you gotta be in the right
chat room.
And, you know, these chat rooms they have
in government
computers for planning for strikes. I give you
example.
This is
you know, many, many years ago, a friend
of mine that I'll
I will not name him,
got a password for a channel,
(02:08):
from someone in the intelligence community,
and he joined a channel that he should
not have been in.
He should not have been there. There was
major
major
discussions going on,
strike planning, all kinds of things. Now this
(02:28):
isn't a secure
system.
And
on you know, and I I told him,
I said, listen. You you should not be
in here.
You're you're gonna get in trouble. And it
wasn't three minutes
and a three star,
asked via direct message,
(02:49):
basically, who the beep are you?
And,
and I had told my buddy, hey.
Come to Jesus.
You know, do not,
do not BS this guy on,
on how you got access to this, chat
channel.
And,
(03:09):
he went against I said, I'm I'm not
covering.
I can't do it.
I'm not gonna cover you.
You know, this one this one's on you,
bud.
And
he walked himself out of the channel,
but this was on a legitimate,
secure,
(03:29):
highly classified
channel.
And,
and we all had access to certain chat
channels,
you know, need to know.
And I've been times where someone has,
called me over unsecured line in the past
said, hey, Todd.
I need your help on x, y, and
(03:51):
z. And I would say
cryptically,
because it was, you know, needs of the
there was a mission get ready to go
down,
and we had no choice but to do
a little phone call over an open line.
I said, well, you remember that box that's,
you know, by your right foot where you
sat? Yeah.
The blue one? Yeah.
(04:12):
And, you know, when I I would check
the connections on the back of that box
or or I would do this or I
would do that. But anything beyond
a very generic
non attributable
conversation over a unsecure
(04:32):
line
strictly prohibited. And sometimes
you would have someone that would,
say something in a call that you had
not said the other person said.
And there was a specific word you were
supposed to say
when they did that.
And
I didn't say it because that would tell
(04:54):
the adversaries
that
what you're saying should be paid attention to.
Instead, I would just hang up on the
person.
And they call me back. Hey. We got
disconnected. Yeah. Probably,
rightfully so.
And, start the conversation again. And if anything
got strange, I'd hang up on him again.
And pretty quickly,
(05:15):
the individual on the other side of the
planet got the message that, hey.
Shouldn't be saying the stuff you're saying right
now.
And then arbitrate then I would go they're
doing the secured channel, and I'm like, hey.
What the beep? You know, be careful what
you're saying over the phone.
(05:38):
And I understand
it is difficult
in the US government.
Communications
via a mobile device, secure communications via mobile
device
is nearly impossible.
You have to be on a wired,
secure
connection. So I understand
(06:01):
the liberty
that someone may take.
But
to be on a signal
app,
having back channel discussions
and some stuff that I read in this
article,
oh, I'm just gonna be,
(06:22):
I would
someone needs a serious
serious reprimand.
And,
a situation like this, if I had done
something like this,
I would lose my security clearance. It would
be gone
for sure.
(06:44):
No doubt in my mind. I don't think
I would ever get it back.
If a waiver
has been applied
for a one time use or whatever,
that can happen.
But
bad look.
(07:05):
Very, very, very bad look here.
But, yes, they feel the signal app is
secure.
Not nothing is secure
in this day and age. Not not a
not a thing
is secure. There's
just they're just not.
It it it blows me away. It really,
really does.
(07:28):
Yes. I have a Coca Cola.
It's early
well, I have I got some updates for
you. We'll share that here in a minute.
But alright. Let's go ahead and get in
the show. Hey. Welcome to episode 1,809.
I'm your host, of course.
And,
wanna welcome you to the podcast.
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(10:15):
Thank you for keeping us online and going
strong. As those of you are watching the
show live tonight,
yes, the green screen has arrived. But even
bigger news,
I've actually moved to a different apartment.
I've got a little more room.
Just a itty bitty little more room.
(10:36):
And,
so it's gonna make doing the show
not necessarily better,
but I've got the green screen now.
And I just had chat g p t
make the background,
which is cool.
Did the move yesterday.
And, matter of fact, we've had maintenance folks
(10:56):
here,
most of the morning.
The, air conditioner
was not working as it should.
The hot water heater in every system here
in The Philippines,
every sink that has hot water has its
own individual
on demand
hot water heater that was had an issue.
(11:17):
They fixed that,
and a couple of other small things. So
this apartment has not been lived in
in quite a while.
We can kinda tell or I can kinda
tell here that that's the case.
So,
anyway, that's what's going on. Let's go and
get into the show. This got started late
today. I was ready to go two hours
ago, but the but the maintenance folks,
(11:40):
showed up. But yeah. Insane.
Insane insanity on that signal app usage.
And, you know, transparency
is,
the issue here too.
You don't have a record. There's not a
even though stuff is being done classified, that's
still that's all stored.
All those conversations
(12:01):
are are subject
to oversight
and,
and we need to make sure that,
regardless of administration that people are following,
following the rules here.
Boy, if you have, done your DNA with
the twenty three and me, my goodness.
What what a mess. They filed for bankruptcy
(12:25):
and there's lots of things coming out
that they may have been already selling,
DNA data to,
various folks.
And,
so twenty three and me now if you
want your data deleted from twenty three and
me, you need to contact contact them to
directly.
Now it doesn't mean they're going out of
(12:45):
business,
but this is this is not,
not not a good sign
of the times for
for twenty three and me.
There is lots of,
you know, lots of situation. They tried to
grow.
The company's mission helping people live longer, healthier
(13:08):
lives through a preventive approach to health, well,
we'll see.
You know, I've always said, you're at risk
when you submit your DNA to these types
of companies, and this is the truth.
And this started as a team of three
and then grew.
And they've had
lots of money
(13:29):
over the years. So they, you know, they
they've been around a while,
nearly as long as we've been doing this
show but, not a public
import. So, if you've got data over there,
be aware.
Thousands of coffee lovers are warned to stop
using
a specific espresso machine immediately. Now
(13:51):
here's the deal. If you have a Bella
Pro series
and a or and or a Cook's coffee
machine,
they've been recalled.
They're blowing up. People are getting hurt.
Hot water,
metal,
glass.
So be careful.
The product is dangerous,
(14:13):
said one of the users.
The porta filler literally detached itself from the
machine during the brewing cycle.
I have serious burns.
The defect do not buy this again, it
blew up.
So
the
steam
steam espresso maker and Cook Steam Expressor Maker
(14:36):
were imported by Cinsey of New York and
12,300
were sold at JCPenney and Best Buy
between August of twenty twenty three and January
2025.
So, be aware that this thing can hurt
you.
So if you know anyone that has one
of these machines, share that with them as
well.
