Self-Yelp
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| Self-Yelp | |
| Number | 3604 |
| Broadcast Date | AUGUST 27, 2019 |
| Episode Length | 30:09 |
| Hosts | Sarah Lane, Roger Chang, Anthony Lemos |
| Guests | Patrick Beja |
Voice assistants have been criticized for gender and racial bias due to the fact that they’re predominantly developed by white males in western-based tech companies. Mozilla wants to solve this and created “Common Voice” in 2017, a tool that crowdsources voices as a dataset to diversify AI and represent the global population.
Guest
Quick Hits
- Former Google autonomous vehicle research engineer Anthony Levandowski was charged by federal prosecutors on Tuesday with 33 counts of theft and attempted theft of trade secrets. These charges from the United States Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of California are the latest in a legal battle involving Google, its self-driving car spinoff Waymo and rival Uber. Levandowski is accused of downloading more than 14,000 critical files about Google’s autonomous-vehicle research before leaving the company in 2016 and joining Uber the same year, when Uber bought his self-driving trucking startup Otto. Levandowski faces a maximum of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine for every count, and additional restitution if he's convicted.
- The BBC is making its own smart voice assistant for use in its website and apps for mobile and smart TVs. The voice assistant, called "Beeb" will also be made available for manufacturers to include in devices like smart speakers. Beeb is planned for launch next year.
- 9to5Google notes that the original Chromecast seems to be stuck on firmware 1.36.159268 while all other Chromecasts have the most recent 1.42 firmware. The preview program also shows the 1st gen Chromecast getting 1.36 versions. Google told 9to5Google it will "continue to update it with bug and security fixes."
- The Verge reports Facebook is developing a companion app for Instagram called Threads for more intimate sharing between users and their closest friends. Location, speed, and battery life info is shared along with photo, and video messages. In May, Instagram stopped development of Direct, a standalone messaging app in the works since late 2017. Instagram employees who work on messaging were folded into the Facebook Messenger team earlier this year.
Top Stories
- Yelp is offering new filters in its iPhone app to offer results based on dietary, lifestyle and accessibility preferences. Yelp will also ask users to pick from "cuisine", types of dishes, and "snacks and drinks" to get a better sense of what you like, and use that data along with what's nearby and open to suggest the best spots that also might be dog-friendly or be wheelchair accessible, for example. The new features are rolling out to 60 percent of iOS app users today, with a full rollout to all iOS users in the fall. Android will get a "subset" of these features with full features sometime next year.
- Fairphone announced the Fairphone 3, which has seven modules meant to make it easier to repair, and constructed out of responsibly-sourced, conflict-free, and recycled materials whenever possible. The Fairphone 2 earned it a 10/10 repairability score from iFixit, but the company had to cease support for 2013’s Fairphone 1 in 2017 after spare parts became too expensive. Buyers will get incentives for recycling their previous phones when they buy the Fairphone 3 in certain countries, and the company says it's working to improve health, safety, and pay for its factory workers. The Fairphone 3 has a 5.7-inch Full HD display, a 12-megapixel rear camera, and an 8-megapixel front-facing camera. Inside is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 632 processor, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage. The 3000 mAh battery is removable. Availability starts September 3rd across Europe from select retailers, and preorders directly from Fairphone start today at €450.
- Netflix announced The Irishman, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert DiNiro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci will debut in theaters in the US November 1, in the UK November 8, and arrive on Netflix November 27, Thanksgiving Day in the US. That's a 27-day theater exclusive. Major theater chains require a 90-day exclusive so you will not be able to see The Irishman in AMC, Cineplex, Regal or Cinemark theaters.
- Swatting, where the police are unleashed on an internet user's physical location as a prank, often has violent or deadly consequences. One example two years ago, after a gamer attempted to send the police to another player’s home sent them to the home of a total stranger who was fatally shot in the confusion. As of last October, the Seattle Police Department has maintained an anti-swatting registry that lets people who think they might be swatted add their concern to a profile associated with their address if the police do get dispatched. The registry simply adapts an existing Rave Mobile Safety product the police department already uses that connects a 911 call to the profile of a specific address.
- Microsoft sent out invites to an event October 2 in New York, a year after its last major Surface hardware launch featuring the Surface Pro 6 hybrid and Surface Studio 2. The Verge notes Microsoft has been building a dual-screen device, codenamed “Centaurus" which it demonstrated at an internal meeting in June.
Discussion
Mailbag
- I currently work I.T. for a K-8 and the majority of student and teacher devices are Latitude 2-in-1's. Theoretically they are being used in tablet mode but at least in our environment, 99% of the time they are NOT. To make matters worse, 2-in-1's are also more likely to have mechanical failures because 2-in-1 hinges are inherently weaker than traditional clamshell hinges.
- Sent by Kevin
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| Preceded by: "Tax Wars: A New Hope" |
Self-Yelp |
Followed by: "Siri-ous Changes at Apple" |