YouTube Launches Likeness Detection Tech; Judge Rules Zuckerberg Must Testify in Trial About Social Media Effects on Young Users; Amazon DNS Problem Knocked Out Half the Web; Amazon Plans More Mass Automation 

Posted: October 21, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

YouTube’s likeness detection tech has officially rolled out to eligible creators in the YouTube Partner Program, after a pilot run. Techcrunch.com reports that the tech identifies and manages AI-generated content featuring the likeness of creators, such as their face and voice. It is designed to prevent people from having their likeness misused, whether for endorsing products and services they have not agreed to support or for spreading misinformation. There have been plenty of examples of AI likeness misuse in recent years. On its Creator Insider channel, the company provided instructions on how creators can use the technology. Creators can make a removal request or a copyright request. Creators can also opt out of the tech if they want to.

A judge has ordered Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify at the first trial about the adverse effects of social media on younger users. According to CNBC.com, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel and Instagram’s Adam Mosseri will also have to testify at the trial slated to start in January. It is alleged that social media companies failed to warn users of features created to ‘be addictive’ and ‘drive compulsive’ behaviors in minors. Meta has moved to stop Zuckerberg and Mosseri from testifiying, and Snap argues that Spiegel testifying would be an ‘abuse of discretion.’

The saga of Amazon Web Services’ huge outage Monday continues. Arstechnica.com notes that it was the biggest outage since last year’s CrowdStrike event. More than 28 AWS services were disrupted, possibly causing billions in damages. Snapchat, Signal, and Reddit went dark. Flights got delayed. Banks and financial services went down. Massive games like Fortnite could not be accessed. Some of Amazon’s own services were hit, too, including its e-commerce platform, Alexa, and Prime Video. Ultimately, millions of businesses simply stopped operating, unable to log employees into their systems or accept payments for their goods. “The incident highlights the complexity and fragility of the Internet, as well as how much every aspect of our work depends on the Internet to work,” Mehdi Daoudi, the CEO of an Internet performance monitoring firm called Catchpoint, told CNN. “The financial impact of this outage will easily reach into the hundreds of billions due to loss in productivity for millions of workers that cannot do their job, plus business operations that are stopped or delayed—from airlines to factories.”

In other Amazon news, Amazon is planning to sell twice as many products by 2033…but the some half million humans that would require may be out of luck. The online giant intends to scale up its robotics operations, and would thereby avoid hiring some 600,000 people! Engadget.com reports that the huge robotics department at Amazon would help it automate 75% of all operations. That will save them a whopping 30 cents on each item packed and delivered to consumers. Ok, to be fair, that 30 cents for all those items does add up to real money. In the short run, Amazon plans to hire 250,000 people for this holiday season.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.

Meta Connect 2024 Highlights

Posted: September 25, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

So today was the first of 2 days of Meta Connect. As expected, we got new, less pricy Quest 3S, which I will get to, new AI features for Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger, an update to the Ray-Ban Smart Glasses, and a tease for Orion, which Mark Zuckerberg calls ‘the most advanced glasses the world has ever seen.’ Starting off with the Ray-Bans, some new features will be out later this year. Techcrunch.com reports that we can look for real-time AI video processing and live language translation. In addition to that, QR code scanning, reminders, and integration with iHeart Radio and Audible. As for the real time AV, that means you can ask Ray-Ban Meta glasses questions about what you are seeing in front of you, and the Meta AI will answer you verbally in real time. Pretty cool! 

Zuck also teased Orion, which he called…as described above…’the most advanced glasses the world has ever seen.’ The glasses are noticeably smaller than Snap’s recently announced Spectacles 5, and they are true AR. The glasses are true AR. Apparently, Meta has been working on these for some 10 years. According to TechCrunch.com, they really are still in something of an embryonic stage. They will be controlled by regular voice prompts…AND a so-called ‘neural interface.’ Zuck sees these as the future, eventually replacing smartphones. That seems to be a view shared by the folks over at Apple. 

