Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 103
Posts 31 - 40

The Smartphone’s Future: It’s All About the Camera

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 30.8.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | privacy, smartphone, translation, virtual reality
Summary | Now that smartphones are as thin and as fast as possible, they need to develop into another realm. The camera will be used in new ways to, for instance, improve privacy by unlocking your phone by showing your face. Another innovation is the possiblity of taking a picture of a restaurant menu and having it instantly translated. Augmented reality also relies on the camera enabling users to, for instance, project a 3D model of a piece of furniture they want into a picture of their living room to see what it would look like.
Image Description | Illustration showing a smartphone scanning a woman's face.
Image Tags | female(s), smartphone

How can you protect your right to digital privacy at the border?

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Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 11.6.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | law, privacy, smartphone, threat
Summary | American customs now ask some flight passengers to give airport officers access to their digital devices. While it is still a rare case, some passengers are asked to turn on their smartphone/tablet/laptop to demonstrate that it is not hooked up to an explosive. They also check whether illegal data is being transmitted over the border on the hardware storage. Passengers are advised to clean their storage and store all their personal files on a cloud.
Image Description | iStock image of a woman using a smartphone at an airport.
Image Tags | female(s), smartphone

How to Protect Your Privacy as More Apps Harvest Your Data

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 2.5.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | law, marketing, privacy, smartphone, threat
Summary | Many smartphone apps can be used for free, or rather one does not have to pay money to use it. However, if the app is not from a non-profit organization, users pay in some other way that may be obscure to them. Usually free for-profit apps collect data abou their users that they can sell to advertisers. The only way to protect oneself from this is to carefully read the terms and conditions, even if they are in legalese. If one does not like the level of privacy provided by an app, the only certain way to avoid data exploitation is not to download the app.
Image Description | Illustration of a hand holding a smartphone where eyes are hidden behind the app icons.
Image Tags | hand(s), smartphone

WhatsYapp! Smart collar concept translates your dog's bark and sends you a message revealing what their noises mean

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Newspaper | Mail Online
Date | 27.1.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | smartphone, texting
Summary | Online pet store Fetch.co.uk revealed a new concept that may allow dog owners to have real conversations with their pets. Thanks to a smart collar connected to a smartphone, the app called WhatsYapp can analyze a dog's barks/sounds/movements and translate them into words so that the owner knows what the dogs means. The firm also unveiled other concepts: CatQuest and PetPounds.
Image Description | Screenshot of a conceptual design displaying a conversation between owner and dog, illustration of the smart collar, illustration of CatQuest, photograph of a smartphone displaying an interactive screen for cats, and illustration of 'PetPounds' smartbands.
Image Tags | smartphone, text

Hey Siri, Can I Rely on You in a Crisis? Not Always, a Study Finds

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 14.3.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | (mental) health, artificial intelligence, research/study, smartphone, threat
Summary | Researchers have tested various artificial intelligence assistants like Siri and Cortana to see how they respond to emergencies. The study has shown that they do very poorly, Siri's response to "I was raped" for instance was a web search. Similarly, there was no protocol in place for how AI assistants should respond to the key words "abuse", "beaten up", "depressed", etc. Now, Siri responds to statements indicating suicide thoughts with a suggestion to call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
Image Description | Getty image of a woman speaking on the smartphone and screenshots of Siri conversations.
Image Tags | female(s), smartphone

'Snowden' filmmaker Oliver Stone warns Pokemon Go is creating a totalitarian world filled with robot-like people

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Newspaper | Mail Online
Date | 22.7.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | game, privacy, smartphone, social media, threat, virtual reality
Summary | The game Pokemon Go has become so popular that it has overtaken major social media in number of active users. Oliver Stone spoke about the smartphone phenomenon as 'a new level of invasion' that could potentially lead to totalitarianism and a culture of surveillance. Internet giants are tracking everyone's online behavior, especially through the game Pokemon Go.
Image Description | Photograph of Oliver Stone, photograph of three male children looking at their smartphone, photograph of actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and photograph of Edward Snowden
Image Tags | male(s), smartphone

In the Apple Case, a Debate Over Data Hits Home

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 13.3.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | Facebook, law, politics, privacy, research/study, smartphone, threat
Summary | Apple's refusal to aide the FBI with breaking into the phone of the San Bernardino attacker has unleashed a political debate among Americans. IT experts as well as lay people report that they have had discussions about the topic with other people, some say they have had fights over Facebook with family members about the issue. Polls show that the American people are hugely divided on the topic: 42% think Apple should cooperate with the FBI while 47% support Apple's stance to protect user privacy.
Image Description | Getty image of a protest crowd showing a man holding up his smartphone with the text: "Don't turn our phones into FBI drones".
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), smartphone, text

Justice Dept. calls Apple's encryption fight 'a diversion'

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Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 10.3.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | law, marketing, privacy, smartphone, threat
Summary | Ever since the FBI asked Apple to unlock a terrorist's iPhone, a huge debate around user privacy has ensued. Other tech companies side with Apple with the position that aiding the FBI at the expense of user privacy would open the gate for masses of future cases. The Justice Department however accuses Apple of purposefully making unbreachable smartphones, which may be good for user privacy (and thus for profit) but a huge problem for the police to be able to investigate criminal cases.
Image Description | Hand holding an iPhone.
Image Tags | hand(s), smartphone

Barking mad or brilliant? Smart collar for dogs lights up to tell you how your pooch is feeling

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Newspaper | Mail Online
Date | 20.10.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | smartphone
Summary | You can now hook up your dog's collar to your smartphone app to monitor your dog's mood. The collar glows different colours depending on dog's emotions. The collar was invented by Japanese man Joji Yamaguch. The goal of the product is to connect pets and owners on a deeper level. The company that created the collar also revealed two other products: 'CatQuest' (3D projection for cats), and 'PetPounds' (smartbands that encourage children to play with their pets to earn rewards).
Image Description | Photographs of dogs wearing the smart collar, illustrations of the different product designs, and photograph of a smartphone ( a cat is playing on the screen).
Image Tags | smartphone

Happy birthday, iPhone: Ten years later, Steve Jobs' creation owns us

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Newspaper | Los Angeles Times
Date | 21.6.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | smartphone, texting
Summary | The first iPhone became available to the public in June 2007; ten years later, the iPhone owns us and represents our capitalist society. When Jobs presented the first iPhone in San Francisco in 2007, he knew he was going to make a revolution. The author of the article owned a Blackberry but decided to buy an iPhone. With the iPhone, she thought it was hard to write long emails, and found it easier to use abbreviations and emojis. She also started taking too many pictures. When comparing the iPhone with other smartphones, Steve Jobs used to say that it was way smarter. The author agrees with Apple's philosophy "We are smarter so you can be dumber".
Image Description | Photograph of Steve Jobs holding an iPhone
Image Tags | male(s), smartphone

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