Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 8
Posts 1 - 8

Microsoft tries new key to unlock artificial intelligence

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Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 5.2.2016
Language | English
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | artificial intelligence, brain, texting, word/writing
Summary | Microsoft has been investing a lot into artificial intelligence in order to understand more about natural language processing. Microsoft just bought SwiftKey, a keyboard app that tries to guess which word you'll want to type in your text. The app tries to work like a human brain; it analyzes your writing style and tries to predict the future.
Image Description | N/A

Auf die Bombe folgten die Explosionen

(The bomb was followed by explosions)

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Newspaper | Tages-Anzeiger
Date | 10.12.2016
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | Facebook, law, politics, privacy
Summary | Recently the news story about a company called Cambridge Analytica made waves: they claimed to have extracted an accurate psychological profile of all adult US citizens based on their Facebook likes. The company uses those profiles to target very specific audiences with political advertising. Such rigorous profiling based on data that was not willingly given for the purposes of such analysis would be illegal in Europe.
Image Description | Bloomberg image of a woman with glasses (only eyes portion of face visible), the glasses reflecting a screen showing the Facebook logo.
Image Tags | Facebook, female(s), logo

Schweizer Firmen setzen auf Bots

(Swiss firms put their money on bots)

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Newspaper | Tages-Anzeiger
Date | 27.12.2016
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | artificial intelligence, Facebook, privacy
Summary | Many companies in Switzerland are testing out chatbots to replace their telephone customer service. Many company chatbots can be contacted via the Facebook messenger. They are quite useful because they can organize tasks according to content and delegate them to the appropriate departments or help the customers themselves. Experts demand full transparency about what happens to customer data created in chatbot uses.
Image Description | Getty image of a woman's torso holding a smartphone, some chatbot chat screenshots and graphs.
Image Tags | female(s), hand(s), smartphone, text

Whatsapp macht das Abhören unmöglich – auch für sich selbst

(WhatsApp makes interception impossible – even for itself)

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Newspaper | Der Bund
Date | 5.4.2016
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | privacy, WhatsApp
Summary | WhatsApp has incorporated end-to-end encryption so that nobody can under no circumstances see the content of any message sent through the app. This was done so as to avoid problems with federal investigators. Recently, Apple did not allow federal investigators to break into a suspect’s phone because then the government would keep approaching them with such demands. Because WhatsApp wants to protects its users’ privacy, they have added end-to-end encryption to their service.
Image Description | Photograph of WhatsApp founder, Jan Koum.
Image Tags | male(s), WhatsApp

WhatsApp wird zur geheimen Sache

(WhatsApp becomes a secret affair)

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Newspaper | Appenzeller Zeitung
Date | 7.4.2016
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | emojis, privacy, WhatsApp
Summary | After repeatedly being criticized by the public for only poorly providing privacy to its users, WhatsApp has incorporated end-to-end encryption in its newest update. Now, federal security organizations can no longer spy on fathers sending their daughters celebratory emojis after their favorite football team has scored. This encryption is only needed by people who oppose privacy violation, criminals, and terrorists.
Image Description | N/A

Des camps de désintox pour pour accros au smartphone

(Rehab camps for smartphone addicts)

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Newspaper | 24 heures
Date | 12.3.2016
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | addiction, brain, childhood, smartphone, technology-free, youth
Summary | South Korea is one of the most digitally connected countries. As a consequence, 1 out of 10 children is addicted to internet and other digital devices. Rehab camps for young internet addicts is supposed to help children live without digital devices. In those camps, children go hiking, play guitar, and read paper books. Rehab can be tough; it is almost the same process as for alcoholics or drug addicts. At the end of the camp, those young people know how to appreciate real life and have to find out what the causes of their escape to the virtual world are.
Image Description | Photograph of young people in South Korea playing video games in a room full of computers.
Image Tags | computer/laptop, game, male(s)

Ce qui se passe quand on se dispute via WhatsApp

(What happens when we fight on WhatsApp)

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Newspaper | 20 minutes
Date | 7.9.2016
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | privacy, youth
Summary | It might be better for young people not to talk about private issues via text messages. A counselor explains that online conversations and face-to-face conversations are similar for young people. If they have "talked" to someone, it usually means they had a digital or online exchange. However, to resolve personal issues, online conversations are not the best medium; they might even worsen the situation. The counselor's suggestion would be to write a letter. Finally, the image that people have of young people (connected and isolated) is not necessarily true.
Image Description | Series of 7 photographs portraying young people on a digital device (smartphone, tablet).
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), smartphone, tablet

Gemeinsam einsam: Wir können das Rad nicht zurückdrehen

(Together alone: We can’t turn the clock back)

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Newspaper | Beobachter
Date | 1.4.2016
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | addiction, brain, smartphone, technology-free
Summary | ETH Neuroscientist Arko Ghosh has found out that smartphone use increases the size of the sensory/motoric front cortex of the brain. While many news media have reported his findings, few deeply engaged with his study. They rather just wanted to know from him whether that meant that smartphones were good or bad for the brain. One hotel in the Bernese Alps even advertises their location as particularly attractive because there is no cell phone reception or internet connection. Multiple apps to keep track of one’s smartphone use already exist.
Image Description | A group of four young people are staring at their phones.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), smartphone

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