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Sooz
9th November 2014, 06:02
Hi All,

Looked at a couple of things today, a wearable wrist watch camera that flys.

And a very intrusive 'home assistant' which looks cool, but of course, records and stores conversations in your own home.:(

It's always a double edged sword.

http://www.news.com.au/technology/gadgets/the-nixie-wearable-drone-camera-wins-intels-make-it-wearable-competition/story-fnpjxpz3-1227112241029

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/11/amazon-announces-echo-a-199-voice-driven-home-assistant/

norman
9th November 2014, 18:11
New Amazon Device Uses Voice Recognition to Track Users in Their Homes
"It's always on... voice recognition hears you from across the room"



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkOCeAtKHIc




Controlled by a user’s voice, Amazon boasts the device’s ability to answer questions, provide weather updates, and play music.

“Amazon Echo is designed around your voice. It’s always on—just ask for information, music, news, weather, and more,” Amazon states. “Echo begins working as soon as it hears you say the wake word, ‘Alexa.’ It’s also an expertly-tuned speaker that can fill any room with immersive sound.”

Using “far-field voice recognition,” the Echo can detect and analyze voices even when other loud noises are prevalent.

“Tucked under Echo’s light ring is an array of seven microphones. These sensors use beam-forming technology to hear you from any direction. With enhanced noise cancellation, Echo can hear you ask a question even while it’s playing music.”

Echo’s constant connection to the cloud allows it to learn and adapt, slowly gathering the specifics of a user’s characteristics.

“Echo’s brain is in the cloud, running on Amazon Web Services so it continually learns and adds more functionality over time. The more you use Echo, the more it adapts to your speech patterns, vocabulary, and personal preferences.”

While the Echo is always activated, Amazon assures its customers that “Alexa” will only listen when a user asks.

Given Amazon’s history of selling privacy-invading devices, such as the company’s “Fire Phone,” the safety of any collected personal information is in question, especially in light of recent news surrounding cloud security.

Unfortunately, the push towards cloud computing and “smart” tech has long ignored these important social and security implications.

During a 2012 speech, former CIA Director David Petraeus openly applauded the growing implementation of such technology due to its ability to give spy agencies unmitigated access to personal information.

“Transformational is an overused word, but I do believe it properly applies to these technologies, particularly to their effect on clandestine tradecraft,” Petraeus said. “Items of interest will be located, identified, monitored, and remotely controlled through technologies such as radio-frequency identification, sensor networks, tiny embedded servers, and energy harvesters — all connected to the next-generation internet using abundant, low-cost, and high-power computing.”

Earlier this month, Samsung announced the launch of its new line of “Smart TVs,” which will admittedly record a user’s personal conversations before transmitting them to third parties.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VhOkg_g3uo#t=90


“Please be aware that if your spoken words include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party through your use of Voice Recognition,” the product’s privacy policy states.

Even the most mundane of home appliances, including dishwashers, ovens , light bulbs and refrigerators, are now being equipped with WiFi and voice recognition capabilities, giving hackers, governments and corporations virtually unfettered access to every detail of a person’s life.

Given Amazon’s close relationship with both the NSA and CIA, the company will be hard pressed to convince civil liberties advocates of Echo’s caring nature, whether programmed or learned.

Spiral
9th November 2014, 18:22
targeted ads will be just the thin edge of the wedge, they will be profiling for all kinds of things, the possibilities are terrifying.

Pre-crime here we come :belief:

norman
9th November 2014, 18:59
What blows my mind Spiral, is that most data about what's going on here indicates that we humans are supposed to be the big deal free-will race.

That makes these pervs look like a twisted bunch of voyeurs. And that makes it feel like a wasted enterprise.

You have to wonder if there are at least 2 very opposed entities involved here.

The world of people is polarising into 2 sides. The one lot will buy their "smart" TVs etc, and the other lot will have nothing to do with them.

Mind bogglingly terrifying implications, at least here in my 'negative' mind.

Speak up, you positive types, please.

norman
9th November 2014, 21:06
Hi All,

Looked at a couple of things today, a wearable wrist watch camera that flys.

And a very intrusive 'home assistant' which looks cool, but of course, records and stores conversations in your own home.:(

It's always a double edged sword.

http://www.news.com.au/technology/gadgets/the-nixie-wearable-drone-camera-wins-intels-make-it-wearable-competition/story-fnpjxpz3-1227112241029

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/11/amazon-announces-echo-a-199-voice-driven-home-assistant/


I started a new thread about the Amazon echo before I read this thread.

Tribe
10th November 2014, 07:04
I started a new thread about the Amazon echo before I read this thread.

And I have merged them Norman :h5:

Sooz
23rd December 2014, 06:41
I always like to keep up with new technology - this is an interesting newsletter from Sam Volkering, an Ozzy in London.

Today I Received the Future
December 23rd 2014, by Sam Volkering, London, UK

________________________________________
In today’s Tech Insider...the biggest story of 2014...how this is perhaps the most pivotal moment of the century...wearable tech that’s actually useful...and more...
At 8:07 this morning, there was a knock at the door.

