Ukraine is weaponizing consumer tech. Literally!
While Russia is invading with mere tanks, bombs, guns and jets, Ukraine is fighting back with products you can get at BestBuy and download from the App Store.
Militaries normally use special technology.
From weapons to vehicles to communications gear and more, most militaries are equipped top to bottom with technology specially designed and created for military purposes. Military technology, or miltech, is an industry that’s largely separate from enterprise or consumer tech.
I mentioned last time how the Russian invasion of Ukraine is the first TikTok war, with social media being the main source of intelligence and information about the war. Most of the intelligence-gathering gear is just ordinary smartphones, cameras and other tech made for the consumer marketplace.
But the deployment of consumer gadgets, apps and other gear by Ukrainians in their defense against the Russian invasion goes far beyond that, and is unprecedented in the history of warfare.
While the Ukrainian military does have military drones, they’ve also called upon anyone with a regular consumer drone to spy for the cause. And initiatives in Europe and elsewhere are buying, gathering and smuggling consumer drones into Ukraine to provide intelligence around Russian troop movements.
Fearing the shutdown of internet connections, Elon Musk’s SpaceX turned on Starlink satellite service for Ukraine and rushed a truckload of satellite dishes. Starlink is intended for consumer internet connectivity.
Warfare demands communications, coordination and logistics. And Ukraine is using regular consumer apps for those purposes. The app store intelligence firm Apptopia found that the top iOS app store apps in Ukraine are encrypted messaging apps like Signal and Telegram.
Ukrainians have also been downloading apps that enable information while offline, including Zello (a “walkie-talkie app), Bridgefy (for short-range texting over Bluetooth) and Maps.Me (an offline map that’s now ranked significantly higher than Google Maps in Ukraine).
It’s interesting that Russian soldiers are not allowed to bring smartphones, and they generally don’t use GPS. Ukrainians are defacing road signs to confuse Russian soldiers, while using offline maps like Maps.me — they’re using ordinary smartphones and an app made for tourists to gain a logistical advantage over the largest army in Europe.
Ukrainians are even uploading videos to TikTok on how to drive captured Russian military vehicles. It’s military training distributed on a public social network.
During the war, the Russian government has clamped down on social media sites and other sources that would contradict Russia’s disinformation about what’s happening in the war. So one Ukrainian startup, which makes a face-swapping app called Reface, used their app to broadcast information to Reface’s many users in Russia, bypassing Russian censorship.
Not only is Russia facing a Ukraine that is highly motivated and recently militarized. They’re also confronting a population and military that’s armed to the teeth with consumer technology. And they’re not afraid to use it.
Mike’s List of Brilliantly Bad Ideas
1. This new car comes with an integrated drone
A new electric concept car called the Polestar 02 features a drone that slides out of a compartment on the back while you’re driving, launches, then tracks the car while taking videos. I want one.
2. Finally: Now you can take a selfie in space!
The world's first space selfie was taken by Buzz Aldrin on November 12, 1966, with the Earth as his background. Now you can do the same thing. Sort of. A startup called the Hoge Aerospace Institute is building selfie satellites that let you upload your photo to the satellite. Then an onboard camera takes a picture of your photo with the Earth in the background.
3. Worst case scenario: A smartphone case that’s also a juice box!
The Drinking Case is a smartphone case that can hold liquids. The makers brag that it can hold enough water for your workout hydration. Or five shots of tequila. You drink by popping out a built-in straw.
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