May 2, 2025 • 42 mins
The Federal Communications Commission is gearing up for a crucial vote on May 22 that could reshape how electronics enter the U.S. market. At the center of the decision is a proposal to ban specific Chinese testing labs from certifying devices like smartphones, game consoles, and cameras—products that must meet safety and technical standards before … Continue reading FCC Targets Chinese Testing Labs Over Security Concerns in US Electronics #1818
The post FCC Targets Chinese Testing Labs Over Security Concerns in US Electronics #1818 appeared first on Geek News Central.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
The lead story
for Thursday,
May 1.
The FCC
targets Chinese testing labs over security concerns in
US electronics imports.
The federal
communication communication is getting set up
on a crucial vote on May 22 that
could reshape how the
(00:20):
f electronic
electronics
enter The United States market. At the center
of the decision is a proposal to ban
certain Chinese testing labs
from certifying devices like smartphones,
game consoles, and camera products
that must meet safety and technical standards before
being sold in The United States.
(00:41):
FCC Chair Brennan Carr warns that some of
these labs are controlled by foreign entities deemed
national security threats, creating a loophole
that could expose Americans to compromise tech.
If passed, the new rule would prohibit such
labs
from participating in the FCC's equipment authorization
(01:02):
process,
tightening oversight, and potentially
escalating
existing tensions
with China.
I wanna welcome you to episode
1,818.
Of course, I'm your host,
Todd Cochran. And this move
is is a big one.
And it you know, I did not realize
(01:23):
that external labs
were doing testing
on many electronic products that were coming,
from The United States. It it it pretty
much surprised me that that that was the
the the actual case
that the FCC wasn't actually involved
in the actual testing of all electronics coming
(01:46):
into America,
that these labs external
to the FCC
could approve
electronics come into The US. That that kinda
just shocks me
quite a bit. Now
now what this step means
(02:07):
is that
75%
of electronics
is testing is done in labs based in
China.
Now they say while the FCC includes national
security checks in our equipment authorization
process,
they've not had rules on the books that
require the test labs conducting those reviews to
(02:29):
be trustworthy.
So this is a big, big change. This
change
would adopt a rule that prohibits test labs
from participating in the FCC
equipment authorization
process.
So if they're owned controlled or directed by
entities that pose a national security risk,
(02:50):
this move could keep more electronics made or
tested in China
from reaching reaching The United States. Now we
know back in '22,
the f v FCC banned Huawei and ZTE
electronics over some
over the same kinds of national security risk.
And,
so does this mean then,
(03:11):
which I don't understand
and which is not
in this document, is there labs that they
trust, number one.
Number two,
can they send the electronics to The US
for approval?
It's a very interesting
(03:31):
dilemma here being that 75%
of electronics that reach The United States are
actually tested,
in China. That's that's a that's a pretty,
that's that's a pretty amazing
number indeed.
Again, I wanna welcome you to episode 1,818.
(03:53):
Of course, I'm your host and go a
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(04:15):
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(04:36):
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(04:57):
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You can also hit me up on x
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(05:19):
So
I'm hit all kinds of buttons this morning.
And, of course, immediately,
what what's the first thing that happens is
soon as we go live, the,
the the camera,
stops working. So we'll we'll come back,
to that and see if I get, a
(05:39):
live camera here in a minute.
Did
that did that work? It did. Let's see
how long it last.
Hey. As a
as a reminder,
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and we want you to save on our
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(06:01):
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Now I will mention that,
I did get a message,
on our
(07:06):
April performance. Yeah. Our April
performance.
And,
overall,
it was it was it was good.
So I'm I'm pretty pleased,
with that.
So thank you for your support in April.
Of course, we're here
now in May, and I definitely want those
(07:27):
of you that have not taken advantage of
a GoDaddy deal to consider
to do so. Also, I wanna thank all
of our insiders out there for your ongoing
support and donations,
to the show.
Hard to believe we're already into May.
So, essentially, about ten days from now,
(07:48):
I get on the airplane
and head back to The United States,
be home a week, and then I go
to London to the podcast show and then
back,
for an unspecified
amount of time,
in Michigan and in the studio there.
So,
hope you're all well. I got a whole
(08:09):
bunch of stuff to get into today in
in the show stack. Again, thank you for
being here, and thank you for staying
subscribed to the podcast.
There was a big, big controversy.
Tesla
knew that there was gonna be a story
run
(08:32):
about them supposedly
looking for a replacement for Elon to as
a CEO.
And what turns out
was they send a denial to the Wall
Street Journal,
and yet The Wall Street Journal still
published the story even after
(08:53):
the denial.
So Tesla denied reports, has contacted recruit recruitment
firm.
The Wall Street, journal reported that the firm
board
began looking,
and it's they they said it was based
on frustration
around his role,
in Doge.
(09:14):
But, again, the board basically came back and
made a strong statement that no.
You you're wrong.
We are not
headhunting.
Tesla said the report was absolutely false,
while mister Musk wrote on the social media
platform x that the paper was a discredit
(09:35):
to journalism.
So
this is interesting
that the Wall Street Journal would do this,
and they cited unnamed
sources.
And,
so
what's at play here?
Is more games?
More more attempts to manipulate
(09:57):
stock?
You know, what is what is the situation?
One would ask, wouldn't they?
Amazon Amazon CEO, Jassy, warns of AI's unprecedented
adoption.
The self describe
those self described as an AI optimist, Jassy
(10:17):
cautioned that the technological shift
may be quicker than other technology transitions in
the past. Oh, it will be.
It's going to be a a huge shift.
But he he's,
pointing out and what I find interesting here
is that
he he pointed directly to declining education quality
(10:40):
facing AI implementation,
not the tech him itself.
He questioned whether schools are adequately preparing students
for future tool use,
including code applications.
You know,
I I go back and I look at
and I talk with my team
(11:01):
on a regular basis and, you know, we're
doing some
getting some incredible outputs
of data analysis. This is where I'm getting
the biggest bang
for the buck right now.
Is that I can throw
huge data analysis
questions at the system and basically come up
with source data
(11:21):
and then have analyze that data,
it it's it's really
quite amazing. It really, really is.
But
you still have to
know how to analyze what you've been given.
You still have to create
(11:41):
the content that you feed into it.
So it isn't a free ride,
but it does say massive, massive number of
hours.
It allows me
to make conclusive decisions on projects.
You know, we we had been tossed around
an idea for some time.
(12:02):
And based upon the
having raw data
looked at, we said, nope. We're gonna put
this on the shelf. And we moved on.
No more
no more him and hawing about it. It
really made us
allowed us to have a
a a chop
and say, okay. We're gonna move on to
the next thing.
