Guess what?. Yours truly will be First News 570’s home, Asheville, North Carolina. It’s Spring Break for the Mapp School of Higher Learning and we are breaking in North Carolina. It’s another week with Mark Starling, Seth, John, and the First News 570 crew. This week, Microsoft and the US Army collaborate on augmented reality combat, hackers ransomware campaigns evolve into extortion, and Joe Biden calls out Amazon on taxes during infrastructure pitch. You can listen to Mark and I point and laugh while talking about the wild and crazy technology world every Thursday morning, LIVE at 6:43am Eastern.

EXTORTIONWARE ON THE RISE AS HACKERS LOOK FOR NEW SCHEME

It’s bad, but it’s true. The United States is still getting hit with high profile attacks. High profile exploits in Microsoft products or SolarWinds may garner headlines, but low profile ransoms are on the rise according to security experts. Extortionware is an evolution of hackers making individuals and organizations pay a ransom for embarrassing information about a corporate leader or in the case of the surgery chain, the Hospital Group, publishing potentially embarrassing before and after pictures of patients. Security companies estimate criminals make tens of millions of dollars a year specifically from extortion ware scams. One of the latest incidents involved a high positioned IT Director who was watching porn on his work computer. So, first; change your passwords. Second, install patches. Third, stop watching porn on your work computer.

MICROSOFT DOES GAMING x MILITARY TECH WITH HOLOLENS CONTRACT

Microsoft was won a whopping, $21.88 billion contract to outfit the US military with 120,000 HoloLens-based headsets. HoloLens is Microsoft’s augmented reality technology and will provide the US Army its Integrated Visual Augmentation System. They’ve been testing the technology since 2018, which will provide the Close Combat Force the ability to rehearse engagements in a mixed virtual and live environment before being deployed. The system has an amazing capability for being able to see through the Bradley fighting vehicle using the IVAS’ sensors. The 10 year contract comes after Google’s Glass product and Snapchat’s Goggles pivoted toward consumer use. Microsoft kept at the technology and has found an enthusiastic customer with the military. The contract is slated to last for 10 years.

BIDENS WAGS A FINGER AT AMAZON FOR PAYING TAXES

I’m interested to see what kind of blow back Bezos will make. Yesterday, President Joe Biden called out Amazon for not paying nary-a-penny in federal taxes. The President was pitching his $2 trillion, trillion with a ‘T’, infrastructure plan stating that a company making billions in profits shouldn’t be paying less in taxes than a firefighter or teacher who is paying 20% of their salary in taxes. I actually agree. In response, Amazon’s public policy and communications chief, Jay Carney, formerly of the Obama administration cited the research and development tax credit for the reason why Amazon pays no taxes. They spend all of their profits in R&D?

With great respect, Senator @ewarren, this isn’t correct about Amazon’s tax payments. But changing the law is certainly more productive than faulting companies for following it-and far better than threatening to break up American companies so they can't criticize elected leaders. https://t.co/borLvn5GZu

— Jay Carney (@JayCarney) March 31, 2021

I don’t know about you, but I’ve spent the week readying up on NFTs. It’s Thursday and I’ve registered for a chance to fly to the Moon! It’s another week with Mark Starling, Seth, John, and the First News 570 crew. Last week we talked about China targeting US tech. This week, the US begins the process of revoking Chinese access to US telecommunications networks, I share some March Madness Tournament Tech, and seeking new pastures Facebook turns to newsletters. You can listen to Mark and I point and laugh while talking about the wild and crazy technology world every Thursday morning, LIVE at 6:43am Eastern.

MARCH MADNESS TECH KEEPS YOU SANE

It’s true, it’s true. March Madness is back, and it starts today! Even though I’ve watched two college basketball games in partiality, I’m always ready to throw $20 in a pool and pick teams. I’ve actually won twice! To keep you in the game, download the March Madness Live app to watch all of the games any time you want to. I keep this open during business hours this time of year. SportsLine (subscription needed) has played all of the games in the tournament 10,000 simulated times and have already selected a winner. SportsLine has picked 15 upsets in the second round, and has picked the upset winners successfully…four years in a row. If you’re a Paramount+ subscriber you can start watching the tournament with your subscription this Friday.

FACEBOOK IS GETTING INTO THE NEWSLETTER GAME

Yeah. Facebook is getting into what is basically a 30 year old market. Facebook has been giving the world algorithmic news feed for many years now, and soon they will be delivering algorithmic articles to your email. Facebook will be providing self-publishing tools, access to Facebook Pages to cross posts photo and video content, and…will be targeting smaller, independent writers instead of larger publishers. I feel good and bad about this. Independent writers, myself included, are always looking for ways to get more eyeballs on their content, but at the same time, the bulk of the ad dollars will still shift towards the big-blue app. Damned if you do. Damned if you don’t. Oh well, here’s how to get started.

CHINESE COMMUNICATIONS COMPANIES SUBPOENAED BY US

Yesterday, the US Department of Commerce has subpoenaed several Chinese communications companies to determine if they have been undermining US interests and are a national security risk. The Commerce Department didn’t name the companies in the statement, but information will be coming. As the Brits say, it’s about bloody time. It’s been no secret that Chinese companies have been engaging in hacks against US government organization and have launched cyber attacks against technology companies. In a similar move, the FCC has started procedures to revoke authorization for China Unicom Americas, Pacific Networks, and ComNet to provide US telecommunications services. And for real, it’s not like China allows US companies to just operate on their soil without providing all sorts of hacks and network blocks that go beyond CALEA in the US.

