Hemu Nigam of SSP Blue

Security expert Hemu Nigam, CEO of security consulting firm SSP Blue warns consumers to be aware of so-called “Kodi boxes” that offer free content. While there are legal uses for these types of set-top boxes, they can also be used to provide access to illegal pirated content. And, aside from ethical and legal issues, there are also security risks associated with downloading illegal content that may have been provided by criminals, as Nigam explains on CBS News Radio’s Tech Talk with Larry Magid.

This post first appeared in the San Jose Mercury News

Unless you count those early Blackberry-like devices, the modern smartphone era started in 2007 when Apple introduced the iPhone. The following year saw the HTC Dream, the first Android phone and since then, Apple and a slate of Android developers have been competing to win the hearts and minds of smartphone buyers around the world.

Globally, Google’s Android is beating Apple’s iOS by a factor of nearly 7 to 1, but that’s partially because there are plenty of relatively inexpensive Android phones on the market — in the U.S. where buyers are much wealthier than in say, Africa and Latin America, the gap is much narrower with Apple enjoying a 45 percent market share, compared with 53 percent divided among the various Android vendors. Other than Apple, Samsung is the next biggest player with 23 percent market share in the United States, according to Statistica.

The fact that Apple is the only hardware vendor that makes iOS phones gives it a huge boost over any of the Android phone makers including Google. Following the same playbook that Microsoft forged for PC sales, Google initially opted to provide only the operating system and software and let others build the hardware. But just as Microsoft is now making its own Windows laptops, Google is now putting its name on the Pixel brand of Android phones. Its market share is still tiny but, I suspect it will grow.

Right now, I’m carrying both an iPhone X and a Google Pixel 2 XL, and I’m also trying out Google’s new Pixel Bud wireless ear buds that compete directly and competently with the wireless AirPods that Apple offers to its iPhone customers.

Google’s Pixel 2 XL and Apple’s iPhone X have a lot in common. Both have large (5.8 inch for Apple and 6.0 inch for Google) OLED screens with little (Google) or virtually no (Apple) space wasting bezel. Both have amazingly good cameras, and both can be unlocked instantly, without having to enter a pass code or PIN.

You unlock the iPhone X by glancing at it so it can recognize your face, even at an odd angle or in dim light. There’s amazing (and expensive) technology behind Apple’s face recognition, but Google — taking a less ambitious approach, made substantial improvement in its fingerprint recognition system.  And what these two phone unlocking features have in common is both speed and accuracy.

In my testing of the iPhone X, I’ve been able to unlock virtually every time with my face. It’s so smooth and automatic that I forget I’m unlocking the phone — I’m just looking at it. With the Pixel 2, I simply touch the sensor on the back, which is in a convenient and easy to reach spot, and it, too, comes to life — virtually every time I’ve tried it. And although I give Apple higher marks for innovation, I give both phones unlocking features equal marks.

Apple’s AirPods allow you to invoke Siri, while Google’s Pixel Buds work with Google Assistant, enabling you to ask questions or order-up a song or podcast. Google gives you more control such as start, stop and volume controls by touching the right bud. The most interesting feature of Google’s Pixel Buds is near simultaneous translation. Long-press the right bud and say “help me speak Spanish” (or any supported language) and it automatically launches Google Translate on your phone. Say a word or phrase, and the translation app speaks it out loud in that other language. If you’re having a conversation, the other person can respond in their native language and you hear it in your language through the Pixel Buds. This feature along with other tricks of Google Now make the Pixel Buds a potentially powerful accessory to a Pixel phone, which will only grow in sophistication over time. Based on Google’s vision of Pixel Buds being an information appliance, I give it the nod in the wireless ear-bud contest.

So, which phone do I recommend? The answer is both — and neither. Both are can’t-miss options for anyone willing to spend big bucks (starting at $849 for the Pixel 2 XL  and $999 for the iPhone X). But there are plenty of other excellent phones on the market that do the same job for a lot less.

This post first appeared in the San Jose Mercury News

On December 14, the Federal Communications Commission will likely deliver a huge Christmas present to the nation’s large internet service providers by repealing the Obama-era network neutrality rule.  For the rest of us, it’s a lump of coal in our stocking.

The reason this will be welcomed by the likes of Comcast, AT&T, Verizon and other large ISPs is because it will free them to make side deals with content providers, giving them preferential treatment in exchange for money or other considerations. And, in many situations, they won’t even have to negotiate with a partner. Several of the ISPs have merged into media companies themselves. Comcast owns NBCUniversal, Verizon owns Yahoo, AOL, HuffPost and numerous other media outlets. AT&T is attempting to purchase Time Warner, whose media empire includes HBO, Turner Sports, CNN, Warner Brothers and other brands.  With network neutrality off the law books, it will be possible for these conglomerates to favor their content over the content of their competitors.

Click above to listen to Larry’s 1-minute CBS News Radio segment on network neutrality, including a comment from FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn

The term “digital toll-road” has been used to describe a world without net neutrality, but I’d like to refine that analogy. not so much like a toll-road for passenger cars (we already pay for internet service and some already pay higher fees for faster service) but it’s like a toll-road for delivery trucks. Imagine if Walmart paid the state for the right for its trucks to drive 70 miles per hour while Costco’s trucks were only allowed to drive 45 MPH. Walmart would get its merchandise faster, which would give it a competitive advantage. As it is, wealthy companies have all sorts of advantages when it comes to the ability to pay for high-speed servers and internet infrastructure but eliminating network neutrality gives them a further advantage when it comes to delivering content directly into our homes. As consumers of broadband, we already pay ISPs for service (including paying a premium for faster service) but if the FCC proposal goes through, there could be an extra fee for our information providers that they may pass on to us, resulting in higher bills for our information and entertainment services.

The most chilling possibility is the ISPs using their power to block or slow-down content based on business or even political criteria. I don’t want any company controlling what I can read, what I can watch or where I can express my opinion.
While none of the ISPs have said that they would use this soon-to-be-granted power to stifle competition or block content, it is certainly possible for an ISP to throttle down or even ban content from a rival company or a site they don’t agree with. More likely, what they’ll do is provide faster or better service to their subsidiaries, business partners and companies willing to pay for preferential treatment. Even with the network neutrality rules in place, a loophole called “zero rating,” allows some bundling such as AT&T exempting its own DirecTV Now streaming service from any mobile data plans

You might point to this and other freebies as a benefit to consumers and, in the short-term that might be true, at least for some. But there are some serious long-term issues. That’s one of the reasons that Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, who represents part of Silicon Valley, is opposed to this proposed FCC rollback. “The rules today protect consumers and small businesses from the worst possible harms ISPs can inflict online,” she wrote on her website. “Repealing these protections is an assault on what has made the internet what it is … an open and dynamic platform, with consequences for consumers and our economy.” Earlier this year, Eshoo met with several entrepreneurs to discuss  net neutrality and how its repeal could hurt their ability to compete.

Imagine if you decided to create your own video streaming service to compete with Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime. After spending money on the usual start-up costs, including content deals, servers and high-speed internet connections, you could then be faced with additional fees — perhaps in the tens of millions — to internet service providers to deliver your content to their customers. The big players can afford those fees, but you might not be able to compete. Even if your video-streaming service does make it to people’s homes, it might be a lot slower than your well-financed competitors, which puts you at an immediate disadvantage. That not only hurts the entrepreneurs  but the rest of us, who may never be able to take advantage of the better services or lower prices that competition brings.

The advocacy group Fight for the Future has a web page  where consumers can reach out to Congress in an effort to get them to stop the FCC from overturning network neutrality.

This post is a work in progress. I’ll be updating it through the holiday season. Some listings are just categories as I flesh out the details.

Santa is now using artificial technology to make his list and check it twice and here are some of the tech gifts he’s bringing the nerds and geeks among us boys and girls.

IoT devices

There are many on the market and most are focused on home automation such as turning on lights and appliances, controlling home temperature or automatic door locks. Often you have to start with a hub, which supports a particular technology or brand of devices like SmartThings, Belkin, Zigby or Z-wave. So, when you’re buying products, you’re really buying a system and pretty much need to stick with compatible products that work with your hub and your iOT devices.  It’s also a good idea to get devices that work with the Amazon Echo or Google Home so that you can control them with your voice.  There are also services like Vivint and Xfinity Home where you pay monthly for an integrated suite of devices and home security products

Virtual reality headsets

These headsets give you a 360 degree view of the media they support, like being able to walk through a museum and look around, up and down almost as if you were there. There are a few expensive options like Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and PlayStation VR that all require either an expensive companion PC or a PlayStation. There are also a number of devices where you simply insert your phone which acts as the engine for the VR visual and audio experience. These typically cost under $100 and include the Samsung Gear VR, the Google Daydream and, if you want really cheap, Google Cardboard, which starts at under $10.

Voice activated home assistants (Amazon Echo and Google Home)

These popular home assistants play music, radio stations and podcast at the command of your voice but they can also give you information from Wikipedia or Google and control compatible devices such as lights, heaters, fans and even door locks. Both Amazon Echo and Google Home come in larger versions with decent speakers and smaller ones with tiny not-so-great speakers that support external wired or Bluetooth speakers.

Toy and worker robots

Whether it’s the Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner or the $129 Sphero R2-D2 toy robot for Starwars fans or the programmable Cozmo, there are plenty to choose from this holiday season.

Game consoles and portable gaming devices

Popular this year are the Nintendo Switch handheld player, the XBox One and the PlayStation 4 Pro.

