Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence

I have often wondered which would be worse: a world where social media platforms are not held responsible for the content people post, or a world where they are. This "thought experiment" just became less hypothetical, as Twitter is testing three levels of warning labels for tweets its algorithm scores as potentially containing misinformation: "Get the latest," "Stay Informed," and "Misleading." Continue Reading →

If you have an Alexa-enabled device or any Amazon device that is Amazon Sidewalk-capable, you are automatically opted in to sharing up to 80Kbps (capped at 500MB per month) of your WiFi network with Amazon and your neighbors. After I tell you how to opt-out, I'll tell you what it is and why Amazon thinks it's a good idea. If you want to use the service and lend part of your WiFi network to Jeff Bezos, you don't need to do anything. You are opted-in unless you do the following. Continue Reading →

As she approached the entrance to the club, she gave the frame of her new prescription AR glasses a gentle squeeze. When she got to the door, it appeared to turn green, indicating recognition that she was over 21 years of age. Then, a message appeared along with a friendly voice asking for the 5 ADA cover charge. She shook her head yes. A moment later, the door opened, which indicated that the transaction had cleared. And so begins a story about life in a trustless, decentralized world − a tale from under the Merkle tree. Continue Reading →

With the full understanding that killing 3rd-party cookies in its very popular Chrome browser would impact practically every advertiser, Google, the world's largest seller of advertising, offered its idea of a replacement: FLoC (Federated Learning of Cohorts). To make a long story short, practically everyone but Google hates the idea. Continue Reading →

Ready to be part of a FLoC? That's Google's acronym for a Federated Learning of Cohorts, a toolset supposedly engineered to help take the "psycho" out of psychographics. Continue Reading →

Microsoft is not joking. Stick a fork in Cortana... it's done! If you are one of the dozens of Cortana users wondering why the Cortana content you created (such as reminders and lists) aren't working on your mobile devices, it's not an April Fools' joke: Microsoft announced last July that it would end support for the Cortana mobile app on March 31, 2021. Continue Reading →

We’re in the middle of a cryptocurrency bubble and an NFT (non-fungible token) craze. For context, the price of a Bitcoin (BTC) is bubbling around $56,000. The price of an Ether (ETH) is just over $1,700. That sounds bubbly, but this column is not about financial advice. I’m going to teach you, step by step, how to build a very small cryptocurrency mining operation so you can get a deeper understanding of the process. Continue Reading →

As part of a smear campaign designed to eliminate her daughter's cheerleading rivals, a woman in Bucks County, Penn., created deepfakes depicting her daughter's rivals naked, drinking, or smoking. Then, according to the Bucks County DA, she sent them to her daughter's coaches and to the victims of her attack with text messages urging the teenaged girls to kill themselves. Continue Reading →

Next time you pull up to the drive-thru, if it sounds a little like you're talking to a robot, you might be. McDonald's has been working hard to make their drive-thru business more efficient, and AI order takers are part of the plan. Why? Because AI never forgets to greet you politely, it listens more accurately than people do, and (of course) it never loses its temper or gets offended. Continue Reading →

As the pandemic enters its second year, we're approaching an inevitable bifurcation of our society: "Presumed Safe" (those who have been vaccinated or exposed to the virus), and "Presumed Unsafe" (those who have not been vaccinated or have not been exposed to the virus). Two distinct groups that are going to test us in ways we've only read about in history books. Continue Reading →