A Brazilian judge ordered WhatsApp chat services blocked for 72 hours. For three days, Brazilians were forbidden to send or receive messages through this app. Those who disobey are fined up to $142,000 a day. And you think that speeding ticket you got is bad. But WhatsApp is the most popular method of communication in the country. More than half of Brazil’s population use WhatsApp on a regular basis. The ruling judge uses this as retaliation for WhatsApp, and it’s owner Facebook’s, failure to comply with judicial orders in a drug-trafficking case. But encryption is also a major factor. A Facebook representative commented on this case: “The way that information is encrypted from one cellphone to another, there is no information stored that could be handed over to authorities.? ?Technology companies offer their users ‘end-to-end’ encryption, very popular since the Edward Snowden revelations of 2013. This means the technology companies can’t access the information the consumers are delivering. This means governments can’t access it either. This just breeds conflict between legal systems and technology companies worldwide.
So basically, what the Brazilian government is doing is taking this one case out on over 100 million people. “So you’re not going to do what I want, Facebook? I’ll just take it out on our own people!” That’s the message they’re sending. ?This case and the Apple vs FBI case shows us the struggle of governments against tech companies is far from over. Brazil is enduring a lot of trials form environmental to political crises. And they have to host the 2016 Olympic games this summer. Does Brazil really want to play this game now? Don’t they have enough to clean up in such a short time?
Texting and/or using a smartphone while driving has become one of the biggest road hazards today. It’s the drunk driving of the 2010s. Did you know that nearly 40% of highway accidents in the US are caused by drivers with a phone in their hand? That number is even higher than those who drink and drive.
Thankfully, 2010s technology can prevent such calamities. If you have an Apple or Android based mobile phone, in which the vast majority of Americans do, you can have Siri read text messages for you. Just ask Siri to read your messages. And she will. Siri will give you a chance to reply. You say the reply and the voice messenger will send that reply to your intended target. It doesn’t matter if it’s one or ten texts, just say, “read my texts” and they will be read. Android based phones have an app called ReadItToMe, which users can download for free. It may cost you a little time and effort. But I’d rather take a little time downloading these apps than let distracted driving get me in trouble with my insurance company, get me in trouble with the law, or something even far worse. Did you know texting and driving is illegal on some level in most US states?
So take advantage of Siri and ReadItToMe. Get these apps for your teen drivers. Teach them how to use them. Set good habits and lead by example. Did you know over a third of teenagers admitted to texting while driving in the last 30 days? Maybe that’s because over a fourth of adults admitted to distracted driving in the last 30 days. We’ve got to do better. I‘m thankful there are tools out there to help us do better. What other tools or tactics can we do to curb the epidemic of distracted driving?
Your Uber pulls up. The driver waits for you to grab your pocketbook. Oops…you forgot your ID. Oops…you forgot your gift. Oops…your friend is taking his/her sweet time coming out. You kept the driver waiting over five minutes. You might want to stop that.
Uber is testing a new pay system. This system will have drivers charge you extra if you make them wait more than two minutes after the driver pulls up. But wait…there’s more! This new tests include a two minute cancellation limit. Let’s say you change your mind, change your plans, or a friend volunteers to pick you up. Under this new system, if you don’t cancel within two minutes, you’ll be charged with a fee. Until then, you still have five minutes to cancel before you get slapped with this fee. We don’t know how much these fees will be. We don’t even know when, or if, these changes will go into effect. The only cities that are testing this is greater New York City/Northern New Jersey, Dallas, and Phoenix.
From the company and drivers point of view, I can see some logic behind this. For the driver to take five, six, eight, ten minutes waiting for the passenger, that’s taking time and money from the driver. But two minutes is a bit much. It can take two minutes to load items in the trunk, if that’s what needed. Is Uber going to charge a fee for that? The two minute cancellation rule is also a bit much. I can understand charging someone who no-shows without letting the driver at all. That’s cost the driver time and money, and tangles up passengers after you. But anything could happen in two minutes. So if you’re in New York, New Jersey, Dallas and Phoenix, take heed. If not, just hope these new fees don’t come to you. Are these new fees really about the improved well being of drivers and passengers? Or are they just schemes to fatten the pockets of Uber CEOs and other top Uber leaders?
Apple and China have what I call a strange relationship. Some Apple‘s services are being censored by the government. Yet, Apple gives China many jobs, like iPhone factories. A Yahoo blogger visited and reported on many such a factory.
