Daily Archives: April 4, 2021

AI (Artificial Intelligence) concept. Deep learning. Mindfulness.

Brain-Controlled Interface (BCI) technologyor technology that allows us to control our devices with our mindsis very promising.In fact, tech giants and VCsare pouring millions of dollars into it. Facebook is so interested in the technology that, in 2019, it spent between $500M to $1B to acquire CTRL-labs, a company that specializes in allowing humans to control computers using their brains. A number of companies have BCI innovations in the fundamental and lab stages. The question is, will it work?

Facebook seems to think so. Less than a year-and-a-half after it inked the deal with CTRL-labs, the company introduced a wristband product powered by EMG (Electromyography) which comes from the muscles in the wrist that are controlled by the brain. According to Facebook Reality Labs, the wristband uses sensors to translate the electrical motor nerve signals that move through the wrist to the hand into digital commands that could control other devices. The company hopes this will allow users to control their forthcoming augmented reality glasses with minimal hand movement.

But, BCI technology is very much in its infancy. Many technologists imagine a world where typing and texting no longer happen. They paint a picture of a world where technology is seamlessly integrated into our daily lives and all we have to do is to think about what we want or need and it will occur. If it sounds too good to be true, thats because it almost is-at least for now.

In order for any new product to work in the mass market, it must be a good fit, be high-quality and operate with natural human behavior. The existing products in the market do not fit the basic requirements yet.

Currently, there are three main BCI technologies available: invasive, non-invasive electrical (EEG) and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS).

Invasive

Invasive technologies, such as Elon Musks Neuralink, require implanting electrodes in the brain. The solution is very expensive and requires a complex surgery. It has been tested on fewer than 50 severely disabled people in the last decade and, while it shows potential, it is years from being a technology that most people would or could opt for.

Non-invasive electrical (EEG)

This technology has been researched for the past 40 years yet, despite many companies working on it, we are no closer today than we were decades ago. It requires electrodes and good electric contact with the scalp. The technology sees fundamental problems with recording brain signals, the process is complex and it is messy because it requires a conductive gel in the hair for good contact.

Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS)

This is the most viable technology in my opinion. While it currently requires expensive equipment, it will come down over time. The skin and bone have transparency to near-infrared light offering non-invasive ways to understand and even tap into the functionality of the brain.Los Angeles-based Kernel, founded by entrepreneur and venture capitalist, Bryan Johnson, leverages a cap that looks similar to a bike helmet. It uses a pulsed laser to capture information about photons, including the depth reached by them within the brain. One day the company envisions using its device as a smart assistant to suggest entertainment or food choices based on brain activity.

BCI technology is certainly one of the biggest challenge scientists have faced for a longtime, yet it is exciting for a number of reasons. The most obvious might be as an assistive technology for individuals who have lost use of body parts such as hands, arms or legs, or have a health condition. New technology could let these individuals operate robotic limbs or even regain control over paralyzed body parts.

The mass market could also benefit from technology that lets us go hands-free. In the next few years, augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) glasses are going to be cost effective and readily available. The more our AR/VR devices becomes ubiquitous, the less we will want to use our hands to operate them. Unfortunately, BCI technology to control those glasses with our minds is years away. None of the existing solutions are easily adaptable to human behavior. Facebooks wristband may be more acceptable than wearing a helmet to move a cursor on a computer screen, but we are still in the very early stages of BCI.

I truly believe once BCI is matured and integrated in our daily lives, it will revolutionize the world just like the invention of the microchip. It will open new doors for consumers who need technology to survive daily life or for those who simply strive for the next level of perfection. It is thrilling. It is game changing.

Yet the realist in me believes the building of viable technology and the associated products for it will take time and require significant scientific innovations. BCI is the ultimate solution, but the roadmap to get there will span multiple decades. In the meantime, the gap between the future and what currently exists presents a great opportunity for other hands-free solutions.

Read the original post:

Facebook Is Betting On Brain-Control Technology. Will It Pay Off? - Forbes

SHANGHAI, CHINA - MARCH 24: A Hisense chip is on display during the Appliance & Electronics World ... [+] Expo (AWE) 2021 at National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai) on March 24, 2021 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Gao Yuwen/VCG via Getty Images)

Silicon Valley is the birthplace of American tech. Giants like Google and Apple have become the face of Californias disruption hub. But long before we were typing Google searches into our iPhones, Silicon Valley got its name by creating the worlds most important industry: computer chips.

