The Low-Down: 2019-01-20

Jan 26, 2019

What Are the Rules For Using Facial Recognition To Convict In Court?

At the moment, in most cases, prosecutors do not even have to reveal that facial recognition technology is being used, let alone permit questions about the quality of the algorithms behind it, the fact that computers, not humans are making determinations about alleged matches between suspects and photos as well as the record of the technology's accuracy.

As the public becomes more aware of the technology's use, its frailty and mistakes, this is almost certain to change. JL

Aaron Mak reports in Slate:

Photos of other FACES matches aren’t the only potentially exculpatory evidence. Algorithm quality, confidence thresholds, and the format for returning matches can all affect the accuracy of the technology. Given those known issues, police should be required to disclose the very use of facial recognition software. Willie Allen Lynch, who was convicted in 2016 for selling crack, had no right to view photos of other suspects identified by the facial recognition search that led to his arrest.

How America's most influential and successful entrepreneurs have invested since they sold PayPal to eBay in 2002.

Pictured: a (very) young Peter Thiel and Elon Musk.JL

Michael Coren reports in Quartz:

Silicon Valley’s network is its most important currency. Few are as influential, as the PayPal Mafia. This all-male cohort of 20 founders and early investors in PayPal, which eventually sold to eBay for $1.5 billion in 2002—have gone on to become some of the Valley’s most prolific investors. Among them are Elon Musk, who founded Tesla and SpaceX, and Reid Hoffman, who co-founded LinkedIn.

Almost everything consumers now purchase is being recorded, measured and analyzed.

The question is whether any of the value being created by these transactions benefits only merchants or whether shoppers receive advantages, as well. Because the answer may determine to what degree this system will continue to grow without regulation. JL

Sidney Fussell reports in The Atlantic:

Demographic information is key to retail shopping. Retailers want to know what people are buying, segmenting shoppers by gender, age, and income and then targeting them. “Cooler Screens” do not use facial recognition. Shoppers aren’t identified. Cameras analyze faces to make inferences about shoppers’ age and gender. The camera takes their picture, which an AI system will analyze. The system can estimate if the person is a woman in her early 20s or a male in his late 50s, making note only of what shoppers picked up and basic information on their age and gender.

The strategic question for merchants and other shippers is whether the cost saving Amazon is offering is worth giving that company yet another source of dominance over sales and marketing while Amazon will eventually use that position to raise its rates anyway. JL

Paul Ziobro reports in the Wall Street Journal:

Amazon is trying to poach shippers from FedEx and United Parcel Service by targeting fuel surcharges and extra fees that drive up the cost of home deliveries. The residential surcharge at FedEx is $3.80 per parcel and $3.95 at UPS. That can equal 40% of the average ground-delivery charge. The two carriers also impose fuel surcharges which, for a domestic ground delivery is 6.75% at FedEx and 7% at UPS. Extra fees can amount to 30% of the shipping cost. Amazon’s shipping rates (are) 10% lower than UPS and FedEx.

If Ford believes it can sell an electric version of its most popular model, which is as much a cultural icon as a vehicle, than the times truly are 'a-changin.' JL

Umair Irfan reports in Vox:

Pickup trucks are a cultural shibboleth in the United States — a staple of American farms, construction sites, and country music videos. Ford Motor Company announced it plans to create a battery-powered version of its most popular offering, the F-Series. Ford sold more than 900,000 units of the F-series last year, making it the best-selling model line in the United States. The F-150 in particular stands out, with more than 40 million sold over the last 60 years.

All of the broadcasters, movie and tv producers or other content creators are resentful of Netflix's success.

So their 'solution' is to demand exclusivity for their own reels, forgetting that Netflix's growth was based on the convenience, pricing and one-stop shopping that made the internet a social and financial phenomenon.

It is not clear why Disney and others believe consumers will invest the time and cost to hunt around and pay up for what they want to see, but the rise of piracy as a result seems like a predictable - and preventable - customer response for which big media has only itself to blame. JL

Karl Bode reports in Motherboard:

BitTorrent usage piracy is on the rise. The culprit: an increase in exclusivity deals that force subscribers to hunt and peck among a myriad of streaming services to actually find the content they’re looking for. Every major broadcaster will have launched their own streaming service by 2022.“More sources than ever are producing "exclusive" content available on a single streaming or broadcast service—think Game of Thrones for HBO, House of Cards for Netflix, The Handmaid's Tale for Hulu, or Jack Ryan for Amazon.” The industry could lose this audience back to piracy by making it expensive and cumbersome to access content.

