Unredacted Meta Docs-“Historical Reluctance’ to Protect Kids; Apple SellingWatch 9 & Ultra Sans Blood Oxygen Feature; Samsung Teases Smart Ring; Costco Trials Membership Card Scan for Entrance
Posted: January 18, 2024 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Apple, Apple Watch, News, Tech, technology Leave a commentInternal Meta documents about child safety have been unsealed as part of a lawsuit filed by the New Mexico Department of Justice against both Meta and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. The documents reveal that Meta not only intentionally marketed its messaging platforms to children, but also knew about the massive volume of inappropriate and sexually explicit content being shared between adults and minors. TechCrunch.com reports that the documents were unsealed yesterday as part of an amended complaint. In a statement to TechCrunch, New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said that Meta and Zuckerberg enabled child predators to sexually exploit children. Originally filed in December, the lawsuit alleges that Meta platforms like Instagram and Facebook have become “a marketplace for predators in search of children upon whom to prey,” and that Meta failed to remove many instances of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) after they were reported on Instagram and Facebook.
Apple Watch 9 and Ultra 2 models are back on sale today, albeit without the Blood Oxygen feature that is at the center of legal action between Cupertino and Masimo. According to macrumors.com, removing the feature allows apple to continue selling the watches and stay in the good graces of the US International Trade Commission. Older Watch models and those sold outside the US will still have the Blood Oxygen feature. Apple is appealing a ruling in Masimo’s favor by the ITCk and is also working on changes to the Blood Oxygen app’s algorithm in an attempt to avoid Masimo’s patented technology.
After all the hoopla surrounding the new Galaxy smartphones at Samsung Unpacked yesterday, the company had a quick video tease about the Galaxy Ring they are working on. Theverge.com notes that the ring is intended to be what the company called a “powerful and accessible” health and wellness device. Samsung didn’t provide any details about the tech in the ring, when it might be released, or pricing. Here’s a hint from last year though… Samsung filed a patent for a smart ring that would offer EKG and smart home controls.
In case you missed it, Costco is running a trial at some stores, requiring you to scan your card in a scanner to get into the store. Geekwire.com reports that instead of flashing your card to an employee, the scanner will be able to tell if the person holding the card is really a member, since they have your photo on them. Costco says this is to prevent account sharing. The company claims it is able to sell items so cheaply partly due to the membership fees paid each year by members. When you pay, you will no longer need to have the card scanned again as has been the practice up to now. We may know later this year if Costco will adapt the new system to all stores.
I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
Sony Shows New High End ‘XR’ Headset; Twitch Cuts a Third of Staff; Valve-New Guidelines Allow More AI Content in Games; SAG-AFTRA Signs Deal With Studio Setting Terms for AI Voices in Video Games
Posted: January 10, 2024 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Apple, apple-vision-pro, technology, Virtual Reality, VR Leave a commentIn a surprise move on the very day that Apple announced the release date for its Vision Pro headset, Sony unveiled a high end XR headset at CES that rivals the Vision Pro in capabilities and design. According to zdnet.com, the Sony-Siemens headset will be released later in 2024, and have 4K OLED micro displays, and a couple of features Apple’s headset doesn’t have…a flip-up facial interface, allowing a user to quickly switch from using the headset to looking around their real surroundings, then jump back into the VR world. Apple has a high res passthrough that does this to an extent, but you are still looking at your surroundings via cams. In addition, the Sony headset has a pair of wearable controllers…one is a ring and the other is a pointer. These may make gesture reading by the system more precise than just hand motions, as Apple relies on. The Sony rig appears to be more ‘pro’ than Apple’s, in that it seems to be aimed squarely at professionals, developers, and other spending long hours with a headset. No pricing has been revealed yet.
Twitch is laying off over 500 employees, around 35% of the total staff. Theverge.com reports that Twitch had already chopped 400 last spring, as part of cutbacks at parent Amazon. As with that reduction last spring, there are additional layoffs at Amazon. Twitch CEO Dan Clancy wrote in the announcement that Twitch paid out over $1 billion to streamers last year, remarking that “while the Twitch business remains strong, for some time now the organization has been sized based upon where we optimistically expect our business to be in 3 or more years, not where we’re at today.”
