Exxons had a hard time meeting demand in Maryland, but I still have to travel. My car might run out of gas, but the news never stops; and and it’s Thursday. I’m on with Mark Starling, Seth, John, and the First News 570 crew. This week, Elon Musk sends the Tweet heard around the Crypto World, people stop pumping gas in bags . 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.

MID-ATLANTIC GAS FRENZY SUBSIDES AS COLONIAL PIPELINE RESTARTS

I received the news about the Colonial Pipeline late Saturday night. I had just gotten a Quarter Pounder with Cheese meal. I did not go out and refuel. Instead, I watched Elon Musk tell Michael Che Dogecoin (and other cryptos) were one big hustle. Late Saturday night, Colonial Pipeline Company received a ransom note from DarkSide, a known Russian hacking group. Colonial Pipeline operates the longest oil pipeline in the United States delivering 3 million barrels of oil across 5500 miles of pipeline from Texas up the East Coast every day.

Colonial Pipeline’s billing systems were compromised in the attack, and they couldn’t figure out how to bill customers so they shut off their systems. Working with the US government and private industry, Colonial Pipeline was able to find the missing data on servers in the United States that were subsequently shutdown. Thanks to this quick work, Colonial Pipeline will not pay a ransom and has apparently been able to restart their systems from backups.

I did receive some insider knowledge on this one. There were murmurs of this attack going down two weeks prior to it happening, and the government was notified. What’s at issue is that US infrastructure is constantly under threat, and every threat can’t be investigated.

Please note, this is serious. This is an attack on critical US infrastructure. If bombs were involved, we would be declaring war. I’m not sure there should be a distinction when these types of events occur just because they happen in the digital realm. Also, please take this into consideration. Given the size and scope of this attack, more of these are to come.

Also, there was no need for panic buying. Not this time anyway.

TWO DAY OLD CRYPTO RISES STRONG

A newly listed digital token currency called Digital Internet Computer has surged to a market capitalization of $45 billion, with a B. The digital token is designed to make it easier to publish content to the Internet. (Whatever that means) The token uses smart contracts to publish content to the blockchain’s digital ledger and is supposed to be an alternative to using reputable cloud services like Amazon and Microsoft. Either way, the token’s price is hovering around $700 right now.

TESLA STOPS SELLING BITCOIN AMID ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS

Computers mining for BitCoin produce as much carbon pollution as the entire country of New Zealand. Computers are already notorious resource hogs, and the algorithms needed to mint the next BitCoin are some of the most energy intensive computations on the planet. In a bid to save the environment, Elon Musk Tweeted that Tesla will no longer be selling BitCoin or accepting as payment for cars. I’m curious to see what the impact will be on coins like BTC and Ethereum as their algorithms are the most environmentally impactful.

Think twice when you rent your next rental car. My weeks aren’t getting any easier. But, it’s Thursday, and I’m on with Mark Starling, Seth, John, and the First News 570 crew. This week, Bill and Melinda announce a divorce, buyer beware, your car may be spying on you, and Epic and Apple go to court. 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.

BILL AND MELINDA GATES ANNOUNCE DIVORCE

I tried to come up with something witty, but I don’t like making fun of people breaking up. The biggest tech news of the week is Bill and Melinda Gates announcing their divorce. After 27-years, they’ve decided that they can no longer grow together and are going their separate ways. With over $146 billion in wealth, the couple had said that they planned to give away most of their wealth. They’ll both be continuing their work at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which has over $51 billion in assets. In some circles, JLo may have been the cause of the rift, but I honestly think Bill wanted to read his books, learn more stuff, and keep saving the planet, while Melinda wanted to grow. I wager a dollar on it. In related news, millions of women have been, shooting their shot, by invading Bill Gates’ DMs.

IS YOUR CAR PARKED OUTSIDE? IT COULD BE SPYING ON YOU

We all sort of knew our cars were up to no good, right? If you’re an owner (or renter) of a vehicle with CarPlay or Android Audio there’s a really good chance your car is collecting personal data you didn’t intend it to. The US Customs and Border Protection Agency has purchased technology that will allow it to extract driving data as well as address books, text messages, and other data. USCBP bought technology from a Swedish company that extracts data from cars with CarPlay. When you sync your phone with a CarPlay or similar system, CarPlay acts like a miniature version of your phone downloading your Address Book, call history, locations visited, and text messages. CBP wants to use this data follow suspects and persons of interest. The implications are even deeper because of the CBP has this data, other law enforcement agencies are close on their heels.