I still have a few Xmas deliveries from Amazon coming in, so I thought it must be one of those. I was almost right. It was a delivery. But it wasn’t a present.
The delivery man from the post office said, ‘This is the delivery you had to pay the customs for.’ As soon as he said it, I knew what it was.
The delivery has come all the way from Canada. Why Canada? Because you can’t get it anywhere else. My delivery is one of the first of its kind in the world. And when you ship something into the UK, you have to pay your customs and duties taxes.

.................................................. ........................


But that’s irrelevant. My package was here. And like a kid at Xmas, you couldn’t hide my excitement. Hayley asked, ‘Is this one of your geek toys?’ and I excitedly replied, ‘Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.’ I think that confirmed it for her. Finally, some wearable tech that excites me.

In February 2013, I put in an order for a MYO armband. Initial estimates were hopeful for an early 2014 release. And the time came and went. Then Thalmic Labs, who make MYO, said it’d push out to the end of 2014. This time they were true to their promise. I know this because I now have my MYO.

First impression? Good. Packaging is nice, clean, and easy to open. Then there’s the initial calibration steps. I’ll get to that shortly, but they’re also good, very good.
Why the future might finally be here. I’m excited about the MYO because I think it might be the first piece of wearable tech that’s actually useful. And if my initial experience is anything to go by, what you see here is proof that how we interact with the digital world is about to dramatically change.

Straight out of the box, I slipped it over my forearm and followed the easy, step-by-step calibration guide. I downloaded an app on my phone and was ready to go. It’s pretty impressive.
I can literally close my fist and turn my hand to adjust the volume on my MacBook or smartphone. With a wave of the wrist I can skip tracks, change pages or control a video game character.
Mine is one of the very first in the world. And it’s taken Thalmic Labs almost two years to get this consumer product out. But it’s worth the wait.

The ease with which it works is astounding. I’ve had my fair share of new tech over the last year. A 3D printer, the Sony Smar****ch 2, FitBit Flex, Leap Motion Controller, three different smartphones and now the MYO armband.Of course, the 3D printer is the most mind blowing of the lot, but the MYO isn’t far behind. I’ve been a fairly harsh critic of wearable tech thus far. None of it seems to be all that user friendly or particularly helpful. But I think the MYO just might be onto something big here.

The one bugbear of many a piece of tech is the level of user skill required. The Leap Motion Controller was good but insanely difficult to use successfully. The 3D printer is a revelation, but again you need a reasonable understanding of computers and modelling software to get it right (although that’s rapidly changing for the better with newer 3D printers).
Then there’s the FitBit, which is idiotically easy to use, but kind of pointless. And the Sony Smar****ch is really just a tricked up Casio watch from the 80s.
But MYO is on another level. Here’s what’s ‘under the hood’.

• Medical grade stainless steel EMG sensors
• Highly sensitive nine-axis IMU containing three-axis gyroscope, three-axis accelerometer, three-axis magnetometer
• An ARM Cortex M4 Processor
• Bluetooth Smart
• Rechargeable lithium ion battery

What happens is it detects the electromagnetic signals from my forearm muscles to determine what kind of hand gestures I’m making. These are then translated into controls for whatever program I’m using. It only works with a limited number of programs for now. However, I use Spotify a lot. All I had to do was open my hand to pause and play, swipe to the left or right to change tracks and clench my fist and rotate it to adjust the volume. All this within 10 minutes of getting it out of the box. That’s impressive.

Now where MYO gets really interesting is it’s potential use down the track. Already I can use it to adjust a Nest thermostat. And my guess is if it works with Nest, MYO is going to play friendly with a lot of Google apps and programs in the future. I’d imagine there will be a program for Chromecast, Google’s TV dongle. Perhaps it will also work in with Google Maps and maybe even one day Google’s self driving car.

From what I can see, the only limitation is what developers and programmers decide to make it work with. I can’t imagine it’ll be too long until it works seamlessly with my internet browser and I can use it to navigate the web. Maybe even one day I’ll be able to use it to type Tech Insider. Or perhaps MYO will find itself integrated into other tech like the OMSignal smart wear. Who knows? But I have to admit this is one piece of wearable tech I like. And it think it’ll lead to big things for Thalmic Labs.

Regards,

Sam Volkering +
Editor, Tech Insider
Port Phillip Publishing

Sooz
23rd December 2014, 07:37
Not sure if I've put this in the right thread, or should have a separate one. Anyway....

There is new tech now where law enforcement are now scanning all our social media pages (that would include this forum), phone texts, emails etc, etc, etc, and coding us with a colour alert! Yep, I guess code Red is you are a threat and so it goes on down the colour spectrum. So say if a nice policeman pulls you over for a random licence check, they can punch in your licence number and see what danger alert you are to the establishment/government, depending on all your opinions in:

Phone calls, social media - Facebook, forums, all your emails. Who even knows if your new car (via Bluetooth for your mobile phone) is recording what you say in the car to your passengers? What about chips in the washing machine, the fridge, not to mention the friggin TV with it's camera recording you and recording everything you say! The new TV's are even TELLING you they are doing this!

Sorry for all the exclamation marks. I've been telling this to people for years and THEY JUST DON'T CARE! :fpalm: Yes I'm yelling, lol...:cracky: