Blank pixel used during image takedowns
It was another bizarre week in the tech world, with Apple buying out Dr. Dre and scientists working to build life from “alien” DNA. No word on whether those two stories could ultimately be related, but there was a host of tech news that you might have missed while imagining Tim Cook listening to The Chronic. It was a raucous month so far, with surveillance-busting face masks, killer robot cars, and YouTube clips of The Simpsons connected to the Syrian civil war. Here’s a rundown of nine tech stories from the first half of the month that you probably missed, but definitely shouldn’t have.
Michael Thomsen is Complex's tech columnist. He has written for Slate, The Atlantic, The New Inquiry, n+1, Billboard, and is author of Levitate the Primate: Handjobs, Internet Dating, and Other Issues for Men. He tweets often at @mike_thomsen.
New Research Finds Human Brains Preconditioned to See Faces in Inanimate Objects
A new report from science journal Cortex describes the biological underpinnings of the human propensity to see faces in everything from clouds to pieces of toast. Called "face paraedolia," the condition was described by researchers at the University of Toronto working together with several Chinese universities. The paper was based on an experiment in which 20 subjects underwent brain scans while being shown computer-generated images, finding that roughly 35 percent of them saw something that wasn't actually there. "Our findings suggest that it's common for people to see non-existent features because human brains are uniquely wired to recognize faces, so that even when there's only a slight suggestion of facial features the brain automatically interprets it as a face," lead researcher Kang Lee said.
Read the story here.
The Man Who Invented Wearable Computers
Writing for The Verge, Maria Konnikova profiles Alex Pentland, the man many credit with originating the movement to make computers wearable. The one-time NASA programmer has run MIT's Human Dynamics Laboratory for the last three decades, where research into an array of different ways technology can be attached to human bodies has been explored under the banner of the Wearable Computing Project. Pentland's early prototypes are crude marvels of tech sewn into vests and ties, which look hokey by today's standards but actually mirror quite closely the kinds of technologies an average person keeps on their body throughout the day. The casing is different, but the functionality is eerily similar. "You're going to control your own data," he says of where all this is heading. "That's the most important thing, control of the data. It has to be done correctly. Otherwise you end up with something like the Stasi."
Read the story here.
Nintendo Blocks Gay Marriage Option in New Life-Sim Game
Nintendo's upcoming lifestyle game, Tamodachi Life, will let players do a lot of bizarre things with the avatar version of their friends, but if you want to have a romantic relationship, you'll only be able to do so with a member of the opposite sex. After drawing criticism for having coded a feature that locks out people who would prefer to choose same-sex romantic partners, Nintendo released a statement hoping fans will understand the game "was intended to be a whimsical and quirky game, and that we were absolutely not trying to provide social commentary." With no such luck, the issue gained new life as a Twitter hashtag and launched a number of critical stories everywhere from BBC to Time. "It's more of an issue for this game because the characters are supposed to be a representation of your real life," Tye Marini told The Guardian. "You import your personalized characters into the game. You name them. You give them a personality. You give them a voice. They just can't fall in love if they're gay."
Read the story here.
Chicago Artist Makes Mask to Protect People From Surveillance Cameras
In a few short years, Chicago has become a model of 21st century police surveillance, weaving a huge network of cameras and citizen data into a network that gives law enforcement an almost inconceivable ability to monitor everything at all times. One artist, Leo Selvaggio, has launched a project through IndioGogo to counter all of that with a lifelike mask people can wear to conceal their identity from the snooping eyes of the fuzz. Called URME, the mask comes from a 3d printer and is based on Selvaggio's own face, placing it in line with the recent trends of people adopting a collective identity to get around cops, such as the Italian anarchist group that collectively used the name of pro soccer player Luther Blissett. For $10 supporters can get the cheapest version of the mask, printed on paper, but those willing to spend $400 will get a more durable hard resin version signed by the Selvaggio himself.
Read the story here.
Egyptian TV Cites "The Simpsons" to Prove Arab Spring Was Foreign Plot
The Internet has made a lot of different media available that is far from the original time and culture they were made, and this can lead to a bizarre effect. Egyptian TV channel Al Tahrir cited dubbed episodes of The Simpsons posted to YouTube as evidence of foreign interference in Arab Spring. Citing a 2001 episode that included a parody music video showing Middle Eastern soldiers being bombed, the news program points to a flag in the background that closely resembles to current flag used by Syrian rebels. "The flag was created before the events took place," anchor Rania Badawy said. "That's why people are saying on Facebook that this is a conspiracy - in 2001, there was no such thing as the flag of the Syrian opposition." I want to believe.
Read the story here.
The Robot Car of Tomorrow May Just Be Programmed to Hit You
There are choices to be made during car crashes. The window of opportunity may be so short that most people don't realize it's there, but with the advent of computerized cars, a new ethical quandary is opening up inside that tiny space. Reporting for Wired, Patrick Lin describes the ethical challenges of coding A.I. for cars that will have the capacity to choose which of the cars around you are the least dangerous to swerve into during an otherwise unavoidable collision. "Imagine that an autonomous car is facing an imminent crash. It could select one of two targets to swerve into: either a motorcyclist who is wearing a helmet, or a motorcyclist who is not," Lin writes. "What's the right way to program the car?... A good algorithm would account for the much-higher statistical odds that the biker without a helmet would die, and surely killing someone is one of the worst things auto manufacturers desperately want to avoid."
Read the story here.
Activision Pledges Half a Billion Dollars to Advertise Destiny
In Hollywood economics, a movie's marketing budget should usually equal the production budget. Activision announced Destiny, the forthcoming space shooter from Halo-designer Bungie, would be given an advertising campaign of $500 million, several times more expensive than the cost of the game's production and among the most expensive ad campaigns ever for a game. According to analysts who spoke to Reuters, the game would have to sell more than 15 million copies in order to break even, a figure that none of the studio's Halo games ever reached. This may be the first sign that, regardless of whether the game is good or not, it may go down as one the games industry's biggest financial miscalculations of all time.
Read the story here.
A New App Is Like Tinder for Jobseekers
Finding a job is full-time work, but one new iOS app wants to make it easier by mimicking Tinder to help applicants and employers find one another without huge upfront investments. Jobr allows users to scan individual cards for job postings, and swipe left or right to "like" or "pass" on each. Companies with jobs posted can do the same with all of the individuals on Jobr, and when both parties "like" one another, a chat window is opened for further discussion. Companies already using the service include Lyft, Twitter, Yelp, and Uber. As an added bonus, users who refer friends to a job using the app will get a $1,000 prize if the friend ultimately gets hired.
Read the story here.
Man Goes on Epic Roadtrip to Visit All His Facebook Friends
We've all heard the arguments before: Facebook is driving us further apart, making us lonelier, and dissolving all our social bonds by forcing them to run through a computer. One man, a 38-year-old Army veteran, decided to buck the pessimism and embarked on a road trip across the country to visit all of the 377 different people on his friends list. "I had noticed people doing what's referred to as a 'spring cleaning' on their Facebook accounts," he said. "One of my thoughts was, 'Is there an alternative to that?' Instead of deleting Facebook friends I haven't spoken to recently, maybe I could speak to them."
Read the story here.