Because social media increasingly feels more like reality than actual reality?

With all that that implies for our civilization. JL

Elle Hunt reports in The Guardian:

People requesting procedures to resemble their digital image (is) referred to as “Snapchat dysmorphia”. Where cosmetic surgery patients once brought in pictures of celebrities with their ideal nose or jaw, they now point to photos of themselves. Filtered images’ “blurring the line of reality and fantasy” could be triggering body dysmorphic disorder, a mental health condition where people become fixated on imagined defects in their appearance. 55% of surgeons said patients’ motivation was to look better in selfies, up from 13% in 2016. Instagram, where 60% of users are aged between 18 and 24 has become a marketplace for cosmetic procedures.

A New Approach To Understanding How Machines Think

The ability to interpret what artificial intelligence, machine learning and neural nets are presenting will influence their utility and impact. New models are being designed to help human researchers accomplish that goal. JL

John Pavlus reports in Quanta:

If your machine-learning model is trained on images, then the concept has to be visually expressible. TCAV lets humans ask an AI if certain concepts matter to it. But what if we don’t know what to ask — what if we want the AI system to explain itself? Interpretability research focuses on building inherently interpretable models that reflect how humans reason. AI models are already being used for important purposes, without having considered interpretability.

Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. Businesses are spying on each other and investors are spying on everyone. But this may eventually help regulators as well. JL

Cade Metz reports in the New York Times:

High-altitude surveillance was once the domain of global superpowers. Now, a growing number of start-ups are turning it into a business, aiming to sell insights gleaned from cameras and other sensors installed on small and inexpensive “cube satellites.” Orbital Insight tracks activity in more than 260,000 retail parking lots across the country, and it monitors the levels of more than 25,000 oil tanks around the world. Advances in artificial intelligence allow machines to analyze this data with greater speed and accuracy.

As China's increasingly uses its trade and legal powers to put foreign companies at a disadvantage in its internal market, the prudent strategy is to consider alternatives.

Jack Welch's statement - "If you dont like your market share, reimagine your market" - applies to global trade considerations. JL

Yang Jie and colleagues report in the Wall Street Journal:

Apple's largest iPhone assembler, Foxconn, is considering producing the devices in India. As difficulties in the China market grow, India is attracting the world’s tech companies, both for its potential as a manufacturing base and for its huge emerging market of 1.3 billion consumers. Manufacturing high-end iPhones in India could help lower prices by allowing Apple to avoid a tariff that adds 20% to devices imported from China. Expanding business in India could also offer Apple an alternative to China, the world’s largest smartphone market.(But) Indian workers aren’t as skilled as Chinese and India’s infrastructure lags behind China’s.

Oops.

Given these realities, the question is if it is now prudent to assume net neutrality will be restored either before or after the next election. JL

Karl Bode reports in Motherboard:

FCC boss Ajit Pai (claimed) killing net neutrality would boost broadband industry investment, spark job creation, and drive broadband into underserved areas. According to analysis this week, capital spending among the nation’s four biggest cable providers is expected to decline 5.8% this year. ATT is prepping another round of layoffs despite netting $20 billion from tax cuts. Verizon this week said it would be cutting 7 % of its media staff—on the heels of a 10,000 employee “voluntary” severance package. ISPs have been letting their networks fall apart in many states, despite millions in taxpayer subsidies

Amazon joining the boards of tech standard setting committees means it wants a say in determining which of those standards are implemented - and how that is done.

This, in addition to the fact that so many smart home devices are bought through Amazon, suggests it is moving strategically to control that industry. JL

Jakob Kastrenakes reports in The Verge:

Amazon now has a say in the development of a commonly used smart home standard, giving the company more power as it continues to push smart speakers, cameras, doorbells, and all other kinds of gadgets into its customers’ homes.Amazon has a seat on the board of the Zigbee Alliance, a wireless protocol for letting gadgets communicate; but unlike Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, Zigbee is good for low-power devices and has the ability to travel longer distances, making it ideal for simple smart gadgets like a light switch.

