Tool Boxx: June 2023

Friday, June 30, 2023

FBI launches national database to combat surge in swatting incidents

Mishi Marigold June 30, 2023 0

via TechSpot https://ift.tt/8nprVDd Swatting incidents have been on the rise in the US recently, especially on college campuses. CNBC reports that the FBI's response was to create a national database in May that will provide the bureau with a "common operating picture of what's going on across the country," according to Chief Scott... Read Entire Article

A Chat With Video Game Composer Christopher Tin

Mishi Marigold June 30, 2023 0

TechSpot

via TechSpot https://ift.tt/q1JODVt Grammy award-winning composer Christopher Tin is behind some of gaming's most iconic soundtracks, including Baba Yetu. We sit down with him to chat about how video game music has changed and where it's headed. Read Entire Article

YouTube is limiting video views for ad-blocker users

Mishi Marigold June 30, 2023 0

TechSpot

via TechSpot https://ift.tt/2tjQ0ux A Redditor spotted the YouTube warning a couple of days ago and posted the pop-up message. It states in bold letters that "Video player will be blocked after 3 videos," followed by an explanation that YouTube playback will be blocked unless the site is whitelisted or the ad blocked disabled. Read Entire Article

Hun Sens Facebook Page Goes Dark After Spat with Meta

Mishi Marigold June 30, 2023 0

Tech

Hun Sens Facebook Page Goes Dark After Spat with Meta

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Prime Minister Hun Sen, an avid user of the platform, had vowed to delete his account after Meta’s oversight board said he had used it to threaten political violence.

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Is A.I. Poisoning Itself? Billionaire Cage Fight and Cooking With ChatGPT

Mishi Marigold June 30, 2023 0

Tech

Is A.I. Poisoning Itself? Billionaire Cage Fight and Cooking With ChatGPT

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The missing ingredient in A.I. content might soon be human-generated content.

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How gene-edited microbiomes could improve our health

Mishi Marigold June 30, 2023 0

Tech

via MIT Technology Review https://ift.tt/5pk8CbY This article first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Technology Review’s weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, and read articles like this first, sign up here. Microbes have been on my mind this week. These tiny organisms are everywhere, and the ones that reside in our bodies appear to be incredibly important for our health. Microbes are ancient—they were evolving on the planet for millions of years before humans came along. So it’s no surprise that they’ve developed intricate relationships with other living systems. They feed on chemicals in their environments to produce other chemicals—some of which are more beneficial to nearby organisms than others. The question is: can we tweak the genomes of these microbes to control exactly which chemicals they break down or produce? Imagine the possibilities. What if we could get microbes to help us reduce pollution? What if we could create microbes that make medicines, or that churn out gut-friendly products in our intestines? Modified microbes seem to help treat cancer in mice, and human trials are on the way, as I reported earlier this year. (For a more general update on gene editing, you can read about how the editing tool CRISPR is already changing people’s lives, and how some believe we’ll eventually be using the technology to treat the majority of people.) Getting microbes to work for us has been a tantalizing prospect to scientists for decades. New technologies are bringing us ever closer to making it a reality. So for this week’s newsletter, let’s focus on a couple of particularly exciting ways people are engineering microbes to benefit our health and environment. Take the work being done by Brad Ringeisen, executive director of the Innovative Genomics Institute in Berkeley, California, and his colleagues. The team recently received a huge amount of funding to explore new ways to engineer microbes for the well-being of people and the planet—particularly people living in low- and middle-income countries. “We got $70 million to develop precision microbiome-editing tools,” says Ringeisen. The team is focusing on using CRISPR to change the behavior of microbes—not just bacteria, but also their lesser-studied co-habitants, such as fungi and archaea. The idea is that feeding such treatments to people or animals could get their gut microbiomes to a healthier state. The likely first recipients of such treatments will be cows. The way we farm these animals has a tremendous impact on the environment, for several reasons. (Read more from Tech Review about what it would take to clean up farming here and here.) But one significant element is the methane they emit, since methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. Technically, the methane isn’t made by the cows themselves. It’s produced by the bacteria in their guts. Ringeisen and his colleagues are looking at ways to alter microbes that reside in the rumen—the first and largest stomach compartment—so that they produce much less of the gas, if any. Ringeisen thinks that modifying existing microbes should be less disruptive than introducing entirely new ones. He likens the approach to that of a conductor fine-tuning the sound of an orchestra. “[It would be like] bringing up the violin and lowering the bass drum, but to tune the microbiome,” he says. The team is also looking at how a CRISPR microbiome treatment might benefit human infants. A baby’s first microbiome—thought to be picked up at birth—is especially malleable during the first two years of life. So microbiologists believe it’s important to get an infant’s microbiome as healthy as possible early on. We still don’t know exactly what that means, or what a healthy microbiome should look like. But ideally, we want to avoid having bugs that make chemicals that cause harmful inflammation or damage the gut lining, for example. And we might want to encourage the growth of microbes that make chemicals that aid gut health—like butyrate, which is made when some microbes ferment fiber and seems to strengthen the intestine’s natural barrier. The work being done here is still in its early stages. But the researchers envision an oral treatment that would be fed to babies to manipulate their microbiomes. They don’t have a specific age in mind, but it could be quite soon after birth. As long as the modified microbes aren’t making anything harmful, it should be relatively straightforward to approve these treatments, says Ringeisen. “Those are experiments that are going to be relatively easy to do,” he says. Justin Sonnenburg, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford University in California, is also looking at ways to reengineer the microbes in our guts to improve our health. One important target is inflammation—a process that has been linked to all sorts of diseases, ranging from arthritis to cardiovascular disease. Microbes that live in our guts can sense inflammation, says Sonnenburg. If we could “rewire the genetic circuit” of these microbes, we could potentially enable them to secrete anti-inflammatory compounds that treat inflammation if and when it arises. “All this [would be] happening behind the scenes without the person harboring the microbes even knowing about it,” he says. One of the challenges will be to develop a treatment that works the same way in different people, who will have different microbiomes. But there may be some ways around this. In a study a few years ago, Sonnenburg and his colleagues delivered a modified microbe into the guts of mice. This microbe glowed under a microscope, so the scientists could tell how well it had settled in the mice’s intestines. It was quite variable—some of the mice had more of the microbes than others. This particular microbe also fed on a carbohydrate found in seaweed, called porphyran. And when the scientists fed the mice seaweed, they found they could influence levels of the microbe in the gut. A diet rich in seaweed brought up the levels in all the mice, for example. “Now we have the ability to control engraftment and the level of the microbe independent of the background microbiota,” says Sonnenburg. Some of the scientists who worked with Sonnenburg on this study have since formed a company, called Novome, which has shown that it can achieve similar results in people. The company is working on a proprietary microbial strain that has been engineered to break down oxalate, a compound that contributes to the formation of kidney stones. The company is also working on engineered microbes for irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease. Scientists have been working on “designer microbes” for decades. But the progress made in recent years has brought such treatments closer to reality. Ringeisen reckons we’re four to six years away from a human treatment, and he thinks cow treatments are even closer than that. It’s an exciting time. Let’s wait and see. Read more from Tech Review’s archive About 60 million metric tons of food waste is generated every year in the US alone. My colleague Casey Crownhart wrote about one company trying to use microbes to help “digest” it. Engineered microbes are also being explored as a new way to make cheaper and cleaner fuels, as Casey reported last year. Your microbiome ages as you do—and that’s a problem. Scientists are trying to work out whether tweaking our microbiomes could help keep us healthy in old age. Feel like you could do with some personalized, microbiome-based diet advice? Your poo could provide a rich source of such information. From around the web Penile enlargement surgery promises to help men stop worrying about their penises. But for those who experience problems—including devices protruding from their skin or injuring their wives, and loss of penile sensitivity—the dissatisfaction can get worse. (The New Yorker) Learning about our ancestors can be fascinating and enriching. But it can also be disturbing—especially if we find out they were awful people, or were treated badly. Should DNA tests come with trigger warnings? (The Conversation) A third of US adults say they would pay whatever they could afford, indefinitely, to get their hands on weight loss drugs like Wegovy. Nearly a quarter would pay up to $250 a month, according to a poll. (STAT) When Singulair, a treatment for childhood asthma, was launched in the late ’90s, the company behind the drug didn’t mention any risk of psychiatric side effects. Then came reports of children who developed neuropsychiatric symptoms and some who died by suicide. The company, Merck, now faces multiple lawsuits alleging it knew of the risks and minimized them. (Reuters) A janitor assigned to clean a university lab turned off a freezer when he heard its “annoying alarms.” In doing so, he destroyed decades’ worth of research materials valued at nearly $1 million, according to scientists at the university, which is suing the cleaning company that employed the janitor. The lawsuit states he was “just trying to help.” (Washington Post)

Thursday, June 29, 2023

Untitled

Mishi Marigold June 29, 2023 0

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Melinda French Gates is raising the alarm that more women must be involved in developing AI tools, she explains why on "CNN This Morning."

