Weekend Edition 8: Musk Investigated By SEC, Chip Ban Working the Way It was Supposed to? And More

China Hobbled?

Elon Investigated?

TX and FL Social Media Laws Ok?

5G Affects Radar Based Altimeters?

Robotaxis: Would You Trust One?

WE 8-1: Biden Chip Ban Working Already?

Analysts say yes… believe that latest rules will hobble China’s largely nascent domestic chip industry, which has been dependent on US tech to get it moving in the right direction. Not only are our chips themselves needing a license to export, but anything designed or made using US-built or developed tools also needs a license to sell to China at all. I would have to do some more digging to confirm one way or the other, whether my guess last week when I covered this story the first time was really just my bias against Biden coming through. Is this about trying to force the CCP to snap on us? Is that even a wise move? I don’t know, you guys. Was the expert that CNBC dug up legit? Has it even been long enough for anyone to pass judgment on it? Time will tell.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/12/us-chip-export-restrictions-could-hobble-chinas-semiconductor-goals.html

#weelendedition #Bidenbans #nochipsforchina #isitworking #whoknows #TechFreedom

WE 8-2: Are the feds Looking at Elon?

Is Twitter just throwing shade and smoke, as Musk’s lawyer claims? He believes that it has to do with the Zatko situation that seems to support Elon’s original reasoning for trying to back out of the deal. Twitter is also claiming that Zatko destroyed a bunch of evidence as well, but he was not told to do that. More drama. I am so tired of this story, can we just finish it already? The judge did pause the proceedings when Musk’s side offered to pick up the deal as it was originally set, at a ridiculous $54.20/share. Twitter was always over-valued, in my opinion, particularly since it was only profitable at all for two years, from Q1 2018-Q1 2020, to my knowledge. That is a very brief window. Given that reality, Musk’s offer was a bit ridiculous from the get go. I know that net profits do not tell the whole story for a company or business, but come on, man.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/13/tech/elon-musk-investigation-twitter

#weekendedition #musk #twitter #legalnonsense #drama #eyeroll #ohbrother #TechFreedom

WE 8-3: Will the Texas Law constraining Social Media from Banning and Shadow-banning People Stand?

Precedent says that it is likely to be overturned by the SCOTUS. The Texas Circuit Court upheld theirs, but the same level of court in Florida, where a similar bill was also signed into law, was struck down. Which court was correct? Is it in the government’s purview to interfere, here? Is it constitutional? On principle, I have to go with what will give us a smaller government, because the scariest phrase known to man, to paraphrase Reagan, is, “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.” The government, and its overreach and excessive growth and overall size has been a theme through all of my Weekend Edition shows so far, hasn’t it? On that principle, I have to agree with the 11th Circuit on this, as much as I want Big Tech to hurt for the pain and suffering they have caused creators and users who do not toe the line for the last couple of years, at least. If I allow my feelings, and if we allow our feelings to govern our minds, then how are we any better than the regressive Left? Answer, as unfortunate as it seems to be, is that we would not be any better. We would be the same. We need to be the adults in the room, the mature people who can think, not just do what feels good RIGHT NOW, but consider carefully what the long term fruit of snap decisions might be, before we pass something.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/13/tech/texas-social-media-pause

#weekendedition #socialmedia #Texas #Florida #longterm #longgame #TechFreedom

WE 8-4: Is 5G Dangerous to Civil Aviation?

There have been studies funded by both those supporting the rollout (the FCC) and those who are concerned about the safety (the FAA). The FCC is pushing for the rollout and downplays any link between the new tech and the problems with altimeters, however, the FCC study concluded that the C band 5G radio transmissions were too close to where these altimeters function, in terms of frequency. They found that it being less than 1 GHz between the top of the C band spectrum and the entirety of the radar altimeters’ function could cause dangerous interference with the systems in most civilian aircraft. Between January and May, there were 93 reports of faulty or failing radar altimeters, where, according to the article there would typically be a handful.

All this stated, you know me well enough by now, that I am not into causing fear in my viewers, but this topic stood out to me, as I don’t necessarily trust 5G as a whole anyway, but I want to try to be fair. The FAA has created a reporting system for pilots and crews to state their experiences with 5G flying. Over 550 reports have been filed to date, and they have had a chance to process about half of those, of that half, about 80 incidents were impossible to rule out 5G interference as a factor in. That seems like pretty strong evidence, to me. The FAA made a deal with Verizon & AT&T to reimplement more mitigations for this issue, including not activating towers within a 1 mile radius of any airport, and after that, the incident reports have been reduced in volume. This speaks to a strong correlation, in my mind at any rate.

https://spectrum.ieee.org/faa-5g

#weekededition #FAA #FCC #flying #5G #TechFreedom

WE 8-5: Robotaxis? Would You Ride in One?

