Tag: communication
Royal Mail and Communication Workers Union reach agreement on pay
Researchers built sonar glasses that track facial movements for silent communication
A Cornell University researcher has developed sonar glasses that “hear” you without speaking. The eyeglass attachment uses tiny microphones and speakers to read the words you mouth as you silently command it to pause or skip a music track, enter a passcode without touching your phone or work on CAD models without a keyboard.
Cornell Ph.D. student Ruidong Zhang developed the system, which builds off a similar project the team created using a wireless earbud — and models before that which relied on cameras. The glasses form factor removes the need to face a camera or put something in your ear. “Most technology in silent-speech recognition is limited to a select set of predetermined commands and requires the user to face or wear a camera, which is neither practical nor feasible,” said Cheng Zhang, Cornell assistant professor of information science. “We’re moving sonar onto the body.”
The researchers say the system only requires a few minutes of training data (for example, reading a series of numbers) to learn a user’s speech patterns. Then, once it’s ready to work, it sends and receives sound waves across your face, sensing mouth movements while using a deep learning algorithm to analyze echo profiles in real time “with about 95 percent accuracy.”
The system does this while offloading data processing (wirelessly) to your smartphone, allowing the accessory to remain small and unobtrusive. The current version offers around 10 hours of battery life for acoustic sensing. Additionally, no data leaves your phone, eliminating privacy concerns. “We’re very excited about this system because it really pushes the field forward on performance and privacy,” said Cheng Zhang. “It’s small, low-power and privacy-sensitive, which are all important features for deploying new, wearable technologies in the real world.”
Privacy also comes into play when looking at potential real-world uses. For example, Ruidong Zhang suggests using it to control music playback controls (hands- and eyes-free) in a quiet library or dictating a message at a loud concert where standard options would fail. Perhaps its most exciting prospect is people with some types of speech disabilities using it to silently feed dialogue into a voice synthesizer, which would then speak the words aloud.
If things go as planned, you can get your hands on one someday. The team at Cornell’s Smart Computer Interfaces for Future Interactions (SciFi) Lab is exploring commercializing the tech using a Cornell funding program. They’re also looking into smart-glasses applications to track facial, eye and upper body movements. “We think glass will be an important personal computing platform to understand human activities in everyday settings,” said Cheng Zhang.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/researchers-built-sonar-glasses-that-track-facial-movements-for-silent-communication-171508573.html?src=rss
Lockheed Martin and Nokia are bringing Earth communication devices to the Moon
While NASA is about to reveal the astronaut crew that will return to the Moon aboard the Artemis 2 mission, private companies are already aligning behind the US space agency to turn Earth’s only natural satellite into a new business frontier. Reliable communication is the number one requirement for future…
Apple’s Communication Safety Feature for Children Expanding to 6 New Countries
Communication Safety is an opt-in feature in the Messages app across Apple’s platforms that is designed to warn children when receiving or sending photos that contain nudity. In the coming weeks, it will be expanding to the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Japan, South Korea, and Brazil.
The news was shared by Apple in a briefing with news outlets in the relevant countries and was reported by Dutch site iCulture [Google Translate].
The Communication Safety feature initially launched only in the United States in late 2021 before expanding to the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand a few months later. Within the past few months it has expanded further to France, Germany, Italy, and Spain.
When the feature is enabled, photos containing nudity are blurred and the child will be warned, presented with helpful resources, and given the option to message someone they trust for help if they choose, according to Apple. Scanning of photos takes place entirely on-device with Apple not gaining access to the messages, which remain end-to-end encrypted. No notifications are automatically sent to parents or others.
Communication Safety is one aspect of Apple’s efforts to help protect children online. In December, Apple abandoned previously announced plans to detect known Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) stored in iCloud Photos after criticism from a wide range of parties including security researchers, policy groups, and politicians over issues such as the potential for false positives or the creation of “backdoors” that could let governments or law enforcement agencies surveil users by scanning for other types of photos.
This article, “Apple’s Communication Safety Feature for Children Expanding to 6 New Countries” first appeared on MacRumors.com
6 in 10 Consumers Receive No Business Communication From WhatsApp
Almost six in ten consumers have never received communication from a business via WhatsApp – highlighting a huge opportunity for…
The post 6 in 10 Consumers Receive No Business Communication From WhatsApp appeared first on TechRound.
6 in 10 Consumers Receive No Business Communication From WhatsApp
Almost six in ten consumers have never received communication from a business via WhatsApp – highlighting a huge opportunity for…
The post 6 in 10 Consumers Receive No Business Communication From WhatsApp appeared first on TechRound.
Apple Expanding iPhone’s Communication Safety Feature to More Countries
Communication Safety is an opt-in feature in the Messages app on the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch that is designed to warn children when receiving or sending photos that contain nudity. In its press release today, Apple indicated that it is expanding the feature to more regions around the world in partnership with local experts. In recent months, Communication Safety became available in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, after launching earlier in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia, and New Zealand.
When the feature is enabled, photos containing nudity are blurred and the child will be warned, presented with helpful resources, and given the option to message someone they trust for help if they choose, according to Apple.
On its Child Safety page, Apple assures that Communication Safety is private and secure:
Messages analyzes image attachments and determines if a photo contains nudity, while maintaining the end-to-end encryption of the messages. The feature is designed so that no indication of the detection of nudity ever leaves the device. Apple does not get access to the messages, and no notifications are sent to the parent or anyone else.
In December, Apple announced that it abandoned its controversial plans to detect known Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) stored in iCloud Photos. Communication Safety is unrelated to those former plans and is on-device only, according to Apple.
This article, “Apple Expanding iPhone’s Communication Safety Feature to More Countries” first appeared on MacRumors.com
Electronic communication: With great advantages come great risk
Warzone 2 fixes pile in as Call of Duty devs improve communication
With the battle royale game genre feeling so crowded, Warzone 2 has been finding it somewhat challenging to fit in despite being so popular, as many players continue to highlight the plethora of issues faced by the shooter. That said, recent developments and promised improvements with Warzone 2’s meta and a series of updates appear to be turning many players around, as Infinity Ward and Raven Software take a lot of action to improve the game and listen to player feedback.
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