Health care, and how far companies should go to insure their employees, has always been a touchy subject. Now, two technological giants are addressing an even more controversial health issue.
Facebook and Apple is offering women the opportunity for freezing their eggs. They will be the first corporations in US history to cover egg freezing for non-medical reasons. Facebook has already started the process. Apple will start covering egg freezing in January 2015. Here’s how egg freezing works: A woman donates her egg to a fertility clinic and has them frozen. When the motherhood clock starts ticking, she can go back and retrieve them. While this is no guarantee for a future baby, success rates are getting better. This procedure isn’t cheap. It can run someone $10,000 just for one procedure, plus an annual storage fee that can easily run $500. But starting in January 2015, Apple and Facebook will cover as much as $20,000 for egg freezing.
Now why would Facebook and Apple would invest in such a cause? It’s no secret by now Silicon Valley has been working around the clock to recruit women in technology fields. They know the statistics and things aren’t what they used to be. Several times as more women are having children later than they did back in the 1970s. Some say this will encourage women to stay with the same company longer, boosting loyalty cred, cutting down on hiring and recruiting cost, and stopping the ‘revolving door’ effect, when many employees are here today and gone tomorrow. Others say this will give women employees years to build up their career and advance in the company. But critics say that there’s no guarantee egg freezing will produce a child in the future. Some critics say women would compromise their souls to these companies. For instance, if she resigns, quits, or gets laid-off or fired in the future, will that company hold her frozen eggs for random or hostage? Where do you stand on this issue?
You remember Edward Snowden? He’s the one who turned virtually turned the federal government and technological world upside down by revealing the NSA (National Security Agency) is spying on people’s computers, smartphones and social media accounts. Now comes Edward Snowden’s documentary.
Submitted for your approval is the documentary called Citizenfour. Launched by Laura Poitras, the documentary hints Snowden was higher in the US intelligent game than most gave him credit for and had rare access to minute-by-minute information on government surveillance. It talks about his current residence in Russia, his relationship with his girlfriend (she moved to Russia to be with Edward), and the reality of being in a foreign nation. Despite Snowden being in Russia, he still has to look over his shoulder. Sometimes, he’ll get a hand written notice warning him that he might be bugged or followed. The movie will be released October 24. It was pre-screened at a film festival in New York City and got some good buzz. In an interview with the New Yorker, Snowden talked about the documentary. He talks about missing his life here in the US and the people he left behind. He also working on a foundation to protect journalist in violently high risk areas.
The question is how many movie theaters will host this documentary? Because of who this is, and because of the controversy surrounding him, many movie theaters may pass on even hosting this documentary. Something tells me this will be heavily restricted to independent theaters. But what about the consumer? I think there will be quite a bit of support for this documentary. In 2013, Snowden was voted second only to Pope Francis in Time’s Person of the Year poll. I doubt the fascination with Snowden has slid that much in the last ten months. How does one live in Russia under his circumstance? Would you see Edward Snowden’s Documentary?
Medicine and medical information has come a long way in the past few decades. If you felt you had a symptom, you either called a doctor, or even 911. You’d maybe make a doctor’s appointment or even check yourself in the emergency room.? Now you can look it up online. Google is taking notice.
Google is now working on a Helpouts-style feature where people can chat with doctors online about their symptoms. In these chatrooms and through video chats, people can learn about their symptoms, and maybe even get a proper diagnosis. For example, say that you have back pain. Under this system, you would type in back pain. You could click talk to a doctor now, where you can chat with a doctor online about your symptoms. Below that, there are other illnesses and conditions the patient might have. During the trial phase, Google will cover the cost of these chats. It’s not known how long this trial period will last, or even if this helpout-style feature will even get off the ground at all. But I can imagine this service won’t be free for long. Then comes the debate of how and who will pay for it. Will this be out of the patient’s pocket or can insurance take care of it? At least it would be cheaper and easier than going to a local doctor or emergency room.
But even today, well, especially today, you can feel sick, look up a symptom and still get a bad diagnosis. This can be true even if you look at a respectable medical website. Don’t even get me started on these fly-by-night whack job websites. So maybe getting a real doctor to talk to is a good thing. In order for this Google experiment to work, you need to check, double check and triple check these doctors’ credentials as well as their personal character. If they don’t, they will be no better than the questionable websites. What do you think of this Google, MD experiment?
Let’s go to the facial recognition comedy club. It’s not the name of a sketch or local play. It’s not a science fiction movie plot. This isn’t even about a celebrity getting recognized. The truth is far more bizarre.
In Barcelona, Spain, there is a comedy club called Teatreneu. Unlike most entertainment venues, you don’t pay up front. You pay by how much you laugh. It’s .30 Euros (that’s about 38 cents in US) per laugh with an 18 Euro maximum (about 23 dollars in US). How do they measure the laughs? They do so by facial recognition. There are tablets installed to every seat and each tablet is equipped with software that monitors facial expression. If you laugh, the tablet picks it up and charges the consumer per laugh. You would think this would creep many out. On the contrary. Facial recognition has driven attendance up and revenue has risen 6 Euros per customer. It’s so popular that it’s being popular through other parts of Spain, and maybe even other parts of Europe. One London, England comedy club owner joked she wouldn’t mind having such a system, so long as the faces being recognized aren’t leaked to the NSA.
That joke is so funny because there’s a lot of truth to it. In airports, there are using facial recognition to determine if you even make your flight or are considered a terrorist risk. It’s also been a key factor in the technology vs. privacy debate. So while this does sound cool and convenient on the surface, there is some concern here. What if facial recognition technology is used to abuse others of their civil liberties? I’m not saying they will, but can we guarantee, that major corporations and governments won’t? Can we really trust the entities of the world to do the right thing when it comes to facial recognition?
When will it ever end? First there was TJ Max and Marshalls, then Target, then Neiman Marcus, then Home Deport. Now, Kmart has been hack attacked.
Yesterday, Kmart’s parent company Sears released information to the public claiming between September and early October 2014, Kmart’s payment system was compromised. The source was a strengthened malware that couldn’t be detected or beaten by Kmart’s antivirus system. The malware was removed, but a little too late. Debit and credit card numbers were already hit. We don’t know how many cards were affected or the specific malware used. Nor do we know who the hackers are.? Those who shopped Kmart online aren’t affected. Social security numbers, pin numbers, email addresses and other personal information wasn’t targeted. It’s just credit and debit card numbers of those who shopped Kmart between September and early October 2014 that were targeted.
This is the worst time this can happen to Kmart. This discount department store chain, which has been part of the American fabric for decades, will be closing down many stores and costing many jobs. So it’s time to call your credit and debit card company, again. It’s something I suggest we do regularly. Check your bank account often; don’t wait for potential chaos to strike.? I say we should even use cash when we can. I don’t see this hacking trend going away any time soon. Then again, I hope I’m wrong. When will it ever end?
