Technology - Google News |
- Human workers can listen to Google Assistant recordings - Honolulu Star-Advertiser
- The Morning After: That's what quantum entanglement looks like - Engadget
- 'Dota Underlords' beta tests its first battle pass - Engadget
| Human workers can listen to Google Assistant recordings - Honolulu Star-Advertiser Posted: 12 Jul 2019 09:30 AM PDT
SAN FRANCISCO >> Google contractors regularly listen to and review some recordings of what people say to artificial-intelligence system Google Assistant, via their phone or through smart speakers such as the Google Home. The company acknowledged that humans can access those recordings after some of its Dutch language audio snippets were leaked. Google product manager David Monsees acknowledged the leak in a blog post Thursday and said the company is investigating the breach. "We are conducting a full review of our safeguards in this space to prevent misconduct like this from happening again," he wrote. More than 1,000 recordings were obtained by Belgian broadcaster VRT NWS, which noted in a story that some contained sensitive personal conversations — as well as information that identified the person speaking. Google says no user account information is associated with the recordings, and reviewers are instructed not to transcribe background conversations. But VRT reporters could hear spoken home addresses in some of the recordings, and were able to track down the speakers. Some of these conversations were not directed at Assistant and happened either as background noise or as a mistaken recording when Assistant thought it was being spoken to, but wasn't. Google says contractors listen to recordings to better understand language patterns and accents. Its user terms confirm recordings may be used by the company, stating Assistant "records your voice and audio on Google services to improve speech recognition." Monsees wrote that Google works with contractors around the world to analyze the recordings. "These language experts review and transcribe a small set of queries to help us better understand those languages," he wrote. Google's terms don't explicitly say that people review the recordings, but do state that data could be analyzed as the company updates services or create new features. The company acknowledged earlier this year that its reviewers listen to anonymous recordings in response to a Bloomberg report revealing that Amazon's Alexa also uses contractors to listen to recordings. Amazon confirmed the report. Google's recording feature can be turned off, but doing so means Assistant loses some of its personalized touch. People who turn off the recording feature lose the ability for the Assistant to recognize individual voices and learn your voice pattern. Assistant recording is actually turned off by default — but the technology prompts users to turn on recording and other tools in order to get personalized features. Google Assistant is available on more than 1 billion devices, including smartphones and smart speakers. It's made quite a dent in the smart speaker market — still the primary place where people use voice technology — but still trails behind Amazon. |
| The Morning After: That's what quantum entanglement looks like - Engadget Posted: 13 Jul 2019 06:29 AM PDT Sponsored Links Hey, good morning! You look fabulous. The AMD vs. NVIDIA midrange GPU battle is heating up, Microsoft went back to the '80s and Nintendo introduced a Switch Lite. Oh, and some Amazon workers will strike on Prime Day. Welcome to your weekend. Scientists unveil image of quantum entanglement for the first time ever In a paper published in the journal of Scientific Advances, scientists from the University of Glasglow shared the first known image of a Bell entanglement. The photo depicts two photons interacting and sharing physical states for a brief instant -- an event that occurs regardless of the actual distance between the particles. Microsoft's Windows 1.0 announcement was about 'Stranger Things' To celebrate the return of the show -- set in 1985, Microsoft's banner year -- the company is launching the Windows 1.11 app. It features classic Paint and Terminal programs, as well as Stranger Things-themed puzzles and exclusive content. No floppy disk required. NVIDIA RTX 2060 Super and 2070 Super review NVIDIA's RTX 2060 Super is pretty much the ideal mid-range GPU, while its 2070 Super offers a similar amount of performance as last year's RTX 2080 for hundreds less. Of course, these cards aren't really for people who made upgrades last year -- they're more like a reward for those who waited. TurboGrafx-16 mini arrives next March with nearly 50 games Konami has revealed that the TurboGrafx-16 mini will be available exclusively through Amazon on March 19th, 2020, with pre-orders starting July 15th. The US lineup includes already-teased games like R-Type and Ys Book I & II, not to mention other top titles like Bonk's Revenge and Space Harrier. Nintendo's Switch Lite is a $200 handheld-only console The Switch Lite is a slightly different console that's intended purely for handheld play, and it will arrive September 20th in three colors, priced at $200. The lower price comes with a smaller screen 720p screen, non-removable Joy-Con controls, no TV-out support and no HD Rumble. While it justifies its name by weighing less than the original, it also should have better battery life by about a half-hour, and it has swapped the four-button D-pad for an old-school Nintendo cross. SpaceX's Starship test vehicle will attempt a 'hover test' next week The Starhopper has already undergone two previous hop tests and shown that it can lift a few inches off a launchpad. Now the Raptor engine has been mounted to the Starhopper again so the next stage of testing can begin, with a hover test scheduled for Tuesday, July 16th. But wait, there's more...
The Morning After is a new daily newsletter from Engadget designed to help you fight off FOMO. Who knows what you'll miss if you don't Subscribe. Craving even more? Like us on Facebook or Follow us on Twitter. Have a suggestion on how we can improve The Morning After? Send us a note. |
| 'Dota Underlords' beta tests its first battle pass - Engadget Posted: 13 Jul 2019 01:27 AM PDT In another sign of gaming trends folding in on each other, Valve's own 'Auto Chess' spin-off of Dota 2 is testing out a battle pass. The still-in-beta Dota Underlords is free to play, so like other "free" games, mixing in bonus packages that people will pay for without making them annoying or a waste of money is key. Epic has executed the strategy repeatedly with Fortnite and is already in season nine, while battle royale challenger Apex Legends caught flack for an underwhelming first "season" of offerings.
In an effort to avoid the issues like the ones that caught out previous Dota 2 spin-off Artifact and Apex -- or falling behind other competitors in its turn-based combat genre like Riots' Teamfight Tactics -- Valve has kicked off a "Proto Pass" for beta testers to try. It's still free, so the developers can figure out what works and squash bugs while players unlock rewards like a new board, banners and emotes. The developers have already mentioned that certain heroes, items and alliances will disappear from season to season, so getting the balance right will take some work. Otherwise, the game's latest update also supports Steam invisible mode, just in case you're supposed to be "working" right now plus various game balancing tweaks and performance updates on mobile devices. The latest update is available now across PC, Android and iOS. |
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