And that's that's quite liberating, especially when you
(12:26):
maybe you're a small company and you don't
have a data analysis on your team,
but it maybe you're looking to add something
or or remove something from your service, you
know,
you can see what the impact is.
So, yeah, it's it's it's a pretty amazing,
product when employed correctly.
(12:47):
If you are switching topics here, if you
are a PC if you use the PC
manager app on,
on Windows,
well, ads have crept into the Microsoft's
free PC manager app as well.
So
it it just goes to show
(13:07):
that
every
every move
that these companies are making these days
are just
continuing
to
to up the ante
and,
in the number of,
ways they try to to monetize against us.
It's it's really quite remarkable.
(13:31):
A failed Soviet satellite is falling back to
Earth.
Scientists warn the car sized probe
could impact the ground.
So that's that's a little bit,
a little bit scary,
in itself.
So, just be aware that,
you know, look up. Of course,
(13:53):
there's no idea where this thing is gonna
come down, but it
it could.
Apple's sending spyware warnings to iPhone users in
100 countries and I actually saw a,
a post on Twitter of one of the
people that have received
this notification.
So they've been sending warning to possible victims
(14:15):
of spyware attacks.
At the time of the writing, there appears
to be at least two people have confirmed
they've been notified by Apple and that the
warning itself says that users in 100 countries
have received similar alerts. The company does not
offer any specific as to how many people
may have targeted or where the texts are
coming from.
One recipient of warning is Italian journalist, Exiro
(14:39):
Pallagio,
who works for an online news outlet called
Fanpage.
The other,
as far as we right now, is Dutch
right wing commentator, Eva
O'Lardingerberg,
who posed a screenshot in the video of
the alleged warning,
on x.
Apple informed him that it detected a targeted
(14:59):
mercenary
spyware attack against her iPhone.
And the message, she said,
the attack is likely targeting you specifically because
of who you are and what you do.
Now what do you do
when you get a warning like that
is if they don't give you a remedy
(15:22):
on what you need to change,
that that that's
bad. Do do I reset the iPhone?
That back to factory default or is is
this thing need to be thrown in the
trash?
I probably would,
I would probably ditch the phone.
I would probably buy a new phone, but
(15:43):
then
what's gonna stop you from being targeted again?
What's the recourse?
I I don't know, to be honest with
you.
Something, very in unusual,
Starbucks has unveiled its first three d printed
store in Texas built with robotic layered
(16:06):
concrete.
So,
again, three d printing is starting to be
a thing
and,
they've got a video
of the construction
and,
what it took. And basically,
this
if you've seen this before,
this robotic,
(16:26):
building,
it's just it's it's like a three d
printer but using,
concrete.
So,
definitely, I'll have a link up in the
show notes for you to take a look
at.
I don't know if it means that, these
are more sustainable.
There there's probably a reason that Starbucks has
done it,
(16:46):
but, but kinda cool.
Researchers this is crazy.
Researchers looked at 19,000,000,000
passwords.
Over 90%
of them sucked.
Some people don't even try. Others lean on
words everyone else is using.
So 90%,
ninety,
(17:07):
ninety % of the
passwords
were were useless.
Of course,
some of the hall of shame ones continue
to be password admin one two three four
five six.
Password and admin were used 53,000,000
times,
while one two three four five six clocked
(17:28):
in at 338,000,000
times.
Over 727,000,000
passwords contain the sequence one two three four.
So names of people are number two, the
most common with 8% chance of use in
one of the passwords.
(17:48):
So they've got,
here's the trends.
Words with positive meanings, pop culture,
curse words, countries, cities, US states, food,
popular brands, nature,
animals, season, and months.
Those were
the trends people are using for the passwords,
but the top words
(18:08):
were love, sun, joy,
Mario,
Thor, Batman,
beep beep beep.
Yeah. Those are swear words. Rome, lion, summer,
Monday, May, April, tea, apple.
So, again, very, very simple words.
Please, please, please let your password
(18:31):
managers,
do do the walking for you here. Okay?
Because
they will randomize
and provide you a password that, yes, very
difficult to type. But if you're using a
password manager,
you can copy and paste in most instances.
(18:51):
It's been very few times I found my
password manager would not work. So definitely,
do that.
Google messages could get a big design upgrade
soon, and there are four features
that are coming.
They're getting an unsubscribe button to tackle spam.
(19:11):
Google message should soon tell you which group
chat members have read your messages,
and Google message will soon get a big
upgrade for photo and video quality
as well. So,
but, again,
a more balanced landscape mode,
preview for PDF files,
an unsubscribe button,
(19:31):
and some changes to main actions. So some
some big updates,
coming to
to Google messages for sure.
Made in Microsoft
earnings been announced. Wall Street Eyes are now
on Apple and Amazon.
So
so
(19:52):
they think it's a crucial week. I I
think everyone is going to be,
you know,
fine,
with the
with the earnings
this quarter.
So we'll continue to watch and see what
happens. But
in the end here,
you know, I think the first quarter is
(20:13):
not gonna be too much of an impact,
maybe quarter two
with the tariffs. If that doesn't get resolved,
we'll we'll we'll see.
A interesting duo, Mike's,
Meta and Spotify are teaming up to lobby
against Apple and Google.
So this is a interesting combination here.
(20:36):
Again, made in Spotify usually,
don't like each other in the least.
So the Coalition for Competitive Mobic Sprint argues
age verification
should be the App store's problem to solve.
So many has joined forces with Spotify, Garmin,
Match, and others to form a lobby group
to represent their interest, especially as they come
(20:58):
into conflict with those of Apple and Google.
Again, the group's first order of businesses arguing
that age verification,
should be the responsibility
of app stores and not the apps themselves.
I think that's a good idea, to be
honest with you.
That way, you get it done one and
done.
(21:19):
But
what happens when
you're sharing a phone
and someone used another app? So there can
be a,
an argument to either way. That that is
definitely
for sure.
But,
which way do
you which way do you think? Which way
should it be? Should it be the app
(21:40):
or should it be the App Store?
What side of the fence are you on?
Geeknews@Gmail.com.
Millions of users possibly at risk after Ascension.
Again, Ascension Healthcare
reveals new data breach,
potentially linked to c one o p ransomware.
So, again, one of the biggest private health
(22:03):
care system in The United States, Ascension, has
notified patients that personally identifiable information including health
data was stolen in previous unannounced attack.
I need to tell you something.
It's it's a personal thing. I got an
email,
is is part of my
(22:23):
when I when I retired from military,
I have to pay
a premium and it's not big. It's about
a thousand
dollars a year,
for my TRICARE health care.
Well worth it. No complaints.
And they they switched the provider. I'm still
(22:45):
technically
in TRICARE system on the West Coast.