EPIC, APPLE SQUARE OFF IN ANTI-TRUST TRIAL, WHY ARE WE TALKING ABOUT MICROSOFT

On Monday, an epic battle in court began with the anti-trust suit Epic Games has brought against Apple. The main question is whether or not Apple’s App Store constitutes a monopoly and that the iPhone should support other App Stores. During the trial, however, a philosophical question came up. Is the iPhone more like a PC or an Xbox? Why does the answer matter? Because, if the iPhone is like a console like the Xbox, and Apple is found guilty in this trial, then every other console or platform that governs its own app store will be treated as a monopoly. My opinion? Apple should be able to dictate how its App Store operates and charge the fees they are charging. It is a risk, Apple may one day want to charge fees of 50%, but it is their device and platform. The government shouldn’t dictate how a platform delivers its products and controls its ecosystem. My opinion. No one would care about that fee unless the numbers were in the billions of potential revenues. The Google Play Store is known to have viruses being delivered on its platform. Is that something we really want? The other alternative is that there will be no App Stores and people can download apps directly from the developer. That would be the PC model.

Guess what?!? I’m fully vaxxed! I’m back home, and I’m on with Mark Starling, Seth, John, and the First News 570 crew. This week, Apple’s products get ransomed, a bunch of kids in the UK sue TikTok, Apple and Google testify in front of the Senate, and lots of new Apple products. 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.

APPLE TARGET IN $50 MILLION RANSOMWARE ATTACK

It was bound to happen at some point, even if it was an indirect attack. On the same day of Apple’s Spring Loaded event, the Russian hacking group, REvil, aka Sodinokibi (pick a name) issued a ransom demand to Quanta, a Taiwanese company that manufactures Apple products. Yes, the hackers issued the ransom on the same day of Apple’s event and leaked schematics of the latest iMac to prove their booty was legit. Quanta admitted they were hacked and refused to pay up the $50 million. REvil has now gone directly to Apple and are giving them until May 1st to pay the $50 million or they’ll leak schematics and design documentation for the M1, the 2021 MacBook, and an unnamed upcoming MacBook update. I hope Apple doesn’t pay. If another corporation builds something on their designs Apple can site IP infringement to the other company. That purple iPhone looks hot!

CHILDREN SUE TIKTOK FOR USE OF THEIR DATA

I might be a tad bit dramatic here, but the former UK commissioner for Children’s Affairs, Anne Longefield, has sued TikTok for how it handles and processes children’s data. The legal claim was originally brought by an unnamed 12-year old child and has been filed on behalf of all children in the UK. If the kids win, each child in the UK could be entitled to billions of pounds. TikTok has been fined by the US Federal Trade Commission for how it handles data to the tune of $5.4 million and has also been fined by South Korea. Stay tuned, someone in the US is looking at this case and wondering if and when they’ll file a class action.

APPLE AND EL GOOG UNITE IN FIGHT AGAINST US SENATE

Apple and Google were on the hill yesterday defending their stranglehold on the fees app developers pay to have their applications listed in the stores. For those in the audience, Apple and Google charge app developers 30% on sales of apps and in-app purchases. But, let’s Uber off, and doesn’t charge a fee for physical products. (One of our apps used to sell physical products) A plethora of software companies including Tile, Spotify, and Match dragged themselves up Capitol Hill to complain. Match, the company that owns Tinder, paid Apple $500 million in App Store fees last year. Goodness gracious!

BONUS: LOTS OF COOL NEW STUFF ANNOUNCED AT APPLE’S SPRING LOADED

While REvil was having people proofread its ransom note before sending it to Apple, lovers of the fruit company logged onto their local Internet and tuned in to Apple’s Spring Loaded event. And, there was lots of cool stuff gawk at and drool over.

The new iMac is impossibly thin and looks like a big ole iPad Pro. The computer is only 11.5mm thin, that’s thinner than my laptop and is powered by Apple’s M1 processor. It also comes with a 1080p camera for FaceTime calls, and is seriously thin. I want one. Preorder on April 30th, and have it in mid-May.

There’s also a purple iPhone. I picked up the blue iPhone 12 last year, and I really like the device. It’s the same iPhone as last year, but it’s purple dammit! Preorder on April 30th, and have it in mid-May.

There’s also a new iPad Pro coming out. Again, powered by Apple’s M1 chip the new iPad Pro will be running a new version of iPadOS and at 32 cores on the chip is basically a laptop computer. The new iPad Pro also has a Thunderbolt port that is capable of delivering 40Gb per second. And…it uses USB-C, not a lightning port. But I’m sure somewhere in there they’re cables will be flimsy but cost $30. Preorder on April 30th, and have it in mid-May.

Lastly, Tile is pissed, a day before Tile testified before the US Senate, Apple announced something called an AirTag. AirTags are small BlueTooth devices you can attach to keys, wallets, and children to help you find things after you lose them. You can attach an AirTag to your keys and use the Find My app to locate it in the house. The AirTag even has a speaker that will ding if you can’t find your keys under all the laundry. You can preorder on April 23rd and have it on the 30th.