Month: February 2023
Apple’s Health VP Talks Glucose Monitoring on Apple Watch Amid Rumors of Noninvasive Tracking Breakthrough
Apple’s vice president of health Sumbul Desai today spoke with Indian publication Businessline, where she talked about Apple’s health initiatives and gave a tiny bit of insight into Apple’s thoughts on glucose monitoring for the Apple Watch.
When asked if Apple would bring blood sugar tracking sensors to the Apple Watch, Desai said that these capabilities are “really important areas, but they require a lot of science behind them.”
Her comments come just a few days after Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said that Apple has hit a milestone in its noninvasive blood glucose monitoring technology. Apple has been working on this functionality for at least a decade, and now has a “proof-of-concept” model that is viable.
Noninvasive blood glucose monitoring uses a laser to shine a light under the skin to determine the concentration of glucose in the body. Now that Apple has a functioning prototype, it needs to work to slim down the hardware to make it fit in a device the size of the Apple Watch. Gurman believes that Apple is still years away from being able to bring noninvasive blood glucose monitoring to the Apple Watch, but progress is being made.
Desai also said that she believes we are at the “beginning” of health tech, which will require changing the behavior of physicians and people. She said that Apple is focused on “the customer as the individual” and how the company can “empower an individual to be holistic about their health” by providing actionable insights.
Apple’s health team is “laser-focused” on continuing to build in the health space, investing in research, collaboration with the medical community, and other avenues that will help it “understand your health sooner and earlier.” Apple wants people to “feel like they’re empowered and educated to drive their own health care.”
Other topics of conversation included Apple’s view on health privacy, the cost of Apple devices, how decisions are made on what to work on, and more, with the full interview available at Businessline.Tag: Health and Fitness
This article, “Apple’s Health VP Talks Glucose Monitoring on Apple Watch Amid Rumors of Noninvasive Tracking Breakthrough” first appeared on MacRumors.comDiscuss this article in our forums
Apple’s vice president of health Sumbul Desai today spoke with Indian publication Businessline, where she talked about Apple’s health initiatives and gave a tiny bit of insight into Apple’s thoughts on glucose monitoring for the Apple Watch.
When asked if Apple would bring blood sugar tracking sensors to the Apple Watch, Desai said that these capabilities are “really important areas, but they require a lot of science behind them.”
Her comments come just a few days after Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman said that Apple has hit a milestone in its noninvasive blood glucose monitoring technology. Apple has been working on this functionality for at least a decade, and now has a “proof-of-concept” model that is viable.
Noninvasive blood glucose monitoring uses a laser to shine a light under the skin to determine the concentration of glucose in the body. Now that Apple has a functioning prototype, it needs to work to slim down the hardware to make it fit in a device the size of the Apple Watch. Gurman believes that Apple is still years away from being able to bring noninvasive blood glucose monitoring to the Apple Watch, but progress is being made.
Desai also said that she believes we are at the “beginning” of health tech, which will require changing the behavior of physicians and people. She said that Apple is focused on “the customer as the individual” and how the company can “empower an individual to be holistic about their health” by providing actionable insights.
Apple’s health team is “laser-focused” on continuing to build in the health space, investing in research, collaboration with the medical community, and other avenues that will help it “understand your health sooner and earlier.” Apple wants people to “feel like they’re empowered and educated to drive their own health care.”
Other topics of conversation included Apple’s view on health privacy, the cost of Apple devices, how decisions are made on what to work on, and more, with the full interview available at Businessline.
This article, “Apple’s Health VP Talks Glucose Monitoring on Apple Watch Amid Rumors of Noninvasive Tracking Breakthrough” first appeared on MacRumors.com
Discuss this article in our forums
Amazon Removes Books From Kindle Unlimited After They Appear On Pirate Sites
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TorrentFreak: Several independent publishers have had their books removed from Kindle Unlimited because they breached an exclusivity agreement with Amazon. The actions of the book giant are covered by the mutually agreed terms. However, in many cases, it’s not the authors who breached the agreement, but pirate sites who copied them, as pirates do. […] Over the past few weeks, several authors complained that Amazon had removed their books from Kindle Unlimited because they violated their agreement. The piracy angle is front and center, raising plenty of questions and uncertainty.