Just, yeah, to technicality. But
TRICARE West,
changed providers, and they set up a new
payment system. And it's been an absolute
pain in the ass.
(23:07):
First of all,
their website is broke. You can't reset your
password on the website, so I have to
do everything through the phone.
Resetting the password has been broke for months.
Months.
Imagine that, trying to reset a password on
a a a health care site, which is
on a dot g, g0v domain.
(23:28):
Months been able to not fix the password
situation.
So I'm on the phone, and they have
this automated system
to be able to make your payment.
Now
this payment system
is only available
from 8AM to 6PM
(23:48):
in your time zone.
So
or the West West Coast time zone.
Why?
Why is a system
that takes automated payments only available
during office hours? And I'll tell you what
it simply is.
Their phone system
(24:09):
is so
such a piece of shit
is that when you are
when they are closed, the only two options
on the calling tree are, do you have
an emergency, do you need to talk to
a psychiatrist,
or do you need to transfer a patient
from one hospital to the other?
All of the functions in the tree are
(24:30):
shut off.
So, of course,
I I'm in a different time zone,
and I'm trying to make a payment
outside of business hours,
and it's just impossible.
So I have to wait until,
09:00 at night here
(24:50):
before I make a call, which makes it
9AM
in the morning,
and their phone system allows me then to
make my automated payment.
Now they'd sent me an email and said
your automated payment needs to be made or,
or your payment needs to be made or
you are going to be cut out of
the system. You're gonna be disenrolled. That's a
(25:11):
big deal
because enrollment periods
are within certain windows.
So I call the system. It says you
have no payment due.
Like, at the email,
says I'm gonna be disenrolled if I don't
make my payment.
So I wait on hold for thirty, forty
(25:32):
minutes
and finally get someone on the phone, and
you can tell they're exasperated.
And she says, sir, you're okay.
They send a message out, and and they've
got millions of you breaking out thinking your
health care is being canceled.
Just the people can't get into the website,
so everyone's blowing up our phones. I said,
(25:53):
I'm surprised it only took forty minutes. She
said, no. This has been going on for
a week.
So your government
at work, ladies and gentlemen,
nothing was wrong, but they sent me an
email said, you're gonna be disenrolled if you
don't make your payment. I was already set
up on autopay.
(26:14):
Credit card's good.
Insanity.
In insanity.
After ten years, Flappy Bird is back. You
know what Flappy Bird is? I don't.
I don't I I guess maybe I've I've
seen it at one time.
But if you enjoyed having free time with,
(26:35):
silly games, Flappy Bird is making a comeback
on Android.
The revival is being handled by Epic Game
Store, which is distributed game on Google's mobile
platform.
So the trailer just over thirty second long
introduces iconic bird escaping cage and flying through
obstacle filled environment.
(26:56):
So if any of you love flappy birds,
it will be back.
This is a new one to me. If
you have
a
I've got Global Entry.
It's it's wonderful.
If you're traveling internationally,
Global Entry is worth every penny. You don't
(27:17):
have to go stand in line. You go
have your face scanned.
You proceed through the queue. They call your
name.
Sometimes they look at your passport, sometimes they
don't. You're really about a sixty seconds,
typically to to enter the country.
It's it's wonderful especially if you're on a
tight connection, on an international connection.
(27:40):
But it turns out,
Chris Krebs,
who
was the former c s CISA
director who is under investigation and is now
a current punching bag,
for the administration.
He had his global entry
canceled
(28:00):
because he is under federal investigation.
It's very
interesting.
So
was this targeted?
Was this automated?
One would not know,
(28:21):
but it is,
an interesting
move.
Apple must pay Optus
five hundred and two million dollars as part
of a UK patent dispute.
So
this is,
502,000,000
for the use of four g patents and
devices including iPhones and iPads.
(28:43):
Texas based Optus cellular tech sued Apple in
London in 02/2019
over the use of its patents.
London's High Court ruled 2023
that Apple should pay
56,000,000
plus interest, but Optus argued it was too
low and challenged decision.
And,
so this time,
(29:05):
through a London court,
Apple must pay 502,000,000
to the,
the patent holder.
Tariffs, tariffs, tariffs. Everyone's talking about tariffs. I'd
like to have Amazon put a made in
The USA sticker on
products in its,
catalog. Wouldn't that be nice to show where
(29:26):
products come from every time you buy something?
If it comes from China, Vietnam, India,
wherever it comes from, wouldn't that be nice?
I I doubt they'll ever do that.
I think they would lose revenue if they
did,
but it's being stated that tariffs could further
disrupt the stability of the PC hardware market,
and they say it might be the right
(29:47):
time to buy now.
I think I've already warned all of you
to do that.
Now I was
beholden
and I I the only thing I could
ever afford when I was younger was a
used Sony Walkman.
Any of you that got a brand new
Sony Walkman
cassette tape, you know,
(30:09):
you're quite the envy because that was the
device when I was a kid. Oh my
god. Everyone wanted a a Sony Walkman.
Someone's come up with a retro.
They call it the cassette Walkman. Please do
not
please do not
tarnish
(30:30):
the Walkman name
with this specific device. This retro cassette
player
comes with a pencil, but not the Barbie
inline skating outfit it truly deserves. Now
I'll just leave it at that.
It's a pink and
aqua, I guess, is the color. I don't
(30:52):
know. Is that aqua?
It is a Bluetooth cassette player and it
can record on the tapes as well.
But again, please don't call anything a Walkman
that doesn't have the iconic Sony beautiful
design.
(31:13):
I I've, actually recently on eBay scored one
that doesn't work no more, but I just
wanted one for
the retro appeal
of having it on the shelf.
You know, you get nostalgic.
But, you know, how many of you remember
the,
the that,
distinct click
(31:35):
and feel of the Sony Walkman? What a
what a beautiful device. Love to hear what
what other retro stuff,
do you,
do you miss
or not necessarily miss, but
had had an absolute
love for. Love to hear from you. Keeknews@atgmail.com.
(31:56):
First image from the world's largest solar telescope
captures the sun in unheard detail. And how
do you get science?
You know, I'm I'm looking at this image,
and I'm sure scientists
are
quite
thrilled to have this closer
in-depth look at the sun. But when I
(32:18):
see this, I'm like,
yeah. It's fire.
And, yes, the sun is hot.
So
there's image, a close-up of the sun service
from the National Science Foundation's Daniel k Inouye
solar telescope.
(32:40):
Shows magnetic activity around a cluster of sunspots.
So I I'll just you know, I maybe
the lines
kinda looks like
someone that's had a,
to be honest with you, been out drinking
all night and needs a little Visine, but,
you know, that that's just that's just me.
I I don't know. But, anyway, I'm sure
(33:02):
they're gonna get science out of it, but
it to me, I just look at this.