4K TVs

I don’t even know where to begin listing these ultra-high resolution TVs but there are plenty on the market and they’re getting cheaper. I saw an amazing deal on a 55-inch Samsung model for under $600. When shopping for a 4K TV look for HDR (high dynamic range) and three or more HDMI inputs for the gadgets you’ll want to connect to your TV

Wireless headphones and earbuds

If you own a relatively new iPhone or one of the new Google Pixel 2 phones, you’ll need wireless headphones because these phones no longer have headphone jacks. But even if your phone does have a place to plug-one in, you might consider getting Bluetooth wireless headphones for the convenience factor alone. If you travel by air, make sure you get a pair that also has a cord, so you can plug it into the audio jack on the plane. I’m a fan of the Plantronics BackBeat series because they’re affordable ($79) and comfortable but there are better sounding headphones out there for audiophiles from Bose, Sennheiser and other companies.

Bluetooth speakers

Smartphones

Wearables and fitness devices

PCs and laptops

Popular 2017 gifts so far (from Business Insider)

• Apple AirPods
• Sony Playstation VR
• PJ Masks
• L.O.L. Surprise toys
• Hatchimals
• Colleggtibles
• Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon
• Nintendo Switch
• Xbox One X

Links:

30 Ultimate Tech Gifts from Time

50 Great Gadget and Gear Gifts for the Holidays from Popular Mechanics

Best Smart Home Devices And How IoT Is Changing The Way We Live

2017 Holiday Tech Gift Guide: Games, gadgets and more from GeekWire

Apple has confirmed a serious security flaw in the latest version (called High Sierra) of its Mac operating system. While Apple works to fix the problem, they have published a workaround which, frankly, is a bit complicated to implement. Basically it involves creating a new user, called root, and assigning that user a password. That way, if someone does try to log-in as “root,” they will be required to use that password you just assigned.Apple’s warns users that “The root user account is not intended for routine use. Its privileges allow changes to files that are required by your Mac. To undo such changes, you might need to reinstall your system software. You should disable the root user after completing your task.Here is what Apple recommends (from this Apple page)

Enable or disable the root use

Choose Apple menu () > System Preferences, then click Users & Groups (or Accounts).

Click  in the Directory Utility window, then enter an administrator name and password

From the menu bar in Directory Utility

Choose Edit > Enable Root User, then enter the password that you want to use for the root user.

Or choose Edit > Disable Root User.

 Log in as the root user

Choose Apple menu > Log Out to log out of your current user account.At the login window, log in with the user name ”root” and the password you created for the root user.
If the login window is a list of users, click Other, then log in.

Todd Maddox (photo Amalgam Insights)

W. Todd Maddox, a psychologist and contributing analyst at Amalgam Insights, has an interesting proposition. He thinks that virtual reality could greatly improve sexual harassment training.

In a blog post, he pointed out that “traditional computer-based approaches do their best to define, describe and demonstrate sexual harassment behavior” by targeting the cognitive skills learning system in the brain,” which he says is fine for “hard skill training, but not soft skill training, such as the training needed to reduce the incidence sexual harassment.”

You can read more of this post on Forbes.com

You can listen to the entire interview here:

And here’s Larry’s one-minute CBS News Tech Talk segment about VR and sexual harassment.

Facebook has just launched a standalone app called Messenger Kids, a video chat and messaging app aimed at children under 13. The app is not only a lot safer and more private than apps aimed at teens and adults, but it’s filled with fun features for youngsters and it offers parents control over who children communicate with.

The app allows kids to conduct one-to-one or group video chats, message other users and take advantage of creative tools such as the ability to decorate photos and videos or add “kid-appropriate” masks, stickers and GIFs to their online conversations. Messenger Kids will work on both tablets and smartphones, initially Apple iPad and iPhones, with plans to expand to Android and Amazon Kindle next year.

CONTINUE READING AT FORBES.COM

Facebook blog post

Republic Wireless has a new take on an old idea. It’s called the Relay and it’s a walkie-talkie for families that works over a 4G LTE cellular network and WiFi so you can use it from practically anywhere.

The screenless device, which you control with your voice,  can also be used to play music and has access to Google Assistant so you can ask it questions.

The Relay will launch  in early 2018 and will be available in two-packs for $149 and three-packs for $199. Service will cost $6.99 per month per device.

Parents can control who a child can communicate with, but that person has to either have a Relay device or communicate via their smartphone by using a companion app. The device can’t be used to make regular phone calls and — at launch — won’t be able to call 911.

Here’s my 1-minute CBS News Radio segment ahout Relay followed by a company promotional video.

This post first appeared in the San Jose Mercury News

In 2011, Consumer Reports released research saying that 7.5 million children under 13 were using Facebook in violation of the company’s terms of service that require all users to be 13 or older.  Later that year, a research team led by danah boyd (she spells her name all lowercase) found that 95 percent of the parents whose 10-year-olds were on Facebook knew about it, and 78 percent of them helped their kids sign up. I haven’t seen recent research showing how many pre-teens are using Instagram, Snapcat, Facebook Messenger, Kik and other apps aimed at teens and adults, but I suspect the numbers are into the millions.

One of the main reasons social media and messaging services try to block children under 13 is to comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. The act requires children younger than 13 to have verifiable parental consent before they can disclose personal information to a commercial service. But, because these services are all about sharing, it’s nearly impossible to operate without collecting personal information.

