Social media tech company, Facebook, has announced on Monday that it will use a new form of artificial intelligence to detect suicide posts. The company has said that the software will be able to sift through posts or videos and flag them when someone displays suicidal tendencies. Once the Facebook AI detects patterns of suicidal thoughts, it will then send mental health resources to the user or their friends, or contact local authorities.

The company has stated that their new AI will use pattern recognition to scan through posts and comments for specific phrases, which would show suicidal behavior. Facebook noted several phrases to be red flags such as “Are you ok?” or “ Can I help?” and require immediate intervention.

If the user posts a live video, other people can report the video and get in touch with a helpline to help their friend. The Facebook AI will provide the user with an option to contact a helpline or another friend. Facebook employees can sometimes call local first-responders to intervene.

“We’ve found these accelerated reports – that we have signaled require immediate attention – are escalated to local authorities twice as quickly as other reports,” wrote Guy Rosen, Facebook vice president of product management.

The company has been focusing on eradicating such displays ever since the platform experienced an increase of live-streamed suicides in April. A month after, Facebook said it would hire three thousand additional workers to its community operations team, responsible for reviewing posts and other content reported to be violent.

Facebook is currently testing the AI program in the United States and will release to most countries later on, with the exception of those in the European Union. While the platform did not say exactly why the EU won’t get their Facebook AI, it may be due to different legislation regarding privacy and Internet.

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A new study conducted at Princeton University has revealed that website tracking is very common, especially on websites with high traffic.

Researchers have released a series called No Boundaries where they explain how many websites track your keystrokes by using third-party scripts. They state that more than four hundred trafficked websites record every time you click, as well as all the words you type. From filling out forms to copy and pasting something into a bracket, everything is recorded. The data is then sent to third parties

The scripts in question are called session replay scripts. According to the research, they are able to pick up both general statistics of website visitors and individual browsing sessions. It even goes as far as to compare the action with someone “looking over your shoulder”.

Researchers also state that, regardless of the website’s security, website trafficking can be exploited very easily courtesy of human error or of a random bug.

More so, the data collected by these third-party scripts are not subjected to any kind of confidential agreement as it can be released at any time. Website tracking also includes passwords, credit card details and other sensitive user inputs, a notion that is worrisome, to say the least.

An example of such behavior is displayed by FullStory, an app that records customer experience data. It is so efficient in fact, that it can help website owners link the information back to a person’s real identity.

After Princeton University released their findings, websites such as Bonobos and Walgreens announced they would stop using session replay scripts.

“As we look into the concerns that were raised, and out of an abundance of caution, we have stopped sharing data with FullStory,” a spokesperson from Walgreens said.

Researchers state there are few solutions that aren’t that efficient in keeping your website activity private. Ad-blocker tools are able to block some, but not all third-party scripts. They note that tracking apps such as FullStory or SmartLook can’t be blocked by ad-blockers. However, there is a silver lining to all of this.

AdBlock Plus has reportedly been updated to block all types of session replay scripts.

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Ride-service company, Uber, has disclosed on Tuesday that it paid hackers one hundred thousand dollars to keep secret a massive breach last year.  The breach reportedly exposed the personal information of about 57 million accounts of the company.

Two hackers were paid $100 thousand to destroy the data they’ve stolen from Uber and to stay quiet. The data was stolen in October 2016 and contained names and driver’s license numbers for seven million drivers across the world (more than half a million in the US) as well as names, email addresses and cell phone numbers of millions of customers.

Uber stated other valuable information such as social security numbers and dates of birth were not compromised. There was also no proof the stolen data was used for illegal purposes, according to the company.

Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber, said the people responsible for the cover-up have been fired. The company’s chief security officer, Joe Sullivan, and a deputy, Craig Clark, were let go this week for their hand in the incident.

“None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it,” he wrote on the company’s blog.

Sullivan was a former security official at Facebook Inc. and a federal prosecutor. He then served as both security chief and deputy general counsel for Uber.

The company discovered the breach after commissioning a probe by an outside law firm.  Co-founder and former CEO of Uber, Travis Kalanick, was at the company’s helm when the breach occurred. He reportedly learned of the hack a month after it happened, just when the company was fighting with regulators over its data security. Kalanick was replaced by Khosrowshahi as CEO of Uber in August last year. Kalanick, however, remains on the company’s board of directors.

Both Kalanick and Sullivan declined to comment when reached for a response.

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Private spaceflight company, Sierra Nevada, announced its reusable spacecraft, the Dream Chaser, completed a successful free flight and landing on a runway in California. The test was conducted at Edwards Air Force base in Southern California. The stunt was supposed to test Dream Chaser’s landing capabilities.