I'm like, how do you get science out
of that?
The BBC
used AI and an actor to bring Agatha
Christie to life for its writing master class
series
with permission from the Christie family in a
state.
So this is pretty,
(33:22):
remarkable
now. Ikaika Christie died in 1976,
and,
they presented her writing tips in four k
video
and
used,
AI to create the content.
Definitely,
has the ability of of bringing people back
(33:44):
to life. There's the third time the camera
has stopped today.
I I it it's it's OBS.
It works the rest of the time, and
and I don't have an issue.
What is five g advance and what does
it mean for my next phone? Well, you
know, there's we're kind of in this transition
period between
(34:04):
five g and six g.
And what's,
five g is, five g advanced,
five g advanced is a friendly name given
to the three g g p release 18
standard. It's something referred as 5.5
g.
And serves as a bridge between current tech
and six g. It offers potentially sick significant
(34:25):
improvements
in network speeds, efficiencies, and even network. So
be looking out
for five g and a advanced or 5.5,
on your phone.
We'll see how they label it.
You may start seeing blurred thumbnails on YouTube.
YouTube is rolling out experiment feature, make this
(34:46):
platform a little more family safe.
Thanks to that. Again, you might start seeing,
blurred thumbnails and have to approve it before
it appears.
You know, Sam Altman has,
you know, this hasn't made the news in
a while, but you guys remember the World
Crypto Project?
(35:08):
Well, the sci fi founding initiative
uses an orb
to scan your iris to create your very
own world ID.
Well,
you're gonna get
this orb. It's gonna be available in United
States.
Would you like to have your
eyeball scanned
(35:29):
by this device
and use it to unlock crypto and so
forth or use it as your ID.
It's a little weird to me at this
point.
Also, ladies,
this this this cracked me up.
The Oura ring gets the red carpet treatment
and it looks incredible.
(35:50):
So what they show
is they show a woman's hand
with
very expensive jewelry on
on the wrist. They've got a bot chain.
For those of you who don't know what
a bot chain is, but you can see
it's definitely,
Thai gold. And then she's got one, two,
three, four bracelets with lots of diamonds.
(36:11):
And then,
they've got,
the, I guess, the
index finger, the finger that you use to,
like, scan to unlock stuff,
for your fingerprint.
They have,
a dime it looks like a diamond
(36:32):
encrusted,
accessory to go along with your aura. This
is not incredible.
They basically take
silver or gold
and you put
these rings on as a three piece set.
You've got the standard ugly aura ring
(36:53):
that is a flat, shiny piece of metal,
black, gold, or silver.
And you then can accessorize it with oh,
they're calling them ring jackets,
which are two beautiful bands specifically made to
hug the aura ring.
I don't think
and to be honest with you, ladies, go
(37:15):
go look at this article at Digital Trends.
Are you aware of this?
This does not spell class to me.
This this smells like gimmick,
and
I don't know how expensive it is. I'm
(37:35):
not gonna announce the price even if I
found it on the article.
But
really?
You're gonna call this it looks incredible?
Were you paid,
Digital Trends, to say that?
I'm not a fashion diva, but I know
what looks good,
on someone's hand, and this does not.
(38:01):
The global smartphone market grew by a modest
point 2% in quarter one.
We go from fascia to,
use to the smartphone market.
So, yep, things have slowed down a little
bit.
WhatsApp now has more than 3,000,000,000
users a month. I'm one of them. I
WhatsApp is used here exclusively.
(38:21):
Everyone asks you what's your WhatsApp.
That's, you know, that's that's how people communicate.
They use Line in Japan, WhatsApp in most
places here in Asia.
So,
you know, I don't think many most people
are what's what's your text number? You text
in The United States. Don't do WhatsApp.
(38:41):
But here is definitely,
definitely a WhatsApp
place.
An airborne flaw exposes AirPlay devices
to hacking and how to protect yourself. Now
Apple's role of a fix with 18.4,
but third party AirPlay compatible devices
may remain exposed.
Researchers have found two major vulnerabilities
(39:03):
in the Apple AirPlay protocol.
Essentially, allow hackers to breach through compatible devices
on the same Wi Fi network.
So it's only
if everyone's on the same Wi Fi network.
So be aware of that. If you're in
your home, you don't have to worry about
this. This is not gonna
cause an issue unless someone gets on your,
(39:24):
on your Wi Fi network.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai has testified extraordinary
DOJ remedies would cause
many unintended
consequences.
They they are fighting tooth and nail for,
for these sanctions to not go through.
(39:45):
It it is not boding well for Google.
And, you know, I'll be honest.
The more I dig into Google SEM
and how
they completely
dominate,
completely
dominate
that
with the tide to search and everything else,
(40:08):
yeah, they're gonna have a problem
if it's broken apart.
I have no doubt.
But,
you know, there's no competition.
You have to use Google Ads. You have
to.
There's there's just there's just no other choice.
Hey, folks. If you have comments today, geeknews@gmail.comatgeeknewsonx.
(40:32):
Of course, you can find me on LinkedIn
and everywhere else, so follow me around. Please
do that. Don't forget to support support our
sponsor GoDaddy, geek net central dot com forward
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And, of course, become an insider, geeknetcentral.com/insider
with your 25101520,
or $25,
donation. We definitely appreciate it. We'll be covering
(40:54):
all our insiders,
on the next show. I failed to get
that ready in time for today's podcast.
I apologize two in a row,
but,
we definitely
thank you for your support.
And, for those of you listening, thank you
so much for for being here. Thanks for
those of you that are watching,
and I got to see me freeze frame
(41:15):
a couple of times today.
Works all the other time except when OBS
is being used, but,
go figure.
And
is there any way to manipulate
USB ports
on,
on a Mac?
Anyone know that?
I'm gonna do some googling around. Has to
(41:37):
be a power issue.
That's the only thing I can think of
as we've got too many devices plugged in.
But I unplug
a bunch of devices before the show to
try to lower the consumption on the ports
because
but, again, maybe it's just an interrupt thing
with, with OBS. I don't know.
But, otherwise, hey. Thank you for being here.
(41:57):
We'll see you next time here on the
Geekness Central podcast. Back Monday for another edition.
Everyone take care. See you next time. Bye
bye.
The lead story
for Thursday,
May 1.
The FCC
targets Chinese testing labs over security concerns in
US electronics imports.
The federal
communication communication is getting set up
on a crucial vote on May 22 that
could reshape how the
(00:20):
f electronic
electronics
enter The United States market. At the center
of the decision is a proposal to ban
certain Chinese testing labs
from certifying devices like smartphones,
game consoles, and camera products
that must meet safety and technical standards before
being sold in The United States.