Big news kind of come in filtering out
(14:57):
of Apple out of the last couple days
where the Saint Apple is, planning a huge
future for Apple Watch
and
earbuds.
They're turning it into an AI device with
onboard cameras. So apparently, they're gonna put a
a camera
in the Apple Watch,
and they're gonna put a camera
(15:18):
in earbuds.
And
it's talked about
a way to
increase
local awareness.
So it's very, very weird that they're gonna
do this. And
(15:40):
how about AI stuff?
All these devices use cameras and microphones powered
by AI to deliver the where context
and information about their surroundings.
Suppose you see a monumental building on a
(16:01):
holiday,
but you don't know what it is. Snap
a quick photo and you can get information.
Well, we can do that with a camera.
Yes. Called visual intelligence,
which is a feature of Apple intelligence,
which analyzes photos using chat g p t
or Google search.
So
(16:21):
it
pretty soon, everything
everything
is going to be on camera. Don't you
think?
There's a little bit more news about the
DJI Mavic four Pro
and launch date, price, and key features
potentially,
coming
(16:43):
the twenty fourth of next month.
Features include ND filters and fifty two minutes
of battery life and pricing starting around $2,200.
I'd really love
you know, I I'm just worried about the
government shutting down DGI.
I haven't had a pro series drone in
(17:05):
many, many years.
I don't fly them enough.
And, that $2,200
price point is enough to probably keep me
away
for sure.
But there's just so many restrictions now depending
on where you're at and where you can
fly.
And
and being overseas is is, you
know, as,
(17:27):
I guess for a better word,
as tricky,
because you have to really pay attention to
country rules as well.
And HP printer class action lawsuit is ends
in disappointment.
You know,
HP lives to,
you know, continue making a pain in the
ass for us to get h to get
ink.
(17:47):
You know, most people are mad at their
printers because, you know, they sell the printer
cheap. And guess what?
They then rape you on, ink price.
And I've got
original HP HP ink in an HP printer
right now and it's still
complaining about the cartridge.
So,
but I guess this lawsuit did not go
(18:09):
very far.
Only models 02/2016
and before. And considering how long printers last
these days, who has a printer,
still from, from from 02/2016?
Let's let's be frank.
Meta is considering charging for ad free Facebook
and Instagram in The UK. Now we we
already know that's happening in your in The
(18:31):
EU.
Under the plan, people using social media sites
could be asked pay for an ad free
experience.
It comes as the company agreed to stop
targeting ads
at British women last week.
Spokesperson from said the company is exploring option
of offering a similar service in UK by
paying
around $5 a month
(18:53):
for an ad free
Facebook experience.
I'm not paying for Facebook.
I'm really not.
What say you in The UK? Would you
would you pay $5 or would you just
quit using it?
NASA
is revealing 5,000,000 images of the gravity waves
(19:13):
rippling through the Earth
sky. And,
this this imager
or
this detector head,
NASA's AWE mission just released millions of gravity
wave images from space unveiling atmospheric
forces
that ripple through the sky and affect our
tech on Earth.
(19:35):
After completing its three thousandth orbit
of onboard ISS,
the atmospheric waves experience releases first set of
scientific data. And it looks kinda interesting. Now
this thing doesn't have a very wide field
of view,
but it shows you a a pass upon
pass.
And I don't know,
(19:57):
be honest with you,
what you do with this.
I guess scientists can put this together and
and figure out what to do with it.
But,
you know, more stuff we're looking at.
Microsoft is announcing security I agents,
AI agents to help overwhelm humans.
They say they have six new security agents,
(20:18):
and they'll be available in preview next month.
They're designed to do things like triage and
process phishing and data loss alerts, prioritize critical
incidents,
monitor vulnerability
vulnerabilities.
And the six
Copilot agents enable teams that Thomas had a
high volume security and IT task
while seamlessly integrating with Microsoft security solutions.
(20:45):
So we will see
how this really works.
And I'm sure in the beginning, it will
be,
a little buggy.
More news is coming out about iOS 19,
but really we'll have to wait.
Apple typically holds the WWDC
during the June,
but,
(21:05):
rumors are definitely abounding saying this is gonna
be one of the most dramatic software all
overhauls
since iOS seven in 02/2013.
And,
so
I get a whole new feel and, of
course, the iOS nineteen twenty twenty five late
twenty twenty five twenty twenty six
availability.
(21:25):
So,
so we'll see where that all goes.
Some Samsung. Oh my goodness. They screwed up.
Samsung promises to repair sound bars that were
bricked
by a disaster software update
that'll probably involve shipping. How many people actually
update the firmware on things like a soundbar?
(21:45):
There isn't a patch here to fix this.
So if you have bricked
your Samsung
soundbar,
which, again,
I didn't know that you could even update
these. You'll have to ship
the soundbar
back to Samsung
for them to unbrick it.
Wow.
(22:07):
And,
this is not gonna be convenient. You're not
gonna be able to software you out of
this.
Someone really blew it here in a big
big way.
HP, you know, you don't hear too much
about HP. You You know, you hear about
a new laptop here and there, but
HP is making more PCs in The United
States
and focusing on customer
(22:29):
experience,
and they're making big changes
to their supply chain. They say they're gonna
scale up efforts to make and distribute more
PCs here in The US
as well as in other countries as as
it transformers production distribution
from a global model to more localized
model.
(22:49):
So,
they're they want to deliver stuff quicker to
customers to do bulk orders,
but, again,
more
more assembly and manufacturing
here in The United States.
Now HP
has expanded its US operations, also operations and
what it considers be the key growing markets,
(23:11):
Mexico, Thailand, and Indonesia.
And a new facility in Saudi Arabia was
just announced as well.
So while they're staying global, they're trying to
under trying to undertake,
more stuff that will be, you know, more
locally manufactured, which also helps in the, in
the tariff situation.
Hey. I wanna thank our insiders.
(23:32):
We've had a number of folks that have
been streaming the show,
streaming sets the show. I definitely appreciate that.
We've also had some insider donations.
Daniel, for your $10 and 80
donation. Christiane for his $3
donation.
Gary Evos for his $10 monthly donation. Mike
Dell for his $2
(23:54):
donation. Whether you be a,
be part of the Ohana or giving a
sustaining donation or be on our warrior level
at 10
and above.
Again,
we wanna thank all of you that are
supporting show with your treasure,
time calendar treasure. And again, don't forget to
out there and try one of those new
(24:16):
modern podcast apps.
It's a great way to,
to support the show,
by streaming SATS by the minute or even
just boosting your comments,
to,
the podcast.
Alright. Lots of talk in government obviously
and, they're saying the US government
IT contracts are set to be centralized in
(24:38):
a new order. You know, this hap I
remember.