We already reported about this…as the leaks have pretty much amounted to a flood…but Meta announced the Quest 3S VR headset. As expected, it is $299.99, and kind of blurs in as a blend of the Quest 2 and Quest 3. The good thing, as noted by theverge.com, is that the specs are a lot closer to the Quest 3 for nearly half the price. The Quest 3S offers the same mixed reality features and performance as the Quest 3 — it even has the same Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chip — meaning you can play all of the same games and experiences on either device. The Quest 3S uses the same Touch Plus controllers as the Quest 3. And the Quest 3S is actually rated for a higher battery life than the Quest 3: Meta says the 3S gets 2.5 hours of average use versus 2.2 hours for the Quest 3. The Quest 3S does look cooler than the 3…the 3 vertical pill apertures over each eye on the outside did look creepy, but the 3S replaces those with 3 round sensors in a triangle pattern over each eye…much like the camera cluster on Apple’s top smartphones. The 3S does not have as high res displays as the 3, and has a narrower field of view. 

Ok, that’s all great, but what about something we don’t have to wear on your face. Glad you asked, Meta says. According to techcrunch.com, Meta AI’s Imaging features, which use generative AI to turn text prompts into images, are now being expanded across Facebook and Instagram. With the update, users will be able to use prompts to generate AI photos directly in their feed, Stories, and for their Facebook profile pictures. The AI can also suggest captions for Stories on Facebook and Instagram, as a part of this update. You may have already noticed the little rainbow circle on Facebook. Zuck is shooting for Meta having the most used AI by the end of the year. They can’t wait to suck us in to use their AI. If that floats your boat, go for it!

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now. 

Northern Lights Cool, But Not for Farm GPS; Apple’s Vision Pro Set to Go International after WWDC; Meta Quest Getting Travel Mode for Flying; US To Hit Chinese EVs with 100% Tariffs

Posted: May 13, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

As everyone saw social media filled with amazing pictures of the Northern lights, or aurora borealis, one group of people was having a heck of a time due to the solar flares that cause the visual phenomenon. You may have already heard that the flares disrupt GPS and communications systems, but this has particularly affected farmers. Many modern tractors from John Deere and other brands use GPS navigation to guide them. This has allowed farmers to plant more efficiently in super tight, straight lines the last few years. Now, however, they have had to pause that for the solar storm. The GPS systems from Deere have actually allowed precision planting down to the centimeter level. Deere has warned not to plant until things normalize, or it might make a mess of harvesting…since the Auto Path in the tractors won’t find rows where it expects to find them. It is not a good time, as this is peak planting season for corn. Some farmers are rolling the dice and planting without the GPS, but others are parking the high tech tractors until the sun quiets down. Fortunately, the solar storm surge maximums are only for a few days. 

Apple is expected to start selling the Vision Pro headsets worldwide after WWDC in June. According to bgr.com, analyst Mark Gurman says Apple has been “holding training sessions in recent days and has flown hundreds of employees from its international stores to its Cupertino headquarters to learn how to demonstrate the device for customers.” So far, employees have been brought in from Germany, France, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and China. Although as we have noted here, the Vision Pro is catching on with the medical community, it has yet to get much traction with the general public…mainly due to its high price. 

Meta has just put a travel mode into beta that will make the Meta Quest 2 and 3 headsets work better in moving vehicles…including airplanes. 9to5google.com says the new mode is optimized for airplanes, making sure the motion of the aircraft doesn’t affect your use of the headsets. Again it is in beta right now, but 9to5google.com says if you want to try it out, check the ‘Experimental features’ menu in the Settings app. Meta is also working with Lufthansa to enable using Quest headsets for fliers in the airline’s Allegris Business Class Suite to watch in flight entertainment. 

The US government is about to hit Chinese EVs with 100% tariffs this week. There have been growing calls for this from auto makers, unions, and a bipartisan group in Congress. Arstechnica.com notes that the demands are driven by the Chinese government’s heavy subsidies to their own EV makers and other green industries in order to grab market share in the US and Europe. Interestingly, the Chinese government has been restricting US EVs sold there…especially Tesla…down to places they can be driven…with the government considering them a threat to China’s own security. The European Union is expected to drop heavy tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles in the next few weeks. 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.