(00:41):
FCC Chair Brennan Carr warns that some of
these labs are controlled by foreign entities deemed
national security threats, creating a loophole
that could expose Americans to compromise tech.
If passed, the new rule would prohibit such
labs
from participating in the FCC's equipment authorization
(01:02):
process,
tightening oversight, and potentially
escalating
existing tensions
with China.
I wanna welcome you to episode
1,818.
Of course, I'm your host,
Todd Cochran. And this move
is is a big one.
And it you know, I did not realize
(01:23):
that external labs
were doing testing
on many electronic products that were coming,
from The United States. It it it pretty
much surprised me that that that was the
the the actual case
that the FCC wasn't actually involved
in the actual testing of all electronics coming
(01:46):
into America,
that these labs external
to the FCC
could approve
electronics come into The US. That that kinda
just shocks me
quite a bit. Now
now what this step means
(02:07):
is that
75%
of electronics
is testing is done in labs based in
China.
Now they say while the FCC includes national
security checks in our equipment authorization
process,
they've not had rules on the books that
require the test labs conducting those reviews to
(02:29):
be trustworthy.
So this is a big, big change. This
change
would adopt a rule that prohibits test labs
from participating in the FCC
equipment authorization
process.
So if they're owned controlled or directed by
entities that pose a national security risk,
(02:50):
this move could keep more electronics made or
tested in China
from reaching reaching The United States. Now we
know back in '22,
the f v FCC banned Huawei and ZTE
electronics over some
over the same kinds of national security risk.
And,
so does this mean then,
(03:11):
which I don't understand
and which is not
in this document, is there labs that they
trust, number one.
Number two,
can they send the electronics to The US
for approval?
It's a very interesting
(03:31):
dilemma here being that 75%
of electronics that reach The United States are
actually tested,
in China. That's that's a that's a pretty,
that's that's a pretty amazing
number indeed.
Again, I wanna welcome you to episode 1,818.
(03:53):
Of course, I'm your host and go a
shout out to our incredible sponsor
at GoDaddy.
Score exclusive deals and discounts at geetenessential.com//GoDaddy.
And to all of our listeners, I go
of course, you are the heartbeat
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Geek News Central, head to geeknewscentral.com/insider
(04:15):
and become a
GNC,
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while
we are live and lit or lit in
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So, don't just listen to experience the show
live by grabbing a modern podcast app at
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Of course, we want you to check out
(04:36):
the full
Geek News Central universe at geeknewscentral.com
where you find all of our partner shows,
tons
of new tech. Of course, you can stay
in the loop on the website
by following subscribe to the podcast via your
favorite podcast app. And don't forget to sign
up for our newsletter at geeknewscentral.com
on the website for even more,
(04:57):
insider scoops. Of course, you can join the
conversation
at geeknews.chat,
or you can email me directly here, geeknews@gmail.com.
You can also hit me up on x
at geek news, and, of course, you can
catch me on
Facebook,
as as well.
(05:19):
So
I'm hit all kinds of buttons this morning.
And, of course, immediately,
what what's the first thing that happens is
soon as we go live, the,
the the camera,
stops working. So we'll we'll come back,
to that and see if I get, a
(05:39):
live camera here in a minute.
Did
that did that work? It did. Let's see
how long it last.
Hey. As a
as a reminder,
you have the ability to save money,
and we want you to save on our
our GoDaddy deals.
Let's start with a website
or podcast.
My codes make it easy and affordable. Grab
(06:01):
GoDaddy's economy hosting for just $6.99
a month. That's a full year of hosting
with a free domain name, professional email, and
an SSL certificate.
If you're interested in WordPress, which is my
favorite,
WordPress managed hosting is just $12.99
a month, which includes a free domain
name, free domain name, professional email, and SSL
(06:22):
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Of course, how about GoDaddy website builder? Get
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Of course, I use all of my GoDaddy
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Use our codes. Click and save. You're backing
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supports Geek News Central and keeps us alive
and well. Thank you for keeping us online.
Now I will mention that,
I did get a message,
on our
(07:06):
April performance. Yeah. Our April
performance.
And,
overall,
it was it was it was good.
So I'm I'm pretty pleased,
with that.
So thank you for your support in April.
Of course, we're here
now in May, and I definitely want those
(07:27):
of you that have not taken advantage of
a GoDaddy deal to consider
to do so. Also, I wanna thank all
of our insiders out there for your ongoing
support and donations,
to the show.
Hard to believe we're already into May.
So, essentially, about ten days from now,
(07:48):
I get on the airplane
and head back to The United States,
be home a week, and then I go
to London to the podcast show and then
back,
for an unspecified
amount of time,
in Michigan and in the studio there.
So,
hope you're all well. I got a whole
(08:09):
bunch of stuff to get into today in
in the show stack. Again, thank you for
being here, and thank you for staying
subscribed to the podcast.
There was a big, big controversy.
Tesla
knew that there was gonna be a story
run
(08:32):
about them supposedly
looking for a replacement for Elon to as
a CEO.
And what turns out
was they send a denial to the Wall
Street Journal,
and yet The Wall Street Journal still
published the story even after
(08:53):
the denial.
So Tesla denied reports, has contacted recruit recruitment
firm.
The Wall Street, journal reported that the firm
board
began looking,
and it's they they said it was based
on frustration
around his role,
in Doge.
(09:14):
But, again, the board basically came back and
made a strong statement that no.
You you're wrong.
We are not
headhunting.
Tesla said the report was absolutely false,
while mister Musk wrote on the social media
platform x that the paper was a discredit
(09:35):
to journalism.
So
this is interesting
that the Wall Street Journal would do this,
and they cited unnamed
sources.
And,
so
what's at play here?
Is more games?
More more attempts to manipulate
(09:57):
stock?
You know, what is what is the situation?
One would ask, wouldn't they?
Amazon Amazon CEO, Jassy, warns of AI's unprecedented
adoption.
The self describe
those self described as an AI optimist, Jassy
(10:17):
cautioned that the technological shift
may be quicker than other technology transitions in
the past. Oh, it will be.
It's going to be a a huge shift.
But he he's,
pointing out and what I find interesting here
is that
he he pointed directly to declining education quality
(10:40):
facing AI implementation,
not the tech him itself.
He questioned whether schools are adequately preparing students
for future tool use,
including code applications.
You know,
I I go back and I look at
and I talk with my team
(11:01):
on a regular basis and, you know, we're
doing some
getting some incredible outputs
of data analysis. This is where I'm getting
the biggest bang
for the buck right now.
Is that I can throw
huge data analysis
questions at the system and basically come up
with source data
(11:21):
and then have analyze that data,
it it's it's really
quite amazing. It really, really is.
But
you still have to
know how to analyze what you've been given.
You still have to create
(11:41):
the content that you feed into it.
