Twitter told Engadget that its labels are an “iterative process” and that it was focusing on tweets mentioning 5G and COVID-19 for now. The company also acknowledged that it might make mistakes, and that it would refine its process over time. You can read the official statement below.
The fact checks could get irksome with this kind of ubiquity, and might desensitize the people who most need to see them. They’re certainly not very bold. At the same time, this at least shows that Twitter is using checks more freely, and might catch misinformation peddlers who otherwise slip through the cracks.
“Labeling or placing a warning on Tweets continues to be an iterative process. Given the global spread of misinformation and disputed claims around 5G and COVID-19, we prioritized labeling tweets with that information. Our team is currently reviewing other types of content and will label additional tweets soon.”
But the return of verification requests will apparently be accompanied by a larger revamp of the policy. Among the changes: written guidelines that make it clear what the qualifications for verification are, as reported byTechCrunch. It’s still unclear though exactly what those will be, or how substantially Twitter plans to change its current rules. CEO Jack Dorsey has previously described verification as “broken,” and said he would like verified status to be open to everyone.
But at the very least, a more open process with specific requirements could clear up much of the confusion around verification and how it works.
Despite having “paused” public verification in 2017, the company has continued to quietly verify thousands of accounts each month via a backchannel process that is only available to those who have connections to Twitter employees. More recently, the company ramped up verification to doctors and public health experts as part of its efforts to promote authoritative information about COVID-19, but even that effort — which has resulted in the verification of more than 1,000 health experts — has been confusing for those seeking verified status.
For now, Twitter isn’t saying when this new process might be implemented or exactly how it will work. But the fact that verification requests has now surfaced suggests the company is at least moving closer toward verification’s long-awaited overhaul.
Officers will have to switch on their cameras whenever they’re responding to a service call or interacting with a member of the public in “any other law enforcement or investigative encounter.” If it’s not safe or possible for them to activate the camera because they’re facing an immediate danger, they’ll do so as soon as possible.
The bill spells out when police can ask for permission to turn off cameras. They aren’t allowed to use the devices in certain circumstances either — for instance, when filming would put informants or undercover officers at risk.
Agencies will have to store footage for six months and then permanently delete it. That timeframe is extended to three years if it captures the use of force, a subject of the footage makes a complaint or in some other cases. People who are filmed with the cameras will have the right to access the footage, as will their parents if they’re a minor. If someone who has been filmed has died, their family members will be able to review the recordings.
Notably, departments won’t be allowed to equip these body cameras with real-time facial recognition technology or carry out “any other form of automated analysis or analytics” without a judge’s approval. Last year, California banned the use of facial recognition in body cams through 2023. Some body cam makers don’t install the tech in their devices anyway.
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As for the dashboard cameras, they’ll need to be able to capture at least 10 hours of video and audio. Officers will need to start recording whenever they pull someone over or activate the emergency lights. Footage will need to be stored for 90 days, and dash cams can’t use facial recognition technology either.
The federal government is more limited in how it can establish video recording standards at state and local level. Still, the bill would require those agencies to use existing federal funds to ensure the use of body cameras. Several small departments have ditched them in recent years after claiming that they cost too much. Not every state mandates body cameras or has laws in place governing their use.
The act doesn’t fully embrace the idea of automatically activating cameras. TASER’s Axon has a number of sensors that switch on nearby body cameras when they’re activated, including one that prompts all cameras within a 30-foot radius to start filming when an officer draws their gun. The bill doesn’t mention traffic cameras either. They can reduce the number of police interactions by automatically sending out tickets instead of cops writing them.
Somestudies have shown that body cams can be effective in compelling police to change their behavior, but others have suggested they don’t make a great deal of difference. The mere act of being recorded isn’t necessarily a deterrent to police brutality, as evidenced over the past couple of weeks, and some officers just don’t use body cams even when they’re supposed to. However, they could improve police accountability. In concert with the many other reforms proposed in the bill, increased use of them might help to lower the use of force and lead to more peaceful resolutions.
The bill also seeks to ban law enforcement at all levels from racial, religious and discriminatory profiling with mandatory training to prevent it. If passed into law, it’d require local and state law enforcement to record instances when force is used and make it harder for agencies at that level to obtain military-grade equipment. Additionally, the bill aims to forbid “chokeholds, carotid holds and no-knock warrants at the federal level.”
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So far, 35 senators and 166 House representatives (all Democrats) have co-sponsored the bill. It has also won backing from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, The National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, Demand Progress and other organizations. While there’s a good chance of the Justice in Policing Act of 2020 passing the Democrat-controlled House, it might face more resistance in the Senate, where Republicans hold sway.
Meanwhile, Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday that he’ll try to persuade provincial premiers to equip officers with body cameras amid growing calls for them in the country. He noted that while they aren’t a magic solution to the problems of discrimination, “it is something that is, in my opinion, what we need to move forward with.”
When Overwatch League’s next major competition starts on June 13th, it will make use of the same format as its recent May Melee tournament. The Summer Showdown will kick off with three weeks of qualifying matches that will culminate in two weekend-long tournaments that will take place between July 3rd and 5th. As with the May Melee, the two competitions will feature Overwatch League’s North American and Asian teams playing separately. However, Blizzard has increased the stakes. Both tournaments will feature combined $275,000 prize pools, with the champions from each region taking home $50,000.
