Witnessing shared moral norms being disrespected inhibits the neurons responsible for controlling our tongue, a reaction similar to the one we have when we taste something unpleasant. This is what emerges from a study led by the University of Bologna and the University of Messina. This work received the Best Paper Prize 2021 during the XII International Scientific Conference on Neuroethics.
PrivacyMic, the Smart Speaker That Doesn t Eavesdrop
UM researchers developed a system that enables devices to understand what s happening in your home respond without listening to you.
A prototype PrivacyMic. (ð·: University of Michigan / YouTube)
A team of University of Michigan researchers has developed a prototype system dedicated to privacy: a smart speaker that doesn t pick up or record audible sound but still informs a smart home or listens for the signal that would turn on a smart speaker. With an estimated 320 million microphones worldwide always listening to pick out our commands, this is an important step in revamping smart tech to protect user privacy; with the PrivacyMic, smart systems can understand what is happening in your home respond without listening to your conversations.
ORLANDO, Fla. (PRWEB) June 10, 2021 In direct response to the rapid growth of the recently launched Human Factors + (HF+) program, Noble, an Aptar Pharma
‘PrivacyMic’: For a smart speaker that doesn’t eavesdrop
Microphones are perhaps the most common electronic sensor in the world, with an estimated 320 million listening for our commands in the world’s smart speakers. The trouble is that they’re capable of hearing everything else, too.
But now, a team of University of Michigan researchers has developed a system that can inform a smart home or listen for the signal that would turn on a smart speaker without eavesdropping on audible sound.
The key to the device, called PrivacyMic, is ultrasonic sound at frequencies above the range of human hearing. Running dishwashers, computer monitors, even finger snaps, all generate ultrasonic sounds, which have a frequency of 20 kilohertz or higher. We can’t hear them but dogs, cats and PrivacyMic can.
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Essential workers’ tweets show surprising positivity during pandemic
A team of researchers from the Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology explored whether the COVID-19 pandemic had a greater impact on the well-being of essential workers, and if they turned to media to tell about it. Their finding that tweets from essential workers across all topics being more positive than general users highlights a trend that started before the pandemic and has remained consistent since.
Image: Adobe Stock: Groenning
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people turned to social media platforms to share their feelings about the changes happening in the world around them. Essential workers – such as medical providers, retail and food service employees, and public transportation workers – tweeted less often than general users about COVID-19 but more about overall mental health issues, according to researchers at the Penn State College of Information Sciences and Tec