So it isn't a free ride,
but it does say massive, massive number of
hours.
It allows me
to make conclusive decisions on projects.
You know, we we had been tossed around
an idea for some time.
(12:02):
And based upon the
having raw data
looked at, we said, nope. We're gonna put
this on the shelf. And we moved on.
No more
no more him and hawing about it. It
really made us
allowed us to have a
a a chop
and say, okay. We're gonna move on to
the next thing.
And that's that's quite liberating, especially when you
(12:26):
maybe you're a small company and you don't
have a data analysis on your team,
but it maybe you're looking to add something
or or remove something from your service, you
know,
you can see what the impact is.
So, yeah, it's it's it's a pretty amazing,
product when employed correctly.
(12:47):
If you are switching topics here, if you
are a PC if you use the PC
manager app on,
on Windows,
well, ads have crept into the Microsoft's
free PC manager app as well.
So
it it just goes to show
(13:07):
that
every
every move
that these companies are making these days
are just
continuing
to
to up the ante
and,
in the number of,
ways they try to to monetize against us.
It's it's really quite remarkable.
(13:31):
A failed Soviet satellite is falling back to
Earth.
Scientists warn the car sized probe
could impact the ground.
So that's that's a little bit,
a little bit scary,
in itself.
So, just be aware that,
you know, look up. Of course,
(13:53):
there's no idea where this thing is gonna
come down, but it
it could.
Apple's sending spyware warnings to iPhone users in
100 countries and I actually saw a,
a post on Twitter of one of the
people that have received
this notification.
So they've been sending warning to possible victims
(14:15):
of spyware attacks.
At the time of the writing, there appears
to be at least two people have confirmed
they've been notified by Apple and that the
warning itself says that users in 100 countries
have received similar alerts. The company does not
offer any specific as to how many people
may have targeted or where the texts are
coming from.
One recipient of warning is Italian journalist, Exiro
(14:39):
Pallagio,
who works for an online news outlet called
Fanpage.
The other,
as far as we right now, is Dutch
right wing commentator, Eva
O'Lardingerberg,
who posed a screenshot in the video of
the alleged warning,
on x.
Apple informed him that it detected a targeted
(14:59):
mercenary
spyware attack against her iPhone.
And the message, she said,
the attack is likely targeting you specifically because
of who you are and what you do.
Now what do you do
when you get a warning like that
is if they don't give you a remedy
(15:22):
on what you need to change,
that that that's
bad. Do do I reset the iPhone?
That back to factory default or is is
this thing need to be thrown in the
trash?
I probably would,
I would probably ditch the phone.
I would probably buy a new phone, but
(15:43):
then
what's gonna stop you from being targeted again?
What's the recourse?
I I don't know, to be honest with
you.
Something, very in unusual,
Starbucks has unveiled its first three d printed
store in Texas built with robotic layered
(16:06):
concrete.
So,
again, three d printing is starting to be
a thing
and,
they've got a video
of the construction
and,
what it took. And basically,
this
if you've seen this before,
this robotic,
(16:26):
building,
it's just it's it's like a three d
printer but using,
concrete.
So,
definitely, I'll have a link up in the
show notes for you to take a look
at.
I don't know if it means that, these
are more sustainable.
There there's probably a reason that Starbucks has
done it,
(16:46):
but, but kinda cool.
Researchers this is crazy.
Researchers looked at 19,000,000,000
passwords.
Over 90%
of them sucked.
Some people don't even try. Others lean on
words everyone else is using.
So 90%,
ninety,
(17:07):
ninety % of the
passwords
were were useless.
Of course,
some of the hall of shame ones continue
to be password admin one two three four
five six.
Password and admin were used 53,000,000
times,
while one two three four five six clocked
(17:28):
in at 338,000,000
times.
Over 727,000,000
passwords contain the sequence one two three four.
So names of people are number two, the
most common with 8% chance of use in
one of the passwords.
(17:48):
So they've got,
here's the trends.
Words with positive meanings, pop culture,
curse words, countries, cities, US states, food,
popular brands, nature,
animals, season, and months.
Those were
the trends people are using for the passwords,
but the top words
(18:08):
were love, sun, joy,
Mario,
Thor, Batman,
beep beep beep.
Yeah. Those are swear words. Rome, lion, summer,
Monday, May, April, tea, apple.
So, again, very, very simple words.
Please, please, please let your password
(18:31):
managers,
do do the walking for you here. Okay?
Because
they will randomize
and provide you a password that, yes, very
difficult to type. But if you're using a
password manager,
you can copy and paste in most instances.
(18:51):
It's been very few times I found my
password manager would not work. So definitely,
do that.
Google messages could get a big design upgrade
soon, and there are four features
that are coming.
They're getting an unsubscribe button to tackle spam.
(19:11):
Google message should soon tell you which group
chat members have read your messages,
and Google message will soon get a big
upgrade for photo and video quality
as well. So,
but, again,
a more balanced landscape mode,
preview for PDF files,
an unsubscribe button,
(19:31):
and some changes to main actions. So some
some big updates,
coming to
to Google messages for sure.
Made in Microsoft
earnings been announced. Wall Street Eyes are now
on Apple and Amazon.
So
so
(19:52):
they think it's a crucial week. I I
think everyone is going to be,
you know,
fine,
with the
with the earnings
this quarter.
So we'll continue to watch and see what
happens. But
in the end here,
you know, I think the first quarter is
(20:13):
not gonna be too much of an impact,
maybe quarter two
with the tariffs. If that doesn't get resolved,
we'll we'll we'll see.
A interesting duo, Mike's,
Meta and Spotify are teaming up to lobby
against Apple and Google.
So this is a interesting combination here.
(20:36):
Again, made in Spotify usually,
don't like each other in the least.
So the Coalition for Competitive Mobic Sprint argues
age verification
should be the App store's problem to solve.
So many has joined forces with Spotify, Garmin,
Match, and others to form a lobby group
to represent their interest, especially as they come
(20:58):
into conflict with those of Apple and Google.
Again, the group's first order of businesses arguing
that age verification,
should be the responsibility
of app stores and not the apps themselves.
I think that's a good idea, to be
honest with you.
That way, you get it done one and
done.
(21:19):
But
what happens when
you're sharing a phone
and someone used another app? So there can
be a,
an argument to either way. That that is
definitely
for sure.
But,
which way do
you which way do you think? Which way
should it be? Should it be the app
(21:40):
or should it be the App Store?
What side of the fence are you on?
Geeknews@Gmail.com.
Millions of users possibly at risk after Ascension.
Again, Ascension Healthcare
reveals new data breach,
potentially linked to c one o p ransomware.
