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Genetic fortune telling has been trending recently. Scientist have been collecting genetic data and finding patterns in common diseases to develop an algorithm for fortune telling. This data helps doctors identify potential sicknesses and diseases for patients. Furthermore, this technology is supposed to help pharmaceuticals identify which sicknesses to focus their research and development on and also which sicknesses to focus the medical manufacturing on. This technology is stilling in the development phases. Recently, there was a test that could predict a person’s height at birth based on 20,000 distinct DNA letters in a genome. All the data collected by doctors and scientists are intended to contribute in one way or another in fortune telling. 

As this technology is in its development phases, there have been numerous failed tests. Therefore, the results generate the question: Is genetic fortune telling a promising venture or is it an elaborate scheme? 

Resources:

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/610251/forecasts-of-genetic-fate-just-got-a-lot-more-accurate/

https://www.technologyreview.com/lists/technologies/2018/

Facial recognition is an interesting piece of technology and there has always been two sides of the spectrum. On one side, people think it’s great being able to use facial recognition to unlock phones and track criminals quickly. On the other side, it can be an invasion of privacy and companies are using this technology without the permission of their users.

In the article, it talks about how a local sheriff’s office in Washington was able to speed up the process of a second-degree theft case by using Amazon’s Rekognition. This software helped the local police department create its own searchable database of county jail mugshots. Using this software, the deputy was able to watch the surveillance footage and import it into the database, which the deputy then got back a digital lineup of mugshots and found possible matches. This tool helped police accelerate the process of catching criminals and helps create a database of mugshots. Although Amazon’s Rekognition is helpful for policing tactics, it is also invading privacy of people. Facial recognition collects data from everyone without their permission which is the other spectrum of this tool. People are concerned about their information being collected which is a valid reasoning. What are your thoughts?

Link to article:

https://www.cnet.com/news/facial-recognition-overkill-how-deputies-solved-a-12-shoplifting-case/

Oslo, Norway will become the first city in the world to install wireless charging stations for taxis. City officials want to install these wireless chargers to increase the availability of electric taxis and decrease the city’s pollution. Charging plates will be installed in the road to allow a taxi’s battery to be charged wirelessly while in close proximity. Oslo is hoping that all taxis will be completely electric by 2023 and that by 2025 every new car built and imported into Norway will be electric. Other countries in the EU have similar goals to reduce pollution.

The main driving force behind installing the charging plates is the lack of charging stations in Oslo. It’s difficult for taxis to stop picking up passengers and then try to find a station to plug into – it is wasted time and lost money. Charging plates will allow taxis to keep operating while charging. Oslo, Norway will easily adopt these charging plates because of the forward-thinking population and also because Norway already has the highest electric vehicle ownership in the world.

Do you think any US cities would install these charging plates for electric vehicles? 

Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-norway-electric-taxis/oslo-to-become-first-city-to-charge-electric-taxis-over-the-air-idUSKCN1R21ED

 

A new AI project Google is currently developing, Google Duplex, is able to make reservations, confirm appointments, and notify you of the completed task all while you are doing something else. Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced and demonstrated this new technology at the Google I/O developers conference in May 2018. In the demo, Pichai showed how easily Google Duplex can make you an appointment without you having to take any active steps and also without the other party finding out that they are speaking to a robot. The voice that the AI bot uses sounds very human and even adds in some pauses and sounds like “um” and “mhmm” to make the conversation even more authentic. The first example demonstrated in the video below is Google Duplex making a haircut appointment for its “client”. 

What’s interesting about this technology is the level of accuracy it has when interpreting. It can have logical conversations even if something unexpected is asked by the recipient of the phone call. Google Duplex has the capability to make choices and choose its next phrase instantly and seamlessly while keeping its bot identity anonymous. As of March 2019, Google Duplex can be used to make reservations in 43 US States. This technology has the potential to do so much, especially becoming the better version of a personal secretary. 

Source:https://www.androidauthority.com/what-is-google-duplex-869476/

On Thursday, Facebook acknowledged that there had been a bug in one of its databases that stored passwords in a plaintext format. This meant that the passwords for millions of Facebook and Instagram users had been exposed to anyone with internal access at the company. This news comes after a rough few years for the social media company. Scandals involving Cambridge Analytica and election interference and the hiring of the Definers communications team have increased public doubt in the company and caused major collateral damage for the company and its executives, especially COO Sheryl Sandberg. 

Facebook should deeply understand what a large target it is for hackers. Millions of users are posting personal information to their sites each day. While there is of course an individual responsibility to be safe online, social media users also have an unspoken contract with the platforms they use that the basics, such as their passwords being kept secret, will be taken care of by the company. This also underscores how important it is to have security in mind at all levels of a company in this digital age. We will only begin to be online more and more in the coming years, and security and privacy must be of the utmost importance to ensure users will trust and use a platform.