Chrome Looking to Add AI Features; Disney+, Hulu, & Max Bundle May Cut into Netflix; Apple Vision Pro Used for Keyhole Surgery; Dell Reveals Big Data Breach

Posted: May 9, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

AI continues to be the buzzy area of tech that seems to be drowning out all other advancements at the moment. Now, 9to5google.com reports that Google Chrome…which already has 3 generative AI features out in the wild…is planning to bring the tech into Chrome even more. They are touting it as being able to make ‘typical actions you do every day—using tabs, using Search, writing in forms, reading webpages—a little easier.’ A spokesperson didn’t elaborate on the using search or reading webpages, which is a bit tantalizing…or maybe scary…depending on how accurate the AI turns out to be. Of course, there is ‘Help Me Write,’ which every single platform is pushing right now. If this appeals to you, great. If you have writer’s block, all the better. For now, some of us…myself included…know what we want to write and how we want it to come out on the page, and further, over audio and video. 

Here’s a bundle that may give Netflix something of a run for its money in streaming. Disney and Warner Brothers Discovery have announced a Disney Plus, Hulu, and Max streaming bundle. According to bgr.com the package that will be available for purchase from any of those platforms’ individual websites, and in both ad-free and ad-supported versions. This will give cord cutters a huge selection of great entertainment channels all in one place: ABC, CNN, DC, Discovery, Disney, Food Network, FX, HBO, HGTV, Hulu, Marvel, Pixar, Searchlight, and Warner Bros. I would say the lede is buried in this announcement, but actually it isn’t IN the announcement…what’s the price? Well, they haven’t disclosed that yet…and that will be key to the success of this massive bundle. 

When it was first rolled out, I noted in one of these reports that I really thought Apple would be happy with the Vision Pro headsets if just early adopters and industry bought the devices. Now, a truly pro use indicates that we may be seeing more of that. It isn’t remotely a mass market, but Apple has so much money and such a range of devices, they can afford to wait for the mass market…probably until a lower price Vision Pro comes out. Appleinsider.com says that the headset is being adopted by surgeons now to perform operations on patients. In India, the headset has been used to perform more than 30 procedure so far. The doctors are using it to perform laparoscopic surgeries…sometimes called ‘Keyhole’ surgeries. Instead of watching a camera inserted into the patient, the docs see it on the Vision Pro. They are saying the response time is instantaneous. More and more pro use of the $3500 Vision Pro will just help drive users to want to buy whatever Apple calls the cheaper version, which I expect to see within a couple years. 

It seems like these have gotten to be so frequent as to make us numb, but people have to stay concerned and vigilant. Yes, it’s another data breach. Dell has just disclosed one that is more creepy than most. TechCrunch.com reports that this breach includes customers’ names and physical addresses! It also includes “Dell hardware and order information, including service tag, item description, date of order and related warranty information.” If it is a consolation, at least there weren’t any email addresses, phone numbers, or financial or payment info. Dell doesn’t believe this is a ‘significant risk’ to customers. Well, only physical safety…I guess to computer companies, that seems peripheral compared to electric information.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now. 

Meta Opens Quest OS to 3rd Parties; Amazon Drops CA Drones; Chinese iPhone Sales Down; Tesla Cuts FSD Price

Posted: April 23, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Meta has announced that it is opening up Quest’s operating system to third party companies, giving them the opportunity to build headsets of their own. Engadget.com says that you might think of this as following the Android model with mobile phones and tablets, where many makers can build the hardware…as opposed to Apple’s closed system where only Apple makes the hardware and the software. The OS is getting rebranded as ‘Meta Horizon OS.’ There are already a couple of makers diving into using the OS…ASUS’s Republic of Gaming Brand is working on new ‘performance gaming’ headsets, while Lenovo is building headsets for  “productivity, learning and entertainment.” Hopefully, the Lenovo headsets will be better than the last time out…Lenovo also built the poorly-received Oculus Rift S. Meta says they are also working on a limited edition Xbox ‘inspired’ Quest Headset. 

Amazon is dropping drone deliveries to Lockeford, CA. The company had been running test deliveries there for a decade…making it one of the longest running test sites. According to cnbc.com, Amazon intends to open up drone deliveries to part of Phoenix later this year, and to more cities in the US by 2025. Amazon is working with the FAA to get permission to do drone delivery west of Phoenix. They continue with tests in College Station, TX. 

First quarter smartphone sales in China were barely up year over year…only 1.5%. Macrumors.com notes that Apple iPhone sales there dropped by 19.1%, with most of the missed sales going to Huawei, which had a huge 69.7% growth in sales year to year. A lot of that is due to their launch of the Mate 60 series. Some analysts think new color options and the addition of AI features may help Apple to pick up some of what it lost this Fall. 

