Tech Tales: Deepfakes, Drones, and DoorDashery

Tech Tales: Deepfakes, Drones, and DoorDashery

Description: In this episode of PNC Tech Beat, we cover lots of news about NASA and ESA, Wendy’s, Wing, and DoorDash, Fortnite’s gifts from Grumpygran1948, Kate Middleton, the end of ACP, and more.

• (00:00) - Intro
• (00:19) - RIP Affordable Connectivity Program 2024
• (00:48) - Kate family’s deepfake photo rumor
• (01:41) - Grumpygran1948
• (02:15) - Wendy’s DoorDash to Drones
• (02:46) - We’re Polluting MARS now?
• (03:44) - Outro

Links
RIP Affordable Connectivity Program 2024

[ https://www.getinternet.gov/apply?ln=RW5nbGlzaA%3D%3D ] [ https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/02/27/fact-sheet-vice-president-harris-announces-progress-in-lowering-internet-costs-for-families-funding-to-expand-high-speed-internet-access/ ]

Kate family’s deepfake photo rumor

[ https://www.vogue.com/article/kate-middleton-princess-of-wales-post-surgery-photograph ]

[ https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240311-how-to-spot-a-manipulated-image ]

[ TO LEARN MORE https://newsinitiative.withgoogle.com/resources/trainings/verification/ ]

Grumpygran1948

[ https://www.twitch.tv/grumpygran1948 ] [ https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001xd82?src_origin=BBCS_BBC ]

Wendy’s DoorDash to Drones

[ https://about.doordash.com/en-us/news/doordash-and-wing-announce-drone-delivery-pilot-in-the-us ][ Announcements ]

We’re Polluting MARS now?

[ https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Clean_Space/Q_A_on_Clean_Space ][ https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/27936/supercams-rmi-spots-ingenuitys-broken-rotor/ ][ https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/25716/supercam-calibration-target-on-mars/ ]

Episode Transcript

Mekesia Brown (00:00):
Hello, and welcome to PNC Tech Beat, where
we bring you interestingtechnological news occurrences
not usually covered in all theother outlets. We also an Apple
and a Meta occasionally, ofcourse. Anything we find
exciting, we're happy to sharewith our listeners.
The Biden Harris Administrationcontended with many hard

(00:22):
decisions directly impactingAmerican lives. One example,
handling internet cost benefitsto low income residents with the
stop of the AffordableConnectivity Program.
It's not clear if it will berelaunched, but companies are
not waiting and are pullingtheir end of the promise to give
discounts for internet costs.16,000,000 American homes were
signed up for ACP, almost doublethe number from 2022.

(00:48):
An official Buckingham Palacephoto of the Princess of Wales
with her children was believedto be fake. This led to many
discussions about what to lookfor to determine whether a
picture is a hyper realisticfake or if it's legit. This is a
great opportunity to learn moreto be fooled less.
Now some obvious signs ofAI-generated photos are any of
its subjects' appendages, amodel's skin texture (or an

(01:10):
eerie lack of it), any breakingof obvious laws of physics or
facts of time or history notmatching up with what's
happening in the picture.The Google News Initiative
project trains people for freeon using their image
verification tools if you wantsoftware to do this detective
work. Head to the link in theshow notes to learn more.
Promise, we get no perks in yourclicking it. We just wanna share

(01:30):
because even though deepfakescould be hilarious, they could
also be frighteningly deceivingto enough of the masses to be
misleading.
BBC Scotland recentlyinterviewed Cath, aka
GrumpyGran1948, a lover ofFortnite known for her
non-traditional identitiesaccording to video gaming
stereotypes (like being age 75,for example). Cath made her

(01:54):
grandson eat his words when theyboth learned of her notoriety.
Over time, the gamer met othersworth playing with instead of
the rotting brainers everpresent in gaming culture. Even
famous streamer SypherPKacknowledged how cool she is.
Catch GrumpyGran1948 on Twitchfor some Fortnite fun.

(02:15):
It'll be cloudy with a chance ofmeat, in my hungry dreams and
also in the sky with theDoorDash and Wing-partnered
drone delivery pilot program.Because DoorDash has a Robotics
and Automation Initiative, we'regoing to see this in the near
future. Will fast food be inyour forecast? Well, if you're
in Christiansburg, Virginia,yes. Just choose this option on
the checkout page of your orderto receive the Wing drone within

(02:37):
30 minutes.
But if you're not in Virginia,you can keep an eye on
DoorDash's announcementswebpage.
According to scientificguesstimates, there are over
100,000,000 pieces of spacedebris floating around the earth
right now. Do you also hear aterrific business opportunity
for environmental tech? Perhapsyou will after learning about

(02:59):
how scientists recently found abroken rotor blade lost by a
Mars helicopter. It was spottedby the technology on top of the
Mars Rover SuperCam.
The SuperCam has a componentknown as the RMI or Remote
Micro-Imager. NASA explained howthe RMI is “Able to spot a
softball from nearly a mileaway. The RMI allows scientists
to take images of details from along distance. It also provides

(03:22):
fine details of nearby targetszapped by SuperCam's laser." The
masked unit, including the RMIused for these images, was
developed and built by severallaboratories of the CNRS, the
French research center, andFrench universities under the
contracting authority of CNES,the French space agency.

(03:44):
Did you find these stories asinteresting as us? Come back for
even more interesting news onPNC Tech Beat.

Lance John (03:51):
This has been an exciting segment from the
Pondering Nerdcast. Make sure tosubscribe and follow us so you
never miss an episode. We've gotall sorts of fascinating topics
to explore and share with you,and we can't wait to bring you
along on the adventure. Thanksfor tuning in.