Valve has unveiled new rules that will allow the company to add more games with AI content to its Steam platform. Engadget.com says it’s updating its content survey form for developers so that they can give the company a description of how they use artificial intelligence in their games. If they used AI tools to generate art, code, sound or any other kind of content for their title, developers must ensure that they do not include anything illegal or anything that infringes on someone else’s copyright. Valve says it will evaluate each game and check if the developer has submitted truthful information. Valve said it will also be transparent with gamers when it comes with what kind of AI content a developer’s title has by including their disclosure on their Steam store page.
SAG-AFTRA has inked a deal with Replica Studios that sets terms for the use of AI in video games. According to Variety, the terms include informed consent for the use of AI to create digital voice replicas, as well as requirements for the safe storage of digital assets. This was a major issue in the SAG-AFTRA strike that lasted several months. The union’s executive director, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, said “These are the kind of terms that producers can agree to without disrupting their ability to make content,” Crabtree-Ireland said. “This is an evolutionary step forward. AI technology is not something we can block. It’s not something we can stop. That’s not a tactic or a strategy that’s ever worked for labor in the past.” Really, what members want…and get in this contract is the right to refuse use of a clone of their voice in projects they feel would taint them, informed consent, and to be paid a licensing fee for use of the clone of their voice. The deal does not block studios from training AI to create ‘synthetic’ actors that bear no resemblance to real performers.
I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
US Apple Watch Ban Stands-For Now; Microsoft Copilot AI-Dedicated Android App; AI Could Enable Human-Critter Communication; GTA 5 Source Code Leaked
Posted: December 26, 2023 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AI, Apple, copilot, Microsoft, technology Leave a commentThe White House refused to ride to the rescue of Apple in its squabble with Masimo over patents the latter claims Apple has infringed upon in its Apple Watches. The International Trade Commission had banned the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 in the US, effective Christmas Day. The Biden administration declined to veto the ban this morning. Apple is appealing the ITC decision, saying in a statement “We strongly disagree with the USITC decision and resulting exclusion order, and are taking all measures to return Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 to customers in the U.S. as soon as possible.” The patents revolve around blood oxygen saturation tech. Note that the ban only affects Apple stores in the US and their website…so if you really, really want a new Apple Watch, you can pick one up at Best Buy, Target, or other retailers while supplies last. Apple as of last week had been furiously pursuing a software workaround, but no word today if that has been accomplished, or if it will be enough to satisfy the ITC. Another alternative is Apple settling with Masimo. You can be sure that Cupertino will do something, as they don’t want the Watch models to be off the market for long.
Microsoft Copilot is has its own Android app now. According to 9to5google.com, Microsoft Copilot for Android launched onto the Play Store within the past week and but not yet available on iOS. WindowsLatest, citing sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans, claims that an iOS version is “nearly ready” and will launch soon. The new app, unlike Bing, focuses solely on delivering access to Microsoft’s AI chat assistant. On downloading the app, users are able to jump right into the experience with no Microsoft login required.
A nonprofit called Earth Species Project, or ESP, is on a trajectory to talk with animals. Geekwire.com says that ESP is working with more than 40 research efforts around the globe, using machine learning and artificial intelligence to help scientists understand animal communications in pursuit of saving imperiled species. The organization recently received $1.2 million in funding from the Seattle-based Paul G. Allen Family Foundation to support its work. Allen, the Microsoft co-founder who passed away in 2018, was interested in both protecting wildlife and AI research.
