Technology - Google News

Tech firms must give up their awkward secret: Humans - BBC News
How to stream Xbox One games on your Windows PC - The Verge
Ask Engadget: What are the best outdoor navigation apps? - Engadget

Tech firms must give up their awkward secret: Humans - BBC News

Posted: 23 Aug 2019 04:30 PM PDT

Among the thousands upon thousands of words that make up the privacy policies of the tech giants, one you rarely find is "human".

Zero uses of the word in Amazon's privacy policy for its Alexa voice assistant. The same goes for Apple's Siri. And Google's Assistant.

Facebook's policy uses the word just once - to inform you that it will record data about your device to make sure that you are human.

Only Microsoft states what all of these other privacy policies arguably should: "Our processing of personal data … includes both automated and manual (human) methods of processing."

I point this out because the issue of human labour is a touchy subject in Silicon Valley right now; a fresh atmosphere of controversy for which companies only have themselves to blame.

First, Amazon was revealed to have been using human contractors to listen to clips picked up by Alexa. Then it was discovered Google was doing much the same, as were Apple. All three companies said they would halt the practice in response to the negative publicity.

And then Facebook, it was reported by Bloomberg last week, was using humans to listen to recordings gathered via its Messenger app. The company insisted proper consent had been obtained, but subsequent reporting found that wasn't quite accurate. Well, it wasn't at all accurate. Facebook didn't say a word about it to users.

A final fallback

The stories have dropped like dominoes. Any voice-powered or "automated" system is now quite rightly being put under scrutiny. Do Microsoft contractors sometimes listen to audio captured via Skype? Yep. Do they listen to audio of gamers speaking through their Xbox? Sure do.

For reporters, the low-hanging fruit is everywhere you look. I picked an "automated" service I use often - Expensify, the expenses-logging app that can "smartscan" receipts - and looked into it. Did humans have any role in how it worked? Yes, it turns out they do.

"SmartScan is a complex, multi-layered system that takes multiple approaches to extracting information from receipts," the company told me.

"The final, fallback approach is that it is sent to one of our contractors. When we're unable to extract the required information from the receipt, the receipt is reviewed by one of our contractors to fill in the missing information."

No mentions of humans in Expensify's privacy policy, either.

'We could add a comma'

There is a reasonable explanation for all this - if only the egotistical, secrecy-obsessed tech giants could bring themselves to say it. Without humans, most of these products would suck.

Expensify, to its credit, admitted to me that without human review, it would likely only manage about 80-85% accuracy. It would mean users would need to check all of their receipts for errors, defeating the point of using the software entirely. So, on balance, if a contractor has to step in once in a while - that's fair. Not mentioning it anywhere on their website? Considerably less so.

Amazon, Google, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft all face the same challenge. Those companies capture these recordings not to spy on you, but to figure out when and why their technologies, still early in their development, get things wrong.

But what's most frustrating to me, is that I don't think most people have a problem with that. I know I don't: my expectation is that because these products aren't perfect, firms need to work on improving them. It's almost reassuring that humans are still so relied upon.

But my other expectation is for tech companies to be up front about it, and on that, most have failed. I interviewed Amazon's head of Alexa earlier this year and asked him if he felt Amazon could do more to make it clear in their privacy policy that humans had even just a minor role in Alexa's systems.

"I suppose we could add a comma after that and be more specific," he told me (spoiler: they haven't done that).

Put it on the damn box, I say. Be honest.

The tech industry needs to quickly understand that the tech-buying public will forgive them for using human labour, far more readily than it will for blatant and lazy abuses of trust.

But then, doing so would mean admitting an imperfection, weakness or inefficiency. And that's just not the done thing around here.

_____

Follow Dave Lee on Twitter @DaveLeeBBC

Do you have more information about this or any other technology story? You can reach Dave directly and securely through encrypted messaging app Signal on: +1 (628) 400-7370

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How to stream Xbox One games on your Windows PC - The Verge

Posted: 24 Aug 2019 06:00 AM PDT

Microsoft's Xbox One consoles and Windows 10 PCs play pretty well together. So well, in fact, that you can stream Xbox One games onto your PC.

Why would you want to do this? Perhaps because you prefer your monitor to your TV. Or maybe your Xbox One is on the other side of the house, and you just want to wirelessly stream to your PC instead of buying a 50-foot HDMI cable to physically link the two together.

