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Weekly News: Translating Cat Meows

Weekly News: Translating Cat Meows
Translating Cat Meows; what the EU could do about emissions; Quantum moves ahead; and an anti-poaching cloud cover... Discover our Weekly News.

Translating Cat Meows; what the EU could do about emissions; Quantum moves ahead; and an anti-poaching cloud cover… Discover our Weekly News.

Translating Cat Meows: Do you speak cat?

What did the cat just say? 

According to research, cats do not share a common language. Every cat is unique and tailors its meows to its owner (a.k.a. human servant). And, just like it happens with people, some cats are chattier than others.

Well, a former Amazon Alexa developer has created an app that leverages AI and machine learning to translate those meows into human language. 

MeowTalk already has 13 phrases in its vocabulary, including “Feed me!” and “Leave me alone.” 

You can bet you’ll be hearing the first one a lot more. 

BBC

What the EU could do about emissions

The use of renewable energies and other traditional approaches to curbing emissions are no longer enough if the EU wants to meet its 2050 climate-neutrality target. 

Enter technology.

From large-scale, data-powered simulations of the Earth’s climate to green data centers, there are plenty of emerging technology initiatives underway for which EU funding could be a game-changer.

The folks at Politico have compiled a shortlist for you to bring up over dinner. 

Politico

Quantum moves ahead

Several of the world’s leading research institutions and tech companies have been working on their own take on quantum computing for a while now.

One of the key differences between the various approaches out there is what is used as the basis of the computer’s qubits, the basic units of information on which quantum computers operate.   

While technology juggernauts like IBM and Intel had traditionally opted for using tiny superconducting loops as qubits, the use of trapped-ion systems remained marginal. 

Now that is changing. Ion traps have gained traction, which is good for competition.

Nature

An anti-poaching cloud cover

The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) has revealed how its collaboration with Google Cloud is helping protect endangered species from poachers.

Beyond developing custom machine learning models to identify and track threatened animals across the globe, ZSL used a network of acoustic sensors to listen for gunshots in a nature reserve in Cameroon. 

The organisation then used the data collected to generate insights on poacher activity, revealing key details like what time of day poachers tend to be more active and where. 

ZSL hopes to evolve these insights into a monitoring system that is able to provide alerts in real time.  

ComputerWeekly

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Weekly News: High Speed Levitating pod

High Speed Levitating pod
High Speed Levitating pod

Hyperloop’s first passenger ride

Richard Branson’s Virgin Hyperloop completed this past weekend the world’s first passenger ride on a high-speed levitating pod. 

The successful test marks a key milestone for the technology. It indeed promises to revolutionise human and cargo transportation by using magnetic levitation to hurtle vehicles through vacuum tubes. 

Although the Hyperloop executives involved in the trial only reached a top speed of 172 km/h, the technology promises to deliver speeds of 966 km/h and faster. That’s twice as fast as a commercial jet with a fraction of the emissions. It could be a reality by 2030.

The Guardian

High Speed Levitating pod: Updates from Microsoft

Microsoft has released the .NET 5.0 developer platform, introducing among other features the new C# 9 and F# 5 programming languages.

.NET 5.0 allows developers to unify their toolset across platforms and operating systems, whether they are building for desktop, mobile, cloud or IoT applications. The new programming languages offer easier, more expressive top-level coding.

Additionally, the Redmond, Virginia company released on Tuesday its November security patch, addressing 112 vulnerabilities. The Windows zero-day vulnerability revealed last month is among them.

TechRepublic / ZDNet

High Speed Levitating pod: Tougher EU tech export rules

European law-makers are tightening rules for the export of dual-use technology products, a category of technologies that can be used both by civilians and the military.  

The technologies involved to improve high-speed levitating pod include high-performance computing (HPC), drones and facial recognition software, will now require vendors to meet a much higher set of conditions when closing licensing deals. 

The rules focus on protecting democracy and human rights and can be easily and quickly amended to cover any new emerging technologies that may appear in the future.    

ITPro

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Weekly News: The Funny Side of AI

Weekly News: The Funny Side of AI
We are often discussing the dangerous implications of AI: bias, job losses... So it's refreshing to be able to talk about the funny side of AI.

We are often discussing the dangerous implications of AI and what we can do to address them: bias, job losses… So it’s refreshing to be able to talk about its more benign side effects. Discover the funny side of AI.

3 stories to discover the funny side of AI

Football or bald head?

Do you enjoy football? How about bald heads?

