Beep boop - this is a robot. A new show has been posted to TWiT…
What are your thoughts about today’s show? We’d love to hear from you!
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Sometimes I keep GPS on not for directions, but to get info on traffic problems up the road. It’s helped finding detours.
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I could absolutely envision propaganda being spread via TikTok in a Taiwan situation. The way information is presented on these shortform video platforms is very specifically designed to incite emotions in a way other media hasn’t come close to. That, combined with the myopic and often incorrect nature of the content makes for a bad situation.
However, outright banning a network is a foolish endeavor and definitely isn’t an answer to the problem.
I got used to the idea of a mini-map after growing up on Grand Theft Auto, Crazy Taxi and such. So having a GPS map in a glanceable position within my cockpit is kind of second nature for me. Like you say, having info like traffic conditions is great.
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Here’s an interesting video on how spoofing is done to GPS systems
I rarely use GPS. My car has a nav system built in and I have my smartphone, but I generally drive the same routes most of the time, so there is no point and we rarely have traffic jams, and when we do, I know the ways around them.
I’m glad the guests had the same thought as me, farmers have survived thousands of years without GPS, so a day with bad GPS shouldn’t be a real problem.
When I did my navigation course with the RYA in the UK, it was mandatory to use maps as well as the GPS system. You always had to know where you were, even if the GPS went out.
The last long trip I did on my motorbike (Southampton to Hannover, from Hannover to Southern Tirol), I did the whole journey with about half a dozen Post-Its in my tankbag window (I’d remove the current Post-It, when I refuelled and have the next part of the route showing - I listed all the big town’s I’d pass and the names of the roads I needed to travel on). The few times I have used a navi to get somewhere, it has usually sent me down the wrong road, or was so inaccurate, that it told me to turn off too soon or too late… I just keep my eyes open and follow the signs.
All the equipment at my brother-in-law’s arable farm is GPS-controlled. Combines and tractors talk to each other so they position themselves correctly, know when they are full, the next one takes over etc. Pretty sure he wouldn’t be happy to go back to manual driving everything.
Yes, but I’m guessing, if there was a long outage, they could switch back to manual mode…
They would, yes. I suspect the issue is as time goes on, and new drivers come in, they rely more and more on the tech. Maybe at some point they won’t have the skills to do it manually.
Most of the farms around here don’t have fields big enough for these sorts of machinery.
I’ll ask him when next there. We’re looking after the farm for a couple of weeks in the summer when he’s away - just before harvest though. It’s yields too I think, having the tech do the drilling is more accurate, which prob means better yields.
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My personal fav “documentary” on GPS spoofing 
Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) - IMDb
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As far as a TikTok ban goes, they themselves proved why people are concerned. Congress accused them of having the power to shift the conversation. So what do they do? Proactively notify 170 million people that they need to call Congress and change their minds about the ban. Whomever at TikTok came up with that idea is a fool, because they proved exactly what Congress was afraid of.
Say what you will about Twitter, Facebook, Reddit and Discord, but when has a single one of them proactively notified you about something happening in the Government, and encouraging you to act on their behalf?
People engaging in the democratic process – how could they!
This is one of those data points that reinforces whatever your preconceived notion was beforehand, no matter what it was.
Off the top of my head, the last time I can recall these platforms doing that was 2012 when the SOPA/PIPA bills were on the table. I’m sure countless other websites have done it since then. Let’s not mention the pithy political comedy shows that also do exactly that every night, or the major news outlets that run editorials with the same behavior.
I don’t agree that it’s fair to impugn TikTok for posting a PSA about it. I think it’s good that TikTok called into question due processes that this demographic likely has no idea even exists.
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