Scientists release personal data for 70,000 OkCupid profiles
A group of Danish researchers scraped data from 70,000 OkCupid profiles, packaged it in a data set, and released it on the internet. While the profiles are technically public, collecting personal information on such a massive scale without getting consent from either OkCupid or the users themselves is at the very least a breach of social science ethics, experts say.
The researchers, Emil Kirkegaard, Oliver Nordbjerg, and Julius Daugbjerg Bjerrekær, used software to automatically scrape profiles and then uploaded it in a set onto the Open Science Framework, a forum and repository for scientists to share data. The info is only slightly anonymous: While no real names are used, usernames are connected with location and answers to the litany of personal questions OkCupid uses to find compatibility. Some of these, like political leanings or feelings about homosexuality, are quite private.
As Kirkegaard repeatedly stated on Twitter, the data was indeed publicly available, but the scraping violates the dating site’s terms and a possible legal matter, an OkCupid spokesperson told Vox. And, as Vox points out, it’s also a breach of ethics according to the American Psychological Association, which states that people involved in research studies have the right to consent. Even Aarhus University in Denmark, where Kirkegaard is a student, publicly distanced itself from him and noted that the profile data was not collected on behalf of the university.
OkCupid isn’t a stranger to mining its users for data and publishing observations on its now-defunct OkTrends blog, but there are crucial differences. For one, the posts are summaries, not massive data sets with identifiable information. Second, and more importantly, OkCupid users give consent when signing up for the dating site to mine their profiles and activity.
Via: The Mary Sue
Source: Vox
NASA is funding a deep sleep chamber and other crazy concepts
NASA is setting aside money to fund the most ambitious and odd-but-interesting projects that made it through NIAC’s first phase. NIAC or NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) is the agency’s annual program that welcomes submissions from forward-thinking scientists. The agency has chosen eight from the 13 phase 1 concepts, including a deep sleep chamber that astronauts can use for missions to Mars, the moon and places much farther than Earth’s orbit.
One project wants to explore the use of robots to expand habitats when they’re already in space, while another plans to use a planet’s atmosphere to slow down descending spacecraft to make missions more affordable. There’s also one that wants to use a coating that can reflect 99.9% of the sun’s energy for long-term cryogenic storage, say to transport liquid oxygen and other chemicals to Mars and other planets. While these concepts sound like they came right out of a sci-fi movie, their creators were able to demonstrate that they’re quite feasible. NASA is awarding each one up to $500,000 to develop their concepts further for two more years. Who knows — someday, our descendants might use one of NIAC’s concepts to roam the universe
- Advancing Torpor Inducing Transfer Habitats for Human Stasis to Mars, John Bradford, Space Works, Inc. in Atlanta
- Cryogenic Selective Surfaces, Robert Youngquist, Kennedy Space Center in Florida
- Directed Energy Interstellar Study, Philip Lubin, University of California, Santa Barbara
- Experimental Demonstration and System Analysis for Plasmonic Force Propulsion, Joshua Rovey, University of Missouri in Rolla
- Flight Demonstration of Novel Atmospheric Satellite Concept, William Engblom, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida
- Further Development of Aperture: A Precise Extremely Large Reflective Telescope Using Re-configurable Elements, Melville Ulmer, Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois
- Magnetoshell Aerocapture for Manned Missions and Planetary Deep Space Orbiters, David Kirtley, MSNW, LLC in Redmond, Washington
- Tensegrity Approaches to In-Space Construction of a 1g Growable Habitat, Robert Skelton, Texas Engineering Experiment Station in La Jolla, California
Via: Gizmodo
Source: NASA
The good and bad sides of Apple’s classroom hardware initiative
In late 2014, Apple announced that it would donate iPads, Macs and Apple TVs to 114 “underserved” schools as a way of getting more technology in the hands of those who don’t have as much of a chance to use it. With the program well underway, The Wall Street Journal published a report on the good and bad sides thus far. While some studies have shown that schools in which students that heavily use technology actually do worse than students who do so moderately, a big part of that problem comes from not having curriculum developed that the hardware can enhance. In the case of Apple’s trial, the company is providing an employee to spend 17 days per year at each school to help build lesson plans that take advantage of the company’s hardware.
