Apple is looking to close the backdoor to your iPhone

In this episode, Marcell Sukhdeo talks about how Apple is working on closing the loophole that law enforcement agencies use to access iPhones. And Microsoft is joining the action to bring us no checkout shopping experience.

Show Notes

When Amazon Go was first announced back in 2016, some people were saying that this could be the future of retail shopping. A time when physical check out through a line up at a store will be replaced with a walk in, pick up and walk out experience.

Now it seems like another major company wants to get into this direction.

Sources have confirmed that Microsoft is in talks with Walmart about a potential collaboration of coming out with its own brand of checkout-free technology.

Apple and the backdoor

Over the years Apple has positioned the iPhone as a secure device that only its owner can open. That of course has led to battles with law enforcement officials who want to access the phones of individuals who are deemed a threat.

Apple is closing the technological loophole that let authorities hack into iPhones. This has angered police and other officials and have started a debate over whether the government has a right to get into the personal devices.

Uber and drunk passengers

Uber has filed an application for a patent to use AI that will tell whether a passenger is drunk.

AI will be used to separate sober passengers from drunk ones. According to the application, the technology would be used to spot "uncharacteristic user activity," including passenger location, number of typos entered into the mobile app and even the angle the smartphone is being held.

In this episode, Marcello Sukhdeo talks about a new app that allows Alexa on Apple Watch, also, Encyclopedia Britannica has released a new free Chrome extension that will give you factual, relevant information in the search engine sidebar. And a new display technology from Intel that will result in over 24 hours battery life for laptops.  

Show Notes 

Intel has found a way to extend battery life by hours using a new type of display. The result is a laptop that can run for up to 28 hours between charges. 

Intel is working with a Low Power Display Technology (LPDT), which allows for the creation of a one-watt panel manufactured by Sharp and Innolux.  

The laptop that Intel used in these tests had an LPDT display running on a 15-watt Core i7 processor, 8GB of RAM, an Intel 600p SSD, UHD Graphics 620.  

Britannica Insights 

The Encyclopedia Britannica is looking to regain its relevance by attaching itself to Google search results. This is to correct the inaccurate information that the Encyclopedia Britannica believes exists on the Internet. 

The new search product, “Britannica Insights,” is a Chrome extension that will take information from the encyclopedia and populate it on the sidebar “snippet” of a Google search results page.  

Britannica Insights works with major search engines – Google, Bing, Yahoo, and others – on the Chrome browser. 

Alexa Assistant on Apple Watch 

Voice in a Can is an app that lets you interact with Alexa on an Apple Watch. It’s a standalone Apple Watch app, which means you don’t need to tether to an iPhone to use Alexa, and all you need is a Wi-Fi signal or LTE if you have that version of the Apple Watch.

In this episode, Marcello Sukhdeo talks about how a Tesla car hits a parked police vehicle and the driver claimed it was in autopilot mode. And it looks like we may be replacing our cracked, peeled, rusting license plates with digital license plates, on our cars, in the near future.  

Show Notes 

There is yet another case where a car driving in "autopilot" mode crashed recently. This time it's Tesla's Model S. The car crashed into an unoccupied, parked police vehicle in Laguna Beach, California. The driver told investigators the Tesla was in “Autopilot” mode at the time. 

Photos of the crash scene show extensive damage to the front end of the Tesla and the rear side of the police vehicle. 

Autopilot is a semi-autonomous technology that Tesla says is a form of advanced cruise control. So, the car was in advanced cruise control mode when it hit the parked police car. 

Digital license plates 

With everything going digital these days, it would be so cool to have a digital license plate. That is what California governor Jerry Brown wanted to get going five years ago when he signed a legislation authorizing digital license plates to be sold in California. Now finally, these new digital display boards are hitting the streets. 

Those who are opting to buy the digital plates can register their vehicles electronically and get rid of the need to physically place stickers on their license plates each year. This of course would save money for the state.  

The digital plates come with their own computer chips, batteries, and wireless communication systems. They also may be able to display personal messages — if the DMV decides to allow that. 

Dealerships are expected to sell the plates for $699, not including installation costs. Users also must pay a monthly fee of about $7.  

YouTube and Teens 

With the fall out with Facebook, teens are more interested than ever in YouTube.   

A recent study conducted by Pew Research Center, reveals that 85 per cent of teenagers (ages 13–17) say they use the platform. Closely behind are Instagram (72 per cent) and Snapchat (69 per cent). 

