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Show of 06-16-2018

Tech Talk

June 16, 2018

Email and Forum Questions

  • Email from Carl Tyler: Dear Dr. Shurtz: I’ve been reading about the new DNS service that Cloudflare is offering. It is supposed to be faster and more secure. Could you explain DNS and how Cloudflare can make DNS more secure for all of us? The installation instructions for putting Cloudflare’s DNS service is for computers, cellphones, tablets, etc. Do I have to put the1.1.1.1 in my router, too. Thanks for the great podcast, Carl Tyler
  • Tech Talk Responds: Cloudflare launched a consumer DNS service on April 1, 2018. They promised speed and privacy. The service is using https://1.1.1.1 and it’s not a joke. While OpenDNS and Google DNS both exist, Cloudflare is focusing heavily on the privacy aspect of its own DNS service with a promise to wipe all logs of DNS queries within 24 hours.
  • DNS services are typically provided by internet service providers to resolve a domain name like Google.com into a real IP address that routers and switches understand. It’s an essential part of the internet, but DNS servers provided by ISPs are often slow and unreliable. ISPs can also use DNS servers to identify all sites that are visited, which presents privacy problems.
  • Cloudflare’s DNS will offer support for both DNS-over-TLS and DNS-over-HTTPS, and the company is hoping that its HTTPS support will see more browsers and operating systems support the protocol. Cloudflare’s DNS is currently sitting at a global response time of 14ms, compared to 20ms for OpenDNS and 34ms for Google’s DNS, so it is the fastest DNS resolver for consumers.
  • If you want to use Cloudflare on your home network, you will have to put the Cloudflare IP address into your router.
  • Email from Jean: Dear Doc and Jim. I have a Samsung Galaxy S5 phone and have been satisfied with its performance for the most part. Lately it has been doing too many quirky things. To start I choose a wallpaper and it keeps it briefly then goes to other wallpapers that give me poorer vision of the screen. It will suddenly enlarge the screen and have a red line around the perimeter and be virtually unresponsive for a period of time.  It corrects itself eventually but it is frustrating when one wants to use it now not at its convenience. Also why does google assistant just pop up.  If I want it I will click on the icon. Appreciate some insight to help with the frustrations. Jean
  • Tech Talk Responds: Many people are complaining about the wallpaper reset program on that phone. Two options are available. Wipe the cache partition. If that does not work, reset the phone. But reset requires that you set up the phone again, which is not fun.
  • To wipe the cache partition, you need to use the Android System Recovery. Follow these steps
    • Turn the device off.
    • Press and hold the following three buttons at the same time: Volume Up key, Home key, and  Power key.
    • When the phone vibrates, release the Power and Home key but continue to press and hold the Volume Up key until the Android System Recovery menu displays and then release. This step may take several seconds.
    • Press the Volume Down key to highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’ Press the Power key to select.
    • When the wipe cache partition is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted. Press the Power key to restart the device.
  • So, if you’ve been frustrated by Google Assistant as well, here’s how to turn off that frustrating automatic launch:
    • Open up the Google App,
    • Touch the hamburger menu in the top left of the screen (looks like this: ≡),
    • Select “Settings,”
    • Select “Your Feed” (which is toward the bottom of the options listed),
    • Touch the switch to the right of “Feed” and toggle it to off.
  • Email from Doug in Baton Rouge: Dear Dr. Shurtz (Hi to Jim and Mr. Big Voice), Can you explain the roll crystals play in computer timing speed? I understand that crystals generate a certain frequency, but how is that amplified to the gigahertz range in computers? How many different clock rates are there in a personal computer? Or is there some other mechanism used in creating computer speed? The first electronic general purpose computer, the ENIAC, used a 100 kHz clock in its cycling unit. In 2002, an Intel Pentium 4 model was introduced as the first CPU with a clock rate of 3 GHz. Since then personal computer speeds have not improved very much. The Home / personal Computer speed (bandwidth) seems to be “stuck” around that 3 GHz range. It seems if the computer chip manufacturers have the ability to create integrated circuitry in the 16-nanometer size, the speed (clock rate) should be faster. What is the hold back for achieving higher processing speeds? Will we ever have faster computer speeds in the terahertz or petahertz for the home computing sector? Thanks, Doug / Baton Rouge, LA
  • Tech Talk Responds: There is only one master clock in your computer. Its frequency is controlled by a quartz crystal. Quartz is made from a chemical compound called silicon dioxide. The most interesting thing about quartz is that it’s piezoelectric. That means if you squeeze a quartz crystal, it generates a tiny electric current. The opposite is also true: if you pass electricity through quartz, it vibrates at a precise frequency. The quartz crystal oscillates at a precise frequency: exactly 32768 times each second. The circuit counts the number of vibrations and uses them to generate regular electric pulses. Most computer clocks put out a signal around 100 to 200 MHz, all based on the quartz vibration frequency. The CPU clock speed is simply a multiple of master clock. As far as processing speed, we have nearly reached the quantum limit. Making the transistor smaller doesn’t work because of tunneling. So now CPU are using multiple cores to process signals in parallel. It is no longer simply clock rate. It now is also the number of Cores that determine the overall processing speed.
  • Email from Rick from Niceville: Dear Dr. Shurtz, I need to replace my external hard disk drive and I am considering the My Cloud Home by Western Digital. Is this a good product or are there other comparable products for home use and storage accessible via the cloud? Also, does My Cloud Home have security protection to prevent hackers to access my home files, pictures, videos, and etc.?  As a suggestion for a person to feature on Tech Talk (if you haven’t already done so), perhaps you can highlight the Father of the Disk Drive, Reynold B. Johnson, the American inventor and computer pioneer who was a long-time employee of IBM.  Johnson is said to be the “father” of the disk drive. Other inventions include automatic test scoring equipment and the videocassette tape. Rick from Niceville, FL
  • Tech Talk Responds: Western Digital’s My Cloud Home devices have gotten good reviews. I would make certain that you get the My Cloud Home Dual Drive. The dual drive is set up using RAID 1, where the second drive is an exact mirror of the first. RAID stands for Redundant Array of Independent Disks. This is truly a backup system. However, if you want a higher level of protection, you will need to have a second one at another location. The 4T dual drive is $309 and the 16T dual drive is $699. The other competitor in this space is Seagate Central. However, it is a single drive system and the capacity is capped at 4T. The reviewers loves Seagate Central because it is designed to work as a whole-home central media library for sharing and accessing data from game consoles, Smart TVs, and Blu-ray discs. As far as security is concerned, the WD My Cloud has critical security vulnerabilities revealed in early 2017. WD issued firmware patches in late March and early April 2017, so make certain that you system has the latest firmware patches before connecting it to the Internet. The bottom line is that given your use, the WD My Cloud Dual Drive is a good choice.

