Science fiction has whetted our imagination for helpful voice assistants. Whether it’s JARVIS from Iron Man, KITT from Knight Rider, or Computer from Star Trek, many of us harbor a desire for a voice assistant to manage the minutiae of our daily lives. Speech recognition and voice technologies have advanced rapidly in recent years, particularly with the adoption Read more about Private By Design: Free and Private Voice Assistants[…]
The World Health Organization recommended Tuesday that people suffering COVID-19 symptoms avoid taking ibuprofen, after French officials warned that anti-inflammatory drugs could worsen effects of the virus. The warning by French Health Minister Olivier Veran followed a recent study in The Lancet medical journal that hypothesised that an enzyme boosted by anti-inflammatory drugs such as Read more about Avoid taking ibuprofen for COVID-19 symptoms: WHO[…]
Across the globe, governments are imposing travel limits in a bid to stem the spread of coronavirus. The unintended consequence is a squeeze on migrant labor that’s a cornerstone of food production. American produce growers preparing to harvest crops are warning of a devastating impact on fruit and vegetables after the U.S. Embassy in Mexico Read more about Virus Travel Bans Threaten Labor for Global Food Harvests[…]
Techdirt has just written about the extraordinary legal action taken against a company producing Covid-19 tests. Sadly, it’s not the only example of some individuals putting profits before people. Here’s a story from Italy, which is currently seeing more new coronavirus cases and deaths than anywhere else in the world. Last Thursday, a hospital in Read more about Volunteers 3D-Print Unobtainable $11,000 Valve For $1 To Keep Covid-19 Patients Alive; Original Manufacturer Threatens To Sue[…]
Last month we reported about Tesla’s occasional practice of removing features like Autopilot and Ludicrous mode from used cars after they’d been purchased by people who bought the cars with those features enabled. While Tesla eventually restored the removed features to the subject of the original story, I’ve been in touch with a number of Read more about Tesla’s Removal Of Features On Used Cars Appears To Be In Violation Of Its Own Rules[…]
KPN and VodafoneZiggo do not have to open their networks to third parties. That is what the Board of Appeal for Business has decided today. This means that providers without their own network cannot enforce access to those networks for the provision of services. The ACM had stipulated that KPN and VodafoneZiggo should both open Read more about High Court in NL likes monopolies and destroys cusomter oversight decision to open KPN and VodafoneZiggo networks (copper and cable) to 3rd parties[…]
Google Translate today launched Transcribe for Android, a feature that delivers a continual, real-time translation of a conversation. Transcribe will begin by rolling out support for eight languages in the coming days: English, French, German, Hindi, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Thai. With Transcribe, Translate is now capable of translating classroom or conference lectures with no Read more about Google Translate launches Transcribe for Android in 8 languages[…]
Remember Theranos? The blood-testing company worth billions whose CEO Elizabeth Holmes became a celebrity right up until the point when it became clear its revolutionary testing machines didn’t actually work as described? Well, Theranos is dead, and Holmes is still dealing with the legal repercussions, but her vampire company has come alive again – and Read more about Theranos vampire lives on: Owner of failed blood-testing biz’s patents sues maker of actual COVID-19-testing kit[…]
Pervasive surveillance through digital technologies is the business model of Facebook and Google. And now governments are considering the web giants’ tools to track COVID-19 carriers for the public good. Among democracies, Israel appears to have gone first: prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced “emergency regulations that will enable the use of digital means in Read more about Pervasive digital locational surveillance of citizens deployed in COVID-19 fight[…]
Research Brief: Ad Tech Fuels Disinformation Sites in Europe – The Numbers and Players The report shows how adverts for high street brands are inadvertently funding some of the most well-known sites for spreading disinformation in Europe. Five companies account for 97% of ad revenues paid to EU disinformation sites: Google, Criteo, OpenX, Taboola and Read more about Fake News sites pull in around $72m over the EU in advertising[…]