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For Low Vision, Diabetes, These Apps Can help

Posted September 1st, 2017 at 11:30 am (UTC-4)
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Data-driven apps often are criticized for sacrificing privacy in the interest of providing personalized services. But they can also help guide people with low vision or track diabetes and scoliosis. Here are a few of them: Seeing AI Microsoft’s intelligent camera app, Seeing AI, is a research project that uses artificial intelligence to analyze pictures […]

‘Michka’ App Fights Child Sex Abuse in Iran

Posted August 25th, 2017 at 10:10 am (UTC-4)
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California nonprofit United for Iran is on a mission to build technologies to help Iranian society tackle sexual violence, women’s rights, and other challenges. Its latest app – Michka – takes on child sexual abuse. Michka is an insect. Her little wings are her private parts. And when someone touches them, Michka becomes confused and […]

Teens Build Double Lives Under Social Media Pressure

Posted August 18th, 2017 at 11:43 am (UTC-4)
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Young internet users are leading double lives as social media increasingly shapes their behavior, often trapping them in a vicious cycle that experts say is detrimental to their health. Likes, followers, “friends,” instant internet stars, and viral content have become the new measure of social status, particularly with young people between 10 to 20 years old, […]

Can We Control Our Intelligent Machines?

Posted August 4th, 2017 at 11:00 am (UTC-4)
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Hardly a day goes by without news about a breakthrough in machine intelligence or some debate about its pros and cons, more recently between Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Tesla Motors’ Elon Musk. Adding his voice to the mix, author and IT specialist Peter Scott warns that rapid AI growth comes with serious risks that, if […]

Decades Later, Governments Still Wary of Social Media

Posted July 28th, 2017 at 11:35 am (UTC-4)
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Social media has become a rallying ground for global citizens at odds with their governments. And while many governments have learned to coexist with this new reality, others still see it as a potential threat. Things used to be simpler with early digital communications back in the ’70s and ’80s. Members of early pioneering social hubs […]

Thai Activists Fight for Web Freedom; Google to Train Millions in Africa

Posted July 27th, 2017 at 1:10 pm (UTC-4)
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Today’s Tech Sightings: Thai Activists Work to Keep Open Web Amid Online Freedom Restrictions Thailand’s military junta has been steadily pursuing people who allegedly have defamed the country’s king on Facebook and other online services. Writer Janjira Sombatpoonsiri notes that hundreds of websites were blocked in May as internet restrictions increased. But pro-democracy activists are […]

Cybersecurity Key Concern for APAC; Google Preps for ‘Future of Work’

Posted July 26th, 2017 at 1:03 pm (UTC-4)
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Today’s Tech Sightings: APAC Users Not Confident Their Online Data Is Properly Secured A new survey released by the Internet Society shows cybersecurity is a top concern for consumers in the Asia-Pacific, with more than 70 percent saying they believe their online personal data is not properly secured. Up to 55 percent said they were […]

Gamers, Computer Users Push Limits of Scientific Research

Posted July 21st, 2017 at 11:30 am (UTC-4)
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Gamers and computer owners are joining forces with EVE Online’s Project Discovery and IBM’s World Community Grid in what could be a future avenue for accelerating underfunded scientific research. Nearly 50,000 people are hunting for new planets outside Earth’s solar system in the massively multiplayer game EVE Online, thanks to a recent tweak from developer […]

‘Devil’s Ivy’ Bug Hits IoT Devices; China Begins VPN Crackdown

Posted July 20th, 2017 at 12:57 pm (UTC-4)
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Today’s Tech Sightings: ​Millions of IoT Devices Hit by ‘Devil’s Ivy’ Bug in Open Source Code Library Cybersecurity experts have been warning about potential risks to Internet of Things (IoT) devices for months. Now, millions of IoT devices, including Axis Communications’ security cameras, are vulnerable to remote attacks because of a flaw in a widely-used […]

WhatsApp Partially Blocked in China; Google Overhauls Mobile Search

Posted July 19th, 2017 at 1:31 pm (UTC-4)
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Today’s Tech Sightings: Chinese Government Partially Blocks WhatsApp Service The WhatsApp messaging service ran afoul of Chinese government censors as part of a wider effort to restrict messengers that do not follow the country’s surveillance policies. The government partially blocked messages in China on Monday, with users reporting instances of undelivered messages that contain pictures […]