Profiles in IT: Margaret Heafield Hamilton

  • Margaret Heafield Hamilton led the team that developed the on-board flight software for the Apollo space program and coined the term, software engineering.
  • Margaret Heafield Hamilton was born August 17, 1936 in Paoli, Indiana.
  • She graduated from Hancock High School in 1954.
  • She received a BA in mathematics from Earlham College in 1958.
  • She then taught high school math and French until her husband graduated.
  • She then moved to Boston, MA, to study in abstract mathematics at Brandeis U.
  • In 1960 she took an interim position at MIT to develop software for predicting weather on the LGP-30 and the PDP-1 computers in the meteorology department.
  • From 1961 to 1963, she worked at Lincoln Labs, where wrote software to search for “unfriendly” aircraft. She also wrote software for the AF Cambridge Research Labs.
  • Hamilton then joined the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory at MIT. She eventually became the director and supervisor of software programming for Apollo and Skylab.
  • Hamilton’s team was responsible for the Apollo on-board guidance software to navigate and land on the Moon, and its multiple variations, including Skylab.
  • She developed the building blocks for modern “software engineering,” a term Hamilton coined to bring statue to this developing field.
  • She developed the foundations for her Universal Systems Language and Development Before the Fact (DBTF) formal systems theory to create ultra-reliable software. She simulated every conceivable situation at the systems level to identify potential problems before releasing the code.
  • Her team created the concept of priority displays, where the software in an emergency could interrupt the astronauts. The asynchronous executive allowed the computer to drop low-priority tasks when overloaded.
  • Hamilton’s team’s work prevented an abort of Apollo 11 landing on the moon. Three minutes before the Lunar lander reached the Moon’s surface, the computer was overloaded with incoming data. Due to its robust architecture, the computer was able to only process higher priority jobs (important for landing).
  • In 1976, she co-founded Higher Order Software and served as CEO.
  • In 1986, she founded Hamilton Technologies, Inc., Cambridge, MA, which developed the Universal Systems Language for systems and software design.
  • Universal Systems Language (USL) is a computer system language based on a preventive instead of a curative paradigm. USL was created for designing systems with significantly increased reliability, higher productivity, and lower risk.
  • Hamilton has published over 130 papers, proceedings, and reports concerned with the 60 projects and six major programs in which she has been involved.
  • In 1986, she received Augusta Ada Lovelace Award from the Association for Women in Computing. In 2003, she received the NASA Exceptional Space Act Award.

