It’s Thursday, June 2nd, which means The Cloud has launched. I’m super excited about it. That also means, it’s time for the Top Tech News of the Week! I’m on with  Mark Starling, John, and the First News 570 crew. This week’s top tech stories: Chinese government hackers target Tibetan government reps, Musk tells Tesla employees to come to the office or else, and the Supreme Court halts Texas’ deplatforming law. 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 by tuning into WWNC on the iHeartRadio app. Listen now.

TESLA EMPLOYEES MUST RETURN TO OFFICE OR FIND OTHER JOBS

Musk just likes staying in the news. Many US employers have taken a pragmatic approach to returning employees back to the office. Employers with a high number of office workers have embraced hybrid models where employees can work days in or out of the office on a schedule. Others have forsaken their offices and have allowed employees to work permanently from home. Earlier this week, Elon Musk demanded that any employee wishing to do remote work must work in the office a minimum of 40 hours per week. Well, that’s a full work week. Not really remote work. Musk is assuming if people don’t show up, then they’ve resigned.

SUPREME COURT HALTS TEXAS DEPLATFORMING LAW

In a shocking 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court blocks Texas’ deplatforming law to take affect. The law would have banned social media platforms with over 50 million users from banning accounts held by politicians and office holders. The decision was bi-partisan with Democratic and Republican party justices deciding against the law. Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube all fell within the 50 million user count limits of the Texas law.

CHINESE GOVERNMENT HACKERS LINKED TO MICROSOFT OFFICE EXPLOIT

A new exploit targeting exiled Central Tibetan Administration was reported on Monday. The exploit originated from a Chinese government hacker group known as TA413. The Chinese government has been targeting exiled Tibetan government representatives for years. The CTA is actually based in Dharamsala, India. The exploit uses an especially crafter Microsoft Word document that can launch a script file through Microsoft’s Support Diagnostic Tool. Microsoft hasn’t issued a patch for the exploit yet, but is telling users to disable a URL embedding feature in its Support Diagnostic Tool. The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is urging organization to disable the feature. Microsoft products from Office 2013 to Office 365 are under threat. Yes, that’s a whole slew of products.

The Cloud is LIVE!

Hi Everyone, I’m proud to announce The Cloud podcast to you. Subscribers to this site and early adopters are the first to get links to the new podcast. The Cloud is like Hidden Brain for technology. Every episode will feature a big tech concept and we’ll explore if the technology is just hype or is really delivering on its promises.

We’ll be releasing new episodes each month. Please check out the first episode, What Happened to Smart Cities?

Subscribe to the cloud at thecloudpodcast.net. You’ll also be able to subscribe using your favorite podcast app. We’ll be on all of them.

Hey, TTN Readers and listeners. It’s another Thursday, and I’m taking the today and tomorrow off from corporate work. I’m on with  Mark Starling, John, and the First News 570 crew.

This week’s tragic shooting has affected me and my family in ways I hadn’t expected. These mass shootings are exhausting, and getting caught up in debates with friends and others leads to nowhere.

Each one of this week’s top tech stories will be a mood lightener. I hope you read each story and think about technology’s promise and how humanity can be improved or delighted by tech.

It was legitimately hard to find uplifting tech news this week. I’m hoping these stories can carry you into the Memorial Day weekend a little brighter.

This week’s top tech news: New York’s Old Fogey’s Get Robot Companions, Dyson Announces Plans for Housekeeping Robots, and an AI Artist Renders Human-like Disney Characters. 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 by tuning into WWNC on the iHeartRadio app. Listen now.

NY’s ELDERLY POPULATION GETS ROBOT COMPANIONS

Over 14 million people over the age of 65 live alone. Believer it or not, loneliness is one of the world’s most pressing problems and a pandemic hasn’t helped. Studies have shown that loneliness can negatively impact health just as much as smoking. The New York State Office of the Aging is giving 800 elderly residents an ElliQ personal assistant to serve as companion. ElliQ can engage in small talk and remembers interactions with the individual. The robot can prompt users for memories, self-validation, and reminders to interact with friends and family. ElliQ is made by Israeli firm Intuition Robotics. The regular price to hire ElliQ is usually $250 and $30 per month.

