A week's worth of tech news that takes you 5 minutes to read

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Welcome to this week's download! All the news you need to keep you relevant for the week of 1/15/2023. Highlights include:

• FAA Outage: what actually happened?

• Is tech ruining our kids?

• CES is over. What's hype and what's real?

 Total read time: 4 minutes 54 seconds Let's gooooo!

You are NOT clear for take-off

You've undoubtedly heard about the FAA shutting down every flight in America for about an hour and a half Wednesday morning. Why did it happen? Was it human error? Was it a hack? Unfortunately, that information is still not definitive. The only clear answer is that the NOTAM (Notice to Air Missions) computer system glitched. The FAA's official statement is that someone didn't follow proper procedure, which caused a file to be damaged and corrupted the system.

NOTAM, explained: NOTAM provides real-time information to pilots about weather conditions, airport status, various delays (and reasons for delays), and about a dozen other things that pilots need to know to ensure safety. Unfortunately, the software used is about 30 years old, and one report tells us it's seriously behind on being updated. So, it's entirely reasonable that an old system experienced a failure and that human being screwed up.

However, one coincidence fueling "this was a hack" conspiracy theories is that the Canadian NOTAM system (entirely separate from the US system) also experienced an outage on the same day. It makes you think...

AI Chatbots are so hot right now

In last week's issue, we discussed the opportunity (and the controversy) surrounding ChatGPT. AI language technology is absolutely incredible while also being slightly scary. This week, the market for AI chatbots continues to heat up, with two more AI companies securing significant funding.

The first is Inbenta, who's run by a former Oracle VP, and specializes in creating AI tools with various functions (but have a heavy emphasis on chatbots). They secured $40 million.

The second is DeepL, an AI chat tool that offers instant language translation between businesses that raised $100 million at a $1 billion valuation.

Healthcare Tech dominating

Healthcare has long been at the center of innovation for technology. But, in the last ten years, the tech has left the hospital and has moved to our wrists, around our necks, and now our.....pancreas? That's right. The UK NHS will soon be covering patients with Type 1 diabetes with an under-the-skin sensor to monitor their glucose levels automatically. Short of a cure, this is the next best thing to a fully functioning pancreas.

Another interesting story in the health-tech world this week is the emergence of toilet tech. Your toilet will soon be able to tell you things like hydration levels, overall gut health, nutritional deficiencies, and even whether or not you're pregnant. A whole line of toilet tech devices was showcased at CES 2023 and could completely transform your number 1's and your number 2's.

Now, if only someone could find a way to stop my kids from beating down the door when I'm in there... (he said in his best Rodney Dangerfield impersonation).

This week, one more note-worthy health-tech news story is the rise of an app called Inflow, which helps people with ADHD manage their symptoms through cognitive behavior therapy, securing $11 million in funding. Inflow is an example of a rising trend in healthcare where people are no longer interested in being treated by medical professionals and traditional medication and would instead find self-treatment options without drugs.

India's Tech Boom

India has been positioning itself to be a major player in the tech world for decades. They have a very deep pool of developers, are call center hubs for numerous Fortune 500 tech companies, and have been rapidly expanding their manufacturing presence even becoming the central manufacturing arm for the iPhone 14.

To show India even more love, Apple announced over a dozen job openings for brick-and-mortar Apple Stores in Mumbai and New Dehli coming this year.

It's not just Apple. India is expanding their 5G presence at a vigorous rate, with telecom provider Jio announcing it has brought 5G service to 100 cities in 100 days. The Indian tech market is continuing to be a viable alternative to China due to the lower labor cost and lack of political...umm...let's call them "complications."

EV sales go up, Car sales go down

The Electronic Vehicle market almost doubled from 2021 to 2022, with EV sales accounting for 5% of all car sales in the US. This comes when overall US auto sales are down almost 10%. In 2022 Tesla accounted for 60% of all EV sales. Still, their market share is declining as most surveys point to customers not wanting to be affiliated with the controversial figure that is Elon Musk and the fact that companies like Kia are offering feature-rich cars at a lower price point, with Kia even besting Tesla in independent studies.

Speaking of Tesla....check out this video of a self-driving Tesla deciding to abruptly stop and cause an 8-car pile-up.

Spotlight story

Seattle sues Big Tech

Is Big Tech responsible for kids having anxiety, depression, and other psychological issues? The Seattle School District No. 1 seems to think so. This week, they sued Meta, Google, Snapchat, and Bytedance (Tiktok's parent company), claiming that they've intentionally deployed practices aimed at creating addiction in children, which has made it impossible for the school district to fulfill its educational mission.

This isn't the first lawsuit brought against the tech giants, but it is the first brought about by a school district. Lawmakers have long been talking about reigning in Big Tech's influence (control?) over our lives. This week, the Biden administration issued a call for bipartisan legislation to curtail Big Tech's power by modifying Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects tech companies from liability over content generated on their platforms.

However, the issue Seattle School District has with tech companies is unrelated to Section 230. Instead, they claim that tech companies deploy practices intended to keep kids addicted and increase their screen time while using minors' personal preferences and information to target them with ads.

Rapid Fire

• Apple finally making a touch screen Mac

• England making gigabit speed internet a legal requirement

• Android doubles down on satellite connectivity

• Laid-off tech workers getting fake job offers

• PC sales down by almost a third in Q4

• Netflix testing out live streaming with 2024 SAG awards

• More cool tech to come out of CES 2023

• NJ and OH ban TikTok from government devices 

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