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Massive PlayStation leak reveals Call of Duty revenues and first-party game budgets

Mishi Marigold June 29, 2023 0

TechSpot

via TechSpot https://ift.tt/cyRBtKJ Playstation boss Jim Ryan provided the FTC with confidential data in an effort to dissuade them from allowing Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard to go through. The court recently posted the poorly-redacted documents online, allowing us to glean a lot of information about Sony's game budgets, headcounts, revenues, and more. Read Entire Article

Meta releases clues on how AI is used on Facebook and Instagram

Mishi Marigold June 29, 2023 0

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As demand for greater transparency in artificial intelligence mounts, Meta released tools and information Thursday aimed at helping users understand how AI influences what they see on its apps.

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Meta releases clues on how AI is used on Facebook and Instagram

Mishi Marigold June 29, 2023 0

Tech

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As demand for greater transparency in artificial intelligence mounts, Meta released tools and information Thursday aimed at helping users understand how AI influences what they see on its apps.

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Spy app LetMeSpy spied on: hackers leak victim and user data going back years

Mishi Marigold June 29, 2023 0

TechSpot

via TechSpot https://ift.tt/VzOFa6l LetMeSpy's website advertises the free app as a way for parents to monitor their children's text messages and call logs, or for employers to ensure employees aren't using company mobiles for non-work purposes. Read Entire Article

Lab-grown meat just reached a major milestone. Heres what comes next.

Mishi Marigold June 29, 2023 0

Tech

via MIT Technology Review https://ift.tt/8pr1eVD This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Review’s weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here. I briefly became a vegetarian around the age of 13. The story is a common one in my generation, I think: I saw a video of slaughterhouse conditions, cried my eyes out, and vowed never to eat meat again. I lasted a few weeks, during which time I ate a lot of peanut butter sandwiches. Eventually, though, I gave up: meat was central to my family’s diet, and I found myself missing some of my favorite foods, especially Chick-fil-A sandwiches. (Fun fact: I went on to work there for a year in high school.) I think my younger self would be excited to know how quickly the world is changing. It’s easier to avoid meat these days if you want to, with alternative products like plant-based meat becoming more common (you can even get Impossible burgers at Burger King now). And soon we might have new options, like products made with animal cells grown in a lab. Just last week, the US Department of Agriculture gave the green light to two companies to make and sell their cultivated chicken products in the US. This is a major moment for the field—even if a lot of milestones are left ahead. In a stroke of luck, this week I’m at a conference called Future Food Tech, where people are talking about the biggest news and challenges for alternative proteins of all types. So for the newsletter this week, let’s check in on the world of lab-grown meat. Cultivating success Eat Just and Upside have reached the end of a complicated regulatory process that includes both a nod from the Food and Drug Administration and multiple approvals from the USDA. This is a huge milestone for the industry, and it’s been the talk of Future Food Tech this week. “There was a lot of celebration, of course,” said Patricia Bubner, cofounder and CEO of the cultivated meat company Orbillion Bio, during a panel discussion. There had been a looming question about whether this sort of product would be legitimized—and now it is, at least in the US, “the most significant market,” said Arik Kaufman, cofounder and CEO of Steakholder Foods. Cultivated meat had previously been approved only in Singapore, and it has been served in a restaurant there over the past couple of years. Now it’s legal for the two companies to serve their products in the US too, and both plan to do so in restaurants in the coming months. But as Upside’s chief operating officer, Amy Chen, put it in a talk at Future Food Tech, “in so many ways, we’re just getting started.” One major thing I’ll be watching is how these companies start producing their products at larger scales. Upside’s pilot facility can currently produce around 50,000 pounds (22,600 kg) of finished products each year. At full capacity, it will eventually be able to grow to about 400,000 pounds (180,000 kg) per year. That sounds like a lot, but in the grand scheme of food production, it’s pretty tiny. Large commercial meat facilities produce millions of pounds of meat each year—and that’s the sort of scale Upside is targeting for its first commercial facility, said Eric Schulze, VP of global scientific and regulatory affairs at Upside foods, in an email. Eat Just’s cultured meat subsidiary Good Meat runs two demonstration facilities, one in the US and one in Singapore. Those facilities use large reactors with capacities of 3,500 and 6,000 liters, respectively, said Andrew Noyes, VP of communications at Eat Just. Again, those sound like huge reactors, but the company’s plans for its first commercial operation include 10 250,000-liter reactors, and in total, capacity will be about 30 million pounds (13.6 million kg) each year. The road ahead While scaling up processes that have already been demonstrated in labs and pilot facilities will be a major development in the industry moving forward, I’m also fascinated to see what new sorts of products come to market in the next few years. There are over 150 companies in the cultivated meat industry, making everything from beef to tuna to products unlike anything on the market today. A few potential bottlenecks face companies trying to bring new products to market, including developing cell lines, designing and building bioreactors, and making the meat’s structure, said Jess Krieger, founder and CEO of the cultivated meat company Ohayo Valley, in a panel discussion. I’m especially interested in that last bit, because meat’s structure dictates so much of our experience eating it. Some people, Krieger included, want to use plants to provide it. Others plan to use manufacturing techniques: Upside Foods intends to grow its cells in ways that will help develop the fibrous texture of chicken. Still others, including Steakholder Foods, are looking to 3D-print their meat to replicate the flakiness of fish or the tenderness of a properly cooked steak. Food is so central to our lives, and the tech working to bring new options to our plates is moving quickly. Maybe someday soon, teenagers looking to stop eating animals won’t have to give up chicken sandwiches. Related reading Read more about the recent US regulatory approval of cultivated chicken. I got an exclusive tasting of a lab-grown burger. Here’s what I thought. Here’s what plants could contribute to cultivated meat (from my colleague Niall Firth). Another thing Heat pumps and beer—name a better combination. I bet you can’t. Industrial facilities, including breweries, often rely on fossil fuels for heating. A startup called AtmosZero is looking to replace those emissions-heavy heat sources with industrial heat pumps. The company has a partnership with New Belgium Brewing to test out one of its electric boilers next year. My colleague James Temple has the scoop. Check it out here. Keeping up with climate The world is remembering a titan of the battery world this week. Nobel laureate John B. Goodenough, inventor of some of the key technologies behind lithium-ion batteries, passed away Sunday at the age of 100. (New York Times) → This 2015 profile of Goodenough and his work is worth a read. (Quartz) In a surprising twist, NASA is opposing lithium mining at a site in Nevada. The agency uses the lakebed in question to calibrate sensitive equipment on satellites. (Associated Press) The US government is giving a $9.2 billion loan to Ford to build three battery factories. It’s the biggest loan to an automaker in over a decade. (Bloomberg) In news that should probably surprise no one, the wildfires in Canada are threatening forest offset projects there. (Bloomberg) → For a deep-dive on some of the issues with forest offsets, check out this 2021 story. (MIT Technology Review) Extreme weather is becoming the norm in California, testing the state’s dams. What happens if they fail? (New York Times Magazine) Heat battery company Rondo is opening up a massive factory for its energy storage systems. (Canary Media) → For everything you could ever want to know about the company and its hot bricks, check out my story from earlier this year. (MIT Technology Review) You may have heard about, or even purchased, something called “renewable energy credits.” The problem is, while these credits might seem to suggest you’re running your home or business on renewables, that’s not necessarily the case … at all. (Washington Post)

Twitters New CEO Linda Yaccarino Eases Into the Hot Seat

Mishi Marigold June 29, 2023 0

Tech

Twitters New CEO Linda Yaccarino Eases Into the Hot Seat

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Linda Yaccarino, who initially could not take ad sales meetings because of a noncompete clause, is adjusting to her new role reporting to Elon Musk.

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Wednesday, June 28, 2023

Facial Recognition Spreads as Tool to Fight Shoplifting

Mishi Marigold June 28, 2023 0

Tech

Facial Recognition Spreads as Tool to Fight Shoplifting

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British merchants are increasingly using the technology to combat shoplifting, raising questions about its spread as artificial intelligence rapidly improves it.

