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Monthly Archives: January 2022
ITV The Masked Singer audience rules and key to keeping identities hidden – Liverpool Echo
Posted: January 24, 2022 at 10:14 am
The key to the success of ITV's The Masked Singer is keeping the contestants' identities a secret - but how is it done?
The third series of The Masked Singer UK started on ITV this month, with fans eagerly trying to guess the identities of characters including Bagpipes, Lionfish, Robobunny and many more.
A celebrity panel including Davina McCall, Rita Ora, Jonathan Ross and Mo Gilligan make their guesses about who is under the masks each week, with the TV programme hosted once again by Joel Dommett.
READ MORE:ITV The Masked singer fans 'raging' as they 'work out' Doughnut's identity
Identities of the contestants are kept secret from all until the very last minute when the "take it off" chants result in another celebrity being unmasked.
Here are some of the ingenious ways that The Masked Singer UK manages to successfully keep its secrets while filming the season.
Audience members need to abide by certain rules to ensure that no show secrets are spilled.
Before even entering the studio, all audience members must hand in their phones and sign a non-disclosure agreement.
And, while the best part of The Masked Singer is ultimately the moment where the audience chant Take it off! as the mystery celeb is finally unmasked the live studio audience isnt actually there for the crucial moment.
Host Joel Dommett revealed the secret on Sunday Brunch, as he said: "We record the whole show and then they get to the bit where they go 'take it off, take it off', they go to take off the mask and that's the point where, I don't know if I'm allowed to announce this, we then get rid of the audience so they can then keep it a secret."
The audience are also not allowed to discuss the guesses that the celebrity panel makes, or any rumours they hear in the studio about the character's identities once they leave the building.
Televisions shows have literally hundreds of people working on them, and The Masked Singer is no exception.
But if every single person on the show knew who was under the masks then it would be very likely that someone could spill the beans and ruin the fun for all.
In order to keep the identities of the celebs beneath the costumes a secret until the last minute, show makers make sure less than a handful of people know who is taking part in the show.
Host Joel Dommett told a virtual press conference in 2020: I think theres six people in the production staff who know, out of a production team of probably 250 people. Thats two producers, a clues team person, a make-up person and a costume person and thats basically it.
Even the contestants taking part in the show have no clue who they are going up against in the competition - they find out at the same time the rest of us do.
There are several rules that they have to follow to keep the secrets of the show.
The contestants wear a big black hoodie saying Dont Speak To Me and a visor to hide their faces when they are backstage and not in costume. They also have to wear a balaclava and gloves too, to ensure every part of their body is hidden.
The singers are even told to bring all their belongings in plain black bags, to avoid revealing any clues about themselves.
Show judge Mo Gilligan revealed: "You don't see. You see that show, when you watch it on the show, the T shirts 'Don't talk to me' that's real.
"The set is huge. I got in the car, the driver was instructed he cant talk to me. I cannot talk to you, I'm not allowed. There's a gate. There's another gate with huge security guards. This happened every single day."
As well as secrecy around the set, the celebs taking part in the show sign strict contracts before appearing on the show that forces them to promise not to reveal their involvement even to their nearest and dearest.
Presumably the clause amounts to an NDA which could lead to financial consequences if they break the golden rule.
Show bosses previously revealed: "It was written into their contracts that they couldnt tell anyone, even their families, what was going on. In the end they were as worried about their secret getting out as we were."
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2022 is starting with a COVID surge and high inflation. Could that mean more stimulus checks? – USA TODAY
Posted: at 10:14 am
Maurie Backman| The Motley Fool
Fed's Powell: Inflation is a major threat to jobs
Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged Tuesday that high inflation has emerged as a serious threat to the Federal Reserve's goal of helping put more Americans back to work and that the Fed will raise rates more than it now plans if needed. (Jan. 11)
AP
Many Americans were disappointed to see 2021 come to an end without receiving a fourth stimulus check in their bank accounts. But will a new year mean a new windfall to look forward to?
Right now, there's no indication that lawmakers are looking to send out another stimulus check. But that doesn't mean we should definitively write one off. Here's why we may or may not see another stimulus payment come in.
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We're starting off 2022 with a surge of COVID-19 cases, fueled by the highly transmissible omicron variant. Health experts are saying that cases could peter off by late January. But if that doesn't happen, and the outbreak persists, we may be in for months of disruptions.
That scenario could force businesses to shut down and layoffs to ensue. If that were to happen, and the economy were to decline, then it could make the case for another stimulus payment.