The crucial skill that distinguishes those data analysts who add value is their ability to provide context, interpretation and meaning so that those using the information provided are able to optimize its impact more quickly and strategically than their competitors.

Lauren Weber reports in the Wall Street Journal:

Many of the good jobs of the future will require being good at using both sides of the brain. Jobs that tap both technical and creative thinking include mobile-app developers and bioinformaticians, and represent some of the fastest-growing and highest-paying occupations. Employers want workers with experience in capabilities as big-data gathering and analytics. Such roles require familiarity with advanced computer programs but also creative minds to make use of the data.

What's Driving the Rise Of A New Generation Of AI Avatars

Anything that increases engagement and helps generate more data is a done deal. JL

Aaron Frank reports in Singularity Hub:

Avatars having complex and interactive conversations with customers will increase the amount of data businesses access. Avatars can know if you were bored or happy in real time and know the moment someone became disengaged. This raises questions around the idea that marketing AIs could intimately know their users,“Our evolutionary history suggests that we want eye contact, we want body language, and we want non-verbal communication like smiles or shoulder shrugs. If you’re Amazon or whoever, and you’re interested in having people engage with your AI, it’s inevitable that it ends up taking a human-like form.”

Who is actually assuring that all those vandalized scooters being returned to service are safe?

You might well ask...JL

Sarah Holder reports in CityLab:

"I’d hopped on various models with broken brakes before, only to swiftly hop off and park safely. I’d heard others complain about sticky accelerators. This sudden motor failure, however, was new." The scooter industry’s approach to safety has seemed more in the “move fast and break things” spirit. The user agreements that all riders must sign are clear about rider risk assumption: Riders must agree that they understand that the activity they’re engaging in is potentially dangerous, and that they’re deciding to play anyway.

Everyone shocked to learn that the combination of Yahoo and AOL has not threatened either Google or Facebook is welcome to bid for the right to revive pets.com...JL

Jon Brodkin reports in ars technica:

Verizon purchased Yahoo for $4.48 billion in June 2017 and bought AOL for $4.4 billion in June 2015. Yahoo and AOL were initially combined into a subsidiary called Oath, which was renamed to Verizon Media this month. Verizon's media division hasn't been able to compete effectively against Google and Facebook in the advertising market. Positive momentum for the media group includes Yahoo Sports' NFL streaming, Yahoo Finance's expanded coverage and visitor growth, and the Yahoo-HuffPost News Network getting 41 million visitors in November.

Fraud in beauty marketing seems relatively harmless to many, but it has the same roots as social, political and other forms of economic misinformation. JL

Simon Owens reports in New York Magazine:

Currently a multi-billion dollar industry, influencer marketing is a neologism to describe a popular online figure paid to promote a product or service within their social media feed.The industry has grown rapidly and is projected to generate as much as $10 billion by 2020. “In 2016 an endorsement from a top-level influencer would cost$5,000 to $10,000. Now, brands are expected to pay over $100,000 for the same placement.” With so much money flooding into an unregulated market, ethical lapses ensue. One influencer justified

misleading her social media followers, “They assume everything is sponsored when it really isn’t.”

And if you really believe that, I have some lovely swampland in Florida to sell you as a climate-change resistant real estate development. JL

Dan Robitski reports in Futurism:

Most workers believe that at least some aspects of their jobs are too complex for the most advanced robots. 80% believe that only a human could perform most or all of their job. (People) from Europe and Central Asia were the most confident that their jobs require a human touch. 30% of participants from South Asia felt entirely replaceable by existing technology. Another 19% said that most of their job responsibilities could be automated.

Bitcoin appears to have been the bubble many predicted. Blockchain's benefits are uncertain. Virtual reality has disappointed. AI and machine learning are going to take time.