Raven Kennedy, known for The Plated Prisoner Series, took her frustration to Instagram earlier this month. The author accused Amazon of sending repeated “threats”. This eventually resulted in the removal of her books from Kindle Unlimited, ostensibly because these were listed on pirate sites. “Copyright infringement is outside of my control. Even though I pay a lot of money to a company to file takedown notices on my behalf, and am constantly checking the web for pirated versions, I can’t keep up with all the intellectual theft. “And rather than support and help their authors, Amazon threatens me. The ironic thing is, these pirates are getting the files FROM Amazon,” Kennedy added. A similar experience was shared by Carissa Broadbent, author of The War of Lost Hearts Trilogy. Again, Amazon removed a book from Kindle Unlimited for an issue that the author can’t do much about. “A few hours ago, I got a stomach-dropping email from [Amazon] that Children of Fallen Gods had been removed from the Kindle store with zero warning, because of content ‘freely available on the web’ — IE, piracy that I do not have any control over,” Broadbent noted.
These and other authors received broad support from their readers, and sympathy from the general public. A Change.org petition launched in response has collected nearly 35,000 signatures to date, with new ones still coming in. Author Marlow Locker started the petition to send a wake-up call to Amazon. According to her, Amazon should stand behind its authors instead of punishing them for the fact that complete strangers have decided to pirate their books. Most authors will gladly comply with the exclusivity requirements, but only as far as this lies within their control. Piracy clearly isn’t, especially when it happens on an almost industrial scale. “Currently, many automated systems use Amazon as a place to copy the e-files that they use for their free websites. It’s completely absurd that the same company turns around and punishes an author by removing their book from KDP Select,” the petition reads. From the commentary seen online, several authors have been able to resolve their issues with Amazon. And indeed, the books of Broadbent and Kennedy appear to be back online. That said, the exclusivity policy remains in place. Amazon notes that the books removed from Kindle Unlimited still remain for sale on Amazon’s regular store. They also stress that authors are issued a warning with an extended timeline to try and resolve the issue before any action is taken.
“The problem is, of course, that individual authors can’t stop piracy,” adds TorrentFreak. “If it was that easy, most authors would be happy to do so. However, if billion-dollar publishing companies and the U.S. Government can’t stop it, Amazon can’t expect independent authors to ‘resolve’ the matter either.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TorrentFreak: Several independent publishers have had their books removed from Kindle Unlimited because they breached an exclusivity agreement with Amazon. The actions of the book giant are covered by the mutually agreed terms. However, in many cases, it’s not the authors who breached the agreement, but pirate sites who copied them, as pirates do. […] Over the past few weeks, several authors complained that Amazon had removed their books from Kindle Unlimited because they violated their agreement. The piracy angle is front and center, raising plenty of questions and uncertainty.
Raven Kennedy, known for The Plated Prisoner Series, took her frustration to Instagram earlier this month. The author accused Amazon of sending repeated “threats”. This eventually resulted in the removal of her books from Kindle Unlimited, ostensibly because these were listed on pirate sites. “Copyright infringement is outside of my control. Even though I pay a lot of money to a company to file takedown notices on my behalf, and am constantly checking the web for pirated versions, I can’t keep up with all the intellectual theft. “And rather than support and help their authors, Amazon threatens me. The ironic thing is, these pirates are getting the files FROM Amazon,” Kennedy added. A similar experience was shared by Carissa Broadbent, author of The War of Lost Hearts Trilogy. Again, Amazon removed a book from Kindle Unlimited for an issue that the author can’t do much about. “A few hours ago, I got a stomach-dropping email from [Amazon] that Children of Fallen Gods had been removed from the Kindle store with zero warning, because of content ‘freely available on the web’ — IE, piracy that I do not have any control over,” Broadbent noted.
These and other authors received broad support from their readers, and sympathy from the general public. A Change.org petition launched in response has collected nearly 35,000 signatures to date, with new ones still coming in. Author Marlow Locker started the petition to send a wake-up call to Amazon. According to her, Amazon should stand behind its authors instead of punishing them for the fact that complete strangers have decided to pirate their books. Most authors will gladly comply with the exclusivity requirements, but only as far as this lies within their control. Piracy clearly isn’t, especially when it happens on an almost industrial scale. “Currently, many automated systems use Amazon as a place to copy the e-files that they use for their free websites. It’s completely absurd that the same company turns around and punishes an author by removing their book from KDP Select,” the petition reads. From the commentary seen online, several authors have been able to resolve their issues with Amazon. And indeed, the books of Broadbent and Kennedy appear to be back online. That said, the exclusivity policy remains in place. Amazon notes that the books removed from Kindle Unlimited still remain for sale on Amazon’s regular store. They also stress that authors are issued a warning with an extended timeline to try and resolve the issue before any action is taken.