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Comics beyond sight

Mishi Marigold June 28, 2023 0

Tech

via MIT Technology Review https://ift.tt/hAPUfeT For an audio adaptation with descriptive text and for annotations, visit: https://spinweaveandcut.com/mitcomic/

Welcome to the big blimp boom

Mishi Marigold June 28, 2023 0

Tech

via MIT Technology Review https://ift.tt/lhaKU6o Floating is the new flying, at least according to a handful of companies focused on building futuristic blimps, airships, and hot-air balloons. Lighter-than-air vehicles (or LTAs) depend on the same basic physics that creates bubbles in water. They’re filled with extremely light gas, like helium, which allows them to achieve lift and hover in the air without burning fuel. They’ve never been particularly popular: they’re big and comparatively slow, and they have faced safety concerns ever since the 1937 Hindenburg disaster, which left 36 people dead. Still, some companies say modern LTAs can be extremely safe. They argue that these aircraft can play a critical role in cutting down on carbon emissions associated with transportation, especially for moving people and things that don’t need to travel very quickly. In May, the somewhat secretive Sergey Brin–backed company LTA Research, which has been working on airships since 2016, announced that it’s ready to unveil its first, the Pathfinder 1. The French company Flying Whales is developing an airship that’s lifted by helium and can haul up to 60 tons of cargo. The vehicle is controlled with a hybrid-electric propulsion system, though the company plans to eventually transition to hydrogen fuel cells, which will make its aircraft fully electric. Flying Whales has already partnered with aerospace companies to determine whether it could eventuallytransport rocket parts. A startup called Sceye is building a helium-powered vehicle that can hover in the stratosphere, high enough to rival the capabilities of some satellites in low Earth orbit. Because Sceye’s LTA can stay in the same place for an extended period, the company wants to use it to beam broadband directly down to smartphones in less-connected regions. Sceye says its systems could be used to track greenhouse-gas emissions and monitor natural disasters; the company is also working with New Mexico and the Environmental Protection Agency to monitor air quality. “The best way to think of us is as a geostationary platform superimposed on the surface of the planet,” says Sceye’s CEO, Mikkel Vestergaard. Any additional power that the vehicle might need is supplied by solar panels during the day and a lithium-sulfur battery during the night. Some of these next-generation LTAs might even be used for human transportation. Hybrid Air Vehicles, a British company that’s raised more than £100 million ($125 million), plans to use its Airlander 10 ship to transport people on less-served and rural routes. Powered by internal combustion, the Hybrid Air vehicle also takes advantage of tech found in lighter-than-air vehicles by using helium to create buoyancy. Though its top speed is just 130 kilometers per hour, the company says its aircraft can compete with airplanes on shorter routes, in part because of quicker takeoff and landing times. Another fundamental difference is that “you can take off on land from anywhere reasonably flat,” says CEO Tom Grundy. “In particular, areas that are not well served by existing transport.” These startups will have to overcome long-standing safety concerns, and LTA vehicles may be more difficult to fly in bad weather, says James Flaten, a University of Minnesota professor of aerospace mechanics. Still, most of the vehicles used today use helium, not hydrogen—the flammable gas that brought the Hindenburg down. LTAs can also be designed so even if they did tear, they would leak very slowly, says Grundy. It’s still early days for the big blimp boom. Though it’s secured some initial contracts, Hybrid Air Vehicles has only built a prototype, and its plans for a new 1,200-worker factory in the United Kingdom are just taking shape—the company eventually wants to build 24 aircraft a year. Sceye says its 13th flight will take place later in 2023. For now, most LTA technology is still on the ground. On the flip side, though, there’s nowhere to go but up.

The forgotten history of highway photologs

Mishi Marigold June 28, 2023 0

Tech

via MIT Technology Review https://ift.tt/oK0pEgA On May 10, 1985, a tricked-out van drove south on US Route 1 in Pawcatuck, Connecticut, on a sunny spring day. Every .01 miles, a 35-millimeter movie camera mounted on the dashboard captured an image out of the front of the van, along with a digital readout displaying the date, route, mileage, and bearing. Highway departments in almost every state had such “photolog” programs, some dating back as far as 1961. Each year, these vans would drive thousands of miles of state roadways in both directions. States ran these programs because they wanted an up-to-date visual record of each section of road, intersection, overpass, and bridge. The effort also captured some beautiful scenes from the past, featuring long-closed shops, hilariously low gas prices, classic cars, and often people just walking by the side of the road. A 1969 Federal Highway Administration photologging van prototype NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM In addition to helping with infrastructure planning and maintenance, these data sets proved useful in defending the state against legal claims involving accidents on state roads. Photolog imagery provided a clear historical record for the courts, showing the placement of signs, curbs, crosswalks, and other traffic-control devices. Today, many states have retired these customized data-collection vans; the work has been outsourced to third parties, and ubiquitous online mapping providers make such efforts seem antiquated. But many states’ highway departments still have shelves full of old footage, a lot of it on 35-millimeter film and laser discs. I made a public records request to Connecticut’s Department of Highways to get access to this archival footage, which had been digitized at a fairly low resolution. Reels of 35millimeter footage could be played back on a stopmotion analyzer. A typical photolog camera and recording equipment in a van NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM Photolog controller for camera and display; automatic exposure control unit. Over the years, such data-collection runs added side and rear cameras. They were further modernized with detailed 3D scans of the actual road surface, and with higher-resolution cameras. Starting in 2017, Utah’s Department of Transportation set out to record not just pictures of the roads, buildings, cliffs, and utility poles on the sides of the roadway but the actual geometry of the objects, using vans equipped with dual 360-degree lidar sensors. A public portal developed by Utah’s Department of Transportation uses colorful visualizations of this 3D data to let you virtually drive any major route in the state. Other states, such as Pennsylvania, also have web-based portals that let the public browse their more recent photolog data sets. Today, Utah’s photologging vans include dual 360degree lidar sensors capturing detailed 3D scans of the roads and surrounding area. These millions of frames of film are little snapshots of the roads we drove in the past, now sitting on dusty shelves in state archives. If more states digitized and published them, a wealth of valuable history could be preserved. A version of this story appeared on Beautiful Public Data (beautifulpublicdata.com), a newsletter curated by Jon Keegan.

The future is disabled

Mishi Marigold June 28, 2023 0

Tech

via MIT Technology Review https://ift.tt/V3K1esy “Technology,” wrote the late historian of technology Melvin Kranzberg Jr., “is neither good nor bad, nor is it neutral.” It’s an observation that often doesn’t stick with people as they think about technologies related to accessibility. So many of our dominant stories about technologies for disability, access, and mobility paint them as objects of empowerment or heroic, life-changing panaceas for social ill. In this issue, we take Kranzberg’s assessment to heart with articles that speak to technological ambiguity and against popular narratives about these approaches. As a multiply disabled person, I too can sometimes get caught up in the commercialized hype-y hopefulness around promised tech: a newly made leg that fits just right, or a promising new drug for my autoimmune issues, or even a new app that could issue the right reminders to keep me on task. But the benefits of good devices, apps, and technologies can often be temporary or lopsided or require my constant investment, care, and attention to make them work with me. Most of the bugginess and time-suckiness of new tech is never talked about in media coverage about assistive and accessible technologies: we’re told that some humanitarian engineering or rehabilitation team (what heroes!) is working on the problem—the problem being described as people who don’t fit a particular mold. The Cyborg Jillian Weise, my favorite cyborg poet, writes—in the voice of men positioned as engineers/therapists/“helpers” in a dream—“Don’t you like it. / Don’t you laud us. / Don’t you god us.” These men (and they are mostly men) typically aren’t the ones who have to live with what they created; they aren’t the people who are positioned as objects, obstacles, and inconveniences. For people intended to use the technology, not all advancements are as desirable as they might seem. There’s much more ambiguity in use—neither good nor bad, nor neutral!—once you move away from the hype. Often when developing accessibility tech, people assume levels of access to technology that don’t exist. They fail to take into account places where lack of internet access is a continuing barrier, where not everyone has smartphones to use a required app, where good devices are touted but not easy to afford or get. Projects often are not properly centered on the communities they serve, or fail to understand that these communities may pursue their own desires rather than those reflected in the dominant culture. “Normal” leaves a lot of people out, and it isn’t, by itself, an inherent good. In this issue of MIT Technology Review, you’ll read important stories of ongoing issues around accessibility. Lorena Ríos describes traveling to Ciudad Juárez, at the Mexico-US border, to explore a US Customs and Border Protection app for asylum seekers. Chancey Fleet shares with us her work at the New York Public Library on expanding the blind community’s access to images and design. Colleen Hagerty profiles law professor Monica Sanders, who is working to highlight issues of internet accessibility in planning for climate disaster. Corey S. Powell discusses ongoing work on “sonification” projects in astronomy, while Julie Kim explores the landscape around access to effective assistive communication technologies. While reading this issue, I’ve been thinking about how equity and flexibility of use are basic principles of universal design. One thing that stood out for me in Ríos’s story about CBP One, the app for asylum seekers, is how the limit to one app and pathway has hurt those most in need of asylum, for whom access is severely constrained by those technological limits. The stories on data sonification and tactile images exemplify the necessity of direction from disabled people to enrich our educational, scientific, and everyday pursuits. I’ve been writing a book on the stories we tell about technology and the stories we tell about disability, which explores what accounts of disability-related technology get wrong by centering helpers over users. We see this with projects like exoskeletons pitched as devices to help people walk again, or interventions that seek to normalize autistic behavior. All this is done without listening to what the real experts say they want. So many forces frame marginalized people as problems and seek to control, categorize, or police us—or require us to take particular routes to be “worthy” of access in the eyes of a dominant culture. But “normal” leaves a lot of people out, and it isn’t, by itself, an inherent good. We often devalue the creativity and intelligence of people outside that frame rather than appreciating them as creators, tinkerers, and knowers. We need more ways to exist than the narrow confines of ableism and white supremacy allow. As the title of Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha’s provocative book has it, the future is disabled. Making space for disabled people and disabled futures is necessary to truly face what lies before us. With climate change, for example, we should expect changing disease patterns (more tick-borne diseases like Lyme). With environmental racism, we already see higher rates of asthma and other chronic conditions (and this will continue). In the long tail of long covid, we should expect long-term changes in a large segment of the population, similar to what we’ve seen with post-polio syndrome and with shingles following chicken pox. So often we’ve been sold the promise of futures that work to eliminate disability via eugenic projects, gene editing, and therapies designed to move people toward perfect speech or gait. There is often a focus on cure or rehabilitation as a prerequisite for participation; a focus on “solutions” for individuals, rather than infrastructure to enable diverse communities. There’s a certain unfair “boot-strappiness” imposed on individuals who are often at the mercy of larger systems of exclusion. We ask for people to bend themselves in time and space to fit a vision of worthiness, of goodness, of productivity and moral and physical uprightness, that is absolutely the opposite of inclusive, inventive, and open. We need more ways to be. Part of that involves looking to alternative ways of sensing, processing, moving, understanding, and communicating, and seeing those ways as good and worthwhile. Opening ourselves up to all-access thinking and disabled expertise will mean a more livable world—one that we all can inhabit. Ashley Shew, an associate professor in the Department of Science, Technology, and Society at Virginia Tech and author of Against Technoableism: Rethinking Who Needs Improvement (2023), is guest editor of this issue.

