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Twitter tests automatic translations in Brazil

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Some Twitter users in Brazil may be seeing a timeline that’s purely in Brazilian Portuguese even if they’re following accounts that usually tweet in other languages. That’s because Twitter has started testing automatic translations in the region “to make it easier to understand the conversations [they] follow.” In a blog post by Twitter Brazil, the company said the feature will be on by default for a limited number of users on both iOS and Android. While Twitter already has a translation feature, users still have to click or tap a tweet to activate it.

Twitter divided the testers in two different groups likely in an effort to see which format would be better received. One group will see all tweets in their preferred language, and similar to Facebook’s automatic translations, participants have to click on a tweet to see it in its original form. The other group will see both the original and the translated text in one tweet. Both groups will know they’re looking at translations, though, because tweets will be marked with “Translated from [language] by Google” or “Translated from [language] by Microsoft.”



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UK court rules police facial recognition trials violate privacy laws

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Facial recognition technology has been implemented on a trial basis in the UK since 2016, both in London by the Met and in South Wales by the SWP. In South Wales, the AI system is notorious for its error rate. In 2018, the SWP was found to have misidentified 2,300 people as potential criminals.

In London, an 2019 independent study found that the Met’s system had an 81 percent error rate. Although the Met’s own analysis claimed the error rate was far lower, although clearly they too were unsatisfied with the system. In 2020, it switched to Clearview AI.

Clearview AI combines surveillance footage and images pulled from the internet in an attempt to mass identify individuals in public spaces. That has provoked accusations that the technology is dystopian, not helped because Clearview scraped pictures from social media sites, including Facebook, without permission. 

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Microsoft’s xCloud on Android launches in beta today at 9 AM

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This limited beta is critical to providing the best possible experience for members at launch and should not be considered indicative of the final experience or library.

If you’re an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscriber in one of the 22 xCloud launch countries, you’ll receive a notification that it’s is available to test. There should be about 30 of the 100 launch games available, though you might experience some typical beta bugs. “This limited beta is critical to providing the best possible experience for members at launch and should not be considered indicative of the final experience or library,” Microsoft said.

The program is still on schedule, with the preview being discontinued on September 11th and the full launch happening on September 15th. The Game Pass Ultimate beta app rolls out today at 9AM ET on the Google Play Store, but you’ll need a $15 per month Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription to use it.

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Google delays shutdown of support for native Chrome apps

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Earlier this year, Google announced that it would end support for Chrome Apps on Windows, Mac and Linux by June 2020, or for enterprises and educators by December 2020. However, in case you’re among the few still using them, it has now announced an extension. Chrome apps will now work on those platforms until June 2021, and organizations can extend that by a full year until June 2022. Google said it decided on the extension based on “feedback from our customers and partners.”

When Google first announced that it would do away with stand-alone apps on Mac, Windows and Linux (way back in 2016), it said they would be gone by early 2018. The reason cited was that only around 1 percent of users on those platforms actively the apps. The idea was that you could replace them with modern web or progressive apps, but clearly many users, particularly in organizations, had trouble letting go.

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Tech giants back lawsuit against US guest worker ban

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The companies that signed the amicus brief, however, disagree with the administration’s stance. They explained that suspending the country’s nonimmigrant visa programs “fundamentally disserves the interests of the United States by stifling the ability of US businesses to attract the world’s best talent, drive innovation, and further American economic prosperity.” The companies also said that they filed the brief to highlight how the guest worker ban can stifle innovation and “ultimately harm US workers, businesses and the economy more broadly in irreparable ways.”

Aside from Apple, Facebook and Microsoft, the signees also include Twitter, HP, Intel, Dropbox, Netflix, GitHub, PayPal, Reddit and Uber.

The tech industry has been backing various efforts to combat the administration’s visa bans over the past few months. In July, several tech giants, such as Facebook, Google and Microsoft joined a lawsuit that pushes back against a new rule that would force foreign students to leave the US if their colleges implemented online-only classes this fall. Their support for a lawsuit against the guest worker ban is far from unexpected, seeing as a lot of tech companies recruit overseas talent, and H-1B is usually their visa of choice.