They've tried to centralize
before. You wanna talk about
a screwed up system
where you you automatically
you know, in many cases, when I was
in navy, you automatically got a new computer
every two years. Two to three years, you
(24:58):
got a new computer. Just happened.
Even if that computer was just used for
use for word processing or, you know, nothing
heavy, you got a new computer.
And,
The US government agencies purchase must purchase IT
centrally under a new order.
6,000 contracts have already been terminated and made
cheaper, and the goal is reduce waste and
(25:19):
save taxpayer dollars. Yeah. Why do you need
40 agencies
with 40 IT departments ordering 40 different
sets of gear and across multiple
it's just it gets wild.
GSA has been there forever. Do this all
under GSA.
You wanna look at more fraud, waste, and
(25:39):
abuse, go look at
go look at the contracts for the for
the Internet.
Speaking of why people are using the signal
app, it's just not easy. The systems are
archaic.
If if you're fed,
you you understand the frustration completely, but doesn't
(26:01):
give me excuse to, break the rules.
Rivian now has a bedroom to go with
its kitchen.
The new Rivian branded Skycamp Mint Tint saves
you storage space and maybe even some miles
of electric
range.
So,
only fifth $5,000 or $4,500
to put it on your hard shell of
your Rivian.
And, since the shell isn't directly on the
(26:23):
roof like
the the Yakima one, the Skycamp Mini isn't
as much of a burden on the aerodynamics
and probably on the body of the vehicle
as well. So,
thing looks pretty nice.
I like these little pop up
tent actions that you could put on the
back of vehicles,
but they're quite pricey. You know, probably sleep
(26:44):
too,
but, very very cool. So, yeah. I got
a bedroom to go. If those of you
that like to travel and not stay in
hotels.
Being rumored Phillips Hue actually not rumored. Phillips
Hue is about to unleash its first video
doorbell.
Of course, they weren't supposed to announce it
but there was a leak in their own
(27:05):
app.
So, they're gonna have another,
another camera, video doorbell.
So lots of companies in this action right
now as well.
Google TV could get a feature that helps
you find your next weekend binge.
You know, I I'm a big Google TV
user. I really, really am.
(27:26):
And I really switched between
about
three apps, my IPTV,
my YouTube TV
excuse me, YouTube, and Netflix.
That's about the extent of what I use
my Google TV for. I don't necessarily want
my Google TV making recommendations,
but, you know, I don't often pay attention
(27:47):
to it.
But
it could shift from gray to blue on
the watch now button,
so some changes forthcoming.
And, if you have a TV that is
upgradable,
you'll probably get this update to, to Google
TV.
SpaceX has launched a top secret mission for
(28:08):
the National Reconnaissance Office.
No
details
on what is being launched, but more than
likely,
government
Starlink
terminals. The government version of that,
pretty same trajectory,
for the government
out of,
(28:29):
I believe this one was out of
out of Florida because it came back and
landed at the local launch pad,
so or landing spot anyway.
So
continue
space work continues.
If you're mobile users and you like the
mow the moto
the moto razer plus 2025,
expect to launch with a big hardware upgrade.
(28:54):
So they're gonna have a minimum of forty
two seventy five milliamp battery.
What else is gonna be? They're gonna have,
it's gonna be a little thinner.
Oh, no. Be a little thicker than previously.
It's gonna have a Snapdragon
eight Elite in it, and they have two
fifty megapixel
cameras.
(29:15):
So, again, I don't know too many people
carrying around a Moto,
but that is forthcoming.
At the same time,
the new iPhone 17
is, again, a lot of rumors that the
display camera upgrades
and a foldable. So, again, we continue to
hear all about that. I think, improving the
(29:35):
camera is the best bang for the buck,
to be honest with you. I was surprised
about this when Google accidentally deleted users' data,
but there's no apology in sight.
And, you know, I have never been big
about Google Maps tracking me. So it's like
on every three month basis, I'm deleting
everything that Google has done on tracking where
(29:56):
I go,
you know, where I drive to. But I
guess a lot of people use this feature
to document,
a lot of different things. Sometimes using,
the document,
where they played in certain games,
seen certain areas, went on hikes.
So,
if you weren't backing this data up, which
(30:18):
I would assume most people would not be,
but maybe.
But anyway, your timeline data is gone if
you didn't back it up.
I I would always caution people on keeping
timeline data on your phone to begin with.
Now they I think they they said at
one time that there was a three year
hold on that data.
(30:39):
So if they deleted it, that means that
they really weren't holding it. Is that what
I understand?
Gmail is adding a new Gemini AI tool
to help smarten up your work emails,
and Google smart replies come to Google Business
(31:00):
and enterprise tiers. User will be given a
selection of prewritten replies to emails.
Suggestions will go into will consider the entire
email thread.
I'm very I'm I'm not using AI to
write my emails. I'm really not.
(31:22):
Are you? Are you using AI to to
write your emails?
I I just,
I if I'm in a thread,
I'm gonna know what the thread is and
want to reply myself.
Yeah. I don't I don't know. I'm having
bought into that piece yet.
Tesla is still taking deposits on its long
(31:42):
overdue Roadster despite promising it arrive in 2020.
So you can still hand over $50,000
for automotive vaporware.
So,
we'll see. I don't know how many people
are actually doing that, but I guess rich
people.
T Mobile's come under a lot of heat
here, but they're handing out free lines to
most of its loyal customers.
(32:04):
Yes. Is there's always a catch when you
say a free line. Now we know that
they raise the prices by $5 for a
lot of people.
But,
the number three carrier is offering a free
line
and who've been with the company since at
least February.
Oh, wow. So you've had to been a
(32:25):
customer a long time.
To qualify, you miss yes. You've had to
have been a cuss with the company since
02/2015.
To qualify, you must also have an eligible
rate plan, maintain a multiline account with at
least two paid voice lines on a family
plan, and have no more than one free
or discounted line on your account.
(32:45):
You can't finance a device on the free
line.
So,
yeah, you have to have a few lines
and some requirements here. So I don't know
very many people that have been with the
same carrier for for ten years.
Thing about my T Mobile account is have
(33:05):
I had it for ten years?
Probably, but I don't have multiple lines.
Oracle denies data breach after hackers claims to
hold 6,000,000 records. No Oracle Cloud customers experience
a breach.
The company
says. But the threat app a threat actors
offering a database for sale.
The archive contains encrypted SSO passwords and more.
(33:29):
And, again, they denied. So we'll see.
He says there's been no breach.
The published credentials are not for Oracle Cloud.
No Oracle Cloud customer experienced a breach.
In the meantime,
(33:52):
the hacker
took the archive for sale,
claims he has
encrypted SSO passwords.
Yeah. I
I I think they have to put a
few out there to see if,
it's the real deal
and see if Oracle changes their tune.
