Weird Science. The One About Janet Jackson

Richard Bradbury: I’ve had a scan through the topics for today’s episode and it seems we’re in for lots of stories about Elon Musk. And there’s also some chewing gum.

Richard Bradbury: Are we kicking off with Mr Musk?

Matt Armitage:

• No, we’ll get to him later.

• I thought we could start with the news that a megaflood could drown Califorrnia.

• But then I realised that that isn’t really weird science anymore.

• It’s practically expected science in an age where sea levels are encroaching on coastlines globally.

• It’s getting harder and harder to go weird with these shows.

• Because the weird is increasingly the norm.

• But never fear. I’m industrious and hard working.

• So I present to you: Janet Jackson.

Richard Bradbury:[ad lib along lines of I’m not reading out anymore 80s song lyrics for your amusement]

Matt Armitage:

• I wouldn’t do that to you. I know that

• Things are getting worse, we have to make them better

It's time to give a damn, let's work together

• Yes, apparently Janet Jackson’s song rhythm nation can crash hard drives.

• When I read this story, I immediately thought, oh, it must be a corruption of the file on one of the streaming services.

• But then I thought – most of us stream now. And from such a huge variety of platforms, formats and bitrates

• That it can’t possibly be the same file each time.

n was a massive global hit in: 1989

• Accompanied by an iconic black and white video that was played absolutely everywhere in the early 90s.

• It’s one of those pop songs that everyone seems to love, no matter what style of music they’re in to.

• It was just one of those zeitgesty songs: the right tune and the right message for the times.

• Possibly because it was about racial harmony at this period where there was a lot of optimism:

• Communism had just fallen, Europe was reintegrating. If you don’t know the song, go stream it.

• But not until you’ve listened to the rest of this piece and are sure it won’t kill your computer.

Richard Bradbury: How does a song break a computer?

Matt Armitage:

• Well, according to a post by Raymond Chen on Microsoft’s devblogs site.

P using a particular brand of: 5400

• Increasingly, we use solid state storage. But like most people I have a box full of old storge drives that I lie to myself are in perfect working condition.

• And as I said, it isn’t the song file that’s corrupt.

• You can crash a hard drive with the song, just by playing the song’s video on another device nearby.

Richard Bradbury: So the track doesn’t even need to be played on the devices it crashes?

Matt Armitage:

• No. This is ghost outside the machine stuff.

• It’s almost like a script in a computer hacking show. Something that might have popped up in Mr Robot, for example.

• It turns out that the produces a resonant frequency that the disk drive responds to.

• And that the flaw has been known about since the drives were released.

• According to Microsoft, the manufacturer added an audio filter to the hard drives that screened out the frequency from Rhythm Nation so that the drive wouldn’t be affected.

• Surviving examples of those older laptops may well have been modded and hacked around.

• Raising questions about whether those filters will still be working. So if you have an old Windows laptop, you may want to skip the Janet Jackson.

• But how’s that for global domination? Probably not quite what the artist intended, but quite a legacy, nevertheless.

Richard Bradbury: Nice of you to do a Windows story, for once.

Matt Armitage:

• Well, I’m following it up with Apple.

• Less weird, more necessary. Apple has announced vulnerabilities in the kernel of its operating system and in WebKit, which underpins the Safari browser.

• These weaknesses could enable hackers to exploit the vulnerability and take full admin control of the device.

• The company had also had reports of specific instances where the vulnerabilities had been exploited, but at the time of recording had not reported any additional information.

• The bugs are not just confined to the company’s iphones, but its ipads and Mac computers too.

• So it’s recommended that if you have an apple device, you update the OS as soon as possible.

Richard Bradbury: Are we seeing more security flaws like this?

Matt Armitage:

• Apple users have traditionally considered the ios and mac os platforms to be more secure than other operating systems.

• Less vulnerable to viruses and exploits.

• But we’ve seen how spy software like Pegasus has made use of that complacency to make use of so-called Zero-day exploits.

• Flaws that OS manufacturers are unaware of and are not working to patch.

• Security companies like Zerodium will pay up to half a million dollars for exploits than can target a user through the browser.

• According to media reports, It will pay up to USD2m for exploits that enable an external party to take control of an iPhone without the user clicking on anything.

• In this latest exploit, it’s thought that politicians, political activists and journalists are likely to be at most risk of being targeted.

• But that’s not a reason to skip the update if you don’t fit into those categories.

• The mechanics of unpatched vulnerabilities like this can quickly be spread and adapted by other users to create malware that targets devices for reasons ranging from ransomware to fraud.

• Once again, raising the question of how secure the sensitive information and photos we routinely keep on devices actually is.

Richard Bradbury: Are there any other security issues we should mention before we move on?

Matt Armitage:

• A lot of apps now have their own browsers.

• For example, when you click on a link in Facebook or Instagram, very often you see the web page without leaving the app.

• Security researcher Felix Krause recently wrote about how those companies can use those browsers to track everything you do on any websites you visit.

• This includes things like clicking on ads, highlighting text, taking a screenshot.

• And potentially any text or data you add, including passwords and credit card information.

• Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram has stated publicly that this mischaracterises both the functionality and intent of the Javascript code injections used by the browsers.

• Krause has recently found that TikTok’s in-app browser goes one step further.

• And that buried in the code is a keylogger than can record every key press and tap.

Richard Bradbury: How does this compare to the discoveries of the Meta products tracking abilities?

Matt Armitage:

• Of course, TikTok has been under increasing scrutiny of its data handling and privacy policies.

• Especially regarding reports that US data from the app was being collected by officials from the Chinese government.

• The company has claimed that the keylogging code is simply there to help the company with debugging and is part of an SDK kit provided by a third party that is not routinely activated.

• Wherever the truth lies – what is the case is that as users we have to be aware of the potential for our data to be tracked.

• Personally, I don’t like using in-app browsers. I normally copy the link and open it in my preferred browser.

• When the app doesn’t give me the option to copy that link and exit, I take the time to google it and find the link through that preferred browser.

• Recent updates to Apple’s devices now give users much more control over the way that apps and websites can track you on those devices.

• Google seems to be lagging here. You can draw your own conclusions about that.

• But we have to start getting into the mindset that although these are our personal accounts, it’s not our personal information.

• Which is a reminder to me that I still haven’t done an episode on decentralised social media.

Richard Bradbury: What shall go into the break with? It’s hard to be weirder than Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation…

Matt Armitage:

• Yes. Disk crashing ditties will probably be one of the highlights of my year.

• So let’s celebrate with dolphins!

• The US Navy has released swim-cam footage from some of its naval dolphins.

• The ones that are trained to guard harbours and look for mines.

• They wanted to know more about how the dolphins behave and communicate in the water.

• So they mounted cameras on them that would capture images and sound as they swam in the open seas.

• The result is fascinating – on a lot of the dolphins the cameras are mounted on the sides, so that you can see the eye and nose of the mammals.

• And watch as they feed and literally slurp down fish.

• They were more surprised that the dolphins would also catch and eat creatures like sea snakes as well.

• And the research also shows how the dolphins eyes track their prey, swivelling to follow fish even as they jump out of the water.

• The ethics of weaponizing dolphins aside, the research team plans to repeat the experiment by putting cameras on wild dolphins

• to see if their feeding habits, behaviours and communication patterns are the same as their naval-trained counterparts.

Richard Bradbury: When we come back: Elon Musk and chewing gum.

BREAK

Richard Bradbury: I think it’s going to be hard to beat Janet Jackson and the dolphins. What are we doing with Elon Musk?

Matt Armitage:

• What a great name for a band. Janet and the dolphins. Especially if you played some really nasty, messy music.

• Elon Musk is creating the perfect place to go and watch a film of dolphins eating fish.

• Drive in cinemas staged a bit of a renaissance in popularity during the pandemic.

• Understandable, people would rather watch a movie out in the open, and in the safety of their cars, than crowded into indoor theatre screenings.

• But it is rather weather dependent. Most places don’t really have the kind of climate that makes drive-ins a year-round possibility.

• However, one person who thinks they have a future is Elon Musk.

• Stay with me here.

€¢ Musk tweeted s far back as: 2018

• That he was planning to open a diner with a drive-in and wait staff on roller skates at one of Tesla’s Supercharger stations in LA.

• That vision finally seems to be coming to fruition according to plans lodged for a site on Hollywood’s Santa Monica boulevard.

• Which will include a 200 seater restaurant as well as two movie screens and a rooftop bar in addition to over 30 tesla charging points.

• According to a report in Gizmodo the plan is that when you drive in the menu will appear on the screen of your tesla.

Richard Bradbury: It’s very: 1050

Matt Armitage:

• Famously, Musk has little to no interest in food. So the idea that he wants to be a restaurateur is unlikely.

• I think this is more a proof of concept idea.

kes a point of looking at the: 1950

• And questions Musk’s vision of the future, if his idea of society is rooted in the hierarchies and social and political repression of the 1950s.

• I think that kind of misses the point – a lot of Musk’s ideas and the eventual designs of his products have a slightly kitsch element.

who idea of the Hyperloop has: 1950

• That was a period where networks of vacuum tubes would whisk messages around large offices.

or people. What could be more: 1950

• So I think those criticisms are a little kneejerk and petty.

Richard Bradbury: Do you think it’s more of a behavioural proof of concept?

Matt Armitage:

• Yes, I think the commercial aspect is secondary.

• This is behavioural and it’s also cultural.

• Back on episode 207 we talked about what we do with all that ageing fossil fuel infrastructure,

• The petrol and gas filling stations, when the world is finally fully electric.

• Those filling station forecourts opened countries up.

• Roads were improved, new roads built.

• You could now undertake journeys rapidly that may have taken days before.

• And those filling stations have become social gathering points themselves.

• Half the time, the Petronas station near my house seems busier than the local mall.

• It’s full of parked cars – people coming to use the ATM, grab some snacks from the forecourt café or grab some essentials in the convenience store.

• I think as we said at the time – growing up in the UK, petrol stations were the only places open late or on a Sunday.

