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The rise of the ubiquitous voice assistant

Mar29
by on March 29, 2019 at 4:02 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, syndication


Apple, Amazon, and Google have done a great job educating users that voice is here! Voice recognition has been getting better over the years but, finally, over the last few years, is good enough to be viable in various environments. Baidu, Google and Microsoft have taken great strides towards making AI-based speech detection and language translation better than humans. The copious amounts of user data required to train the algorithms are available to these platforms and they are getting better every day. Voice is here. It’s easier.  It’s faster. It’s better. It’s more natural. Voice is the next paradigm for search Amazon…

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NPR’s Invisibilia podcast deals with the invisible forces that shape who we are

Mar29
by on March 29, 2019 at 3:35 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, TNW Answers


Earlier this month, Invisibilia celebrated its fifth birthday. As one of NPR‘s most popular podcasts, it deals with the invisible forces behind why we do what we do, think what we think, feel how we feel, and believe what we believe. And despite tackling serious topics — its newest season promises to be an “emotional survival guide,” and its first episode focuses on pain — the tone remains light, as its two hosts, Alix Spiegel and Hanna Rosin, share their genuine fascination with the brain and its workings. Past episodes have answered questions like: Do you need eyes to see? Can pain cure…

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Women are often pushed out of STEM mid-career — here’s how we fix it

Mar29
by on March 29, 2019 at 3:16 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, syndication


Reports continue to show that mid to senior career women leave technology fields in high numbers.  They often leave not only their job, their career, but also the entire industry. Many factors, including lack of career growth, lack of recognition and poor management are often topics high on the list.  From bias and culture within an organization, many organizations are initiating changes, but these can take time. However, these studies have also shown that there are many things that we can do to support the goal of sustaining women in technology. Getting data First, we need to get the data…

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24-years of worldwide phone sales, mesmerizingly visualized

Mar29
by on March 29, 2019 at 3:05 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Plugged


Bar chart races are all the rage these days, and we couldn’t miss the chance to get involved over here at Plugged. So, uh, we did. In our lovely chart, we mesmerizingly visualized what company sold the most phones per year from 1993 all the way through to 2017. Why? Because it’s interesting as hell. Check it out: Cool! Where did you get this data from? Most of it we pulled from the very helpful Wikipedia page, “List of best-selling mobile phones.” God bless that glorious website. The rest (including BlackBerry) we pulled manually. And we did it for you. With…

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Here’s why Cuba has painfully slow Internet – and what Google’s doing to fix it

Mar29
by on March 29, 2019 at 3:00 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, world


Yesterday, Google announced it’s teaming up with Cuba’s telecommunications monopoly, ETECSA, in order to bring faster Internet access to the island. The news is no doubt a relief for Cuba’s citizenry, who have to endure high Internet costs and excruciatingly slow speeds. These factors combine to give Cuba one of the lowest Internet penetration rates in the Western hemisphere. But why is a middle-income country, situated within spitting distance of the United States, a digital dead-zone? The answer is actually fairly interesting and involves a number of factors. Dude, where’s my cables? There’s a massive network of undersea fiber optic…

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