“The problem is, of course, that individual authors can’t stop piracy,” adds TorrentFreak. “If it was that easy, most authors would be happy to do so. However, if billion-dollar publishing companies and the U.S. Government can’t stop it, Amazon can’t expect independent authors to ‘resolve’ the matter either.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
New Meta Team to ‘Turbocharge’ AI for WhatsApp, Instagram – CNET
Meta is centralizing its artificial intelligence work to boost products and add “creative” tools, CEO Mark Zuckerberg says.
Meta is centralizing its artificial intelligence work to boost products and add “creative” tools, CEO Mark Zuckerberg says.
Who markets marketing? This duo started a VC firm to scale what ‘founders are starving for’
Emily Kramer is well known in the marketing world, both for her professional expertise and her voice. The entrepreneur was Carta’s former VP of marketing, and made headlines in 2020 when she filed a lawsuit that accused the company of gender discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination and of violating the California Equal Pay Act. Now, three
Who markets marketing? This duo started a VC firm to scale what ‘founders are starving for’ by Natasha Mascarenhas originally published on TechCrunch
Emily Kramer is well known in the marketing world, both for her professional expertise and her voice. The entrepreneur was Carta’s former VP of marketing, and made headlines in 2020 when she filed a lawsuit that accused the company of gender discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination and of violating the California Equal Pay Act.
Now, three years after the lawsuit was first filed, Kramer says the “matter was resolved.” Filings show that the settlement came a month ahead of the case’s impending trial date.. She declined to comment further.
“It definitely impacted where I am now in the sense that this was an inflection point,” said Kramer, who is one of many former Carta employees with a legal embroiled in legal battles with the company. “I want to do something on my own terms, and I want to do something that I think matters and can have an impact. And I want to invest in companies that I think care about DEI.”
Enter MKT1 Capital, a venture firm that Kramer is building alongside Kathleen Estreich, a leader at marketing and operations teams at Box, Facebook and Scalyr. MKT1, which is a play on their initials and the word “marketing,” closed $5 million in investment capital last year from over 85 individuals. The firm announced today that it is pivoting to a 506(c), which means it can publicly solicit fundraising, with the hopes of raising another $5 million.
Estreich says that it was always their plan to start with a private fundraise, and – after getting early traction– switch to a raise that would allow accredited investors outside of their community to invest. The strategy is similar to that of Sophia Amoruso, who dedicated a $1 million allocation to a public fundraise, and Turner Novak, who is raising publicly for a tranche of his second fund after building his venture brand in public for years prior. Both entrepreneurs have solid online followings – and the same goes for Estreich and Kramer, who have a popular marketing-focused newsletter with over 20,000 subscribers.
The two founders, who nearly completed each other’s sentences during their interview with TechCrunch, want to reframe tech’s messaging around marketing — both by investing in companies that need support and by onramping a network of marketing professionals into the angel investing world.
“You have to be as good at distribution as you are at building a product,” Kramer said. “We really think of marketing as a strategic lever and in some ways it is under-utilized and undersupported.” Part of the reason behind that, she added, is because, unlike sales, marketing results are harder to measure and can lead to longer-term revenue goals rather than immediate short-term results.
The investors think that there is eagerness in the cohort of marketing professionals to not just shape stories, but also write checks. “Marketers aren’t investing because they’re not getting the opportunity to invest,” Kramer said, citing stats that show that less than 1% of angel investors on the investing database Crunchbase are marketers.
“They don’t know where to go. They’re not in these circles with the product people or the sales people — there’s just like no inertia there, Kramer added.” So far, over half the LPs in MKT1’s first close were from the marketing world.
While the firm is working on rebranding marketing, MKT1 doesn’t just invest in marketing companies, but instead applies a marketing lens to potential investments and pursues companies that they believe they’ll be able to help on the go-to-market side. So far, it has invested in 14 startups, including Anrok, Pocus, Plain, and Vori.
“Founders are starving for this,” Kramer said. We’ll tell them something very basic – we tell them complicated stuff as well — but we’ll tell them something really basic, and they’ll be like, ‘oh my god, this changed the game for us.’”