Job title of the future: metaverse lawyer

Mishi Marigold June 28, 2023 0

Tech

via MIT Technology Review https://ift.tt/CbJQ3L1 Lot #651 on Somnium Space belongs to Zannes Law, a Toronto-based law firm. In this seven-level metaverse office, principal lawyer Madaline Zannes conducts private consultations with clients, meets people wandering in with legal questions, hosts conferences, and gives guest lectures. Zannes says that her metaverse office allows for a more immersive, imaginative client experience. She hired a custom metaverse builder to create the space from scratch—with breakout rooms, presentation stages, offices to rent, an art gallery, and a rooftop bar. The Somnium Space office was Zannes’s first in the metaverse, but the firm now has multiple properties on other platforms, including a penthouse suite in Spatial’s version of New Caledonia. Madaline Zannes, IRL. COURTESY OF MADALINE ZANNES Qualifications needed: Technically, none; the metaverse isn’t an actual jurisdiction. There’s no “metaverse law,” and it’s not an area that lawyers can be licensed in—at least not yet. But those with a law degree can use the technology to stand out. “What’s most important is having an open mind,” says Zannes. Current challenge: Law doesn’t move as quickly as technology does, and lawyers are limited to the jurisdictions where they’re licensed to practice. At the same time, Zannes says, there are “bad actors” who attempt to offer legal services in virtual spaces without any sort of certification. Some go as far as to keep their identity hidden from clients. To help address the problem, this year Zannes and her team created the international Metaverse Bar Association, which aims to provide a registry of verified licensed lawyers who work in Web3. Job perk: It’s a fun and more engaging way to meet clients remotely, as opposed to a flat, 2D Zoom interaction. “We can do our meeting while walking through the building. We can chat at our NFT gallery, at the rooftop bar, or in my office,” Zannes says. “There are more ways to find common ground and spend quality time together.” There’s an area in the main office called Quantum Leap where clients can review the portfolio of Zannes’s metaverse properties to explore. She even provides her clients with a private link so they can hang out in the metaverse and use the space whenever they want. Commercial prospects: Zannes says her “satellite offices” in the metaverse are great exposure for the firm. She also reaps monetary benefits from owning property in the metaverse by renting out the space, just as a landlord does IRL.

Tuesday, June 27, 2023

Meta is giving parents more visibility into who their teens are messaging on social media

Mishi Marigold June 27, 2023 0

IFTTT

Meta is adding new safeguards and monitoring tools for teens across its social platforms: parental controls on Messenger, suggestions for teens to step away from Facebook after 20 minutes, and nudges urging young night-owl Instagrammers to stop scrolling.

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Meta is giving parents more visibility into who their teens are messaging on social media

Mishi Marigold June 27, 2023 0

Tech

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Meta is adding new safeguards and monitoring tools for teens across its social platforms: parental controls on Messenger, suggestions for teens to step away from Facebook after 20 minutes, and nudges urging young night-owl Instagrammers to stop scrolling.

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Working from home is the new norm especially for women

Mishi Marigold June 27, 2023 0

TechSpot

via TechSpot https://ift.tt/qOZ7noQ The American Time Use Survey (ATUS) report shows that in 2018 and 2019, just 24% of Americans worked from home on an average day. The start of the pandemic in 2020 saw that number almost double to 42%, and while it has fallen slightly since then, home workers still made... Read Entire Article

This app is helping workers reclaim millions in lost wages

Mishi Marigold June 27, 2023 0

Tech

via MIT Technology Review https://ift.tt/CRDut6x As Rodrigo Camarena sees it, you can hail a car and order food on your smartphone; why shouldn’t it also help you exercise your rights? Reclamo, a new web app created by Justicia Lab, the nonprofit innovation incubator that Camarena directs, helps documented and undocumented immigrant workers who have experienced wage theft. By clicking through questions in English or Spanish with the help of a worker advocate, users can assemble case details, review their rights, and ultimately produce finished legal claims that can be filed instantly. A process that would otherwise take multiple meetings with an attorney can now be done within an hour. The tool launched last October with beta testing in New York that focused on the construction industry, a sector identified as particularly rife with abuse, and helped recover $1 million in lost wages—more than double what it cost to build. In mid-May, it was expanded in a bid to give workers in businesses from manufacturing to housecleaning more leverage with their employers. “By building an independent, nonprofit, digital legal tool for advocates to share and use together, we’re really leveling the playing field for folks that are typically used to technology being used against them,” Camarena says. Wage theft—in which employers skimp on overtime or regular pay, and sometimes simply fail to pay at all—costs US workers approximately $50 billion annually, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Overburdened government attorneys often fail to prosecute it. A significant amount of this theft targets immigrants, both legal and undocumented, in part because of communication barriers and their perceived lack of power or legal recourse. Reclamo doesn’t collect immigration information, because it’s irrelevant for its purposes: both the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and laws in many states say that undocumented immigrants, who make up a substantial portion of the affected population, can claim the same protections as any other worker. The precarious situation these workers face is not just coincidental, says Michelle Franco, an Ohio State professor with Mexican roots who studies issues of race and class in landscape architecture, a business that relies heavily on immigrant labor. “The actual profits and the functionality of these industries is completely dependent on that precarity,” she says. Reclamo evolved out of frustrations over the treatment of immigrants during the Trump administration. Justicia staff couldn’t create tech to change federal laws, but after coming across articles on wage theft in 2017, they realized there were other ways to help. Rounds of user testing, interviews with community justice organizers and workers, and other research helped shape the app’s form and function. Workers access the web app at a resource center or with a community organizer, so there’s someone to help with follow-up and offer additional legal guidance. The final results of the process include both a legal claim and a letter to send employers, which has been found to be the fastest way to recover money. Rodman Serrano, a community organizer for Make the Road New York, an immigrant services group on Long Island, started using Reclamo earlier this year and has already received confirmation that cases are being reviewed. Before, he says, it was difficult for mistreated workers to find time away from work to meet with lawyers, call hotlines, or identify the right government officials to contact. Immigrant construction workers face so many economic challenges—including low wages, high rent and medical bills, and limited job options for those without documentation—that any missed income can be devastating. Now those filing claims via Reclamo stand to gain some legal protection in the immigration system as well as help with recovering their pay. In January, the Biden administration declared that noncitizens involved in labor disputes will be eligible for deferred action, temporarily protecting them from deportation. By empowering everyday workers to file complaints and access legal help without a lawyer, the app addresses a significant societal gap: 92% of low-income Americans don’t receive adequate legal help for civil matters. It’s also part of a push for alternative legal services that has some in the legal world feeling anxious about their roles and, ultimately, their jobs. The so-called access to justice movement aims to help average citizens get legal aid without the need to find, book, and pay a lawyer. Courts in Alaska and New York have ruled that paralegals, students, advocacy groups, and people without law degrees can provide certain services that used to require attorneys, which are expensive and in short supply. Some view AI and chatbots, with their ever-evolving ability to handle complex conversations, as another route to expanding legal services; advocates and activists want to harness this technology to handle intake interviews and collect information. Camarena hopes Reclamo ultimately makes legal aid more commonplace and frees up overburdened lawyers to focus on complicated suits and class actions. He also believes that the data Reclamo will gather can help target repeat offenders, influence policymakers, and eventually become a training set for more advanced technology, expanding the app’s reach. “We’re not going to meet that gap [in legal access] unless we think outside of the traditional service models,” he says. “There’s no reason why we can’t train an AI on the logic we’ve created.”

A.I. and TV Ads Were Made for Each Other

Mishi Marigold June 27, 2023 0

Tech

A.I. and TV Ads Were Made for Each Other

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A string of uncanny videos show what generative A.I. and advertising have in common: They chew up the cultural subconscious and spit it back at us.

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Tesla May Have Already Won the Charging Wars

Mishi Marigold June 27, 2023 0

Tech

Tesla May Have Already Won the Charging Wars

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Deals with Ford and G.M. will make it easier to find a charger but could give Elon Musk control of critical infrastructure.