And from Chinese competition to consumers' and government officials' attitudinal shifts about the benefits of technology to a sense that smartphone saturation and incremental innovation means a slowing of tech growth, tech investors reading these signs are beginning to become more cautious, especially with regard to early stage ventures. JL

Rob Copeland reports in the Wall Street Journal:

Publicly traded technology giants such as Apple (are) down 13% from a high set in August fostering newfound restraint for investors in Silicon Valley, especially for younger, cash-strapped startups. A worrying sign is the shrinking of seed deals, the earliest investments in startups. The number of these deals dropped to 882 in the fourth quarter from1,500 three years earlier. The attitude among technology investors is shifting, “swapping ’fear of missing out’ for ’shame of being suckered.’ ”

AI System Analyzes and Prioritizes XRays By Degree Of Urgency

A matter, literally, of life and death. JL

Kyle Wiggers reports in Venture Beat:

The electromagnetic scans account for 40% of all diagnostic imaging worldwide. In the U.K. alone, there are 330,000 x-rays at any time that have waited more than a month for a report. The system can prioritize x-rays.“There are no systematic, automated ways to triage chest x-rays and bring those with critical findings to the top of the pile.” A computer vision algorithm was trained using labeled images to predict priority from visual information only, not text. When tested, the AI system sort (ed) abnormal x-rays from normal with “high accuracy.” X-rays with “critical” designations received a radiologist opinion in 2.7 days, compared with the current 11.2-day average.

Just like a car or a laptop for your feet, with customization options and adaptation updates, hopefully providing better performance - and all while locking the wearer into Nike's electronic ecosystem. JL

Edgar Alvarez reports in Engadget:

Over the course of a game, a player's foot can expand a half-size, which can have an impact on their performance. You can control its power laces manually via physical buttons on the shoe or an app on your phone. Its lacing system can create 32 pounds of force, allowing it to stay locked in through any range of movement from a player. (It) will support firmware updates and will let players use the app to lock in their preferred settings. The (shoes) last 14 days on a full charge.

Forget bitcoin. Video game virtual currencies are where the big money is being made. JL

Anthony Cuthbertson reports in The Independent:

The online battle royale game has become popular with children and teenagers because it is free to play and available on every major gaming platform. But the money spent within the game to buy outfits, weapons and other items has also made it popular with cybercriminals.Stolen credit card details are being used to purchase V-bucks – the virtual currency used to buy items in the game. By selling V-bucks at a discounted rate to players, the criminals are effectively able to “clean” the money. With more than 200 million players worldwide, the game generated $3bn (£2.3bn) profit in 2018

The threat is not yet wholesale replacement of humans by robots, but reductions in hours and pay while eliminating steady schedules as automation makes service work less like a full time job and more like a part time gig. JL

Sidney Fussell reports in The Atlantic:

Automation may quietly reduce the time, pay, and visibility employees are given as they complete their increasingly vulnerable jobs. Rather than fully replacing human workers with The Jetsons–style robots, the service industry is more likely to adopt a system of partial automation. Simple tasks will be automated so that workers’ hours can be cut, or a two-person job, can be assigned to one person aided by a robot. Such tech-enabled labor reshuffling may appear to “save” time for the businesses that engage in it. But that time is also taken away from workers in the form of hours cut.

When the going gets tough, the tough hire more lobbyists. JL

Reuters reports:

Google disclosed in a quarterly filing that it spent a company-record on lobbying the U.S. government in 2018 as the search engine operator fights wide-ranging scrutiny into its practices. Facebook disclosed that it also spent more on government lobbying in 2018 than it ever had before. U.S. lawmakers and regulators have weighed new privacy and antitrust rules to rein in the power of internet service providers such as Google, Facebook and Amazon. Regulatory backlash in the United States, as well as Europe and Asia, is near the top of the list of concerns for technology investors

In a world increasingly defined by networks and connectivity, trust has a significant impact on financial and operational outcomes.

Frequent public breaches of such trust serve to accentuate the advantage of building and maintaining the economic, social and reputational benefits of being a trusted partner. JL

Greg Satell reports in Digital Tonto:

A recent report from Accenture Strategy found trust “disproportionately impacts revenue and EBITDA.” 54% of firms in the study experienced some kind of trust event, from a careless employee to a data breach. In a networked world, competitive advantage is no longer the sum of all efficiencies, but the sum of all connections. Firms need to manage partners, suppliers, investors and customer relationships and these depend on trust. Strategy must be focused on widening and deepening links to resources outside the firm. To compete effectively you need to build trust throughout a complex ecosystem of stakeholders.

How Human Language Affects What People See

Specificity, quite possibly arising from early human need for threat detection or opportunity such as food gathering, may have survived to guide perception.