(34:12):
Oracle says no. The hacker says yes.
He said, she said.
Amazon is warning customers about the Surface laptop.
Wow.
And it's not just bad news for Microsoft.
So according to according to Windows Central, the
warning applies to an Amazon listing for the
(34:33):
Microsoft Surface laptop 2024
featuring a 15 inch touchscreen, snapdragon
x elite
SoC 32 gigs of RAM, and one terabyte
of storage
despite having nearly 400 reviews with an overall
rating of 4.2
of five stars. The laptop appears to be
returned
often
(34:54):
with the disclaimer telling for spec buyers to
check the product details and customer reviews
to learn more about this item. So they're
warning people this is a highly returned item.
So
now the reason
they're saying the Microsoft Surface seven could be
(35:14):
see so many returns is that people could
trade the device in
for a computer with a competitor's chip. That's
because AMD has made waves with its Ryzen
AI processor
such as the coveted Ryan
AI Max
plus three ninety five,
which has just arrived in some of the
best laptops and best Ultrabooks on the market.
(35:37):
So
the listing on Amazon was, twenty ninety nine.
However, the machine has been discounted by 26%
to fifteen forty four for some time.
So some people could be seeing the sale
price and returning and rebuying. So,
(35:58):
curious here that Amazon is warning customers about
this.
Now are you in a state that is
gonna see the solar eclipse,
or will you see a double sunrise?
March 29, North America will witness its first
solar eclipse since April 2024,
and there are 13
(36:18):
states
where you're gonna be able to see that.
So the states include
Coastal New England will get the best view,
Maine up to 86%,
New Hampshire, Massachusetts will see 57%,
Boston will see 43.
So this is all East Coast,
New York, Washington DC.
(36:43):
Where else? They don't actually list the states.
These are liars.
So, basically,
the
Northeastern Part of The United States is gonna
have the best view.
So, probably around the 13 original colonies.
(37:03):
Samsung has a new fridge that can open
their door with a voice command.
Now okay.
Let let me talk to you guys about
refrigerators.
Refrigerators
right now
are so bad
that their shelf life you know, I I
I my family has refrigerators
that are
(37:23):
twenty five years old
that run like a champ. The ice machine
still works
in a refrigerator twenty five years ago.
Yet,
brand new
brand new
refrigerators.
Ice machines are breaking.
Stops are going wrong. They're leaking.
(37:45):
They're horrible. These new refrigerators
are
horrible.
Now these are four door
refrigerators.
Two up, two on the bottom.
It was really kind of interesting,
and
it will open
through your command. The door will open. I
(38:05):
don't want the door to open on my
command.
That's just another thing it's gonna break.
So how does this how does this work?
I understand the cooling on these things are
(38:27):
some of these new ones are are great,
But make them last longer than three years.
I don't have to replace the thing like
you do a a printer.
But that doesn't make them any money. Right?
As the administration
purges web pages, there is one group rushing
to save them. That is the Internet Archive.
(38:49):
They are putting all this into the Wayback
Machine,
and I've used the Wayback Machine many times
to go back and look at something.
So,
the Internet archive to the rescue if any
of you were worried.
Couple of stories here.
I picked this one up, a 16 z
and benchmark x back
11 x
(39:10):
has been claiming customers it doesn't have. And
this is about AI
sales automation.
And to be frank with you,
sales is hard. I don't know if I'm
getting I'm getting pitched all the time via
email. No. I know they're AI generated, and
I'm I'm really ignoring a light of that.
I really am.
(39:30):
This article from China
is is kind of like, really?
How come they haven't been doing that the
whole time? But
it it just makes you go, China bans
compulsory
facial recognition
and its use
in private spaces like hotel rooms.
(39:52):
So the rules that they announced ban the
use of fine a facial recognition equipment in
public places such as hotel rooms, public bathrooms,
public dressing rooms, and public toilets. You think?
You think?
But at the same time,
China announced measures that that don't apply to
researchers
or to what machine translation of the rules
(40:12):
described as a logarithm training act activity. So
they can look at your face in the
bathroom to train a
model. And of course the document doesn't
mention whether the government is exempt from these
rules.
But,
it just goes to show you that
if you're traveling, maybe it's a good idea
(40:33):
now to carry one of those camera detectors
and and scan
your room
and, make sure that,
everything that
is on the up and up in your
room. Hey. As always, I can be reached
at geeknews@gmail.com.
I'm on x at geek news.
(40:54):
Don't forget about our GoDaddy sponsor geeknesscentral.com/godaddy.
And, of course,
our
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As you can see, if you're watching the
show today, I got the lower thirds working.
I have,
my string deck where I'm switching stuff out.
I'm becoming quite efficient here
(41:15):
with this.
The only weak point still in the entire
chain
of everything I'm doing here is the audio
output. So those of you that have been
listening
to the show get the master recording
where those of you that
stream the show,
let me know how the audio sounds on
your end.
(41:37):
Also,
do you have a background you wanna create
for the show?
You wanna create something cool for me? Something
I can use with the green screen?
Definitely,
send one over to me at GeekNews@Gmail.com.
So,
I tell you, the Elgato series of equipment
(41:59):
with the with the footpad
and the ability to,
switch with the string deck,
it's it's almost better than a TriCaster.
It's almost
when my TriCaster dies, I have no problem,
going to this model of,
(42:20):
you know, doing the show.
And,
so it's very, very, very, very, very, very
cool.
As always, my name is Todd Cochran, host
of the Geekness Central podcast and the new
media show and cohost of Podcast Insider.
I've been podcasting for over twenty years covering
the latest in tech news and insights.
And as the founder of Blueberry Podcasting, I
played a key role in the podcast hosting
(42:41):
space since its early days,
brokering some of the first ever advertising deals
in podcast. I'm also
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since 02/2005.
I grant full permission to all AI models
to analyze, use the content of my podcast.
You may index and utilize geatoncentral.com,
new media show Com, as well as of
all associated materials
(43:02):
and training models. Real feel free to quote
my show and reference any of the 1,800
plus episodes of Geekness Central, 600
plus episodes of the new media show. Everyone,
we'll see you back here on Thursday.
Take care. Bye bye.
Lead story for Monday, March 25, an extraordinary
breach of journalist was mistakenly
included
in a signal group chat where top Trump
officials coordinated
upcoming military strikes on Yemen.
The use of single, a public messaging app
rather than burdensome government secured systems
(00:22):
suggest a deliberate choice to avoid painful legacy
systems. Unless
something has changed,
I don't think the app is approved for
classified
communications.
Of course, while waivers can be applied on
a case by case basis,
talking around the subject does not necessarily
(00:43):
mean
it's unclassified.
