John Martellaro and Andrew Orr join Kelly Guimont to discuss webcams and security measures, as well as AI that freaks out even Elon Musk.
Facebook Might Remove Anti-Vaxxer Content
Advertisements on Facebook promoted by anti-vaxxer organizations have been specifically targeting pregnant women.
How to Manage Your Online Personal Data
Louise Matakis put together a guide on how to manage your online personal data, and figuring out who buys, sells, and barters it.
Personal data is often compared to oil—it powers today’s most profitable corporations, just like fossil fuels energized those of the past. But the consumers it’s extracted from often know little about how much of their information is collected, who gets to look at it, and what it’s worth. Every day, hundreds of companies you may not even know exist gather facts about you, some more intimate than others. That information may then flow to academic researchers, hackers, law enforcement, and foreign nations—as well as plenty of companies trying to sell you stuff.
A good guide as usual from Wired.
Germany Government Adviser: No Smartphones for Children Under 14
Children under 14-years-old should not have access to a smartphone, an adviser to the German government has recommended.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee Wants to Fix the Web with New Startup
Sir Tim Berners Lee, the inventor or the World Wide Web, has a new, a project. Called Inrupt, it wants to develop a new web structure to put people back in control of their data. Data would be stored on an individual’s “pod” instead of a company’s server. Wired spoke to Sir Tim about the project.
Inrupt aims to drive the development of the Solid platform and transform it from an innovative idea to a viable platform for businesses and consumers. “My group in the CSAIL [Computer Sciences and Artifical Intelligence Laboratory] Lab at MIT had been working on Solid for some years,” Berners-Lee says. “The initial goal of Inrupt is to add the energy and resources of a startup to the open-source efforts to make the Solid movement happen.”
7-in-1 MacBook Pro USB-C Hub: $34.99
We have a deal on a 7-in-1 MacBook Pro USB-C hub. This device has one Thunderbolt 3 Type-C port, two USB 3.0 ports, an HDMI port, and SDXC, micro SDXC, and TF card ports. You can get it through our deal for $34.99.
Spotify Spent $340 Million on Anchor and Gimlet
Spotify spent close to $340 million on its recent purchases of Gimlet and Anchor, making a good return for investors.
Faulty iPad Behind New Jersey Apartment Fire
Apple is being sued because a faulty iPad battery caused a New Jersey apartment fire in 2017, killing the occupant.
This AI Tool Scares the Crap Out of Elon Musk
OpenAI, an AI research institute cofounded by Elon Musk and Sam Altman, built an AI text generator that its creators worry is dangerous.
Jack Clark, policy director at OpenAI, says that example shows how technology like this might shake up the processes behind online disinformation or trolling, some of which already use some form of automation. “As costs of producing text fall, we may see behaviors of bad actors alter,” he says.
Based on the examples I think it’s safe to say this AI would pass the Turing Test.
Allstate's iCracked Purchase Could be a Win For Consumers
Insurance company Allstate’s purchase of repair firm iCracked Tuesday confirmed its position as a key player in the right to repair movement. Malcolm Owen on AppleInsider commented that the deal could help Allstate speed up device repairs claims process. In the future, customers may only have to be without a phone for hours, not days.
At the same time as bolstering its consumer offerings, acquiring iCracked also makes Allstate a major force in the right to repair movement in the United States, due to its business involving third-party repairs. Repair.org executive director Gay Gordon-Byrne confirmed to Motherboard the outfit has already loaned a lobbyist to assist the push for legislation in New Hampshire. The purchase is already being seen as a positive for the movement, with iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens claiming “I’m optimistic that this partnership will elevate the visibility of the work that we’re doing together.
