Author: The Conversation

Léa hated 2020. She missed out on a high school graduation ceremony, a class trip to Spain and her graduation dance. She was also deprived of the excitement that came with starting college — the welcome parties, living her first moments of adult life, taking responsibility for her career and life choices — and just having more freedom. Instead, Léa spent hours staring at her tablet and her computer, whether it was to do online courses, watch a TV show like Pandemic or catch up with her friends. The year ended in a blur — not the blur of an uncertain future,…

If Apple and other tech companies have their way, it will only become harder to have our phones and other devices repaired by third-party businesses. Smartphones and many other tech devices are increasingly being designed in ways that make it challenging to repair or replace individual components. This might involve soldering the processor and flash memory to the motherboard, gluing components together unnecessarily, or using non-standard pentalobe screws which make replacements problematic. Many submissions to an Australian “right to repair” inquiry have called on tech manufacturers to provide a fair and competitive market for repairs, and produce products that are easily repairable. The right…

Search engines are one of society’s primary gateways to information and people, but they are also conduits for misinformation. Similar to problematic social media algorithms, search engines learn to serve you what you and others have clicked on before. Because people are drawn to the sensational, this dance between algorithms and human nature can foster the spread of misinformation. Search engine companies, like most online services, make money not only by selling ads, but also by tracking users and selling their data through real-time bidding on it. People are often led to misinformation by their desire for sensational and entertaining news as well…

Google has announced plans to stop using tracking cookies on its Chrome browser by 2022, replacing them with a group profiling system in a move the company says will plot “a course towards a more privacy-friendly web”. The change is significant. Chrome commands some two-thirds of the web browser market. Third-party tracking cookies, meanwhile, underpin much of the targeted advertising industry. And, while Mozilla’s Firefox and Apple’s Safari have already stopped supporting third-party cookies, Google is the first firm to produce replacement advertising support. Rather than tracking and targeting you on an individual basis, Google’s alternative groups you instead into a crowd of people with similar…

More than ever before, as pandemic conditions persist, the threat of data breaches and cyberattacks continues to grow. COVID-19 has permanently changed organizational culture and behaviour. Recognizing these changes is the first in a series of steps to mitigate them once this pandemic ends, and before the next. As we enter the second year of the pandemic and temporary measures seem more permanent, there are five ways that cybersecurity has forever been altered: 1. Working from home What began as a temporary measure to isolate employees in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 has morphed into a more permanent,…

A couple of days ago, the musician Grimes sold some animations she made with her brother Mac on a website called Nifty Gateway. Some were one-offs, while others were limited editions of a few hundred – and all were snapped up in about 20 minutes, with total takings of more than US$6 million. Despite the steep price tag, anybody can watch or (with a simple right-click) save a copy of the videos, which show a cherub ascending over Mars, Earth, and imaginary landscapes. Rather than a copy of the files themselves, the eager buyers received a special kind of tradable certificate called a “non-fungible token” or…

There’s a global shortage in semiconductors, and it’s becoming increasingly serious. The US is currently reviewing of its supply of the technology, following a landmark executive order from President Joe Biden. The president also pledged US$37 billion (£26 billion) to cover the short-term costs of rebuilding and securing America’s supply of semiconductors, which are a fundamental part of microchips and thus integral to everything from computers to smartphones to renewable energy and military hardware. The automotive sector has been worst affected by the drought, in an era where microchips now form the backbone of most cars. Ford is predicting a 20% slump in production and…

As communication about science and health increasingly moves online, new ways are emerging for people to participate in public dialogue about advances in science. One of these is the use of emojis – ‘picture characters’, from the Japanese ‘e’ (picture) and ‘moji’ (character). These have, in the last decade, become increasingly popular as a form of visual communication that indicates specific reactions and emotional responses. The popularity of the genre was highlighted in 2015 when the Oxford Dictionary chose the popular ‘face with tears of joy’ emoji as its ‘Word of the Year’. Linguistics professor Marcel Danesi argued that this choice signalled a world…

In the 1960s, when traditional cinder athletics tracks were replaced by spongy, synthetic surfaces, endurance running experienced a revolution. Long distance runners began clocking far faster times on the synthetic tracks, smashing multiple world records in the process. Today, another revolution is afoot: the development of the so-called “super shoe”, which is driving another spike of record toppling in endurance running. The new shoe technology was introduced to road running in 2016 and track running in 2019, and since those key dates virtually all endurance running world records, from the 5,000m to the marathon, have been broken. This has divided opinion in the athletics world,…

It was recently revealed that in 2017 Microsoft patented a chatbot which, if built, would digitally resurrect the dead. Using AI and machine learning, the proposed chatbot would bring our digital persona back to life for our family and friends to talk to. When pressed on the technology, Microsoft representatives admitted that the chatbot was “disturbing”, and that there were currently no plans to put it into production. Still, it appears that the technical tools and personal data are in place to make digital reincarnations possible. AI chatbots have already passed the “Turing Test”, which means they’ve fooled other humans into thinking…