The source code for Grand Theft Auto 5 was reportedly leaked on Christmas Eve, a little over a year after hackers hacked Rockstar games and stole corporate data. Bleepingcomputer.com reports that links to the code were shared over a number of channels, including Discord, a Telegram channel, and a dark web website. On Telegram, the channel owner known as ‘Phil’ posted links to the stolen source code, sharing a screenshot of one of the folders. The work of the Lapsus$ hackers has been successful enough against not only Rockstar, but also Uber, Microsoft, Okta, Nvidia, Mercado Libre, T-Mobile, Ubisoft, Vodafone, and Samsung, that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Cyber Safety Review Board decided to analyze their tactics and share recommendations for preventing similar attacks in the future.
I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
New Samsung Galaxy Leak; Apple to Launch Vision Pro in February; Consumer Reports-Tesla Autopilot Fix ‘Insufficient’; UK Court Rules Only Humans Can Invent-Sorry, AI
Posted: December 21, 2023 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Apple, apple-vision-pro, AR, technology, VR Leave a commentA leaked teaser countdown has given us the date for the latest Galaxy Unpacked from Samsung…the date is January 18th, and time 10 am Pacific. 9to5google.com reports that the leak came from known leaker Evan Blass on X…which BTW was having serious issues today. The leak has an icon that looks very similar to the Google Bard Logo, so we can expect plenty of AI…besides the logo, a place in the video shows ‘Galaxy AI is coming’ blasted across the screen. As for the Actual Galaxy S24 phones, there isn’t anything else in the teaser video that we didn’t already know…but we do know now that we will be getting the phones a little earlier in 2024 with this Unpacked event on January 18th.
Last summer, Apple said it would launch its Vision Pro headset ‘early next year.’ According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, it could be very early…like February. Gurman says not to expect an additional launch event..as the $3499 gadget will be in limited supply, but it is a major undertaking for Apple, as it also involves the launch of their new VisionOS software as well as the devices. The latest version of iOS, which is 17.2, enables the iPhone 15 Pro to capture 3D-encoded spatial videos in 1080p resolution at 30 frames per second, and you’ll need a headset to play them back in full detail. What would that headset be? Why, the almost $3500 Vision Pro. If you wear glasses and want the custom lenses…that will add even more to your tab. It looks like a great mixed reality headset for early adaptors who have the deep pockets to buy it.
Tesla’s planned over the air Autopilot recall for some two million vehicles has been called ‘insufficient’ by Consumer Reports, after preliminary testing. Techcrunch.com says that Kelly Funkhouser, the nonprofit organization’s associate director of vehicle technology, tells TechCrunch she discovered it’s still possible to cover the cabin camera while using Autopilot, meaning drivers can neutralize one of the two main ways the car monitors if they are paying attention to the road. Not only that…Funkhouser says she did not notice any differences when activating or using Autopilot’s flagship feature, Autosteer, outside of the controlled-access highways where Tesla says the software is designed to be used.
Well, it’s good to have this settled…at least in the United Kingdom and for now. Thenextweb.com reports that the UK’s top court has ruled that AI cannot be named on a patent as the inventor of a new idea or product. The judgment states “We conclude that an ‘inventor’ must be a natural person. Only a person can devise an invention.” The case involved has been winding through the court system since 2018. A little good news…until our AI and robot overlords reverse it some day!
I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
Update: Apple Trying to Avoid Watch Ban in US; Google Tab Over Epic Court Loss-$700 Million; Breakthrough Towards Making Artificial DNA; Tesla Driver Owes $23 Grand Restitution From Crash
Posted: December 19, 2023 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Android, Apple, Google, iPhone, technology Leave a commentApple software engineers are working overtime on a possible software solution to get around the pending International Trade Commission ban on the Apple Watch that will go into effect on Christmas. Appleinsider.com reports that Apple believes a last minute software update may be able to circumvent the patents they have been accused of violating from Masimo. Without the update or other change, the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 will be unavailable after Christmas in the US. For its part, Masimo claims that the patent violations can only be resolved with hardware alterations in a future Watch Model. Apple thinks a software update will satisfy US Customs.