So, again, one of the biggest private health
(22:03):
care system in The United States, Ascension, has
notified patients that personally identifiable information including health
data was stolen in previous unannounced attack.
I need to tell you something.
It's it's a personal thing. I got an
email,
is is part of my
(22:23):
when I when I retired from military,
I have to pay
a premium and it's not big. It's about
a thousand
dollars a year,
for my TRICARE health care.
Well worth it. No complaints.
And they they switched the provider. I'm still
(22:45):
technically
in TRICARE system on the West Coast.
Just, yeah, to technicality. But
TRICARE West,
changed providers, and they set up a new
payment system. And it's been an absolute
pain in the ass.
(23:07):
First of all,
their website is broke. You can't reset your
password on the website, so I have to
do everything through the phone.
Resetting the password has been broke for months.
Months.
Imagine that, trying to reset a password on
a a a health care site, which is
on a dot g, g0v domain.
(23:28):
Months been able to not fix the password
situation.
So I'm on the phone, and they have
this automated system
to be able to make your payment.
Now
this payment system
is only available
from 8AM to 6PM
(23:48):
in your time zone.
So
or the West West Coast time zone.
Why?
Why is a system
that takes automated payments only available
during office hours? And I'll tell you what
it simply is.
Their phone system
(24:09):
is so
such a piece of shit
is that when you are
when they are closed, the only two options
on the calling tree are, do you have
an emergency, do you need to talk to
a psychiatrist,
or do you need to transfer a patient
from one hospital to the other?
All of the functions in the tree are
(24:30):
shut off.
So, of course,
I I'm in a different time zone,
and I'm trying to make a payment
outside of business hours,
and it's just impossible.
So I have to wait until,
09:00 at night here
(24:50):
before I make a call, which makes it
9AM
in the morning,
and their phone system allows me then to
make my automated payment.
Now they'd sent me an email and said
your automated payment needs to be made or,
or your payment needs to be made or
you are going to be cut out of
the system. You're gonna be disenrolled. That's a
(25:11):
big deal
because enrollment periods
are within certain windows.
So I call the system. It says you
have no payment due.
Like, at the email,
says I'm gonna be disenrolled if I don't
make my payment.
So I wait on hold for thirty, forty
(25:32):
minutes
and finally get someone on the phone, and
you can tell they're exasperated.
And she says, sir, you're okay.
They send a message out, and and they've
got millions of you breaking out thinking your
health care is being canceled.
Just the people can't get into the website,
so everyone's blowing up our phones. I said,
(25:53):
I'm surprised it only took forty minutes. She
said, no. This has been going on for
a week.
So your government
at work, ladies and gentlemen,
nothing was wrong, but they sent me an
email said, you're gonna be disenrolled if you
don't make your payment. I was already set
up on autopay.
(26:14):
Credit card's good.
Insanity.
In insanity.
After ten years, Flappy Bird is back. You
know what Flappy Bird is? I don't.
I don't I I guess maybe I've I've
seen it at one time.
But if you enjoyed having free time with,
(26:35):
silly games, Flappy Bird is making a comeback
on Android.
The revival is being handled by Epic Game
Store, which is distributed game on Google's mobile
platform.
So the trailer just over thirty second long
introduces iconic bird escaping cage and flying through
obstacle filled environment.
(26:56):
So if any of you love flappy birds,
it will be back.
This is a new one to me. If
you have
a
I've got Global Entry.
It's it's wonderful.
If you're traveling internationally,
Global Entry is worth every penny. You don't
(27:17):
have to go stand in line. You go
have your face scanned.
You proceed through the queue. They call your
name.
Sometimes they look at your passport, sometimes they
don't. You're really about a sixty seconds,
typically to to enter the country.
It's it's wonderful especially if you're on a
tight connection, on an international connection.
(27:40):
But it turns out,
Chris Krebs,
who
was the former c s CISA
director who is under investigation and is now
a current punching bag,
for the administration.
He had his global entry
canceled
(28:00):
because he is under federal investigation.
It's very
interesting.
So
was this targeted?
Was this automated?
One would not know,
(28:21):
but it is,
an interesting
move.
Apple must pay Optus
five hundred and two million dollars as part
of a UK patent dispute.
So
this is,
502,000,000
for the use of four g patents and
devices including iPhones and iPads.
(28:43):
Texas based Optus cellular tech sued Apple in
London in 02/2019
over the use of its patents.
London's High Court ruled 2023
that Apple should pay
56,000,000
plus interest, but Optus argued it was too
low and challenged decision.
And,
so this time,
(29:05):
through a London court,
Apple must pay 502,000,000
to the,
the patent holder.
Tariffs, tariffs, tariffs. Everyone's talking about tariffs. I'd
like to have Amazon put a made in
The USA sticker on
products in its,
catalog. Wouldn't that be nice to show where
(29:26):
products come from every time you buy something?
If it comes from China, Vietnam, India,
wherever it comes from, wouldn't that be nice?
I I doubt they'll ever do that.
I think they would lose revenue if they
did,
but it's being stated that tariffs could further
disrupt the stability of the PC hardware market,
and they say it might be the right
(29:47):
time to buy now.
I think I've already warned all of you
to do that.
Now I was
beholden
and I I the only thing I could
ever afford when I was younger was a
used Sony Walkman.
Any of you that got a brand new
Sony Walkman
cassette tape, you know,
(30:09):
you're quite the envy because that was the
device when I was a kid. Oh my
god. Everyone wanted a a Sony Walkman.
Someone's come up with a retro.
They call it the cassette Walkman. Please do
not
please do not
tarnish
(30:30):
the Walkman name
with this specific device. This retro cassette
player
comes with a pencil, but not the Barbie
inline skating outfit it truly deserves. Now
I'll just leave it at that.
It's a pink and
aqua, I guess, is the color. I don't
(30:52):
know. Is that aqua?
It is a Bluetooth cassette player and it
can record on the tapes as well.
But again, please don't call anything a Walkman
that doesn't have the iconic Sony beautiful
design.
(31:13):
I I've, actually recently on eBay scored one
that doesn't work no more, but I just
wanted one for
the retro appeal
of having it on the shelf.
You know, you get nostalgic.
But, you know, how many of you remember
the,
the that,
distinct click
(31:35):
and feel of the Sony Walkman? What a
what a beautiful device. Love to hear what
what other retro stuff,
do you,
do you miss
or not necessarily miss, but
had had an absolute
love for. Love to hear from you. Keeknews@atgmail.com.
(31:56):
First image from the world's largest solar telescope
captures the sun in unheard detail. And how
do you get science?
You know, I'm I'm looking at this image,
and I'm sure scientists
are
quite
thrilled to have this closer
in-depth look at the sun. But when I
(32:18):
see this, I'm like,
yeah. It's fire.
And, yes, the sun is hot.
