June 29, 2019

Pride protests, Toy Story fail, science wins and cuddly bots: the week’s top tech news

By admin In News, Technology No comments

Ben Heubl, associate editor

Google warns employees against Pride parade protests

Last week, we reported on Google’s memo sent around internally warning members of staff not to protest agains the company’s policies at the annual Pride parade. Employees planned to march alongside the float, protesting Google’s failures to protect LGBT+ people with signs and t-shirts. The problem is that Google might underestimate the messages its sending and the effects it has on future hiring. Would a brilliant LGBT+ engineer be willing to start at a company with a questionable attitude? E&T has extensively reported on the importance of diversified staff and open culture of diverse groups within the tech sector. For Google, it would be a mistake to take this light-heartedly. Giants fall quicker than one may expect and a company is no more worth than its workforce.

Book review: ‘Escape from Earth’ by Fraser MacDonald

Mark Williamson’s book review last week on ‘Escape from Earth’ posted a question: “I mean, why has no-one made a film of this story?”. I think it can be answered in the following way. Whenever we talk about making a movie about space exploration, wild space fiction just fares better (think Star Wars and Star Trek) because it takes people out of their boring day-to-day life.

Perhaps for a different groups we are still lacking a connection to the real world and real problems. With more stories on space exploration – think ganja-puffing Elon Musk and a call to occupy Mars – and with a real-world implication – perhaps finding new materials to help solving problems for our crippled environment, health or over-population – more and more people may take a fancy in such a genre.

Back then, president Kennedy couldn’t say it himself any better. He wasnt interested in space because it didn’t concern him. But from the moment space exploration become more than a country’s vanity projects and perhaps start to be valuable for the individual (think satellites in space), it may convince the one or the other movie maker to spin a tale for the screen in the fashion of how MacDonald conceived it.

EU could force companies to share AI technology

Our reporting of an AI expert panel demanding from the EU regulations that companies must reveal their AI technology to other firms is positive news. One critical thing to add is the need to request sharing and explain more to regulators and foremost, us the public. Hereby, the issue of bias may not be addressed strongly enough. I support the panel’s call on advising against building a pervasive surveillance system based on AI systems on the basis that it could be extremely dangerous if pushed to extreme levels. The EU should listen carefully to the group’s advice.

Dominic Lenton, managing editor

Toy Story 4: wrong toys or the right play?

Much as I’ve loved all the Toy Story movies to date, and anticipate that the latest instalment will carry on defying the law of diminishing returns that applies to most franchises by the time they reach the stage where box office receipts are vastly outweighed by sales of merchandise, I’ll be waiting for part 4 – analysed by Tim Fryer in this month’s ‘Big Screen’ section of E&T – to be available to stream or on DVD.

It’s just not one of those big spectacles that you have to accept will be a completely different experience on a big screen to your home TV. That, and the fact that my children, who were the exact target demographic for earlier films, have outgrown this sort of thing.

That does make for some interesting conversations though, now they’re old enough to analyse movies they were happy to enjoy for their own sake as youngsters. Put aside for a moment the logic of why Buzz Lightyear behaves like a toy in the original film, dropping into lifelessness as soon as one of the human protagonists comes into a room even though the whole point of the plot is that he doesn’t realise he is a toy. In part 4, one of the new characters is Forky, a home-made toy crafted from plastic cutlery and pipe cleaners. One of the main points we’re supposed to take home, as I understand it, is that if a child considers such a thing to have a personality, it makes it just as much a valid plaything as one that’s come out of a factory.

Which is a very engineering-friendly message. Yet how does it sit with the portrayal in Toy Story of bad boy next door neighbour Sid as a reprehensible villain, largely because he enjoys cannibalising parts from different toys to turn them into new ones? Surely that, as a cynical teen in my family who happens to be studying engineering argued on a car journey this week, is no different to the sort of creativity that’s usually considered praiseworthy?

Obviously there’s not a great deal of room for nuance in a film that’s going to be enjoyed by under fives. Let’s hope though that any who enjoy this new offering enough to go back to the start of the quadrilogy cut Sid a bit of slack and try to emulate him just as much as the more appealing Bonnie. Not sure about central character Andy, though. I don’t think we ever found out what he was off to study when the story arc of Toy Story 3 called for him to leave home for college and suspect it wasn’t engineering.

Tim Fryer, Technology Editor

‘My approach to science is to make it entertaining’: Maggie Aderin-Pocock

The world is full of impressive people. The disappointment we might feel with our headline characters in public office should easily be outweighed by those who combine vision and intelligence with hard work and commitment to really make a difference to society. Sometimes in small ways – perhaps the science teacher who inspires a new generation of problem solvers – or perhaps the big time inventor who makes breakthroughs in medicine or tackling climate change.