In other words, “officially,” these services are for teens and adults, which is one reason it’s disturbing that younger children sneak in. Facebook has privacy protections for teens under 18, but these protections aren’t designed for younger children who lack the maturity to navigate the choppy waters of social media.

Facebook has long been looking for a way to serve children under 13. In 2011, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said, “That will be a fight we take on at some point. … My philosophy is that for education you need to start at a really, really young age.”

Messenger Kids, announced Monday, isn’t exactly an education app, but it’s tailored to give kids 6 to 12 the ability to engage in conversations as well as exchange messages, videos and images with parent-approved friends and family.  The app also allows kids to send photos, videos and text messages to approved adults, who receive the messages on their Facebook Messenger app. Kids also have access to a pre-approved library of stickers, GIFs, masks, frames and drawing tools to decorate their content.

I was pre-briefed on the app in my capacity as chief executive officer of ConnectSafely.org, a nonprofit internet safety organization that receives support and advises several tech companies, including Facebook.

One big difference between Messenger Kids and other social media apps is that parents have to set up the accounts. Kids aren’t allowed to do it. Parents must approve all contacts, and kids can’t communicate with anyone who isn’t pre-approved.

Another difference is that there is no advertising, and Facebook says that kids’ data is not collected for commercial purposes.

It’s also not a backdoor into other Facebook products. The company said that it doesn’t plan to automatically migrate children to Facebook, Instagram, Messenger or any other service when they turn 13.  Facebook also pledges not to intermingle data between Messenger Kids and other Facebook apps and services.

Children and their parents can remove contacts for any reason and can report inappropriate content. They can also block contacts, which prevents communication and also hides the child from that person.

Because of the approval process, Messenger Kids greatly minimizes so-called “stranger danger,” but it doesn’t eliminate the need for oversight and internet safety training. When it comes to abuse, kids are statistically at greater risk from family members, family friends and other trusted adults than from strangers they meet online.

Parents also need to think about how much time they allow their kids to use this or any other app. Although they no longer issue arbitrary guidelines, the Academy of Pediatrics and most other experts agree that screen time needs to be balanced with other activities, including in-person relationships, exercise and other forms of play and communication.

Parents also need to discuss digital citizenship with their children. I’m not aware of any technology that can completely prevent cyberbullying or other forms of abuse. Children need to learn how to behave and what to do if someone posts something that makes them uncomfortable. ConnectSafely, Family Online Safety Institute and other groups publish guides, tip sheets and other educational materials for both parents and kids.

I think of Messenger Kids as training wheels for social media and messaging. It’s also like a sandbox. Kids can injure themselves in sandboxes, but they’re a lot safer than playing in the street.

While limiting screen time is important, we’ve already crossed the threshold. A recent Common Sense Media survey of parents of children 8 and younger found a “spike in the number of young children who have their own tablet device (42 percent up from 8 percent in 2013) and that young children are spending an average of 48 minutes a day using mobile devices. It is higher when you factor in 10- to 12-year-olds.

Whatever the age, what’s important is how children are using these devices, whether they’re setting aside time for other activities and what it is they’re actually doing online. That’s where old-fashioned parenting comes in. Facebook and other tech companies can provide parents with tools, but technology can’t replace engaged, involved and empathetic parenting.

Click above for my 14-minute interview with Congresswoman Anna Eshoo

Rep. Anna Esoo (D-CA)

On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission is poised to vote to repeal the Obama era network neutrality rule on what will likely be a 3 to 2 party line vote. And, while there are some who believe that the current FCC is simply restoring market forces and removing unnecessary government regulations, there are others who say that getting rid of this rule could create internet toll roads that discriminate against start-ups and small businesses in favor of giants, including the major internet service provides like Verizon, AT&T, Comcast and Charter.

Anna Eshoo (D-CA) is one of those critics, and she knows a thing or two about the technology industry. Her Silicon Valley district is home to some of the biggest and some of the smallest internet companies, including numerous start-ups.

Here’s an example of my dog Yuri being virtually attacked by Star Wars characters. Disclaimer: No actual animals or animated characters were harmed in the creation of this video.

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Google is rolling out AR Stickers for its Pixel phones.  Once installed it enables you to use the standard camera app to add virtual characters to your own real world photos and videos.

AR Stickers is now available for Google Pixel phones only.  Once installed it lets you move the camera around and take videos and photos with the characters superimposed over your real world images. Y

You’re need:

• A Pixel phone
• Android 8.1,
• ARCore framework and the AR Stickers app.

This post first appeared in the San Jose Mercury News

I was at the Wall Street Journal’s All Things Digital conference in June 2010 when Steve Jobs said “When we were an agrarian nation, all cars were trucks. But as people moved more towards urban centers, people started to get into cars. I think PCs are going to be like trucks. Less people will need them.”

I was also present in April of that year when Jobs announced the iPad, and at the time, I called it “underwhelming.” Yes, I was impressed by the achievement, but I declared the device “too big to put in your pocket but not as easy to type on as a laptop.” For a while, the market proved me wrong. Early sales of iPads were impressive, but around 2015, we started to see the tablet market shrink.

