Latest / Connecting the Dots / TriFold Tech, Market Swings, and a Nationwide Investment Experiment

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TriFold Tech, Market Swings, and a Nationwide Investment Experiment · Connecting the Dots

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  Today's tech news moves fast, but understanding
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  it shouldn't be hard. That's why Snarfl Solutions
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  Group brings you Connecting the Docs, where we
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  break down what's happening in tech and why it
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  matters to you. Now, let's dive in with your
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  hosts. Good morning and welcome to Connecting
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  the Docs. I'm Alex. And I'm Morgan. It is Tuesday,
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  December 2nd, 2025. And here in Sacramento, we're
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  looking at some patchy fog this morning, but
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  that should burn off for a sunny high around
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  57. A bit of a different story nationally, though.
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  There's a winter storm hitting the northern mid
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  -Atlantic and up into the northeast and some
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  heady rain down in the southeast. So stay safe
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  out there. Absolutely. Now, before we get into
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  our main stories, let's take a quick look at
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  the markets. Yeah, things are settling a little
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  this morning after a really strong week. The
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  Dow is down just a bit, about six tenths of a
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  percent. But still holding on to some good weekly
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  gains, right? Oh, absolutely. It's still up over
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  2 % for the week. The S &P 500 was, believe it
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  or not, completely flat for the day. 0 .00 %
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  change. Wow. But still looking solid with a weekly
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  gain of 2 .65%. And what about Bitcoin? It's
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  been on a tear. It really has. It jumped over
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  two thousand dollars yesterday, which is a two
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  point three eight percent pop. The upward trend
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  is definitely continuing there. That is great
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  to see. Now, before we jump into our morning
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  star, we want to give a shout out to our sponsor.
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  purchase. All right, let's get into it. We've
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  got three big stories today really covering product,
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  policy, and protection. And we're starting with
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  a big one. The rumors are true. Samsung is officially
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  launching a phone that folds three times. The
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  Galaxy Z trifold is here. Yeah. Yes, a triple
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  fold. It sounds like science fiction. It really
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  does. I'm trying to even picture it. What does
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  that look like when it's fully opened up? You're
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  essentially looking at a tablet that's been crammed
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  into a smartphone's body. It opens up to a full
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  10 inch main display. 10 inches. That's huge.
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  It is. And the key here is that it's an inward
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  folding display. Samsung's trying to really protect
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  those two very complicated hinges. Right, because
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  the big issue with foldables has always been
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  the bulk. I remember the original Z Fold from
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  2019. It felt like carrying two phones taped
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  together. Yeah, it was a brick. So how did they
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  solve for that, especially with another hinge?
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  Well, that's really the most impressive part
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  of this whole thing. When the tri -fold is completely
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  collapsed, it's just... 12 .9 millimeters thick.
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  Wait seriously the original was what 17? 17 .1
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  so they've shaved over four millimeters off while
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  doubling the folds and when it's unfolded at
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  its thinnest point it's just 3 .9 millimeters.
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  That's incredibly thin that suggests a complete
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  redesign of the hinge. They must have moved to
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  one of those water drop designs to get rid of
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  the gap inside. Precisely. That's where all the
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  material science genius comes in. And of course,
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  to power a 10 -inch screen like that, you need
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  some serious guts. What's it running on? It's
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  got a custom Snapdragon 8 chip, a big 5 ,600
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  milliamp -hour three -cell battery. Much bigger
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  than previous volts. Much bigger. Plus 45 -watt
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  super -fast charging. And yes, it has that flagship
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  200 -megapixel wide -angle camera. OK, so it's
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  a beast. Let's talk logistics. When can people
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  actually buy this thing and what's the damage
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  going to be? It's debuting in South Korea on
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  December 12th. The price point is expected to
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  be around $2 ,440. That's a hefty price tag.
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  It is. And after South Korea, it'll roll out
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  to China, Singapore, the UAE. But we have confirmation
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  for the US in the first quarter of 2026. $2 ,400
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  is a big ask. for a first -gen device like this.
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  We all remember the, let's call them teething
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  issues of early foldables. How is Samsung handling
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  that risk? They're being really smart about it
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  this time and pretty transparent. They're basically
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  admitting that, you know, this is bleeding edge
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  stuff and it carries risk. So what are they offering?
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  Every person who buys a Z trifold gets a one
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  -time 50 % discount on display repair costs.
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  Oh, that's interesting. So instead of pretending
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  it's indestructible, they're just building the
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  potential for repair right into the deal. Exactly.
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  It's their way of saying, look, we know you're
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  taking the leap with us. We appreciate it. And
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  we've got your back. It's a pretty necessary
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  safety net when you're asking people to adopt
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  something this complex. Yeah, that makes a lot
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  of sense. OK, so from the high cost of new hardware,
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  let's shift gears completely. Our second story
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  is about, well, it's about financial access on
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  a massive scale. This is a really historic and
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  I think strategically timed philanthropic move.
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  Michael and Susan Dell have pledged $6 .25 billion
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  to seed investment accounts for 25 million American
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  kids. Six and a quarter billion dollars. That's,
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  that's more than just a donation. Sounds like
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  they're trying to kickstart a whole policy. That's
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  exactly what it is. The money is aimed at getting
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  families to claim these new government -backed
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  child savings accounts. They're formerly called
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  Invest America accounts. Okay, so who exactly
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  are the Dells targeting with this money? They're
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  basically filling a gap. The official government
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  program is set to launch next summer, and it
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  gives $1 ,000 to kids born after January 1, 2025.