Since the start of the pandemic, the world of sports has had to forgo live audiences in favour of live streamings. Bigger teams and leagues can afford proper TV crews to cover their matches, but smaller teams need to be more creative.   

A football team in Inverness, Scotland decided to use an AI-enabled camera to track the football’s movements. Unfortunately, and to the delight of the whole world, the camera tracked the referee’s bald head instead of the ball. Best match ever.

TNW

IT Job Hunting Done Well: A Step-by-Step Guide

What drones are really for

Few technologies have received as much public hype as drone technology. We all have a friend who enjoys chasing flocks of sheep with their little quadcopter. If you don’t, then you might be that friend.

But what are drones actually good for?

The non-consumer applications that first come to mind tend to be rather pessimistic. Surveillance, warfare… There is an understandable trust deficit when it comes to drones, but the technology’s potential is huge if we manage to overcome it.

From humanitarian aid in dangers zones to remote delivery and agriculture, drones can be extremely helpful in helping us get where we need to get more easily and in time. 

TechRadar

Funny side of AI: Game over for 1809

Microsoft is discontinuing service for Windows 10 version 1809 starting on November 10, so make sure all your systems are upgraded accordingly.

The cut will affect Windows 10 1809 for Home, Pro, Pro for Workstations, and IoT Core, which will stop receiving security updates and support.

Support for Windows 10 1803 for Enterprise, Education and IoT Enterprise will be extended until May 2021, as will the Enterprise and Education versions of 1809.    

TechRepublic

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Read our article: AI, IBM Chips, and a Novel Cloud Security Concept: The Week in Tech News

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Weekly News: The Rise of The Machines

Weekly News: The Rise of The Machines
Due to the rise of the machines, new jobs will emerge, especially in the areas of healthcare, big data and the green economy.

Weekly news. Discover our news about IT: the rise of the machines, Bitcoin goes mainstream and Robin Hood strikes back

The rise of the machines

New report by the World Economic Forum (WEF) has forecasted that as much as half of all work tasks could be handled by machines by the year 2025. The rise of machines.

The think tank’s research, which spanned 300 of the world’s biggest companies, estimates that the so-called “robot revolution” will create 97 million jobs around the globe but destroy almost as many. 43% of respondents felt they were likely to cut jobs due to technological transformation in the near future.

Yet new jobs will emerge as a result, especially in the areas of healthcare, big data and the green economy. However, the Forum is calling for a conscious effort to ensure that no sectors of society are left behind.

BBC

Bitcoin goes mainstream

PayPal has announced that it will start allowing transactions in Bitcoin. The firm will also provide support for other cryptocurrencies including Ethereum and Litecoin.

The new features, which will debut in the U.S. shortly and worldwide next year, mark an important milestone in the normalisation of cryptocurrencies. 

The company sees the economy’s shift to digital currencies as inevitable, and it is committed to helping make them easier to use by the broader public. 

TechRadar

Robin Hood strikes back

A new emerging trend has cybersecurity and legal experts baffled: charitable cybercrime.

Also read our article & discover our interview: Leadership Failure: The Real Human Element Behind Cyber Attacks

The ransomware-as-a-business group DarkSide introduced itself to the world earlier this year, issuing a press release where they detailed how they picked their victims and pledged to leave non-profits, healthcare and governments alone. 

Well – these cybercriminals with a strong moral code are now taking it to a whole new level: they are donating their profits to charities.   

Two US-based organisations received equal payments of 0.88 bitcoin (or $10,000) in mid-October, money they say they will return as soon as possible. The authorities are warning NGOs around the globe to not accept donations from these cyber schemes, as that would make them legally liable for profiting from crime.  

ComputerWeekly

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Weekly News: Artificial Intelligence, Minecrafting the Real World

IT news

Since 2018, the Generative Design in Minecraft (GDMC) competition challenges participants to push the limits of artificial intelligence and come up with realistic cities from scratch.

If you are unfamiliar with Minecraft (I doubt it), the cube-based video game lets players build all sorts of structures with almost absolute freedom. In other words, cubic freedom.

Participants must leverage a combination of various Artificial Intelligence techniques in Minecraft to level terrain, build roads and bridges and erect buildings. It is a very complex task involving everything from path-finding algorithms to machine learning, but it’s starting to come together. 

Surely the technology is still years away, but it looks like city planners and designers will soon have a new digital partner for their construction projects.

Your future apartment building might well be designed by an AI architect. At least parts of it.

Racist Artificial Intelligence strikes again

And speaking of artificial intelligence I, yet another poorly trained algorithm has put yet another Internet giant in serious trouble. This time it was Twitter’s turn. 