The report and the pictures are pretty alarming. The pictures were taken at a secretive iPhone factory that has around 50,000 workers. The factory is in Shanghai and the factory is the size of 90 football fields. This facility creates Apple products that are shipped and sold around the world. Their rigorous routine starts even before checking in. Forget punching a clock or answering a roll call: These employees enter the facility using facial recognition checks. Then after they walk through the doors, their IDs are scanned by an iPad. Metal detectors and other spy equipment are used to spy and catch anyone trying to spill potential secrets of the plant. Every worker is subjected to a uniform that consists of blue hats, pink jackets and black pants. They stand at attention like they’re in the military. A supervisor checks their name off a list. Employees head to their production line in single file. When this blogger was admitted inside to take pictures, it was the first time a Western journalist was allowed in the facility.
I don’t know how long their hours are, or how low their pay is, but I’m guessing this iPhone factory gig isn’t a dream job. ?There have been accusations of abuse and exploitation, though nothing can be proven. But of course the Chinese gov’t run media isn’t going to report on anything like this. If this is such a happy factory, then why do they have safety nets to prevent suicide attempts? According to statistics, only 30% of Americans like their job. Learning about this, I’ve developed a new appreciation for mine. I don’t have to endure facial recognition tests, metal detectors and background checks day after day. Don’t you appreciate your job more? Does it make you think where your iPhone came from?
How many of you can remember the 1968 election? How many remember how volatile that was? There were two political assassinations, first Dr. King, then Senator Robert Kennedy. There was the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago that ended in riots. There was George Wallace, then a die hard segregationist who won half the South.
Today, we are in the smartphone era and the 2016 election is shaping to be almost as volatile. In July, the Republican National Convention will take place in Cleveland, probably with no clear-cut nominee. Nearly 20,000 will attend, including delegates. Most will be blogging, texting, Facebook(ing), tweeting, and You Tube(ing) their experience. A Trump campaign member says they will use their own tech hardware for communication rather than Quicken Loans Arena’s WiFi. Ted Cruz’s team works on an app to see where each delegate might be swayed. Expect FireChat to be used. That’s an app that doesn’t even need the Internet. It uses Bluetooth and peer WiFi connections. Organizers can even track delegates by putting RFID technologies in their badges. Candidates can ask delegates to download an app specifically for the convention. These are small trackers that can be bought and sold for $20. There’s also talk of an online check-in. We don’t know how many, or if any, Trump, Cruz or Kasich have supported.
Are you aware that by July’s convention, none of these candidates may have the 1,237 delegates they need to get the nominee. Then what? The last time the Republicans had to deal with that was in 1952. Obviously, this is a totally different world than it was in 1952. A lot more is at stake. Allegations of corruption and wrongdoing are everywhere. ?I think it’s disturbing enough they want to use RFID technology to track people’s every move, even in the bathroom. It makes me wonder, “What are they doing with the RFID chips in our cards”? I hate to say it, but tensions are so high within and between the political parties that I wouldn’t be surprised if rioting broke out, just like it did in 1968, probably even worse. And smartphone technology would cover it all. Do they have an app to help keep the peace? Will they come up with that?
The majority of us have smartphones by now. We seem to have a fascination with robots. But unlike the 1980s, these robots could cost us our jobs. How would you like a robot smartphone?
You can have one, thanks to a Japanese company called Sharp. This robot is called RoBoHon. It’s the first smartphone that dances; we’re talking about a robot here. Sharp is taking pre-orders. RoBoHon made his debut at Tokyo’s International Robot Exhibition last December. This robot/smartphone is 7.6 inches tall, runs Android 5.0 Lollipop, and powered on 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400, and has 2GB of RAM. ReBoHon has 16 GB of storage and 1,700 milliamp-hour battery. RoBoHon carries an 8-megapixel camera and responds to voice commands. One of the creators thought this was necessary; they thought this is more natural. People are talking into their square smartphones all the time, thanks to Siri and other voice based mobile technology. But with this robot smartphone, you actually think you’re talking to a person, at least the phone seems more like a person. What’s not natural is the cost. RoBoHon is available through pre-orders, but it won’t be cheap. RoBoHon will cost you around $1,800.
Well, this is one of the first, if not, the first robot smartphone. We shouldn’t be surprised Japan gave us RoBoHon. This is the nation that gave us an all robot run hotel. This is the nation that gave us the robot swinger partner. That’s about as PG rated as I can put it; read this link if you want to know more?It’s pretty creepy stuff, huh???Thank goodness the RoBoHon is more innocent. It can dance and speak to you. Yes, it does have an innocence to it, but I’d still hide it from kids. They may think it’s a toy, but what if they break it? Do you have $1,800 to get a new one? Even if I did, I wouldn’t pay that much for this robot smartphone. How much would you pay for a RoBoHon?
