Bottom Line IT's Mike Maddox and Amy Mumby talk about the latest stories in technology, recorded at ASK on December 12, 2017.
Segment 1: Tesla’s Electric Truck is Coming
https://www.wired.com/story/teslas-electric-truck-is-comingand-so-are-everyone-elses/
The latest and greatest from the Tesla lab, electric semi trucks. Complete with electric motors capable of greater torque, these trucks will seem smoother to their drivers. However, range is an issue, many firms are looking at things like hydrogen fuel cells. Nikola One, a Tesla-inspired startup, promises 1,200 miles of range from its hydrogen fuel tank. Toyota’s Project Portal an 18-wheeler only has a range of 200 miles which leads to frequent stops. Combining short range, and long range fleets of electric/hydrogen powered semi trucks would certainly assist Musk’s goal of making the world’s transportation infrastructure more sustainable.
Segment 2: Yup, it looks like the Internet is down…
http://mashable.com/2017/11/06/internet-is-down/?utm_cid=hp-h-5#W10CQGBZvOqw
Recently, a large amount of the United States experienced Internet connectivity problems, with several ISPs affected. Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T all were affected and Comcast blamed the outage on an “external network issue.” While no firm report has confirmed the cause, Level 3 (a major ISP) stated that a “configuration error” cased a 90 minute service disruption.
Segment 3: Trump Temporarily Banned from Twitter
https://www.wired.com/story/trumps-twitter-takedown-reveals-another-tech-blind-spot/
President Trump’s twitter account was taken offline for approximately 11 minutes by a Twitter employee working on his/her last day. Despite the political conversation this started, it exposed another security flaw for social platforms that now have a transformative role in international politics.
Segment 4: Facebook Estimates 126 Million People Exposed to Russian-Backed Content
Facebook divulged that 126 million people were reached by Russian-backed manipulation. The impact was broader than just Facebook, as Google and Twitter also divulged that they were infiltrated as well. Twitter removed 2,752 accounts suspected of manipulation and it discovered 1,108 videos uploaded to YouTube.
Segment 5: The End of the Checkout Lane?
In order to respond to the allure of online shopping’s crowd less and lineless state, many stores are experimenting with shortening the frustrating wait at brick and mortars. The plan is to utilize machine vision with cameras, sensors, RFID tags and more to allow people to simply walk into the store, grab their items, and leave. The idea was facilitated by Amazon Go Store’s video from last December.
Segment 6 – Bottom Line Security
The Reaper IoT Botnet has Infected a Million Networks
https://www.wired.com/story/reaper-iot-botnet-infected-million-networks/
The Mirai Botnet, which is a series of hijacked gadgets that made the Internet inaccessible to many in the US a year ago is growing. Other than causing widespread outages, it affected IP camera and Internet routers by exploiting their weak/default passwords. The latest botnet threat, known as Reaper has evolved to use actual software-hacking techniques to break into devices. Recently, experts from Qihoo360 and Check Point detailed the new botnet. While Mirai was only exploiing devices with default credientials, Reaper can use nine different attacks affecting routers such as d-link, Netgear, and Linksys.