There is a catch: unlike PlayStation 4's Remote Play and PS Now, two features that let you stream from anywhere, the Xbox One console and PC need to be on the same network. Still, it's a pretty cool trick. There are only a few simple steps that you need to get through in order to get your console's feed sent to your PC.

Use the Xbox Console Companion app

If you have a Windows 10 desktop or laptop, it likely already has the Xbox Console Companion app installed. (This was formerly known as the Xbox app; Microsoft is in the process of transforming it into a more fleshed-out gaming dashboard). You can download the app from the Microsoft Store if it's not already on your PC.
Open the app, then sign into your Microsoft account (which is also your Xbox account) when it prompts you to do so.
Once you're signed in, click the menu button at the top left-hand side of the Xbox Console Companion app window. It will open a list of items. Click "Connection" near the bottom of that list.

Click "Add a device" in the top-middle section of the app window. The app will search for an Xbox One console in your network. Click "Connect" once you find your console.
If your console doesn't show up, enter its IP address in the appropriate field. Your Xbox One's IP address can be found by opening up the settings menu on the console, then clicking "Network" > "Network settings" > "Advanced Settings."
After you're connected, your console will show up under the "Now Playing" section in the Xbox Console Companion app. Click it and your PC monitor will show a direct feed from your Xbox One.

Fix lag on a wireless network

As you play on your PC, there may be some lag depending on your Wi-Fi network speeds. One way to speed up a choppy stream is to use Ethernet instead, if that's an option. You can also use the Xbox Console Companion app to tweak the fidelity of the stream, resulting in a faster-moving picture, although at the expense of image quality.

To access the drop-down menu, hit the menu button on the top-right part of the display, near the full-screen button.
If you want to look at the granular details of the stream, like bit rate, bandwidth use, and more, click the button that appears near the bottom left part of the screen.

I don't use the Xbox Console Companion app on my PC too often, but it comes in handy when I want to play Xbox at the same time that others prefer to watch something else on the TV. It's particularly useful for slow-paced games where the speed of your inputs doesn't come into play, but I found it to be sufficient for games like Asura's Wrath, which relies on quickly completing events to make progress.

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Ask Engadget: What are the best outdoor navigation apps? - Engadget

Posted: 24 Aug 2019 05:33 AM PDT

The support shared among readers in the comments section is one of the things we love most about the Engadget community. Over the years, we've known you to offer sage advice on everything from Chromecasts and cameras to drones and smartphones. In fact, our community's knowledge and insights are a reason why many of you participate in the comments.

We truly value the time and detail you all spend in responding to questions from your fellow tech-obsessed commenters, which is why we've decided to bring back our "Ask Engadget" column. This week's question asks about outdoor navigation apps. Weigh in with your advice in the comments -- and feel free to send your own questions along to ask@engadget.com!

I've been doing a lot of hiking and walking outdoors, as well as some bird watching. But Google Maps has turned out to be really unhelpful when it comes to walking directions, especially when it comes to trails in parks. What is the best app for navigating outdoors?

Evan Rodgers
Engagement Editor

I've talked to a bunch of people about the apps they use for finding free camping spots and the answer is always: all of them. Frustratingly, each app has its own user-generated dataset, so you have to have all of them. For example, iOverlander has spots that Campendium doesn't.

Anyway, here are the apps I use:

Campendium: I use this the most frequently, but it's a site not an app. You can use it on mobile, though.
iOverlander: It isn't great, but it has some good details like RV dumping sites and water fill-up spots.
AllTrails: Since I'm too busy to actually hike, I use this to make sure I'm not camping near a trail head, which isn't allowed.
Google Maps: Indispensable, though admittedly a bit disquieting that there are so few Google alternatives. I use Google Maps literally every day, multiple times a day, mostly to navigate to various sites.

On that last point, Campendium spots usually give you GPS coordinates, which is great for actually finding where you're supposed to be going, and throwing those in Google Maps will actually get you there.

Terrence O'Brien
Managing Editor

So the truth is that most of the apps... are not great. AllTrails is alright. Hiking Project from REI is okay, too. I've heard good things about Gaia GPS, but haven't used it myself.

The real answer to this question is: Get a map, a compass and learn to use it if you're hiking. Being out in nature should be an opportunity to put down the tech -- for a few hours, anyway.

In this article: alltrails, apps, Ask Engadget, AskEngadget, campendium, engadgetoutdoors2019, gaiagps, gear, google, google maps, googlemaps, hiking, ioverlander, maps, thebuyersguide

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