Net Work September 2024

This month our Net Work column muses over the impact that Artificial Intelligence is having, there are more practical tips for safeguarding online security and protecting data, and more news from the space race and the faltering EV market too.

The most over-used buzzword in technology today has to be ‘AI’, and it seems that every aspect of our lives is becoming ‘AI-enabled’. IBM defines artificial intelligence as ‘technology that enables computers and machines to simulate human intelligence and problem-solving capabilities’. AI-enabled systems can relieve humans of onerous or potentially dangerous tasks, reduce human errors, vastly increase productivity or just fob off customers and their tiresome enquiries because not enough human operators are available to answer the phone at any one time.

More mundane tasks such as summarising real-life Amazon product reviews for buyers, analysing – not always correctly – dodgy Facebook posts, or describing items for sale on eBay, have fallen under the spell of AI-powered ‘bots as well.

Flaming hot dogs

^ The US-made Thermonator is the world’s first flame-throwing robot quadruped, intended for agriculture, ice clearing and similar uses. (https://throwflame.com)

Enormous advances in technology, electronics, mechatronics and coding are also seeing AI-powered robots and drones becoming a reality. China has reportedly produced squads of robotic quadrupeds that could be armed with rifles, while the American-made ‘Thermonator’ quadruped packs a handy flamethrower that is said to be legal in most USA states but probably nowhere else. You can see them in action on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEVwkzAcqOQ.

The personal computer industry is eagerly cashing in on the AI wave too, with the latest tranche of models now classed as ‘AI PCs’ which are designed to give Windows Copilot and AI-based apps more headroom to play with. Hence the term ‘NPU’, or ‘Neural Processing Unit’ that is now appearing in PC sales blurb, an integrated processor that is optimised for data-driven AI-related tasks.

A blog entry by computer maker Dell reckons that “the advances from Generative AI will compare to the PC’s introduction 40 years ago, which brought unseen levels of productivity to the world…. This [AI] will require you to re-imagine how you work with the familiar laptop and desktop of today.” Dell foresees new ways of interacting with technology including using voice, gestures or visual commands, adding that “Your PC experience will transition from searching to prompting, from reading to understanding, from editing to directing.” The days of pressing F1 for Help are fast disappearing, and AI such as Copilot will do more of the thinking and heavy lifting for you.

Remain vigilant

Last month’s column discussed many of the security-related issues that can affect everyday Internet users. I wrote how the idea of using passwords to log into web sites is becoming increasingly insecure, mainly due to the risk of them falling into the wrong hands or being too easy to guess. I recently noted how even the UK’s National Lottery website, with a EuroMillions rollover prize of some £130 million (€153 million or AUD 247 million!) at stake last month, simply needs an ordinary username/ password combo with no other authentication being required. Hopefully, checking the lottery winner’s ID will be more rigorous! (And even that can go wrong, as demonstrated in the famous BBC Guy Goma/ Guy Kewney TV interview identity mix-up at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6Y2uQn_wvc).

The idea of Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) to send a One-Time Password (OTP) to a mobile phone is intended to enhance security. In a scam known as ‘SIM swapping’, fraudsters try to transfer the victim’s mobile phone number to another phone, to try and intercept those One-Time Passwords. Network operators have been working hard to overcome this, and London’s Metropolitan Police offers some basic advice (PDF) for users at https://tinyurl.com/4vpnyksb

Last month I also showed some USB security keys made by Yubico, and the independent Techradar website recently reviewed several software apps and recommendations. It’s worth reading, and you can learn more at https://www.techradar.com/best/best-authenticator-apps.

Save it securely

^ Integral’s Neon USB flash drives are cheap and cheerful, and have a built-in activity LED. The tiny Integral Fusion is aluminium-clad for ruggedness.

Still on the subject of USB devices, there are plenty of USB flash drives to choose from, and I sometimes buy a pack of 32GB or 64GB flash drives, always from a reputable brand such as Integral, Verbatim, SanDisk or Kingston, in order to share files between PCs or hand them out to co-workers, friends or family. As I write this month, I prefer to choose a Samsung portable SSD over a USB flash drive for longer-term storage of data. They have better ESD screening and are altogether more robust.

^ Samsung Portable Solid State Drives (SSDs) are more robust than USB flash drives and are probably a better bet for longer term data storage.

^ Flash Drive / Card Tester software will check the read/ write performance of USB memory and flag any hardware errors. It’s run in Administrator mode.