While it’s too early to tell with hard data how the initiative is fairing, teachers the WSJ spoke with in Yuma, Arizona have positive feelings thus far. Fourth-grade teacher Blanca Rivera has overcome her skepticism to the value of using hardware in the classroom, saying that it has enhanced and motivated her students. She also said that the sessions with Apple’s guide have definitely been helpful.
Naturally, there are downsides as well. The students can’t currently take their iPads home, meaning they aren’t useful for homework. Even if the students were allowed to bring the tablets out of the classroom, many of them don’t have internet connections at home. And the teachers have concerns about what’ll happen when the three-year program ends and the district can’t afford to buy hardware itself. Apple’s Eddie Cue believes that if the program proves to be valuable, finding continued funding won’t be difficult. “You have to solve the problem you have today and not worry about the problem you’re going to have tomorrow,” he said to the WSJ.
Of course, Apple has non-philanthropic motivations for making these donations. Recent estimates shows that more than half of the hardware being purchased for schools at this point are relatively inexpensive Google Chromebooks rather than Apple devices. The company has never been about pure marketshare, but there’s undoubtably a benefit to getting its hardware in the hands of as many students as possible to help convert them to future Apple products down the line.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Apple says a bug in iTunes might be deleting user’s libraries
Last week, a blog post by a designer named James Pinkstone made the rounds; in it, the writer claimed that Apple Music and iTunes teamed up to delete his 122GB of local music files and basically cause havoc with his library. This isn’t the first time we’ve heard of oddness around how Apple Music plays with your local files, but it sounded more severe than most other reports. Now, Apple has confirmed to iMore that it is working on a patch to iTunes to fix the issue.
In the statement, Apple acknowledged that an “extremely small” number of customers were having their libraries disappear without their permission. Apple hasn’t been able to reproduce the bug itself, but nonetheless it says a patch to iTunes next week should help solve the problem. That’s little comfort to those who lost their local music libraries (back up your files, people), but it does serve as confirmation that this isn’t expected Apple Music behavior — the service is not intended to to overwrite your personal music library. With 13 million customers now, we’d probably be hearing from more upset users if this was happening more frequently.
Source: iMore
Arizona governor sticks up for Airbnb in new law
Arizona Governor Doug Ducey signed SB 1350 today, which will prevent cities in the state from banning short-term rental services like Airbnb or HoweAway. According to an earlier report from Forbes, Governor Ducey’s end goal is to turn Arizona into The Sharing Economy State, which is a little different from the state’s current motto of “God enriches.”
A lobbyist group called Travel Technology Association, which counts Airbnb and Expedia among its members, obviously supports the bill, saying in a statement that it is “a win for everyone” and “Arizona has proven itself to be forward-thinking when it comes to public policy, willing to embrace the peer-to-peer economy while also balancing the interests of all stakeholders.” Governor Ducey has also been selling it as a move that will inject tourism dollars directly in the pockets of Arizonans, rather than the big hotel chains.
On the other end of the spectrum, however, Berlin recently banned whole-apartment rentals through the Airbnb, while the company itself has been cracking down on illegal hotels in its hometown of San Francisco.
Verizon pushes small security update to the original Droid Turbo
Droid Turbo owners, you’ve got a fresh update on its way courtesy of Verizon. If you, like everyone else, were hoping to finally secure some Marshmallow sweetness, however, you’ll want to prepare for disappointment. The latest update simply includes improvements to call performance, along with the “latest” Android security patches, Verizon says.
While up-to-date security is nothing to scoff at, this update certainly won’t please those who have been waiting what feels like ages for a taste of Marshmallow. Unfortunately, there’s no indication as to when or if Android 6.0 will make its way to the Turbo either. Still, if you’d like to grab the latest update, it should be rolling out now. If you haven’t been prompted yet, you can check manually by heading to the “About Phone” section of your phone’s Settings.
