Jamming Microphones, helping the disabled work and AI in our lives

February 20

Microphones are everywhere nowadays. More than you might think and the big tech companies are recording what you say. How can we combat this? Wearable microphone jammers. We will also look at a cafe in Tokyo that carried out an experiment to help heavily disabled people into gainful employment and I will try (I emphasize try) to explain Quantum Entanglement and how it might help secure the internet in the future. Finally we will have a look at the new tool released by an Alphabet (Google’s parent company) subsidiary to try and fight the surge of manipulated photos creeping into Journalism.

Wearable microphone jamming

There are a growing range of connected devices with microphones that listen to everything that we say (e.g. Alexa, Google Home, Ring Doorbells). Many of those conversations are recorded by big tech companies and some are listened to by their employees (only for training purposes and quality assurance, it is not creepy snooping or commercial spying at all).

Many people are becoming concerned that their privacy is being compromised. To combat these listening devices a group of researchers at The University of Chicago developed a wrist worn device that will jam the microphones and preserve privacy.

The jammers work by transmitting an ultrasonic sound that is not perceived by the human ear (it might send your dog crazy so check before buying one). Once the microphone picks up the sound, the ultrasonic waves leak into the audible spectrum, producing a jamming signal inside the microphone circuit that jams (disrupts) voice recordings. The current prototype is quite clunky but I can foresee a future where bankers, executives, technologists and others that deal in sensitive information wear a smaller hidden consumer version to protect themselves from microphones in IOT devices and more unscrupulous hidden microphones.

Tokyo Cafe using Robot waiters operated by people with physical disabilities

In December 2018 an experitmenal cafe opened in the Minato Ward in Tokyo. That in itself is not unusual, nor were the robot waiters. Japan is a leader in experimenting with robots for everything. The major difference was the fact that the robots were operated by people with significant physical disabilities.

The cafe is part of an experiment to combat the social isolation felt by people that are unable to interact with others easily due to disability. A remotely controlled robot takes orders and delivers those orders to the customer’s table. The operator (i.e the person with the disability) controls the robot remotely from their home. The robots are 1.2 meters tall, weigh about 20 kilograms and are equipped with a camera and a speaker. Live footage from the camera is streamed to the operator’s PC or tablet over the internet. The operator is able to see and talk to the customers and take their orders. This interaction with the customer is designed to give a sense of achievement and worth. The operators have conditions such as ALS (a motor neuron disease) and are generally unable to work in other settings.

The experiment ran for two weeks. A more permanent establishment is planned to be open in time for the Tokyo Olympics. This video shows the project in action.

Quantum Entanglement

Einstein called Quantum Entanglement “Spooky action at a distance”. Quantum Entanglement is putting an object into a quantum superposition of multiple states (think Schrodinger’s Cat) and that superposition can be shared with another object that will maintain that connection even when separated, no matter how far away.

Ummm What?

Don’t worry about the detail, think of it this way. When you and I communicate on the internet, we will both hold a copy of a special key. If someone tried to listen to us or intercept our messages, that action would change that key. Just trying to measure a quantum state changes that state, in this case, the key. As soon as one key is changed both keys are changed (due to the entanglement) and the snooper is discovered.

Why is this important to a secure internet? By entangling the nodes on a network, you set up a connection between the keys and you can tell instantly if information or connection is compromised. In theory this will stop any interception of messages on the internet. The weak spot in the system then will be the devices at each end of the interaction, you still need to keep your phone and computer secure.

A Dutch team recently did this by using an atom which stays put and a photon of light which is sent down a fiber optic cable. They achieved this over 30 miles (50 kilometers) of coiled fibre optic cable. This is not yet entanglement of nodes 30 miles apart (that is more difficult) however it is a critical step towards a fully secure internet.

AI in Corporate Development and in our Everyday Life

I was going to write a story about the many ways that AI is already impacting on everyday life however the story was just too big. We already interact with AI in multiple ways every day. I think that these two articles provide an insight into how AI is becoming a part of our lives.

How the Top 50 Corporates are using AI.

Manceps has gathered AI and Machine Learning examples from the top 50 of the Fortune 500. The range of research and application is staggering. Every single company is spending millions of dollars to improve their businesses. From Walmart using cameras and sensors on shelves to help with restocking and determining if produce is starting to go bad, GE using AI to cut the design process for jets and wind turbines in half, AI powered x-ray machines and AI and ML driven stability for power grids, Dupont using AI to improve complex manufacturing processes, and UPS accelerating package delivery through the use of their propriety ORION (On Road Integrated Optimization and Navigation) system. The full article is here. It is well worth even a quick scan.

AI for Personal Use

Tanuma Bahirat has complied a list of AI tools currently available that might help out in aspects of your personal life. The list includes AI tools in a range of categories including Personal Assistants, Work, In-home, Social, Medical and Health, Education, Shopping, Music, Finance, Research and Travel. The full list is here.

One further use of AI that may be with us shortly is the Bosch Sunscreen for cars. It is an AI driven screen that uses the position of the sun and your eyes to provide a shadow to block out the sun when looking directly into it whilst driving. This gives a much winder field of vision for the driver, thus enhancing safety.

New Tool for Identifying Manipulated Photos

Jigsaw (formally Google Ideas), has released a free tool called Assembler which has been designed to help journalists identify manipulated images. Assembler is a combination of several “manipulation detectors” that works as a single tool. Each tool is designed to detect different kinds of image manipulation and together they can give a comprehensive assessment of whether or not a photograph has been doctored.

Assembler is not a public tool (it won’t be released to the public) instead it is designed for journalists, fact-checkers and news organizations. You can read more about this initiative on the Jigsaw website. Assembler is trying to help combat manipulated media that is used to disrupt elections, wage war and disrupt civil society.

Paying it Forward

If you have a start-up or know of a start-up that has a product ready for market please let me know. I would be happy to have a look and feature the startup in this newsletter. Also if any startups need introductions please get in touch and I will help where I can.

If you have any questions or comments please email me via my website craigcarlyon.com or comment below.

I would also appreciate it if you could forward this newsletter to anyone that you think might be interested. 

Till next week.