RIP Kevin Mitnick and long live his memory!

On this episode of Emerging Tech Mastery (ETM) we brought back on good friend and contributor of the show Frank Trezza, Certified Ethical Hacker, InfoSec professional and all around good human.

We discuss the legacy and memory of Kevin Mitnick, one of the best hackers of all time and master of social engineering techniques.

In addition, we cover some initial hacker tools of the trade and resources around this fascinating profession.

There's a lot of great information here so be sure to grab a pen and paper or your favorite digital medium for this one.

After listening to this episode you will learn:

• Who was famous hacker Kevin Mitnick and what motivated him
• The most legendary stories like how he hacked the LA Bus System, Trolled the FBI, lived on the run and was incarcerated illegally for years
• How Kevin pioneered social engineering and used it extensively
• The pre-computing hacking subculture based on telecom called "Phreaking"
• How he hacked out of curiosity not profit like when he hacked a Cell Phone company to learn about new phone designs
• How he reverse engineered what made complex systems in society tick and how to find weaknesses in them
• About how the border of technology and magic is knowledge
• Kevin generating new identities from deceased people
• Why new easy to use hacking tools also open the door for malevolent users
• The gap in skill knowledge emerging from books and hands on experience
• A difficult truth about how the real knowledge workers are not compensated properly

For show notes and tons of free resources, please visit: https://www.emergingtechmastery.com/kevin-mitnick/

We recently did an episode, Our Top 10 Emerging Tech Predictions for 2024, to explore what might happen in Tech this year. 

We thought it would be fun to see what has taken place so far this year and whether we were on point or not.

Here were our original predictions:

1. AI disappears behind the scenes
2. AI resurrects old and hard to use Tech
3. Everyone will be a video influencer
4. Media Tech will evolve FAST
5. "New" Tech Innovation will be integrations of other tech
6. Apple Vision Pro will not meet expectations
7. Hardware will be a race to the bottom, Software will be the golden goose
8. NFTs will make a comeback through sports betting and investing
9. Tech for Good will go mainstream
10. Sustainability will be at the forefront of the conversation

For show notes and more please visit: https://www.emergingtechmastery.com/2024rightorwrong/

Happy New Year! 

Ready for some Emerging Tech predictions for 2024? Well, don't worry we're happy to be wrong and contrarian. 

We considered this a fun thought exercise for posterity sake to see where our head and hearts were. 

In fact, some of these predictions are already beginning to poke their head up through the cracks of reality.

Our Top 10 Emerging Tech Predictions for 2024

1. AI disappears behind the scenes - It will then quietly be used in almost everything as an expected feature.
2. AI resurrects old and hard to use Tech - Pain points and other difficult parts of the learning curve could be bypassed with possible solutions AI provides.
3. Everyone will be a video influencer - No longer will your network be camera shy as people begin "Vlogging" (again).
4. Media Tech will evolve FAST - We already saw NeRF get ousted by Gaussian Splats, what other shifts will happen this year?
5. "New" Tech Innovation will be integrations of other tech - As categories mature, the next logical step is connecting them together. 
6. Apple Vision Pro will not meet expectations - Initial hype is alluring but the real work after is hard as we will potentially see with the rise of Augmented Reality (AR).
7. Hardware will be a race to the bottom, Software will continue to be the golden goose - The Maker movement is giving hardware incumbents a run for their money. Will we see new creations and fabricators or will winner take all?
8. NFTs will make a comeback through sports betting and investing - Many think Crypto is ded but, not so fast. Sports entertainment might have the Ace card in this equation that makes it a killer app (without people even realizing it).
9. Tech for Good will go mainstream - With social happiness indexes and opportunity zones, we have a whole new set of imperatives and metrics to guide our resources and networks of builders.
10. Sustainability will be at the forefront of the conversation - Corporate responsibility is in the spotlight more and more and this time the conversation is deeper than interest groups alone.

Well that's a wrap and we hope this gave you some food for thought.

What are your top predictions for 2024?

For show notes and additional free resources, please visit: https://www.emergingtechmastery.com/2024-predictions/

This episode is an initial exploration of real world examples of Technology used for social good. 

While researching our last episode, 6 Ways to Use Tech For Good, we came across a paper by McKinsey, a famous consultancy, called Tech for Good: Smoothing disruption, improving well being.