After being released from a helicopter, Dream Chaser made a 60-second free flight. The vehicle has been in development for more than a decade now.

Sierra Nevada previously tested another Dream Chaser prototype four years ago. However, this did not land successfully on the runway due to a landing gear problem.

Corporate Vice President in charge of the company’s Space Systems division, Mark Sirangelo emphasized the improved handling capabilities in the latest model.

“We came back and did it again with a better, stronger, more advanced vehicle, and this time we stuck the landing,” said Sirangelo “It’s a huge step forwards”.

The flight reportedly met all requirements set by the company.

SNC is proud to announce the Dream Chaser® spacecraft had a successful free-flight test today @EdwardsAFB, with support of @NASAArmstrong. The Dream Chaser had a beautiful flight and landing! pic.twitter.com/lAn0n7FPsg

— Sierra Nevada Corp (@SierraNevCorp) November 12, 2017

Dream Chaser ushers in a new age of unmanned spaceflight

The spacecraft is scheduled to fly to and from the International Space Station starting with 2020.

The helicopter slung the prototype on a 61-meter tether while at an altitude of over three thousand meters. Dream Chaser then made a completely unmanned descent reaching a maximum of 330 mph. It landed on the runway at a speed of 191 mph.

SpaceX and Orbital ATK developed similar ideas, however, their models are different from the Dream Chaser when it comes to landing capabilities. ATK’s capsule, Cygnus burns in the Earth’s atmosphere after leaving the station while SpaceX’s Dragon capsule lands in the ocean using parachutes. The Dream Chaser is able to descend to Earth and land horizontally on a runway.

The company chose United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket to launch their first two Dream Chasers. They are scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in 2020 and 2021.

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Physicist Stephen Hawking has not changed his stance towards the prospects of an all-out AI domination of humanity. Now, the author and cosmologist reiterates his warnings by pointing out robots can be a useful way of oppressing other classes if used by the rich. He also acknowledges the potential of a humanity enriched by AI but only if engineers have a firm grasp on implementing proper ethics.

The speech was held by the popular physicist at the Web Summit in Lisbon where Hawking expressed his reticence towards having robot helpers.

„We cannot know if we will be infinitely helped by AI or ignored by it and sidelined, or conceivably destroyed by it” he said.

There are potential benefits to having our very own robot force such as reducing poverty, curing diseases, and even reducing pollution. The variables, however, are still up in the air at this point according to the author. Hawking also points to the possibility of a sentient race of machines that don’t agree with humanity’s prospects and subsequently lead to conflict.

For such an advance in robotics to be considered healthy, the physicist urged for maximising a society’s benefits rather than making AI simply for capability’s sake.

High profile speakers such as the European Union’s commissioner for Competition Margarethe Vestager and United Nations Secretary-General Antonito Guterres graced the stage to talk about possible solutions for reducing inequality.  Vestager thinks society needs to put people first and technology second to have a healthy symbiosis.

They were joined by Kernel founder Bryan Johnson in acknowledging that we are on the verge of the „most consequential revolution in the history of the human race.” Johnson knows that AI is a double-edged sword and the only thing we can do to handle it with success is to adapt as a species.

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As humans, we’re a very hyper-social species, but how else would we communicate our questions, thoughts or casual greetings? With our smartphones always somewhere nearby, that enables our regular conversational needs, but then there are the times when our hands are busy, and we can’t just unlock the screen to reply to a text.

While there might not be an app for that, Google ATAP or the company’s Advanced Technology and Projects Group developed Jacquard. This allows interactivity and connectivity to be incorporated directly into our clothing. It’s essentially a smart sleeve, and the item with the ‘honor’ of premiering it is the Levi’s Commuter Trucker Jacket, set to go on sale this week.

The Levi’s & Google Trucker Jacket Gets a Release Date

The great part of the Jacquard-infused Levi’s Commuter Trucker Jacket is that it has the regular appearance and aspects of a jacket. It was presented as being machine washable, among others, but not before removing the snap tag. Still, hidden inside, it has some very advanced technology which allows its wearers to use the sleeve like they would a regular touchscreen.

Embedded in the smart sleeve is a motion sensor that is threaded into the cuff and connected wirelessly to a phone. The Jacquard technology also alerts the wearer about incoming calls or text messages. If requested, the sleeve of the trucker jacket “reads” the texts aloud to you.

