Will self-driving cars be a boon or bane for people with vision impairment?

Posted by & filed under Consumer Technology, self driving cars, Self driving vehicles, System development.

Debbie Ryan of St. John’s hasn’t had a driver’s licence in 25 years, since her eyesight deteriorated.

Now the new technology of autonomous or self-driving cars is promising Ryan and those like her the chance at being more independent and self-reliant.

“I think it’s very exciting, having the ability to get in a vehicle and go where you want, when you want,” said Ryan, a member of the local Canadian Institute for the Blind executive.

Source: CBC News

Date: February 14th, 2019

Link: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/self-driving-cars-vision-impairment-1.5017215

Discussion

1) “That is the purpose of a project underway wth the CNIB and Transportation Safety Board of Canada, says Lui Greco, a manager with CNIB.  This is a good time at the beginning, when they’re designing the technology, when they’re building it, to make sure that accessibility for people with sight loss and other disabilities are part of the design phase,” Greco said.   Why is it better to look at accessibility issues during the design phase?

2) What sorts of issues might be considered?

Supreme Court finds teacher who used camera pen guilty of voyeurism

Posted by & filed under Civil Liberties.

The Supreme Court of Canada says a London, Ont., teacher who secretly filmed female students’ chests with a camera pen is guilty of voyeurism — a ruling that could have an impact on future privacy-related cases.

At issue in the case was whether the students — youths aged 14 to 18 — had a reasonable expectation of privacy when they were being secretly recorded by Ryan Jarvis on school property.

In a unanimous decision Thursday morning, the top court said students doing everyday activities at school don’t give up their privacy rights — even if the school maintains security cameras.

Source: CBC News

Date: February 14th, 2019

Link: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/high-school-teacher-camera-pen-privacy-supreme-court-judgment-1.5019012

Discussion

1) As technology gets ever smaller, and has wifi-capabilites built in, how might a school ensure that students are not being spied on?

2) Is there a service you could provide here?

The robot that learned how to skate on ice

Posted by & filed under Artificial intelligence, robotics.

Robots can walk, climb, and even open doors. But can they iceskate?

Well, it seems now they can.

Stelian Coros, a professor at the Computational Robotics Lab at ETH Zurich, says the only thing his team did was to tell the robot how one skate behaved on the ice, and that it was free to move in the direction of the blade.

Source: BBC Future

Date: February 14th, 2019

Link with video: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20190208-the-robot-that-learned-how-to-skate-on-ice

Discussion

1) What does it say about the development of robots that there is now one that has learned to skate but not been taught to skate?

2) Why is this an important step for robotics (or not)?

The speed of technological innovation has seemingly compressed time.

Posted by & filed under SaaS.

The speed of technological innovation has seemingly compressed time. Peter Coffee, VP of Strategic Research at Salesforce.com, has the job of predicting what’s next in technology, what forces we should be afraid of, what issues we are wasting our time on, and how we should prepare for all of it.

Source: A New Angle

Date: February 12th, 2019

Link to podcast: http://anewanglepodcast.com/2019/02/peter-coffee-sees-the-future/

Discussion

1) Salesforce is a SaaS company. What is SaaS?

2) Why are companies using to SaaS?

Cyber-warfare could be entering a new and alarming phase, ex-CIA analyst tells MPs

Posted by & filed under Denial of service.

Online attacks on Canada’s financial system could become far more destructive as more militaries around the globe get involved in cyber operations, a security expert and former CIA analyst told a House of Commons committee Wednesday.

Christopher Porter, the chief intelligence strategist for the cyber security company Fireeye, Inc., testified that as NATO countries share their expertise on how to defend against and defeat online threats, “major cyber powers outside the alliance” will likely do the same.

The consequences, he said, could be dire.

Source: CBC News

Date: February 7th, 2019

Link: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/cyber-warfare-sanctions-denial-service-cia-1.5008956

Discussion

1) “The West’s imposition of sanctions on “some countries” has in the past been met with denial-of-service attacks on financial services websites”.  What is a “denial-of-service attack”?

2) How could institutions protect against a denial-of-service attack?

Canada needs to commercialize AI, not just do research, industry leaders say

Posted by & filed under Tech Transfer.

In May 2017, Uber announced it had hired a renowned University of Toronto professor to lead a Toronto-based team that develops autonomous car technology.

The ride-hailing company also pledged $5 million for the university’s brand new Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence.

While the move drew praise from academics, others derided the notion that taxpayers should pay the salary of a professor whose intellectual property (IP) would go to a foreign corporation.

