While we were in our breakout rooms during class last Thursday we were weighing the pros and cons having having self driven cars connected to the internet. While I personally think there are so many more cons then pros when it comes to this I think it absolutely needs to be talked about that what would happen if one of these cars got into an accident? I just think it is very troubling if a car that is driving itself hits someone else then who pays the insurance bill?

It can be argued that whoever owned the self-driving car should then be responsible for paying it, but, you also can say that it wasn’t their fault so why should they pay? These are both very great points and things that we need to talk about before we move into this part of the future. So, I looked into it a little bit and unfortunately found there is no clear answer.

People say it can be partially the company that created the companies fault partially. But, in the article I linked below they said that you can not put the sole responsibility of the accident on the manufacture of that car because all self-driving car manufactures are sharing software(Kreindler).

The article also goes on to say how there are currently no “laws” in insurance about these types of accidents. But, if they were to guess they would say that it would have to be the “backup” drivers fault(Kreindler). This is because all self-driving cars now a days require that someone be in the passengers seat just in case something were to go wrong or get in an accident. I just personally can’t imagine the amount of distracted I would get if my car was driving itself.

I’m curious if anybody has any better solutions because I think outside of the cars being hacked this is the only really problem left with self driving cars. And it must be solved if we are going to transition into this.

source:
https://www.kreindler.com/Articles/When-a-self-driving-car-crashes-whose-fault-is-it.shtml

I have a google home in my room at my apartment. We also have one in the living room as well in all of my other roommates rooms. I think it’s fair to say that anywhere I go in my apartment I am within earshot of one of these devices at all times. I would assume that Google is only listening when we say “Hey Google”. But, if it is listening at all times should we be concerned? This is something I was curious about.

I think we all have experienced whenever we talk about a product we would like to get to one of our friends and then all of a sudden there is a million adds on your phone for that product. That has become the new normal and people don’t even seem to question it anymore. The only reasonable explanation is that these home devices are listening at all times and searching for keywords to sell to companies so they can advertise on our platforms. That is kind of a scary thought to me, I don’t know about anyone else.

Google almost acknowledges these risks that a smart device can bring into your home. They suggest doing things like muting the microphone while not in use, deleting voice recordings, turn off internet to it when not in use, etc. It is unsettling to me that these devices don’t come with features like auto voice recording deletion turned on. But, I guess if you have nothing to hide then you are okay.

All in all, if you are comfortable with a big company knowing what you are talking about and they selling that information to other big companies the enjoy these home devices. Most people just say “I don’t have anything to hide” when talking about these devices listening in. I think that’s a very fair thing to say. As long as you know the consequences and risks of these devices then you shouldn’t stop using them. It seems that as long as it is connected to a safe internet connection and you follow some basic cyber security tips you are more than okay.

Source:

https://www.safety.com/google-home-safety/

It has been 3 years since Microsoft has given us a new console. That had changed a couple months ago when they announced they were going to release a new generation of consoles. This announcement from Microsoft came without pictures of the console or what the price point would be. Last night however there was a leak of these new consoles which forced the company to make the announcement of these console, it seems, earlier than intended.

It was leaked on Monday night the Series S and Series X would could $299 and $499 respectively. The main difference between the two seems to be that the Series S doesn’t have the capability to play games in 4K and it lacks a CD drive, so all games must be downloaded virtually. Sony and Microsoft both have been stuck at 60 FPS on all of their consoles for several years but it seems that trend is going away. Both consoles are supposed to be able to plan games in up to 120 FPS. This is giving console gamers now an opportunity to compete with PC gamers when it comes to frames.

Beyond the specs and the next generation of consoles, it is really unfortunate what happened to Microsoft last night into this morning. Being forced into announcing a product to the public before you had planned on it can not be a good feeling. And this is all because some person got the leak and leaked it to the public. Microsoft seemed to be in good spirits about the entire thing though. Whenever the tweet was released announcing the leak this is how Microsoft responded.

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It is an exciting time though with these new pieces of technology being able to do things that have never been done before. Even if they company was forced to announce it week before its plans.

Source:

https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/7/21426800/xbox-series-s-price-design-photo-leak-lockhart

If you pay attention to tech news at all it is hard to ignore how prevalent 5G has been in the future of technology. Yesterday on September 1st Apple started to prepare for this future and asked their supplies to “begin assembling 75 million iPhone’s alongside new watches and iPad.”

Most current smartphones are running on 4G and now 5G is offering a faster and more reliable step in the right direction. Many people claim 5G is supposed to be 100 times faster than 4G. This is technology anybody who experiences slow speeds is going to want. And now that we are seeing a top 3 smartphone provider in Apple shift their business strategy to this in a good indicator of where this market is going.

5G has been around for a couple years but isn’t really present anywhere outside of major American cities. The reason this technology hasn’t hit the majority of people on America is due to a bunch of concerns such as: cost, bandwidth, support, and even health. It is easier and cheaper for a ISP to just put a 5G tower in a city do to the density of the population in those areas. The main concern comes when they are dealing with areas where people are more spread out.

But, now that Apple is preparing for this huge shift in their smart products, it seems like this is a lot closer than we think. This huge supply Apple is asking for is supposed to be released later this year or early 2021. Either way Apple stepping in to this space shortly behind Samsung is a great sign of what is to come in terms of speed and reliability.

sources:

What is the difference between 4G and 5G?

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-01/apple-targets-75-million-5g-iphones-for-fall-product-blitz