Both Levi’s and Google had already announced, presented and offered details about their smart trucker jacket. However, until earlier this week, none had announced an exact date at which this would go on sale. This all changed this week as both companies released statements which revealed that the smart sleeved-jacket would start being available to everyone beginning Wednesday, September 27.

Starting next week, it will become available online and in select Levi’s stores across the United States.

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Mods often improve our favorite games, and make our experience way more enjoyable than it already is. The same thing happened with last week’s mod for Super Mario 64, which allowed players to enter in online multiplayer campaigns with 23 other people. However, Nintendo found out quickly about it, and didn’t allow it to go on.

Nintendo doesn’t agree with an online version of Super Mario 64

Modder Kaze Emanuar, together with quite a numerous team, had created this feature for Super Mario 64 to let more people enjoy the game together. However, it only worked as a plugin, so it required players to already own a copy of the game to benefit from the mod. Even so, as soon as Nintendo found out about this, it decided to use copyright against this online version.

As a result, the company issued some copyright notices and, soon after that, all the videos which promoted this plugin were taken down. These videos were not the only target of the publisher, and not the only ones to go offline. Emanuar’s Patreon account was also disabled.

The plugin is still online

However, something interesting happened. The promoting means might have disappeared from the internet, but the plugin is still there. These additional features for Super Mario 64 came in a .exe format, and Nintendo doesn’t own any rights on such a format. Therefore, if you’re interested in playing Super Mario 64 with all your friends, you can still find the mod online.

Regarding Emanuar’s account, it was taken down after Nintendo sent two copyright-related complaints directly to Patreon. However, he hadn’t received any donations, since the mod was created as an online project. Nintendo’s problem seems to be with putting Super Mario 64 online, as the company took immediate action as soon as any promoting video was posted.
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Although our browsing experience has overall improved, there are still some intruding elements which disturb it. Among them, there are those autoplay videos which suddenly appear on the page, and won’t disappear even if you are trying to scroll them away. Google knows how frustrating this can be, and decided to help users have a better control over these videos.

Autoplay can be bothering, but Google thought about it

Autoplay might be bothering from many people, especially if they are not interested in what is displayed in the video. Sometimes, they may present something you don’t want to see, but probably the most bothering thing about them is the audio. Sometimes, these videos might take you by surprise, and you have to see where the sound comes from before closing the tab.

Google knows users dislike these autoplay videos, and wanted to find at least a partial solution to the problem. Therefore, to improve the Chrome browsing experience, it decided to allow users a better control of the sound in these videos. Starting at the beginning of next year, Chrome will play such videos only if they have no sound, or if the user chose to see them.

The changes come on the new Chrome version

Therefore, these changes will be implemented with the new version of the browser, Chrome 64, in January 2018. This way, autoplay videos will no longer be intrusive, and will respect the browsing experience of the user. If he is interested in what’s playing, he can activate the sound any time and, if he’s not, he can continue what he was doing uninterrupted.

Apart from improving the user experience, this change will make the desktop and mobile browsing more uniform. This way, people will know what to expect even if they are using a PC or a portable device. Also, in case they are bothered by all kinds of sounds, Chrome 64 will let them disable all audio for certain pages or tabs.
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One of the founders of WhatsApp announced he would leave the company, which is now Facebook-owned, to start a non-profit organization. Brian Acton started WhatsApp eight years ago, together with the one who’s now CEO, Jan Koum. The man announced his departure via a Facebook post.

Acton wants to start a non-profit organization

On September 12^th, Acton wrote a long post on Facebook, where he announced everybody he would leave the company he founded eight years ago. The 45-year-old man wants a fresh start in his life, which no longer implies collaborating with WhatsApp. This new chapter he is about to start implies founding a non-profit organization which should deal with communication and tech.

He claims he has been pondering this decision for a few months. Now, he has finally decided he wants to start this foundation and move on. It’s not clear, however, how he is going to materialize his intentions. However, he promised to reveal more in the coming months. In the meantime, he will continue his collaboration with WhatsApp until November.

WhatsApp has grown a lot over the past years

Acton studied at Stanford and worked at different companies, such as Apple and Yahoo. While working at the latter, he met Koum, who was an Ukrainian immigrant. Together, they decided to leave the company in 2007 and, in 2009, they started their own company, WhatsApp.

Since then, the messaging service has become one of the most popular in the world. It managed to gather a number of 1.3 billion users, and more than a billion of them are active every day. In some countries, it’s not as popular as in others, or maybe it’s not used at all. However, it has recently grown in India, Russia, Brazil, or Mexico.

