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Recommended Reading: Algorithms and school surveillance
Aggression Detectors: The unproven, invasive surveillance technology schools are using to monitor students Jack Gillum and Jeff Kao, ProPublica Following the rise in mass shootings, schools, hospitals and other public places are installing tech to monitor people. Part of this effort includes using algorithm-equipped microphones to capture audio, with the goal of detecting stress or anger before bad things happen. The problem? They aren't reliable and their mere existence is a massive invasion of privacy.
Recommended Reading: Fighting deepfakes
Top AI researchers race to detect 'deepfake' videos: 'We are outgunned' Drew Harwell, The Washington Post The 2016 US presidential election was plagued by fake news and election meddling across the internet. With the rise of so-called deepfake technology, fact-checkers and arbiters of truth face a new challenge. And as The Washington Post reports, researchers aren't ready to separate the real from the fabricated in 2020.
Recommended Reading: The music streaming payday won't go to artists
The record industry expects a windfall. Where will the money go? Marc Hogan, Pitchfork It's no secret the music industry is booming on the back of streaming services. However, it seems like not much will change in terms of where all the money goes. Pitchfork explains that much of the revenue will stay in the "upper echelon" of the industry rather than going to most of the people actually making music. "And yet, just as it's been throughout the history of recorded music, most of the money will not go to artists," Marc Hogan writes.
Recommended Reading: Blame the apps for iPhone privacy woes
iPhone privacy is broken... and apps are to blame Joanna Stern, The Wall Street Journal Thanks in part to Facebook's privacy blunders, concern over personal data security is growing. And we continue to find things gobbling up our info that we didn't know were doing so. The Wall Street Journal tested 80 iOS apps and discovered that a lot of them are tracking users in ways we aren't aware of. It's a topic that could be a focus during Monday's WWDC keynote.
Recommended Reading: Undercover moms battle autism 'cure' on Facebook
Parents are poisoning their children with bleach to 'cure' autism. These moms are trying to stop it. Brandy Zadrozny, NBC News Don't believe everything you read on the internet, especially in 2019. An autism "cure" is currently making the rounds in Facebook groups that advises parents to give children bleach to remedy the condition. This is completely untrue -- there is no cure for autism -- and some moms are going undercover to fight back.
Recommended Reading: Trusting companies despite privacy lapses
People say they care about privacy but they continue to buy devices that can spy on them Rani Molla, Vox In the wake of Cambridge Analytica, concerns about personal data privacy abound. Of course, Facebook isn't the only company that's been caught collecting and sharing user details it shouldn't have. What's most interesting about this entire saga is the fact that we continue to trust the likes of Amazon, Google and others despite these lapses. We continue to buy devices with cameras, microphones and other tech, and willingly put them in our homes. Recode data reporter Rani Molla explains why our trust hasn't entirely eroded in a piece for Vox.
Recommended Reading: Google Duplex still confuses restaurants
One year later, restaurants are still confused by Google Duplex Natt Garun, The Verge Google had us in awe when it debuted the AI-powered Duplex tech at I/O 2018. The system can be used to make reservations on your behalf, and it can even make a call if one is required. A year later though, it seems restaurants are still confused by the technology. From calls that look like spam to using different voices and accents in immediate follow-ups to confirm reservations, Duplex still has its quirks. But there's also an interesting wrinkle: it can be more polite than a human.
Recommended Reading: The cost of Fortnite's success
How Fortnite's success led to months of intense crunch at Epic Games Colin Campbell, Polygon There have been a few stories recently about intense work conditions, or crunch, at studios making high-profile titles. Earlier this month we read about Anthem, and now we're hearing about Fortnite. Polygon conducted interviews with employees at Epic Games who detail working over 70 hours a week and discuss how voluntary overtime became an expectation.
Recommended Reading: Coachella was built for YouTube
Coachella 2019 review: A festival built for YouTube Paul A. Thompson, Pitchfork For years, Coachella's opening weekend has been a huge event for YouTube. A weekend's worth of livestreams don't deliver all of the acts to your living room, but the site typically offers a lot of the big names so you don't have to travel to the desert. Pitchfork explains how the festival is now designed just as much for the viewers at home in its review of the 2019 event. "Especially after Beyoncé's Earth-rattling set last year, some stars and would-be stars lunged at the chance to make statements with their performances over the weekend, with productions designed to appeal as much to live streamers as to the crowd at Indio, California's Empire Polo Club," the site notes. And perhaps no one went all-in this year as much as Childish Gambino.
Recommended Reading: The end of 'Game of Thrones'
'Game of Thrones' season 8 showrunners interview: 'This is where the story ends' James Hibberd, Entertainment Weekly Winter is here. HBO's powerhouse Game of Thrones returns for its final season this weekend, signaling the beginning of the end (at least for now) of the stories of Westeros. Entertainment Weekly sat down with the showrunners for season 8, David Benioff and Dan Weiss, who are also the masterminds behind much of the show's narrative arc. The pair promises they'll be in an "undisclosed location" when the final episode airs, "turning off our phones and opening various bottles."