Silicon Valley is the birthplace of American tech. Giants like Google and Apple have become the face of Californias disruption hub. But long before we were typing Google searches into our iPhones, Silicon Valley got its name by creating the worlds most important industry: computer chips.

Computer chips, also called semiconductors, are the brains of electronics.These days, the entire world runs on semiconductors. There would be no iPhone, Amazon Webstore, or online messaging apps without them.

Temperature sensors in air conditioners are powered by tiny microchips. Rice cookers cook rice to perfection because built-in semiconductors control the heat. The chip inside pacemakers sends electrical pulses to the heart to keep it beating regularly.

From flying across oceans to hailing a ride on our smartphones when we land; streaming movies to buying stuff online; from checking out groceries to paying for dinner with your credit card:every modern system runs on chips.

You cant grab a packet of microchips off the shelf at Walmart. But the latest cameras, TVs, washing machines, ovens, and refrigerators are all made smart by semis. In 2019 there were 300 billion computer chips sold. Thats roughly 40 for every man, woman, and child in the world. And chip companies raked in $450 billion:

Source:

Virtually all of human progress over the past 60 years has been driven by computer chips becoming more powerful. Remember, chips are the brains of computers. And the more brain cells (transistors) a chip has, the faster it is.

The NASA supercomputer that sent Neil Armstrong to the moon in 1969 had 2,000 transistors. But get this: there are11.8 billionbrain cells packed onto the chip inside the new iPhone! Keep in mind, modern chips are no larger than your thumbnail:

Source:

All the tech progress in our lifetime has come from chipmakers figuring out how to cram more transistors onto these microchips. Its how we can do things on our pocket-sized smartphones that IBM mainframes larger than a double-decker bus never could.

In short,semiconductors are the most important goods the world has ever known. They are the fuel powering every modern technology. And they are also key to every future disruption you can think of.

Self-driving cars, artificial intelligence, computer vision, space tourism, genomic medicine. You name it, these world-changing disruptions ALLneedfaster chips.

Youre might already be familiar with chip giantNvidia (NVDA). Nvidia, Qualcomm, and AMD are often referred to as chipmakers, but thats a misnomer. These companies dont actually make semiconductors. Theyre more like architects, crafting blueprints and intricate designs for the chips.

When it comes to physically manufacturing the chips, they hand the reins toTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM). TSMC is the worlds largest semiconductor manufacturer. Today, roughly 70% of top-shelf chips pass through its factories. And its list of clients reads like a whos who in the tech world.

Its made the chips inside every Apple iPhone and Mac since 2014. Its produced Nvidias chips since the 90s. Giants like Qualcomm, Google, and AMD pay TSMC billions of dollars a year.

Most investors have never heard of TSMC, likely because it doesnt make any chips of its own. Its a dedicated manufacturer, only producing chips for big-name tech giants. Most of TSMCs factories are on the island of Taiwan. My contact John told me its plant in Hsinchu is the most incredible building hes ever set foot inside.

Once you pass through security, you have to throw on a protective cover-all suit with masks and gloves. Then you walk into an air shower. Its a special chamber that blasts you with filtered air to remove any particles, like dust or hair.

The semiconductors TSMC makes are so fine, a single speck of dust can ruin them. Its so-called cleanroom must be thousands of times more purified than outside. John said the air is so sterile you have to drink gallons of water to stay hydrated.

What stood out most was how he described TSMCs factory robots:

A monorail-like track bolted to the ceiling loops around the factory. The shuttles zooming around above your head are carrying partly-finished chips, some worth more than solid diamonds.

These robots travel 400,000 km a day, combined. Its the equivalent of running around planet Earth 10 times!

TSMC recently stole Intels crown as the worlds leading chip manufacturer. Remember, all tech progress has been fueled by chipmakers cramming more transistors onto these tiny silicon wafers. This process is the closest thing to magic in the real world.

The chip inside Apples new iPhone has a transistor etched into it every 5 nanometers. Thatsfive billionths of a meter, or 1,000X smaller than a red blood cell.