The paper covers topics like core definitions of technology and well-being, how to measure the impact of technology, challenges and an overview of concrete case studies of Technology. 

Ultimately, there are lots of great facts and figures to support the discussion and inspired several of these examples. We highly recommend reading the Tech for Good paper mentioned above for additional detail.

8 Examples of How to Use Tech for Good

1. Create community around Tech for Good - That's exactly what an organization with that name does, founded by Ellen Ward and Máirín Murray in Dublin, Ireland. Their group encourages people of all skills to take back their technological power in an open and inclusive environment.
2. Mixed Reality (XR) gives Producers the opportunity to give audiences socially impactful visceral experiences - XR is now absorbing all the realities like Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR). In addition, with Spatial Audio, we have an opportunity to use this rich media platform to inform and transform viewers.
3. AI and Education helps teachers do more with less - Teachers can be freed up with automated administrative tasks and even use "chatbots" to increase interaction and engagement with students
4. Telehealth and MedTech reduce in-patient service by 50% - In India they reduced in person visits by 50% and saved over $4 billion. Healthcare is well known for high costs and inefficiencies, this new direction to bring in a new era of operations making services and outcomes better (not to mention life expectancy).
5. Banking the 5 billion unbanked - This means bringing financial services to most of the world who still do not have bank accounts. The craziest part: more people have cellphones than running water. This means mobile banking and currencies (Ahem, Crypto) could bring a lot of new users in, fast.
6. AI Traffic Management to reduce pollution and traffic - There is an estimated 3-15% reduction in air pollution from new AI systems. We already have AI used heavily for airports and air travel which helps avoid costly delays and losses from being inefficient. This will be key to maintain bigger and bigger infrastructures moving forward.
7. Cloud computing dis-intermediates job gatekeepers for negatively impacted social groups - This could range from the disabled and invalid to LGBTXQ+ to women and people of color. Reputation based hiring for traditional on-boarding methods are being upended as people find new ways (and venues) to work.
8. AgTech combining Industrial Tools and Feeding the World - It's no surprise that Industrial Agriculture needs an upgrade, both from a fossil fuel and chemical use standpoint. 

We hope you enjoyed this list of Tech for good examples. Expect further topics to be covered as there is so much more to talk about.

Lastly, a big thank you to all the organizations and people dedicated to bringing more positive philosophies and outcomes to the use of Technology.

For show notes and additional free resources please visit: https://www.emergingtechmastery.com/examples-of-tech-for-good/

On this episode we explore using Tech for good, socially, economically and philosophically speaking.

This show was originally inspired by a talk, How to make learning as addictive as social media, from Luis Von Ahn, CEO of Duolingo, a popular language learning app.

In a world of manipulative uses of AI and Algorithms, this perspective was quite refreshing.

He encourages us to take the lessons of today and apply them in even more powerful ways tomorrow.

This sparked the idea of why we should use Technology (especially Emerging ones) in increasingly open and positive ways for the world.

Less walled gardens and more gardens of Eden. (Ahem, Free and Open Source Software, FOSS)

For show notes and additional free resources please visit: https://www.emergingtechmastery.com/goodtech/

On this episode we discuss Qortal, a community driven initiative aimed at making a new, user operated internet that leverages Blockchain's data security.

Rather than focusing on token price and getting on more exchanges like other projects, Qortal focuses on making a usable, decentralized data infrastructure. 

The community and even User Interface (UI) harkens back to the vibes behind Torrents, Warez and even mIRC in the 90's-2000s.

To elaborate we brought on one of the founders, Jason Crowe, co-founder of Qortal and long time IT professional.

After listening to this episode you will learn:

• Who the Cipherpunks were and what they stood for
• How the internet was supposed to be free and open but eventually become centrally controlled
• Specific choke points of data and the World Wide Web (WWW) by big entities
• What a block is and why it is needed to form a "Blockchain"
• How Bitcoin began free and open but devolved into cartel control over time
• The downfall of Proof of Work (PoW) and Proof of Stake (PoS)
• Why most Blockchains are unnecessarily large and cumbersome data sets
• How Qortal was designed for all users to run a full node on modest tech like a Raspberry Pi 4
• Why Qortal doesn't put ALL the data on the Blockchain but instead uses a clever approach with hashes
• How they keep their currently 3 year old Blockchain to a 5-20 GB max file size
• How their upgraded "torrent tech" inspired data network aims for censorship-resistance through this novel approach to data creation

For show notes and additional free resources please visit: https://www.emergingtechmastery.com/qortal/

Free and Open Source Software, FOSS for short, is the backbone of computers, programming, and the World Wide Web (WWW) as a whole.

