Apple apologises for humans listening to Siri convos without explicit user permission
Google confirms it won’t be supplying services to Huawei’s upcoming smartphones
Craig Wright (self-proclaimed inventor of Bitcoin) has to hand over US$10b of Bitcoin
People are making artificial pancreases using OpenAPS to manage their diabetes
Cheap Sonos, Thinkpad E495, Dell 34" monitor, 50GB Ovo SIM, 82" Samsung TV, Viofo A119 V3 dashcam, Xiaomi laser projector
A few weeks ago Apple got caught with its pants down, hiring contractors to listen in on Siri conversations without explicit user permission (like Microsoft, Google and Amazon) to improve the quality of its voice assistant. Particularly poor optics when a large chunk your brand is dedicated to privacy. Today Apple's released an apology and changes to the way it will grade the quality of Siri conversations in the future. Participating in the quality program will be opt-in, only Apple employees can listen to the opt-in audio samples and they will "no longer retain audio recordings of Siri interactions", using "computer-generated transcripts to help Siri improve".
Huawei is planning to launch their new Mate 30 smartphone in a few weeks and Google has told The Verge that they won't be supplying it with any Google services (e.g: the Play Store) due to the ban on US companies supplying products to Huwaei. Huawei can install Android on their devices (e.g: roll their own via AOSP) and develop their own app store, but US companies like Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat won't be able to put their apps on a Huawei app store due to the US trade ban. Who in the US (or AU, UK, etc.) would drop the coin on a smartphone that can't install apps legally from US developers?
You've probably heard of Craig Wright, the Aussie bloke who goes around saying he is Bitcoin inventor Satoshi Nakamoto. Yesterday he was told by a US court to hand over Bitcoin worth US$10b to the brother of deceased technologist Dave Kleiman. Dave and Craig "collaborated to mine hundreds of thousands of bitcoins in 2009 and 2010" and David's brother, Ira, is the heir to all those Bitcoin. He's been fighting Craig in court to get those sweet sweet coinz, but Craig reckons he can't get those Bitcoin as they were jointly encrypted with the deceased Dave, who took his passphrase to the grave. Gonna be interesting to see how Craig meets the court order if that's genuinely the case.
I don't know where I found this, but Liam Zebedee's story about creating his own artificial pancreas using an insulin pump, continuous glucose monitor, some open source software and his own special mix of hardware and and software is fascinating. The hero of the story is OpenAPS, an operating system designed to read info from a glucose monitor and predict when and how much insulin is required, then tell that to an insulin pump. I don't quite understand how it all works, but it's impressive to see nerds take charge of their health in this way. A cure for diabetes would be better, but if you can't cure it, at least you can hack it!
15% Sonos stuff at JB Hi-Fi - get the Play:1 for just $192.10 or the One for $254.15
Lenovo ThinkPad E495, 14" 1080p, Ryzen 5 3500U/256GB SSD/8GB RAM - $739 delivered from Lenovo direct.
Refurbished Dell U3419W 34” 3440x1440 monitor with USB-C - $689 from the Dell Outlet Store.
50GB Ovo pre-paid SIM for $9.95 at Australia Post
Samsung 82” RU8000 4K TV - $2996 delivered using he code PICKLE on eBay.
Viofo A119 V3 dashcam with 32GB microSD and hardwire ckit - $152.15 using the code PEGASUS.
Xiaomi Mi ultra short throw laser projector (global version, AU stock) - $2082.50 using the code PEGASUS.
🎶 You Keep Me Hanging On - Vanilla Fudge
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The Sizzle is created on Wathaurong land and acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia, recognising their continuing connection to land, water and community. I pay my respect to them and their cultures and to elders both past and present.