Automatically Remove People From Your Images in Photoshop

  • It is nearly impossible to take a photo in some locations without people or cars disrupting the image.
  • You can edit them out using a neat tool in Photoshop.
  • Photoshop has a tool that allows you to import a large number of photos at the same time and combine the images in a way that removes the temporary objects.
  • With the correct settings, this tool will analyze the images and produce a final photo that contains only the permanent objects of a scene.
  • Nemanja Sekulic has a tutorial that is very helpful. In this video, Sekulic combined eight photos of the same shot and Photoshop accurately removed all of the people.
  • Take multiple photos with a tripod and a cable release. The camera can’t move.
    • Open Photoshop. Go to File/Scripts/Statistics.
    • In the Image Statistics Popup windows, select Files/Browse. Choose the pictures that you want to combine (around 8). Click OK.
    • Choose Stack Mode Medium. Check automatically align source images.
    • Click OK and wait a few moments for the final image without people.
  • Photoshop does a great job. Check out the video
  • Link to tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFm9TmhRHzg

Idea of the Week: California’s Digital License Plate

  • A new pilot program for digital license plates has begun in California.
  • The plates allow you to display custom messages, eliminate annoying registration stickers, and even have your location tracked at all times.
  • The plates are essentially an e-ink display similar to a Kindle and when the car is in motion they look fairly standard.
  • But a feature that’s experimental, for now, will allow you to display a message when the car is stopped. The actual tag number will still be visible but it will shrink down into the upper right-hand corner.
  • The state Department of Motor Vehicles is conducting a pilot project with a Bay Area company, Reviver Auto, which makes the plate and is about to begin marketing it for sale at auto dealerships…
  • Some businesses will use them as mini-billboards to advertise their products or services, he said, but will be able to do so only when the vehicle is stopped.
  • Aside from the opportunity to display messages on the back of their vehicle, motorists will probably most appreciate the fact that they can register their car online and the date on the tags will simply update itself.
  • If the car is stolen, the plate will display the message “STOLEN” and as long as it hasn’t been detached, the police will be able to track the vehicle’s location.
  • Each plate costs $699 and requires a monthly $7 fee.

Bitcoin 2017 Bull Run was Driven by Market Manipulation

  • Professors at the University of Texas at Austin on Wednesday published a paper analyzing whether the cryptocurrency Tether influences Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency prices during the recent boom.
  • The academics concluded that the price patterns were most consistent with the supply-based hypothesis where Tether is used to provide price support and manipulate cryptocurrency prices.
  • Tether is a cryptocurrency supposedly backed by the US dollar one-for-one, offering the stability of the currency but the flexibility and functionality of cryptocurrency.
  • The cryptocurrency was created by many of the same people behind the leading cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex.
  • Bitcoin rallied over 1,000% against the dollar last year, peaking at over $20,000 in December. It has since collapsed to below $7,000.
  • The University of Texas paper looked at the relationship between Tether and the price of bitcoin from March 2016 to March of this year, but it focused specifically on the year to March 2018.
  • The paper concluded “Tether seems to be used both to stabilize and manipulate Bitcoin prices,” with new Tether coins seemingly created and used to buy up bitcoin at times of low demand.
  • The New York Times first reported the paper and said the study was a strong indication of possible manipulation and would require further investigation.
  • Bitcoin fell 2% against the dollar shortly after the New York Times piece was published.
  • The US Commodities and Futures Trading Commission issued subpoenas to Bitfinex and Tether last December.
  • Last month the US Justice Department reportedly began investigating bitcoin price manipulation, focusing specifically on spoofing — the practice of placing fake orders to drive up or down a price — and wash trading — the practice of trading with yourself to simulate volume in a market.

