First in a series of discussions on the role of social media in career planning. Michael Semer, senior creative strategist and John Mallen, CEO of JMCPR chime in on the future of social media planning for executives. Michael hosts another edition of “App or Yak”. And below the show we have some interesting events and software from this past week. We thank Engadget, BGR and Mashable for all their help.
TWITTER: @YAKABOUTTECH
FACEBOOK: FACEBOOK.COM/YAKABOUTTECH
Part One
Part Two
ELON MUSK AND A.I.
Elon Musk hasn’t been shy about bringing up the potential dangers of artificial intelligence — now, he’s actually doing something to help prevent an AI takeover. Musk just announced that he’s donating $10 million to the Future of Life Institute (FLI) for a research program that will focus on keeping AI “beneficial” to humanity. And by beneficial, he means making sure future computers will actually listen to us when they surpass our intelligence, and not take matters into their own hands when they realize they don’t need us. Musk isn’t some outlier — Stephen Hawking has made it clear he’s terrified of the AI revolution as well, and FLI has also gotten plenty of researchers to sign an open letter calling for research on keeping AI beneficial.
GOOGLE TRANSLATE
Reportedly, an updated version of the mobile app (coming “soon”) will automatically detect speech and translate it right away. All you’d really have to do is hold your phone up with the app running — important if you’d rather not go through a song-and-dance routine just to find out where the washrooms are.
TUNITY – STREAMS TV AUDIO TO YOUR SMARTPHONE
I tested the app on my iPhone 6 (it’s also available for Android) with Comcast by way of a TiVo. To get started, you simply tune in one of the supported live channels (more on that in a minute), then point your phone at the TV and let Tunity “scan” the screen.
In all of about 10 seconds, it detects what channel you’re watching and starts streaming the audio to your phone. Pretty slick.
There are, of course, a few limitations. The biggest, at least for now, is that Tunity currently supports only about 50 channels, though most of the US cable heavyweights are included: A&E, AMC, ESPN, Food Network, TBS and TNT, for example.
A quick look at the Consumer Electronic show in Las Vegas.
DRINKING CREATIVELY
University of Illinois Professor Jennifer Wiley determined that a person’s “creative peak” comes when their blood alcohol level reaches 0.075, lowering their ability to overthink during a task. Medical Daily reports that marketing agency CP+B Copenhagen and Danish brewery Rocket Brewing wanted to help drinkers reach their imaginative prime, so they decided to create their own beer to do just that.
The result is “The Problem Solver.” It’s a 7.1 percent craft IPA that its makers say offers a “refined bitterness with a refreshing finish.” To ensure you reach the optimum creative level, the bottle includes a scale,