Thanks to Tim for the tip!
Motorola Droid Turbo
- Read our review
- Get the latest news
- Full Droid Turbo specs
- Join the discussion
- Buy Droid Turbo accessories
Verizon
Android Central 287: Google I/O 2016 preview!
We’re headed to Google I/O this week, and so it’s time to preview everything we know we’ll see, everything we think we’ll see, and everything we hope to see from the annual developer conference. You can follow all of our coverage here!
Please leave a review! Need a quick favor from y’all! When you have a free minute, please leave a review on our podcast in iTunes! (Here’s the link.) Thanks, folks!
Subscribe to the podcast
- Subscribe via RSS
- Subscribe via Google Play Music
- Subscribe via Pocket Casts
- Subscribe via iTunes
- Watch on YouTube
Credits
Thanks to these great artists for providing their music under the Creative Commons license:
- Pure Attitude, by Kevin MacLeod, Incompetech.
- Summertime Instrumental by cdk, ccmixter.org
- Where You Are Now by Alex Beroza, ccmixter.org
- Urban-Metronica (woo-yeah mix) by spinningmerkaba, ccmixter.org
Podcast MP3 URL: http://traffic.libsyn.com/androidcentral/androidcentral287.mp3
Best cheap cases for the Galaxy S7
Protect your phone while protecting your wallet.
Now, it’s no secret that buying a really cheap case probably won’t offer you the best degree of protection or the nicest look, but not all cases need to break the bank. So, for all you dollar-wise budget beaters, we’ve rounded up some of the cheapest cases we could find that still have something to offer.
- EasyACC
- Tekcoo Tbaron series
- Spigen Exact-Fit
- Cimo heavy duty shock absorbing hybrid
- ArtMine window view wallet case
EasyAcc
EasyAcc’s clear case is as simple as you can get and, while it’s nothing special to look at, this case is made out of TPU, which is extremely flexible and feels super grippy.
This case is not only completely transparent, allowing you to enjoy the natural beauty of your Galaxy S7, but also totally seamless. The edges of EasyAcc’s case are slightly raised to help prevent damage to the screen if you drop your phone on a flat surface.
Just beware of stretching and yellowing of the plastic. The TPU will absorb light super easily, which is what causes the discoloration.
This case is super cheap, starting around $2.60.
See at Amazon
Tekcoo Tbaron series
The Tbaron series from Tekcoo is surprisingly rugged for only starting around $7.99. It’s a two-layer system that consists of a silicone skin that your phone sits in and a back plastic cover that clips on over the silicone shell. Even with both layers, all the buttons and ports of the Galaxy S7 are easy to access.
The case looks and feels very similar to Otterbox’s Commuter series except with one major difference: that hard plastic back cover feels pretty slippery, which means it will be great for sliding in and out of your pocket. However, slipping out of your hands could happen, so tread carefully with this one.
Coming in a wide variety of vibrant and bright colors is an added bonus of the Tekcoo Tbaron series. If you’re looking for a cheap case that adds some bulk and some flash to your S7, this could be the case for you.
See at Amazon
Spigen Exact-Fit
It’s a simple and unassuming-looking hard polycarbonate shell that easily fits around the Galaxy S7 and will protect your phone from minor scratches to its back and sides. It does have a bit of a lip above the screen; however, it’s not quite enough for us to say laying it down screen-first is 100 percent worry-free.The case does get a little thicker around the camera at the back to protect the lens from getting scratched. Even so, it still manages to feel pretty light.
The sides of the Galaxy S7 are a little more exposed that some of your average cases, especially around the headphone jack and charging port located at the bottom of the phone. So it probably would be wise to use this case if you expect to be bumping the sides of your phone on objects.
All-in-all if you are looking for a pretty simple case that is also highly functional and only around $9.99, look no further than Spigen’s Exact-Fit.