We have a buzzy week in the technology news department. It’s Thursday and I’ve registered for a chance to fly to the Moon! It’s another week with Mark Starling, Seth, John, and the First News 570 crew. This week, China sets the US in its cross hairs again, Roblox achieves a $30 billion valuation, and hackers hack a security camera startup. You can listen to Mark and I point and laugh while talking about the wild and crazy technology world every Thursday morning, LIVE at 6:43am Eastern.

KIDS PUSH GAMEMAKER PLATFORM TO 30 BILLION DOLLAR IPO

That’s $30 billion, with a ‘B’. I swear, I’m in the wrong business or I need to get my oldest daughter to begin making games. Roblox, the pixelated, boxy game and game building platform went public yesterday on the NYSE. Roblox’s opening share price started at $45 a share. The platform is aimed at kids between 9 and 12 years old. 3 out of 4 American kids are on the platform, my daughter is one of those 3, and it makes money. Developers who have published Roblox games have made between $10,000 and $100,000. I swear. I’m in the wrong business.

SECURITY STARTUP HACK EXPOSES 150,000 SECURITY CAMERAS

Security startup, Verkada, was hacked yesterday. Tillie Kottman, a hacker connected with an international ring claimed responsibility for the hack which exposed 150,000 security cameras including cameras in a Florida hospital and one of Tesla’s factories. This was a simple hack. Apparently, Kottman got access to a super administrator account and was able to gain access. The account username and password was publicly available using documentation found on the Internet. The moral: change all of the default usernames and passwords for software you use.

IN SERIOUS COMPETITION NEWS: CHINA UNVEILS FIVE YEAR PLAN

China is making waves this week by announcing its 5-year plan. China’s five year plan focuses on GDP growth, led by reducing or eliminating its dependency on foreign technology. China’s plan includes removing the need to import microprocessors, computers, and smartphone technology and instead inventing and building those products in-house. China is forecasting that it will grow it’s economy by 6 percent year over year which will put its economy at the same level of the United States. This year, China will spend 7% of its economy on technology research and development and is attempting to be the leading agent in AI, quantum computing, and smartphone development. Why did I bring this up? For many years, China has been stealing US intellectual property, and continues to be a technology sponge by creating US subsidiaries of technology companies run by proxy boards that take US technological know-how. We all know that the future will be influenced by the countries, companies, and agents that are at the technological forefront. Our current technology companies have left themselves exposed by shipping manufacturing to China, to heads of tech companies watching what they say about Chinese policies, and generally letting the wolves in the hen house. It’s time we start being careful, and time we begin doubling down on stateside manufacturing and innovation. We may need to pay more in order to stay ahead.

This week’s news is less crazy than last week’s. The biggest news is a rocket blowing up on the pad. It’s Thursday and I’ve registered for a chance to fly to the Moon! It’s another week with Mark Starling, Seth, John, and the First News 570 crew. This week, NFT art sales become the next digital bubble, SpaceX lands a rocket that blows up, and Fly Me to the Moon. You can listen to Mark and I point and laugh while talking about the wild and crazy technology world every Thursday morning, LIVE at 6:43am Eastern.

WANT TO GO TO THE MOON, ENTER TO WIN A SEAT ON A BILLIONAIRE’S FLIGHT

Yesterday Japanese fashion mogul, Yusaku Maezawa, is paying for a trip to the Moon for 8 people who consider themselves artists. Yusaku has extended an invitation to the public for a 6-day SpaceX trip around the Moon in 2023. There are 8 seats available and potential passengers can apply for a seat up until March 14th. Maezawa has called the mission, Dear Moon. Maezawa had originally intended a search for a life partner to make the trip with him, and now has opened it up. Maezawa isn’t the only billionaire taking people to the Moon. Jared Isaacman, the CEO of Shift4, is taking one person up with him to raise money for St. Jude Children’s Hospital. I registered.

SPACEX LANDS MARS SPACESHIP PROTOTYPE SUCCESSFULLY BEFORE IT BLOWS UP

In other space news, SpaceX’s latest prototype craft named, Starship, was launched yesterday at 6:14pm. The craft is designed to be a fully functional and reusable spacecraft for Mars flight. The rocket successfully launched and hover 6 miles above the surface before coming on approach for a landing. Starship’s onboard computer was able to successfully adjust rocket for landing and had a soft touchdown. Unfortunately, the rocket blew up 2 minutes after landing. Yesterday’s launch mission objective was to gather data for Starship’s computer controlled flight systems, not necessarily landing safely.

#SN10 reflew a lot quicker than any of us expected 🤯 that was insane!!!! So…. congrats and also RIP 🤷‍♂️😂 bye bye SN10, congrats on making history!!!! @spacex @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/FkDTa9ISRi

— Everyday Astronaut (@Erdayastronaut) March 3, 2021

NFT ART ATTRACTS FUNGIBLE DOLLARS

In latest and greatest news, digital art has become the latest bubble. Authenticated digital art technology, made possible by a new use of blockchain technology, is starting to attract large sums. Music producer and spouse of Elon Musk, Grimes, has sold over $6 million dollars of art using a technology called Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). NFTs provide a means of creating digital certificates of authenticity for art work. This insures there is some degree of rarity for digital art. Thing is though, the purchaser of the NFT doesn’t have ownership of the underlying art asset. Just the ability to…use it? NFTs started gaining hype last year when Beeple made all of their artwork available digitally.