DYSON IS WORKING ON PICK-UP-AFTER-YOUR-KIDS ROBOTS

Finally, a company is working on building a true ‘Rosie the Robot’ device. This week, vacuumer, Dyson, announced plans to build a new kind of robot that is designed for household chores. The company is undergoing a big hiring spree to build and release a Rosie in 10 years. Dyson has been working on this tech for the last 10 years and release a video of robotic hands picking up dishes and strewn about toys. I was at the AWS conference this week and saw a Boston Dynamics rover robot intimidating con goers, and even then I looked at the digit-less robotic pump and wondered, if they can build bomb sniffing bots, how come someone can’t come over and clean up after my kids. My wish may come true, but they’ll be gone in 10 years.

As promised, every news story is more upbeat.

ARTISTS USES AI TO CREATE ‘REAL LIFE’ DISNEY CHARACTERS

Digital artist, Hidreley Diao, shared images of realish looking renderings of Disney characters. He used a combination of tools to make the images, and admittedly they look really good. He used Photoshop, FaceApp, Gradiente, and Remini to generate human look-alike likes of popular characters. I was impressed with the results. It’s only a matter of time until we can get complete renderings of brand new characters starring in movies. Head over to Bored Panda to check out the complete set.

In less than 7 days you’ll be hearing a new exploration on technology and our relationship with it. Please check out my new podcast, The Cloud. Digital Technology. Decoded. Subscribe at thecloudpodcast.net.

If it’s Thursday it’s time for the Top Tech News of the Week, Week, eeek! I’m on with  Mark Starling, John, and the First News 570 crew. This week’s top tech stories: bottom falls out of CryptoPunk NFTs, iPod Touch retires after 21, and Google teases new AR glasses. 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 by tuning into WWNC on the iHeartRadio app.

CRYPTOPUNK SOLD IN NFT FIRE SALE: IS THIS THE END?

If it’s not, it should be. The digital gods giveth, and earlier this week they tooketh away. Earlier this week, the CryptoPunks Twitter Bot (I feel a certain kind of way about reporting breaking news from a bot), tweeted that the CryptoPunk NFT sold on Monday for $139,000. Not a bad sum for a computer generated image, but its last trading price was $1.03 million in October. That’s one-tenth the last value. This news has caused speculation that the NFT market is starting to cool off. Speculators think the digital image NFT market is over. I think there are some really great applications of the technology. Purchasing digital art in hopes of a rise in value however isn’t one I think is.

Meanwhile, don’t forget to pick up one of the absolutely, only 5 of a kind, First News 570 NFTs.

IPOD TOUCH RETIRES AFTER 21 YEARS

The iPod is one of the most innovative products of all time. I remember when Apple teased its phone and MP3 player leanings with a joint Motorola phone/music player product. Apple released the iPod shortly after that project in 2001. It could hold an unwieldy at the time, 1000 tracks of music. In 2007, the same team that built the iPhone, built the iPod Touch. An iPhone replacement for kids who don’t need a phone but one (like my 11 year old) that played only music and installed non-dialer apps. Apple is discontinuing the iTouch this week and will sell the while supplies last. It’s last update came in 2019. I’ve never owned one since I had the phone, but the device was a handy replacement for prototyping and is a great music player. It will be missed.

GOOGLE TEASES NEW GOOGLE GLASSES

Keep trying until it works. Technology companies have been trying to bring computing to eye glasses since the early 90’s. Google has been trying to ship its glasses concept since the mid-aughts. Their first release was met with ridicule, but they may have finally found their stride. Showing how ordinary tech has become, Google’s I/O conference was this week to little fanfare. There, Google teased it’s new Google glasses concept that looks like regular, ordinary glasses. The devices features augmented reality driven translation. It might be the killer app for a glasses based device without turning into a privacy issue. Google hasn’t specified when, or if, the glasses will be made available. I’m hoping they will be, because my eyesight is showing its age.