Victoria Fox's Blog, page 140

The ISE becomes bigger in Barcelona with the push of AI

Image of the Epson pavilion at the ISE audiovisual fair in Barcelona. EXPANSION

The audiovisual event returns for the fourth time to the Catalan capital in an edition with more space and audience than ever that already overshadows the MWC.

“The ISE has arrived in Barcelona.” This is how Mike Blackman , general director of Integrated Systems Events, the organizing company of this audiovisual fair, defined yesterday the beginning of the 2024 edition. The event has been in the Catalan capital since 2021,

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AI Act: Federal Government wants to agree to European AI law

The federal government now wants to approve the AI Act. A spokesman for the Ministry of Transport confirmed this to ZEIT ONLINE. There had previously been discussions in the background about the law with which the European Union wants to regulate artificial intelligence. The Transport and Digital Ministry, led by Volker Wissing, reportedly pushed for Germany not to agree to the final negotiated law in Brussels.

In the past few days, a broad alliance of business associations, civil society organizations and scientists called on the federal government not to let the law fail. The main argument: Although it is not perfect, it threatens to get even worse if it is tried again. It is also important for companies to have legal certainty as quickly as possible.

There were apparently differences of opinion, particularly on the question of whether there should be special rules in the law for AI systems like ChatGPT. The governments of France, Italy and Germany spoke out against it, but such provisions exist in the final version of the law. That was probably the reason why Wissing did not want to agree to the law in the meantime. He had repeatedly expressed concerns that such rules could hinder innovation

Under the new law, providers of such technology would have to provide information about how their systems work, for example. Additional obligations apply to particularly powerful systems. Many experts campaigned vehemently for this because, in their view, such AI models could pose risks.

Another point of contention in the discussion about the AI Act is regulations on biometric surveillance. The law, which the EU institutions agreed on in December last year, was intended to create rules for risky applications of artificial intelligence. The law still has to be approved by the EU member states in the Council and then by Parliament.

The federal government now wants to approve the AI Act. A spokesman for the Ministry of Transport confirmed this to ZEIT ONLINE. There had previously been discussions in the background about the law with which the European Union wants to regulate artificial intelligence. The Transport and Digital Ministry, led by Volker Wissing, reportedly pushed for Germany not to agree to the final negotiated law in Brussels.

In the past few days, a broad alliance of business associations, civil society organizations and scientists called on the federal government not to let the law fail. The main argument: Although it is not perfect, it threatens to get even worse if it is tried again. It is also important for companies to have legal certainty as quickly as possible.

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Cybercrime: BKA seizes Bitcoins worth two billion euros

The largest amount of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin to date has been seized during investigations in Dresden. As the press spokesman for the Saxon State Criminal Police Office (LKA), Kay Anders, confirmed, a suspect handed over 50,000 Bitcoins to the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) in an investigation. At the current rate, this corresponds to a value of two billion euros.

The background is an investigation against two 37 and 40 year old operators of a pirated copy portal. Until May 2013, the accused are said to have operated the website Movie2k.to and, together with other people involved in the crime, distributed more than 880,000 pirated copies of films between 2008 and 2013. They would then have used the income to buy the Bitcoins.

The accused voluntarily handed over Bitcoins to the BKA

The men are being investigated on suspicion of unauthorized commercial exploitation of copyrighted works under the Copyright Act and subsequent commercial money laundering. However, no charges have been brought yet, said Patrick Pintaske, spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office in Dresden .

According to the LKA, the seized amount of Bitcoins is the largest in Germany to date. One of the accused voluntarily transferred the Bitcoins to a virtual currency account at the BKA. How the Bitcoins will now be used has not yet been finally decided. The investigation was supported by the BKA, the US Federal Police FBI and a forensic IT expert company in Munich.

In order to combat structural and serious cases of situational corruption, Saxony set up its own investigation unit called Ines in 2004, which is also investigating this case. Since 2009, the group has also been involved in the prosecution of high-profile and particularly important investigations into serious or organized crime. In addition to public prosecutors, the group also includes a specialist in the evaluation of financial and banking matters.