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Monday, June 26, 2023

Man who stole more than $23 million in YouTube music royalties scam faces 70-month prison sentence

Mishi Marigold June 26, 2023 0

TechSpot

via TechSpot https://ift.tt/fiJOuoU In 2021, Jose "Chanel" Teran of Scottsdale, Arizona, and Webster Batista Fernandez of Doral, Florida, were accused of stealing royalties from YouTube by claiming to own the rights to over 50,000 unmonetized Spanish-language songs and uploading them to the platform. In some instances, forged notes from the artists in question... Read Entire Article

Forest bathing might work in virtual reality too

Mishi Marigold June 26, 2023 0

Tech

via MIT Technology Review https://ift.tt/NOYg9eM The Japanese concept of “forest bathing,” or shinrin-yoku (森林浴), has long been acclaimed for its supposed health benefits. Hundreds of scientific studies suggest that it can improve mental health and cognitive performance, reduce blood pressure, and even treat depression and anxiety. Yet forests can be hard to reach or, for some, completely inaccessible in a world where as many as 5 billion people might live in urban environments by 2030. Some scientists believe that virtual reality could offer a remedy. VR has already been used to help distract children undergoing medical procedures, and icy virtual landscapes have alleviated the pain of burn victims. Could virtual forests elicit the same physiological responses as real ones? A group of scientists at the Czech University of Life Sciences—a psychologist in collaboration with researchers in the forestry department—has tested the hypothesis by taking a group of 15 people into the Roztocký háj nature reserve near Prague for 30-minute bathing sessions. They then used laser scanners to develop a virtual twin of the same area of forest, enhanced with audio recordings. Twenty participants, including 10 who visited the real forest, spent 30 minutes in the virtual forest. Questionnaires assessing the participants’ emotional states revealed no significant difference between the two experiences, according to the results, published in November in Frontiers in Virtual Reality. As Martin Hůla, the forestry researcher leading the project, explained, “I was aware that the forest was not real. However, the experience was immersive, and it was easy for me to forget that I was in an experimental room.” Another group of scientists investigated virtual forest bathing in a recent paper published in the journal Forests. This time, the scientists developed a game for the participants to play, based on real methods of guided outdoor forest therapy. The tasks included taking photos with a virtual camera, collecting various items, and taking part in a simple fitness program designed to give the players a sense of adventure. The eight people involved in the study found that their overall depression, anger, and fatigue decreased after they played the game. Science is still divided on the mechanisms behind forest bathing itself. Some lend credence to the “biophilia” theory, popularized by Edward O. Wilson in the 1980s, which suggests that humans require interaction with nature because we are part of it ourselves. Another, called “attention restoration theory,” suggests that natural environments like forests offer people opportunities to recover from the tiring tasks of everyday life. Both theories might also apply in virtual forests. There are limitations, of course. Since computer processing power is finite, virtual forests have physical boundaries. Some of the participants in the Czech study said they felt caged when they encountered the invisible forest wall. Power constraints also mean the computer is not perfect at rendering small details like mushrooms or insects. Nor can virtual environments mimic every sensory experience of a real forest, like the smell of damp leaves. One paper suggested that this problem could be solved by spreading leaves across the floor of the participation room. Duplicating other sensations, like the feel of wind, would prove more complicated. Virtual environments can also cause cyber-sickness, which happens when your eyes perceive motion while your body does not. Psychologists, forestry experts, and computer scientists hope that further research with larger groups of participants will help to overcome these limitations.

Junk websites filled with AI-generated text are pulling in money from programmatic ads

Mishi Marigold June 26, 2023 0

Tech

via MIT Technology Review https://ift.tt/nPOozpM People are using AI chatbots to fill junk websites with AI-generated text that attracts paying advertisers, according to a new report from the media research organization NewsGuard that was shared exclusively with MIT Technology Review. Over 140 major brands are paying for ads that end up on unreliable AI-written sites, likely without their knowledge. Ninety percent of the ads from major brands found on these AI-generated news sites were served by Google, in violation of the company’s own policies. The practice threatens to hasten the arrival of a glitchy, spammy internet that is overrun by AI-generated content, as well as wasting massive amounts of ad money. Most companies that advertise online automatically bid on spots to run those ads through a practice called “programmatic advertising.” Algorithms place ads on various websites according to complex calculations that optimize the number of eyeballs an ad might attract from the company’s target audience. As a result, big brands end up paying for ad placements on websites that they may have never heard of before, with little to no human oversight. To take advantage, content farms have sprung up where low-paid humans churn out low-quality content to attract ad revenue. These types of websites already have a name: “made for advertising” sites. They use tactics such as clickbait, autoplay videos, and pop-up ads to squeeze as much money as possible out of advertisers. In a recent survey, the Association of National Advertisers found that 21% of ad impressions in their sample went to made-for-advertising sites. The group estimated that around $13 billion is wasted globally on these sites each year. Now, generative AI offers a new way to automate the content farm process and spin up more junk sites with less effort, resulting in what NewsGuard calls “unreliable artificial intelligence–generated news websites.” One site flagged by NewsGuard produced more than 1,200 articles a day. Some of these new sites are more sophisticated and convincing than others, with AI-generated photos and bios of fake authors. And the problem is growing rapidly. NewsGuard, which evaluates the quality of websites across the internet, says it’s discovering around 25 new AI-generated sites each week. It’s found 217 of them in 13 languages since it started tracking the phenomenon in April. NewsGuard has a clever way to identify these junk AI-written websites. Because many of them are also created without human oversight, they are often riddled with error messages typical of generative AI systems. For example, one site called CountyLocalNews.com had messages like “Sorry, I cannot fulfill this prompt as it goes against ethical and moral principles … As an AI language model, it is my responsibility to provide factual and trustworthy information.” NewsGuard’s AI looks for these snippets of text on the websites, and then a human analyst reviews them. Making money from junk “It appears that programmatic advertising is the main revenue source for these AI-generated websites,” says Lorenzo Arvanitis, an analyst at NewGuard who has been tracking AI-generated web content. “We have identified hundreds of Fortune 500 companies and well-known, prominent brands that are advertising on these sites and that are unwittingly supporting it.” MIT Technology Review looked at the list of almost 400 individual ads from over 140 major brands that NewsGuard identified on the AI-generated sites that served programmatic ads, which included companies from many different industries including finance, retail, auto, health care, and e-commerce. The average cost of a programmatic ad was $1.21 per thousand impressions as of January 2023, and brands often don’t review all the automatic placements of their advertisements, even though they cost money. Google’s programmatic ad product, called Google Ads, is the largest exchange and made $168 billion in advertising revenue last year. The company has come under criticism for serving ads on content farms in the past, even though its own policies prohibit sites from placing Google-served ads on pages with “spammy automatically generated content.” Around a quarter of the sites flagged by NewsGuard featured programmatic ads from major brands. Of the 393 ads from big brands found on AI-generated sites, 356 were served by Google. “We have strict policies that govern the type of content that can monetize on our platform,” Michael Aciman, a policy communications manager for Google, told MIT Technology Review in an email. “For example, we don’t allow ads to run alongside harmful content, spammy or low-value content, or content that’s been solely copied from other sites. When enforcing these policies, we focus on the quality of the content rather than how it was created, and we block or remove ads from serving if we detect violations.” Most ad exchanges and platforms already have policies against serving ads on content farms, yet they “do not appear to uniformly enforce these policies,” and “many of these ad exchanges continue to serve ads on [made-for-advertising] sites even if they appear to be in violation of … quality policies,” says Krzysztof Franaszek, founder of Adalytics, a digital forensics and ad verification company. Google said that the presence of AI-generated content on a page is not an inherent violation. “We also recognize that bad actors are always shifting their approach and may leverage technology, such as generative AI, to circumvent our policies and enforcement systems,” said Aciman. A new generation of misinformation sites NewsGuard says that most of the AI-generated sites are considered “low quality” but “do not spread misinformation.” But the economic dynamic of content farms already incentivizes the creation of clickbaity websites that are often riddled with junk and misinformation, and now that AIs can do the same thing on a bigger scale, it threatens to exacerbate the misinformation problem. For example, one AI-written site, MedicalOutline.com, had articles that spread harmful health misinformation with headlines like “Can lemon cure skin allergy?” “What are 5 natural remedies for ADHD?” and “How can you prevent cancer naturally?” According to NewsGuard, advertisements from nine major brands, including the bank Citigroup, the automaker Subaru, and the wellness company GNC, were placed on the site. Those ads were served via Google. Adalytics confirmed to MIT Technology Review that ads on Medical Outline appeared to be placed via Google as of June 24. We reached out to Medical Outline, Citigroup, Subaru, and GNC for comment over the weekend, but the brands have not yet replied. After MIT Technology Review flagged the ads on Medical Outline and other sites to Google, Aciman said that Google had removed ads from serving on many of the sites “due to pervasive policy violations.” The ads were still visible on Medical Outline as of June 25. “NewsGuard’s findings shed light on the concerning relationship between Google, ad tech companies, and the emergence of a new generation of misinformation sites masquerading as news sites and content farms made possible by AI,” says Jack Brewster, the enterprise editor of NewsGuard. “The opaque nature of programmatic advertising has inadvertently turned major brands into unwitting supporters, unaware that their ad dollars indirectly fund these unreliable AI-generated sites.” Franaszek says it’s still too early to tell how the AI-generated content will affect the programmatic advertising landscape. After all, in order for those sites to make money, they still need to attract humans to their content, and it’s currently not clear whether generative AI will make that easier. Some sites might draw in only a couple of thousand views each month, making just a few dollars. “The cost of content generation is likely less than 5% of the total cost of running a [made-for-advertising] site, and replacing low-cost foreign labor with an AI is unlikely to significantly change this situation,” says Franaszek. So far, there aren’t any easy solutions, especially given that advertising props up the entire economic model of the internet. “What is key to remember is that programmatic ads—and targeted ads more generally—are a fundamental enabler of the internet economy,” says Hodan Omaar, senior AI policy advisor at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a think tank in Washington, DC. “If policymakers banned the use of these types of ad services, consumers would face a radically different internet: more ads that are less relevant, lower-quality online content and services, and more paywalls,” Omaar says. “Policy shouldn’t be focused on getting rid of programmatic ads altogether, but rather on how to ensure there are more robust mechanisms in place to catch the spread of misinformation, whether it be direct or indirect.”

