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

Happy Easter 🐣, and welcome to this week's Sunday Download! This issue is currently being published slightly delayed as I'm fighting off a food coma from Easter dinner at Grandma's house...but hopefully, the extra serving of dessert has enough sugar to bring it home!

The Smartology mission is simple: break down a week's worth of tech news in 5 minutes or less so you can stay informed and up to date.

We know you're busy closing deals, so we'll cover everything from big tech, mobility, AI and machine learning, fintech, and futuristic tech. We'll even drop in some cool consumer tech.

In return, we ask that you share it with a friend or colleague instead of keeping the Smartology goodness all to yourself. While greed may be good on Wall Street, sharing is caring here at Smartology. 🤝

Lots of stuff to go through this week, so let's not waste any (more) time. Highlights of this week's issue include:

• Why does Twitter keep messing with Dogecoin?

• AI's plans to destroy humanity

• Don't stress, sales people, IT spending is anticipated to grow

Total read time: 4 minutes and 57 seconds. Let's goooooo! 🚀

AI's plans to destroy humanity (and other fun things)

Here's something sure to freak you out...

A user of the new AI project Auto-GPT (a project designed to bring together multiple AI platforms to help them collaborate) asked it to try to "destroy humanity," "establish global dominance," and "attain immortality." The AI, called ChaosGPT, complied and tried to research nuclear weapons, recruit other AI agents to help it do research, and send tweets trying to influence others. This bot's real-world impact is just two tweets to a Twitter account with 19 followers. However, this experiment is a fascinating (and slightly terrifying) look at the current state of open-source AI and a window into the internal logic of some of today's chatbots. Read about it here or watch the 25-minute video here.

Destroying humanity is only one discovery now that API integrations have tapped into GPT-4's power. Some other things include giving you recipes based on what's in your fridge, live fashion advice as you're trying on outfits, taking a hand-drawn sketch and turning it into a website, and dating advice. Check out a link here, but I've included screenshots from the food in the fridge thing because knowing what to make for dinner is a constant annoyance in my life.

Elon's Shiba Inu obsession

Elon Musk sent the crypto world into a frenzy when he changed replaced the blue bird on his company’s website with an image of a Shiba Inu, the logo for Dogecoin.

Why? No one has a clue. Some users speculated it was meant to be an April Fool’s day gag that the company could not bring in on time on 1 April. Others wondered if it was an effort to flood out news of a court case against Musk. The change came just days after Musk petitioned a court in the US to dismiss a lawsuit filed against him by Dogecoin investors for $258bn over an alleged pyramid scheme.

One thing we do know for certain is that Dogecoin's value jumped 40% (to the moon!!🚀). Not a great look for a guy being sued for stock manipulation. Read more here. 

Western Digital Hack

Western Digital, a major data storage provider, has admitted that data was stolen from its computers in a recent network security incident. A third party obtained access to "a number" of the California-based business's internal systems on March 26, the company claimed in a statement released Monday. The event's nature and the penetration method remain unknown, although Western Digital's statement implies ransomware may be involved.

Western Digital has enterprise relationships with Veeme, Microsoft, VMWare, Oracle, SAP, and almost every Fortune 100 company. They also own physical hard drive brands SanDisk and WD.

Let this be a lesson learned that no one is immune from an attack. Read more here.

iPhone Updates

According to rumors, Apple's forthcoming iOS 17 version would include significant modifications to the iPhone's Control Center. With iOS 11's debut in 2017, not much regarding the Control Center's appearance has changed. It was first introduced ten years ago this year. The iOS 17 upgrade focuses primarily on enhancing performance and stability. In 2023, iOS 17 will likely be unveiled by Apple at the conference's opening keynote.

Speaking of updates, iOS 16.4.1 was just released, and it includes some new tricks, the biggest one being a significant boost for reducing background noise. Check out the updates here.

In iPhone adjacent news, Apple submitted a patent application for redesigning the AirPods cover with a touchscreen interface. The layout would provide access to various audio controls and integration with related apps. The patent application details several characteristics, such as a touchscreen and a squeeze-detection sensor. Check out the article for pictures and diagrams.

Ready Player One...

The treadmill with infinite directions in Ready Player One inspired the real-life Virtuix Omni One. Slip-on shoe coverings with a tether allow for VR mobility simulation. Beta versions of the OmnI One have begun shipping. It includes a unique Pico Neo 3 headset and retails for $2,595.

Virtuix, promising a mass-market omnidirectional treadmill for almost a decade, raised more than $1.1 million on Kickstarter and $35 million from investors to bring it to market. Read more here.

Your garage door might not be safe

According to a security researcher's warning, a popular garage door controller is highly susceptible to security and privacy risks.

Nexx controllers use a global password, making devices such as garage door openers, security systems, and smart plugs susceptible to hacking. In addition, email addresses, device identifiers, names, initials, and messages are transmitted in clear text.

To send commands to the controller, anybody can log onto Nexx servers. Nexx's home alarm systems are vulnerable in the same way. Unfortunately, the Texas-based business has ignored repeated warnings about the security holes. Read more here. 

Portable X-Ray tech is coming soon

OXOS Medical has raised $23 million in Series A investment to provide a "radiology department in a box." The objective is for anybody, wherever, to be able to unpack an OXOS device and immediately have a comprehensive solution at their disposal.

OXOS claims their devices are the only ones on the market that can offer static pictures and live imaging in any situation (medical or not) for diagnostic and surgical radiography. The idea is that offering both types of imaging on a readily available device will make things less expensive and help those that can't afford traditional, stationary imaging.

The worldwide medical imaging market was assessed at $28 billion in 2021 and growing as demand for early-detection services and lifestyle and age-related illnesses rises.

Read more here.

IT Spending is looking good 💰

Gartner released a forecast for 2023 IT spending. You can read it here, but I'll save you time with the highlights:

• Worldwide IT spending is projected to total $4.6 trillion in 2023, an increase of 5.5% from 2022

• IT spending will remain strong, even as many countries are projected to have near-flat gross domestic product (GDP) growth and high inflation in 2023

• Tech talent shortages continue even as layoffs continue to impact the tech industry at large, there is still a critical shortage of skilled IT labor

• The demand for tech talent greatly outstrips the supply, which will continue until at least 2026 based on forecast IT spend

• Because of the tech talent shortage, enterprises will spend more money to retain fewer staff and will turn to IT services firms to fill in the gaps (great time to be an MSP)

Rapid Fire

• Samsung down 96% in profit and is no longer making chips

• Best deals on tech right now

• Controlling a robot with your mind is now a reality 

• Can AI be sued? This mayor is going to try

• Meta new job postings disqualify remote work

• Roku: Where cancelled HBO shows (like Westworld) are reborn

• Branson bad times as Virgin Orbit files for bankruptcy

• Amazon launching AI accelerator to fund AI startups around the world

• New social app to know: Fanfix (it's like Tiktok meets OnlyFans but clean content)

Are you interested in sponsoring this newsletter? If so, send an email to [email protected] to find out more!