The largest amount of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin to date has been seized during investigations in Dresden. As the press spokesman for the Saxon State Criminal Police Office (LKA), Kay Anders, confirmed, a suspect handed over 50,000 Bitcoins to the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) in an investigation. At the current rate, this corresponds to a value of two billion euros.

The background is an investigation against two 37 and 40 year old operators of a pirated copy portal. Until May 2013, the accused are said to have operated the website Movie2k.to and, together with other people involved in the crime, distributed more than 880,000 pirated copies of films between 2008 and 2013. They would then have used the income to buy the Bitcoins.

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Escrivá will promote a Cybersecurity Law and regulate data centers so that they are sustainable

José Luis Escrivá, Minister of Digital Transformation and Public Function. Carlos Luján Europa Press

The Minister of Digital Transformation and Public Function, José Luis Escrivá, announced today in his appearance at the Congressional Economy Commission to report on his projects for the legislature, the development of a new cyber security law.

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OpenAI: ChatGPT violates European data protection rules, Italy says

According to Italian authorities, the handling of user data by the AI-based chatbot ChatGPT violates European law. The developer OpenAI can comment on the results of a corresponding investigation within 30 days, said the Italian data protection supervisory authority.

Due to legal concerns, Italy briefly blocked access to ChatGPT in spring 2023. After OpenAI agreed to a few requirements, the program was then available there again.

As a result, the Italian data supervisory authority initiated investigations because it suspected violations of European data protection law in at least one case. These can result in fines of up to four percent of a company’s global sales, which is approximately $40 million. According to information from the Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera, a special committee is now to be set up to bring together data protection authorities across the European Union.

The technology behind ChatGPT can simulate human interaction and is trained with tons of data. These are usually skimmed from the Internet. In addition, all user inquiries and the information they contain are incorporated into the providers’ databases in order to improve future responses.

According to Italian authorities, the handling of user data by the AI-based chatbot ChatGPT violates European law. The developer OpenAI can comment on the results of a corresponding investigation within 30 days, said the Italian data protection supervisory authority.

Due to legal concerns, Italy briefly blocked access to ChatGPT in spring 2023. After OpenAI agreed to a few requirements, the program was then available there again.

As a result, the Italian data supervisory authority initiated investigations because it suspected violations of European data protection law in at least one case. These can result in fines of up to four percent of a company’s global sales, which is approximately $40 million. According to information from the Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera, a special committee is now to be set up to bring together data protection authorities across the European Union.

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AI Act: Surprising alliances in the fight for AI regulation

Sometimes in politics you have to fight for a law that you are actually not really happy with. This is what many people are currently feeling who are involved in the negotiations on the AI Act, a law with which the European Union wants to regulate artificial intelligence.

Computer scientists who research AI. Authors whose works are used for training AI. Entrepreneurs developing or using AI. During the years of negotiations, they all had their own demands on the law. But instead of criticizing the compromise that the EU reached in December from their respective positions, they are joining together in a surprising alliance and calling on the federal government to approve the law instead of letting it fail shortly before it is passed.

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Posture Pal: With this app you can maintain your posture

Some things don’t change the world. But they make our everyday lives a little more pleasant. Or they are just nice to have. Or even both. The ZEIT-ONLINE series “nice and useful” is about these gadgets and apps.

We’re almost a month into the year, January is almost over, and chances are good that you can’t quite remember what your resolutions were. In any case, I haven’t exercised in a single day, haven’t reduced my screen time and have broken dry and veganuary so often that my start to the year should be recorded as meatanuary and wineanuary.

In order to polish up my early year’s track record, I was looking for a minimal resolution that could be achieved without much effort. And since most of my job involves sitting at a desk, it would be good to make sitting better. There’s a lot of potential for me: I either crouch on my desk chair, hunched over like Gollum, or I slouch shapelessly like a 20-pound sack of potatoes. Whenever I remember to stand upright, it works for 30 seconds, but as soon as my thoughts go somewhere else, I collapse again.