The implications for digital marketing and influence are potentially significant. JL

Catherine Caldwell-Harris reports in Scientific American:

Does the language you speak influence how you think? A vocabulary item for a concept influences thought in domains far from language, such as visual perception. Linguistic distinction helps stimuli enter conscious awareness. The least salient targets were missed the most. The contrast between (light blue) and (dark blue) was a stimulus that grabbed the brain's attention centers. If one language has a specific vocabulary item for a concept but another language does not, speaking about the concept may happen more frequently or more easily.

Biometrics, under the law, are ruled to be testimonial as passcodes are and so divulging them cannot be compelled, as it may induce self-incrimination.

This is by no means settled law, but it does suggest that the trend may be moving further towards removing differences between traditional actions and digital ones. JL

Thomas Brewster reports in Forbes:

U.S. judges had ruled that police were allowed to force unlock devices like with fingerprints, faces or irises, despite the fact feds weren’t permitted to force a suspect to divulge a passcode. The government d(oes) not have the right, even with a warrant, to force suspects to incriminate themselves by unlocking their devices with their biological features. Previous courts decided biometrics, unlike passcodes, were not “testimonial.” “If a person cannot be compelled to provide a passcode because it is a testimonial communication, a person cannot be compelled to provide finger, thumb, iris, face, or other biometric feature to unlock that same device.”

Is this really any worse than what Facebook has been doing with such account information all along?

People are monetizing their accounts rather than letting Facebook do it. That's actually kind of liberating. JL

Craig Silverman reports in Buzzfeed:

Shady internet marketers who’ve been banned from advertising on Facebook keep running campaigns on the platform: paying people to “rent” their Facebook accounts. “People who sign up for these programs are effectively ad-mules.” Some ad launderers even send people a free laptop if they sign up. The laptop comes preinstalled with software that enables the launderers to run ads from the user’s Facebook account, along with potentially engaging in other invasive and risky behavior. In spite of the risks, these schemes assure people that it’s not a scam or security risk and does not violate Facebook’s policies, none of which is true.

In addition to methodological questions, the more people who take the tests, the more accurate will be the results - and the more likely those results are going to continue to change. JL

Charlsie Agro and Luke Denne report in CBC:

Marketplace host Charlsie Agro and her twin sister, Carly, bought home kits from Ancestry fDNA, MyHeritage, 23andMe, FamilyTreeDNA and Living DNA, and mailed samples of their DNA to each company for analysis. Despite having virtually identical DNA, the twins did not receive matching results from any of the companies. These tests are not subject to the same standard as diagnostic medical testing. They are more like a "recreational scientific activity." Whatever your ancestry results, don't get too attached to them. They could change.

Lest anyone think the trade war has negatively impacted China's investment in technology dominance - or that Silicon Valley can breathe easier. JL

Bob Davis and Lingling Wei report in the Wall Street Journal:

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Chamber of Commerce in China say Beijing’s ambitious plan to become a global technology leader is being widely implemented. The central government’s Made in China 2025 plan seeks to make China a leader in electric vehicles, aerospace, robotics and other frontiers of manufacturing. In Guangdong, near Hong Kong, local officials have solicited companies to become “backbone” robotics enterprises, create “secure and reliable” next-generation information-technology systems, and establish the region as a Made in China 2025 “demonstration zone.”

The question is control, future leadership, their impact on corporate strategy and performance. JL

James Stewart reports in the New York Times:

The divorce rate in California is 60%, and many of the founders of Silicon Valley companies are only now reaching the age for the midlife crisis. Two-thirds of initial public stock offerings backed by venture capital funds have involved super-shares. The fate of controlling shares in divorce should be of interest to investors. Among 24 chief executives who got divorced between 2009 and 2012, 29% stepped down within two years of the divorce settlement. The announcement that the Bezoses would divorce after 25 years of marriage raised questions about the future of their 16%, $140 billion stake in Amazon.

Robots Can Show How Human Ancestors Learned To Walk

Discerning the ancient meaning of cruise control. JL

Vicki Stein reports in PBS:

The common ancestor shared by all four-legged animals (including humans) may not have been dragging across the ground like a salamander. Rather, these ancient creatures were already well-equipped to cruise across continents like caimans and crocodiles. While some ways of walking might be anatomically impossible, some might just be exhausting and impractical. Some gaits might make the animal less stable, but allow it to move faster on certain terrain. The parameters revealed by computer models could articulate each of the possible walking styles, while measur(ing) the real-world energy cost, balance and similarity to modern animals.