I find Maggie Aderin-Pocock an impressive person. I had the pleasure of meeting her briefly after she had presented at a UK Space Agency event earlier this year. Her enthusiasm for her subject was obvious as soon as she started to speak and that is undoubtedly part of the reason she is such a good role model and ambassador for engineering.

Another example is Maggie Philbin, who gained fame as a Tomorrow’s World presenter (amongst other things) and now is the driving force behind TeenTech – an engineering programme for teenagers that came to a climax for 2019 with its awards this week.

While both of these characters have multiple skill sets that are the envy of most of the rest of us, what links them in this context is the unrelenting energy they find to promote engineering. Having gained celebrity both have used it in such a constructive way so that benefactors are not the individuals (let’s face it, most celebrities crave fame for their own benefit), but for the benefit of engineering and the engineers of the future.

I think the stars of sport and art frequently tread the path of ‘putting something back’, but there are not so many scientists and engineers – maybe they are just not famous enough to make an impact. Or maybe we need more people like Maggie and Maggie who are finding new ways of communicating science and engineering in a way that inspires. However, it is a far better use of their celebrity than just appearing on game shows, although even that might engineering that bit cooler!

Siobhan Doyle, assistant technology editor

Cuddly toy robots could help reduce anxiety in hospitalised children

A new study by researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), collaborating with Northeastern University and Boston Children’s Hospital, has indicated that a ‘social robot’ can be used in support sessions to help reduce sick children’s anxiety, pain and other distress while in a hospital setting.

The study found that a robotic teddy bear, known as ‘Huggable’ developed by MIT researcher, was able to boost the positive emotions in children between the ages of three to ten years old, compared to an avatar of the bear on a tablet and a traditional plush teddy bear.

You get the odd person who criticises the use of robotics in everyday life. “The robots are taking over!”, or something along those lines. But it does seem that AI could have genuinely beneficial uses in the healthcare and medical sectors.

If a robotic teddy bear is able to lift the spirits of sick children, then who are we to judge? Perhaps little AI applications such as these will be able to make all children living under certain circumstances happy. Only time will tell with further research and deployment of cute robotic toys – potentially putting a smile on a child’s face.

Dickon Ross, editor-in-chief

All electric car home chargepoints must be ‘smart’, government mandates

The government mandate announce this week to make electric vehicle charge points smart is to be welcomed but the government’s record on implementing smart schemes isn’t good. Any programme of smart chargers must be manage better than the smart meters programme, which as well as running behind schedule and almost certain to miss its targets has also resulted in many ‘not so smart meters’ in households. Smart charge points are another part of the future electricity grid infrastructure and demand and supply management. This is needed to make the most of growing energy sources such as micro-generation as well as more renewables and energy storage.

Indeed, electric vehicles could themselves help to store energy, releasing it back into the supply as well as charging themselves when demand is low. It’s a long way from what households are using now. Many are not even bothering with charge points designed for charging electric vehicles but instead just installing generic outdoor sockets or even just trailing extension leads out of windows. That’s potentially dangerous as well as inefficient. So the UK badly needs more quality charge points and urgently but it doesn’t need another flawed programme like the smart meters one.

Vitali Vitaliev, features editor

South Korean carrier launches 5G in Korean DMZ village

This news story reminded me of my visit to the DMZ in the end of 2017. I described it in detail in my E&T feature ‘The Zone of Fear and Hope‘.

Here are some additional recollections that were not included in the feature.

I still had one important place to visit – the so-called DMZ – the Demilitarized Zone, only 50 km north of Seoul.

Myself a defector, I was both willing and fearful to see the world’s last remaining Cold War border, to come close to my own totalitarian past for the first time in nearly 30 years. Since the collapse of the Berlin Wall, it was the North-South Korean divide that had acquired a dubious moniker of The Mother of All Borders.

My first surprise was how touristy the trip was promising to be. Coachloads of people: Koreans and foreigners – were heading towards the JSA (Joint Security Area) across the pristine landscapes of the no-man’s land – a four-km-wide watch-tower-ridden buffer zone, with lush vegetation and thriving undisturbed wildlife. On the way, I ticked off flocks of exterritorial herons, wild geese and majestic Siberian eagles, floating in the sky in huge numbers like some benign wide-winged fighter bombers.

