Instant Messaging Security Is Becoming a Serious Issue
November 29, 2017
It might sound like a problem from twenty years ago, but the security of instant messages is a serious concern. We didn’t even know it was a thing, but once we started digging—yikes. We started this journey with the Make Use Of article, “Signal Desktop Brings Secure Messaging to Your PC.”
According to the story:
Signal, the messaging app which values privacy above all else, now has a standalone desktop app. Signal Desktop, which is available for Windows, MacOS, and Linux, replaces the Signal Chrome app. The app itself isn’t very different, but having a dedicated desktop offering is always welcome.
While most of the big messaging apps are starting to take your privacy seriously, Signal has made this its number one priority. This has made it popular with people for whom privacy is of the utmost importance, such as politicians and journalists. All of whom can now use Signal Desktop.
Sounds like Signal is hitting the desktop market just in time. A recent study found that doctors are sharing sensitive patient information via instant messaging software. Whoa. If anything should be secure, it’s that. Let’s hope they get onboard soon.
Patrick Roland, November 29, 2017
Yet Another Way to Make Search Smarter
November 3, 2017
Companies are always inventing new ways to improve search. Their upgrades are always guaranteed to do this or that, but usually they do nothing at all. BA Insights is one of the few companies that offers decent search product and guess what? They have a new upgrade! According to their blog, “BA Insight Makes Search Smarter With Smarthub.” BA Insight’s latest offering is called the Smarthub that is specifically designed for cognitive search. It leverages cloud-based search and cognitive computing services from Google, Elastic, and Microsoft.
Did I mention it was an app? Most of them are these days. Smarthub also supports and is compatible with other technology, has search controls built from metadata, machine learning personalization analytics, cognitive image processing, and simultaneous access to content from over sixty enterprise systems. What exactly is cognitive search?
‘Cognitive search, and indeed, the entire new wave of cognitive applications, are the next leap forward in information access. These apps rest on a search backbone that integrates information, making it findable and usable. Companies such as BA Insight are now able to not only provide better search results, but also uncover patterns and solve problems that traditional search engines can’t,’ said Sue Feldman, Co-Founder and Managing Director at the Cognitive Computing Consortium. ‘There’s a cognitive technology race going on between the big software superpowers, which are developing platforms on which these applications are built. Smart smaller vendors go the next mile, layering highly integrated, well designed, purpose-built applications on top of multiple platforms so that enterprises can leave their information environments in place while adding in the AI, machine learning, and language understanding that gets them greater, faster insights.’
It sounds like what all search applications are supposed to do. I guess it is just a smarter version of the search applications that already exist, but what makes them different is the analytics and machine learning components that make information more findable and personalize the experience.
Whitney Grace, November 3, 2017
Free Language Learning Resources That Are Not Duolingo
October 25, 2017
For those who wish to learn a foreign language, the fun and engaging Duolingo has become a go-to free resource, offering courses in more than 20 languages. However, it is not the only game in town; MakeUseOf gives us a rundown of “The Best (Completely Free) Language Learning Alternatives to Duolingo.” Writer Briallyn Smith tells us:
One of the reasons some people are looking to move away from Duolingo is the recent introduction of in-app purchases. While the core functions of Duolingo are still free, the purchase options can give learners a boost when playing games — much like the bonuses and extra lives you can purchase on Bejewelled or other addictive gaming apps. Learners may become frustrated when they are prevented from working on a specific language skill or accomplishment because they ran out of ‘hearts’ or need to purchase ‘gems’ to continue. Other in-app purchases allow users to remove ads from their learning experience and to download offline content.
While there’s nothing wrong with Duolingo charging fees for its services, it can be frustrating for those looking for a truly free resource. Other language learners simply do not enjoy learning through games. This is especially true for those who require industry-specific vocabulary or who already have a background in the language. Thankfully, there are many other online resources available for language learners. While you won’t get the same kind of program as Duolingo for free, you can easily use these resources to put together a language learning strategy that works well for you.
Before getting to her list, Smith takes a moment to advocate for paid language-learning services, like Babbel. Basically, if you are serious about your language studies and can afford it, they are worth the investment.
The resource list begins with a compound entry, Online Communities; included here are Fluent in 3 Months, /r/LanguageLearning, and The Polyglot Club. Then there are Rhino Spike, Mango Languages, the Yojik Website, and, of course, YouTube (with a list of 10 suggested channels). Furthermore, Smith supplies a link to OpenCulture for more even options. See the article for more about each of these entries.
