It’s the unofficial start of the Labor Day weekend. For real, you’ve earned it. Take some time off. I will. I’m on with Mark Starling, Seth, John, and the First News 570 crew. This week’s news: Chinese gamer kids are limited to 3 hours of play, NASA x Joby test flying cars in Big Sur, and Arizona and Georgia get iPhone drivers licenses first. 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.

CHINESE GOVERNMENT DOES WHAT PARENTS CAN’T: TAKE GAMES AWAY

In a bid to keep Chinese kids at the top of the class, or as the State puts it; reduce gaming addiction among teens-the Chinese government has introduced a law restricting teens 18 years and older to 3 hours of video game play per week! Not only that, kids can only play games on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights between 8pm and 9pm. Oh! They’ll also be allowed to play on holidays. The law forces companies like Tencent to enforce realtime game usage. China’s President, Xi Jinping, called gaming addiction a teenage social problem, and obviously the government cured that. I get it. I have to kick my oldest kid off video games. It’s one of the reasons I sent them to camp. But, having the government impose this type of control on media is a bit too far. It’s not like they are keeping kids away from unsafe material, they’re just cutting them off from everything.

NASA AND JOBY AVIATION TEST FLY AIR TAXIS

NASA is raising the profile of flying cars by testing Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing vehicles (eVTOL). NASA is conducting test flights of eVTOL cars with newly IPO’d Joby Aviation. The test flights started this past Monday and will continue through to September 10th in Big Sur. The flights are part of NASA’s National Advanced Air Mobility campaign. NASA will be collecting performance analytics and noise data to measure the impact of the flying cars. The idea is that these vehicles will perform well and be quieter in highly populated urban areas.

APPLE SIGNS UP ARIZONA AND GEORGIA FOR DIGITAL DRIVERS LICENSES

Yesterday, the Fruit Company, announced that Arizona and Georgia will be the first states to support digital drivers licenses via the iPhone and Apple Watch’s Wallet app. Users will be able to add the licenses to Apple Wallet the same credits cards are added today. DL issuing states will provide verification of a valid license after the user enters the information. The really clutch move is that TSA will also support drivers licenses stored using Apple Wallet at select airports. Flyers can now tap their phone at a TSA identity reader to ID verification. Apple and States are saying users will have full privacy. States WILL NOT KNOW when and where users showed their ID, DL data is fully encrypted by Touch ID and Face ID, and DL storage is based upon ISO standards. No dates on when licenses go digital yet. I like the idea. I really do. But…anything and everything electronically shared can be snooped. There…I SAID IT.

Yesterday was my birthday, and I won’t be celebrating until tomorrow. I’m also back from my vacation working in Florida. I saw the Saturn V at Kennedy Space Center and I’ve come back inspired. I’m on with Mark Starling, Seth, John, and the First News 570 crew. This week’s news: everyone has finally caught wind of Pegasus, and Taco Bell wants you to run for the touchless border. 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.

NEW IPHONE EXPLOIT HAS PEOPLE SHOOK

When Mark Starling sends me a news story on my birthday about millions of iPhone users being exposed to an exploit, I click the link. TechCrunch has done an extensive story about how NSO Group, an Israeli security company, has released software that can be used to exploit users iPhones. The software is called Pegasus, and is a zero-click exploit, meaning that the user doesn’t have to click on content in order to start the attack. Zero-click attacks work because the Apple iPhone attempts to load and display hyperlinks in its iMessage app. iPhone users intuitively know this by being preview webpages, Instagram, and Facebook pages shared in iMessage. Pegasus is an actual application purchased and used by nation states to spy on activists, human rights supporters, and enemies of the state. The software has also been known to have enabled the kidnapping of one Dubai princess. The software has also evaded privacy protections Apple has written in their software. Let’s not get it twisted, this software isn’t useful technology even if it’s been bought for spying on enemies of the state. It’s just another attack vector to exploit people.

Key Tips

Don’t click on weird or foreign links. There are a number of AT&T and Verizon scams going around right now saying that you’ve over paid on your last bill. The links look weird AF. Don’t click them.

If you’re really nervous, you can turn off iMessage previews by going to Settings > Notifications > Notification Style > Messages and switch off ‘Show Previews’.

TOUCHLESS TACO BELL DEFIES HUNGER

Running for the border in Summer 2022, Minneapolis/St. Paul will get the first, touchless Taco Bell Defy. Taco Bell Defy is Taco Bell, but without face-to-face human contact. The restaurant features a drive thru layout that’s more akin to a bank branch than the traditional drive thru lane. Food will be delivered to drivers via proprietary lift system from an elevated kitchen, and mobile pick up orders can be retrieved by having a QR code scanned. You won’t see a human being, but you can talk them in realtime via a two way radio if you need to. We all know, there will be bots working in there. It’s only a matter of time.

I’m tired. I’m an Olympics junkie, and I’ve been staying up late every night yelling and cheering on Team USA. I haven’t gotten sleep for two straight weeks. I’m on with Mark Starling, Seth, John, and the First News 570 crew. This week’s big news is little: SONY sells 10 million PlayStation 5s, I do a 3 meter dive into Olympics tech, and El Goog starts paying out Google+ damages. 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.

SONY SELLS 10 MILLION PS5 CONSOLES, BUT TO WHOM

Last week, SONY announced they have sold more than 10 million PlayStation 5 consoles. That’s 2 million more sold since April. According to sales, the PS5 has reached more households than the PlayStation 5. But, but, but…who owns one?! I know of no gamers who own a PS5. Where are all of the unboxing videos of PS5s? SONY was reporting that supply shortages may limit PS5 sales, but now the company has reported they’ll be able to sell over 22 million PlayStations. By comparison, the XBOX S and X consoles have sold 6.5 million units leading up to July.

TOKYO 2020 MAY NOT HAVE MANY SPECTATORS, BUT LOTS OF TECH

Every four years, you can count on a huge boost in technology. Why? Because of the Olympics. From time measurement to sensor technologies we’re guaranteed to see new innovations used when getting it right counts most. Delayed a year, Tokyo 2020 has plenty of new tech to geek out about. This year’s tech included new sensor technologies used to measure heart rate, breathing rate, and other biometric analytics during the archery events. Archers may seem to stand completely still, but they’re slightly moving. These sensors give viewers an indication of how much concentration and control is involved in the event. Viewers watching the Olympic Broadcasting Service will see new 3D and AI powered overlays indicating when sprinters reach their top speed. There will be robots deployed in this year’s Olympics to pick up javelins, hammers, and shot puts for the throwing events. These robots mean there are fewer people needed to maintain the events this year. Ralph Lauren is the official outfitter for Team USA this year, and to combat the excruciating heat in Tokyo Team USA will be wearing air conditioned clothing. Ralph Lauren says their clothing will incorporate tech that similar to computer server cooling systems giving athletes a cool sensation when temperatures run high.

EL GOOG BEGINS PAYING OUT AFTER PRIVACY LEAK

Google+, yeah that right, Google+ was leaking private profile data like a sieve between 2015 and 2018. Google admitted that they new about the data leaks and did nothing about it. In the lawsuit, they agreed to pay $7.5 million. Only 1.7 million signed on for the lawsuit before the October 2020, and after administrative and legal fees were paid, the payout amounted to a grand total of $2.15 per member of the class. G+ was phased out in 2014 in a bid to break up the service into separate products, but it stuck around and leaked profile information until 2018. The service was eventually halted in April 2019.