Our passports were checked four times on the way to the JSA, and our guide, with a smile glued to his face, was announcing lunch arrangements (lunch was included in the tour) finishing with a tactlessly facetious rhetorical question: “Is anyone planning to ignore lunch and to starve themselves like the North Korean people?”

No one laughed.

We soon reached Camp Bonifas, a USA Army base, named after Captain Bonifas, an American officer killed by axe-wielding North Korean border guards in 1976.

The Camp had a visitor Centre, with a regulation souvenir shop. Before being escorted to the MDL (Military Demarcation Line) inside the so-called “Peace House” – the Military Armistice Commission building, where both sides used to meet to resolve disputes, we had to listen to a short introductory talk by two US Military Police privates, both speaking with a characteristic Mid-Western drawl. They told us we were not allowed to wear flip-flops, ripped jeans and shorts, exposing the buttocks.

In a disorderly formation, we proceeded to the Peace House, from we were allowed to ogle (and to take photos of) a couple of stern-looking and motionless North Korean officers who were ogling us in return. Several tourists, including myself, ventured across the MDL that ran through the middle of a small negotiations table and momentarily ended up in North Korea de facto. Despite the touristy touch, the sensation was ticklish.

We looked at some other DMZ attractions: The Bridge of No Return, where POW exchanges used to be conducted; the Third Infiltration Tunnel, secretly built by North Koreans and discovered by the South after a tip by a defector; the Dora Observatory – a look-out platform, from where – through special pay-as-you-view binoculars we were able to see bits of the North Korean territory, including the permanently empty buildings of Kijong-dong, better known as the ‘propaganda village’.

Contrary to its intentions, the North was making money for South Korea by the very fact of its existence and by its precarious proximity too!

The last – and the most moving – stop on our itinerary was Dorasan train station, built during the temporary thaw in the North-South relations, the so-called Sunshine Policy”, under Kim Jon Il.

The empty long-disused station had an eerie feel. It spelled the end of hope. Only platform tickets were on sale at the station’s ticket office. When on the platform, the tourists could examine the solitary sign “Seoul – 56 km; Pyongyang – 237 km”.

“Hope this railway will reunite Korean families,” George W Bush said at the official station opening in 2002. It didn’t. Yet, the recent warming up of the USA-North Korea relations leaves a slight hope that it will one day.

Jonathan Wilson, online managing editor

Solar-powered car promises 725km max range

By a complete coincidence – or possibly not, given the unified, omni-channel marketing strategies of the modern world – E&T will actually be seeing this car for real next week at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, where it turns out the Lightyear One will be on display in the Future Labs pavilion. It won’t actually be doing any speeding at the Festival, so while we may not be able to verify its 725Km range or time it around the track, we will at least be able to appreciate its seductive lines. If we learn anything else about this intriguing solar-powered vehicle, we will report back. In the meantime, keep an eye on E&T‘s social channels for a steady stream of photos from our Goodwood visit next Thursday.

Raspberry Pi 4 unveiled; interview with founder Eben Upton

What an amazing little computer the Raspberry Pi is – and that statement is in no way intended to damn it with faint praise. For less than the cost of a night out at the pub, you can have a decently equipped micro computer, on which you can do pretty much anything. The projects that this mini marvel is running all over the world have been well documented and the uprated tech spec of RPi4 will only help cement its legend.

My favourite takeaway from this fascinating interview with the company founder is that all the computers are made in Wales. The company quit China a couple of generations ago, as it is actually cheaper for them to manufacture in Wales due to improved automated processes. That little nugget was even more amazing to me than the price and spec of the RPi4 itself.

Jack Loughran, news reporter

Oppo reveals first smartphone with under display selfie camera

Tech companies have become obsessed with eliminating the bezel lining the edge of smartphone screens. First it was under screen fingerprint scanners and now they’re trying to perfect the under screen selfie camera. Millions, maybe billions have been spent on R&D just to kill a 10mm bezel. Pretty indicative that the smartphone market is running out of ideas in convincing people to stick to yearly upgrades.

Hilary Lamb, news reporter

Facial recognition may never be appropriate for police use, says ethics board

I was impressed by this unusual turn of events, in which a company agreed to establish a moral compass (an ethics board), and then listened to its recommendations. Axon – the law enforcement tech company best known for the Taser – has announced that it will not be incorporating facial recognition into police body cameras after its AI and Policing Technology Ethics Board recommended that the technology may never be fair and reliable enough to be used in law enforcement. Axon is continuing to do research and development in facial recognition, however, so this may not be considered an absolute victory for civil liberties and privacy campaigners.