Cynthia Murrell, October 25, 2017
The Cloud Needs EDiscovery Like Now
October 16, 2017
Cloud computing has changed the way home and enterprise systems store and access data. One of the problems with cloud computing, however, is the lack of a powerful eDiscovery tool. There are search tools for the cloud, but eDiscovery tools help users make rhyme and reason of their content. Compare The Cloud reports that there is a new eDiscovery tool to improve the cloud, “KroLDiscovery Brings End-To-End eDiscovery To The Cloud With Nebula.” Nebula is the name of KrolLDiscovery’s eDiscovery tool and it is an upgrade of eDirect365, building on the software’s processing and review capabilities.
Nebula was designed with a user-friendly eDiscovery approach that simplifies otherwise complex tasks. Nebula is also a web-based application and it can be accessed from most browsers and mobile devices. The benefit for Windows users is that it can be deployed within Windows Azure to bring scalability and rapid deployment capabilities.
KrolLDiscovery is proud of their newest product:
‘We are excited for the future of Nebula,; said Chris Weiler, President and CEO of KrolLDiscovery. ‘Expanding our eDiscovery capabilities to the cloud is a benefit to our multi-national and international clients as they can now process, store and access their data across the globe. All the while, we are dedicated to providing the same industry-leading service we are known for by our clients.’
Nebula was designed to improve how users interact and use their content on a cloud-based system. Cloud computing has a real-time and portable air about it, but its weaknesses lie in lag and security. Perhaps Nebula will enhance the former making its other weaknesses a mere shadow of the past.
Whitney Grace, October 16, 2017
The Narrowing App Market
September 29, 2017
If you are thinking of going into app development, first take a gander at this write-up; Business Insider reports, “Half of Digital Media Time Is Spent in Five Apps.” Citing comScore’s 2017 US Mobile App Report , writer Laurie Beaver tells us:
Users spend 90% of their mobile app time in their top five apps, making up 51% of total digital time spent. Perhaps more alarming is that half of the time spent on smartphones is within just one app. That drops dramatically to 18% of time for the second most used app. This suggests that unless a brand’s or business’ app is the first or second most used (most likely Facebook- or Google-owned), it’s unlikely to get any meaningful share of users’ attention.
There are a few reasons for developers to take heart—the number of app downloads is picking up, and users have become more willing to allow push notifications. Most importantly, perhaps, is that users are making in-app purchases; that is where most apps make their money. Beaver continues:
Nevertheless, the report shows the astonishing influence Facebook and Google have over how US mobile app users spend their time. And given the increasingly large share the top five apps have, it’s likely to only become more difficult for brands and publishers to receive any share of users’ time. Alternate app experiences such as Apple’s iMessage apps, Google’s Instant Apps, and Facebook Messenger’s Instant Games could provide brands and publishers with new avenues to reach consumers where they’re spending their time. While these services are nascent, they do provide a promising option for businesses moving forward.
We’re reminded that apps have gained ground over browsers, and are now the main way folks get online. However, the trends toward app consolidation and app abandonment may lead to a “post-app” future. Never fear, though—Business Insider’s research service, BI Intelligence, offers a report titled “The End of Apps” ($495) that could help businesses and developers prepare for the future. Founded in 2007, Business Insider is headquartered in New York City.
Cynthia Murrell, September 29, 2017
Amazon to Develop Pet Translating App
September 12, 2017
Anyone who has participated in a one-way conversation with their beloved pet can appropriate Amazon’s latest ambitions in creating an app to translate dog and cat sounds into human language. Not being the first to have this idea, Amazon should note that there has been no significant advance in this particular science and, perhaps, they are over-reaching even their own capacities.
The Guardian recently shared of Amazon’s dreams of a pet-translating app and came to the conclusion that at best it would provide the same service as adult supervision.
Kaminski says a translation device might make things easier for people who lack intuition or young children who misinterpret signals ‘sometimes quite significantly.’ One study, for instance, found that when young children were shown a picture of a dog with menacingly bared teeth, they concluded that the dog was “happy” and “smiling” and that they would like to hug it. An interpretation device might be able to warn of danger.
While there is no doubt that the pet industry is exploding in dollars and interest, Amazon’s app aspirations are a bit of a stretch. It is understandable how such a gimmicky app would set Amazon apart from other translation apps and sites, even if it has the same accuracy.
Catherine Lamsfuss, September 12, 2017
AI to Tackle Image Reading
September 11, 2017
The new frontier in analytics might just be pictures. Known to baffle even the most advanced AI systems, the ability to break pictures into recognizable parts and then use them to derive meaning has been a quest for many for some time. It appears that Disney Research in cahoots with UC Davis believe they are near a breakthrough.