I have also seen some very convincing counterfeits of genuine products. Readers might like to try the Fake Flash Test program from https://rmprepusb.com/tutorials/007-all-about-fake-sd-cards-and-usb-flash-drives/ which can check the drive’s capacity. There’s also USB Flash Drive Tester from Virtual Console, downloadable for free from https://www.vconsole.com/download – remember to run these Windows programs in Administrator mode or they won’t work.

^ The iStorage Datashur is a high-grade PIN-protected USB flash drive for storing data securely.

Sometimes you might have personal data or computer files that you want to keep safe and secure, away from prying eyes. One way is to use an encrypted USB flash drive that can only be accessed by the authorised user. They may require a PIN to access them or some may use biometrics, eg a fingerprint reader as used in the Lexar JumpDrive Fingerprint range. The Datashur USB range by the specialist UK company iStorage includes high-security and high-end encrypted USB keys which start at about £40 for a 4GB version (32GB max). Some of their range is listed on Amazon or you can buy direct from the UK supplier, including bulk and customised versions, at https://istorage-uk.com.

^ The Kingston DataTraveler Locker+ G3 is a lower cost encrypted USB flash drive. The ‘IronKey Locker’ is the latest version.

The latest ‘IronKey Locker’ USB encrypted drives from Kingston have an Admin override and USB-to-cloud backup as well. However, I have mixed feelings about relying on cloud services, as history proves that such third-party vendors are prone to discontinue services at short notice. Amazon prices currently start at £30, or you can learn more or buy direct from Kingston at https://www.kingston.com/unitedkingdom/en/usb-flash-drives

Another option is to encrypt data on removable media (USB, CF, SD etc), using eg Virtual Console’s AES-256 Encryption software for USB flash drives for $15.00 per licence. Download from https://www.vconsole.com/download. It has not been tried by the author.

Space News

News of the space race this month starts with China’s success in returning two kilos of soil samples from the far side of the moon, a world first. A YouTube video documentary at https://youtu.be/cTqvz7Qtd2o (others are available) showcased the ‘unboxing’ of the returned capsule.

Apollo’s manned moon missions obtained a total 382 kilos of moon soil and rocks, starting in 1969 when Apollo 11 returned 21.5 kgs to Earth, the first soil collected from any celestial body. You can take a virtual tour of NASA’s sample lab at https://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/lunar/index.cfm

China is investing heavily in SpaceX-style re-usable rocket launches: a carrier rocket successfully completed a 10km VTOL flight test in northwest China in early July, and a larger version is set to launch in 2025. Earlier, a ground test of a privately-produced Tianlong-3 VTOL rocket went awry when the rocket broke away from its moorings and launched into the air, before crashing again in a huge fireball (shown in https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/c897xl1r7v9o).

^ In-flight refuelling: Grumman’s Mission Robotic Vehicle (left) would use a robotic arm to fit a Mission Extension Pod (centre) onto a customer’s satellite before sending it on its way again.

Grumman has plans for a next-generation space breakdown truck: a proposed Mission Robotic Vehicle (MRV) will use a robotic arm to dock with a client’s spacecraft, providing robotic inspection, relocation, repair, debris removal and filling up: Mission Extension Pods (MEPs) could also be applied to extend life up to six more years. How Grumman expects the in-flight refuelling service to work is shown at https://youtu.be/hieqTEaEBQo

The NASA spacecraft Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, launched 46 years ago in 1977, are now the only craft to fly in interstellar space and the current status of these truly remarkable vehicles can be tracked at https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status/. The Voyager program was led by NASA/ JPL scientist Ed Stone, who passed away on June 9th this year and a fitting tribute is paid by JPL at https://tinyurl.com/5n6ruahb

EVs: static electricity

^ The GWM Ora ‘Funky Cat’ – cute, but sales are in the dog house.

^ Fizzled out: the Fisker Ocean sank without trace in the mainstream EV market.

In January 2022 I featured the GWM Ora, a cute chic-looking EV made by China’s Great Wall Motors that was undergoing type-approval for UK sales. Great Wall is closing its European HQ in Munich at the end of August due to poor sales. The EV market’s woes don’t end there: after managing just 259 UK sales of their £36,000 cars, Fisker, an EV start-up whose stylish ‘Fisker Ocean’ came with ‘green’ credentials (see Net Work, May 2022) has filed for bankruptcy. Bloomberg reports on the sorry tale at https://tinyurl.com/ste36ucf.

You’ll find more details of the above news in the September 2024 issue of Practical Electronics. That’s all from me for this, the final Net Work column and blog in its current larger format. From the next issue I’ll be at the wheel of a shorter column, as after 28 years and half a million words I’m easing off the accelerator in the hope that regenerative braking will recharge my ageing batteries! See you next month for more Net Work.

ARW