Chipmakers refer to the task of producing ever faster chips as recipes. Making chips is just like baking a cake. You can have all the right ingredients (or machines), but you must get the mixjustright for it to work.

Intel pioneered chipmaking back in 1968. And until recently, it always cooked the recipe correctly before anyone else. That allowed it to keep producing the worlds fastest chips.

But Intel was four years late to the latest chip innovation, allowing TSMC to leapfrog it for the first time ever.TSMC is now the only chipmaker in the world capable of producing leading-edge chips.And thats transformed it into the worlds most important tech company.

Think about it: when Apple and Nvidia need new chips made, who will they call? It can only be TSMC. These firms spent roughly $550 million designing their latest chips. When youre ploughing that kind of money into design, you will only hire the best chipmaker to build them. TSMC is like the sun, sitting at the center of the tech universe. Every company reliant on faster chips now revolves around it.

As chipmaking gets more complex and expensive, TSMC is leaving its rivals in the dust.

In 2001 there were 30 chipmakers vying for the #1 crown. Today, TSMC is the only chipmaker in the world capable of making leading-edge chips. Intel and Samsung are the only others left standing, and both are 12 years behind.

TSMCs only problem is figuring out how to make more chips. Apple, Nvidia, AMD and a handful of others have booked out its entire capacity until the second half of 2021.

Ive followed this disruptor for a couple years now, and its among the most consistent performers youll ever lay eyes on. Its grown sales 15X since 2000, and business has gone vertical over the past decade:

Source:

Remember, semiconductors are the fuel of our modern world. Every future disruption you can think of relies on faster and faster chips. As the principal supplier of those chips, TSMC is now the most important tech company in the world.

I call it a forever stock. Buy the stock today and lock it away for 10 years. Watch along the way as it compounds your initial investment into a small fortune.

Get my report"The Great Disruptors:3 Breakthrough Stocks Set to Double Your Money".These stocks will hand you 100% gains as they disrupt whole industries.Get your free copy here.

Here is the original post:

All Tech Revolves Around This Disruptor - Forbes

Its safe to say that the real estate environment has significantly changed after undergoing several shifts in the past year alone. But where does that leave the industry in terms of planning for the future? RISMedias next all-day virtual event,Spring Into Action, co-presented by the National Association of REALTORS, is going to tackle the business landscape, looking at everything from technology to new opportunities, the role of the office space, teams, branding and more.

Tune in on April 8 from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. EDT, as well be bringing together more than 75 of the industrys leaders, coaches and trainers to get you ready for the future business landscape, no matter what it might look like in the next several years.

Click here to register for a 50% discount!All registrants will receive a complimentary digital copy of RISMedias Ultimate Social Media Guide as a giveaway ($50 value).

The following sessions will be focusing on different aspects of the real estate business landscape:

Women in Real Estate: Seizing the Opportunities in 2021As the 2021 real estate market heads into prime season, the potential for success is great. This panel of leading women in real estate discuss the most exciting opportunities for the year ahead, and how brokers and real estate professionals can take advantage of the possibilities.

Featuring: Joan Docktor, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Bess Freedman, Brown Harris Stevens Helen Hanna Casey, Howard Hanna Real Estate Services Rosey Koberlein, Long Companies Christina Pappas, The Keyes Company/Illustrated Properties

Broadcasting: 11:25 a.m. EDT More About This Session

Fighting Back With TechnologyAre venture capital firms and tech giants a threat to the longevity of the real estate brokerage model? In this special one-on-one discussion, Morgan Carey shares how brokers and agents can fight back and mitigate the competitive challenge with the right online strategy.

Featuring: Morgan Carey, Real Estate Webmasters John Featherston, RISMediaBroadcasting: 12:05 p.m. EDT More About This Session

Broker Track: The Future of Brick & Mortar: The New Face of the Real Estate FirmOperating throughout a pandemic environment has changed the approach to businessin many cases, for the better. As we set our sights on a post-COVID world, brokers discuss what the office of tomorrow will look like and how it will make their business models more efficient and effective.