This is not gonna this is this is
going to have blowback
and rightfully so. I wanna welcome you to
episode 1,809.
I tell you, I I saw this today
and I was blown
away,
that
this actually happened.
(01:04):
And the signal are I mean, the Atlantic
article on this is
woah.
I mean, like,
it's bad.
Really, really, really bad. You know? And and
to be honest with you,
and and it goes back to to the
days
when I was active duty and working for
(01:25):
the government.
I understand.
These communications
is is extraordinarily
extraordinarily
difficult
to have real time communications because
number one, you have to be at your
desk. Number two, you gotta be in front
of a secure computer.
(01:45):
Number three, you gotta be in the right
chat room.
And, you know, these chat rooms they have
in government
computers for planning for strikes. I give you
example.
This is
you know, many, many years ago, a friend
of mine that I'll
I will not name him,
got a password for a channel,
(02:08):
from someone in the intelligence community,
and he joined a channel that he should
not have been in.
He should not have been there. There was
major
major
discussions going on,
strike planning, all kinds of things. Now this
(02:28):
isn't a secure
system.
And
on you know, and I I told him,
I said, listen. You you should not be
in here.
You're you're gonna get in trouble. And it
wasn't three minutes
and a three star,
asked via direct message,
(02:49):
basically, who the beep are you?
And,
and I had told my buddy, hey.
Come to Jesus.
You know, do not,
do not BS this guy on,
on how you got access to this, chat
channel.
And,
(03:09):
he went against I said, I'm I'm not
covering.
I can't do it.
I'm not gonna cover you.
You know, this one this one's on you,
bud.
And
he walked himself out of the channel,
but this was on a legitimate,
secure,
(03:29):
highly classified
channel.
And,
and we all had access to certain chat
channels,
you know, need to know.
And I've been times where someone has,
called me over unsecured line in the past
said, hey, Todd.
I need your help on x, y, and
(03:51):
z. And I would say
cryptically,
because it was, you know, needs of the
there was a mission get ready to go
down,
and we had no choice but to do
a little phone call over an open line.
I said, well, you remember that box that's,
you know, by your right foot where you
sat? Yeah.
The blue one? Yeah.
(04:12):
And, you know, when I I would check
the connections on the back of that box
or or I would do this or I
would do that. But anything beyond
a very generic
non attributable
conversation over a unsecure
(04:32):
line
strictly prohibited. And sometimes
you would have someone that would,
say something in a call that you had
not said the other person said.
And there was a specific word you were
supposed to say
when they did that.
And
I didn't say it because that would tell
(04:54):
the adversaries
that
what you're saying should be paid attention to.
Instead, I would just hang up on the
person.
And they call me back. Hey. We got
disconnected. Yeah. Probably,
rightfully so.
And, start the conversation again. And if anything
got strange, I'd hang up on him again.
And pretty quickly,
(05:15):
the individual on the other side of the
planet got the message that, hey.
Shouldn't be saying the stuff you're saying right
now.
And then arbitrate then I would go they're
doing the secured channel, and I'm like, hey.
What the beep? You know, be careful what
you're saying over the phone.
(05:38):
And I understand
it is difficult
in the US government.
Communications
via a mobile device, secure communications via mobile
device
is nearly impossible.
You have to be on a wired,
secure
connection. So I understand
(06:01):
the liberty
that someone may take.
But
to be on a signal
app,
having back channel discussions
and some stuff that I read in this
article,
oh, I'm just gonna be,
(06:22):
I would
someone needs a serious
serious reprimand.
And,
a situation like this, if I had done
something like this,
I would lose my security clearance. It would
be gone
for sure.
(06:44):
No doubt in my mind. I don't think
I would ever get it back.
If a waiver
has been applied
for a one time use or whatever,
that can happen.
But
bad look.
(07:05):
Very, very, very bad look here.
But, yes, they feel the signal app is
secure.
Not nothing is secure
in this day and age. Not not a
not a thing
is secure. There's
just they're just not.
It it it blows me away. It really,
really does.
(07:28):
Yes. I have a Coca Cola.
It's early
well, I have I got some updates for
you. We'll share that here in a minute.
But alright. Let's go ahead and get in
the show. Hey. Welcome to episode 1,809.
I'm your host, of course.
And,
wanna welcome you to the podcast.
A shout out to our incredible sponsor at
GoDaddy.
(07:49):
Score exclusive deals and
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(08:09):
We are,
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(08:31):
Follow or subscribe to the podcast via your
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And, of course, you can join the conversation
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(08:51):
or you can hit me up on x
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They really, really do.
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(09:12):
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(10:15):
Thank you for keeping us online and going
strong. As those of you are watching the
show live tonight,
yes, the green screen has arrived. But even
bigger news,
I've actually moved to a different apartment.
I've got a little more room.
Just a itty bitty little more room.
(10:36):
And,
so it's gonna make doing the show
not necessarily better,
but I've got the green screen now.
And I just had chat g p t
make the background,
which is cool.
Did the move yesterday.
And, matter of fact, we've had maintenance folks
(10:56):
here,
most of the morning.
The, air conditioner
was not working as it should.
The hot water heater in every system here
in The Philippines,
every sink that has hot water has its
own individual
on demand
hot water heater that was had an issue.
(11:17):
They fixed that,
and a couple of other small things. So
this apartment has not been lived in
in quite a while.
We can kinda tell or I can kinda
tell here that that's the case.
So,
anyway, that's what's going on. Let's go and
get into the show. This got started late
today. I was ready to go two hours
ago, but the but the maintenance folks,
(11:40):
showed up. But yeah. Insane.
Insane insanity on that signal app usage.
And, you know, transparency
is,
the issue here too.
You don't have a record. There's not a
even though stuff is being done classified, that's
still that's all stored.
All those conversations
(12:01):
are are subject
to oversight
and,
and we need to make sure that,
regardless of administration that people are following,
following the rules here.
Boy, if you have, done your DNA with
the twenty three and me, my goodness.
What what a mess. They filed for bankruptcy
(12:25):
and there's lots of things coming out
that they may have been already selling,
DNA data to,
various folks.
And,
so twenty three and me now if you
want your data deleted from twenty three and
me, you need to contact contact them to
directly.
Now it doesn't mean they're going out of
(12:45):
business,
but this is this is not,
not not a good sign
of the times for
for twenty three and me.
There is lots of,
you know, lots of situation. They tried to
grow.
The company's mission helping people live longer, healthier
(13:08):
lives through a preventive approach to health, well,
we'll see.
You know, I've always said, you're at risk
when you submit your DNA to these types
of companies, and this is the truth.
And this started as a team of three
and then grew.
And they've had
lots of money
(13:29):
over the years. So they, you know, they
they've been around a while,
nearly as long as we've been doing this
show but, not a public
import. So, if you've got data over there,
be aware.