How security pros use TikTok without handing over personal data to China

Mishi Marigold June 26, 2023 0

Technology News Articles on Fox News

How security pros use TikTok without handing over personal data to China

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I’ve been saying it for months: Get TikTok off your phone.

It’s not the only China-based app you need to worry about. Temu, the app that lets you "shop like a billionaire," isn’t worth the deals. Here’s why — and what to do if you’ve been using it.

That’s not all. Here’s a list of dangerous apps you need to delete ASAP.

If you still want to use TikTok, you can without handing over all your information to communist China.

Why not just use the app?

Plain and simple, TikTok is a national security threat. The Chinese-owned social media platform’s parent company ByteDance is based in Beijing and is required by Chinese law to give the government access to collected data.

TikTok collects data that includes search and browsing history, facial ID, voice prints, texts, location, and photos.

Though government agencies and even the entire state of Montana have banned the social media app, it’s still incredibly popular — used by about two-thirds of teens in the U.S.

Want my tech smarts straight to your inbox? Less than 5 minutes a day and loved by 400K readers. Sign up for free.

What are your options?

Browsing TikTok on the web won’t cut it. There’s still a significant amount of tracking.

Your best buy is buying a low-cost smartphone, sometimes called a burner phone. You don't need anything fancy since this is just for social media. A super basic cheap Android phone works just fine.

Turn on the phone and set it up, but here’s the trick: Don’t link it to any of your primary accounts.

Start fresh

Do not log into your Google account, Apple ID, company email, personal email, or anything else. Certainly, don't give it access to any sensitive personal or financial information.

Create a new email account just for this phone — and your TikTok account. That way, even if TikTok (or any other app) collects data from your device, it won’t be tied to your actual personal information.

Of course, this phone still has a connection to you. Be careful what you share with the app or in your posts.

You can connect the burner phone to your home’s Wi-Fi, so you don’t need to purchase a cellular data plan. But there’s one more important thing you need to do.

Tech 101: Sick of slow Wi-Fi? Use these tips to fix yours.

Take care with your network, too

When you connect a device to your home network, it’s in the same digital space as your other devices.

For instance, if your "burner phone" was infected with malware, that could potentially impact other devices on your network.

Since privacy and security are our focus here, take the time to set up a guest network in your home. This allows guests, or the devices you choose, to access the internet but not the other devices on your main network.

Most routers allow you to enable a "Guest Network" option in the settings. Depending on your router, you may do this through an app or the web interface.

You'll need the device's IP address and admin password to access your router admin page from a computer. These may be written on the user guide for your router brand, but some sites can help you find them if you don't have this information. Tap or click here for a list of default passwords for 548 router brands.

Look for a Guest Wi-Fi section, or you may find it under Wireless Settings. Give your guest network its own name, different from your regular network, so you don’t accidentally choose the wrong one on your new TikTok phone.

Keep your tech-know going

My popular podcast is called "Kim Komando Today." It’s a solid 30 minutes of tech news, tips, and callers with tech questions like you from all over the country. Search for it wherever you get your podcasts. For your convenience, hit the link below for a recent episode.

PODCAST PICK: Naughty WFH trend, suicide hotline data fiasco & Google's life questions

Plus, are we alone? I talk UFOs and aliens with Dr. Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer for the SETI Institute. A Georgia man sued Meta — and won his case. The US buys up personal data, dating profile blunders and how to remove photos from real estate sites.

Check out my podcast "Kim Komando Today" on Apple, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast player.

Listen to the podcast here or wherever you get your podcasts. Just search for my last name, "Komando."

Sound like a tech pro, even if you’re not! Award-winning popular host Kim Komando is your secret weapon. Listenon 425+ radio stations or get the podcast. And join over 400,000 people who get her free 5-minute daily email newsletter.

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How to keep your phone battery charged longer

Mishi Marigold June 26, 2023 0

Technology News Articles on Fox News

How to keep your phone battery charged longer

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The dreaded notification pops up on your phone screen: Your battery is running low. We’ve all experienced the feeling of seeing that percentage drop further and lower with no access to a phone charger. Whether you’re hoping to extend your battery’s life or you need to keep your phone alive for a few extra hours, follow these simple steps to keep a little extra juice in that charge.

CLICK TO GET KURT’S FREE CYBERGUY NEWSLETTER WITH SECURITY ALERTS, QUICK TIPS, TECH REVIEWS AND EASY HOW-TO’S TO MAKE YOU SMARTER

First, let’s check the health of your battery to determine if this is the root of your problems.

If your iPhone is older than a year, your battery could be spent.

How to check your iPhone’s battery health:

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE FTC TAKING ON AMAZON PRIME

5 REASONS WHY YOU WANT TO USE AIRPLANE MODE MORE OFTEN

MORE: 5 BEST PORTABLE CHARGERS OF 2023

You’ll note on the prior screen (Settings > Battery) at the bottom of the screen you’ll see a list of apps that are consuming the largest parts of your battery. This may be helpful if you happen to keep apps open all the time. You may want to close them to see if it makes a difference in your battery performance.

HOW TO AVOID VACATION RENTAL SCAMS

How to close an app

The way you close an app depends on the type of device that you have. Find your iPhone or iPod touch model below, then follow the steps.

iPhone X and later

iPhone SE, iPhone 8 and earlier, and iPod touch

ARE 3-D PRINTED CAKES THE FUTURE OF BAKING?

If there is a new iOS, app developers often have to update the apps to optimize performance. That said, be sure to update.

How to check if your iPhone needs a software update:

HOW TO GET RID OF AN OLD EMAIL ADDRESS AS YOUR DEFAULT OPTION

You may already be familiar with Low Power Mode because the iPhone will prompt the option to turn it on when your phone dips to 20% in battery, but you can turn it on anytime in your Settings.

How to turn on Low Power Mode on iPhone:

Low Power Mode will help keep your battery charged longer, but it will stop some apps, like your email, from refreshing in the background.

MORE: DO'S AND DON'TS OF CHARGING YOUR PHONE THE RIGHT WAY

While you don’t want to turn off Location Services completely, you can change the settings for individual applications that don’t need your location at all times.

How to turn off Location Services on iPhone:

Many apps require your location, but opting to allow them to access only while using the program will save your battery.

Turning off Background App Refresh can optimize device performance and extend battery life by preventing apps from consuming resources in the background.

How to turn off Background App Refresh on iPhone:

You can also keep Background App Refresh on and instead toggle off all of the applications you don’t need to check while saving battery.

NOTE: I don't recommend disabling the Background App Refresh function for the system applications. Also, turning the Background App Refresh Off can impact real-time updates, location-based services, and result in limited functionality for certain apps that rely on background processing.

Dimming your screen brightness is a simple yet effective way to conserve battery life.

How to reduce brightness on iPhone:

BE ON HIGH ALERT IF YOU USE THIS POPULAR RESERVATION APP

There are several tips I have discovered to extend the battery life of your Android device that will allow you to enjoy prolonged usage without worrying about frequent recharging.

Settings may vary depending on your Android phone’s manufacturer.

Turning on Power Saving Mode will automatically reduce battery-draining settings like your screen brightness.

How to turn on Power Saving Mode on Android:

AI REVEALS CHEMICALS THAT COULD STOP AGING IN ITS TRACKS

Even if your Bluetooth is deactivated, the nearby device scanning setting will automatically scan for other devices nearby and let you connect to them. This will drain your battery quickly if you’re in a setting with lots of other devices.

Settings may vary depending on your Android phone’s manufacturer.

How to turn off Nearby device scanning on Android:

SAY HELLO TO GOOGLE WALLET'S 6 AMAZING FEATURES FOR ANDROID PHONES

If you're not at home or connected to a recognized WiFi network, your phone will continuously scan for available open networks that your device can connect to. While turning off WiFi and Bluetooth scanning will mean you have to manually select a WiFi network or Bluetooth device, turning this feature off will keep your battery charged longer.

Settings may vary depending on your Android phone’s manufacturer.

How to turn off WiFi/Bluetooth scanning on Android:

BEST WAYS TO SAVE AND RESTORE DOCUMENTS

Stopping background app refresh is a good thing as it helps conserve battery life and improves device performance by reducing unnecessary data usage and freeing up system resources.

