Technology News You Can Use

[amirm]

Thought I create a thread to post interesting news articles in the technology world. Feel free to post your news, questions, comments just as well.

A new release of Android is coming called "O." Seems like it has a number of cool, usability enhancements.

https://www.cnet.com/videos/share/5-new-features-on-android-o

Love the cross-password linkage between computer and Android. Hate having to re-type my user name/login in a mobile device as I had on my desktop.

There are also other cool features like shutting off GPS for background apps so that they don't consume power.

Release date is this summer.

 

[amirm]

A nice development. Not sure why it says 2016 as this rule (i.e. sue the company anywhere they sell product) has been around forever: https://www.engadget.com/2017/05/22/supreme-court-location-patent-suits/

Fighting a suit in another state requires hiring all new lawyers, flying people back and forth, etc.

Supreme Court shuts down location loophole for patent suits
The US Supreme Court makes it harder to file in plaintiff-friendly courts like East Texas.

Patent trolls have had it pretty easy lately, especially in East Texas. A 2016 ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit allowed patent suits anywhere a defendant company's products are sold. The Eastern District of Texas has become a favorite of high-tech patent lawsuits thanks to its rapid litigation timetable and plaintiff-friendly rulings. The US Supreme court today may have put an end to such free-range suit practices, however. The justices involved in the patent case between TC Heartland and Kraft Foods ruled unanimously that patent suits can only be filed in courts located where the target company is headquartered.

It's not just friendly juries or quick turnarounds that made East Texas so attractive. Many in the district require defendants to seek permissionbefore they can file motions to dismiss cases that are based on abstract concepts, like podcasting or computer-based stock trading systems. If the target company can't show good cause for dismissal, the lawsuit will continue, usually with less-than-favorable results for the company being sued.

Technology companies like Apple and Google have been a particular favorite of patent litigators. The companies have even taken to the Supreme Court to recoup losses around frivolous suits as well as limiting where the suits can be filed. The current ruling could help stem the tide of patent litigation filed in East Texas, at least, making it a bit more difficult for trolls to find favorable rulings.

 

[RayDunzl]

"Google also threw out a lot of different stats. Here are the most interesting three:

• Each day, Google analytics processes half a trillion data points across devices
• The company has measured more than 5 billion store visits across 17 countries in the last 30 months.
• Google's partnerships have captured information about approximately 70% of all credit card transactions in the U.S."

http://adage.com/article/digital/google-moves-kill-click-attribution-sf-event/309129/

I wonder how much sense they can make of what I do.

 

[FrantzM]

"Google also threw out a lot of different stats. Here are the most interesting three:

• Each day, Google analytics processes half a trillion data points across devices
• The company has measured more than 5 billion store visits across 17 countries in the last 30 months.
• Google's partnerships have captured information about approximately 70% of all credit card transactions in the U.S."

http://adage.com/article/digital/google-moves-kill-click-attribution-sf-event/309129/

I wonder how much sense they can make of what I do.

Am I the only one who finds this scarry? I am more and more uncomfortable with a company knowing so much about me. How much of our lives, of our privacy r we willing to sacrifice for the sake of convenience?

 

[amirm]

I think the future for all of us will ben an open book. Google for example has already figured out where I live without me telling it by snooping on the source of navigation I give it and frequency of returning to the same spot. We have to figure out how to live in a world with such high level of transparency and lack of privacy.

BTW, most people on facebook are revealing more about themselves than Google is figuring out.

 

[Sal1950]

Am I the only one who finds this scarry? I am more and more uncomfortable with a company knowing so much about me. How much of our lives, of our privacy r we willing to sacrifice for the sake of convenience?

BTW, most people on facebook are revealing more about themselves than Google is figuring out.