Who markets marketing? This duo started a VC firm to scale what ‘founders are starving for’ by Natasha Mascarenhas originally published on TechCrunch
Meta backs new tool for removing sexual images of minors posted online
Image: The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) has announced a new platform designed to help remove sexually explicit images of minors from the internet. Meta revealed in a blog post that it had provided initial funding to create the NCMEC’s free-to-use “Take It Down” tool, which allows users to anonymously report and remove “nude, partially nude, or sexually explicit images or videos” of underage individuals found on participating platforms and block the offending content from being shared again.
Facebook and Instagram have signed on to integrate the platform, as have OnlyFans, Pornhub, and Yubo. Take It Down is designed for minors to self-report images and videos of themselves; however, adults who appeared in such content when they were under the age of 18 can also use the service to report and remove it. Parents or other trusted adults can make a report on behalf of a child, too.
The past doesn’t have to define your future. You can’t go back and unsend, but we can help remove your explicit images online so you can move forward.Learn more: https://t.co/2QBSv9DqFV#SafeChildhood #NCMECTakeItDown pic.twitter.com/M528DDe9cm— National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (@MissingKids) February 27, 2023
An FAQ for Take It Down states that users must have the reported image or video on their device to use the service. This content isn’t submitted as part of the reporting process and, as such, remains private. Instead, the content is used to generate a hash value, a unique digital fingerprint assigned to each image and video that can then be provided to participating platforms to detect and remove it across their websites and apps, while minimizing the number of people who see the actual content.
“We created this system because many children are facing these desperate situations,” said Michelle DeLaune, president and CEO of NCMEC. “Our hope is that children become aware of this service, and they feel a sense of relief that tools exist to help take the images down. NCMEC is here to help.”
The Take It Down service is comparable to StopNCII, a service launched in 2021 that aims to prevent the nonconsensual sharing of images for those over the age of 18. StopNCII similarly uses hash values to detect and remove explicit content across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Bumble.
Meta teased the new platform last November alongside the launch of new privacy features for Instagram and Facebook
In addition to announcing its collaboration with NCMEC in November last year, Meta rolled out new privacy features for Instagram and Facebook that aim to protect minors using the platforms. These include prompting teens to report accounts after they block suspicious adults, removing the message button on teens’ Instagram accounts when they’re viewed by adults with a history of being blocked, and applying stricter privacy settings by default for Facebook users under 16 (or 18 in certain countries).
Other platforms participating in the program have taken steps to prevent and remove explicit content depicting minors. Yubo, a French social networking app, has deployed a range of AI and human-operated moderation tools that can detect sexual material depicting minors, while Pornhub allows individuals to directly issue a takedown request for illegal or nonconsensual content published on its platform.
All of the participating platforms have previously been criticized for failing to protect minors from sexual exploitation
All five of the participating platforms have been previously criticized for failing to protect minors from sexual exploitation. A BBC News report from 2021 found children could easily bypass OnlyFans’ age verification systems, while Pornhub was sued by 34 victims of sexual exploitation the same year, alleging that the site knowingly profited from videos depicting rape, child sexual exploitation, trafficking, and other nonconsensual sexual content. Yubo — described as “Tinder for teens” — has been used by predators to contact and rape underage users, and the NCMEC estimated last year that Meta’s plan to apply end-to-end encryption to its platforms could effectively conceal 70 percent of the child sexual abuse material currently detected and reported on its platform.
“When tech companies implement end-to-end encryption, with no preventive measures built in to detect known child sexual abuse material, the impact on child safety is devastating,” said DeLaune to the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month.
A press release for Take It Down mentions that participating platforms can use the provided hash values to detect and remove images across “public or unencrypted sites and apps,” but it isn’t clear if this extends to Meta’s use of end-to-end encryption across services like Messenger. We have reached out to Meta for confirmation and will update this story should we hear back.
Image: The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) has announced a new platform designed to help remove sexually explicit images of minors from the internet. Meta revealed in a blog post that it had provided initial funding to create the NCMEC’s free-to-use “Take It Down” tool, which allows users to anonymously report and remove “nude, partially nude, or sexually explicit images or videos” of underage individuals found on participating platforms and block the offending content from being shared again.
Facebook and Instagram have signed on to integrate the platform, as have OnlyFans, Pornhub, and Yubo. Take It Down is designed for minors to self-report images and videos of themselves; however, adults who appeared in such content when they were under the age of 18 can also use the service to report and remove it. Parents or other trusted adults can make a report on behalf of a child, too.