A few years after Apple launched the iPad, tablets started losing market share, getting pressure from both sides. Laptops started to get smaller and more versatile and smartphones got larger. Even though I have purchased several tablets over the years from Apple, Amazon and various Android vendors, mine all sit in a drawer or have been donated to schools. That’s because my smartphone is now large enough to read ebooks and watch video, and it’s even big enough for a reasonably OK on-screen keyboard. But it’s also because laptops have shrunk in size and weight. Plus, if I really want to use a device in “tablet mode,” the laptop I’m carrying can accommodate that.

I’m currently testing the HP 12-inch EliteBook x360 1020 G2 “convertible” or “two-in-one” device, which, like Lenovo’s Yoga line, has a screen that can also be used in tablet mode. Actually, it can be positioned at any angle so it can also be tentlike to sit on a table or positioned so that the keyboard faces down.  Microsoft Surface PCs are also convertible, but their keyboards snap on and off so you can leave them at home if you want. As someone who does a lot of typing and rarely needs a tablet, I prefer the HP and Lenovo strategy.

The HP model I’m testing weighs 2.5 pounds (weight can vary by configuration and components), which is 1.3 pounds heavier than the first iPad. But even iPads have evolved into PCs. Apple now offers an optional keyboard for it iPad Pro, which turns it into a laptop that runs iOS. There are plenty of third-party keyboards for other iPads as well as Android tablets.

The new HP notebook shares another trait with tablets — its battery lasts all day. HP rates it for 15 hours, but like EPA mileage estimates, your experience will vary. Mine is never as good as what the manufacturer claims, partially because I use some energy-guzzling software, and I like a bright screen. But even if I only get 10 hours of battery life, that’s still enough to leave the power supply at home. And speaking of that, having a 2.5-pound laptop in my backpack is relatively easy on my back, which I will appreciate next month when I’m carrying it around during my five days at the CES trade show in Las Vegas. HP says that you can get a 50 percent charge in 30 minutes.

HP offers several versions of its EliteBooks. The one I’m testing comes with 8 gigabytes of memory and 256 GB of storage

It also comes with a pen (which I’ve already misplaced) that lets you draw on the screen. I wish there were a storage slot for that pen, but that might have made it harder to keep the device as thin (about a half an inch) as it is. There are two USB C ports and an HDMI port for a TV or monitor. I’d be happier if it came with a standard USB A port, but that was jettisoned to keep the device smaller. There are adapters for less than $5 that easily attach to any USB device. Unlike new iPhones and some Android phones, there is a standard headphone/microphone jack. Like many new phones, you can unlock it with a fingerprint. And unlike any MacBook, it has a touch screen, which I find more useful than I had imagined.

The EliteBook that I’m testing sells for $1,599 but you can pay less or more, depending on storage and other features. Some models come with HP Sure View, which is a built-in privacy screen that’s activated by a key press. The model I’m testing has a full high-definition screen, but you can get them with ultra-high definition (UHD) for those who care about the highest possible resolution. Aside from costing more, both Sure View and UHD use more energy, so I’d rather have more battery life and a few extra dollars in my pocket.

HP also has other models including a 13-inch 1030 series and the 14-inch 1040 series that are similarly priced, with varying features. Unlike smartphones, bigger isn’t necessarily more expensive when it comes to laptops. For some people, “less is more,” when it comes to size and weight.

I can’t help but think about that Steve Jobs quote about cars vs. trucks. If a laptop is a “truck,” then I guess I’m a PC driver. But like millions of people who drive pick-up trucks, I prefer laptops that are small, light, rugged, versatile and energy-efficient that can be used for work and play.

This post first appeared in the San Jose Mercury News

For the past 12 years, the United Nations has sponsored the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), a “multistake holder” event that brings together people from governments around the world along with tech executives, nonprofits and academics. This year it was held in Geneva, Switzerland.

Although there are some technical sessions, most of the focus is on internet policy — issues that countries are struggling with as the internet becomes increasingly integrated into our  lives. As usual, I’m speaking at sessions focused on child safety, but this year, there are some newer issues on the table including the advantages and risks of artificial intelligence, blockchain technology and fake news.

Listen to Larry’s segment about IGF on Washington DC’s WTOP radio

Fake news seems to be the most dominant subject. It came up in nearly every session I attended, including some that seemingly had nothing to do with the subject. As in the United States, people around the world are concerned about its impact on elections and social discourse, and there is plenty of evidence of state-sponsored fake news affecting elections in several countries.

There are two distinct types of “fake news.” There is “real” fake news. Real in the sense that the term clearly applies because such stories are either totally fabricated or at least largely untrue. And then there is “fake” fake news when someone uses that term to refer to news outlets or stories that they don’t agree with. Despite high-profile claims to the contrary, when a journalist makes a mistake, it’s not fake news, especially if the story is corrected.