Tech, and smart phones in particular, may be speeding the time in which behaviors formerly considered rude or antisocial are now regarded as normal. JL

Marc Bain reports in Quartz:

What people consider normal behavior appears to be a mix of what’s common and what they see as ideal. The finding suggested a significant consequence:“People might be able to separate out the average from the ideal, but they often use reasoning that blends the two into a single undifferentiated judgment of normality.” Technology owns some of the responsibility for these behaviors, which boil down to how we now communicate.

Couldn't possibly be any worse than some of the humans who drive them now. JL

James Cook reports in The Telegraph:

Uber announced hiring a “micromobility robotics” team to develop scooters and bicycles which could drive themselves to charging points, potentially removing the need for costly contractors paid to collect them. The business said in an online hiring page that it plans to “improve safety, rider experience, and operational efficiency of our shared electric scooters and bicycles through the application of sensing and robotics technologies.”

So much for the financial markets' 'animal spirits.' JL

Dan Egan reports in Betterment:

My budget is inspired by the golfballs and beer method of prioritization. I only budget for the “boulders”—the large and/or recurring items I know about. After that, I spend whatever I want, however I want. I do zero expense categorization/tracking; I have no idea how many coffees I buy. The term margin of safety refers to the fact that for any individual case, I want to know I’ll have “enough” money, not that I’ll necessarily be up when I withdraw. on average I’ll outpace inflation, even if it means an occasional down year. I’d rather a positive expected outcome than a negative one.

More etailers are experimenting with retail locations to build sales and enhance their online offerings. Embracing them in mall developments just makes common sense.

If you cant beat 'em, make money off 'em. JL

Esther Fung and Keiko Morris report in the Wall Street Journal:

A developer can counter the rise of online shopping by offering customers a chance to visit stores run by a range of popular e-retailers, from drink makers to footwear. The mall developers have offered these companies a longer-term presence, with bigger spaces and leases that run for more than a year. Online retailers will open 850 stores between 2019 and 2023, and 41.3% of them will choose New York City for their first permanent store location. After gaining a critical mass of customers online, the cost of getting new customers through physical stores is cheaper than remaining online.

The gig economy workforce may be less desperate and more entrepreneurial than originally believed. But there are financial and operational limits to their commitment. They appear to be attempting to create certainty at a specific income level and with a specific firm so as to reduce complexity and friction.

In other words, the sociology of work suggests that what they yearn for is stability such as that which predominated in the halcyon post WWII period for their grandparents or parents. And that may explain why the full employment economy has created shortages of workers embracing flexibility who prefer clarity.

Smart companies which hope to prevail in the war for talent use this knowledge to create better incentive systems to recruit and retain people with the skills they need. JL

Knowledge@Wharton reports:

We saw a very strong income-targeting effect. When drivers get closer to a certain income, you pay them more and they are less likely to work. If they start working a shift, they work fewer hours: once [they] reach a certain [income] level, financial incentives become weaker. (And) the more they work for a firm, the more likely they are to continue to work for that firm. They are trying to find consistent revenue streams. Inertia creates financial opportunities but also reduces friction that allows firms more models to ensure they have consistent service. Most of the competition now is not for the customer, it is for the employee.

A Reminder That Machine Learning Is About Correlation, Not Causality

The danger of forgetting the difference between the theoretical and the actual. JL

Kalev Leetaru reports in Forbes:

A powerful application of machine learning can be identifying the unexpected patterns underlying phenomena in a dataset or to verify patterns.Where things go wrong is when we reach beyond these correlations towards implying causation.Pattern verification is a powerful way of using machine learning models to confirm that they understand the nuances of the underlying data. (But) they could represent spurious statistical noise. Bias detection is all the more critical as we deploy machine learning systems in applications with real world impact using datasets we understand little about.

A significant intervention in order to provide treatment with a chance of arresting the disease. JL

Dana Smith reports in UCSF:

One of the difficulties with Alzheimer’s disease is that by the time all the clinical symptoms manifest and we can make a definitive diagnosis, too many neurons have died, making it essentially irreversible. Using a common type of brain scan, researchers programmed a machine-learning algorithm to diagnose early-stage Alzheimer’s disease about six years before a clinical diagnosis is made – potentially giving doctors a chance to intervene with treatment.