Record inflation: Consumer prices jump 7% in 2021 to highest rate in 39 years
It's true that the U.S. is deep in the throes of a major COVID-19 outbreak one that threatens to overwhelm hospital systems, force schools into remote learning, and impact supply chains. But the silver lining is that omicron is said to result in milder illness than its predecessors, which means it may not be as disruptive.
Furthermore, the CDC recently updated its guidelines to shorten the length of quarantine for those diagnosed with COVID-19. That could mean fewer workplace disruptions and closures.
All of that would be a good thing for our economy. And speaking of the economy, it continues to improve. In December, the national jobless rate dropped to 3.9%, the lowest level since the start of the pandemic. Additionally, the labor market is loaded with jobs right now, so much so that many companies are raising wages in an effort to attract talent. This is a very different scenario than the one that presented in March 2021, when the most recent stimulus check was approved.
Finally, lawmakers aren't looking to impose massive shutdowns to combat the current COVID-19 surge like they did early on in the pandemic. That alone could prevent a massive wave of layoffs.
Powell says high inflation poses major threat to job market: Commentsraise possibility of faster rate increases
The idea of not getting another stimulus check may be disappointing, especially at a time when inflation is rampant and everything seems to cost more. But you can still take steps to boost your income.
First, research salary data to see if you're being paid a fair wage where you work. If not, you can either fight for a raise or dust off your resume and seek out a new employment opportunity. Or if you're looking for extra work, the gig economy is still very much alive, which means you have a chance to take on a side hustle for extra money.
You can also put yourself on a stricter budget if you're struggling to make ends meet. That could mean cutting back on some expenses temporarily until the cost of living dips back downward.
Of course, if the economic situation takes a drastic turn for the worse, then a follow-up stimulus round could be in the cards. But that's a scenario no one should hope for.
What is driving US inflation to a 39-year high? The reasons and solutions are complicated
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We're firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers. The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The Motley Fool is a USA TODAY content partner offering financial news, analysis and commentary designed to help people take control of their financial lives. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY.
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Data Breach Customer Relations: What NOT To Do – InformationWeek
Posted: at 10:14 am
Data breaches have become an unfortunate fact of life. But just because data breaches happen every day doesnt mean your own enterprises incident isnt big news that should be handled with great care. During cyber incident response, one public relations misstep can multiply the damage significantly.
Heres a look at some bad behaviors youre going to want to avoid:
Some companies try to keep a data breach relatively quiet by following only the minimum legal requirements and hoping it will blow over. In reality, its much more likely to blow up than blow over.
Oftentimes, breach notifications are only done as a result of mandatory statutory reporting requirements and these requirements can vary widely depending on jurisdiction, says Ryan R. Johnson, data privacy attorney and chief privacy officer at Savvas.
Johnson says that some US states data breach notification laws set very narrow reporting parameters such as mandatory notification triggered when specific types of personal data have been accessed by unauthorized parties. By comparison, other states give organizations broad latitude in a risk of harm approach, which allows the breached organization to decide whether it is necessary to notify customers.
Simply put, it's up to a company to make the determination on whether customers would be adversely affected by data compromised in a breach, says Johnson.
And dont forget: Some data breaches dont include personal information at all. Breaches of intellectual property, for example, could impact entire supply chains.
Its rare to know the full extent of the harm during or immediately after a data breach. But hopes often run high that the breach isnt as bad as it seems. Dont start off downplaying the damage in your initial disclosure to affected customers. If you do, you may face a worst situation later.
The TJX management in the US would probably admit that their response to the [breach of 45.6 million credit card numbers] back in 2007 did not go well, says JD Sherman, CEO of password manager Dashlane. While they communicated on a timely basis, they underestimated the impact in their initial communications, making the news that the breach was much larger even harder to swallow.
One terrible way to handle a breach situation, is to not handle it at all, warns Cassandra Morton, senior vice president of customer success and service delivery at NTT Application Security. Even worse is to use the event as an opportunity to sell a series of new tools and services in an attempt to course correct the situation.
Dont dangle free services as a way to get out of the situation either. After its 2017 breach that exposed Social Security Numbers, birth dates, and addresses belonging to what amounted to more than 40% of the US population, they took their time disclosing that Equifax offered victims complimentary credit monitoring (provided, ironically, by Equifax themselves), but only if the victim first provided their credit card number and waived any rights to take legal action against the company. After public pressure from regulators and advocacy groups, Equifax later removed the arbitration clause.
After a data breach, time is of the essence. If notification -- to regulators, law enforcement, media outlets, and/or impacted customers -- is mandated by regulators, your penalties can increase substantially as time drags by. (The European Unions General Data Protection Regulation may require you to break the news to authorities within 72 hours of discovery.)