NOTE: I don't recommend disabling the Background App Refresh function for the system applications

How to stop Background App Refresh on Android:

Settings may vary depending on your Android phone’s manufacturer.

Turning the Background App Refresh Off can impact real-time updates, location-based services, and result in limited functionality for certain apps that rely on background processing.

MORE: WHICH APPS ARE DRAINING YOUR PHONE’S BATTERY?

Instead of going through full charge cycles from 0% to 100%, it's surprisingly better to give your phone partial charges more frequently. Ending a charge at around 80%-90% is better for the battery's health compared to charging it all the way up to 100%

When it comes to saving your battery life, a few easy steps can make a big impact. Whether you're checking the health of your battery or tweaking settings like Low Power Mode and screen brightness, these tips work great for iPhones and Androids. So go ahead, give them a try, and say goodbye to that annoying low-battery notification so that you'll have some extra juice when you need it most.

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Sunday, June 25, 2023

AMD B650 Motherboard Roundup: 35 Motherboards Tested

Mishi Marigold June 25, 2023 0

TechSpot

via TechSpot https://ift.tt/0qYLlw7 We can finally present to you the results of our extensive AMD B650 motherboard roundup. It's been a massive undertaking that took several months to test 35 boards in total, but it's finally complete. Read Entire Article

Saturday, June 24, 2023

What to know about the FTC taking on Amazon Prime

Mishi Marigold June 24, 2023 0

Technology News Articles on Fox News

What to know about the FTC taking on Amazon Prime

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The Federal trade commission (FTC) is suing Amazon, alleging that the tech giant has been using what it calls "deceptive" tactics by tricking millions of consumers into unknowingly enrolling in its Amazon Prime service. The FTC claims Amazon illegally enrolled customers in Amazon Prime accounts without their consent, as well as making it difficult for them to cancel their subscriptions once enrolled. This lawsuit comes just ahead of Prime Day, one of Amazon's biggest sale days of the year, which is set to be held July 11-12.

What to know. Did Amazon use ‘dark patterns’ to trick customers?

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The FTC filed a complaint on June 21 stating that they believe Amazon has been knowingly duping millions of customers into subscribing to Amazon Prime accounts by using what are called "dark patterns."

Dark patterns are design choices of what customers see on screen deliberately created to mislead or trick them into taking actions they might not have taken willingly or understanding the full consequences of their actions.

Examples of dark patterns include hidden costs, misleading information, forced consent, confusing interfaces, and other tactics that exploit user vulnerabilities. In this case, the FTC asserts that the dark patterns employed by Amazon were designed to trick customers into signing up for a Prime account. In doing so, the FTC charges that Amazon has violated the FTC Act and the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act.

Amazon’s alleged difficult cancelation process

To add insult to injury, the company is alleged to have also made the cancelation process super difficult for people once they realized that they were enrolled in an account that they did not want. According to the FTC, Amazon did this by slowing up or completely rejecting changes that would have made the cancelation process much easier for people.

IT'S TIME TO TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR ONLINE PRIVACY WITH AMAZON

 Amazon’s Prime Membership opt-out difficulties

According to the FTC complaint, there have been numerous allegations about the company's refusal to make changes to its policies that would make it easier for people to opt out of Prime memberships.

The complaint also states that many customers have experienced trying to buy products on Amazon while constantly being faced with a prompt to subscribe to Prime for $14.99 per month, making it much more difficult to simply buy a product without having to sign up for a membership. Amazon Prime costs $139 per year and gives consumers access to free two-day shipping, along with access to Prime Video and music streaming.

Unclear subscription button and difficult cancelation process

The FTC alleges that there have also been cases where the button that was shown for people to click and buy their products was not made clear enough, as many did not know that clicking that button also meant subscribing to a membership.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TO CASH IN ON FACEBOOK'S $725M SETTLEMENT 

When it came to canceling their membership, the FTC states that people were forced to be redirected to numerous different pages where they were asked multiple times to either stick with Amazon at a discounted price, turn off auto-renewal, or not cancel altogether.

How has Amazon responded to this complaint?

The complaint claims that Amazon was aware of its actions and that it failed to take any significant steps toward change. Amazon, however, vehemently fought back against these claims. In a statement to CyberGuy, an Amazon spokesperson strongly denied the accusations, stating:

The FTC’s claims are false on the facts and the law. The truth is that customers love Prime, and by design we make it clear and simple for customers to both sign up for or cancel their Prime membership. As with all our products and services, we continually listen to customer feedback and look for ways to improve the customer experience, and we look forward to the facts becoming clear as this case plays out. We also find it concerning that the FTC announced this lawsuit without notice to us, in the midst of our discussions with FTC staff members to ensure they understand the facts, context, and legal issues, and before we were able to have a dialog with the Commissioners themselves before they filed a lawsuit. While the absence of that normal course engagement is extremely disappointing, we look forward to proving our case in court."

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Kurt's key takeaways

The allegations against Amazon by the Federal Trade Commission raise serious concerns about the company's practices and the use of dark patterns to enroll customers in Amazon Prime without their consent. However, what to know is that this lawsuit is still ongoing, and it is too early to tell what it will lead to or if people who have been duped, as the FTC alleges, will be repaid in any way. If Amazon truly has been deceiving its customers and making it difficult to cancel subscriptions, then we might see the start of significant and necessary changes made to the company's policies. People have the right to choose how they want to spend their money, and no company, no matter how big or small, should be allowed to dictate that for them.

Have you ever had troubles with Amazon Prime membership? Let us know by writing us at CyberGuy.com/Contact

To get alerts like this and more of my tech tips, subscribe to my free CyberGuy Report Newsletter by heading to CyberGuy.com/Newsletter

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5 reasons why you want to use Airplane Mode more often

Mishi Marigold June 24, 2023 0

Technology News Articles on Fox News

5 reasons why you want to use Airplane Mode more often

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Do you switch your phone to Airplane Mode while flying? Many of us do. However, if you only turn on that handy option while traveling via an airplane, you may not be taking full advantage of this convenient phone setting. I am about to show you why it may be worth considering turning it on in a variety of other situations where it can be super helpful.

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What is Airplane Mode?

First, Airplane Mode is a setting that comes on smartphones that turns off your phone's network connections and signals. It was originally intended to make phones still usable on airplanes, so you don't have to turn them completely off. The quick setting actually comes in pretty handy on other occasions.

The importance of Airplane Mode during flights

It's important to use Airplane Mode during flights as airplanes use systems that cell phone signals could potentially interfere with. You can still opt to turn on WiFi and Bluetooth while in Airplane mode, so the setting doesn't completely interrupt how you would normally use your phone.

How to turn on Airplane Mode on an iPhone

You can also:

Enable Airplane Mode from the settings

How to turn Airplane Mode off on an iPhone

Disable Airplane Mode from the control center

You can also:

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How to turn on Airplane Mode on an Android

Tap Airplane Mode

TOP TIPS FOR STRESS-FREE HOLIDAY TRAVEL

5 benefits of using Airplane Mode more frequently

1. Get the most out of your battery life

When you turn Airplane Mode on, your phone will stop searching for a cell signal constantly. This will automatically save power, and you can save even more if you don't turn on WiFi or Bluetooth. A handy way to charge your phone more quickly is to turn on Airplane mode while your phone is plugged in, avoiding calls or texts from coming in and interrupting the charging process. If you're ever in an emergency situation, Airplane Mode is a great way to conserve battery life, yet only use it if you don't need access to GPS or cellular service to reach someone.

APPLE’S EMERGENCY SOS VIA SATELLITE FEATURE IS NOW LIVE. HERE’S HOW IT WORKS

2. Avoid roaming charges

If you're traveling internationally and haven't purchased a SIM card or roaming plan, Airplane Mode can help stop you from receiving a cell phone bill full of charges you weren't expecting. Turning on Airplane Mode means your phone won't accidentally connect to foreign cell networks, incurring costly roaming charges you'll be stuck with. You can still connect to local WiFi networks and use your phone to browse the internet or text if you use a WiFi-based service like iMessage or WhatsApp.

HOW TO SPEED UP YOUR WIFI, INTERNET CONNECTIONS 

3. Prevent tracking

If you use location services and don't want someone to be able to see the location of your phone, turn on Airplane Mode before traveling there. This could be helpful if you're trying to surprise someone and don't want them to see where you're located or if you need to go off the grid for a bit. Airplane Mode won't notify contacts that you've stopped sharing location; rather, it will display your last known location before turning the setting on or won't display your location at all. It's important to note if you have an app that tracks your location and shares it with others, it might continue to do so even if your phone is in Airplane Mode. If you want to ensure that your location is not being tracked, it's best to take additional steps, such as disabling location services in your phone's settings.

HOW TO STOP UNWANTED DISTRACTIONS WITH IPHONE FOCUS MODES

4. Reduce distractions

Notifications can be distracting no matter how strong-willed you may be. If you want to stop friends and family from being able to call or text as you read an eBook, workout, or are at an important event, Airplane mode will cut off their ability to contact you for a bit. Just remember to turn Airplane Mode off after you're done so everyone can get back in touch with you.