See at Amazon
Cimo heavy duty shock absorbing hybrid
Who says cheap can’t mean fun? Cimo’s heavy-duty shock-absorbent hybrid case is great for anyone looking to make a statement, especially if that statement is “I like pink!” And, although this case may cause your eyes to catch fire with it’s brightness, it actually has some decent features.
It’s a one-piece case that is both a mix of hard polycarbonate and silicone that adds a little bit of bulk, making you feel like the phone is safe in your hand. The back of the phone has a pleasant texture that isn’t slippery at all, and it’s thick enough around the camera to protect the lens from scratches.
Of course, the funky colors and embedded rhinestones aren’t really going to make this case for everyone. However, we should mention that it does also come in non-eye-assaulting colors such as black, so for the low price of around $7.98, it’s worth checking out.
See at Amazon
ArtMine window view wallet case
This wallet case has one card slot so you can always have your bank account at the ready, and the flip cover will protect most of your phone screen. It does have a big square hole in the front cover, which is a good way to always be able to see the time whenever you want. This case is also very thin and won’t make your Galaxy S7 seem bulky at all which is kind of rare for a wallet case.
Now, this case is probably best for people who are looking for a wallet case that won’t break the break. After all, it starts around $8.90 which is pretty good for a case that has some screen protection built-in.
See at Amazon
What do you use?
Have you found a super-cheap case that you think should be added to our list? Sound off in the comments below and let us know why you think it’s the best!
Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge
- Galaxy S7 review
- Galaxy S7 edge review
- Here are all four Galaxy S7 colors
- Should you upgrade to the Galaxy S7?
- Learn about the Galaxy S7’s SD card slot
- Join our Galaxy S7 forums
AT&T
Sprint
T-Mobile
Verizon
Some Ring Doorbell Pro users could temporarily see other people’s houses
Be careful out there, especially with your smart doorbells.
A big part of using any kind of connected security system is trusting the company you’re paying to keep your information private, and a handful of Ring Doorbell Pro owners recently found that trust had been compromised. Notifications started coming from other Ring Doorbell Pro owners, with video feeds attached that were not from the right house.
Seeing someone else’s house in your security app isn’t cool, but knowing that there’s a distinct likelihood someone else is looking through the camera mounted on your door frame is more than a little unsettling. After receiving a tip from a reader who was understandably concerned, we reached out to Ring for a little clarification on this. Brand Manager Yassi Shahmiri offered an explanation.
Security is at the core of our company and this is something Ring takes very seriously. Here’s what happened:
We use random numbers to generate a call ID from Ring products. We did a very robust Beta test of the new Ring Video Doorbell Pro on experimental software, and when we moved it out of Beta for the commercial launch, some customers’ numbers were in two different databases. As a result, those call ID numbers were overwritten. We believe, based on all the data we have analyzed, that this caused less than ten instances – out of more than 4 million calls per day and over 84 million calls in total – where video recordings overlapped for Ring Video Doorbell Pro users only. We are in the process of merging those databases so this will no longer occur. This issue only effected Ring Video Doorbell Pro users, not users of our other products, Ring Video Doorbell and Ring Stick Up Cam.
While it’s nice to see Ring address the issue quickly, and it seems true that this only affected a small group of users, it’s a scary thing to have happen. If you were one of those affected by this Ring Doorbell Pro issue, shout out in the comments below!
Best iOS keyboards: The top third-party ones to try, and how to set them up
When Apple introduced iOS 8 a couple years ago, it also introduced support for third-party keyboards, meaning you get to install and use whatever type of keyboard you prefer, including glide-typing keyboards and GIF-search keyboards and emoji-only keyboards.
People either love or hate Apple’s keyboard. Luckily, for those of you who agree, there are plenty of alternative keyboards available.Pocket-lint has therefore rounded up the top keyboards worth trying. We’ve also detailed how exactly to set most of them up under Settings.
Keyboard apps: Third-party keyboards for iOS
Fleksy (Free)
Described as the fastest keyboard in the world, Fleksy features over 600 emoji, colourful themes, autocorrect, gestures, typing achievements, and a cloud service, among many other things.