Sometimes law enforcement investigations will prohibit you from informing affected customers right away, but dont unduly delay. More damage can result from the use or sale of that data elsewhere. If you delay warning your customers, third-party vendors, or others affected by the data breach, you are setting the scene for increasing harm.
The worst way to handle notification is not sending at all or exceptionally late. This approach will immediately raise a level of mistrust by the consumers, says Ron Tosto, CEO and Founder of Servadus, a cybersecurity and compliance consulting firm. The message in the notice is that your organization is hiding something, and the information may have false statements within it.
There have been examples of notifications two years after the fact and only after an investigation revealed an omission of the exact details, Tosto says.
The other approach is to avoid is placing blame or giving false credit for sophisticated hacker methods. Statistics show breaches are common with unpatched vulnerabilities for six months or more, Tosto adds.
When credit bureau Equifax discovered a breach in 2017 that exposed Social Security Numbers, birth dates, and addresses belonging to what amounted to more than 40% of the US population, they took their time disclosing it. They waited 40 days
However, if your company stays quiet about a data breach unless and until the news media gets wind of it and publicly announces, or if news breaks and you still take your time getting those notification letters out, youve likely created a public relations nightmare.
The worst way to handle customer notification is for customers to hear about it in the news first, then get a notification -- weeks, or even months later, says Johnson.
Fortunately, all these bad moves can be circumvented by simply relying on the Golden Rule.
Customers often become angry with and lose trust in organizations that are not transparent, communicate no action or play a victim, says Megan Paquin, APR, CPRC, leader of the firms crisis management team and vice president of Poston Communications, a PR and crisis communications firm. They understand that criminals are behind these attacks, but they need to feel confident that businesses have their backs when it comes to their data privacy and security.
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Four AGs sue Google for allegedly tracking you without permission – CNBC
Posted: at 10:13 am
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai gestures during a session at the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, on January 22, 2020.
FABRICE COFFRINI | AFP | Getty Images
Four attorneys general are suing Google for allegedly misleading users about when the company was able to track their location.
The bipartisan group of attorneys general from the District of Columbia, Indiana, Texas and Washington allege in separate lawsuits filed Monday that Google deceived users from at least 2014 to 2019 by leading them to believe that turning off Location History settings would make the service stop tracking their locations. But, the AGs allege, a user's location could still be tracked by Google unless they also turned off settings in the Web & App Activity section.
Google describes Web & App Activity as a way to personalize experiences for users by saving searches and activity in a user's account.
The AGs allege that Google misled users to believe that once they turned their Location History off, their location would not longer be tracked.
"Yet, even when consumers explicitly opted out of location tracking by turning Location History off, Google nevertheless recorded consumers' locations via other means," the Washington lawsuit alleges. "Although Web & App Activity setting is automatically enabled for all Google Accounts, the Company's disclosures during Google Account creation did not mention or draw consumers' attention to the setting until 2018."
A 2018 report from the Associated Press revealed the basis of the allegations in the lawsuits.
The AGs allege that Google profited from the deception by fueling its advertising business with such data. The lawsuits specifically request the court to require Google to offload any algorithms created with the allegedly ill-gotten gains, alongside monetary profits.
Google didn't immediately provide a statement but pointed to comments a judge in a similar case brought by Arizona's attorney general made.
"A reasonable fact finder could find that a reasonable, or even an unsophisticated, consumer, would understand that at least some location information is collected through means other than LH," the judge wrote in a recent filing, referring to Location History.
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Equations built giants like Google. Wholl find the next billion-dollar bit of maths? – The Guardian
Posted: at 10:13 am
In 1998, a computer science PhD student called Larry Page submitted a patent for internet search based on an obscure piece of mathematics. The method, known today as PageRank, allowed the most relevant webpages to be found much more rapidly and accurately than ever before. The patent, initially owned by Stanford, was sold in 2005 for shares that are today worth more than $1bn. Pages company, Google, has a net worth of well over $1tr.
It wasnt Page, or Googles cofounder Sergey Brin, who created the mathematics described in the patent. The equation they used is at least 100 years old, building on properties of matrices (mathematical structures akin to a spreadsheet of numbers). Similar methods were used by Chinese mathematicians more than two millennia ago. Page and Brins insight was to realise that by calculating what is known as the stationary distribution of a matrix describing connections on the world wide web, they could find the most popular sites more rapidly.
Applying the correct equation can suddenly solve an important practical problem, and completely change the world we live in.