Featuring: Lacey Merrick Conway, Latter & Blum Joe Horning, Shorewest, REALTORS Vince Leisey, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Ambassador Real Estate Scott MacDonald, RE/MAX Gateway

Broadcasting: 1:50 p.m. EDT More About This Session

Broker Track: The New Urban LandscapeUrban markets, like New York City, took a hit in the wake of COVID-19. But new opportunities have since emerged. In this session, two real estate icons share how theyre navigating business in the Big Apple during pandemic times, and what the outlook is for city markets across the country.

Featuring: Bess Freedman, Brown Harris Stevens Diane M. Ramirez, Brown Harris Stevens Residential Sales, LLC John Featherston, RISMedia

Broadcasting: 2:20 p.m. EDT More About This SessionAgent Track: The Power of 2 Brands: How to Sync Your Brand With Your BrokersWhen an agent can brand themselves or their team through marketing and social media in conjunction with the strengths of their brokerage, they can create a powerful tool that will help successfully grow their business.

Featuring: Vince Leisey, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Ambassador Real Estate John Featherston, RISMedia

Broadcasting: 2:25 p.m. EDT More About This Session

Agent Track: How to Make Your Team More Successful in 2021Agent teams are rising in prominence and productivity. Is your team equipped to compete against the increasing competition? In this session, leading coach and team expert Verl Workman and his panel strategize ways for your team to reach its maximum potential in 2021.

Featuring: Ron Howard, Ron Howard & Associates of RE/MAX Advantage Lisa Milkovich, The Milkovich Team, John L. Scott Real Estate Heidi Picard-Ramsay, BHHS New England, New York & Westchester Properties Verl Workman, Workman Success Systems

Broadcasting: 3:45 p.m. EDT More About This Session

Click here to receive 50% off registration now to kick off the spring market right!

Spring Into Action 2021 SponsorsDiamond SponsorsNational Association of REALTORS Center for REALTOR DevelopmentReal Estate Webmasters

Master SponsorCENTURY 21The Corcoran Group

Host SponsorLone Wolf TechnologiesQualiaRealtors Property Resource, LLCRocket Mortgage

Event SponsorsCoreLogicDavid Knox Productions, Inc.The Institute for Luxury Home MarketingPillar To Post Home InspectorsSherri Johnson Coaching & ConsultingLiz Dominguez is RISMedias senior online editor. Email her your real estate news ideas tolizd@rismedia.com.

Read the rest here:

Spring Into Action: Navigating the New Business Landscape - RisMedia.com

The researchers from the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands Cancer Institute and the Delft University of Technology, has founded that even the state of the art Automatic speech recognition (ASR) algorithm struggles while identifying the accents of people from different regions. According to these researchers, the ASR system for the Dutch Language can recognize speakers of specific age groups, genders and even the countries of origin much better than others.

This speech recognition has come a very long way since IBM developed and demonstrated the very first speech recognition system the Shoebox Machine back in early 1960s, which is also known as the forerunner of the modern worlds voice recognition system, and the launch of the famous Worlds of Wonders Julie Doll back in 1987. In spite of all the progress achieved with the help of Artificial Intelligence, the current speech recognition system are not upto the level and are also considered to be biased. A study , ordered by the Washington Post states that the famous smart speakers manufactured by the very own Google and Amazon, are predicted to not to be able to understand Non-American accents as compared to American accents.

Very recently, the Cambridge based advocacy organization, Algorithmic Justice Leagues Voice erasure project discovered that the speech recognition system of the famous Tech Giants including Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, IBM and even Google itself has collectively secured a word error of about 35% for African American voice in comparison to just 19 % for White American voices.

The co-workers of this latest research has decided to check and investigate that how well a Dutch based Automatic Speech recognition system would do while recognizing speech from different groups of speakers. A series of experiments were to be carried out to examine if the Dutch ASR system is able to keep up with the diversity in speech with factors including gender, age and accent.

In the beginning the ASR system was fed some sample date from the CGN , a technique used to familiarize AI language models to the Dutch language. This CGN contains recordings of People ranging from 18-65 years old from different regions of Netherlands and Flanders of Belgium that covered speaking style of telephonic conversation as well as broadcast news. CGN has an astonishing 483 hours of speech time including 1678 men and 1185 women. But in order to make things more complex for the system, the co-author introduced the data augmentation technique to increase the training data hours up to nine fold.