We reported earlier that Epic Games won a suit claiming Google has an illegal monopoly with its Play Store. According to theverge.com, all 50 state attorneys general settled a similar lawsuit in September, and now we know what Google’s tab is. Google will cough up $700 million and make several small concessions to the way they operate the Play store in the US. So for a brief moment in time, it will become the Google PAY store. The biggest change? Google will need to let developers steer consumers away from the Google Play Store for several years, if this settlement is approved.
A group of scientists have figured out how to create truly artificial DNA. Bgr.com notes that the study published in Nature Communications indicates that this may enable the tech to create new medicines for certain diseases by creating DNA with new nucleotides that can create custom proteins. The scientists were led by Dong Wang Ph.D. Wang helped lead the study alongside Steven A. Benner, Ph.D., and Dmitry Lyumkis, Ph.D.. Together, the three authors have shown that you can not only create artificial DNA but that the artificial nucleotides may also be able to help create custom proteins we could use to target specific diseases that are hard to combat.
A Tesla driver from LA owes over $23,000 in restitution for killing two people in a crash in 2019. The AP says he pleaded no contest to two counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence. Despite facing more than seven years behind bars, a judge sentenced him to probation in June. Kevin Riad is a limo driver who was behind the wheel of a Tesla that ran a red light while on Autopilot and hit another car in an intersection. Coincidentally, the judgment against Riad came the same day that a recall was announced for most Tesla cars over Autopilot.
I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
Samsung Folder-Massive Battery; Huawei Nova 4 Has 48 MP Cam; Apple Steals Top Tesla Designer; Google Dropping A Billion on NY Campus
Posted: December 17, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Apple, Folding phone, Google, Huawei, Nova 4, NYC, Project Titan, Samsung, Self Driving Cars Leave a commentMore is seeping out about Samsung’s folding phone, after the brief and slight showing of it last month. Bgr.com says the Infinity Flex screen phone will have a crazy high price of $1700 or $1800 dollars, will run a Snapdragon 855, and have dual 12 MP cams, with an 8 MP selfie cam. There will be TWO battery cells, for a total capacity of 5,000 mAh or 6,000 mAh. The folder will be out next year, and analysts think that it might drop in price by 2022 to $1300…which will be the price of an iPhone by then!
With most of the news about their CFO being arrested in Canada, Huawei has rolled out a new phone that should grab headlines back for their actual business. Theverge.com reports that the Nova 4 features a 48-megapixel main camera with 3 lenses, and a ‘hole punch’ cut out for the front cam…which is a whopping 25 megapixels…on a selfie cam! Samsung has a similar ‘hole punch’ setup on the galaxy A8. The Nova 4 has a 6.4 inch display, 8 gigs of RAM, 128 gigs of storage, and a 3750 mAh battery. It will run about $490 in the US.
We’ve all heard for over a year that the Apple car…Project Titan, was dead, and that Apple was focusing on self-driving software and hardware for other cars. Now, that may be questioned a bit. According to macrumors.com, Cupertino has poached Andrew Kim, who reimagined Microsoft’s design language, then moved to Tesla in design. With Kim now at Apple Park, as well is Tesla’s chief vehicle engineer…who returned to Apple earlier this year. Kim had worked on the designs for the Models, 3, S, X, Y, the new Roadster V2, and the Semi.
With Amazon busily working on its two HQ2s outside D.C. and in NY, and Apple announcing a huge new billion dollar campus in Austin, TX, you knew Google couldn’t be sitting on their hands. Now, techcrunch.com says Google has announced it will pump a billion into setting up a campus at Hudson Square in New York. Google already has 7,000 located in NY, and this will double that over 10 years…in a 1.7 million square foot campus the company is touting as ‘the primary location’ for Google’s ‘Global Business Organization.’ The facility will be operational by 2020.