The PageRank story is neither the first nor the most recent example of a little-known piece of mathematics transforming tech. In 2015, three engineers used the idea of gradient descent, dating back to the French mathematician Augustin-Louis Cauchy in the mid-19th century, to increase the time viewers spent watching YouTube by 2,000%. Their equation transformed the service from a place we went to for a few funny clips to a major consumer of our viewing time.
From the 1990s onwards, the financial industry has been built on variations of the diffusion equation, attributed to a variety of mathematicians including Einstein. Professional gamblers make use of logistic regression, developed by the Oxford statistician Sir David Cox in the 50s, to ensure they win at the expense of those punters who are less maths-savvy.
There is good reason to expect that there are more billion-dollar equations out there: generations-old mathematical theorems with the potential for new applications. The question is where to look for the next one.
A few candidates can be found in mathematical work in the latter part of the 20th century. One comes in the form of fractals, patterns that are self-similar, repeating on many different levels, like the branches of a tree or the shape of a broccoli head. Mathematicians developed a comprehensive theory of fractals in the 80s, and there was some excitement about applications that could store data more efficiently. Interest died out until recently, when a small community of computer scientists started showing how mathematical fractals can produce the most amazing, weird and wonderful patterns.
Another field of mathematics still looking for a money-making application is chaos theory, the best-known example of which is the butterfly effect: if a butterfly flaps its wings in the Amazon, we need to know about it in order to predict a storm in the North Atlantic. More generally, the theory tells us that, in order to accurately predict storms (or political events), we need to know about every tiny air disturbance on the entire planet. An impossible task. But chaos theory also points towards repeatable patterns. The Lorenz attractor is a model of the weather that, despite being chaotic, does produce somewhat regular and recognisable patterns. Given the uncertainty of the times we live in, it may be time to revive these ideas.
Some of my own research has focused on self-propelled particle models, which describe movements similar to those of bird flocks and fish schools. I now apply these models to better coordinate tactical formations in football and to scout players who move in ways that create more space for themselves and their teammates.
Another related model is current reinforced random walks, which capture how ants build trails, and the structure of slime mould transportation networks. This model could take us from todays computers which have central processing units (CPUs) that make computations and separate memory chips to store information to new forms of computation in which computation and memory are part of the same process. Like ant trails and slime mould, these new computers would benefit from being decentralised. Difficult computational problems, in particular in AI and computer vision, could be broken down in to smaller sub-problems and solved more rapidly.
Whenever there is a breakthrough application of an equation, we see a whole range of copycat imitations. The current boom in artificial intelligence is primarily driven by just two equations gradient descent and logistic regression put together to create what is known as a neural network. But history shows that the next big leap forward doesnt come from repeatedly using the same mathematical trick. It comes instead from a completely new idea, read from the more obscure pages of the book of mathematics.
The challenge of finding the next billion-dollar equation is not simply one of knowing every page of that book. Page spotted the right problem to solve at the right time, and he persuaded the more theoretically inclined Brin to help him find the maths to help them. You dont need to be a mathematical genius yourself in order to put the subject to good use. You just need to have a feeling for what equations are, and what they can and cant do.
Mathematics still holds many hidden intellectual and financial riches. It is up to all of us to try to find them. The search for the next billion-dollar equation is on.
David Sumpter is professor of applied mathematics at the University of Uppsala, Sweden, and author of The Ten Equations that Rule the World: And How You Can Use Them Too
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The latest iteration of Dr. Google – Axios
Posted: at 10:13 am
Google Health formally disbanded last year, with the unit instead choosing to spread its efforts across the organization. In this iteration, the company is working to imbue each of its numerous divisions with health expertise, Google chief medical officer Karen DeSalvo said during the Axios Pro kickoff event.
Why it matters: Google isnt backing away from health, but rather deepening its investment in the category by infusing its work into virtually every sector of the company, from wearables to partnerships with hospitals and health systems.
Behind the scenes: Many of those divisions resulted from health and wellness acquisitions, so it will be interesting to see how Google continues to bring them into the larger company fold.
Details: Wearables are also part of a broader suite of sensing devices, DeSalvo says, so when we work with a health plan, they're thinking about how to bring those tools to bear for customers, because people want digital-first, but also digital sensing. So we're increasingly looking for ways we can be helpful to health systems to give personalized insights to their customers.
Erin co-authors the Axios Pro newsletter on health tech deals. Subscribe at AxiosPro.com.
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Google launches beta of Android games on Windows PCs – The Verge
Posted: at 10:13 am
Google is launching a limited beta of its app to bring Android games to Windows PCs. Google Play Games will be available in beta in Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan today, allowing Windows PC owners to play popular Android games like Mobile Legends, Summoners War, State of Survival, and Three Kingdoms Tactics.