These findings indicate an ongoing trend among teenagers of moving away from platforms like Facebook in recent years. A 2015 report pointed to 71 per cent of teens who reported themselves as Facebook users; today, that number is around 51 per cent.  

GrandPad 

This is a neat device that can be used to keep in touch with your parents. Through a monthly subscription they can get unlimited 4G LTE data, ad-free unlimited music. It comes with customizable security options, mobile access for caregivers and family and more.  

Stay safe in the technology WRLWND. 

In this episode, Marcello Sukhdeo talks about how Apple now provides a way for you to download a copy of all the data the company has on you. Also, you can now whistle your way into a song through a new Facebook AI, and Alexa has recorded a woman’s private conversation and sent it to a random contact.

Show Notes:

Companies, governments, businesses are all collecting data from us. It would be nice to know what these organizations have on us. What sort of data does Microsoft or Google have about me, about you? 

Well, Apple has made it very easy for you to know exactly that.

 The company is giving users the opportunity to download a copy of all the data it has collected from them. This includes information gathered by the App Store and iTunes, information based on your Apple ID account, device information, online and retail store activity, AppleCare support history, and more.

The tool is part of Apple’s new Data and Privacy website, which also allows users to correct any information Apple holds about them, and deactivate their account entirely. 

The new Data and Privacy website, which can be found at privacy.apple.com, is a one-stop shop for users who want to find out what Apple knows about them and you have the option of downloading that data.

Whistling your way to the next Hit with Facebook AI

Facebook AI Research has developed an AI that can convert music in one style or genre into virtually any other. Instead of merely trying to repeat notes or style-specific traits, the approach uses unsupervised training to teach a neural network how to create similar noises all on its own. Facebook's system even prevents the AI from merely memorizing the audio signal by purposefully distorting the input.

Bad Alexa!

As a smart home speaker owner, your worst nightmare is having your private message recorded AND sent to someone without your knowledge. Well, that turned out to be a real-life nightmare for a woman in Portland. Her Amazon Echo recorded an audio clip of her conversation and sent it to a person on her contact list.

The woman said she was alerted to the bug when the person who received the audio clip called to let her know that she has been hacked. The person who received the message was one of her husband’s employees.

By looking at the log, Amazon was able to confirm that what the woman said was entirely accurate. It happened the way she related. The company is looking to fix this.

In this episode, Google is getting closer to making its assistant sound more human, but can they get to the point where AI can react to us on an emotional level? Also, what if every company is like Amazon where they can fulfill customer orders within two days? That would be cool. And if you are learning to play the guitar, you can Riffstation Pro app for free. I will tell you how. 

Google Duplex 

If you have not heard by now, Google’s updated virtual assistant can now make phone calls on your behalf to schedule appointments and make reservations.  

We’re entering an age when conversations with computers are reaching a whole new level – better quality and reliability. But there is still lots of room for improvement, as we’ve heard in the two clips I played, the technology is getting better, Yet, I still believe that AI’s capability to interact with humans on a deeper level has a long way to go. For example, in having a normal conversation with an AI and to have that AI recognize the mood of the other person is not here yet.  

Two-day shipping  

What would it be like, if every company is like Amazon where they can fulfill customer orders within two days? Wouldn’t that be awesome? You can order anything online and within 48 hours the item is waiting for you at home.  

Business around the world with the exception of Amazon are facing pressure to deliver on time and in full, but don’t have the necessary tools to execute contracts, take payments efficiently, and track deliveries, ensuring that goods arrive when they should. 

There is a platform that is called ‘Movement Ecosystem’ (“MOVA), where people can go and utilize performance tools, and pull monthly management reports, where they can see everything that moves and what the real performance was. They can pinpoint and track where the faults were, whether it’s the result of an employee’s doing, or something back at the warehouse. 

Riffstation  

If you are an accomplished guitarist or just trying to learn playing the guitar like me, then you will be excited to know that Riffstation is offering its desktop app, for Mac and Windows for free. This app normally cost $35.00.  

Riffstation will no longer be available on the web or mobile devices. But they are hoping to bring a similar service back in the future.  

If you would like to get the Pro copy of this app, you can do so by going to Riffstattion.com.  

128 | Hackers can get into your hotel room with you knowing 

Did you know that hackers can break into your hotel room without your knowledge? I will let you know how. Google has released an update to Gmail and from what it looks like, it’s going after Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft is sending an e-waste recycler to jail for ‘pirating’ Windows. 

