Author: The Conversation

Want to be a space tourist? Billionaire Jeff Bezos’s space launch company Blue Origin has announced it will sell its first flights into microgravity to the highest bidder. Blue Origin and its two greatest competitors in the “space tourism” field, SpaceX and Virgin Galactic, claim to be advancing humanity through the “democratisation” of space. But these joyrides aren’t opening up access to space for all. A changing landscape At face value, the prospect of a space tourism industry is exciting. It promises an easier path to space than the one followed by astronauts, who must go through higher education, intense training and extremely competitive selection processes.…

When it comes to dancing, pulling a sled, climbing stairs or doing tricks, “Spot” is definitely a good dog. It can navigate the built environment and perform a range of tasks, clearly demonstrating its flexibility as a software and hardware platform for commercial use. Viral videos of Boston Dynamics’ robotic quadruped showcasing those abilities have been a key pillar of its marketing strategy. But earlier this year, when a New York art collective harnessed Spot to make a different point, the company was quick to deny its potential for harm. The project, “Spot’s Rampage”, involved fitting a sample of the…

For more than 15 years, there have been various predictions from tech leaders about the death of passwords. Bill Gates predicted it back in 2004 and Microsoft has predicted it for 2021. There have been numerous similar proclamations in between, alongside ongoing criticism of passwords as an inadequate means of protection. Yet passwords remain a common aspect of cybersecurity, something people use every day. What’s more, passwords show little sign of disappearing yet. But many people still use them badly and seem unaware of recommended good practice. World Password Day on May 6 is a good time to reflect on our use of passwords and…

Ancient humans stored information in cave paintings, the oldest we know of are over 40,000 years old. As humans evolved, the emergence of languages and the invention of writing led to detailed information being stored in various written forms, culminating with the invention of paper in China around the first century AD. The oldest printed books appeared in China between AD600 and AD900. For over a millennium, books remained the main source of information storage. Humans achieved more technological development in the past 150 years than during the previous 2,000 years. Arguably one of the most important developments in human history was the…

The ABC’s latest Four Corners report is an investigation into how video games are “deliberately designed to get people hooked”. It describes the use of gambling-like “loot boxes” in games, the hotly debated notion of video game addiction and, to a lesser extent, the “predatory techniques” of using user data and AI to increase spending in freemium games (free to play games which are monetised through in-app transactions and advertising). The process of monetising and collecting data through video games does require scrutiny, as it can be problematic for some users. But in working out what the harms are, we shouldn’t lose sight of…

Have you ever wondered what flirting with artificial intelligence would look like? Research scientist and engineer Janelle Shane has given us an idea by training a neural network – an algorithm loosely inspired by biological brain structures – to produce chat-up lines. Some of the results are hilarious and completely nonsensical, such as the inelegant: “2017 Rugboat 2-tone Neck Tie Shirt”. But some of them turned out pretty well. At least, if you’re a robot: I can tell by your red power light that you’re into me. You look like a thing and I love you. Can I see your parts list? But…

The online world is continuously expanding — always aggregating more services, more users and more activity. Last year, the number of websites registered on the “.com” domain surpassed 150,000,000. However, more than a quarter of a century since its first commercial use, the growth of the online world is now slowing down in some key categories. We conducted a multi-year research project analysing global trends in online diversity and dominance. Our research, published today in Public Library of Science, is the first to reveal some long-term trends in how businesses compete in the age of the web. We saw a dramatic consolidation…

You decide to call a store that sells some hiking boots you’re thinking of buying. As you dial in, the computer of an artificial intelligence company hired by the store is activated. It retrieves its analysis of the speaking style you used when you phoned other companies the software firm services. The computer has concluded you are “friendly and talkative.” Using predictive routing, it connects you to a customer service agent who company research has identified as being especially good at getting friendly and talkative customers to buy more expensive versions of the goods they’re considering. This hypothetical situation may…

For most people, getting to the stars is nothing more than a dream. On April 28, 2001, Dennis Tito achieved that lifelong goal – but he wasn’t a typical astronaut. Tito, a wealthy businessman, paid US$20 million for a seat on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to be the first tourist to visit the International Space Station. Only seven people have followed suit in the 20 years since, but that number is poised to double in the next 12 months alone. NASA has long been hesitant to play host to space tourists, so Russia – looking for sources of money post-Cold War in the 1990s and…

Apple users across the globe are adopting the latest operating system update, called iOS 14.5, featuring the now-obligatory new batch of emojis. But there’s another change that’s arguably less fun but much more significant for many users: the introduction of “app tracking transparency”. This feature promises to usher in a new era of user-oriented privacy, and not everyone is happy — most notably Facebook, which relies on tracking web users’ browsing habits to sell targeted advertising. Some commentators have described it as the beginnings of a new privacy feud between the two tech behemoths. https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1386708158870167553? So, what is app tracking transparency? App tracking…