| Is Google listening in? | |
| I had heard rumors about this for months and just kinda brushed it off and ignored it. However apparently it is true google is planning to listen in. What the system is actually designed for is to listen with the microphone on your computer to what you are watching on TV. Then it will popup ads or content based on that. So say your watching Mission Impossible it may popup ads for the clothes that Tom Cruise is wearing. Google says they only capture 5 second audio streams that are then |  |
| turned into irreversible statistics (so says Google) that are then used to analyze what you are watching at that moment. I’m sorry but how much further down the path of 1984 can we get with this. With Winston sitting in his chair afraid to say or do anything because of the TV watching him and listening to his every word. Sorry Google bad idea if I want to know what Tom Cruise was wearing in Mission Impossible I'll go Google it myself. Until then l will be extremely wary of that Google application on my laptop. Here is a link to Google’s 10 page pdf on the subject: (“Social- and Interactive-Television Applications Based on Real-Time Ambient-Audio Identification” 10 pg PDF, see also the Google Research blog post on the paper.) More Articles Coming Soon... | |
Just had to post this:
Q: How does Geek Squad fix Macs?
A: They drop 'em off at their local Apple store.
Reportedly, Senator John McCain wants Predators to provide with uncensored Wi-Fi coverage to the people of Iran. I don't know if this is even technically possible, but its so preposterous and fantastically cool that I love the idea:
During the Cold War, we provided the Polish people and dissidents with printing presses. Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube are the modern-day printing presses. They are the way to spread information and keep the hope of freedom alive amongst the Iranian people
Of course, the Predators—or whatever other method—could be taken down with missiles or fighter planes, but the basic idea is spot on: Give everyone free access to information at any cost.
Free dissemination of information is one of the keys to the independence and freedom of citizens everywhere. Actually, I wish there was some kind of global Wi-Fi system—one that will allow any citizen in the world to access information freely, without intervention of dictators and authoritarian figures in China, North Korea, Iran, or Cuba.
Maybe some crazy nerds with loads of money could work on something like that. You know, like Paul Allen putting a buttload of money, Steve Wozniak leading a new space-based Wi-Fi hardware standard, and John Carmack providing with cheap rockets to launch satellites. [AFP]