Players in Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan will be able to sign up to access the beta and access Googles standalone app on Windows PCs. Google is promising seamless gameplay sessions between a phone, tablet, Chromebook, and Windows PC, suggesting that youll be able to easily resume games between multiple devices.
Players can easily browse, download, and play their favorite mobile games on their PCs while taking advantage of larger screens with mouse and keyboard inputs, says Arjun Dayal, group product manager for Google Play Games. No more losing your progress or achievements when switching between devices; it just works with your Google Play Games profile!
Google Play Games will also include Play Points that can be earned while playing Android games on PCs. Google only announced its plans to bring Android games to PCs a month ago, but its still not clear what technology the company is using to get Android games running on Windows PCs. The Google Play Games app will be a native Windows app that wont involve game streaming, though, and Google is opening up a developer site today that should start to provide more information for game developers.
Googles announcement comes months after Microsoft started testing Android apps on Windows 11 PCs. Microsoft has built an underlying Windows Subsystem for Android, which is capable of running Android apps from a variety of sources. Microsoft uses it in partnership with Amazon to allow native installs of games and apps from the Amazon Appstore on Windows, but despite workarounds, Google Play isnt officially supported yet.
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Vergecast: Microsoft to acquire Activision, Google building a headset, and the 5G battle with airlines – The Verge
Posted: at 10:13 am
Every Friday, The Verge publishes our flagship podcast, The Vergecast, where we discuss the week in tech news with the reporters and editors covering the biggest stories.
The biggest news in tech this week was Microsoft acquiring game publisher Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. On todays Vergecast, Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel talks with games reporter Ash Parrish and senior reporter Alex Heath about the acquisition, the issues behind the culture at Activision Blizzard, and what this means for the gaming space in the future.
The crew also discusses Alexs scoop this week that Google is building an AR headset, internally codenamed Project Iris, that it hopes to ship in 2024.
Later in the show, Verge policy editor Russell Brandom joins to discuss the ongoing battle between the FAA, AT&T, Verizon, and airlines over activating 5G towers around airports, as well as the tech antitrust bills developing in Congress this week.
You can listen to the show here or in your preferred podcast player for the full discussion.
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Google fixes issue with the Assistants white noise sound that had sparked user outcry – The Verge
Posted: at 10:13 am
Google offers many ambient sounds from the Google Assistant, including one for white noise that might help block out noise to make it easier to sleep or study. The company seemingly changed its white noise sound last week, and many expressed frustration with the update, as reported by 9to5Google. But Google tells us it has fixed what it describes as an issue, and the sound should work like it used to.
There was an issue impacting our white noise experience. Its fixed now and working as it previously did, Google spokesperson Robert Ferrara said in a statement to The Verge.
The change had been disruptive for a lot of people, as documented in this Google Nest community thread which had more than 150 replies when we first published this story on Monday. Some described the changed white noise as quieter or sounding muffled. One person said their child has asked to use another white noise generator instead of a Google Nest Hub. Another said their toddler has observed the change and wakes up during the night.
To help those that wanted the original white noise back before Google fixed it, a user on Reddit uploaded a one-hour track of original one and longer versions of it to Google Drive that would have theoretically used as workarounds. Google also offers other ambient sounds, like forest sounds and rain sounds, and you can see the full list here.
Update January 18th, 7:12PM ET: Added statement from Google saying the issue was fixed.
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Can you solve it? The viral maths video that will have you in stitches – The Guardian
Posted: at 10:13 am
Hey Google, whats the factorial of 100?
There are several clips doing the rounds of what happens when you ask Google Assistant this question. The response is both hilarious and terrifying.
The factorial of 100 is the multiplication of 100 by every whole number less than it. In other words, 100 x 99 x 98 x 97 x 96 x . x 3 x 2 x 1.
The answer is a big number. Clearly.
Yet Google Assistant gives the wrong answer. Or rather, its answer is rounded up. (Siri abbreviates in a more sensible way.)
Todays puzzle is to do the sum properly:
How many zeros does the factorial of 100 really have at the end of it?
All that is required to solve this puzzle is knowledge of elementary arithmetic. Such as the fact that, if a number has a 0 at the end, it means this number is divisible by 10.
Ill be back at 5pm UK with the solution.
PLEASE NO SPOILERS Please discuss your favourite Siri and Google Assistant responses.
I set a puzzle here every two weeks on a Monday. Im always on the look-out for great puzzles. If you would like to suggest one, email me.
Im the author of several books of puzzles, most recently the Language Lovers Puzzle Book. If you are addicted to Wordle, I promise you will like this book. I also give school talks about maths and puzzles (online and in person). If your school is interested please get in touch.
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