Google made major news headlines this week, when it decided to withdraw from Project Maven, after its contract expires next year. This partnership provides AI…
Read MoreOPLIN 4Cast #597: The drone era is here, for better or for worse
We’ve already talked about facial recognition this month in the 4cast, so I’m not going to cover that again. Still, there’s been a lot of…
Read MoreOPLIN 4Cast #596: Your phone’s location data…leaked
OPLIN 4Cast #595: The sound of another security headache for smart speakers
Posted in 4cast, and Voice-activated assistants
Audio viruses are not a new thing, although they certainly haven’t gotten the attention that other kinds of hacks and malware have. As early as…
Read MoreOPLIN 4Cast #595: The sound of another security headache for smart speakers
I long ago learned to ignore nearly all 5-star reviews of books. They’re generally uncritical, more in line with a thumbs-up/thumbs-down assessment than a more…
Read MoreOPLIN 4Cast #594: Amazon review system is mired in fakes and spam
OPLIN 4Cast #593: Face it, this technology is in a state of chaos
Posted in 4cast, and facial recognition
Ever since the iPhone came out with FaceID last year, facial recognition technologies have seemingly exploded into our newsfeeds. (Although I did wonder if we’d…
Read MoreOPLIN 4Cast #593: Face it, this technology is in a state of chaos
Have you noticed your inbox filling up with notices about updated terms of service? Many of these are coming about not only in the wake…
Read MoreOPLIN 4Cast #592: The sudden scramble for online privacy
Several nights ago, my 13-year-old son was invited over to a neighbor’s house to play video games. When he got home, he was bubbling over…
Read MoreOPLIN 4Cast #591: Esports roundup, in which my son discovers Fortnite
I remember how dubious I was when I got an invite for Google’s new web mail service. I was curious, but didn’t think I’d ever…
Read MoreOPLIN 4Cast #590: The Gmail redesign might not be a disaster
I have long held that I won’t be buying any kind of home AI assistant (e.g., Alexa and her ilk). I have some serious concerns…
Read MoreOPLIN 4Cast #589: The voices aren’t going away, and they’re getting even smarter
Two separate news items about hacking intrusions have caused me to lose sleep this week. The attacks weren’t against public libraries, but both are against…
Read MoreOPLIN 4Cast #588: Ransomware is a real threat to libraries