Texas flood the inside story

“I think that having been burned one time by not being adequately prepared for the level of violence, they will more likely be ready to deal with the protest turning violent with plans to handle that,” says Kenneth Gray, a retired FBI special agent and senior lecturer in the University of New Haven’s criminal justice department. “I think you’ll potentially see the use of chemical gases, or rubber bullets, or more severe types of response.” … [Read more...] about Security experts weigh in on how to prevent more right-wing violence on Inauguration Day

Thankfully, luck was on my side. In 2012, a colleague introduced me to Arnie Milstein, a Stanford Medical School professor and member of the National Academy of Medicine with an interest in both the policy and the technology that drives healthcare. Our first real conversation on the topic turned a casual lunch at a Vietnamese pho restaurant into an impromptu, hours-long brainstorming session. The exuberance of that day never wore off, as we convened a coalition of researchers to explore the automated tracking of surgical tools during operations, privacy-preserving monitors that ensure the safety of high-risk patients and vulnerable seniors, and networks of smart sensors that help hospital staff maintain hand hygiene throughout their shifts. Finally, in September, after years of experimentation, refinements, and presentations at conferences all over the world, our research was published in Nature. And now, with the help of legal scholars, bioethicists, and even a philosopher, … [Read more...] about An artificial intelligence scholar urges technologists to embrace humility

We can set aside the internal pressure from progressive employees, who have been agitating inside Twitter and Facebook for years to take a harder line against Trump. When push came to shove, few actually quit their high-paying jobs as a matter of principle. The risk of users deleting either app is also overstated. Most people who care enough about politics to feel strongly about Trump aren’t looking to remove themselves from where the action is. Twitter and Facebook provide an outlet for millions of people who want to feel connected, want to feel included, want to feel heard. They’re not giving that up so easily. … [Read more...] about Too little, too late: The cynical calculus of banning Donald Trump

Today, in retrospect, the battle over the sign seems quaint. As high as the design stakes were on that, they were nothing in terms of the damage he’s wrought as president. Nearly 400,000 people dead in his response to coronavirus, five dead at the Capitol, the dialog of democracy poisoned with his awful rhetoric. It’s been dispiriting to watch his character, to watch him have this great power and be able to wreak havoc on a massive scale, that made what he did in Chicago seem like a trifle by comparison. … [Read more...] about Architecture criticism matters more than ever, according to a critic bullied by Trump

I also found myself wishing that Voice Detect would respond to other voices, rather than just my own. To Samsung’s credit, the Galaxy Buds Pro’s active noise cancellation works really well—so well, in fact, that I hadn’t noticed the other day when my wife had walked into my office and started talking to me with my back turned. Voice Detect would really have come in handy in that scenario, but it didn’t work since I wasn’t the one talking. … [Read more...] about Samsung’s new earbuds have one feature that everyone should steal