So
there's image, a close-up of the sun service
from the National Science Foundation's Daniel k Inouye
solar telescope.
(32:40):
Shows magnetic activity around a cluster of sunspots.
So I I'll just you know, I maybe
the lines
kinda looks like
someone that's had a,
to be honest with you, been out drinking
all night and needs a little Visine, but,
you know, that that's just that's just me.
I I don't know. But, anyway, I'm sure
(33:02):
they're gonna get science out of it, but
it to me, I just look at this.
I'm like, how do you get science out
of that?
The BBC
used AI and an actor to bring Agatha
Christie to life for its writing master class
series
with permission from the Christie family in a
state.
So this is pretty,
(33:22):
remarkable
now. Ikaika Christie died in 1976,
and,
they presented her writing tips in four k
video
and
used,
AI to create the content.
Definitely,
has the ability of of bringing people back
(33:44):
to life. There's the third time the camera
has stopped today.
I I it it's it's OBS.
It works the rest of the time, and
and I don't have an issue.
What is five g advance and what does
it mean for my next phone? Well, you
know, there's we're kind of in this transition
period between
(34:04):
five g and six g.
And what's,
five g is, five g advanced,
five g advanced is a friendly name given
to the three g g p release 18
standard. It's something referred as 5.5
g.
And serves as a bridge between current tech
and six g. It offers potentially sick significant
(34:25):
improvements
in network speeds, efficiencies, and even network. So
be looking out
for five g and a advanced or 5.5,
on your phone.
We'll see how they label it.
You may start seeing blurred thumbnails on YouTube.
YouTube is rolling out experiment feature, make this
(34:46):
platform a little more family safe.
Thanks to that. Again, you might start seeing,
blurred thumbnails and have to approve it before
it appears.
You know, Sam Altman has,
you know, this hasn't made the news in
a while, but you guys remember the World
Crypto Project?
(35:08):
Well, the sci fi founding initiative
uses an orb
to scan your iris to create your very
own world ID.
Well,
you're gonna get
this orb. It's gonna be available in United
States.
Would you like to have your
eyeball scanned
(35:29):
by this device
and use it to unlock crypto and so
forth or use it as your ID.
It's a little weird to me at this
point.
Also, ladies,
this this this cracked me up.
The Oura ring gets the red carpet treatment
and it looks incredible.
(35:50):
So what they show
is they show a woman's hand
with
very expensive jewelry on
on the wrist. They've got a bot chain.
For those of you who don't know what
a bot chain is, but you can see
it's definitely,
Thai gold. And then she's got one, two,
three, four bracelets with lots of diamonds.
(36:11):
And then,
they've got,
the, I guess, the
index finger, the finger that you use to,
like, scan to unlock stuff,
for your fingerprint.
They have,
a dime it looks like a diamond
(36:32):
encrusted,
accessory to go along with your aura. This
is not incredible.
They basically take
silver or gold
and you put
these rings on as a three piece set.
You've got the standard ugly aura ring
(36:53):
that is a flat, shiny piece of metal,
black, gold, or silver.
And you then can accessorize it with oh,
they're calling them ring jackets,
which are two beautiful bands specifically made to
hug the aura ring.
I don't think
and to be honest with you, ladies, go
(37:15):
go look at this article at Digital Trends.
Are you aware of this?
This does not spell class to me.
This this smells like gimmick,
and
I don't know how expensive it is. I'm
(37:35):
not gonna announce the price even if I
found it on the article.
But
really?
You're gonna call this it looks incredible?
Were you paid,
Digital Trends, to say that?
I'm not a fashion diva, but I know
what looks good,
on someone's hand, and this does not.
(38:01):
The global smartphone market grew by a modest
point 2% in quarter one.
We go from fascia to,
use to the smartphone market.
So, yep, things have slowed down a little
bit.
WhatsApp now has more than 3,000,000,000
users a month. I'm one of them. I
WhatsApp is used here exclusively.
(38:21):
Everyone asks you what's your WhatsApp.
That's, you know, that's that's how people communicate.
They use Line in Japan, WhatsApp in most
places here in Asia.
So,
you know, I don't think many most people
are what's what's your text number? You text
in The United States. Don't do WhatsApp.
(38:41):
But here is definitely,
definitely a WhatsApp
place.
An airborne flaw exposes AirPlay devices
to hacking and how to protect yourself. Now
Apple's role of a fix with 18.4,
but third party AirPlay compatible devices
may remain exposed.
Researchers have found two major vulnerabilities
(39:03):
in the Apple AirPlay protocol.
Essentially, allow hackers to breach through compatible devices
on the same Wi Fi network.
So it's only
if everyone's on the same Wi Fi network.
So be aware of that. If you're in
your home, you don't have to worry about
this. This is not gonna
cause an issue unless someone gets on your,
(39:24):
on your Wi Fi network.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai has testified extraordinary
DOJ remedies would cause
many unintended
consequences.
They they are fighting tooth and nail for,
for these sanctions to not go through.
(39:45):
It it is not boding well for Google.
And, you know, I'll be honest.
The more I dig into Google SEM
and how
they completely
dominate,
completely
dominate
that
with the tide to search and everything else,
(40:08):
yeah, they're gonna have a problem
if it's broken apart.
I have no doubt.
But,
you know, there's no competition.
You have to use Google Ads. You have
to.
There's there's just there's just no other choice.
Hey, folks. If you have comments today, geeknews@gmail.comatgeeknewsonx.
(40:32):
Of course, you can find me on LinkedIn
and everywhere else, so follow me around. Please
do that. Don't forget to support support our
sponsor GoDaddy, geek net central dot com forward
slash godaddy.
And, of course, become an insider, geeknetcentral.com/insider
with your 25101520,
or $25,
donation. We definitely appreciate it. We'll be covering
(40:54):
all our insiders,
on the next show. I failed to get
that ready in time for today's podcast.
I apologize two in a row,
but,
we definitely
thank you for your support.
And, for those of you listening, thank you
so much for for being here. Thanks for
those of you that are watching,
and I got to see me freeze frame
(41:15):
a couple of times today.
Works all the other time except when OBS
is being used, but,
go figure.
And
is there any way to manipulate
USB ports
on,
on a Mac?
Anyone know that?
I'm gonna do some googling around. Has to
(41:37):
be a power issue.
That's the only thing I can think of
as we've got too many devices plugged in.
But I unplug
a bunch of devices before the show to
try to lower the consumption on the ports
because
but, again, maybe it's just an interrupt thing
with, with OBS. I don't know.
But, otherwise, hey. Thank you for being here.
(41:57):
We'll see you next time here on the
Geekness Central podcast. Back Monday for another edition.
Everyone take care. See you next time. Bye
bye.
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