Ginger: ($4.99)
This has been available on other platforms for a while and features things like a grammar checker, sentence re-phraser, translator, dictionary, text reader, and personal-typing trainer.
Minuum: ($3.99)
Originally launched for Android, the Minuum team said it actually built the first version of its keyboard for iOS. The app allows for “delightfully fast, sloppy typing”. It’s a one-dimensional keyboard that frees up screen space and comes with a specialised auto-correction algorithm.
Popkey: (Free)
This isn’t a traditional keyboard. It’s just for GIFs, because some things are just better said with GIFs rather than those weird-looking things called words. The keyboard will let you choose from thousands of GIFs or upload your own GIFs, and recently-used ones are just a tap away.
Giphy Keys (Free)
Giphy is just like Popkey. It lets you browse, search, and share GIFs in your text messages – right from your keyboard. It provides access to the Giphy repository, which has a collection of millions of GIFs. It also supports hashtag search terms.
GIF Keyboard (Free)
This app is just like Popkey and Giphy, because ya know, choices. Features: It lets you send the perfect GIF and video responses straight from your keyboard, browse through categories like reactions, music, trending, etc, search millions of GIFs, and create collections of your favuorite GIFs.
Swype: ($0.99)
Swype by Nuance is one of the most popular keyboard apps on other platforms. It lets you trace words with gestures on the keyboard instead of actually typing each letter. Other features include a smart editor, smart reselect, voice/text dictionary, themes, and more.
SwiftKey: (Free)
Like Swype, SwiftKey is hugely popular on Android. And now it is available for iOS devices. It offers gestures for typing as well as an autocomplete feature and an autocorrect feature. There’s even a cloud service for backups and intelligent language detection capabilities.
TouchPal: (Free)
Originally for Windows 8 and Android devices, TouchPal offers sentence gesture and word gesture technology, emojis and smileys, contextual prediction, Walkie Talkie-like input, auto correction, etc.
TextExpander: ($4.99)
This custom keyboard (originally for Mac) allows you to quickly type information by entering shortcuts, sort of like shorthand. You could for instance, type “sig” in an email to quickly enter your complete signature (which might include your full name, title, and contact information).
KuaiBoard: (Free)
Similar to TextExpander, Wolkober’s KuaiBoard (formally called QuickBoard) will give you a quicker way to enter the snippets of text you repeatedly use on iOS devices such as addresses, credit card information, email signatures, and more. You can enter your email on TouchPal’s website to be notified when the keyboard launches for iOS 8 devices.
Microsoft World Flow (Free)
Microsoft ported its Windows Word Flowphone keyboard to iOS. The Windows 10 Mobile keyboard also has a one-handed mode, but the new iOS keyboard is unique in that it serves up a fan-shaped layout instead. The app can smartly predict words too. Microsoft also added another feature that allow users to customise keyboard backgrounds with an image of their choice. Elsewhere in the app, users can track typing speed.
Gboard (Free)
Gboard is Google’s new app for iPhone. It lets you search and send information, GIFs, emojis and more: “With Gboard, you can search and send all kinds of things – restaurant info, flight times, news articles – right from your keyboard. Anything you’d search on Google, you can search with Gboard. Results appear as cards with the key information front and center, such as the phone number, ratings and hours,” explained Google.
How set up keyboards in iOS:
Download any third-party keyboards you want from Apple’s App Store.
Under General in Settings, go to Keyboard and then Keyboards.
While in Keyboards, select Add New Keyboards.
You should now see a list of all third-party keyboards you have installed on your device. Choose whichever keyboard you prefer.
Once you select the keyboard, it will appear in Keyboards as an option. Press Edit to rearrange your keyboards and designate a main keyboard (must hold down on the actual keyboard name and then drag it around – like to the top to make it a main keyboard).
And that’s it. You’re now free to type, type, type (or gesture) away on a keyboard different from Apple’s stock keyboard.
AIVAnet 