Sunday, June 09, 2019


An interesting look at the location data Apps are gathering. Will other types of data follow?
As you can see in the screenshots above, iOS 13 presents popup notifications when an app is using your location in the background. The notification also shows a map of the location data a specific app has tracked. The above screenshots show location data tracked by the Tesla app as well as the Apple Store app.
In addition to showing the map, the notification also presents the app’s reasoning for needing background location access.
Ideally, the new pop-up reminder notifications with map will make users more aware of how often apps are tracking them in the background. In certain instances, always allowing location access makes more sense – such as Tesla – but the developer explanations will have to convince users of that.




Nothing new here and I think that’s their point. “Give us GDPR or give up on privacy?”
Americans Deserve Strong Privacy Laws




Make anyone say anything just by typing? Spooky. Could make for some really amusing political ads…
Stanford engineers make editing video as easy as editing text
In television and film, actors often flub small bits of otherwise flawless performances. Other times they leave out a critical word. For editors, the only solution so far is to accept the flaws or fix them with expensive reshoots.
Imagine, however, if that editor could modify video using a text transcript. Much like word processing, the editor could easily add new words, delete unwanted ones or completely rearrange the pieces by dragging and dropping them as needed to assemble a finished video that looks almost flawless to the untrained eye.
… The work could be a boon for video editors and producers but does raise concerns as people increasingly question the validity of images and videos online, the authors said. However, they propose some guidelines for using these tools that would alert viewers and performers that the video has been manipulated.




A short summary. (PDF)
Ethical Guidelines for Artificial Intelligence (AI) Development and the New “Trust” Between Humans and Machines




A look far ahead? What happens when you AI says, “Please don’t turn me off!”
The Extension of Legal Personhood in Artificial Intelligence
The purpose of this paper is to illuminate the main ethical, legal and social implications (ELSIs) concerning social humanoid robots that have their base in artificial intelligence (AI).




Perspective.
The Next Big Phones Could Bring a Billion People Online
About half of humanity don’t have internet access, and a lot of those people are in Africa. Enter a $20 device with smartphone brains and a five-day battery.
… Do we really think the 50% of humanity without an internet connection would be better off with one?
Well, yeah. Greater internet access correlates directly with improved health care, education, gender equality, economic development, and lots of other goals well-financed nonprofits struggle to achieve. Boosting a poor country’s mobile internet use by 10% correlates with an average 2 percentage-point increase in gross domestic product, and electronic channels have proved capable of making governments more responsive to civic complaints, too.
… Two of the biggest mobile phone operators in Africa, MTN Group Ltd. of South Africa and France’s Orange SA, this year started selling quasi smartphones for as little as $20.




Is it rude to check your phone while talking to someone? Here’s a way to make it Okay!



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