Tech News Roundup for August 5, 2021
Here are a few of the stories I’ve found interesting over the last couple days, including two Apple PR nightmares, a Facebook PR nightmare, Peloton giving people the ability to... use their treadmills.
Apple Puts Senior Employee on Leave After She Accused the Company of Sexism in the Office
A female engineering employee of Apple says that the company has put her on paid administrative leave and cut her access off to company resources after she publicly talked about sexism in the workplace. The employee says she has brought claims to company HR multiple times, with a previous investigation ruling against her claims. After tweeting about some alleged instances of sexism, she says the company has put her on leave. This is not a good look for Apple, even if it is following its standard HR policies.
New Feature From Apple That Will Scan for “Sensitive” Photos is the top of a Very Slippery Slope
Apple is touting a new feature that will come to iOS and iPadOS 15, WatchOS 8, and MacOS Monterey that sounds great on the surface. The new feature is marketed as a child safety feature designed to prevent younger users from seeing sexually explicit, or otherwise sensitive media. Apple devices will scan for these photos by looking at what is called a “hash.” Hashes are a sort of “fingerprint” of a photo. Apple will store a database of hashes of known sensitive media, and compare images on an Apple device’s photos app, messages app, and iCloud against those hashes. If there is a match, the content will be hidden from those younger eyes.
As stated, on the surface this sounds like a great feature. However the underlying technology could be used to look for any kind of file on a device, and could be used for many purposes. What is to stop other entities from demanding Apple use that technology to search for other kinds of media. What if a government demands Apple look for, say, leaked documents that a whistleblower may be in possession of? What will Apple do if a country like China demands access to these tools to find something they deem illegal? Will the company comply, or will it risk losing access to the Chinese market, where most of its products are made.
No one will say that trying to protect children is bad. But this technology has very dangerous potential. At some point it will fall into the wrong hands. Good intentions, serious consequences.
https://www.engadget.com/apple-child-safety-ios-15-193820644.html
Facebook Bans Academic Researchers Who Claim the Company is Not being Transparent With Ad Tracking
Facebook is facing critism after it has banned the accounts of several researchers of the NYU Ad Observatory. They were running a research program that attempted to collect data on how Facebook targets advertising. Volunteers were asked to install a browser plugin that would share Facebook ad data with the project. What the researches found is that the public data Facebook is providing on how and why ads are targeted at users did not match the actual data that the volunteers provided. Facebook ads allow you to click a “why am I seeing this ad” link which is supposed to provide information on why you are seeing the ad. This could be based on age, gender, location, etc. But the researchers have found there are other metrics that Facebook uses to target ads that are not provided in this information.
In response to their findings, Facebook has banned the accounts the researchers used, as well as their personal accounts, stating that collecting data that is not public violates Facebook’s terms of service. While that is true, banning users who have discovered that Facebook is hiding data is a very, very bad look.
Peloton Will Once Again Let Customers Use Their Very Expensive Treadmills Without a Subscription
Continuing the theme of large companies with egg on their face.... Peloton has had a rough go. In June, facing massive pressure, the company finally relented and recalled its treadmills after several documented instances of children injuring themselves after inadvertently turning on a Peloton treadmill. In response, the company updated the software on the treadmills to require a secure pin to use them. This made the treadmills unusable without first entering a pin code. The problem with that was that the pin code functionality is part of the Peloton subscription service. Users without a subscription could not set a pin code on their treadmills, rendering them unsable. Peloton did give affected users a free 3 month subscription trial to compensate, but this shows just how tenuous the idea of subscription services can be, especially when there is a physical device involved.
Samsung Reportedly Conducting an Internal Review of Smartphone Business After S21 Series Fails to Meet Sales Expectations
This one is interesting to me just because Samsung is a behemoth in the Smartphone space. The company has recently lost its place as the #1 seller of smartphones in the world to Xaiomi. This is largely due to the Chinese market, and Xaiomi’s dominance there. However, it is also being reported that the S21 line of phones has not met sales expections, with sales as much as 20% below last year’s S20 line, which was down 30% from the S10 line.
Now, there are many good reasons for this. The Galaxy S line are some of Samsung’s most expensive phones, with the S21 starting at almost $1000 in Canada. The S20 and S21 lines have also been the lines for sale during a global pandemic, where millions of people staying home for over a year may not have been interesting in upgrading their cell phones, especially the higher end, more expensive models.
The S21 line remains among the best android phones on the market, especially for the “average” user. So I wonder what this internal review will find.
Oppo Shows of Second Generation Under Screen Camera
Lat year we saw that first smartphone with a selfie camera directly behind a screen, no cutout needed. It was... not a good camera. Oppo is demoing the second generation of this under screen camera, that is supposed to be much improved.
It is widely expected that the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 will feature this technology as well, so I will be interested to see how well it works.
https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/3/22608812/oppo-next-generation-under-screen-camera-tech-announced
Rogers Announces Future Overhaul to Sportsnet NOW
Sportsnet NOW was the first dedicated sports streaming serivce in North America, with the service providing customers the ability to stream the Sportsnet TV channels over the internet. IT was revolutionary, and now almost every sports network has a similar service. However, Sportsnet NOW is getting a little long in the tooth, with just 720p video streaming and an interface that hasn’t changed much over the years. Sportsnet is partnering with two companies to revamp the serivce, to provide a better interface and higher quality streaming. The company says that the first phase of the updated service will be coming later this year. I would put money on “later this year” meaning “the first day of the NHL season.”
https://mobilesyrup.com/2021/08/05/sportsnet-sn-now-streaming-quality-revamp/