5. Sleep without interruptions

You can turn on Airplane Mode before going to bed to avoid any incoming calls, messages, or notifications that may disrupt your sleep. However, make sure to disable Airplane Mode when you wake up so that everyone can get in touch with you.

HOW TO TRACK SLEEP ON YOUR APPLE WATCH 

When you shouldn't use Airplane Mode

It's important to note that while Airplane Mode can be useful in certain situations, it also disables cellular communication, so make sure to enable it only when appropriate and always comply with relevant regulations and guidelines.

Here are a few examples of times you should *NOT* use Airplane Mode:

10 WAYS TO TRAVEL LIKE A PRO FOR A WORRY-FREE TRIP

Kurt's key takeaways

Airplane Mode is like a secret superpower on your phone that goes beyond flights. Seriously, it's a game-changer. You can save battery life, dodge those sneaky roaming charges while globetrotting, keep your location private, escape distractions, and even sleep like a baby without interruptions. But hey, remember not to activate Airplane mode when you need to make important calls, use GPS, or access the internet outside of WiFi. So, be smart about it and unlock the full potential of this nifty feature on your phone. Trust me; you won't regret it.

What are some creative ways you have used Airplane mode on your phone outside of air travel? Let us know by writing us at CyberGuy.com/Contact 

For more of my quick phone tips, subscribe to my free CyberGuy Report Newsletter by heading to CyberGuy.com/Newsletter

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Scam alert: If you received an unsolicited smartwatch in the mail don't turn it on

Mishi Marigold June 24, 2023 0

TechSpot

via TechSpot https://ift.tt/iumpAFj US military service members have recently reported receiving smartwatches in the mail which they didn't order. It is unclear who sent the devices and why, but foul play is suspected, and the Army's criminal investigation division (CID) advises recipients to never turn the watches on. Read Entire Article

Harvard is bringing its own brand of generative AI to the classroom

Mishi Marigold June 24, 2023 0

TechSpot

via TechSpot https://ift.tt/gwUstE7 Computer Science 50, also known as CS50, is one of Harvard's largest and most popular courses. The introductory-level computer science course spans a number of topics including coding languages, computer science concepts, IT security, and artificial intelligence. The on-campus version of the course averages more than 800 students, making one-on-one... Read Entire Article

Here are some of the biggest revelations from the Microsoft vs FTC hearing

Mishi Marigold June 24, 2023 0

TechSpot

via TechSpot https://ift.tt/cEKfAQT Exclusivity has been the most prominent sticking point of the opposition from Sony and the FTC against Microsoft's $69 billion attempt to purchase Activision Blizzard. Since Microsoft announced the deal in January 2022, it and Sony have jostled back and forth between Sony's claims that its competitor would degrade or... Read Entire Article

Everything you need to know about AI but were too afraid to ask

Mishi Marigold June 24, 2023 0

IFTTT

Business executives keep talking about it. Teachers are struggling with what to do about it. And artists like Drake seem angry about it.

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Everything you need to know about AI but were too afraid to ask

Mishi Marigold June 24, 2023 0

Tech

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Business executives keep talking about it. Teachers are struggling with what to do about it. And artists like Drake seem angry about it.

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Friday, June 23, 2023

Malaysia to take legal action against Meta over 'undesirable' content

Mishi Marigold June 23, 2023 0

IFTTT

Malaysia to take legal action against Meta over 'undesirable' content

Malaysia said Friday it would take legal action against Facebook parent company Meta for failing to remove "undesirable" posts, the strongest measure the country has taken to date over such content.

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A.I. Beach Vibes-Based R.T.O. the Black Mirror Quamputer

Mishi Marigold June 23, 2023 0

Tech

A.I. Beach Vibes-Based R.T.O. the Black Mirror Quamputer

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Generative artificial intelligence can increasingly do the work of creatives — so why aren’t we seeing more A.I. ads and A.I. actors?

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New Study Bolsters Room-Temperature Superconductor Claim

Mishi Marigold June 23, 2023 0

Tech

New Study Bolsters Room-Temperature Superconductor Claim

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A team of researchers verified a key measurement from a study earlier this year that had faced doubts from other scientists.

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Robotaxis are here. Its time to decide what to do about them

Mishi Marigold June 23, 2023 0

Tech

via MIT Technology Review https://ift.tt/cNe4MbW In some San Francisco neighborhoods, at certain hours of the night, it seems as if one in 10 cars on the road has no driver behind the wheel. These are not experimental test vehicles, and this is not a drill. Many of San Francisco’s ghostly driverless cars are commercial robotaxis, directly competing with taxis, Uber and Lyft, and public transit. They are a real, albeit still marginal, part of the city’s transportation system. And the companies that operate them, Cruise and Waymo, appear poised to continue expanding their services in San Francisco, Austin, Phoenix, and perhaps even Los Angeles in the coming months. I spent the past year covering robotaxis for the San Francisco Examiner and have taken nearly a dozen rides in Cruise driverless cars over the past few months. During my reporting, I’ve been struck by the lack of urgency in the public discourse about robotaxis. I’ve come to believe that most people, including many powerful decision makers, are not aware of how quickly this industry is advancing, or how severe the near-term labor and transportation impacts could be. Hugely important decisions about robotaxis are being made in relative obscurity by appointed agencies like the California Public Utilities Commission. Legal frameworks remain woefully inadequate: in the Golden State, cities have no regulatory authority over the robotaxis that ply their streets, and police legally cannot cite them for moving violations. It’s high time for the public and its elected representatives to play a more active role in shaping the future of this new technology. Like it or not, robotaxis are here. Now comes the difficult work of deciding what to do about them. After years of false promises, it’s now widely acknowledged that the dream of owning your very own sleep/gaming/makeup mobility pod remains years, if not decades, away. Tesla’s misleadingly named Autopilot system, the closest thing to autonomous driving in a mass-market car, is under investigation by both the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Justice Department. Unfortunately, there is no standard, government-approved framework for evaluating the safety of autonomous vehicles. Media coverage of robotaxis has been rightfully skeptical. Journalists (myself included) have highlighted strange robo-behavior, concerning software failures, and Cruise and Waymo’s lack of transparency about their data. Cruise’s driverless vehicles, in particular, have shown an alarming tendency to inexplicably stop in the middle of the road, blocking traffic for extended periods of time. San Francisco officials have documented at least 92 such incidents in just six months, including three that disrupted emergency responders. These critical stories, though important, obscure the general trend, which has been moving steadily in the robotaxi industry’s favor. Over the past few years, Cruise and Waymo have cleared several major regulatory hurdles, expanded into new markets, and racked up over a million relatively uneventful, truly driverless miles each in major American cities. Robotaxis are operationally quite different from personally owned autonomous vehicles, and they are in a much better position for commercial deployment. They can be unleashed within a strictly limited area where they’re well trained; their use can be closely monitored by the company that designed them; and they can immediately be pulled off the road in bad weather or if there’s another issue. Unfortunately, there is no standard, government-approved framework for evaluating the safety of autonomous vehicles. In a paper on its first million “rider-only” miles, Waymo had two police-reportable crashes (with no injuries) and 18 minor contact events, about half of which involved a human driver hitting a stationary Waymo. The company cautions against direct comparisons with human drivers because there are rarely analogous data sets. Cruise, on the other hand, claims that its robotaxis experienced 53% fewer collisions than the typical human ride-hail driver in San Francisco in their first million driverless miles, and 73% fewer collisions with a meaningful risk of injury. While not perfect, my most recent Cruise ride, in April, was sufficiently close to the experience of riding with a responsible human driver that I momentarily forgot I was in a robotaxi. The mere fact that these vehicles are programmed to follow traffic laws and the speed limit automatically makes them feel like safer drivers than a large percentage of humans on the road. It remains to be seen whether robotaxis are ready for deployment on a significant scale, or what the metric for determining readiness would even be.But barring a significant shift in momentum, like an economic shock, a horrific tragedy, or a dramatic political pivot, robotaxis are positioned to continue their roll. This is enough to warrant a broader discussion of how they will change cities and society. Cruise and Waymo are close to being authorized to provide all-day commercial robotaxi service throughout virtually all of San Francisco. That could immediately have a considerable economic impact on the city’s taxi and ride-hail drivers. The same goes for every other city where Cruise and Waymo set up shop. The prospect of automating professional drivers out of existence is not theoretical anymore. It’s a very real possibility in the near future. Robotaxis also have huge immediate-term implications for transportation policy. This technology could make automotive transportation so cheap and easy that people decide to make more trips by car, increasing congestion and undermining public transportation. Traffic could be made even worse, San Francisco officials fear, by the many robotaxis double-parking as they await passengers, lacking the situational awareness of where and for how long it’s appropriate to stop. The emergence of robotaxis adds urgency to fraught questions in labor and transportation policy that will need to be addressed sooner or later. Should workers be protected from displacement, or be somehow compensated if they are displaced? Should cars have free rein in the most congested, transit-accessible parts of cities? Should electric vehicles continue to be exempt from the gas taxes that pay for road maintenance? As technology accelerates, public policy should accelerate along with it. But in order to keep up, the public needs to have a clear-eyed view of just how quickly the future could arrive.

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