Fake news even came up in a session I attended on blockchain technologies. Blockchain, is the technology behind bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. It’s essentially a ledger or database that can be distributed across multiple devices. It allows people to exchange information or value without revealing unnecessary details including the people involved or what is being exchanged. As you’d expect, it is being used for illegal drug and weapons deals and other shady transactions, but there are lots of legitimate users and plenty of well-respected players, including IBM. Even major banks are investigating blockchain as a way to create confidential ledgers for the way they account for funds.

Blockchain makes it possible to authenticate a transaction, a thing or a person without having to reveal details to other parties. Imagine if you had a driver’s license or a passport that didn’t have your name or your picture, but when you showed it to authorities, they could issue you a traffic ticket or let you into a country without ever having to know your name.

One of the blockchain experts at the session said that it is already being used to authenticate news sources to make sure they’re legitimate or at least accountable. Others suggested it could be used to provide identity authentication for undocumented refugees who may not have passports.

Artificial intelligence was also a big topic at IGF.  I attended a workshop on the Social Responsibility and Ethics in Artificial Intelligence, chaired by Urs Gasser, director of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.

Three of the speakers were from China and each emphasized how the Chinese government is investing in AI, pointing out that China’s researchers are focused mainly on developing practical applications vs. the more theoretical research taking place in the U.S.

Like others on the panel, he argued that the benefits of AI are enormous despite the challenges, which include the privacy implications of the vast amount of data collected, the potential for the humans who program AI to inject their own biases into the code and the risk of bad actors creating their own AI applications or injecting malicious code into otherwise benign applications. All of the panelists agreed that jobs will be eliminated, including some white collar jobs that have, so far, escaped being affected by automation. However, all also agreed that AI will usher in new jobs. Still, just as has long been true with jobs replaced by technologies, there will be some who will be able to move on and thrive as a result of the new technology and others who get left behind.

The panelists laughed at but dismissed the Hollywood plot line of rogue machines morphing into super-intelligent combatants in a power struggle with humans, creating an existential threat to our survival. While such scenarios sell movie tickets, they don’t reflect the likely risks of AI, which is typical of how moral panics about new technologies often focus on the wrong risks.

And speaking of morphing and wrong risks, as I reflected on my time at this and previous forums, I couldn’t help but feel a little self-conscious about how the internet safety field that I’ve been involved with for more than 20 years has modified its own perceptions of risk. Early on, we focused almost exclusively on the risks of children’s access to pornography and many greatly exaggerated the likelihood of children being sexually abused by strangers they met online. Those risks, along with cyberbullying, remain real, but momentarily at least, they’re being overshadowed by newer risks that we couldn’t even imagine a few years ago.

It’s pretty long list of RIP tech services and products including AIM, AOL’s once popular Instant Messenger and Windows Movie Maker. You can see the entire list here at Wired.

Facebook says that it’s “taking action to be more transparent about the foreign interference in the 2016 US Elections and how has a tool to help users figure out if they’ve liked or followed a Facebook page or Instagram account associated with Russia’s Internet Research Agency which has, according to Facebook, created about 470 fake accounts and pages with material designed to divide Americans.

In a separate announcement last week, Facebook said that it’s changing the way it alerts people to potential fake news. Gone are the red flags saying that a post is disputed, replaced by links to related articles and shed light on content that may be false.

This post first appeared in the San Jose Mercury News

2017 was an impressive year, but not all in a good way.

On the plus side, I was impressed by how some new products might lead to significant benefits. On the negative side, I am worried about how the misuse of social media and threats to our privacy and security may cause us to remember 2017 as the year the net turned sour.

Let’s start with some promising technologies. Although Apple’s new iPhone X is mostly just an iterative and expensive upgrade, its effective use of facial recognition is a big step forward. The iPhone X is far from the first tech product to include facial recognition, but it’s the first one I’ve used that’s not only extremely fast, but unlike the facial recognition in my Windows 10 laptop, it actually works nearly every time. Google’s Pixel 2 smartphone is also — in most ways — just a hair better than its predecessor, but Google has figured out a way to make fingerprint recognition work well enough to cause me to rarely need to use my PIN.

2017 was also the year when artificial intelligence started to go mainstream. It still has a long way to go, but Google’s Android is getting better at anticipating your needs. It can let you know about an upcoming flight based on what it sees in your email or welcome you home when it detects you at your front door. The Amazon Echo not only plays music on demand, but can anticipate what type of music we want to hear. And lots of devices, including smart watches, remind us to get up and move when we’ve been sitting around too long. This is just the start as products begin to go beyond serving our needs to anticipating them.

2017 is also the year when 4K TVs became mainstream. When I first saw a 4K TV several years ago, I couldn’t figure out why anyone would spend thousands more for a TV with a picture that wasn’t noticeably better from a few feet away than 1080p sets. That’s still true, but 4K is now pretty much the standard and adds very little to the price tag of new TVs. It’s not enough to get me to replace my 1080p television, but I’ll go with 4K the next time I shop for a new one — assuming 8K or even 10K sets aren’t affordable by then.

The tablet market continued to shrink in 2017 now that phones are getting bigger and laptops smaller. PC sales also continued their decline except for “convertible” machines such as the Microsoft Surface Pro, Lenovo Yoga and HP Spectre 360, which serve as both laptops and tablets.