Mary Meeker’s 2018 Internet Trends Report

  • Mary Meeker, a Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers partner, released her 294 slide report.
  • Here are some of her major conclusions.
  • 2017 was the first year in which smartphone unit shipments did not grow at all. The same goes for internet user growth, which rose 7 percent in 2017, down from 12 percent the year before.
  • People are still increasing the amount of time they spend online. U.S. adults spent 5.9 hours per day on digital media in 2017, up from 5.6 hours the year before. Some 3.3 of those hours were spent on mobile.
  • Despite the high-profile releases of $1,000 iPhones and Samsung Galaxy Notes, the global average selling price of smartphones is continuing to decline. Lower costs help drive smartphone adoption in less-developed markets.
  • Mobile payments are becoming easier to complete. China continues to lead the rest of the world in mobile payment adoption, with over 500 million active mobile payment users in 2017.
  • Voice-controlled products like Amazon Echo are taking off. The Echo’s installed base in the U.S. grew from 20M in the 3rd quarter of 2017 to 30M in the 4th
  • Tech companies are facing a privacy paradox. They are caught between using data to provide better consumer experiences and violating consumer privacy.
  • Tech companies are becoming a larger part of U.S. business. In April, they accounted for 25 percent of U.S. market capitalization.
  • E-commerce sales growth is continuing to accelerate. It grew 16 percent in the U.S. in 2017, up from 14 percent in 2016. Amazon is taking a bigger share of those sales at 28 percent last year. Physical retail sales are continuing to decline.
  • Big tech is competing on more fronts. Google is expanding from an ads platform to a commerce platform via Google Home Ordering. Amazon is moving into advertising.
  • The speed of technological disruption is accelerating. It took about 80 years for Americans to adopt the dishwasher. The consumer internet became commonplace in less than a decade.
  • Expect technology to also disrupt the way we work. Expect more on-demand and internet-related jobs to predominate.
  • Internet leaders like Google and Amazon will offer more artificial intelligence service platforms as AI becomes a bigger part of enterprise spending.
  • China is catching up as a hub to the world’s biggest internet companies. Currently, China is home to nine of the world’s 20 biggest internet companies by market cap while the U.S. has 11. Five years ago, China had two and the U.S. had nine.
  • Immigration remains important for U.S. tech. More than half of the most highly valued tech companies in the U.S. are founded by 1st or 2nd generation immigrants..

The Biggest Economic and Social Shift Of The Last 100 Years

  • Research just published by the Delphi Group, projects that the number of automobiles on the road in 2050 will be less than 15 percent of what it is today.
  • In the US that’s a drop from 250 Million vehicles in 2018 to 33 million in 2050.
  • In 30 years the number of cars will decrease by 85 percent, but the number of hours driven will increase 400 percent.
  • Autonomous electric vehicles require 90 percent less maintenance, can achieve 80 percent + sustained utilization rates (i.e. 23 hours a day), do not need parking garages and parking spaces, can become platforms for entertainment, shopping, and socialization, and will reduce traffic accidents by 90 percent +
  • Imagine fully autonomous vehicles, which will be available on-demand where and when needed. These vehicles will operate with down time only for maintenance and recharging.
  • The sacred cow, individual ownership of vehicles, will become a novelty for collectors and for sport.
  • Today the typical car is idle most of the time and has no utility for 90% of its useful life. That will soon change.
  • Insurance companies will need to adjust models for insuring human-driven vehicles, making car ownership a financial luxury for individual owners.
  • The role of the automobile as a form of transportation from point A to point B will be transformed into a form of entertainment and socialization creating a new platform for the delivery of content and media. You will basically be living inside of your smartphone!
  • Some will be mobile conference and meeting rooms, others mobile restaurants and clinics. Commute time will cease to exist and along with it untold hours of lost productivity.
  • The AV will finally allow the decongestion of urban city centers, which are today littered with automobiles that occupy valuable land. For example, in the typical large city 50 percent of the land area is dedicated to roadways and parking.
  • Deaths due to vehicular accidents will be reduced globally by over 1,000,000 lives yearly.
  • The evolution of EVs and AVs will vary significantly from geography to geography and country to country. While commercial autonomous vehicles will likely develop quickly in developed countries such as the USA, individual non-ownership-based AVs are likely to take longer.
  • The inverse is true of developing countries, such as India and China, which will have a higher economic incentive and regulatory latitude to move to AVs.
  • Yet, there is also immense opportunity to create a safer, more ecologically sustainable, and human-centered model for the transportation of ten billion people.

Cars with Key Fobs Are Vulnerable. Beware.

  • A group of researchers at the Beijing-based security firm Qihoo 360 recently pulled off the so-called relay hack with a pair of gadgets they built for just $22.
  • One hacker holds a device a few feet from the victim’s key, while a thief holds the other near the target car.
  • The device near the car spoofs a signal from the key. That elicits a radio signal from the car’s keyless entry system, which seeks a certain signal back from the key.
  • Rather than try to crack that radio code, the hacker’s devices instead copy it, then transmit it via radio from one of the hackers’ devices to the other, and then to the key.
  • Then they immediately transmit the key’s response back along the chain, effectively telling the car that the key is in the driver’s hand.
  • You’re working shopping in the supermarket, and your car is parked outside. Someone slips near you and then someone else can open up and drive your car.
  • That relay attack on keyless entry systems dates back to at least 2011, when Swiss researchers pulled it off with software-defined radios.
  • Team Unicorn has taken radio relay theft a step further. Instead of merely copying the raw radio signal and sending it whole, they demodulate the signal, unpacking it into ones and zeros. They can send then send the decomposed signal bit by bit at a much lower frequency, which allows for longer range and cheaper hardware.
  • Carmakers could prevent the relay attack by requiring tighter timing constraints in the call-and-response communications between key and car.
  • The other method to foil the attack is to keep your keys in a Faraday bag that blocks