“Police in Hallandale Beach believe there may have been a witness to the July murder of Silvia Galva, and ‘her’ name was Alexa,” reports the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Slashdot reader PolygamousRanchKid tipped us off to the story: According to a search warrant, investigators want to know what the popular voice-controlled smart speakers overheard during a fatal altercation between Galva, 32, and…
Tag: voice
Zuckerberg Doubles Down on Facebook Political Ads Policy After Twitter Ban
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has ardently defended Facebook’s controversial political advertising policy hours after Twitter took a shot at its rival while announcing it will ban all political ads from its platform. From a report: “Although I’ve considered whether we should not carry [political] ads in the past, and I’ll continue to do so, on balance so far I’ve thought we…
Google Workers Sidestepping Controversial Chrome Tool Sparks Security Worries
Google is facing a backlash over an internal tool for the company’s Chrome browser that some employees worry is intended for spying on workers organizing protests and discussing workplace issues. From a report: To get around using the tool, some employees have turned to third-party browsers. That’s prompted at least one security engineer at Google to voice concern over the possible…
Motorola Is Building a New Kind of Walkie-Talkie For First Responders
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Fast Company: Motorola Solutions (not to be confused with Motorola Mobility, which makes the smartphones you know), the biggest global player in these LMR walkies, is releasing what appears to be the most advanced walkie-talkie ever. Called the APX Next, it’s a chunky black brick with a thick antenna and a giant push-to-talk button…
Crush your learning goals with Coursera in the car and Amazon Alexa
By Alex Sanchez, Product Management, Mobile Experiences and Emerging Technology at Coursera No two learner journeys are the same. We’ve seen great diversity across learners in their preferred times, days, and learning session lengths, while some choose to learn via desktop and others embrace mobile. In other words, the flexible options provided by Coursera are […]
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NASA taps telecommunications technology to develop more capable, miniaturized spectrometer
A technology that has enabled ever-faster delivery of voice and data over the Internet and other telecommunications platforms could play a front-and-center role in NASA’s quest to develop a super-small instrument for gathering unprecedented details about extraterrestrial planets, moons, comets, and asteroids. Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-10-nasa-telecommunications-technology-capable-miniaturized.html…
A Face-Scanning Algorithm Increasingly Decides Whether You Deserve the Job
Shmoodling shares a report from The Washington Post: Designed by the recruiting-technology firm HireVue, the system uses candidates’ computer or cellphone cameras to analyze their facial movements, word choice and speaking voice before ranking them against other applicants based on an automatically generated “employability” score. HireVue’s “AI-driven assessments” have become so pervasive in some industries, including hospitality and finance, that universities…
Researchers Tricked Google Home and Alexa Into Eavesdropping and Password Phishing
What if Google and Amazon employees weren’t the only ones who’d listened through your voice assistant? Ars Technica reports: The threat isn’t just theoretical. Whitehat hackers at Germany’s Security Research Labs developed eight apps — four Alexa “skills” and four Google Home “actions” — that all passed Amazon or Google security-vetting processes. The skills or actions posed as simple apps for…
Privacy-Respecting Smart Home System Can Work Offline and Sends Fake Data
A publicly-funded group of designers, artists and privacy experts from Amsterdam have designed a smart home system prototype to “prove it’s technically possible to build a privacy respecting smart home while maintaining convenience.” Its controller uses an Arduino Nano to disconnect the system from the internet during times when it’s not in use. They’re building everything on Mozilla’s open smart home…
Google Criticized After Voice From ‘Nest’ Camera Threatens to Steal Baby
Jack Newcombe, the Chief Operating Officer of a syndication company with 44 million daily readers, describes the strange voice he heard talking to his 18-month old son: She says we have a nice house and encourages the nanny to respond. She does not. The voice even jokes that she hopes we don’t change our password. I am sick to my stomach….