Home automation continued to evolve in significant ways, including the widespread adoption of voice control — mostly via Amazon Echo and Google Home — that allows many of us to turn on lights and control appliances without having to touch a switch. Before I went to bed last night, I told Alexa to turn off my Christmas tree lights and my electric fireplace.

Tesla released its long-awaited “$35,000” Model 3 but in extremely limited quantities. Most customers opted to pay more, thanks to desirable but expensive add-ons such as an extended battery and “auto-pilot” software. Tesla is doing great when it comes to introducing new products, but not so good when it comes to keeping up with demand.

Twitter continues to struggle to turn a profit, but in 2017 it doubled the size of tweets to 280 characters. As with any change, some love it and some hate it, but most will eventually get used to it. The company also made strides toward reducing harassment but still has a way to go.

Facebook’s 2017 was mixed. From the revenue and user growth side it did just fine, but revelations that it may have impacted the 2016 election are hurting its reputation with both consumers and lawmakers. One of the most chilling indictments of the year came during a Congressional hearing when (then) Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., pointed out “People are buying ads on your platform with rubles,” adding, “They’re political ads. You put billions of data points together all the time” yet as the Facebook executive across the table admitted “it’s a signal we should have been alert to, and in hindsight, it’s one we missed.” After watching those hearings with Facebook, Twitter and Google executives, it’s clear to me that 2017 represents the beginning of a tech backlash that could result in legislation over the next year or two.

The Russian interference wasn’t just about praising or condemning candidates, but about dividing Americans with incendiary stories spread on fake accounts and pages. These stories were aimed at both the left and the right and were designed to influence a vast swath of Americans including those who, ironically, have been vocal about putting America first.

Speaking of Franken, sexual harassment was a huge issue throughout our culture, but, in addition to politicians and entertainment giants, it also affected the tech world. Uber’s CEO Travis Kalanick lost his job partially because of a workplace culture that allowed for sexual harassment and discrimination against women. Several venture capitalists and other tech luminaries lost their positions because of harassment allegations as the #MeToo movement spread throughout the Valley.

Net neutrality suffered a major blow in 2017 courtesy of the Federal Communications Commission, which rescinded an Obama-era rule that prevented internet service providers from discriminating against or for content, based on their business interests. Congress also took a swipe by voting to give ISPs more leeway over what they can do with consumer information such as browsing habits, app usage history and location data.

2017, like its recent predecessors, saw some horrific cyberattacks, including the Equifax breach that affected more than 145 million people. We’re at the point where these types of breaches are becoming almost background noise, but to those affected they can bring real pain. It’s a cat-and-mouse game as cybersecurity experts develop better prevention tools just as cyberthieves up their game.

So, as we close the books on 2017, we approach the new year with the knowledge that there is a lot of work to do, not least of which is doing all we can to encourage peace on Earth and goodwill toward men and women in our online and offline interactions.

Every year Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg takes on a challenge. One year it was to learn Mandarin. Another it was to visit every U.S. State and one year he ran 365 miles. This year, he’s doing something more important. “The world feels anxious and divided, and Facebook has a lot of work to do,” he wrote in a blog post. And this year he’s focus on thinks liker

• Protecting our community from abuse and hate
• Defending against interference by nation states
• Making sure that time spent on Facebook is time well spent

His  “personal challenge for 2018 is to focus on fixing these important issues,” so that “we’ll end 2018 on a much better trajectory.”

Zuckerberg wrote that “one of the most interesting questions in technology right now is about centralization vs decentralization.” He said that most people believed that technolgoy would be a decentralizing force, “But today, many people have lost faith in that promise. With the rise of a small number of big tech companies — and governments using technology to watch their citizens — many people now believe technology only centralizes power rather than decentralizes it.”

And, of course, Facebook is one of those big companies, which touches the lives of more than 2 billion people around the world. Facebook also impacts what happens in the “real world,” including how people get the information they use to make important decisions, like electing their leaders. Although no-one has proved that what was posted on Facebook may have changed the outcome of the 2018 U.S. election, there is no question that it had some impact given the amount of fake news and Russian propaganda that was distributed on the platform.

Facebook also faces challenges when it comes to how people treat each other on its platform. It’s dedicated a lot of resources towards curbing cyberbullying and harassment, yet those remain issues for many Facebook users. Facebook has also been working to cut down on hate speech within its platform, but it has more to do in that regard.

Zuckerberg poitns to “counter-trends” like encryption and cryptocurrency, “that take power from centralized systems and put it back into people’s hands, but he says that they “come with the risk of being harder to control.”

While Zuckerberg is certainly right to worry about centralization, including the enormous power in his own hands, he also needs to think about how to use that power for good. Frankly, I don’t think that encryption and cyptrocurrency — as useful as they may be — are the solution. While I don’t have all the answers, I think the solution starts by acknowledging that Facebook has to work in a larger framework of cooperation both the regulatory bodies (governments) and organizations that advocate on behalf of constituencies and communities. My own non-profit, ConnectSafely.org is one of those organizations, which does work closely with Facebook as part of its Safety Advisory Board. And, while Facebook has consulted us and other groups and has even taken our advice from time to time, I think the company can do more when it comes to seeking and listening to advice.