When this test subject ASR system was run for a test drive from CGN the results showed that the female speech was more reliably identified as compared to males regardless of their speaking style. In addition to this the system had a hard time recognizing speech from older people as compared to young ones mainly because the younger People were more articulated. And it seemed to be easy to identify native speech as compared to non native speaker. The Dutch children had an error rate of about 20% which was better than the non-native age group.

Researchers believe that the only way to lessen this speech bias issue is possible at Algorithmic level and cannot be done in datasets. They concluded this study on a piece of paper by adding that the direct bias mitigation will concern the diversifying and aiming for a balanced representation in datasets whereas an indirect bias mitigation technique will deal with a variety including age, region, gender and more. And both of them working together can make it easier to ensure a more developing environment for the automatic speech recognition (ASR).

Read next:Tech is changing dramatically fast, almost a third of the consumers feel that they cant keep up with the speed of technology

See the original post here:

Researchers have found that even the best Speech recognition systems are actually biased - Digital Information World

Snap is the company behind one of the most popular social media app Snapchat. It allows the users to chat through picture or video messages. The message is available for only a short period time before the message or the snap becomes inaccessible. The company of Snapchat is very aggressive in making new updates and changes on the app and every day new updates are found by the users of Snapchat.

Snap hasreportedly searched for new ways to bypass the upcoming feature of Apple that is related to the tracking transparency feature. The upcoming launch of Apples new iOS 14 feature is about App Tracking Transparency (ATT). This feature of iOS forces the app to ask for permission from the user before they will be able to track them.

Some of the Chinese companies and other tech giants have been trying to find a way to get around Appels App Tracking Transparency by using third-party data, even if the user denies the permission that is the feature of the iOS 14. The documents that are obtained by the Financial Times are showing that Snap is trying to gather all the information from third-party corporations and companies to look into whether have responded to advert campaigns or not. Snap started the probabilistic matching in which the plan is to measure the information that includes the IP address of the user instead of their personal information to monitor the records. This was confirmed by Snap, that they have been performing the probabilistic matching for several months to take a look at the impression of the privacy insurance policies of Apple. Snap also mentioned that they plan to change the program when the ATT feature of Apple is launched.

Snap also mentions that the social network won't be able to track users without their permission, however they wish that they might collect information on the same characteristics without breaking any privacy principles.

According to the reports, Apple has sent letters to the Snap and all the other China-based companies that are trying to get around ATT to track users without their permission. The letter supposedly warned the companies that this attempt will result in expulsion from the App Store. In February, Snap warned all the investors that the launch of upcoming Apple privacy changes can hurt the income of the company.

The feature of App Tracking Transparency has drawn outrage and critics from companies that are reliant on advertising especially Facebook. It claims that the new feature will hurt the revenue of the small and medium-sized business, however, Facebook has admitted that they have no other option rather than accepting the new privacy policies.

The new ATT feature that is related to the privacy of the users is anticipated to be launched in iOS 14.5 sometime in the upcoming spring.

Excerpt from:

Bypassing Apple's App Tracking Transparency feature tested by Snap - Digital Information World

Dark patterns are seen throughout the internet and most of the time you just dont realize that theseDark patterns are working in the backgrounds to manipulate your behavior. If you do not know what dark patterns are, allow us to make you understand.Dark patterns are kinds of hacks, designs or options on the different platforms and apps which are made to manipulate or heavily influence users and encourage them to make certain choices which will be in the favor of the said company or the websites and you do it without even realizing it sometimes. The term dark pattern was made by a man called Harry Brignull in 2010 who has been keeping a track of all the dark patterns and activity since then. It was revealed that the dark patterns have existed long before the existence of the internet with previously with the mail-order music club Columbia Houses amazing deal to buy 12 CDs for just one penny (plus shipping and handling), which then automatically opted them in to a CD-a-month club that was almost impossible to cancel as an example but with the power and the wider availability of the internet such patterns have become more common and powerful.

There are so many examples of dark patterns on the internet like the trial streaming services which asks for your bank accounts when you sign up for a free month trial will automatically charge you once the trial is over. Ads on the applications or websites will appear covering the entire screen but the X to remove them will be so small and faint in the corner that sometimes it can be missed by the users or the X is so small that you accidentally click on the ad itself and are redirected to the ads websites.