In fact, almost 40% of known websites' operating systems (OS) and a whopping 85% of smartphones use Linux, a wildly popular free and open source operating system. (Source: True List)

Richard Stallman, Free Software Foundation (FSF) and GNU founder

Another one of Stallman's breakthrough ideas was the 4 essential freedoms.

The 4 Essential Freedoms are:

1. The freedom to run the program as you wish, for any purpose.
2. The freedom to study how the program works, and change it so it does your computing as you wish.
3. The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help others.
4. The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others.

Linus Torvalds, Finnish Developer, Creates the World Famous Linux Kernel

Richard Stallman and his team had mostly redone Unix with his GNU operating system by 1991 but he was missing the kernel (like a computer nervous system). 

Namely, the brain of the operating system that talks to the hardware and software and translates it into language our keyboard or mouse understands.

Linux Torvalds, a Finnish computer scientist, stepped in at this stage and created the first iteration of this new and innovative program.

Believe it or not, Linux was initially considered a hobby project by Torvalds.

6 Reasons Why Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS) Will Save the World

1. Openness and transparency offers unprecedented security and resilience - A worldwide Peer2Peer (P2P) review of code helps avoid weakness in the code and instill robust engineering from the ground up.
2. Maximizes the speed of innovation through open global collaboration - Anyone can freely download and re-purpose code anywhere in the world with a computer and internet.
3. Brings powerful code and tools in the hands of the lay person - FOSS gives a bionic arm to builders who could not have created that on their own.
4. Brings out the best in humans - Most of the open source community are unpaid, voluntary and passionate builders. It is a true group effort of helping each other through making these free public goods available to all.
5. Open source code is protected under free speech - There was a famous case where the NSA threatened to jail Phil Zimmerman for coding Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) encryption protocol. Thankfully they failed and the 1st amendment prevailed which now has precedence for protecting all published code.
6. It's (usually) free of charge - In a world where everything is metered and comes with a price tag, open source is a refreshing change of pace economically. This enables anyone, regardless of socioeconomic status, to use it.

Despite it's transparent nature and often free price, open source software is a powerful force used by thousands of companies worldwide.

Ultimately, free and open source software is a powerful force for good in the world that enhances us as humans and communities.

For show notes and valuable free resources please visit: https://www.emergingtechmastery.com/open-source/

For this episode, we pull back the curtain on concrete tech tool categories we use to make this ETM show and website happen.

Most of these tools have free versions and almost all are open source. Part of our thinking when creating ETM was showcase all the powerful (free and open-source) tools at our fingertips.

The best part of all is that your projects, ideas and endeavors don't have to cost a lot of money. (Especially if you're just doing a proof of concept or something small scale.)

6 Tech Tool Categories We Use for this Show

1. Hardware - This means the fun electronics and peripherals that bring all the magic together. This includes a Single Board Computer (SBC) Raspberry Pi 4B, Yeti Blue USB Mic, SD Card, Mouse, and Keyboard.
   
   
2. Hosting - Where does the data of this website live? Well that's where services like Godaddy, Buzzsprout, and Siteground come in to provide it a home.
   
   
3. Production - What do we use for creating and editing podcasts? Mainly, Zencastr (Recording), Descript, Audacity (Editing), Canva, GIMP, Lightroom (Design), YouCut, Capcut (Video Editing), and Sender (Newsletter)
   
   
4. Writing - What helps us write blog posts? Grammarly, Free Language Tool, Standard Notes, and Libre Office are mission critical.
   
   
5. Website Management - Managing a website entails a variety of software and widgets, thankfully that are fairly easy to use. This means WordPress, Google Analytics, Search Console, Monster Insights, and Yoast SEO.
   