“The Canadian government has in fact been funding AI (artificial intelligence) research for over three decades,” Jim Balsillie, the former co-CEO of BlackBerry, told The Canadian Press in an email.

“The problem is that it all it went to foreign multinationals who now charge Canada for the use of technology that our taxpayers paid for.”

Source: CBC News

Date: February 7th, 2019

Link: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/artificial-intelligence-funding-canada-commercialization-1.5009458

Discussion

1) Do both sides have a good point?

2) How important is it for the Canadian government to fund research before technology transfer?

A story of digital transformation: Accenture assists Carlsberg in cloud transition

Posted by & filed under Cloud Computing.

A story of digital transformation: Accenture assists Carlsberg in cloud transition image

Jakob From, vice president of transformation, operation and CIO, Western Europe, at Carlsberg said: “We had the opportunity to make a major change because the maintenance contracts for our data centre infrastructure were up for renewal.

“The goal of the project was to create a foundation for our entire IT infrastructure. Carlsberg has existed for 171 years, and we must also be here 171 years more.”

Source: Information Age

Date: February 7th, 2019

Link: https://www.information-age.com/accenture-carlsberg-digital-transformation-123478550/

Discussion

1) What might a “digital transformation” involve for a company that makes beer globally?

2) “Carlsberg’s main driver in their transformation was the transition of their technology infrastructure to public cloud, to help them be digitally enabled.”  Why does a beer maker need to be “digitally enabled”?

Homeowner’s Blood ‘Ran Cold’ as Smart Cameras, Thermostat Hacked

Posted by & filed under Cybersecurity.

A Lake Barrington homeowner hasn’t had a restful night’s sleep in 10 days, after he said his Nest home security cameras and thermostats were accessed by malicious hackers.

“I couldn’t believe that these devices that I had put up in my home to watch over it, my family, were now being used against me,” said Arjun Sud.

Sud tells NBC 5 Investigates that shortly after he and his wife put their 7-month-old son to bed on Jan. 20, they heard a strange noise coming from inside the nursery.

“Right as I approached the baby’s room, I heard a deep voice talking to him,” Sud said.

Source: NBC news

Date: February 7th, 2019

Link: https://www.nbcchicago.com/investigations/My-Blood-Ran-Cold-as-Smart-Cameras-Thermostat-Hacked-Homeowner-Says-505113061.html

Discussion

1) What devices do you have in your home that could be hacked in this way?

2) What SHOULD manufacturers be doing to stop this?

Tracking sanctions-busting ships on the high seas

Posted by & filed under Artificial intelligence.

Oil tankers at sea

For a long time, being out at sea meant being out of sight and out of reach.

And all kinds of shenanigans went on as a result – countries secretly selling oil and other goods to countries they’re not supposed to under international sanctions rules, for example, not to mention piracy and kidnapping.

The problem is that captains can easily switch off the current way of tracking ships, called the Automatic Identification System (AIS), hiding their location.

But now thousands of surveillance satellites have been launched into space, and artificial intelligence (AI) is being applied to the images they take.

There’s no longer anywhere for such ships to hide.

Source: BBC Technology News

Date: February 4th, 2019

Link: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-47046979

Discussion

1) How might this technology/system be used to improve the type of food we eat?

2) How might this technology/system be used to improve the clothes we wear?

Working remotely from a tropical beach is tougher than it looks

Posted by & filed under Remote working.

Imagine this: You finish your work for the day, press “Send” to email files to your boss, then lean back in your chair, toss your feet up, and gaze out at the turquoise water and white sand beach.

And no, it’s not a screen saver.

Untethered to a desk, a commute, or a mortgage, digital nomads use technology to work remotely, earning a living while they travel the world.

Source: CBC News

Date: February 1st, 2019

Link: https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/digital-nomads-ramona-pringle-1.4997566

Discussion

1) “destinations around the world, from Chiang Mai, Thailand, to Medellin, Colombia, have become hubs for digital nomads, attracting “location-independent” freelancing travellers with an attractive combination of temperate climates, breathtaking scenery, reliable Wi-Fi, co-working spaces and a low cost of living.”   Why is this not an option for most people graduating from business school?

2) “People think they need to be a developer or overly tech savvy, but that’s not true,” says Smith. “It really comes down to learning how to think in a different way … it takes a lot of hard work, but it’s possible.”   What sort of “different thinking” is needed?

3) How can remote working be useful in Canada?