Show Notes 

Did you know that hackers have been able to sneak in-and-out of hotel rooms for years now? It is very possible that a hacker may have entered the room you have stayed at during your last trip without you knowing. 

Using “off-the-shelf” hardware items, hackers can convert ordinary room cards into master keys. 

Researchers from F-Secure, that's a cybersecurity firm in Finland, stumbled upon the flaw about a year ago and have been working with the largest lock manufacturer in the world to help fix it. 

They’ve already managed to create a software update that would effectively resolve the issue, but it will be several weeks before it’s fully up and running. 

Google is going after Outlook  

Google unveiled a new Gmail design this week, giving its free email service some new features and a fresh look. Regular Gmail users can now enjoy the new design, smart replies, and email snooze features.   

Also, Google is adding some smart business-focused features designed to improve productivity, security, and manage the sharing of emails. These are the types of features that you'd usually find in Microsoft’s Outlook app. Of course, Microsoft dominates the workplace space, but Google through its G Suite is working to change that.   

Microsoft is sending an e-waste recycler to jail for ‘pirating’ Windows 

Eric Lundgren, the founder of the first electronic hybrid recycling facility in the United States and an innovator in the field of recycling e-waste, was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison over restore disks for Windows computer. 

His company uses old mobile phones, computers and other electronics to build new devices. Eric has long been an advocate of recycling electronics, and now he's going to jail for it.   

127 | AI that can create Flintstones and a robot to assemble your furniture 

Remember the Flintstones, there is an AI that can create the 'Flintstones' cartoons from text descriptions. The days of putting together a new piece of furniture from IKEA could be gone soon, a robot can do that for us instead. And what exactly is blockchain? I will share some information on this technology that is growing rapidly across industries. 

Show Notes 

Looking through pages of instructions and sorting through a bag of screws and bolts to assemble a furniture may soon be a thing of the past. Scientists have spent three years programming a robot - made of arms, grippers, sensors and 3D cameras - which assembled the frame of an IKEA dining chair in around 20 minutes. 

They say it may not be long before such robots can fully assemble a piece of furniture from a manual, verbal instruction or by just looking at an image of the finished item. 

What exactly is blockchain?  

We've been hearing a lot about blockchain and bitcoins and it is a little to grasp what it is exactly. So, I will try to share some information with you, hopefully at the end of this show you will have a better understanding of blockchain.  

AI and Flintstones 

It can take such a long time to animate cartoons. But what if you could ask computers to do some of the heavy lifting? They just might.  

Researchers have produced an AI system, called Craft, that automatically produces The Flintstones scenes based on text descriptions.  

The team trained Craft to recognize elements from the classic cartoon by feeding it more than 25,000 three-second clips, each of which included descriptions of who was in the scene and what was happening. From there, the AI only needed a line or two referencing a scene to stitch together characters, backgrounds and props. 

Phone addiction is causing loneliness, anxiety and depression in many, and has been considered in a new study as substance abuse. Some phone vendors are telling Android users that they have the latest security updates while it’s not so. And in search of the perfect voice for virtual personal assistants. All of this on WRLWND Radio for this week.

Show Notes

In a new study published in NeuroRegulation, argues that overuse of smart phones is just like any other type of substance abuse. The study pointed out that, “behavioral addiction of smartphone use begins forming neurological connections in the brain in ways similar to how opioid addiction is experienced by people taking Oxycontin for pain relief.”

Android updates

A German security firm found that many Android phone vendors fail to make patches available to their users, or delay their release for months; they sometimes also tell users their phone's firmware is fully up to date, even while they've secretly skipped patches.

The company tested the firmware of 1,200 phones, from more than a dozen phone manufacturers, for every Android patch released in 2017. The devices were made by Google itself as well as major Android phone makers like Samsung, Motorola, and HTC, and lesser-known Chinese-owned companies like ZTE and TCL. Their testing found that other than Google's own flagship phones like the Pixel and Pixel 2, even top-tier phone vendors sometimes claimed to have patches installed that they actually lacked.

Virtual Assistant Voice

IT research firm Gartner predicts that many touch-required tasks on mobile apps will become voice activated within the next several years. So, the voice feature on our devices are becoming more common these days.