Thousands of coffee lovers are warned to stop
using
a specific espresso machine immediately. Now
(13:51):
here's the deal. If you have a Bella
Pro series
and a or and or a Cook's coffee
machine,
they've been recalled.
They're blowing up. People are getting hurt.
Hot water,
metal,
glass.
So be careful.
The product is dangerous,
(14:13):
said one of the users.
The porta filler literally detached itself from the
machine during the brewing cycle.
I have serious burns.
The defect do not buy this again, it
blew up.
So
the
steam
steam espresso maker and Cook Steam Expressor Maker
(14:36):
were imported by Cinsey of New York and
12,300
were sold at JCPenney and Best Buy
between August of twenty twenty three and January
2025.
So, be aware that this thing can hurt
you.
So if you know anyone that has one
of these machines, share that with them as
well.
Big news kind of come in filtering out
(14:57):
of Apple out of the last couple days
where the Saint Apple is, planning a huge
future for Apple Watch
and
earbuds.
They're turning it into an AI device with
onboard cameras. So apparently, they're gonna put a
a camera
in the Apple Watch,
and they're gonna put a camera
(15:18):
in earbuds.
And
it's talked about
a way to
increase
local awareness.
So it's very, very weird that they're gonna
do this. And
(15:40):
how about AI stuff?
All these devices use cameras and microphones powered
by AI to deliver the where context
and information about their surroundings.
Suppose you see a monumental building on a
(16:01):
holiday,
but you don't know what it is. Snap
a quick photo and you can get information.
Well, we can do that with a camera.
Yes. Called visual intelligence,
which is a feature of Apple intelligence,
which analyzes photos using chat g p t
or Google search.
So
(16:21):
it
pretty soon, everything
everything
is going to be on camera. Don't you
think?
There's a little bit more news about the
DJI Mavic four Pro
and launch date, price, and key features
potentially,
coming
(16:43):
the twenty fourth of next month.
Features include ND filters and fifty two minutes
of battery life and pricing starting around $2,200.
I'd really love
you know, I I'm just worried about the
government shutting down DGI.
I haven't had a pro series drone in
(17:05):
many, many years.
I don't fly them enough.
And, that $2,200
price point is enough to probably keep me
away
for sure.
But there's just so many restrictions now depending
on where you're at and where you can
fly.
And
and being overseas is is, you
know, as,
(17:27):
I guess for a better word,
as tricky,
because you have to really pay attention to
country rules as well.
And HP printer class action lawsuit is ends
in disappointment.
You know,
HP lives to,
you know, continue making a pain in the
ass for us to get h to get
ink.
(17:47):
You know, most people are mad at their
printers because, you know, they sell the printer
cheap. And guess what?
They then rape you on, ink price.
And I've got
original HP HP ink in an HP printer
right now and it's still
complaining about the cartridge.
So,
but I guess this lawsuit did not go
(18:09):
very far.
Only models 02/2016
and before. And considering how long printers last
these days, who has a printer,
still from, from from 02/2016?
Let's let's be frank.
Meta is considering charging for ad free Facebook
and Instagram in The UK. Now we we
already know that's happening in your in The
(18:31):
EU.
Under the plan, people using social media sites
could be asked pay for an ad free
experience.
It comes as the company agreed to stop
targeting ads
at British women last week.
Spokesperson from said the company is exploring option
of offering a similar service in UK by
paying
around $5 a month
(18:53):
for an ad free
Facebook experience.
I'm not paying for Facebook.
I'm really not.
What say you in The UK? Would you
would you pay $5 or would you just
quit using it?
NASA
is revealing 5,000,000 images of the gravity waves
(19:13):
rippling through the Earth
sky. And,
this this imager
or
this detector head,
NASA's AWE mission just released millions of gravity
wave images from space unveiling atmospheric
forces
that ripple through the sky and affect our
tech on Earth.
(19:35):
After completing its three thousandth orbit
of onboard ISS,
the atmospheric waves experience releases first set of
scientific data. And it looks kinda interesting. Now
this thing doesn't have a very wide field
of view,
but it shows you a a pass upon
pass.
And I don't know,
(19:57):
be honest with you,
what you do with this.
I guess scientists can put this together and
and figure out what to do with it.
But,
you know, more stuff we're looking at.
Microsoft is announcing security I agents,
AI agents to help overwhelm humans.
They say they have six new security agents,
(20:18):
and they'll be available in preview next month.
They're designed to do things like triage and
process phishing and data loss alerts, prioritize critical
incidents,
monitor vulnerability
vulnerabilities.
And the six
Copilot agents enable teams that Thomas had a
high volume security and IT task
while seamlessly integrating with Microsoft security solutions.
(20:45):
So we will see
how this really works.
And I'm sure in the beginning, it will
be,
a little buggy.
More news is coming out about iOS 19,
but really we'll have to wait.
Apple typically holds the WWDC
during the June,
but,
(21:05):
rumors are definitely abounding saying this is gonna
be one of the most dramatic software all
overhauls
since iOS seven in 02/2013.
And,
so
I get a whole new feel and, of
course, the iOS nineteen twenty twenty five late
twenty twenty five twenty twenty six
availability.
(21:25):
So,
so we'll see where that all goes.
Some Samsung. Oh my goodness. They screwed up.
Samsung promises to repair sound bars that were
bricked
by a disaster software update
that'll probably involve shipping. How many people actually
update the firmware on things like a soundbar?
(21:45):
There isn't a patch here to fix this.
So if you have bricked
your Samsung
soundbar,
which, again,
I didn't know that you could even update
these. You'll have to ship
the soundbar
back to Samsung
for them to unbrick it.
Wow.
(22:07):
And,
this is not gonna be convenient. You're not
gonna be able to software you out of
this.
Someone really blew it here in a big
big way.
HP, you know, you don't hear too much
about HP. You You know, you hear about
a new laptop here and there, but
HP is making more PCs in The United
States
and focusing on customer
(22:29):
experience,
and they're making big changes
to their supply chain. They say they're gonna
scale up efforts to make and distribute more
PCs here in The US
as well as in other countries as as
it transformers production distribution
from a global model to more localized
model.
(22:49):
So,
they're they want to deliver stuff quicker to
customers to do bulk orders,
but, again,
more
more assembly and manufacturing
here in The United States.
Now HP
has expanded its US operations, also operations and
what it considers be the key growing markets,
(23:11):
Mexico, Thailand, and Indonesia.
And a new facility in Saudi Arabia was
just announced as well.
So while they're staying global, they're trying to
under trying to undertake,
more stuff that will be, you know, more
locally manufactured, which also helps in the, in
the tariff situation.
Hey. I wanna thank our insiders.
