Show Notes
NonstopSysop Episode #2 - AI, May I?
Intro
Welcome to Episode 2 of Nonstop Sysop, titled “AI, May I?”. I am your host, Phil Williams. Thank you for tuning into the show. It is my goal to make your commute or time at your desk more enjoyable and informative.
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Follow-up
Last episode, we discussed Apple ID supporting hardware security keys. We spent a few minutes discussing Mastodon. We finished up with conversation around the current season of layoffs we are seeing in the tech industry. If you missed that content, I invite you to go back and have a listen to our first episode, playfully entitled…Episode One. Please keep in mind that last week’s episode was our first and we have a lot of room to grow in both quality and content.
I did receive some feedback from one listener around last week’s material. Evidently the topics hit the mark and were interesting. There was mention of a high pitched sound in the audio. I have updated some of my recording steps and I am using some new software for the recording in this episode, but please do let me know if the quality is not what you are expecting. This listener suggested that the audience look into another option for hardware security keys, Nitrokey. https://www.nitrokey.com/ These keys appear to be very similar to the Yubikeys mentioned in our previous episode and are similarly priced, but are manufactured in Germany. This might please some of our users who question the practices of our nation’s intelligence community and fear any pressure to create backdoors into security products. Thank you to our listener for sharing this valuable information with the audience. Remember, these security keys can be used to provide additional security for websites, services, and apps. Facebook, Gmail, Reddit, and some financial institutions support hardware security keys. Use them.
Tip of the week (Security, apps, hacks, etc)
Last week we suggested that reuse of usernames and passwords across various services is a bad security practice. Please heed that advice. This week, our tip of the week is also related to security on the Internet. Have you ever logged in to Facebook from a shared computer or a disk at a hotel? Maybe you logged in from a friends house while visiting. Later on, you wonder if someone might be able to get in to your account and you wish you had remembered to log out. I have some good news for you. You can remotely log out of your Facebook. Go to Settings —> Security and Login —> Where You’re Logged In. You will see all the locations and devices from which you have logged in to Facebook. You can individually log out of selected devices or you can scroll to the bottom of the list and log out of every device. It is good to check this list often to see if there are locations or devices that you do not recognize. Security and Login is also the place in settings where you can change your password enable 2FA (two factor authentication).
Best practice is to not log in to devices that you do not own and control. However, from time to time, you may need to use someone else’s device. I like that Facebook provides a mechanism to check your logins and disconnect those that might no longer be secure.
News and Interesting Nuggets
ChatGPT
https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt/
Fast Ramp Up - potentially the fastest growing app in history
Underscores interest in artificial intelligence
Mashable article - https://sea.mashable.com/tech/22479/chatgpt-is-the-fastest-growing-app-of-all-time
Investment Bank, UBS, claims ChatGPT had 13 million unique visitors per day in January 2023 - CBS News https://www.cbsnews.com/news/chatgpt-chatbot-tiktok-ai-artificial-intelligence/
Faster ramp up than TikTok or Instagram per analysts
Where is this going?
Potential use cases all across the map. Google is concerned about search engine competition. Microsoft and other engines are already looking at incorporating the power of ChatGPT into their search engines
Code debugging, Social media interaction, Customer service implications, and education are just a few areas of impact
I would love to hear your thoughts on the value and, maybe even more importantly, the dangers of this type of technology.
Chinese Spy Balloon over Montana -
https://www.npr.org/2023/02/02/1153997635/chinese-spy-balloon-montana-pentagon
During the week of January 29th to February 4th, from an office building in Billings, Montana, a legitimate UFO was spotted by one bystander. It appears NBC news was the first to report on the balloon and it’s path from the Aleutian Islands, over Canada, and down into Montana.
At this time, the Chinese government is claiming that it is looking into the report and has “no intention of violating the territory and airspace of any sovereign country”. I have heard that the Chinese government has stated that the ballon was some type of weather balloon that veered off course uncontrollably and accidentally.
Of course, many Americans are rightly concerned over the particular location that the balloon is in due to specific US military assets in the area. It would make sense that the balloon could be doing some type of military reconnaissance, but at the moment, the US military does not seem to be giving much attention to the potential dangers due to the balloon being such a limited aircraft. There are certainly better packages and vehicles that could be used for this type of military intelligence activity.
Just moments ago, at the time of this recording, the Associated Press reported that the US government HAD downed the Chinese balloon off the Carolina coast and operations were underway to attempt to salvage debris from US territorial waters. According to the AP, the FAA and Coast Guard had worked to clear the airspace and waters below.
The Pentagon has acknowledged reports that there was a second balloon over Latin America, per the AP. Is this some type of mass operation with wide geographical coverage? What could the intent be? One thing is certain, the Chinese government is downplaying the event and attempting to portray Americans as overly concerned and melodramatic. I am sure my listeners have already begun to see the memes being posted across social networks related to this event and, no doubt, there will be more to come.
Discord Impacting Nvidia Video Memory Clock Speeds
https://www.theverge.com/2023/1/31/23579759/discord-nvidia-graphics-cards-memory-slowdown
This in from The Verge @ the verge.com. A recent Discord update is slowing down the memory clocks on some graphics cards due to a bug introduced in a recent update. In some models, including the RTX 3080 and RTX 3060 Ti, memory clocks are being slowed by up to 200 MHz.
This is very concerning as one of Discords primary uses is for gamers to interact in voice chat while playing video games. It is certainly not ideal for your voice chat software to down clock your memory on your graphics card while you are playing a game. Nvidia has now released a fit which is being automatically pushed to users to resolve the issue. The bug was introduced in an update that was supposed to allow Discord users with certain Nvidia graphics card series to stream at specific resolutions and bandwidth, which is where the connection comes in between Discord and Nvidia.
Closing comments
That wraps up the content for today’s show. I want to thank you for taking time to listen. Tune back in next week for more exciting content and commentary. I hope you will take time to visit Patreon and consider subscribing as a patron to our show so that you can gain special access to our Slack community and so much more. I look forward to your feedback on Twitter and our Facebook page. I hope you will take a moment to share our podcast with someone today and encourage them to become a regular listener to the show.
We will release a new episode next Sunday evening and our Patrons will receive early access to a preview of our next episode at least a day in advance. I hope you have a great week and I look forward to connecting with some of you soon. Don’t forget that our show is available on multiple outlets including, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts. Take care.
Background music provided by Pixabay. Track is Lifelike by AlexiAction. This track is available on Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/album/1yHGAmcy2cUDhq1xJyoYvs.