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What's on TV: 'Project Power' and 'Hyper Scape'

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This week Hyper Scape season one has kicked off, bringing Ubisoft’s free-to-play battle royale shooter to consoles. Apple TV+ is premiering its new series Ted Lasso, based on the character from a soccer commercial, while Netflix wraps up 3% with a fi…

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Dell’s latest business Chromebook offers high-end specs and extra security

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While previous versions packed up to 8th-generation Intel Core i7 CPUs, the Latitude 7410 comes with the 10th-generation Intel Core i7. It offers up to 16GB of DDR4 RAM (less than last year’s models). 

Google and Dell claim it has the longest battery life of any 2-in-1 Chromebook and of any 10th Gen Intel Chromebook. It boasts up to 19 hours of battery life, plus you can get a boost with an ExpressCharge — one hour charges the battery up to 80 percent, and 20 minutes charges it up to 35 percent.

The partners haven’t announced pricing or availability yet, but we will update you when they do.

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California wins injunction against Uber, Lyft classifying drvers as contractors

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California passed Assembly Bill 5 late last year in a bid to reclassify many gig economy workers as employees, and so far, Lyft and Uber have not done that. The state is suing them, and on Monday afternoon Judge Ethan Schulman of San Francisco Superior Court ruled in favor of granting a preliminary injunction that would block the companies from classifying drivers as independent contractors.

Reuters reports that in the 34-page decision Schulman said there’s an “overwhelming likelihood” that the state will prove the two companies have illegally misclassified workers, and that they fail the law’s three-step test to determine if workers are employees. He delayed enforcement of the ruling for ten days to allow for appeals, which both companies plan to pursue, while the San Francisco Chronicle reports Uber also said it will push for a longer stay. In a statement, Lyft said “We’ll immediately appeal this ruling and continue to fight for their independence. Ultimately, we believe this issue will be decided by California voters and that they will side with drivers.”

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Nreal Light mixed reality glasses launch in Korea with the Galaxy Note 20

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After successfully fighting off Magic Leap’s claim that it stole trade secrets, Nreal is finally able to launch its Light mixed reality glasses into the consumer market. Starting today, folks in Korea can pre-order the Light — locally rebranded as “U+ Real Glass” — as part of a mobile phone plan on the LG Uplus network, so long as you pick the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 or the LG Velvet as your handset. That way you can buy the Light at a subsidized price of 349,500 won (about $295). You can also purchase the glasses separately for 699,000 won (about $590) at an LG Uplus store from August 21st, if you’d rather use them with other phones.

Nreal Light Nebula system

Nreal

Since Nreal designed the Light with 5G smartphones in mind, this consumer kit lacks the Toast computing unit we saw in earlier demos. What do you gain, however, is a “VR Cover” that blocks out your view of the outside world, thus converting the Light into makeshift VR glasses. They won’t replace dedicated VR headsets given their 52-degree diagonal field of view (it’s the same figure for Microsoft’s enterprise-centric Hololens 2), while most VR headsets exceed 100 degrees here, but it’s still a nice bonus feature for when you want to immerse yourself into games or video.

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Former employees claim Talkspace mined therapy transcripts for marketing

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Karissa Brennan, a therapist who contracted through Talkspace for two about years, says the company contacted her about a resource she shared with a patient. She says the company told her to keep her clients inside the app. Brennan told the paper she believes she sent an anxiety worksheet to her client. 

The company’s co-founders say Talkspace analyzes encrypted and anonymized data to help warn therapists of potentially dangerous language usage by their clients. The company also uses that data to catch inappropriate behavior by its contractors. The Franks say the company’s approach has allowed it to operate for almost 10 years without malpractice claims within its network. 

They also claim only two employees, its chief medical officer and chief technology officer, have access to any original transcripts, and both need to agree to view them. According to the Franks, this has only happened a “handful of times.” Moreover, each time Talkspace obtained consent from a patient. A lawyer for Talkspace also disputed the claim that the company had ever used patient data for marketing purposes.  

In addition to mining the data of its users, the company may have had other questionable practices. The New York Times reports the startup gave employees phones to post fake positive reviews to the App Store and Play Store, a practice that both Apple and Google prohibit in their developer guidelines. 

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