Today’s Tech Sightings: Groups Representing Google, Netflix, Microsoft, Apple Slam Latest Bill Aiming to Curb Tech Security Both houses of the U.S. Congress are looking at bills that could seriously limit building strong privacy measures into tech devices and social media messaging services. But this week, a host of groups representing major tech companies published […]
US Tech Firms Fight Encryption-limits Bill; Free Wi-Fi Networks Unsafe
Posted April 20th, 2016 at 12:48 pm (UTC-4)
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Encrypting the Entire Web; Facebook’s New Plan to Connect the World
Posted April 14th, 2016 at 11:35 am (UTC-4)
Today’s Tech Sightings: A Scheme to Encrypt the Entire Web Is Actually Working Encryption is slowly becoming the enemy, so to speak, as lawmakers, at least in the U.S., rush to enact legislation that would either add back doors to mobile devices or force tech companies to comply with government requests to unlock certain smartphones. […]
IBM’s Watson Joins Cancer War; Google to Train 1 Million Africans
Posted April 12th, 2016 at 11:33 am (UTC-4)
Today’s Tech Sightings: IBM Watson Enlists in War on Cancer IBM’s artificial intelligence system, also known as Watson, is being fed nearly 14,000 pages of all kinds of cancer topics to create a mobile app that can offer personalized advice to cancer patients. The effort is a partnership between IBM and the American Cancer Society. […]
3-D Printing Recreates Rembrandt; The Woman Behind Microsoft’s Tay
Posted April 6th, 2016 at 11:28 am (UTC-4)
Today’s Tech Sightings: Computer, 3-D Printer Create Perfect Rembrandt Painting ‘The Next Rembrandt’ – a collaboration between historians, software developers, scientists, engineers and analysts – has recreated the work of Dutch painter Rembrandt using a computer and a 3-D printer. The team spent months studying the master’s works in order to create an algorithm that […]
Mayo Clinic Takes on VR Sickness; China Challenges Google’s AlphaGo
Posted March 31st, 2016 at 11:30 am (UTC-4)
Today’s Tech Sightings: Mayo Clinic Cure Said to Alleviate VR Motion Sickness Some, but not all virtual reality (VR) headgear cause wearers to experience nausea and motion sickness even with higher frame rates and lower latency. But according to Fast Company, the Mayo Clinic hospital has developed algorithms that can trick the VR user’s brain […]
Building Brain Cells With Minecraft; China Defends Internet Rules
Posted March 30th, 2016 at 11:56 am (UTC-4)
Today’s Tech Sightings: The Video Game That Builds Brain Cells The world of blocks known as Minecraft is probably one of the most popular games on the planet. And if you are concerned your kids are spending too much time with their blocky creations, consider that the game is being used to teach kids a […]
Microsoft’s AI Learns Racism From Humans; New Trojan Targets USBs
Posted March 24th, 2016 at 11:32 am (UTC-4)
Today’s Tech Sightings: Microsoft’s Tay AI Chatbot Goes Offline After Being Taught to Be Racist Which is more dangerous: human or machine? Microsoft launched its artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot Wednesday, targeting people 18-24-years old, only to withdraw it 16 hours later. After many hours of chatting, it appears Internet users managed to teach Tay to […]
Bangladesh Cyber Heist Biggest on Record; Google AI Beats Human 4-1
Posted March 15th, 2016 at 11:52 am (UTC-4)
Today’s Tech Sightings: Manila Man Gets $30 Million Cash From Cyber Heist; Bangladesh Central Bank Governor Quits Bangladesh’s central bank governor Atiur Rahman resigned Tuesday, succumbing to demands for accountability after the bank lost $81 million to cybercriminals. About $30 million of the money was delivered in cash to a Philippines casino operator in Manila. […]
Computer AI Trounces Go Champ; UN Slams UK Web Snooping
Posted March 9th, 2016 at 12:40 pm (UTC-4)
Today’s Tech Sightings: Computer 1, Human 0 as Google’s AI Wins First Game in Go Challenge And the battle is on. Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) program has soundly beaten professional South Korean Go master Lee Se-dol in their first face-off. Google’s DeepMind’s AlphaGo made a clean 5-0 sweep in the first round of the complicated […]
Giving Women in Tech Their Due; Wearable Mobility for the Blind
Posted March 8th, 2016 at 12:10 pm (UTC-4)
Today’s Tech Sightings: Why Have We Always Dissed Women in Tech? Decorated rocket scientist Yvonne Brill’s obit in 2013 focused more on her cooking and her family culture than on the propulsion system she invented to keep satellites in orbit. And that’s just one example that reflects what writer Richard Nieva calls “society’s tendency to […]