Mark Miller:

From Sourced Network Productions in New York City, it’s 5:05 on Friday, the 5th of May, a day of celebration of the Mexican Army’s 1862 victory over France at the Battle of Pueblo during the Franco American War. I bet you didn’t know that already. This is your host Mark Miller standing in for Pokie Huang.

Stories in today’s episode, come from Edwin Kwan in Sydney, Australia, Katy Craig in San Diego, California, Marcel Brown in St. Louis, Missouri, and me calling in today from Houston, Texas to talk about the most brilliant use of AI that I’ve ever seen.

Let’s get to it.

While many people are bemoaning the supposed fact that AI is infecting the world and half the population is going to lose their job, the musical artist, Grimes, has stepped in to tell us all how it can work.

Actually, this is probably one of the most brilliant uses of this burgeoning playground of technology I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been at this for over 25 years.

A couple weeks ago, Grimes informed her fans that they are all welcome to use her voice in their releases and she’ll split any revenue generated 50 50 with them. Kind of cool to start, but then this week she took it a step farther and opened a platform, elf.tech, that allows you to upload your song and her AI voice will take it from there.

Say what?

When you think about it, this is just a classic business move. Take a technology that exists and show people how to do something with it.

What’s the downside? I don’t know how she can get hurt by this. With over 15,000 people already taking her up on the offer, the marketing angle is already going viral. From a financial aspect, there’s really nothing to lose here.

Dammit! Why didn’t I think of it first?

This is Mark Miller in Houston, Texas, madly scribbling out lyrics and singing a little tune because me, Grimes and elf.tech are going to be close for the next couple weeks.

Edwin Kwan:

This is Edwin Kwan reporting from Auckland New Zealand.

Google has started rolling out passkey support for Google accounts across all services and platforms. Users using passkeys will be able to sign into their Google accounts without needing to enter a password or using two step verification. The passkeys are linked to each of the user’s devices and works locally by unlocking user pin or using the screen lock biometrics.

This is a more secure and convenient alternative to passwords and significantly decreases the risk of data breaches and protects against phishing.

Katy Craig:

Today we’re discussing the impact of GPT enabled malware as a service, or MAZ, on the cybersecurity landscape, and how we can stay vigilant in the face of these evolving threats.

This is Katy Craig in San Diego, California.

Investigations reveal that the rise of GPT enabled MAZ and AI assisted code has opened new doors for less technically proficient bad actors. For example, script kitties or skids, as I like to call them, making it easier for them to launch cyber attacks. As more miscreants leverage these tools, the risk of malicious packages infiltrating our build environments increases

With the cybersecurity landscape in a constant state of flux, we must be proactive in adapting our defenses.

To stay one step ahead of cyber criminals, follow these essential guidelines.

One, stay informed. Keep up to date with the latest trends, threats and security best practices. Knowledge is power and staying informed helps you build stronger defenses.

Two, be cautious. Approach new tools, technologies, and services with caution. Verify the legitimacy of software and packages before integrating them into your build environment.

Three. Invest in protection, use reliable security software and keep it updated. Implement multilayered security measures and use zero trust principles.

By remaining cautious, we can maintain a strong defense against the ever changing threat of cybercrime. Keep listening to It’s 5:05 to remain informed and forewarned.

This is Katy Craig. Stay safe out there.

Marcel Brown:

This is Marcel Brown, the most trusted name in technology, delivering your technology history for May 5th and May 6th. Happy Cinco de Mayo.

May 5th, 1961. NASA astronaut, Alan Shepherd becomes the first American in space when he makes a 15 minute suborbital flight aboard the Mercury capsule Freedom 7.

He reaches an altitude of 115 miles during which he experiences about five minutes of weightlessness.

May 5th, 1992. ID Software Incorporated releases the game Wolfenstein 3D, the original first person shooter game for DOS computers. While it was technically not the first FPS in video game history, Wolfenstein 3D was the game that definitively popularize the genre.

Using the Shareware model to freely distribute the first of three episodes with the ability to purchase the next two episodes, the game became an instant success, selling 200,000 copies in the first year. The success of Wolfenstein 3D made ID software, a household name in the gaming world. They followed up in the next year with a massively popular Doom, which cemented the first person shooter gaming genre, and the rest is history.

In addition to being credited with launching the first person shooter genre, Wolfenstein 3D is also widely regarded as proving the viability of and popularizing the shareware distribution model. The game was ported to many different platforms over the years and is still available for purchase to play today.

May 6th, 1998. At the Flint Center Theater, the same place where the Mac was first unveiled in 1984, Steve Jobs introduces the original iMac. This iMac was later referred to as the Bondi Blue after the color of its case, named for a beach in Australia. According to Jobs, the iMac is the internet age computer for the rest of us.

By reimagining and reintroducing the simplicity of the all in one computer, that was the hallmark of the original Macintosh 14 years earlier, Apple was banking on the ease of use of the iMac to attract many people to the Macintosh platform who wanted to make use of the still emerging internet.

Originally slated to be available in 90 days, it will actually be released on August 15th. In the meantime, Apple will book an unprecedented 150,000 orders before its release marking the beginning of Apple’s Renaissance.

With its colorful design, the iMac ended the trend of the beige personal computer and even influenced the design of products outside the computer industry.

It also ushered in the era of Apple adding the letter “i” to just about every product it created for a time. But hey, Apple eventually became the world’s most valuable company, so who’s arguing?

I remember helping my uncle buy an original iMac at a computer store in St. Louis. I think it was CompUSA, but I don’t remember for certain now. I believe there were only a total of 15 iMacs for sale, so we had to get there early to make sure we got one when they officially went on sale. There was a lot of fanfare and excitement in the air. I knew this was a big deal for Apple at the time, but little did I know exactly just how important an event this was in technology history.

Plus, I was a little jealous of my uncle for being able to get an iMac, but at least I would be able to experience it when helping him set it up.

That’s your technology history for today. For more, tune in next week and visit my website ThisDayInTechHistory.com. And for Cinco de Mayo, visit my website Marcel’s Margarita Madness for my blog and podcast, all about margaritas and tequilas.

Mark Miller:

That’s it for today’s open source and cybersecurity updates. For direct links to all stories and resources mentioned in today’s episode, go to 505updates.com, where you can listen to our growing library of over 130 episodes. You can also download the transcripts of all episodes for easy reference.

5:05 updates are available Monday through Friday on your favorite audio streaming platform. Just search for “It’s 5:05”.

Thank you to Edwin, Katie and Marcel for today’s contributions. The sound engineer for 5:05 is Pokie Huang with music by Blue Dot Sessions. We use Descript for spoken text editing and Audacity to layer in the soundscapes. The show distribution platform is provided by Captivate fm.

This is Executive Producer, Mark Miller. Stay safe, drink those margaritas responsibly tonight, and we’ll see you back here on Monday… at 5:05.

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