Tech News and Miscellany

PatrThom

PatrThom

www.edisonresearch.com

In-Car Listening and Infotainment Systems - Edison Research

This post is from Edison’s Weekly Insights email. Please click here if you would like to subscribe. Choices, choices. The in-car audio landscape today offers myriad options, including radio receivers, satellite radio receivers, voice-activated speakers, and Bluetooth or aux cord capabilities...
www.edisonresearch.com www.edisonresearch.com
tl:dr; People 13yrs and older who do NOT have some kind of hook-up-your-phone system (CarPlay, Android Auto) in their car spend about 2/3 of their time listening to good ol’ AM/FM radio. But people who do? Incredibly, these people still spend almost HALF their time listening to AM/FM radio.

—Patrick
 
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GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
PatrThom said:
www.edisonresearch.com

In-Car Listening and Infotainment Systems - Edison Research

This post is from Edison’s Weekly Insights email. Please click here if you would like to subscribe. Choices, choices. The in-car audio landscape today offers myriad options, including radio receivers, satellite radio receivers, voice-activated speakers, and Bluetooth or aux cord capabilities...
www.edisonresearch.com www.edisonresearch.com
tl:dr; People 13yrs and older who do NOT have some kind of hook-up-your-phone system (CarPlay, Android Auto) in their car spend about 2/3 of their time listening to good ol’ AM/FM radio. But people who do? Incredibly, these people still spend almost half their time listening to AM/FM radio.

—Patrick
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I must be a statistical outlier, but I haven't voluntarily listened to the radio for recreation in 20 years.
 
Dave

Dave

Staff member
I listen almost exclusively to SiriusXM. The exception is when some morning radio buddies are on and I’m in a position to listen.
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

At first I thought you meant the distro.
I thought the whole reason Intuit bought Mint in the first place was as a gateway to Quicken, guess I was wrong.

--Patrick
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

arstechnica.com

Vending machine error reveals secret face image database of college students

Facial-recognition data is typically used to prompt more vending machine sales.
arstechnica.com arstechnica.com
Canada-based University of Waterloo is racing to remove M&M-branded smart vending machines from campus after outraged students discovered the machines were covertly collecting facial-recognition data without their consent.
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I've heard of vending machines that adjust prices based on time of day and temperature/humidity, but this is new (though not unexpected).

--Patrick
 
Bubble181

Bubble181

If you believe what they claim (that is of course a big if), I don't see how this would be a GDPR problem.
Collecting identifiable information without consent is bad.
Lighting up when a face is detected and registering "apparent male, 30-35" but otherwise not keeping or using facial data is fine (legally).
 
Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bubble181 said:
If you believe what they claim (that is of course a big if), I don't see how this would be a GDPR problem.
Collecting identifiable information without consent is bad.
Lighting up when a face is detected and registering "apparent male, 30-35" but otherwise not keeping or using facial data is fine (legally).
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Here's what we've learned from cell phones: gdpr doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if the data they collect "is non-identifiable" because the truth is: it actually is. If it wasn't they wouldn't do it. Even if they don't store a picture of your face and all they know is male roughly this age etc, they still have so much cross data that they know it's you. Of course, the fact that they have so much cross data means there's very little chance to fight it, we've lost that particular battle unless something very drastic happens
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

Ravenpoe said:
It doesn't matter if the data they collect "is non-identifiable" because the truth is: it actually is.
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It always is. AOL already taught us that.
Add cellphone logs in with the proliferation of license plate readers and even plane/drone surveillance and there really are no secrets left to keep without significant effort to conceal them.
according to this study, just knowing the zip code [...] of where you work, and where you live, will uniquely identify 5% of the population, and for half of Americans will place them in a group of 21 people or fewer. If you know the “census blocks” where somebody works and lives (an area roughly the size of a block in a city, but much larger in rural areas), the accuracy is much higher, with at least half the population being uniquely identified.
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--Patrick
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
I can personally vouch that Youtube is intentionally slowing down content on firefox. I was having buffering problems this morning. I ran a speedtest from fast and speedof.me to make sure that yep, my fiber connection is still awesome. So I opened chrome to the same video, and BOOM, instant, full buffer with no lag.

So I installed the firefox user agent switcher addon to make firefox lie to websites that it is Chrome, and magically the problem went away.
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

I saw that yesterday and I just don't get it.
I assume that, like the article suggests, this is someone's attempt to avoid a situation where the MPAA and similar organizations come down on HDMI Forum for "allowing/aiding" the creation of a tool whose only POSSIBLE purpose would be to enable the wholesale ripping/copying of commercial 4K content.

--Patrick
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

Am currently debating whether to try and score a 1660-series card or buy a 3060 12GB off a coworker.
Guess I'd better hurry.

--Patrick
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

www.cbsnews.com

FTC bans noncompete agreements, making it easier for workers to quit. Here's what to know.

Regulators prohibit new noncompetes, which impede millions of U.S. workers from getting a better job.
www.cbsnews.com www.cbsnews.com
The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday afternoon voted 3-to-2 to approve the new rule, which will ban noncompetes for all workers when the regulations take effect in 120 days. For senior executives, existing noncompetes can remain in force. For all other employees, existing noncompetes [will not be] enforceable.
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This is...big.

--Patrick
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

"Apple's invention of the AirTag was irresponsible and ushered in an era of irresponsible tracking and surveillance because Apple should've been able to tell how people were really going to use these."

ThrowFlame company of Ohio: HOLD MY MUTHAFUKKIN BEER!!!
arstechnica.com

You can now buy a flame-throwing robot dog for under $10,000

Thermonator, the first “flamethrower-wielding robot dog,” is completely legal in 48 US states.
arstechnica.com arstechnica.com
Thermonator is a quadruped robot with an ARC flamethrower mounted to its back, fueled by gasoline or napalm. It features a one-hour battery, a 30-foot flame-throwing range, and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity for remote control through a smartphone.
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So...listen. If you or someone you know lives in an area that tends to be at risk from wildfires and the like? I'm just saying you might want to be prepared for any...unexpected incidents. EXTRA prepared. Like, reeeeeally extra prepared.

--Patrick
 
ThatNickGuy

ThatNickGuy

GasBandit said:
From all accounts, Elon's throwing a "I'm in charge! I'M IN CHARGE!" fit at Tesla. So he fired 14,000 people including the entire Supercharger team, when the head of the Supercharger division tried to push back against layoffs. So, I'm sure that Ford and GM are really groaning that they've been moving all their EV designs to use NACS instead of CCS.

View attachment 48008
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I'm not surprised about Musk whipping his tiny dick around because someone said no.

But I'm not sure I understand what "NACS" and "CCS" means, or how this upheaval at Tesla affects Ford and GM.
 
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