Have you ever wondered how the platform decides what parts of a picture to crop in preview mode? It is, of course, an image-cropping algorithm. Using a combination of tools, Twitter tries to prioritise faces and text, unless your face is black. 

Ironically, the issue was discovered when a PhD student was trying to tweet about another racially-biased algorithm he had encountered on Zoom. The videoconferencing service had erased the image of his black colleague after failing to recognise his face. Twitter decided that wasn’t enough and erased his colleague from the screen capture too. 

Although the company was quick to apologise for not testing the algorithm thoroughly enough, Twitter feeds quickly filled up with people doing experiments to test the flaw. Some even tried posting images of differently coloured dogs. 

Time for lessons to be learnt.

Announcements from Microsoft Ignite

Microsoft has kickstarted its annual Ignite user-focused conference by announcing a series of additions to its cloud and productivity portfolios. 

Teams is getting new security and compliance-related features, as well as a suite of new tools to help companies better support remote workers. The latter are mainly data insights to assess the overall wellbeing of employees, made available to users and managers to help them improve productivity and reduce burnout.

The company has also teased Virtual Commute, an upcoming Teams functionality aimed at helping workers unwind after a long day of work. Hmm, how about not being on Teams after working hours to start with?

Plans to expand Azure Stack’s hybrid cloud capabilities have also been announced. The platform lets businesses run public cloud-like workloads within on-premise data centres. Users will be now able to run and deploy containerized applications on the setup, while the Azure Stack Hub will incorporate GPU support for broader machine learning capabilities. 

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Weekly News: Game Streaming and Emissions

Weekly News: Game Streaming and Emissions
The next generation of video game consoles is hitting the shelves this holiday season. Discover news about Game Streaming and Emissions...

Game Streaming and Emissions, or Game vs. the environment

The next generation of video game consoles is hitting the shelves this holiday season. An epic marketing battle precedes its launch, with the PS5 and Xbox Series X fighting to get a head start on each other by selling more consoles than the other.

Yet, ironically, this new generation of consoles might be the last. 

Like it happened in other industries, video games are moving away from local hardware in favour of a distributed computing model. Why spent money in a pricey box when you could stream higher-quality video games directly to your TV or phone in real time? 

With companies like Google and Microsoft having already released their proprietary cloud gaming platforms, it’s just a matter of time before most gaming is done this way. But, as convenient as it sounds, this could have severe environmental implications.  

A new report suggests emissions could rise as much as 30% in a future where game streaming was the norm.

BBC

Low-code is coming to Teams

Earlier this year, Microsoft announced it was building a low-code Dataflex solution for Teams that would allow users to easily develop custom applications without leaving Teams. We got more details this week.

Code-named Project Oakdale, the platform will let teams create quick applications based on shared databases. No need for third-party tools to build an HTML or JavaScript feature that runs on Teams. Just install Project Oakdale and use an Access-like table and form creator to get the job done.

Each team will get its dedicated data environment so that team members can exchange actionable insights and access more relevant information. The applications will also be able to connect with the rest of Microsoft’s ecosystem.

Although it has its limitations, Project Oakdale will be included in the Teams subscription — a big step towards democratising low-code development within the enterprise.

TechRepublic

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Weekly News: Your Phone is an Earthquake Detector

Weekly News: Your Phone is an Earthquake Detector
If you are one of the 2.5 billion Android device users out there, you now have a new conversation topic. Yes, your phone is an Earthquake Detector soon...

If you are one of the 2.5 billion Android device users out there, you now have a brand new conversation topic. Soon your phone will be part of a worldwide earthquake detection network. Yes, your phone is an Earthquake Detector soon…

Also discover our article: Weekly News: Robot Butlers and Virtual Influencers

Your Phone is an Earthquake Detector

While using smartphone sensors to build an okay seismometer app is nothing new, Google has a better idea: integrating it into the phone’s operating system directly. 

All devices running Android 5.0 and up will get the new feature through a Google Play Services update, essentially becoming decentralised tremor-monitoring stations that one day will help detect earthquakes early on and warn users. 

For now, Google plans on collecting data for a while to fine-tune the system before rolling out proactive alerts. But don’t worry. You can opt-out of the service via your phone’s settings. Although most people won’t even know it is there.

Toshiba-bye

Thirty-five years after debuting its first laptop, the Japanese conglomerate Toshiba announced it is abandoning the portable PC market. 

The entire PC hardware market, in fact. In 2018, Toshiba had already sold most of its PC business to Sharp, the same buyer this time around. 