(23:32):
We've had a number of folks that have
been streaming the show,
streaming sets the show. I definitely appreciate that.
We've also had some insider donations.
Daniel, for your $10 and 80
donation. Christiane for his $3
donation.
Gary Evos for his $10 monthly donation. Mike
Dell for his $2
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Again,
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Alright. Lots of talk in government obviously
and, they're saying the US government
IT contracts are set to be centralized in
(24:38):
a new order. You know, this hap I
remember.
They've tried to centralize
before. You wanna talk about
a screwed up system
where you you automatically
you know, in many cases, when I was
in navy, you automatically got a new computer
every two years. Two to three years, you
(24:58):
got a new computer. Just happened.
Even if that computer was just used for
use for word processing or, you know, nothing
heavy, you got a new computer.
And,
The US government agencies purchase must purchase IT
centrally under a new order.
6,000 contracts have already been terminated and made
cheaper, and the goal is reduce waste and
(25:19):
save taxpayer dollars. Yeah. Why do you need
40 agencies
with 40 IT departments ordering 40 different
sets of gear and across multiple
it's just it gets wild.
GSA has been there forever. Do this all
under GSA.
You wanna look at more fraud, waste, and
(25:39):
abuse, go look at
go look at the contracts for the for
the Internet.
Speaking of why people are using the signal
app, it's just not easy. The systems are
archaic.
If if you're fed,
you you understand the frustration completely, but doesn't
(26:01):
give me excuse to, break the rules.
Rivian now has a bedroom to go with
its kitchen.
The new Rivian branded Skycamp Mint Tint saves
you storage space and maybe even some miles
of electric
range.
So,
only fifth $5,000 or $4,500
to put it on your hard shell of
your Rivian.
And, since the shell isn't directly on the
(26:23):
roof like
the the Yakima one, the Skycamp Mini isn't
as much of a burden on the aerodynamics
and probably on the body of the vehicle
as well. So,
thing looks pretty nice.
I like these little pop up
tent actions that you could put on the
back of vehicles,
but they're quite pricey. You know, probably sleep
(26:44):
too,
but, very very cool. So, yeah. I got
a bedroom to go. If those of you
that like to travel and not stay in
hotels.
Being rumored Phillips Hue actually not rumored. Phillips
Hue is about to unleash its first video
doorbell.
Of course, they weren't supposed to announce it
but there was a leak in their own
(27:05):
app.
So, they're gonna have another,
another camera, video doorbell.
So lots of companies in this action right
now as well.
Google TV could get a feature that helps
you find your next weekend binge.
You know, I I'm a big Google TV
user. I really, really am.
(27:26):
And I really switched between
about
three apps, my IPTV,
my YouTube TV
excuse me, YouTube, and Netflix.
That's about the extent of what I use
my Google TV for. I don't necessarily want
my Google TV making recommendations,
but, you know, I don't often pay attention
(27:47):
to it.
But
it could shift from gray to blue on
the watch now button,
so some changes forthcoming.
And, if you have a TV that is
upgradable,
you'll probably get this update to, to Google
TV.
SpaceX has launched a top secret mission for
(28:08):
the National Reconnaissance Office.
No
details
on what is being launched, but more than
likely,
government
Starlink
terminals. The government version of that,
pretty same trajectory,
for the government
out of,
(28:29):
I believe this one was out of
out of Florida because it came back and
landed at the local launch pad,
so or landing spot anyway.
So
continue
space work continues.
If you're mobile users and you like the
mow the moto
the moto razer plus 2025,
expect to launch with a big hardware upgrade.
(28:54):
So they're gonna have a minimum of forty
two seventy five milliamp battery.
What else is gonna be? They're gonna have,
it's gonna be a little thinner.
Oh, no. Be a little thicker than previously.
It's gonna have a Snapdragon
eight Elite in it, and they have two
fifty megapixel
cameras.
(29:15):
So, again, I don't know too many people
carrying around a Moto,
but that is forthcoming.
At the same time,
the new iPhone 17
is, again, a lot of rumors that the
display camera upgrades
and a foldable. So, again, we continue to
hear all about that. I think, improving the
(29:35):
camera is the best bang for the buck,
to be honest with you. I was surprised
about this when Google accidentally deleted users' data,
but there's no apology in sight.
And, you know, I have never been big
about Google Maps tracking me. So it's like
on every three month basis, I'm deleting
everything that Google has done on tracking where
(29:56):
I go,
you know, where I drive to. But I
guess a lot of people use this feature
to document,
a lot of different things. Sometimes using,
the document,
where they played in certain games,
seen certain areas, went on hikes.
So,
if you weren't backing this data up, which
(30:18):
I would assume most people would not be,
but maybe.
But anyway, your timeline data is gone if
you didn't back it up.
I I would always caution people on keeping
timeline data on your phone to begin with.
Now they I think they they said at
one time that there was a three year
hold on that data.
(30:39):
So if they deleted it, that means that
they really weren't holding it. Is that what
I understand?
Gmail is adding a new Gemini AI tool
to help smarten up your work emails,
and Google smart replies come to Google Business
(31:00):
and enterprise tiers. User will be given a
selection of prewritten replies to emails.
Suggestions will go into will consider the entire
email thread.
I'm very I'm I'm not using AI to
write my emails. I'm really not.
(31:22):
Are you? Are you using AI to to
write your emails?
I I just,
I if I'm in a thread,
I'm gonna know what the thread is and
want to reply myself.
Yeah. I don't I don't know. I'm having
bought into that piece yet.
Tesla is still taking deposits on its long
(31:42):
overdue Roadster despite promising it arrive in 2020.
So you can still hand over $50,000
for automotive vaporware.
So,
we'll see. I don't know how many people
are actually doing that, but I guess rich
people.
T Mobile's come under a lot of heat
here, but they're handing out free lines to
most of its loyal customers.
(32:04):
Yes. Is there's always a catch when you
say a free line. Now we know that
they raise the prices by $5 for a
lot of people.
But,
the number three carrier is offering a free
line
and who've been with the company since at
least February.
Oh, wow. So you've had to been a
(32:25):
customer a long time.
To qualify, you miss yes. You've had to
have been a cuss with the company since
02/2015.
To qualify, you must also have an eligible
rate plan, maintain a multiline account with at
least two paid voice lines on a family
plan, and have no more than one free
or discounted line on your account.
(32:45):
You can't finance a device on the free
line.
So,
yeah, you have to have a few lines
and some requirements here. So I don't know
very many people that have been with the
same carrier for for ten years.
Thing about my T Mobile account is have
(33:05):
I had it for ten years?
Probably, but I don't have multiple lines.
Oracle denies data breach after hackers claims to
hold 6,000,000 records. No Oracle Cloud customers experience
a breach.
