The future of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson covid vaccine remains in limbo after an advisory panel recommended taking a deeper look into reports of rare—and sometimes fatal—side effects. The US Centers for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration advised suspension of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine on Tuesday, after reports that six […]
Has the Christchurch Call worked? – a B+ two years on and much work still to do
It is almost two years since Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and France’s President Emmanuel Macron launched the Christchurch Call as a response to the mosque shootings of March 15, 2019. While the largest tech companies and a number of governments signed on in Paris to a number of initiatives aimed at stopping the spread of […]
100 million more IoT devices are exposed—and they won’t be the last
Enlarge (credit: Elena Lacey) Over the last few years, researchers have found a shocking number of vulnerabilities in seemingly basic code that underpins how devices communicate with the Internet. Now, a new set of nine such vulnerabilities are exposing an estimated 100 million devices worldwide, including an array of Internet-of-things products and IT management servers. […]
Podcast: What’s AI doing in your wallet?
Our entire financial system is built on trust. We can exchange otherwise worthless paper bills for fresh groceries, or swipe a piece of plastic for new clothes. But this trust—typically in a central-government-backed bank—is changing. As our financial lives are rapidly digitized, the resulting data turns into fodder for AI. Companies like Apple, Facebook, and […]
The new lawsuit that shows facial recognition is officially a civil rights issue
On January 9, 2020, Detroit police drove to the suburb of Farmington Hill and arrested Robert Williams in his driveway while his wife and young daughters looked on. Williams, a Black man, was accused of stealing watches from Shinola, a luxury store. He was held overnight in jail. During questioning, an officer showed Williams a […]
Latest broadband report confirms improved performance of premium fibre plans
The latest report from the Commerce Commission’s Measuring Broadband New Zealand programme shows that the performance of Fibre Max plans has improved substantially. This follows a collaboration between the Commission, its independent testing partner, SamKnows, and the industry, to identify and fix performance issues with premium fibre plans. “Overall performance is now in line with […]
The US says not to give Johnson & Johnson vaccines after a woman died from a rare blood clot
The US took the dramatic step of recommending that health-care providers stop giving people the Johnson & Johnson vaccine against covid-19 after six women who received it developed serious blood clots and one died. The US Food and Drug Administration described its action as a temporary halt to give regulators time to understand the apparent […]
This family raised millions to get experimental gene therapy for their children
When Gary Landsman prays, he imagines he is in Israel and his sons Benny and Josh are running toward him. They are wearing yarmulkes, and the cotton fringes called tzizit fly out from their waistbands. He opens his arms ready for a tackle. The reality is Benny and Josh both have Canavan disease, a fatal […]
Big Tech’s guide to talking about AI ethics
AI researchers often say good machine learning is really more art than science. The same could be said for effective public relations. Selecting the right words to strike a positive tone or reframe the conversation about AI is a delicate task: done well, it can strengthen one’s brand image, but done poorly, it can trigger […]
Can Microsoft tame the Dragon with Nuance acquisition?
Microsoft’s flurry of acquisitions continues this week with the US$19.7 billion purchase of natural language and AI speech leader Nuance. In the legal and medical professions, Nuance’s Dragon Naturally Speaking software has become the go-to package for busy people keen to get accurate notes and documents together without being tied to the keyboard. Nuance’s voice […]