In the book Wired for Speech: How Voice Activates and Advances the Human-Computer Relationship, the authors Clifford Nass and Scott Brave explored the relationships among technology, gender and authority.

According to their research, men like a male computer voice more than a female computer voice. Women, like a female voice more than a male one.

Google workers are calling on the company to stop developing AI for warfare, Microsoft is adding ransomware protection and file restore to its OneDrive cloud storage and is video games addiction a disease? The WHO says, yes!  

Show Notes:

Microsoft is marketing the Files Restore feature as a good way to protect against ransomware attacks that lock files on a local PC, and often try to delete copies that are stored in synced folders – replicating those changes in the cloud. We’ve seen a number of these attacks recently, and victims have been forced to pay money to try and get their files back.  

If OneDrive detects mass deletion of cloud files, Microsoft will alert users through an email or mobile / desktop notification and a recovery process will let you quickly restore to a time before the ransomware attack.

Google 

Thousands of Google employees have signed a letter to CEO Sundar Pichai protesting the company's work assisting the US Department of Defense to develop computer vision AI. 

The employees in the letter wrote that Google is "already struggling to keep the public's trust" due to fears about biased and weaponized AI. 

The employees are trying to make the point that Google will now be joining defence companies like Raytheon, and General Dynamics. Other tech companies like Microsoft and Amazon, are also participating in defence related technologies so why can’t Google be involved?   

Video games

In the June update of its International Classification of Diseases, the WHO will include "gaming disorder". This is a pattern of behavior according to the WHO that is "characterized by impaired control over gaming, increasing priority given to gaming over other activities to the extent that gaming takes precedence over other interests and daily activities, and continuation or escalation of gaming despite the occurrence of negative consequences." 

A study that was done in Ontario in 2016 estimated that 13 per cent of Ontario students — or almost 123,000 children — have experienced symptoms of a "video gaming problem," which was up from nine per cent in 2007. About one in five boys reported having "problematic symptoms" linked to their video gaming. 

We want to hear from you!

Thanks for taking the time to join us on today’s show. I would love to hear from you, please send me an email at [email protected]. We may even read your email on the show, you never know.  

From the rest of the team at WRLWND Radio, this is Marcello Sukhdeo, in light of the news we’ve covered today, saying, stay safe in the technology WRLWND.  

MyFitnessPal and Saks data breaches and the Facebook fiasco 

We have been hit by a wave of data breaches of recent. Should we keep trusting companies with our personal data? And the Facebook fiasco, it’s not about security, it’s a privacy breach that could spell the doom of social media giant.  

Show Notes 

Saks data breach  

A few days ago, three Canadian locations of department store Saks, were exposed to the data breach. This was revealed by Saks parent company, Hudson's Bay.  

Three Canadian Saks locations, all in Ontario, were exposed to the breach: 

• Sherway Gardens in Toronto. 
• Bramalea City Centre in Brampton. 
• Pickering Town Centre. 

Hudson Bay itself, at the time of recording this podcast, hasn't said whether any of its Canadian locations were affected. It says the investigation is ongoing, but there's no indication the breach affected the company's digital platforms or Hudson's Bay and Home Outfitters stores. 

The company is asking clients to review their account statements to see if there have been activity or transactions they don't recognize and that they will notify customers affected by the breach as quickly as possible and will offer free identity protection services once they learn more about the breach. 

MyFitnessPal breach 

There has been another massive data breach, over 150 million My Fitness Pal accounts were compromised.  

Under Armour, the company that owns MyFitnessPal, quickly sent out notifications to its users and once the breach was discovered, so they deserve some credit for how they responded unlike the other examples we have seen over the last few year and recently.  

In addition to notifying all MyFitnessPal users, the company has provided information about how users can protect their data, and asking that all users to change their passwords. They are also working with law enforcement to investigate and monitor for suspicious activity, and exploring enhancements to help detect and prevent similar unauthorized access in the future. 

Facebook  

Mark Zuckerberg has responded to the current backlash that Facebook is getting regarding the way data collected by Facebook was used. The shortened version of what he said, was, “We have a responsibility to protect your data, and if we can't, then, we don't deserve to serve you.”  

That is not right. That’s not the issue here.  

The Cambridge Analytica scandal is not about a failure to protect users’ data; it is a failure to protect the privacy of users’ data. There is a difference there. So, let me repeat, is not about a failure to protect users’ data; it is a failure to protect the privacy of users’ data.