Acton admitted it wasn’t easy to make such a decision. He is incredibly proud of what the company has achieved, and is happy to see more and more people have started using it.
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Researchers made an alarming discovery regarding smart home assistants. It seems these devices are not so foolproof, as they found a way to control them without the knowledge of the owners. By using sounds imperceptible to the human ear, they can easily take commands and put the security of the owners at risk.

Smart home assistants can be easily hijacked

This technique can be used by hackers anytime to make smart home assistants download a harmful software. In other cases, this could turn out even more serious, as these assistants often control locks or other security devices. The assistants affected by this vulnerability include Siri, Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, as well as similar equipment from Huawei and Samsung.

The discovery was made by researchers from Zhejiang University in China. They took typical voice commands given to smart home assistants, and then converted them to ultrasonic frequencies. These cannot be heard by humans, but the devices can pick them up.

Using this method, they managed to take over iPhones and MacBooks with Siri, PCs with Cortana on Windows 10, Amazon speakers, or new models of Samsung Galaxy with Bixby. They managed to make these devices open malicious links or execute other commands.

This poses a huge security issue

The problem lies both in their hardware and in their software. These devices shouldn’t be able to pick up such sounds. Also, the software they operate on should tell when the command comes from a human, and listen only to them.

Usually, a smart home assistant can perform an action only if the command comes from several inches away. However, researchers managed to get hold of them even from a distance of a few feet. This poses a lot of security risks, and should act as a warning for manufacturers to refine their devices, and make them more secure.
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A professional eSports team has just acquired a skillful new Overwatch player. The player is only 17, but is the most valuable acquisition the team could have just ahead of the Overwatch League. Although he is so young, his skills are remarkable, so he was offered a contract of $15,000. The young man is already paving his way for a career in eSports.

The young Sinatraa was a desired player

NRG Esports, a professional team of players getting ready for the Overwatch League, has just signed a contract with a valuable new player. Jay Won, also known as Sinatraa, will receive $100,000 more than a regular player in the Overwatch League, although he’s only 17. Also, players can earn special bonuses as they play in the League.

Only during the first season, bonuses can go up to $3.5 million for a team. Therefore, the young player has all the chances to earn much more than the contract offered him. This will happen, of course, if he keeps playing great matches. However, we shouldn’t worry for him, as two teams had to fight to offer him a bid.

The other team who wanted Sinatraa was Cloud9. This acerb competition led to the contractual offer to be so high, as NRG Esports couldn’t afford losing the young skilled player. In the end, he and his mother, who signed the contract, decided for the latter team.

What is the Overwatch League?

The first season of the Overwatch League will contain nine teams competing against each other. However, more teams can register until October 30^th, so more might soon join the competition. Each team will host 12 players, and each of them will undergo thorough training before the tournament starts.

For the Overwatch League to exist, teams had to pay a fee of $20 million. Fortunately, there are plenty of professional eSports team who could afford to raise this amount of money. These teams include New York Mets, Sacramento Kings, Miami Heat, and New England Patriots.
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Last year, Sony surprised us with what most people regarded as the best headphones on the market which featured noise cancellation – MDR-1000X. However, the company wanted to take this technology even further, and will debut three new models during the IFA conference.

One of the new models is the successor of the aforementioned headphones, MDR-1000XM2. If you are familiar with the last year’s model, the new version features most of those already present in MDR-1000X. Apart from customizable noise cancellation, they also feature ambient sound mode and touch control.

Sony has brought improvements since last year

However, since the model is new, they also need to feature some novelties. The improvements are quite exciting, allowing you to enjoy their greatness on and on. Sony has enhanced their battery life, so you can use them for 30 hours without charging, even if you have noise cancellation and Bluetooth turned on.

This is an improvement of about 10 hours from the previous model. Also, in case you’re in a hurry, Sony introduced a Quick Charge mode. This means that you can keep them charging for only 10 minutes, and you get around an hour of battery life. If this has captured your attention, you won’t have to wait long until you can buy the headphones. They will be available this month for $350.

There is an in-ear variant as well

Noise cancellation is not an exclusive for over-ear headphones. Sony will also release the in-ear counterpart, WI-1000X. These will feature the behind-the-neck style, and will be available for $250. They will offer you over 10 hours of music while using both Bluetooth and noise cancellation. Also, they can alert you any time you get a call, and handle any kind of high-resolution audio.

Both variants come with a companion app, Sony Headphones Connect App. This will offer many other advantages, by improving the quality of the sound and allowing to customize everything you hear. In less than a month, you can enjoy any variant you like, and plunge into the special universe they create.
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