   
6. Social Media - Who can forget social media? We have Web 2.0 with platforms like FB, Twitter, IG, YT and LI). Chat services include Discord, Signal and Telegram. Then, there's Web 3.0 with Mastadon, Bitchute, Rumble, Hive and Qortal 

Happy Tech Journey-ing!

For show notes, valuable links and more please visit: https://www.emergingtechmastery.com/tool/

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been all the rage as a buzz word this year.

But, what does AI really mean? And more importantly, what does it do? We're looking at you, Skynet.

Here are some definitions:

"Artificial intelligence (AI), the ability of a digital computer or computer-controlled robot to perform tasks commonly associated with intelligent beings."
Brittanica

"Artificial intelligence leverages computers and machines to mimic the problem-solving and decision-making capabilities of the human mind."
IBM

"Artificial intelligence (AI) is a set of technologies that enable computers to perform a variety of advanced functions, including the ability to see, understand and translate spoken and written language, analyze data, make recommendations and more."
Google Cloud

"Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a field of computer science and engineering concerned with the computational understanding of what is commonly called intelligent behavior, and with the creation of artifacts that exhibit such behavior."
Encyclopedia of Computer Science

As usual, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not just one thing. It is an amalgamation of many different technologies, including hardware and software.

It benefits us by quietly solving complex problems behind the scenes, often in real time.

This means everything from orchestrating social media news-feeds to re-booking flights and identifying the closest Uber driver.

For show notes and more: https://www.emergingtechmastery.com/ai/

Curious how Agricultural Technology (AgTech) is helping reverse the cycle of destruction and paving the way for a healthier planet?

One of the biggest challenges with new highly industrialized technologies, is their effect on the environment.

While there have been a lot of positive shifts toward social good and renewable energy sources, there is still plenty to be done.

Luckily, there are some wonderful new technology tools and companies that are taking a bite out of this problem.

9 Epic Ways AgTech Is Saving The World

1. It enables environmentally friendly (supply) chains of value: Bitcoin mining operations often use alternative energy sources and excess energy production as fuel. Supply chain-wise, seed to sale and battery production are using Blockchain to ensure product authenticity and track equipment life-cycles.
2. Electricity is revolutionizing renewable power and fuel use: We have the Electric Vehicle (EV) revolution upon us, but this doesn't just mean cars and trucks. There are now electric tools for both light and heavy farm activities. This means chainsaws, lawnmowers and even earth moving backhoes.
3. Free and open-source software democratizes code: Due to the free and open nature of most software, anyone with the interest and motivation can access high-value and complex code they could not easily create themselves.
4. The Maker Movement facilitates high-value yet low-cost tech: Single-board computers, sensors or even 3D printers create new means of production and analysis for anyone to use. This means gathering data about the environment with inexpensive components or even printing your own objects.
5. The Internet of Things (IoT) allows unprecedented remote land management: Without modern cloud and internet-enabled technology, many functions are very labor-intensive and not possible to scale. Now with connected sensors and devices, we have an upgrade with fewer inputs than ever.
6. Strong Internet and Bandwidth enables never before seen connectivity: The emergence of cloud computing and instant connectivity from anywhere has taken decades of research and innovation. Now that we have less expensive costs and easier ability to move data, new levels of management, growth and efficiency are possible.
7. Dangerous and labor intensive processes are now made easy: Making the complex and difficult easy is a incredible trend we are seeing. The Ouisa tabletop essential oils making machine is a great example of turning a previously tough process into a "push-button" easy one.
8. Turn-key Growing Technology simplifies growing from home and commercially: Products like Small Hold allow home and commercial mushroom growing. Agrilution facilitates home vegetable garden and 1.1 indoor vertical gardens allow for turn-key commercial growing operations anyone can operate.
9. Innovative Hardware and Robots Improve Farming Efficiency and Reduce Chemical Use: Carbon Robotics make a machine that uses AI, heat and lasers to remove weeds from fields. Earth Sense and Agrobot created ones for automated harvesting while Post Harvest has created hardware and software solutions for farm management.

Ultimately, these solutions take a big bite out of previously hard (or even impossible) to solve issues to scale. 

That is a big reason why this niche of AgTech greatly excites us and we encourage you to explore this topic in particular more.

For show notes and more please visit: https://www.emergingtechmastery.com/agtech/