So how do I achieve a straight posture? The developer Jordi Bruin wants to achieve this with his app Posture Pal. I’ll try those out.

Airpods help with tracking

Posture Pal wants to remind its users when they fall into bad posture. To do this, the app uses the motion sensors of headphones. If they notice that the head is tilted excessively forward or backward, the app sends a reminder to sit up straight. That’s the idea.

The app is currently only available for the iPhone and recently also for the Mac. Android and Windows users have to motivate themselves to sit up straight without Posture Pal. The compatible headphones are also Apple-centric: According to the developer, the app works with third-generation Airpods, Airpods Pro, Airpods Max and Beats Fit Pro – but potentially also with headphones from other manufacturers that record movement data. If they support 3D audio (such devices are also available from Sony or Bose), it should work.

When I first open the app, I feel like I’ve been catapulted back to elementary school, when every child still had an animal sticker on their jacket hook. Everything looks very child-friendly (although they don’t know anything about adults’ back problems – happy innocence): cute cartoon animals like “Rafi the Giraffe” illustrate their own sitting posture against colorful backgrounds. If my head falls forward, Rafi looks sad. This also works for adults: who wants to make a cute cartoon giraffe sad?

First I’ll play around with the settings a bit. In the standard sensitivity, the app alarm goes off at a head tilt of 20 degrees, but the angle can also be set to high (ten degrees) and low (35 degrees) sensitivity. For more granular angles you need a subscription for five euros per year. I stick with the free version: with high sensitivity I feel like I’m no longer allowed to move, but with low sensitivity the alarm doesn’t go off at all. I’ll stick with the standard.

Rafi smiles contentedly

On a normal work day, I start the morning with my Airpods Pro in my ears and Posture Pal on my connected phone. In the free version, the app can only be used in sessions of a maximum of ten minutes, which can be strung together. When I start the tracking, I am surprised: I can hear something! A quiet noise comes from the Airpods, it sounds like a faucet is opening and closing again and again. If I stop Posture Pal, the noise stops – I suspect that the app’s measurement is causing the noise. Not ideal, but I just turn down the volume on my phone and the app still works. I could also listen to music while the app is running to drown out the noise.

I check my emails and after a short while I hear a sound like a small bicycle horn in my ears. It tells me to sit straight. I sit up, Rafi smiles contentedly on my display. The noise interrupts your concentration briefly, but it’s not so intrusive that it really bothers you. After the ten-minute session, the app tells me how many times it had to correct me, how long my posture was perfect, and gives me a score. First of all, 91 points out of 100 – that motivates me, I want to get better.

It would be a little more practical than on my cell phone to do all of this directly on the device I’m working on. So I’m trying out the Mac app. Nice: Here the memorial animal is shown directly on the screen, but only if the posture is bad. However, this doesn’t work reliably for me. The alarm on the MacBook sounds so inappropriately that I get the feeling that it just goes off randomly.

On the iPhone, however, Posture Pal detects well when my head tilts. However, that is also the problem with the app: it detects when my head falls forward or backward, but not what my back is doing during that time. If I sit in the typical computer working position with a bent back and a straight gaze – known as slouching in English – that doesn’t trigger the app alarm. A physiotherapist who saw me like that would certainly be alarmed. And then the resolution of better posture doesn’t help either.

Conclusion: Posture Pal looks cute, is fun and even uses iOS features such as live activities on the home screen. Just the idea of using headphones to improve your posture is nice . The reminder for keeping your head upright is a bit useful , but I would doubt whether it can lead to better posture and less back pain in the long term.

Price: Free for a maximum of ten-minute sessions (which can be restarted again and again). For five euros per year, the time limit can be removed and the sensitivity can be adjusted in more detail. In addition, instead of Rafi the giraffe, Haru the monkey and Paca the alpaca can also be selected. They bring no advantages. But they are also very sweet.

Transparency note: The author independently selected the app described in the article at his own discretion and tested it according to professional criteria.