Recommended Reading: The road to 'Avengers: Endgame'
Road to Endgame: 'The Avengers' changed cinema and avoided the mistakes of past Marvel movies Siddhant Adlakha, Slashfilm Avengers: Endgame marks the end of a 22-film run for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). While there are certainly plans to make more movies, this phase will soon be over. Slashfilm is revisiting all of them in the run up to the premiere of Endgame on April 26th. This week alone, the site has covered The Avengers, Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy. You can see the full list of the recaps right here.
Recommended Reading: Airbnb and the hidden cameras
Airbnb has a hidden-camera problem Sidney Fussell, The Atlantic Airbnb may be a good alternative to staying in a pricey hotel, but the company is dealing with a hidden camera problem. The Atlantic takes a look a the issue and what Airbnb says its doing to fix it.
Recommended Reading: Beto O'Rourke and Cult of the Dead Cow
Beto O'Rourke's secret membership in America's oldest hacking group Joseph Menn, Reuters Beto O'Rourke: Democratic presidential candidate and... member of a hacking group? Reuters reports the former Texas congressman once belonged to Cult of the Dead Cow, an influential group "jokingly named after an abandoned Texas slaughterhouse." While there's no evidence that O'Rourke really got his hands dirty with what we'd consider nefarious "hacking," he was a member, which might help explain some of the policies he could champion during a presidential run.
Recommended Reading: The battle to make the end of 'Game of Thrones'
'Game of Thrones' first look: Inside the brutal battle to make season 8 James Hibberd, Entertainment Weekly HBO's insanely popular epic concludes in April, but the battle to film the battles, and to keep them from being leaked ahead of time, was a constant struggle for the crew. Entertainment Weekly goes behind the scenes of the final season and offers a spoiler-free primer ahead of its debut in a few weeks.
Recommended Reading: Arrivo's unfulfilled promise to end traffic
How Arrivo got Colorado to back a wild-eyed highway scheme Aaron Gordon, Wired Futuristic transportation company Arrivo, cofounded by Brogan BamBrogan and Andrew Liu, sold Colorado Department of Transportation on a plan to build a system that would move pods and cars on sleds at hundreds of miles an hour along the medians of the state's highways. The company said it could do so without Hyperloop-esque vacuum tubes. It never happened. In fact, the project never really started. No feasibility study. No proof of concept. And then Arrivo shutdown at the end of 2018 due to a lack of funding with a lot of unanswered questions.
Recommended Reading: The smartwatch EKG
Smartwatches are changing the purpose of the EKG Andrew Bomback and Michelle Au, The Atlantic Devices like the Apple Watch and other wearables now offer access to an EKG on your wrist. What was once reserved for a hospital or doctor's office can now be worn every day. Well, a version of it at least. The Atlantic discusses the limits of the smartwatch EKG, including exactly how helpful it is for most people and what it can't tell you.
Recommended Reading: The best of the Best Pictures
The Best Picture championship belt Adam Nayman and Sean Fennessey, The Ringer This year's installment of the Academy Awards is set for February 24th, but ahead of the festivities, The Ringer is looking back at the best Best Pictures with a unique spin. The outlet has applied a WWE-style championship belt to the list of winners, including how long it reigned, who it defeated during that time and more. Is it silly? Yes. Is it a very entertaining read? Absolutely.
Recommended Reading: Building a life in 'World of Warcraft'
My disabled son's amazing gaming life in the 'World of Warcraft' Vicky Schaubert, BBC News This is an amazing story from parents about their son who suffered from a rare degenerative muscular disorder. After his passing, they discovered that Mats had lived a full life through video games. He made friends all over Europe in the process, rather than being confined to an isolated existence due to his medical condition.
Recommended Reading: What happens to your brain when you quit Facebook?
This is your brain off Facebook Benedict Carey, The New York Times The decision to quit Facebook is all the rage these days, especially following an ever-growing number of data and privacy revelations. The New York Times offers a detailed look at a study from New York University and Stanford that found Facebook users generally felt better after quitting the social network, and those who came back used it less. There are always caveats, of course, but the findings lend some credibility to the idea that health benefits accompany the "Delete Facebook" craze.
Recommended Reading: Instagram invades the home
Home is where the photo booth is: How Instagram is changing our living spaces Alyssa Bereznak, The Ringer Backdrops, letter boards and faux patterns. The struggle to upgrade those Instagram-able moments at home is real. The Ringer examines the trend of spicing up those regular ol' photos for parties or a milestone announcement, and the fear of the "indifferent scroll."