Yes by far it's not just Google, everyone everywhere you go on the net is compiling data on you.
And yes FrantzM it scares the hell out of me!
I do the little I can to minimize my footprint, but it's very hard to be stealth and agile at the same time.
I don't facebook, tweet, or any of the other garbage that throws out any privacy as a matter of design and license.
I've fallen back from using Chrome for it's very tight integration of apps. Yes it's handy, but I got uncomfortable with it having a database in one place of my whole networked life. Now surfing I'm mainly with Firefox or Konqueror to spread out the database a bit.
Running Linux also adds a bit of security from invasion but that's really a different issue.

 

[amirm]

World's heaviest calibrated weight:

 

[Sal1950]

"One physical test is worth a thousand expert opinions"
How apropos, I love it!

 

[iridium]

I think the future for all of us will ben an open book. Google for example has already figured out where I live without me telling it by snooping on the source of navigation I give it and frequency of returning to the same spot. We have to figure out how to live in a world with such high level of transparency and lack of privacy.

BTW, most people on facebook are revealing more about themselves than Google is figuring out.

Thus, there is less & less need for torture.
Oops, I forgot about income tax, real estate tax, school tax, the several pages on every utility & phone bills taxes, etc.

iridium.

 

[FrantzM]

I think the future for all of us will ben an open book. Google for example has already figured out where I live without me telling it by snooping on the source of navigation I give it and frequency of returning to the same spot. We have to figure out how to live in a world with such high level of transparency and lack of privacy.

BTW, most people on facebook are revealing more about themselves than Google is figuring out.

It has come to that but it may require a little more from us for this to be innocuous. We are seeing what it means for our lives to be hacked.... From Politics to infrastructure it can be hacked ... and even not elevating our worries to hackers...
This comes to mind ... Allow me...very much a propos:
"Who's watching the watchers?"

 

[RayDunzl]

Construction on 39 meter optical telescope begins...

https://phys.org/news/2017-05-world-super-telescope.html

 

[amirm]

That's cool. 2024 is a long time away but hopefully still within our lifetimes.

 

[RayDunzl]

Too bad all the cool stuff we'll get to look at will remain incomprehensibly distant...

Unless on a collision course with us, of course.

 

[amirm]

Not just distant in space but time. We will be peering into early years of the Universe. Much of what we see is no longer there in our timeframe.

 

[Sal1950]

That's cool. 2024 is a long time away but hopefully still within our lifetimes.

When you first look at the number it looks so "Star Wars" future.
Then you realize it's only 6 years and 7 months away.

 

[amirm]

https://www.pcmag.com/news/354229/g...email&utm_campaign=dailynews&utm_medium=title

Alphabet [google] Sells Boston Dynamics to Softbank

Japanese multinational Softbank isn't afraid to spend a lot of cash in order to secure some of the hottest tech properties on the market today. The company demonstrated this in July last year when it acquired chip company ARM Holdings for around $32 billion. Now we can add Boston Dynamics to its list of assets.

[...]

"Today, there are many issues we still cannot solve by ourselves with human capabilities. Smart robotics are going to be a key driver of the next stage of the Information Revolution, and Marc and his team at Boston Dynamics are the clear technology leaders in advanced dynamic robots," Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group Corp, said in a statement. "I am thrilled to welcome them to the Softbank family and look forward to supporting them as they continue to advance the field of robotics and explore applications that can help make life easier, safer and more fulfilling."

----

I have met Son-san a few times when I was at Microsoft. He is a very radical thinker and a Korean living in Japan. In other words, the Japan establishment does not like him one bit.

 

[Brad]

There was a short article in new scientist recently about a computer science researcher who developed some software that can take a still image of a person and a audio file of speach and make a video of the person saying the speach!
Now that could make for some controversial politics!

 

[amirm]

Love to see how well they simulated facial features.

 

[RayDunzl]

Something like this? (looking for a newer one)

 

[Sal1950]

I have met Son-san a few times when I was at Microsoft.

I thought he was serving six consecutive lifes up in Attica or there bouts?