This article is an interview with the CEO of Motional, which is working with a group of partner-companies to roll out fleets of robotaxies. As dangerous as driving is for a normal, unimpaired human being, and with where I understand the self-driving/ autonomy tech to be right now, it is hard to wrap my head around a world where I would simply and gladly ride in a driverless vehicle. They are looking at a phased rollout, where first they would use their partnership with Hyundai to ship assisted vehicles to companies like Lyft and Uber, and for a time, until certain metrics were met and exceeded, there would still be a driver at the wheel for these vehicles. So as much as they are looking at a long game here, they are also looking at rolling out fleets first, first with partners like Lyft and Uber, then with car rental companies, until both the tech has matured, and we, like frogs in a slowly heated pot, are used to the feeling of not being in control of our vehicles, and will be more open to purchasing a car that is not designed to be driven by a person at all.

Does that sound like a good future to you? This feels a bit dystopian to me, even as a tech guy. I used to dream of autopilot and taking concepts from SciFi and moving it into the here and now, but then the stark reality of surrendering something as basic as driving to a computer hit me, and how easily that could be tweaked by some joker in a government office building, or even worse, an actuary. *shudder shudder* Is that what you want? Maybe I just have control issues, but I don’t know… that just seems stupid in a particularly monumental way. You tell me.

https://techcrunch.com/2022/10/13/inside-motionals-strategy-to-bring-robotaxis-to-market/

#weekendedition #selfdriving #lyft #uber #hyundai #motional #driverless #taxi #yikes #TechFreedom

Wrap up:

Ok, so from a very hopeful view on the high tech export rules for China, to more Musk-Twitter drama, to whether government should be big enough to tell companies what they should or should not censor online, to 5G and aviation, to whether driverless vehicles are a good idea at all… this week has been packed to the gills with some major stories.

What do I think about the Biden chip ban? Time will tell whether this move will be a net help or a net hurt for us. In the short term, we may realize some benefits to this, in that China will have to work harder to catch up, but they have some relatively strong silicon there already, otherwise why is the Linux Kernel including support for their LoongArch RISC-V processors? Might it also be edging us ever closer to open conflict with Beijing? Again, time will tell.

Twitter is claiming that Musk is being investigated by the SEC for some incorrect filings when he first fielded this insane offer to buy the platform, this after the judge granted a postponement of the trial because Musk decided to change his mind about renewing his initial offer at $54.20/ share. That never sat right with me from the get-go though, that valuation never made sense to me. What do you guys think? I’m not convinced that Musk is the saviour that some try to paint him as… not even convinced that he is really that much of a genius, just shrewd enough to figure out how to play with the government’s money to line his own pockets. Sorry if that offends you, but what proof do you have that he is either a goof guy or that he is really as smart as we are led to believe?

Oooohhhh, I want to see social media giants levelled. The way that they have mostly destroyed so many voices for truth in the last few years…. However, on principle, and taking a few steps back to look at the bigger picture here, I think, I am unconvinced that these efforts in FL & TX are the right way to go about fixing the problem of censorship, particularly since big Tech was in cahoots with at least the Federal gov’t in relation to Convid and J6, at the very least, if not about information related to Q things as well. Why don’t we “silent majority” types simply stop using these platforms altogether anyway? Why keep feeding the beast with more attention and money? Let’s ditch all of those accounts. Likely the people you were interacting with on Fakebook and Twatter aren’t genuine friends anyway, so would it really be a loss to stop talking with them from time to time? I would wager that the answer is likely a No… for those of you who are surviving with your business on Meta, due to ads and analytics, that seems like more of a significant loss, but is it really? How is your reach in comparison with before? Are you getting as much attention on your posts and ads and stories?

Is 5G dangerous? It would appear that to commercial and private aviation, at least, it can be. The C band transmissions appear to interfere with autopilot capabilities and even something as basic as an altimeter, which until the rollout for 5G started a couple of years ago, were reliable. The FCC and Big Mobile were wrangling for a fast rollout, but the FAA, has pressed for lengthened mitigations around airports to increase safety, at least for another 6 months or so. What the point of that short timeframe is, I’m not sure. However, it, along with a study they commissioned, and first hand accounts and reports from pilots and crews about their instruments and autopilot systems being thrown way off when they are around 5G signals. Another strike against 5G? You decide.

Finally, about driverless taxis… nah, I’ll pass. Even when the tech is fully mature, I don’t see myself being comfortable in a vehicle that I cannot directly control in a physical way. Am I the only weird tech person who doesn’t like that idea? Who else controls that computer? Will we be able to drive as usual as well, or just be relegated to being passengers, taken for a ride by a computer? That doesn’t sit well with me. How about you?

Oh my, what a week… China, Musk, Twitter, Social Media Censorship, and self-driving vehicles… so much to say, but that is a wrap for the week. Enjoy watching a bit of Dune 2000 again shortly, and by the way, on Sunday, we will be continuing our walk through Psalm 37.

In other news, if you like the content, please feel free to subscribe and toss me a rumble. Also, feel free to leave me a comment or any questions you may have, and I will do my best to answer them all.

Thanks for watching the Weekend Edition from Tech Freedom.

The music is We Are All One, by Scott Music, and the game was Dune 2000, by Westwood Studios.

Be Blessed until next time, and don’t forget, “Let’s go Brandon”.