Phys.org quotes Markus Gross, vice president at Disney Research, as saying,
We’ve seen tremendous progress in the ability of computers to detect and categorize objects, to understand scenes and even to write basic captions, but these capabilities have been developed largely by training computer programs with huge numbers of images that have been carefully and laboriously labeled as to their content. As computer vision applications tackle increasingly complex problems, creating these large training data sets has become a serious bottleneck.
A perfect example of the application of this is MIT attempts to use AI to share recipes and nutritional information just by viewing a picture of food. The sky is the limit when it comes to possibilities if Disney and MIT can help AI over the current hump of limitations.
Catherine Lamsfuss, September 11, 2017
Google to Further Predict Relevant News to Subscribers
August 30, 2017
It’s no surprise that these days most people rely on something other than themselves to find relevant news stories, be it social media, a news feed or even Google. For many, it’s easier to let others determine what is truly important. Google, a leader in pointing out useful information and news, has stepped up their steering game and announce the update to their app which will further think for each user.
According to a recent liliputing article,
…the feed still shows things like news, videos, and sports scores. But Google isn’t just choosing content based on the way you interact with Google search, apps, and services anymore. The company will also surface items that are trending locally and around the globe, helping you stay up to date on things that you might otherwise have missed. The company says it uses machine learning algorithms to predict which things you’ll be most interested in seeing.
For those uncomfortable with only seeing news stories Google’s algorithms deem worthy of your consideration there are steps you can take to delete your preferences and habits. Perhaps Google’s intentions are altruistic and the app will be Big Brother approved really helpful to the masses. We sure hope so!
Catherine Lamsfuss, August 30, 2017
Optimizing the Noisy Internet
July 28, 2017
Humans love to complain, especially the older generations about how their youth was superior to the current day. Alan Franzoni rants about how the Internet has gotten too noisy in “Stopping The Internet Noise-A Useful Internet Back Again.” Franzoni complains that the modern Internet is not as useful as the Internet of the 56K modem days. He lists the ways the old Internet was more productive. He starts with old Usenet discussion groups and mailing lists. What he liked about this old discussion boards were that he could subscribe to one application service instead of having to do it multiple times. He then turns to IRC chatting, citing its superiority because it was a single application with a consistent interface.
He bemoans the loss of Google Reader, which is an actual loss. The ability to read all of your daily Web sites in one consistent feed was nice. What Franzoni hates is that he cannot mark things as reading, there is zero to little API, and there is not any focus. This is what he wants and suggests how the Internet can be improved:
•Topics. Google Plus created somethings similar to that with Collections (without RSS, of course); or we could just create a blog or username for each of our topics – I think most of us won’t discuss about so many totally unrelated different fields. It’s a change of mentality – we shouldn’t write something just because we can. Unless we are celebrities, people, especially strangers, won’t follow us just for the sake of it – we need actual, quality content. Smallchat is fine on FB or Twitter.
APIs. I’m not saying we should get back to IRC or to NNTP. But we need a common API for Instant Messaging and forum-like software so that people can use their favorite tools to organize their data sources. Installing tons of apps or visiting tens of websites every day is not an option.
His rant is about the lack of a good app that digests the Internet into a single, serves reading list. Franzoni really needs to try out the Feedly app.
Whitney Grace, July 28, 2017
Whose Message Is It Anyway?
April 11, 2017
Instant messaging service provider WhatsApp is in a quandary. While privacy of its users is of utmost importance to them, where do they draw the line if it’s a question of national security?
In an editorial published in The Telegraph titled WhatsApp Accused of Giving Terrorists ‘a Secret Place to Hide’ as It Refuses to Hand over London Attacker’s Messages, the writer says:“The Government was considering legislation to force online firms to take down extremist material, but said it was time for the companies to “recognise that they have a responsibility” to get their own house in order.
Apps like WhatsApp offer end-to-end encryption for messages sent using its network. This makes it impossible (?) for anyone to intercept and read them, even technicians at WhatsApp. On numerous occasions, WhatsApp, owned by Facebook, has come under fire for protecting its user privacy. In this particular incident, the London attacker Ajao used WhatsApp to send message to someone. While Soctland Yard wants access to the messages sent by the terrorist, WhatsApp says its hands are tied.
The editorial also says that social media networks are no more tech companies, rather they are turning into publishing companies thus the onus is on them to ensure the radical materials are also removed from their networks. Who ultimately will win the battle remains to be seen, but right now, WhatsApp seems to have the edge.
Vishal Ingole, April 11, 2017
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