• As a student, I think I spent about half my life walking to the all-night garage for chocolate at 2am.

Richard Bradbury: But why is a retro diner a behavioural experiment for the world of tomorrow?

Matt Armitage:

• Because our behaviour will have to evolve to accommodate EVs.

• At the moment, we dive into a petrol station to fill up the car.

• With EVs we have to build refuelling into our lifestyle.

• Chargers at home and office parking are one change.

• I think we spoke during that episode 207 about the possibility that in the future, a charging dock will be attached to every parking spot as the norm.

• Rather than a handful in special locations, as we see at the moment.

• I don’t think we will go to charge the car in the same way we put petrol into it.

• We will incorporate charging into daily life.

• And these diners are an extension of that.

• Forget the 50s stylings – that’s irrelevant.

• The screens are there because you can watch a short film in the 30 minutes it takes to charge you car.

• Similarly, you can grab a bite to eat or a drink. When you’re done the car is charged.

concept really takes from the: 1950

• Rather than taking the car to a mall, parking and walking around, that 50 idea was more about doing things in the car.

• The drive-in, the drive-thru. I think that’s the part of the idea that’s important here.

Richard Bradbury: Are we likely to see Tesla turning into a diner brand?

Matt Armitage:

• I think that part is unlikely. I think you’ll see it more as a third party operator, franchisee type of endeavour.

• The Gizmodo piece points out that Musk’s brother is in the restaurant trade, so that company, or an entity created by him,

• Would likely be the eventual operator if the idea works.

• There are already things like convenience stores at Tesla stations. Apparently, there’s even a swimming pool at one in Germany.

• In the same way that we will see an extension of EV charging grids beyond normal charging locations.

• I think we will also see those concentrated charging points – perhaps ones that are more highway based –

• Becoming more socially and leisure oriented.

• Shall we talk about Optimus prime?

Richard Bradbury: From Tesla to Transformers?

Matt Armitage:

• Sorry about the alliteration there. It was unavoidable.

• Unfortunately, no. From Tesla to Tesla.

• Elon Musk has promised that he will launch Optimus, Tesla’s humanoid robot this year.

• Claiming in a piece for China’s Cyberspace magazine that the robot will be about the size and weight of an ordinary human.

• I have my doubts that it can be that light or that it will be commercially ready this year, but genuinely, what do I know?

perhaps rooted as much in the: 1950

• That it will do the cooking and cleaning, wash the dishes and menial tasks around the home.

• We already have technology solutions for a lot of those. Grab food, or Uber eats. Robo-vacuums, dishwashers.

• He also made the point in the piece that one day household robots will be cheaper than cars and that we will be able to give them as presents to our loved ones.

• It’s that cheaper than cars that made my ears wiggle.

• I hate doing washing up. When I say that I mean detest it.

• And I avoid it by washing everything as I go. So that I never have to wash more than one or two things.

Richard Bradbury: You are the weirdest part of weird science…

Matt Armitage:

• I hate washing up so much that I refuse to have a dishwasher.

• Because I hate the way it stores up all those dishes and implements you have to put away.

• However, even with all of these psychologist attracting hang-ups, there’s no way I’d pay the equivalent of a car for a robot to do it for me.

• Who on earth is Optimus for if one costs more than a car?

• Especially when he envisages it pushing a lawnmower around to cut the grass?

• You could employ landscapers for years for the cost of that machine?

• At least with the Boston Dynamics robots we know they’re the scary Robocops of the future,

• Chasing us down like we’re Matt Damon on a mission to get off-planet.

• I’m not sure we really buy into the idea of a wobbly garden gnome that costs half as much as your house.

• But as I said before, genuinely, what do I know?

Richard Bradbury: What could we possibly end with today?

Matt Armitage:

• Chewing gum!

• Beloved of children and hated by teachers. At least when I was at school.

• New research suggests that chewing gum while at rest could increase the body’s energy expenditure by as much as 15%.

• Researchers at the University of Manchester tested a group of around 21 subjects aged 18 to 45 while they watched a film and chewed a tasteless, calorie free gum.

• I know that sounds gross, but they were trying to minimise the stimulation it gives to the digestion system.

• Which might cloud the results. They wanted to see what the pure action of chewing does to energy expenditure.

Richard Bradbury: How do they measure the energy?

Matt Armitage:

• With even more weirdness. The subjects had to wear a plastic dome over their heads.

• Sensors monitor oxygen intake and the corresponding release of carbon dioxide.

• So they were tested wearing the dome and not chewing to create a base level.

• And then given the gum to chew.

• Some participants were given a soft gum.

• Others a hard gum.

• With the soft gum, energy expenditure increased around 10%.

• With the hard gum, around 15%.

Richard Bradbury: Are you going to chew yourself thin?

Matt Armitage:

• Well, it’s still a relatively small amount overall.

• You’re increasing the amount of energy you use while doing absolutely nothing by 15%.

• So you’d be better off just standing up and walking around a bit.

• But sure, if you are stuck at a desk, why not chew a bit of gum.

• Just don’t stick it under the desk.