 

Sources:

https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-passwords-plaintext-change-yours/

http://fortune.com/2018/11/28/sheryl-sandberg-facebook-russia-women/

 

For those of you who do not know, Apple has its own wireless earbuds called AirPods. The original AirPods were released late 2016 and although funky looking at first, the product was a success. After a couple years of waiting, people were eager for the new release and the wait is officially over. AirPods 2 have gone on sale but the fanbase is disappointed because not much has changed.

Slight better battery life, upgraded processor, and voice activated Siri are the only notable changes for the AirPods 2. People expected different colors along with design changes and bio-metric features. There was rumors about noise-cancelling elements and possible water resistance features that are now expected for the third generation. It is hard to justify spending $160 for wireless earbuds especially with all the competition now. For $40 more, Apple sells a wireless charging case for the AirPods 2, or about a $70 upgrade for existing users without the wireless charging case. The hardcore fans will be most bothered by these subtle upgrades. For the typical consumer who does not care so much about features, the original AirPods can be bought at a reasonable discount. 

source: https://www.cnet.com/news/new-airpods-2-vs-airpods-whats-new/

The dreaded “robocaller” has been a seemingly growing issue over the years. Insurance issues, IRS requests, or even African Princes in need of money are just some examples of robotic phone calls that have become a large issue in our society. Even the AT&T CEO was interrupted during an interview due to one of these fake callers. Luckily, help will soon be on the way. AT&T and Comcast have announced a partnership that will combat these robocallers. This is the first call authentication partnership to have formed in the United States. The service will let the receiver know if the call is actually being placed by the number that is displayed on the call. Many of these scammer use some kind of number spoofer to make it seem like they are entitlement.  I feel like I am not the only one who hesitates to answer a call that has an eerily similar number to my own. You would think a number that close would make one think it should be answered, but that idea is quickly changing. At this point in time, the technology is not capable of definitively saying the caller is fake. It can, however, decipher if the caller is legitimate. There are plans in the future to have the ability to block the robocaller outright. The day this happens will be glorious, as I will no longer feel bad knowing that there are people out there actually falling for these scams.

 

https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/20/18274775/att-comcast-robocalls-system-combat

 

The Pac-12 conference, which is part of the NCAA Basketball, has introduced Noah Shooting System and Noahlytics for their upcoming 2019 basketball tournament. Noah Basketball is a data-service provider that provides real time feedback to players to improve shooting and accuracy. It has taken more than 170,000,000 shots taken from players at different levels of the game, and has concluded the perfect shots consists of a 45-degree entry level placed 11 inches past the front of the rim. This system can also be used during live broadcast of these game including, “ shot charts, rim maps and specific shot measurements, at the end of each game to review the analytics and determine strengths and weaknesses as well as areas needed for improvement.” This will provide teams with the information needed to train current, and future, players in their basketball career. It was developed by a Stanford Alum which makes the collaboration efficient as Stanford falls under the Pac-12.

I never imagined the day would come where technology would begin to integrate itself into sports. I like the idea of improving the skill sets of players and to further their development to play professionally, but part of the fun is to observe the uniques of each player. If all of the athletes had the same release and shot style, it would make the game less entertaining to watch and less variability in shot accuracy and selection. It’s intriguing to see how this software is made to analyze data in real time, during practice or a game, and provide the correct feedback. They could possibly begin to integrate this into other sports, such as football or soccer.

 

https://pac-12.com/article/2019/03/13/pac-12-utilizes-noah-basketball-shooting-technology-conference-tournaments

The hospital wristband is a tool that has been a crucial part of a patients hospital stay for decades. The traditional bracelet identifies the patient and has been updated recently with barcodes for access to further patient data. Recently, several companies have began to leverage new technology to enhance the band to allow for much more capability. If you begin to look at the hospital as a whole system and look at how the wristband impacts various stages of the process the patient goes through in the system, the old band is archaic. New bands can use QR codes and RFID tags to better allow for patient information and location in the hospital. Retailers have been tracking their products through the manufacturing process for years now so why don’t hospitals track as well? The updated bands would allow for increased hospital efficiency because now you can begin to track metrics with the smart bands.

Photo: Wake Forest Baptist Health

By tracking the patients journey through the hospital you can begin to spot common bottle necks in the system. New identification methods also more accurately identify patients as bands could be hard to read and patients get mixed up do to poor ID and tracking. Increased data accuracy by way of smart bands could lead to less and less patient mix ups.  Whether patient ID comes in the form of new smart bands or bio metrics, its time for hospitals to optimize their processes with the help of technology enabled wristbands.

 

 

 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/hospitals-turn-to-biometrics-to-identify-patients-11549508640?mod=cx_life&cx_navSource=cx_life&cx_tag=contextual&cx_artPos=2#cxrecs_s

https://www.wsj.com/articles/is-it-time-for-a-better-hospital-i-d-bracelet-11550671282