A full quarter of all U.S. employment is highly vulnerable to automation, a new report from the Brookings Institute finds. That’s the equivalent of 36 million jobs. Meanwhile, some 36 percent of U.S. employment—52 million jobs—will “experience medium exposure to automation in coming decades.”
Source: Gizmodo – A Quarter of All U.S. Jobs Are at High Risk of Being Automated, Report Finds
In New York and other states across the country, authorities are acquiring technology to extract and digitize the voices of incarcerated people into unique biometric signatures, known as voice prints. From a report: Prison authorities have quietly enrolled hundreds of thousands of incarcerated people’s voice prints into large-scale biometric databases. Computer algorithms then draw on these databases to identify the voices taking part in a call and to search for other calls in which the voices of interest are detected. Some programs, like New York’s, even analyze the voices of call recipients outside prisons to track which outsiders speak to multiple prisoners regularly.
Corrections officials representing the states of Texas, Florida, and Arkansas, along with Arizona’s Yavapai and Pinal counties; Alachua County, Florida; and Travis County, Texas, also confirmed that they are actively using voice recognition technology today. And a review of contracting documents identified other jurisdictions that have acquired similar voice-print capture capabilities: Connecticut and Georgia state corrections officials have signed contracts for the technology
Authorities and prison technology companies say this mass biometric surveillance supports prison security and fraud prevention efforts. But civil liberties advocates argue that the biometric buildup has been neither transparent nor consensual. Some jurisdictions, for example, limit incarcerated people’s phone access if they refuse to enroll in the voice recognition system, while others enroll incarcerated people without their knowledge. Once the data exists, they note, it could potentially be used by other agencies, without any say from the public.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Prisons Across the US Are Quietly Building Databases of Incarcerated People’s Voice Prints
My first death in Sunless Skies, was equal parts embarrassing and fitting. My crew was desperate, starved and half-mad from the horrors they’d witnessed. We’d just narrowly escaped what we initially thought to be a friendly vessel, until a bouquet of otherworldly tentacles burst from its bow.
Source: Kotaku – Sunless Skies Is A Grim, Thrilling Adventure Through Victorian Space
This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter’s independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read Wirecutter’s continuously updated list of deals here.
Source: Engadget – Wirecutter’s best deals: KEF M500 headphones are off
Hey, I love a teleprompter. I wrote about how good teleprompters are just two hours ago. But SNL doesn’t use them; they use cue cards, as they love to point out now and then in meta sketches. And they show their cue card process in the video above, which is way more fun than the thumbnail implies.
Source: LifeHacker – SNL’s Hand-Written Cue Cards Are a Good Hack
Microsoft has had its fair share of problems with its Windows 10 updates over the years, with the biggest onslaught of issues being experienced recently with the October 2018 Update. Unfortunately, there’s a new issue affecting Windows 10 users, and it’s related to the Windows Update mechanism.
Some Windows 10 users began reporting this morning
Source: Hot Hardware – Windows 10 Users Facing Windows Update Server Woes, But This DNS Fix Might Just Work
Charter Communications will spend nearly $2 billion less on capital improvements to its Spectrum cable network and services this year, despite raising TV and broadband prices—and despite Ajit Pai’s claims that repealing net neutrality rules would boost capital investment.
“We currently expect capital expenditures, excluding capital expenditures related to mobile, to be approximately $7 billion in 2019, versus $8.9 billion in 2018,” Charter wrote in an earnings announcement today. “Our expectation for lower capital expenditures in 2019 versus 2018 is primarily driven by our expectation for lower customer premise equipment spend with the completion of our all-digital conversion [and] lower scalable infrastructure spend with the completion of the rollout of DOCSIS 3.1 technology across our footprint.” Charter’s costs are also going down because it has largely finished integrating Time Warner Cable and Bright House, after buying the cable companies in 2016.
“2019 is the year we’ll see a significant reduction in capital intensity,” Charter CEO Tom Rutledge said in an earnings call today, according to a Seeking Alpha transcript. A year ago, Charter executives promised investors “a meaningful decline in capital intensity” in 2019.
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Source: Ars Technica – Charter will spend less on cable network in 2019 but charge customers more
We have to slow down and smell the coffee, and it might actually be fun.
Source: TreeHugger – Let’s get circular; it is the only way we won’t end up buried in garbage
Ending out January is the version 2.29 release of the GNU C Library (glibc)…
Source: Phoronix – Glibc 2.29 Released With getcpu() On Linux, New Optimizations
An anonymous reader writes: Amazon and Walmart have been dealt a big blow in India, one of their most important markets, after the local government today declined a request to extend the deadline for the implementation of revised rules regarding how foreign ecommerce platforms sell goods and conduct business in the country. The local government, which revised its ecommerce policies late December, prohibit Amazon and Flipkart from selling goods from companies in which they have a stake. The two companies were hoping the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, the government agency that issued the revised policies, would extend the February 1 deadline. But efforts to gain more time were unsuccessful. (At around 6:50 p.m. local time — 8.20 a.m. Pacific, the government said it won’t be extending the deadline.)