Probable Galaxy S10 Launch Date; Apple to Add Campus(es); Facebook Fact Check-Stunt? $100 Grand to Give Up Smartphone for a Year
Posted: December 13, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Apple, Austin, Facebook, Fact checking, Galaxy S10, New campus, Samsung, Smartphone, TX, VitiminWater Leave a commentThe latest gaze into the crystal ball shows February 20th as the launch date for the Samsung Galaxy S10. 9to5google.com reports that the flat 5.8 inch screen S10 will run $1117 with 128 Gigs of storage. The standard S10 will come with 128 or 512 Gigs and they rill run $1334 and $1668 respectively. Oh…and if you go for the 1TB model, that one will be a wallet crushing $1750! 9to5google.com notes these probably aren’t the final US prices, but if they are, it appears that those tariffs are really taking a toll on consumer electronics!
All the time Amazon was playing cities off against each other for it’s HQ2…which turned out to be a couple of satellite HQs, Apple was looking in stealth mode. According to engadget.com, Apple will invest a billion dollars in a new campus in Austin, TX less than a mile from its existing facilities there. The 133 acre site will house 5,000 employees, with room to grow to 15,000. This would make Apple the biggest employer in Austin! They also plan to build out new sites in Seattle, San Diego, and Culver City, CA, and expand in Pittsburg, New York, and Boulder, CO over the next 3 years! The new Austin site will have engineering, R&D, operations, finance, sales, and customer support…and as with all Apple facilities it will be powered by 100% renewable energy!
Facebook is getting slammed again…this time by former and current fact-checkers for the social media giant. Businessinsider.com says the present and former employees claim that Facebook has been more interested in ‘crisis PR’ than in actually combatting the spread of fake news. A former managing editor of fact checking site Snopes also said that was what Facebook seemed to be using them for. They had partnered with Snopes the last coupe years. The editor, Brooke Bujnowski, no longer works at Snopes. She added “They’re not taking anything seriously. They are more interested in making themselves look good and passing the buck… They clearly don’t care.”
News item: VitiminWater will pay you $100,000 to give up your smartphone for a full year. The fancy water purveyor will allow you to utilize a 2000s ear feature phone, however. To enter the contest, you have to post a photo to your Twitter or Instagram account, tag VitiminWater, and tell them why you need a break from your smartphone. You also have to tell them what you will do to survive or pass the time over that period of a year. Now, if Apple would just pay me $100,000 to give up VitiminWater, I’d be counting the money right now!
Ultrasound Powered Qualcomm Fingerprint Sensor; Snapdragon 855; Google & Amazon Making AirPod Alternatives; Apple Adding Health Sensors to AirPods
Posted: December 5, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 3D, AirPods, Amazon, Apple, Fingerprint sensors, Google, Health sensors, Multi-gigabit 5G, Qualcomm, Snapdragon 855, Ultrasound Leave a commentAdding an extra layer to fingerprint sensor security, Qualcomm is baking in ultrasound to beef up its in-display fingerprint sensor. Engadget.com reports that the ultrasound will allow creation of a 3D mold of your finger, which will be much harder to copy. It will pick up on the ridges and even pores. As a bonus, the sensor should be able to tell it’s you, even though you still have a little of today’s lunch on your finger (wash up, you slob!) They didn’t allow testing at the demo, so we’ll have to wait to see how fast the new tech is.
Speaking of fast, Qualcomm also showed off its Snapdragon 855 at its event in Hawaii. According to 9to5google.com, the chip will power the 2019 flagship phones, including from Samsung. It will support multi-gigabit 5G, which also rolls out next year in a number of markets. Qualcomm says the chip has 3x the AI performance of last year’s chip.
It’s not that there aren’t already cheaper alternatives to Apple’s AirPods on the market, but a couple are coming from some heavyweights…Google and Amazon appear to be preparing to launch competitor products.
9to5mac.com says Apple isn’t exactly waiting around for the increased competition…they are working on more water resistance, support for Hey Siri, and interchangeability…so you could put one in an ear without checking to see if it’s Left or Right, and the AirPod would orient itself and the audio automatically. Apple is also expected to integrate health sensors into the next gen AirPods, and integrate the data with Apple Watch as well as the health app on iPhones. Well known Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says to look for Cupertino to sell 26-28 million sets this year, 50-55 million in 2019, and over 100 million in 2021.

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