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  So what about all the kids born before that?
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  That's who the Dells are focused on. The 25 million
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  kids born before 2025 who wouldn't get that seed
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  money. The Dells are depositing $250 into accounts
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  for those children. Got it. So they're trying
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  to make sure basically every kid under 10 today
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  gets to benefit from this. Is it for everyone?
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  They're using some economic criteria. The money
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  is directed to children living in ZIP codes where
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  the median family income is $150 ,000 or less.
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  OK, so it's targeted. So what's the big idea
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  behind these invest America accounts? Why is
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  this such a focus? Well, the whole concept is
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  about long term compounding growth and frankly,
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  financial literacy. The money is locked until
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  the child turns 18. And it has to be invested.
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  It has to be invested in a low cost index fund,
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  letting it grow with the market for, you know,
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  almost two decades. Then when the child turns
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  18, they can use it for qualified expenses. Like
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  what? College. Exactly. Higher education, a down
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  payment on a first home, or even seed money to
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  start a business. So the goal here is to give
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  millions of people a real stake in the system,
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  a system they might otherwise feel totally shut
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  out of. That's the core of it. Michael Dell even
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  said the goal is for kids to see a future worth
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  saving for and to build hope and opportunity.
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  And when you look at the data, I mean, in 2022,
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  the wealthiest 1 % owned almost half of all stocks.
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  Wow. And the bottom 50 % owned barely 1%. So
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  this policy, supercharged by the Dell's money,
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  is trying to democratize access to that wealth
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  creation. And it's not just their personal money,
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  right? Dell, the company is involved too. Correct.
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  Dell Technologies is going to match the government's
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  thousand -dollar investment for the children
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  of its own employees. It's a really interesting
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  model, marrying policy, philanthropy, and corporate
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  incentives. That's an incredible story. Okay,
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  let's let's pivot. Pretty sharply now to a very
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  different kind of story. A reality check on personal
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  security. Yeah, this is a deeply disturbing one,
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  but it's a crucial warning. It's about a massive
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  IP camera hacking scheme that was just exposed
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  in South Korea. What are we talking about here?
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  South Korean authorities have arrested four people
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  who managed to hack into over 120 ,000 home and
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  business IP cameras. 120 ,000? When you hear
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  a number that big, you assume it must have been
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  some kind of incredibly sophisticated zero day
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  exploit. You'd think so, wouldn't you? But that's
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  what is so frightening about this. The method
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  was, I mean, it was just based on the vulnerability.
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  The hackers were mostly just exploiting simple
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  security flaws. The big one, people not changing
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  the default password on their devices. You're
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  kidding me. It was just default passwords. That
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  was the main entry point. We are talking about
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  a massive criminal operation that was enabled
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  by the simplest possible oversight. That's horrifying.
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  Where are these cameras located? In the most
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  private places you can imagine. People's homes,
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  of course, but also karaoke rooms, Pilates studios,
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  and even a gynecologist's clinic. The invasion
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  of privacy is just, it's staggering. And I assume
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  the motivation was selling access to the footage.
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  Yeah, it was for profit. One of the suspects
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  made over $12 ,000 from hacking 63 ,000 cameras.
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  Another made over $13 ,000 from 70 ,000 hacks.
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  And they were selling these videos online? They
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  were. These two individuals were responsible
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  for over 60 % of the videos found on one illegal
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  overseas distribution site. All from guessing
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  admin and password. So for anyone listening right
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  now who has a camera pointed at their front door
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  or watching their living room, What is the one
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  thing they need to do right now? The police warning
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  is direct and it is urgent. You need to be vigilant
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  and you need to immediately and regularly change
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  the access passwords on your IP cameras and really
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  on any connected smart device. It's just a harsh
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  reminder that your security is only as strong
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  as its weakest link. And that link is almost
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  always a simple password. And the authorities
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  are also stressing that just viewing or possessing
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  this kind of illegal content is a serious crime
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  itself. It all connects, doesn't it? The complexity
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  of a trifold phone and the simplicity of a home
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  camera. The human element, like choosing a good
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  password, is the single biggest factor. It really
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  is. Before we connect all those dots, let's quickly
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  scony .com. Okay, so looking back at our Morningstar
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  today, we really saw three powerful forces at
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  play. We started with the physical limits of
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  innovation. The Galaxy Z trifold, which is pushing
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  what's possible with materials, but also asking
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  us to accept a pretty high cost and a high risk.
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  Then we saw the power of policy and private capital
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  coming together to tackle a huge systemic challenge
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  wealth inequality through the Dell family's commitment.
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  It's about jumpstarting a financial future for
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  millions of kids. And finally, we got that really
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  sobering wake up call on cybersecurity from South
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  Korea. A reminder that no matter how advanced
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  the tech gets, it can all be undone by our own
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  simple digital habits. Innovation, equity and
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  protection. The three big themes. And it kind
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  of leaves us with one question to think about.
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  As technology gets exponentially more complex,
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  you know, giving us triple fold phones and these
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  huge new financial systems. Are we trading convenience
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  for security? And is policy the only thing strong
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  enough to make sure the benefits of all this
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  complexity are actually shared by everyone? Something
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  to think about as you go update those passwords
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  today. We're here to help at Snarful, so reach
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  out on our website if you have any more questions.
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  Thanks for listening, and we'll catch you next
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  time.