In the wake of a rough first quarter, Tesla continues to slash things…first staff, then car prices, now the cost of the so-called Full Self Driving product. Mashable.com reports that they have slashed FSD from $12,000 to $8,000. The monthly subscription to FSD has also been cut…in half to $99 a month. The car maker has also dropped its ‘Enhanced Autopilot’ package, leaving only the ‘Basic Autopilot’ or the still pricy Full Self Driving package. 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.

Apple Vision Pro-180,000 Orders Over Weekend; Pixel Watch May Grow; Vans Maker Data Hack; Lamborghini Licenses MIT’s New Faster High Capacity EV Batteries

Posted: January 22, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Apple may have gotten preorders for up to 180,000 Vision Pro headsets the first weekend. That’s according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, as cited by macrumors.com. Kuo says the headset sold out soon after the preorder window opened. He went on to note that the shipping dates haven’t really slipped, so orders may have tapered off not long after the most hard core Apple fanboys and fangirls (with deep pockets) placed their orders. What the order number does mean though is that Apple will have no trouble hitting their goal of shipping 500,000 Vision Pro headsets this year. 

One of the knocks on the Pixel Watch has been its small display size…another has been battery life. Now, it looks like Google may be set to tackle those issues with a makeover that will include two Pixel 3 models in different sizes. According to androidcenteral.com, the larger variant might be big enough to get new health sensors, but the bigger display and battery alone would go a long way towards making the watch more useful. 

Apparel maker VF Corp had noted a cyber attack in December. Now, they have revealed in a disclosure with the SEC that the data breach has impacted up to 35.5 million customers. Engadget.com says that means if you’ve purchased from its major brands like Vans, North Face, Timberland, Dickies and more, you may have been impacted. VF hasn’t given much detail about the hack, except to say that it likely included personal information. Fortunately, though, VF says it did not collect consumer social security numbers, bank account information or payment card information, and that there is no evidence the hackers stole passwords. Yet another example of how determined and talented hackers can breach just about any system on the internet. 

Lots of researchers are in the hunt for a better battery to replace lithium-ion batteries. Alternatives have used manganese and sodium…even iron. Now, a new type from MIT has shown enough promise that Lamborghini has licensed the tech for EVs. TechCrunch.com reports that the alternative is called TAQ…which is an organic compound primarily made of carbon. Up to now, most organics have stored more power, but tended to not be very durable. The new TAQ material doesn’t dissolve in two widely used electrolytes, and it sports an energy density that’s 50% better than one of the most common lithium-ion battery chemistries in use today, nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC). TAQ, short for bis-tetraaminobenzoquinone, is composed of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen arranged in a row of three neighboring hexagons. The structure is similar to that of graphite, which is almost universally used today as an anode material (the positive terminal). Time will tell if the TAQ battery will be the magic bullet for battery tech…or at least one of them. 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.

Sony Shows New  High End ‘XR’ Headset; Twitch Cuts a Third of Staff; Valve-New Guidelines Allow More AI Content in Games; SAG-AFTRA Signs Deal With Studio Setting Terms for AI Voices in Video Games

Posted: January 10, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

In a surprise move on the very day that Apple announced the release date for its Vision Pro headset, Sony unveiled a high end XR headset at CES that rivals the Vision Pro in capabilities and design. According to zdnet.com, the Sony-Siemens headset will be released later in 2024, and have 4K OLED micro displays, and a couple of features Apple’s headset doesn’t have…a flip-up facial interface, allowing a user to quickly switch from using the headset to looking around their real surroundings, then jump back into the VR world. Apple has a high res passthrough that does this to an extent, but you are still looking at your surroundings via cams. In addition, the Sony headset has a pair of wearable controllers…one is a ring and the other is a pointer. These may make gesture reading by the system more precise than just hand motions, as Apple relies on. The Sony rig appears to be more ‘pro’ than Apple’s, in that it seems to be aimed squarely at professionals, developers, and other spending long hours with a headset. No pricing has been revealed yet. 