Facebook is not alone. Social media, by definition, is subject to the whims and abuses of the people who use it and, as long as people have flaws, those flaws will be reflected in the media they contribute to. Still, there are things the company should and can do more.

This post first appeared in the San Jose Mercury News

CES, which used to stand for “Consumer Elections Show,” has evolved into the world’s biggest technology showcase. Last year, just over 180,000 people attended the event, but based on next week’s absurdly high hotel prices in Las Vegas, I’m guessing that the turnout will be even bigger when the show opens Tuesday.

According to the Consumer Technology Association, the show’s sponsor, this year’s CES is expected to have about 4,000 exhibitors spread out over about 2.6 million square feet. Nearly 7,500 members of the media — including yours truly — are expected to cover the event. The show runs Tuesday through Friday.

CES is where you see the latest thinnest, biggest and highest resolution TVs, and this year will be no exception. LG, Samsung and Sony will compete for the largest sets on the planet at price tags that no one in their right mind would spend. There will also be 8K and perhaps even 10K sets on display, either as prototypes or at stratospheric prices. All TV makers, even budget ones such as HiSense and Westinghouse, will have plenty of 4K TVs at about the same price as standard 1080p sets.

The “K” refers to a resolution of roughly 1,000 pixels. Today’s standard high-def sets are 1K with 1,080 horizontal lines of vertical resolution. 4K is approximately four times that resolution and so-on. Tech purists will point out that the math is more complicated when it comes to resolution, but suffice it to say that the higher the K, the higher the resolution. Having said that, higher resolution isn’t necessarily noticeable. A few years ago I saw a Sony 4K set alongside a 1080p set, and I couldn’t tell the difference from a few feet away. Nevertheless, 4K caught on, and 8K possibly will also. But old CES hands like me also remember how the industry pushed 3D sets for years, yet they never caught on.

Some of the sets I expect to see will look almost as if they’re painted on the wall — impressive but not necessarily useful. It’s hard to imagine anyone with a newer TV losing sleep over how thick it is. I do expect to see a lot of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) sets with their improved contrast ratio, greater color accuracy and wider-angle viewing.

LG and probably other TV-makers will likely announce voice-controlled sets that work with Amazon Alexa and Google Home.

Speaking of voice control, I expect to see a ton of devices that work with Alexa, Google Home and Apple’s soon-to-be-released SIRI-enabled Homepod. Smart light fixtures from GE have their own built-in speakers and microphones to control not only your lights but other connected devices. We’ll also see lots of products with built-in facial recognition, allowing users to unlock them with just a look.

For years, companies such as LG and Samsung have shown off smart appliances; however, features such as mounting a screen on a refrigerator door aren’t that compelling. I think we’ll see more advancement in this category, such as voice control, but it will be awhile before your refrigerator and your washing machine have a meaningful conversation that can make your life better.

All the major carmakers will be at CES, and most will at least talk about autonomous vehicles they’re designing and testing but not yet selling. We will see some new car infotainment systems, though most will support Apple Car Play and Android Auto, which let people control their smartphone apps from the car’s bigger screen. I expect to see more driver-assistance technology that enhances car safety by at least partially automating slowing down, emergency breaking, lane changing and parking.

A lot of cellphone companies will save their announcements for Mobile World Congress that gets underway Feb. 26 in Barcelona. Sony, however, is expected to show off its latest Xperia phone, and Samsung may unveil its Galaxy A8 with some of the features of its Galaxy S8 flagship phone at a lower price. LG is also expected to unveil phones as well as lesser known Chinese companies such as Huawei that will flood the market with lower-cost but high-quality Android phones.

PCs no longer dominate CES, but Dell, HP, Acer, Asus and Lenovo will show off thinner and lighter laptops. Many will have either removable screens or screens with flexible hinges that convert the laptop into a tablet. Some may feature extended battery life of up to 20 hours on a charge.

ve seen products such as smart scales and devices that measure blood pressure and other vital signs. Samsung is expected to announce smart eyeglasses as well as a device and mobile app to help people with breathing problems.

What I don’t expect at CES is technology that will help attendees get around Las Vegas without dealing with traffic jams, long transit lines and overpriced hotels. But that’s the price one pays to be among the first to see the products that will jump off the shelves or languish in the warehouses later in 2018. For those lucky enough to avoid Las Vegas next week, the keynotes will be streamed live and the tech press will carry every detail. You also can hear me talk about the show weekdays at 3:51 p.m. on KCBS AM 740/FM 106.9 and on CBS News Radio.

Toyota’s e-Pallete Store On Wheels Plus Ride Sharing (from Forbes)

What to expect from CES 2018 (preview)

Radio segment: Voice everywhere at CES (50 seconds including interview with CTA President Gary Shapiro)