If it's data, it has value.It is prudent to assume that the companies owning the sites on which the deceased's information is stored will claim it is theirs. The law remains unsettled.

For those who want access to relative's digital information, the process may be legalistic, time consuming and expensive. Everyone - even teens - should be made aware of what may happen to that information if they die. And if you really want your relatives to have access after you're gone, the most practical way to evade the companies is to store your passwords in a way that your survivors can find them. JL

Gavin Phillips reports in MUO:

The succession of an online account will become increasingly relevant. Succession law in relation to digital accounts is still new. Lawsuits play an important role in shaping the direction. Ensuring you have your digital estate organized will become as important as writing a will.(Half of) U.S. states have enacted laws that ensure families’ rights to access the private data of a loved one. 25 states have stepped in to create laws that specifically protect digital assets.

The tech hype machine went into 'overdrive' about driverless cars early and often. But research suggests the public perception remains uncertain and that squeamishness about the risks is stubbornly high.

Testing and announcing incremental advances may be the safer, smarter and more realistic approach. JL

Drew Harwell reports in The Washington Post:

The road to self-driving cars is perception and capability. Early breakthroughs such as car-mounted cameras to keep the vehicle in its lane spawned breathless coverage. But self-driving engineers are battling much thornier challenges, including how to signal to other drivers, navigate obstacles and handle rain, heat and snow. Earlier tasks were conquered by installing sensors, pouring in data. But the new hurdles demand a much more complicated form of intelligence. A go-slow approach might be the only option the industry has for producing a car people trust. Overpromising, “makes it harder when the technology is ready for us to say, ‘Honestly, we’re ready now. It’s safe.’”

It may remain the logical locus for the connections and power controlling people's lives, but researchers believe it will become smaller and more intuitive,which suggests that rather than incremental changes, a more radical innovation may be in the offing in order to instigate the next round of psycho-digital dominance. JL

Timothy Martin and Sarah Krouse report in the Wall Street Journal:

"Phones have reached their zenith just like the PCs did.” While once smartphones were a centripetal force sucking up dozens of devices, functions are now flying out of phones and onto other products. Wristwatches. Televisions. Voice-activated speakers. The number of “connected” devices has more than doubled to 14.2 billion in the past three years. The total excludes smartphones. The challenge tech companies, wireless carriers and device makers now face is birthing the next society-shifting technology. “What’s not going away: the need to have a device that’s constantly with you, to remote control your life.”

There are two main points of view. One set of researchers believes people rationalize the facts to fit their preconceptions. The other says, in line with the evidence of people's preference for convenience regarding the internet, that they're prone to mental laziness and will adjust their views when presented with sensible arguments.

The two sets of arguments and supporting research are not that far apart and draw from each other, suggesting that the real issue is that technology has made it too easy for people to believe whatever they want. JL

Gordon Pennycook and David Rand report in the New York Times:

One group claims our ability to reason is prone to rationalization. The other group claims that the problem is that we often fail to exercise our critical faculties: that is, we’re mentally lazy. Cultivating reasoning abilities should be part of the solution to the misinformation that circulates on social media. New research provides evidence that even in highly political contexts, people are not as irrational as the rationalization camp contends. Correcting partisan misperceptions does not backfire most of the time but leads to more accurate beliefs.

Tech has conquered most of the known universe. Every company is a tech company. The line between digital lives and 'real' lives is increasingly indiscernible.

But tech is not over, anymore than the horse, the wheel, the train and the car meant walking was over. Or that electricity meant fire was over. Tech is going to take on new forms. The easy stuff may be done but there are still lots of opportunities - and ways to make money realizing them. JL

Derek Thompson reports in The Atlantic:

“If technology is everywhere, the tech sector no longer exists. If the tech sector no longer exists, its premium is no longer justified.” Tech died by conquering the world; the largest tech companies have exhausted their main markets. How do you grow forever in a sector that isn’t growing? There may be a Malthusian trap in the attention economy: revenue growth bumps up against the limitations of population and waking hours. (But) the “tech is over” and the “end of the beginning” crowds are telling the same story: Tech stocks have fallen because the media mountain has been scaled. Owning our spending habits—that’s the real summit. It’s ahead.

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