The past doesn’t have to define your future.
You can’t go back and unsend, but we can help remove your explicit images online so you can move forward.
Learn more: https://t.co/2QBSv9DqFV#SafeChildhood #NCMECTakeItDown pic.twitter.com/M528DDe9cm
— National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (@MissingKids) February 27, 2023
An FAQ for Take It Down states that users must have the reported image or video on their device to use the service. This content isn’t submitted as part of the reporting process and, as such, remains private. Instead, the content is used to generate a hash value, a unique digital fingerprint assigned to each image and video that can then be provided to participating platforms to detect and remove it across their websites and apps, while minimizing the number of people who see the actual content.
“We created this system because many children are facing these desperate situations,” said Michelle DeLaune, president and CEO of NCMEC. “Our hope is that children become aware of this service, and they feel a sense of relief that tools exist to help take the images down. NCMEC is here to help.”
The Take It Down service is comparable to StopNCII, a service launched in 2021 that aims to prevent the nonconsensual sharing of images for those over the age of 18. StopNCII similarly uses hash values to detect and remove explicit content across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Bumble.
In addition to announcing its collaboration with NCMEC in November last year, Meta rolled out new privacy features for Instagram and Facebook that aim to protect minors using the platforms. These include prompting teens to report accounts after they block suspicious adults, removing the message button on teens’ Instagram accounts when they’re viewed by adults with a history of being blocked, and applying stricter privacy settings by default for Facebook users under 16 (or 18 in certain countries).
Other platforms participating in the program have taken steps to prevent and remove explicit content depicting minors. Yubo, a French social networking app, has deployed a range of AI and human-operated moderation tools that can detect sexual material depicting minors, while Pornhub allows individuals to directly issue a takedown request for illegal or nonconsensual content published on its platform.
All five of the participating platforms have been previously criticized for failing to protect minors from sexual exploitation. A BBC News report from 2021 found children could easily bypass OnlyFans’ age verification systems, while Pornhub was sued by 34 victims of sexual exploitation the same year, alleging that the site knowingly profited from videos depicting rape, child sexual exploitation, trafficking, and other nonconsensual sexual content. Yubo — described as “Tinder for teens” — has been used by predators to contact and rape underage users, and the NCMEC estimated last year that Meta’s plan to apply end-to-end encryption to its platforms could effectively conceal 70 percent of the child sexual abuse material currently detected and reported on its platform.
“When tech companies implement end-to-end encryption, with no preventive measures built in to detect known child sexual abuse material, the impact on child safety is devastating,” said DeLaune to the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month.
A press release for Take It Down mentions that participating platforms can use the provided hash values to detect and remove images across “public or unencrypted sites and apps,” but it isn’t clear if this extends to Meta’s use of end-to-end encryption across services like Messenger. We have reached out to Meta for confirmation and will update this story should we hear back.
Sustainable? Manny Machado and Padres Agree on $350 Million Contract
Amid doubt that San Diego could maintain its enormous payroll, the team gave Manny Machado a $350 million extension. “There is a risk in doing nothing, too.”
Amid doubt that San Diego could maintain its enormous payroll, the team gave Manny Machado a $350 million extension. “There is a risk in doing nothing, too.”
Best Electric Scooter for 2023 – CNET
Whether it’s for commuting, for fun or a little of both, these electric scooters will get you places.
Whether it’s for commuting, for fun or a little of both, these electric scooters will get you places.
SpaceX unveils “V2 Mini” Starlink satellites with quadruple the capacity
V2 Mini outperforms first-gen satellites, but full-size V2 must wait for Starship.
Enlarge / SpaceX’s V2 Mini Starlink satellites. (credit: SpaceX)
With Starlink speeds slowing due to a growing capacity crunch, SpaceX said a launch happening as soon as today will deploy the first “V2 Mini” satellites that provide four times more per-satellite capacity than earlier versions.
Starlink’s second-generation satellites include the V2 Minis and the larger V2. The larger V2s are designed for the SpaceX Starship, which isn’t quite ready to launch yet, but the V2 Minis are slimmed-down versions that can be deployed from the Falcon 9 rocket.
“The V2 Minis are smaller than the V2 satellites (hence the name) but don’t let the name fool you,” SpaceX said in a statement provided to Ars yesterday. “The V2 Minis include more advanced phased array antennas and the use of E-band for backhaul, which will enable Starlink to provide ~4x more capacity per satellite than earlier iterations.”