S.A. Applin — It’s around Independence Day in the US, and I’m thinking about what we are gaining independence from. With machine learning, AI, and other assorted algorithms running our lives, we aren’t gaining independence from much, rather, we’re becoming more dependent. This isn’t our fault necessarily (unless we are the people building…

In July of 2018, I attended the West Coast premiere of the General Magic movie, a documentary of General Magic, an early 1990’s Silicon Valley start-up comprised of members from the original Apple Macintosh team. On a personal note, I almost went to work…

New Apple Watch Series 4 Feature Summons Emergency Services If You Fall and Stay Down for Over A Minute. At the Apple Event Keynote for 2018, Apple introduced the new Apple Watch Series 4. …

S. A. Applin AI-related policy is as much a human communication and negotiation problem as it is a prioritizing of AI technologies as to what policy must be triaged. While there are key policy issues that will occur that will greatly impact the landscape for setting general Artificial Intelligence policy…

Blackfly, Black Skies, or Black Lies? Here Comes More Disruptive Utopian Gadgetry from Thrill Seeking Disruptive Innovators — Flying cars seem to be back in the news lately and it may be due to Autonomous Vehicles becoming a reality. When AVs weren’t being made, Silicon Valley tech was fascinated with developing them and putting them onto roads and highways. …

Repeating What it Hears to Others, Amazon’s Alexa Echo Gets Gossipy — Amazon Echo spilled the beans and emailed private conversations it recorded to someone on its owner’s contact list causing privacy, surveillance, and ethics concerns. What did we think would happen when we brought Echo, a barely tested technology, into our homes? The myth is old and epic. The Trojan Horse…

The April 3rd shooting at YouTube, Inc. was a terrible tragedy. I preface this text with my deepest sympathy for the loved ones lost and their grieving friends and family, and with sincere wishes for the swift recovery of those who are wounded and/or traumatized. This is not to be…

On October 17, 2017 on Twitter, Matt Blaze was discussing the KRACK paper, and noted that he was “reminded that WPA2 is exactly the kind of trainwreck of complexity you get with over-constrained standards.” A discussion followed of overly complex proposals in Security, and how, as Blaze commented, “Eventually, the…

By S.A. Applin, May 13, 2017 Technology today is consuming us. This isn’t about how our mobile devices are changing our behavior. Yes, in ways, many of us are tethered to our devices and the network, and as a result, this causes problems, but not just in the “ignoring people…