Archive for February 2024

With some research indicating that ‘emotive prompts’ to generative AI chatbots can deliver better outputs, we look at whether ‘being nice’ to a chatbot really does improve its performance. Not Possible, Surely?  Generative AI Chatbots, including advanced ones, don’t possess real ‘intelligence’ in the way we as humans understand it. For example, they don’t have…

In this tech-insight, we look at what e-signatures are, their benefits plus some of the main e-signature providers, as well as what to consider when choosing an e-signature service. Popularity of E-signatures  The initial growth of e-signatures happened in the early 2000s, due to the passage of laws such as the US Electronic Signatures in…

The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has ordered Serco Leisure to stop using facial recognition technology (FRT) and fingerprint scanning to monitor employee attendance. Not Necessary or Proportionate  An ICO investigation found that public service provider Serco Leisure, Serco Jersey and seven associated community leisure trusts had been “unlawfully processing the biometric data of more than…

Only a month after its launch, Google has paused its text-to-image AI tool following “inaccuracies” in some of the historical depictions of people produced by the model. ‘Woke’ … Overcorrecting For Diversity?  An example of the inaccuracy issue (as highlighted by X user Patrick Ganley recently, after asking Google Gemini to generate images of the…

Apple says it’s rolling out an update to its iMessage texting platform that can defend against future encryption-breaking technologies such as decryption by quantum computers. Apple says its PQ3 “groundbreaking post-quantum cryptographic protocol” offers Level 3 security, i.e. it provides protocol protections that surpass those in all other widely deployed messaging apps. Apple says PQ3 (post-quantum cryptography…

Just days after it was announced that the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA), the FBI, and Europol had taken down the Russian LockBit ransomware gang’s website, it’s been reported that LockBit ransomware is still being deployed via flaws in a popular remote access tool. Researchers at cybersecurity companies Huntress and Sophos have highlighted how two…

The ‘gasification’ of waste tea prunings is being used to both provide free energy for factories in Kenya and to decarbonise the tea sector. Gasification  UK-based waste-to-energy company Compact Syngas Solutions (CSS) has developed a ‘gasification’ process which can convert biomass and other feedstocks into synthesis gas (syngas), which can be used to generate heat…

After the Amazon-owned ‘Ring’ video doorbell company’s recent major subscription price hike across its range caused anger and made the news, we look at what customers have said and if there’s a way to beat the price hike. Ouch!  Ring has angered customers and received some negative publicity after announcing that starting on 11 March…

In this tech-insight, we take a look at the world of virtual cards, who offers them, their benefits, and other secure payment alternatives. What Are Virtual Credit Card Numbers?  Virtual credit cards and their card numbers (as the name suggests) only exist in the virtual world, e.g. in an app on your phone, and are…

OpenAI’s new ‘Sora’ AI-powered text-to-video tool is so good that its outputs could easily be mistaken for real videos, prompting deepfake fears in a year of important global elections. Sora  Open AI says that its new Sora text-to-video model can generate realistic videos up to a minute long while maintaining visual quality and adherence to…