While these may be small examples, do you know large tech giants manipulate you into these patterns as well?

Instagram which is a renowned application walks on this path too. You must have at some point in your Instagram using activity received a pop up asking if you want the service to use your app and website activity to provide a better ads experience. This basically means the app wants to track and transfer your data in order to link you up with the ads of preference and this is one the biggest sources of revenue collection for the applications. Along with this pop up you are given two options one in a black column which is a shade darker than its background reading Make ads less personalized and a blue box reading Make ads more personalized. The blue color is vibrant than the black one and will be immediately catchy to the users eye. Apart from this Instagram uses words like activity and personalized instead of tracking and targeting to convince users in accepting their tracking requests without them realizing what it is all about. This is what dark patterns are all about.

Dark patterns online have been fooling people for very long now and making them give up their time data and money but if things go in favor of advocates and regulators wanting to ban this type of patterns on the internet it will not be long before the websites and companies will not be able to fool people for much longer.

H/T: Vox Media.

Read next:Dear Gamers Beware of The Malware Hidden Inside Cheat Codes!

Originally posted here:

How Dark Patterns Trick People On the Internet Without Them Realizing - Digital Information World

Posted By: Staff WriterApril 1, 2021

The areas tech giants have given guidance this week on return-to-work plans, according to multiple reports. The plans impact a significant portion of the regions workforce.

Facebook has set a May 10 opening target date for a voluntary return to onsite work, for up to 10 percent of maximum seated capacity in its Menlo Park headquarters, provided local COVID-19 case data continues to improve. Offices in Sunnyvale will open May 24, followed by Fremont on May 17 and San Francisco on June 7, under the same parameters. Employees can still opt to work from home until early July, and can choose to continue remotely until their local office has reached 50 percent capacity, which for the largest offices could be after Labor Day.

Uber welcomed employees to its new San Francisco headquarters on March 29, allowing up to 20 percent of employees to return to work on a voluntary basis. The rideshare giant had previously slated September 13 as its return date.

Google notified employees on Wednesday they will be allowed to return to the workplace in April on a voluntary basis, at reduced capacity subject to local COVID-19 health guidance, ahead of the September 1 return deadline announced at the end of last year.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has remained tight-lipped about return to work plans since telling employees in December they would be working from home until June. However he recently signaled the companys commitment to in-person work, telling People Magazine last month, I cant wait until that happens,and describing Apple as very much an in-person team because we believe thats best for collaboration.

Most companies have indicated a hybrid approach will likely be part of the operations model going forward. Vaccines will not be required to return to work at many top firms, at least initially, but key perks will be absent from the onsite work experience as well. Free food, onsite workout centers and WiFi-enabled shuttles are among the benefits not yet available to returning employees.

See the original post here:

Facebook, Google, Uber release return to work plans: Bay Area Tech firms set the date - Cupertino Today

Google

Tech giant Google will not to participate in-person in the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2021 due to COVID protocols. The news comes after several tech giants like Nokia, Ericsson, Sony and Oracle decided not to attend the flagship event meant for the global smartphone industry.

Google said that following current COVID-19 travel restrictions and protocols, it "has made the decision to not exhibit at Mobile World Congress this year". "We will continue to collaborate closely with GSMA and support our partners through virtual opportunities. We look forward to this year's activities and seeing you in Barcelona in 2022," the company said in a statement to The Verge on Wednesday.

In February, the GSMA that runs MWC said it would go ahead with the in-person event in June year with proper Covid-19 precautions.

However, with Covid cases rising again globally, more and more tech giants have announced not to take the risk. MWC Barcelona is an annual trade show organised by GSMA, dedicated primarily to the mobile communications industry.

Its annual attendance was generally around 100,000 people, while mobile phone manufacturers often use the conference to unveil upcoming devices.

GSMA has extended the MWC brand to two other trade shows in Shanghai, China (MWC Shanghai) and Los Angeles, United States (MWC Los Angeles, formerly MWC Americas), but the brand remains most synonymous with the Barcelona event.

*Edited from an IANS report

View post:

Google will not attend Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2021 due to COVID protocols - Indulgexpress