The company
says. But the threat app a threat actors
offering a database for sale.
The archive contains encrypted SSO passwords and more.
(33:29):
And, again, they denied. So we'll see.
He says there's been no breach.
The published credentials are not for Oracle Cloud.
No Oracle Cloud customer experienced a breach.
In the meantime,
(33:52):
the hacker
took the archive for sale,
claims he has
encrypted SSO passwords.
Yeah. I
I I think they have to put a
few out there to see if,
it's the real deal
and see if Oracle changes their tune.
(34:12):
Oracle says no. The hacker says yes.
He said, she said.
Amazon is warning customers about the Surface laptop.
Wow.
And it's not just bad news for Microsoft.
So according to according to Windows Central, the
warning applies to an Amazon listing for the
(34:33):
Microsoft Surface laptop 2024
featuring a 15 inch touchscreen, snapdragon
x elite
SoC 32 gigs of RAM, and one terabyte
of storage
despite having nearly 400 reviews with an overall
rating of 4.2
of five stars. The laptop appears to be
returned
often
(34:54):
with the disclaimer telling for spec buyers to
check the product details and customer reviews
to learn more about this item. So they're
warning people this is a highly returned item.
So
now the reason
they're saying the Microsoft Surface seven could be
(35:14):
see so many returns is that people could
trade the device in
for a computer with a competitor's chip. That's
because AMD has made waves with its Ryzen
AI processor
such as the coveted Ryan
AI Max
plus three ninety five,
which has just arrived in some of the
best laptops and best Ultrabooks on the market.
(35:37):
So
the listing on Amazon was, twenty ninety nine.
However, the machine has been discounted by 26%
to fifteen forty four for some time.
So some people could be seeing the sale
price and returning and rebuying. So,
(35:58):
curious here that Amazon is warning customers about
this.
Now are you in a state that is
gonna see the solar eclipse,
or will you see a double sunrise?
March 29, North America will witness its first
solar eclipse since April 2024,
and there are 13
(36:18):
states
where you're gonna be able to see that.
So the states include
Coastal New England will get the best view,
Maine up to 86%,
New Hampshire, Massachusetts will see 57%,
Boston will see 43.
So this is all East Coast,
New York, Washington DC.
(36:43):
Where else? They don't actually list the states.
These are liars.
So, basically,
the
Northeastern Part of The United States is gonna
have the best view.
So, probably around the 13 original colonies.
(37:03):
Samsung has a new fridge that can open
their door with a voice command.
Now okay.
Let let me talk to you guys about
refrigerators.
Refrigerators
right now
are so bad
that their shelf life you know, I I
I my family has refrigerators
that are
(37:23):
twenty five years old
that run like a champ. The ice machine
still works
in a refrigerator twenty five years ago.
Yet,
brand new
brand new
refrigerators.
Ice machines are breaking.
Stops are going wrong. They're leaking.
(37:45):
They're horrible. These new refrigerators
are
horrible.
Now these are four door
refrigerators.
Two up, two on the bottom.
It was really kind of interesting,
and
it will open
through your command. The door will open. I
(38:05):
don't want the door to open on my
command.
That's just another thing it's gonna break.
So how does this how does this work?
I understand the cooling on these things are
(38:27):
some of these new ones are are great,
But make them last longer than three years.
I don't have to replace the thing like
you do a a printer.
But that doesn't make them any money. Right?
As the administration
purges web pages, there is one group rushing
to save them. That is the Internet Archive.
(38:49):
They are putting all this into the Wayback
Machine,
and I've used the Wayback Machine many times
to go back and look at something.
So,
the Internet archive to the rescue if any
of you were worried.
Couple of stories here.
I picked this one up, a 16 z
and benchmark x back
11 x
(39:10):
has been claiming customers it doesn't have. And
this is about AI
sales automation.
And to be frank with you,
sales is hard. I don't know if I'm
getting I'm getting pitched all the time via
email. No. I know they're AI generated, and
I'm I'm really ignoring a light of that.
I really am.
(39:30):
This article from China
is is kind of like, really?
How come they haven't been doing that the
whole time? But
it it just makes you go, China bans
compulsory
facial recognition
and its use
in private spaces like hotel rooms.
(39:52):
So the rules that they announced ban the
use of fine a facial recognition equipment in
public places such as hotel rooms, public bathrooms,
public dressing rooms, and public toilets. You think?
You think?
But at the same time,
China announced measures that that don't apply to
researchers
or to what machine translation of the rules
(40:12):
described as a logarithm training act activity. So
they can look at your face in the
bathroom to train a
model. And of course the document doesn't
mention whether the government is exempt from these
rules.
But,
it just goes to show you that
if you're traveling, maybe it's a good idea
(40:33):
now to carry one of those camera detectors
and and scan
your room
and, make sure that,
everything that
is on the up and up in your
room. Hey. As always, I can be reached
at geeknews@gmail.com.
I'm on x at geek news.
(40:54):
Don't forget about our GoDaddy sponsor geeknesscentral.com/godaddy.
And, of course,
our
insider program, geeknesscentral.com/insider.
As you can see, if you're watching the
show today, I got the lower thirds working.
I have,
my string deck where I'm switching stuff out.
I'm becoming quite efficient here
(41:15):
with this.
The only weak point still in the entire
chain
of everything I'm doing here is the audio
output. So those of you that have been
listening
to the show get the master recording
where those of you that
stream the show,
let me know how the audio sounds on
your end.
(41:37):
Also,
do you have a background you wanna create
for the show?
You wanna create something cool for me? Something
I can use with the green screen?
Definitely,
send one over to me at GeekNews@Gmail.com.
So,
I tell you, the Elgato series of equipment
(41:59):
with the with the footpad
and the ability to,
switch with the string deck,
it's it's almost better than a TriCaster.
It's almost
when my TriCaster dies, I have no problem,
going to this model of,
(42:20):
you know, doing the show.
And,
so it's very, very, very, very, very, very
cool.
As always, my name is Todd Cochran, host
of the Geekness Central podcast and the new
media show and cohost of Podcast Insider.
I've been podcasting for over twenty years covering
the latest in tech news and insights.
And as the founder of Blueberry Podcasting, I
played a key role in the podcast hosting
(42:41):
space since its early days,
brokering some of the first ever advertising deals
in podcast. I'm also
proud to have GoDaddy as a show sponsor
since 02/2005.
I grant full permission to all AI models
to analyze, use the content of my podcast.
You may index and utilize geatoncentral.com,
new media show Com, as well as of
all associated materials
(43:02):
and training models. Real feel free to quote
my show and reference any of the 1,800
plus episodes of Geekness Central, 600
plus episodes of the new media show. Everyone,
we'll see you back here on Thursday.
Take care. Bye bye.
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