Under the current laws, foreign-owned ecommerce companies are not allowed to sell directly to customers (in other words, to operate under an inventory-based model of ecommerce). Instead, they can only provide a marketplace that acts as “an information technology platform” and serves as a facilitator between “buyer and seller.” To bypass this restriction, both Amazon and Flipkart, which sold a majority stake to Walmart last year, have acquired stakes in some of the biggest third-party sellers in the country. For instance, Amazon owns stake in parent companies of Cloudtail India and Appario Retail, while Flipkart until recently controlled WS Retail, the largest seller on its platform. The local government’s revised policies fixed that loophole. Starting at 1.30 am Friday local time, several Amazon-owned products, including select Echo smart speakers, as well as some travel bags, batteries, and chargers under Basics brand, have become unavailable on Amazon’s website.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Amazon Begins Pulling Products From Its India Site as Local Government’s Strict New Policies Go Into Effect
Facebook announced today that it has removed 783 pages, groups and accounts that were apparently engaging in “coordinated inauthentic behavior” tied to Iran. According to Facebook, these accounts mostly operated under a false or concealed identity, a…
Source: Engadget – Facebook took down over 750 pages from Iran for ‘inauthentic behavior’
Note: Full video not for those who aren’t comfortable with the circle of life, bird getting eaten.
This is a video of an Iranian spider-tailed viper, which has an arachnid-like caudal structure that it moves to mimic the appearance of a spider and attract prey. In this case, a bird. Admittedly, I was rooting for the bird, but apparently it didn’t hear me yelling, “STAY AWAY, IT’S A TRAP!” at my phone. Whoever it was who just came into the bathroom did though, because I heard them turn around and leave immediately. Sounds like somebody is going to be pooping their pants at work this afternoon! “Is it you, GW?” More than likely.
Keep going for the whole video, or just watch the gif above and pretend like a bird didn’t just meet its maker, your choice.
Source: Geekologie – Video Of An Iranian Spider-Tailed Viper Luring A Bird
It’s been a long time coming, but Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth is finally making its way to North America. The game, which was first teased back in 2017 and was released in Japan last year, will be available exclusively on the Nintendo 3DS on Jun…
Source: Engadget – ‘Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth’ coming to North America June 4th
For the past two days, some Windows 10 users from around the world have been reporting that they are unable to connect to Windows Update. When they attempt to do so, Windows 10 will complain that they are unable to connect to the update service. From a report: We first learned about this problem yesterday when our member Opera contacted us stating that they, and many others, were having issues connecting to Windows Update. When they tried updating, Windows would report that it could not connect to the update service. The wording of the error, shown below, indicates that this is an Internet connectivity issue, but others are not so sure. “We couldn’t connect to the update service. We’ll try again later, or you can check now. If it still doesn’t work, make sure you’re connected to the Internet” Unfortunately, there is no clear cut answer as to what is causing this issue and some feel it is related to a botched Windows Defender update and others state that this could be a DNS issue.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Many Windows 10 Users Unable To Connect To Windows Update Service
Microsoft has released an extended version of its upcoming Super Bowl commercial that highlights the challenges that young people with disabilities may face when simply trying to have fun. The commercial shows how the Xbox Adaptive Controller can bring smiles to kids, levels the playing field, and empowers them to fit in with everyone else playing video games.
When technology empowers each of us, it empowers all of us. This Super Bowl, follow the inspirational story of passionate young gamers rising to the top of their game with a little help from their friends, family and the Xbox Adaptive Controller. The story illustrates Microsoft’s commitment to building accessible technology that levels the playing field and creates opportunity for all of us.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – Microsoft Highlights Xbox Adaptive Controller Users in New Super Bowl Commercial
The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman is not messing around with the voice cast for his upcoming Amazon animated series, Invincible. Are you ready for this?
Source: io9 – The Voice Cast for Robert Kirkman’s Invincible Is Unbelievable
Hello all you walking slabs of haunted pork, and welcome to Ask Dr. NerdLove, the only dating advice column that’s a certified keyblade wielder.
Source: Kotaku – Ask Dr. NerdLove: How Do I Tell My Boyfriend I Also Have A Platonic Life Partner?
When it comes to chicken, fans of football seem to only care about the wing. I get it, because wings are—without a shadow of a doubt—excellent, and I’m not here to discourage you from eating or serving them. I am, however, here to encourage you to consider the drumstick.
Source: LifeHacker – Give Drumsticks a Chance
Rumors have been flying fast about the Samsung Galaxy S10 line of smartphones. Not too long ago some images of the S10 family leaked that showed the smartphones inside clear protective cases. Not long after, more photos of the smartphones leaked along with alleged specifications for the devices. Rumors also suggest that the smartphones are
Source: Hot Hardware – Samsung Galaxy S10+ Official Renders Allegedly Leaked