Twitch is laying off over 500 employees, around 35% of the total staff. Theverge.com reports that Twitch had already chopped 400 last spring, as part of cutbacks at parent Amazon. As with that reduction last spring, there are additional layoffs at Amazon. Twitch CEO Dan Clancy wrote in the announcement that Twitch paid out over $1 billion to streamers last year, remarking that “while the Twitch business remains strong, for some time now the organization has been sized based upon where we optimistically expect our business to be in 3 or more years, not where we’re at today.”

Valve has unveiled new rules that will allow the company to add more games with AI content to its Steam platform. Engadget.com says it’s updating its content survey form for developers so that they can give the company a description of how they use artificial intelligence in their games. If they used AI tools to generate art, code, sound or any other kind of content for their title, developers must ensure that they do not include anything illegal or anything that infringes on someone else’s copyright. Valve says it will evaluate each game and check if the developer has submitted truthful information. Valve said it will also be transparent with gamers when it comes with what kind of AI content a developer’s title has by including their disclosure on their Steam store page.

SAG-AFTRA has inked a deal with Replica Studios that sets terms for the use of AI in video games. According to Variety, the terms include informed consent for the use of AI to create digital voice replicas, as well as requirements for the safe storage of digital assets. This was a major issue in the SAG-AFTRA strike that lasted several months. The union’s executive director, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, said “These are the kind of terms that producers can agree to without disrupting their ability to make content,” Crabtree-Ireland said. “This is an evolutionary step forward. AI technology is not something we can block. It’s not something we can stop. That’s not a tactic or a strategy that’s ever worked for labor in the past.” Really, what members want…and get in this contract is the right to refuse use of a clone of their voice in projects they feel would taint them, informed consent, and to be paid a licensing fee for use of the clone of their voice. The deal does not block studios from training AI to create ‘synthetic’ actors that bear no resemblance to real performers.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.

New Samsung Galaxy Leak; Apple to Launch Vision Pro in February; Consumer Reports-Tesla Autopilot Fix ‘Insufficient’; UK Court Rules Only Humans Can Invent-Sorry, AI

Posted: December 21, 2023 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

A leaked teaser countdown has given us the date for the latest Galaxy Unpacked from Samsung…the date is January 18th, and time 10 am Pacific. 9to5google.com reports that the leak came from known leaker Evan Blass on X…which BTW was having serious issues today. The leak has an icon that looks very similar to the Google Bard Logo, so we can expect plenty of AI…besides the logo, a place in the video shows ‘Galaxy AI is coming’ blasted across the screen. As for the Actual Galaxy S24 phones, there isn’t anything else in the teaser video that we didn’t already know…but we do know now that we will be getting the phones a little earlier in 2024 with this Unpacked event on January 18th.

Last summer, Apple said it would launch its Vision Pro headset ‘early next year.’ According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, it could be very early…like February. Gurman says not to expect an additional launch event..as the $3499 gadget will be in limited supply, but it is a major undertaking for Apple, as it also involves the launch of their new VisionOS software as well as the devices. The latest version of iOS, which is 17.2, enables the iPhone 15 Pro to capture 3D-encoded spatial videos in 1080p resolution at 30 frames per second, and you’ll need a headset to play them back in full detail. What would that headset be? Why, the almost $3500 Vision Pro. If you wear glasses and want the custom lenses…that will add even more to your tab. It looks like a great mixed reality headset for early adaptors who have the deep pockets to buy it. 

Tesla’s planned over the air Autopilot recall for some two million vehicles has been called ‘insufficient’ by Consumer Reports, after preliminary testing. Techcrunch.com says that Kelly Funkhouser, the nonprofit organization’s associate director of vehicle technology, tells TechCrunch she discovered it’s still possible to cover the cabin camera while using Autopilot, meaning drivers can neutralize one of the two main ways the car monitors if they are paying attention to the road. Not only that…Funkhouser says she did not notice any differences when activating or using Autopilot’s flagship feature, Autosteer, outside of the controlled-access highways where Tesla says the software is designed to be used.

Well, it’s good to have this settled…at least in the United Kingdom and for now. Thenextweb.com reports that the UK’s top court has ruled that AI cannot be named on a patent as the inventor of a new idea or product. The judgment states “We conclude that an ‘inventor’ must be a natural person. Only a person can devise an invention.” The case involved has been winding through the court system since 2018. A little good news…until our AI and robot overlords reverse it some day! 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.