The decision comes as the company announced its first quarterly losses in 4 years and officially marks the end of an era in laptop history. 

Toshiba laptops reached their heyday in the 1990s, when they came to dominate the global market. They started losing ground in the late 2000s after an industry shift towards more attractive designs and more powerful machines   

A good reminder of how important it is to adapt and keep innovating.

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Weekly News: The Two-Faced Approach to Regulating Big Tech

Weekly News: The Two-Faced Approach to Regulating Big Tech
Regulating Big Tech. The popular video app TikTok has been making headlines.The reasons behind its quick ascend to fame are a no-brainer.

The Two-Faced Approach to Regulating Big Tech; why ransomware attacks keep on happening ; and how VR could change real estate.

The Two-Faced Approach to Regulating Big Tech

Regulating Big Tech. Big The popular Chinese short-form video app TikTok has been making headlines since its origins back in 2018. The reasons behind its quick ascend to fame are a no-brainer. 

TikTok lets anyone produce and edit videos effortlessly, and is powered by an incredibly effective recommendations algorithm that makes scrolling down its feed highly addictive. 

The platform has also become a meeting place for younger generations that had so far eluded traditional social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook. And brands love that.

Given its huge monetization potential, then, it’s no surprise that TikTok’s has also attracted the attention of powerful interests. For good and for ill.

After threatening to ban the app under suspicions of Chinese-sponsored espionage, the U.S. government –and Trump– had a new message: 

It’s okay as long as Microsoft buys TikTok’s U.S. business before mid-September. Oh, and the government should get a cut of the benefits. 

Only that now it appears that Microsoft might want to buy TikTok’s entire global business.

The new episode of this serialised drama comes just a week after Big Tech leaders appeared before U.S. Congress to defend themselves against accusations of monopoly and unfair competition. Now one big tech company might get even larger.    

Whatever it takes to win a trade war and fatten the national coffers.

And that’s why ransomware attacks keep on happening

This past month has been a busy one for cybersecurity. 

First Twitter got hacked by what turned out to be an amateur group of teenagers. Then the smartwatch maker Garmin was knocked out by a ransomware attack that kept its services down for days. 

Well, new information emerged this week suggesting that Garmin paid a multi-million dollar ransom in exchange for a decryption key to recover its files. 

Garmin would have supposedly made the payment through an intermediary, Arete IR, which provides ransomware negotiation services. 

A great ending for EvilCorp, the Russian hacking organisation thought to be behind the attack. Or maybe not? 

In fact, Arete IR claims that WastedLocker, the ransomware strain used in this occasion, is not consistent with the Russian group’s modus operandi. Another player might be responsible.

Whoever is the real culprit,  the fact that a large multinational company like Garmin has opted to pay the ransom sets a dangerous precedent in the fight against cybercrime. 

No wonder these attacks keep on happening.

Also read our Weekly News: A Ransomware Attack, Self-Taught Robots and Online Abuse: The Week in Tech News

How VR could change real estate

Taking a virtual reality tour of a new apartment or office is nothing new. The technology has existed for some time now. They were simply not that many incentives to make it a widespread thing. 

With the pandemic, however, shopping for a home without leaving the sofa has acquired more of an appeal. Especially considering that lockdown has left many hungry for a change of scenery. 

Too much time trapped in between four walls tends to make you want to at least change those for walls. 

Although, as the BBC shows in an article published this week, the number of apartment offerings that incorporate a VR tour option remains marginal, things are quickly picking up pace.

The property listing company Zoopla says the coronavirus crisis has tripled the number of virtual viewings for new properties. 

This goes in line with developers and the broader real estate industry, which for years now have been allocating a part of the construction budget of new buildings to developing a VR experience. 

There’s only one big caveat: visiting an apartment in this manner requires you to have a VR headset at home, and they are expensive. At least for now.

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Weekly News: Tracking Down the Untrackable

Weekly News: Tracking Down the Untrackable
Tracking down the untrackable; News Windows virtual desktop features,; How old is an old dev; Confronting the new data reality... Discover the weekly Tech & IT news.

Tracking down the untrackable; News Windows virtual desktop features,; How old is an old dev; Confronting the new data reality… Discover the weekly Tech & IT news.

Tracking Down the Untrackable

What can be worse than crushing your personal record and not being able to brag about it to your friends online? 

Well, how about, for example, a ransomware attack.

If you are a fitness lover or know someone who fits into this category, chances are you have already heard about the Garmin hack. 

The American GPS and smartwatch maker was down for almost three days, its data and services held hostage for a ransom of $10m. As a result, users were unable to sync their devices with Garmin’s ecosystem of apps. 