Some things don’t change the world. But they make our everyday lives a little more pleasant. Or they are just nice to have. Or even both. The ZEIT-ONLINE series “nice and useful” is about these gadgets and apps.

We’re almost a month into the year, January is almost over, and chances are good that you can’t quite remember what your resolutions were. In any case, I haven’t exercised in a single day, haven’t reduced my screen time and have broken dry and veganuary so often that my start to the year should be recorded as meatanuary and wineanuary.

SOURCE

Nightshade: Artificial Intelligence Poison Injection

There are a few myths surrounding the black belladonna. It has been considered a magical plant with mind-expanding and cosmetic properties for centuries. Because of its poison it was also used as an instrument of murder, which is believed to have killed Emperor Augustus. In English it is therefore known as deadly nightshade . Researchers at the University of Chicago have now programmed a virtual version of the deadly nightshade plant. Instead of human rulers, you can use it to poison artificial intelligences.

SOURCE

Fiber firms explore mergers to achieve greater size in Spain

The dozen relevant wholesale fiber optic network operators are engaged in a consolidation process to achieve economies of scale and provide an outlet for their ‘private equity’ partners.

In the last five years, the Spanish market for telecommunications operators has experienced a sudden growth in wholesale firms that offer fiber optic networks ( FTTH ) to third parties, mainly to national, regional or local operators.

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Internet: Data traffic on the Internet is increasing sharply

International internet traffic rose sharply again last year. DE-CIX, one of the world’s leading internet exchange operators, recorded an increase in data traffic of almost a quarter (23 percent) at its locations worldwide. These statistics include not only the network node in Frankfurt am Main, but also the distribution points in Mumbai, New York, Madrid and other DE-CIX locations, which connect more than 3,100 local, regional and global networks.

As in the previous year, football ensured the highest data throughput. The annual high was reached on the evening of November 8, 2023 – parallel to the fourth matchday of the UEFA Champions League – with 22.4 terabits per second. For comparison: at a rate of one terabit per second, around 125 billion letters can be transmitted per second. That’s roughly 25 billion words.

On November 8th, a new local record was measured at DE-CIX Frankfurt. The nearly 1,100 networks connected there exchanged a total of 16.62 terabits per second of data traffic at peak times that day. The DE-CIX Frankfurt will remain Europe’s largest Internet exchange with 40 exabytes of data throughput in 2023.

More than 59 exabytes of data exchanged

In total, more than 59 exabytes of data were exchanged at the DE-CIX internet nodes in 2023. In practical terms, this means: This amount of bits and bytes is created when all 84 million German citizens watch 116 films online per year – from infants to grandmothers, DE-CIX announced.

The Internet exchange recorded seasonal differences in the type of data usage. Gaming services were particularly in demand at the beginning and middle of 2023. Video conferences were often used outside of the holiday months in spring and late summer. Video streaming generated particularly high data traffic in summer and winter.

DE-CIX operates one of the world’s largest internet exchanges in Frankfurt am Main. The company also offers its services in over 50 metropolitan areas in Europe, Africa, North America, the Middle East, India and Southeast Asia. The network node in Frankfurt has been driving the construction of new data centers in the Main region for years. Most recently, Google opened a data center for its cloud services in Hanau, 20 kilometers away.

International internet traffic rose sharply again last year. DE-CIX, one of the world’s leading internet exchange operators, recorded an increase in data traffic of almost a quarter (23 percent) at its locations worldwide. These statistics include not only the network node in Frankfurt am Main, but also the distribution points in Mumbai, New York, Madrid and other DE-CIX locations, which connect more than 3,100 local, regional and global networks.

As in the previous year, football ensured the highest data throughput. The annual high was reached on the evening of November 8, 2023 – parallel to the fourth matchday of the UEFA Champions League – with 22.4 terabits per second. For comparison: at a rate of one terabit per second, around 125 billion letters can be transmitted per second. That’s roughly 25 billion words.

SOURCE