SiriusXM Buying Pandora; Walmart Using Oculus Go For Employee Training; A Stake in Airbnb for Hosts; Apple Adding Depth Control During Photo Shooting

Posted: September 24, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

SiriusXM is to buy Pandora via an all stock deal, with the value set at $3.5 billion. According to cnbc.com, the deal includes a provision where Pandora can potentially enter into a better deal if they can find it. Pandora claims about 6 million premium subscribers. It’s possible another deal could come in for more, but Apple and Spotify have looked at the streamer already, and didn’t bite. Barring an angel stepping in, the deal with SiriusXM will close the first quarter of 2019.

Walmart is putting Oculus Go VR headsets in all its stores nationwide, to be used in employee training programs. Zdnet.com reports that there should be around 17,000 of the virtual reality headsets deployed in Walmarts around the country by the end of the year. Walmart plans to train on new technology, compliance, and ’soft skills’ like empathy and customer service.

Airbnb has reportedly sent a letter to the SEC asking the government agency to allow offering equity in the company to hosts. Engadget.com says basically this would allow shares to go to gig economy workers, not just investors and staff. Uber has asked for this kind of deal more than once, but in Airbnb’s case, they are asking for a rule change to allow it, not just an exception. So far, the SEC has not responded.

The new iPhone Xs and Xs Max have a cool feature for the bokeh portrait effect. When the phones rolled out, Apple announced that users could adjust the depth of field on an image after shooting it. Now, according to 9to5mac.com, Apple may add to this in an upcoming software update. Apparently, they are testing letting users adjust the depth of field while shooting a picture. The feature may come later this year in iOS 12.1 or 12.2, according to reports.

Twitter Tightening; WPA3 WiFi Security; Alexa Voice Hits iOS; Motion Sickness Fix for Self-Driving Car Riders

Posted: June 27, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

It’s widely known that Twitter has had ongoing issues with spam accounts and malicious automation. Twitter is saying that now, using AI, they are able to identify a lot more spam accounts and deactivate them more quickly…9.9 million a week, up from 3.2 million last September. Engadget.com reports that Twitter is not only using AI on present spammy accounts…going forward, new accounts will have to verify with an email address or phone number when they are being created. That feature will be out later this year. Meanwhile, the ‘firehose of social media’ will continue to audit and challenge what appear to be spammy accounts…like ones that do high volume Tweeting using the same hashtag or Tweeting at the same handle without getting a reply. 

After it got out that a huge number of routers had been infected with malware, here’s a little good news going forward: WPA3 has been finalized. New Wi-Fi routers will come with the stronger protections for your data using the new standard. Cnet.com says it will make it harder to run a common hacking attack on your router…frequently called an ‘offline dictionary-based attack,’ which allows hacker to make endless guesses of your Wi-Fi password. WPA3 is available on new routers certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance. It updates WPA2, which has been around since 2004 and has bee woefully out of date. Some manufacturers are looking for ways to update existing routers, but the best bet may be to upgrade your router in the coming months to one that comes with WPA3.

Alexa voice control for the Android app has been out nearly half a year, and Amazon says now it is finally coming to iOS. According to techcrunch.com, it isn’t baked in…you’ll need to tap a button in the app, but after that you can ask Alexa questions, listen to music, access skills, and control smart devices. The update is being rolled out to users over the next few days, so if you love controlling everything possible around your abode with Alexa voice commands, you’re going to have a way to do so on iOS. The touch of a button is unfortunate, but since Apple wants you to use their Siri, iOS devices are unlikely to get voice access without first touching the app. Since their last try at smartphones, Amazon has been at a disadvantage in the mobile market, having to rely on apps on Android and iOS without having and Alexa native device.

As with the space program years ago, Virtual Reality tech is throwing off some cool side benefits. Macrumors.com says Apple engineer and popular YouTuber Mark Rober is the primary inventor of some tech patents that can be used to help stop in-car motion sickness for passengers in self-driving cars. One replaces the view of the real world with virtual environments including visual cues to match the physical motion the passengers are experiencing. Another helps allow passengers to work or surf without getting sick. Drivers are usually not affected by motion sickness, as they are watching the road ahead and their surroundings. Besides his Apple engineer gig, Rober’s YouTube channel with science related videos has some 3.4 million subscribers!

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