Evil Corp, a Russian hacking group behind a recent string of attacks on U.S. companies, is thought to be responsible for the incident.

Discover our interview: A Career in Data Science: Unlocking The Power of Data with AI

New Windows Virtual Desktop features

With the current pandemic, being able to deliver a secure Windows 10 desktop experience to remote workers has become a must for many companies. 

First introduced under public preview, the Virtual Desktop updates are now generally available. 

The new, now-polished features include:

  • Azure portal integration and role-based access control (RBAC)
  • Scalable user management via the Azure Active Directory (Azure AD)
  • Monitoring logs now stored in Azure, for quicker troubleshooting and analysis
  • A/V redirect for Microsoft Teams
New Windows Virtual Desktop features

How old is an old dev?

Unfortunately, age discrimination remains an issue in most industries and professions. 

Whereas experience was once unanimously revered and treasured, our fast-paced society often tends to see older professionals as necessarily outdated. Rather than being the exception, IT is one of those areas in which the gap is even wider. 

In a short paper published earlier this year, software engineering students went through popular online articles and related discussions on Hacker News to analyze how the media portrays the employability of older developers. 

“Too old to be a developer” seems to be a common theme.

Discover our interview: How To Code Well: Taking Breaks and Other Pieces of Timeless Career Advice

How old is an old dev?

Confronting the new data reality

European data watchdogs aren’t wasting any time. 

Shortly after the European Court of Justice stroke down the Private Shield dataflow agreement between the U.S. and the E.U., the European Data Protection Board warned there will be no regulatory grace period.  

Companies relying on the cross-Atlantic flow of data to conduct operations and sell products and services will have to adapt; and fast.

Confronting the new data reality

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Weekly News: A Look at Diversity in Tech

Weekly News: A Look at Diversity in Tech
Regarding diversity in IT, there is much work left to be done. Let's start by tracking these numbers more consistently with our weekly news.

As the Black Lives Matter movement swipes through the globe with renewed strength, it’s time for communities and sectors of activity of all sorts to carry out an honest self-assessment. IT is no exception. Let’s talk about diversity in Tech.

Computerworld looked at census and tech-sector data of a few major Western countries to see how they are doing in terms of ethnic diversity in IT. Spoiler alert: not well at all.

Unfortunately, only a handful of countries track industry-specific ethnic diversity, which complicated the analysis. Of those who do (U.K., U.S. and New Zealand), none comes even close to having an equitable ethnic representation in tech.

The Western IT industry remains disproportionately white, particularly at the managerial level. Workers with Asian ancestry come in second place, but way beyond. 

Much work left to be done. Let’s start by tracking these numbers more consistently.

Diversity in Tech: What’s all that AR buzz about?

Rumours and whispers suggest that Apple will soon introduce its own version of the ill-fated Google Glass. 

The company has spent the last few years making several advancements and acquisitions in augmented reality (AR) and supporting technologies like Lidar. 

Yes, the Google Glass failed strepitously, but Apple has a good track record when it comes to making a new product an indispensable part of everyone’s life — remember the first iPhone? 

With AR seemingly about to become more of a real thing, one might wonder what exactly can be done with it. Especially in business. Here are some examples.

diversity in tech

Closing the data tap

Last week, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled to invalidate the E.U.- U.S. Privacy Shield agreement for data sharing over concerns around privacy and extreme surveillance practices.

The court’s decision threatens to interrupt the free flow of data between the two regions, which serves as the basis for much of today’s digital trade an economic activity. 

A myriad of solutions including Gmail, Zoom calls and CRM systems are all enabled by Privacy Shield. Furthermore, many businesses across Europe trust their data and workloads to U.S. cloud services like AWS and Microsoft Azure. 

But tech giants and the enterprise world are not the only ones that stand to lose much. Thanks to Brexit, U.K. players might see access to E.U. data restricted as well. They can, after all, end up shipping it across the Atlantic anyway.

diversity in tech

The impact of COVID-19 on enterprise IT

A new Forrester report has identified 5 trends that outline the effect that the pandemic will have on technology and business in the short, medium and long term.

The biggest shifts will involve: 

  • Safety and convenience influencing future customer expectations
  • Businesses leveraging digital engagement to create hybrid experiences
  • Firms and governments investing in a new workplace model
  • Companies doubling down on digital transformation
  • Business resiliency becoming a key competitive advantage
diversity in tech

Also discover our article: 20 Amazing Women Leading Europe’s Tech Revolution