Blizzard is also tweaking hero pools, a feature the studio introduced to add more variety to Overwatch‘s metagame. Moving forward, the list of heroes teams won’t be able to pick during their matches will change every two weeks instead of one. However, teams won’t have to worry about hero pools during the knockout stages of a tournament or in the week leading up to a major competition. In a separate post on its community forums, Blizzard also announced it’s disabling the feature “indefinitely” within Overwatch‘s competitive mode, which anyone can play once they’ve gotten their account to level 25.
“So far, artificial synapse networks exist as software. We’re trying to build real neural network hardware for portable artificial intelligence systems,” says Jeehwan Kim, associate professor of mechanical engineering at MIT. “Imagine connecting a neuromorphic device to a camera on your car, and having it recognize lights and objects and make a decision immediately, without having to connect to the internet.”
MIT isn’t the only institution working to develop neuromorphic chips. Apple, Google, Microsoft and NVIDIA all have their own versions of machine learning hardware. Intel’s Lohi chip mimics the brain with 1,024 artificial neurons. But most artificial brain synapses (memristors) use silver. Kim’s team realized they could fabricate each memristor with alloys of silver and copper, along with silicon. This allowed them to create a millimeter-square silicon chip with tens of thousands of memristors.
“We’re using artificial synapses to do real inference tests,” Kim said in a press release. “We would like to develop this technology further to have larger-scale arrays to do image recognition tasks. And some day, you might be able to carry around artificial brains to do these kinds of tasks, without connecting to supercomputers, the internet, or the cloud.”
The non-profit, founded in 2013, released data earlier this year that shows how intervention via text message can specifically target underserved populations like gamers and Redditors. “For 37 percent of texters, Crisis Text Line was the first time they’d ever reached out for support,” the study found. “And, 68 percent of texters say they have shared something with a crisis counselor that they have never shared with another human being.”
Crisis Text Line offers counseling support via text message in the US, UK, Canada and Ireland. According to a 2015 profile in The New Yorker, screened volunteers undergo a seven-week interactive training on de-escalating volatile situations and establishing safety plans. Their crisis counselors are specially trained to support players struggling with suicide, self-harm, bullying, depression, anxiety and abuse. Players in the US and Canada can send the message “RIOT” to 741741 for support.
The company has said it’ll showcase more than an hour’s worth of PS5 games. However, it’s keeping mum about whether it’ll show off the console itself for the first time as well — so far, it has offered details about the PS5’s specs and revealed the DualSense controller. In any case, you can get your eyes on Sony’s vision for the future of gaming by catching the stream on Twitch or YouTube on Thursday.
For those who want a more sporty pair of in-ear headphones, Amazon and Best Buy have also discounted the WF-SP800N. They’re currently $168, down from their usual $200 price. Here too you two color options, with the black and blue models included in the sale.
Awkward model numbers aside, the WF-1000XM3 and WF-SP800N are two of the best pairs of true wireless earbuds you can buy. Engadget’s Billy Steele gave the two headphones scores of 89 and 88, respectively. Both headphones feature active noise cancellation and long-lasting batteries, which you top up with the included charging case that comes with each model.
Billy Steele
Sony’s companion app is another highlight. It allows you to tweak the company’s handy Adaptive Sound Control feature to your liking. You’ll also find sound presents, EQ controls and a variety of other adjustable settings.
If you’re unsure which model to buy, the WF-SP800N are better suited for workouts since they’re sweat and splash-proof. The WF-1000XM3, by contrast, are a better match for critical listening with their more neutral sound signature. Depending on your ears’ shape and size, you may find them uncomfortable to wear since they’re both bulky, particularly in comparison to some of the other true wireless earbuds you can buy currently. However, if that’s not an issue, it’s hard to go wrong with either the WF-1000XM3 or WF-SP800N.
Google has rolled out two new features for its Maps app meant to help users get around safely in the time of COVID-19, according to a new post on the Google blog. The app now shows alerts informing you of any coronavirus-related travel restrictions and reports on how crowded public transit may be.
If you’re looking up directions for a trip that may require you to wear a mask on public transit, will take you through a COVID-19 checkpoint, or will have another kind of COVID-19-related impact, you’ll see a relevant alert on the app. Information for these alerts is gathered from “authoritative data from local, state and federal governments or from their websites,” according to Google. These alerts are live in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, France, India, Mexico, Netherlands, Spain, Thailand, United Kingdom and the US., with plans to expand to more areas.
You don’t need an electric car to know that rechargeable batteries degrade over time. Smartphone batteries hold a smaller and smaller charge as the years go by. That’s arguably one of the sticking points that’s keeping drivers from going all-electric. According to Bloomberg, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL) claims its new cell can last 1.24 million miles, or 16 years. To put that into perspective, the average American drives about 14,000 miles per year.
Today’s EV batteries last about 200,000 miles, so this is a big jump — so big that it seems too good to be true. CATL — the world’s biggest supplier of EV batteries — hasn’t shared any information on how it has engineered such a long-lasting cell, but according to the company’s chairman, Zeng Yuqun, Elon Musk visited China to check it out. The Tesla CEO decided to install the new battery in future Tesla Model 3 sedans, which will be built in the company’s Shanghai factory. Tesla has previously relied on Panasonic and LG for its batteries, according to Bloomberg. Zeng also claims that the company is ready to produce the new batteries as soon as needed, and that they’ll only cost 10 percent more than existing offerings.
