Google deploying SPAM call protection to some Nexus devices

July 25, 2016GeneralEdward Kiledjian

Nexus One image by closari used under Creative Commons License

Google's quest to squash SPAM isn't stopping with email. The sultan of search is now pushing an update to some Nexus and Google One devices to warn users when they receive a potentially SPAM call.

The feature allows you to block the number or report it. The Use caller ID & spam protection will be turned on by default.

The feature was launched with a post on the Nexus Google+ forum.. Yes Google+... Yes THAT Google+.

“
Spam callers be gone! Today, we’re beginning to update your Google Phone app with spam protection on #Nexus and #AndroidOne devices to warn you about potential spam callers and give you the ability to block and report these numbers. If you already have Caller ID turned on, spam protection will be available on your phone once your app updates to the latest version.”

— Google

Company tests Drone delivery in Canada

July 25, 2016GeneralEdward Kiledjian

As a Canadian, I read about cool new services available to our American friends with envy. Some eventually make their way north but many do not. When I read about Amazon testing its drone delivery service in the US, I was jealous. The thought of ordering a product and not having to wait 2-3 days is incredibly enticing and would dramatically change the way I shop.

Imagine my excitement when I heard about a Toronto based company called Drone Delivery Canada that reportedly conducted a success test of its drone delivery service. We don't have too many details but they did state that the delivery time and ability to carry the planned payload exceeded their expectations.

As a new Torontonian, I was excited to learn that the company is working with shop.ca and the city of Vaughan to setup commercial delivery services.

The company did state that they will expand testing and work closely with Canadian regulators as they expand their functionality to Beyond Line of Site.

Artificial Intelligence will power the future

July 25, 2016GeneralEdward Kiledjian

Image by Tristan Schmurr used under creative commons license

The world is about to get smarter

Ask what artificial intelligence is to someone walking down the street and you will likely hear common names like Cortana, Google now and Siri.

Truth is these are not the artificial intelligence systems of the future, they are mere parlour tricks. How many times have you tried to use Siri, got frustrated and just gave up?

Future AI will be in the cloud

During Apple’s latest keynote speech, they made a big deal about performing “more intelligent” functions directly on your device. The justification for the dumbing of their AI is that they are the privacy company and privacy means your data should never be analyzed in the cloud.

Truly useful AI will be customized to the needs, wants and desired of each individual user.

I will suggest that this unfortunate position will bite Apple in the ass as it tries to compete with the other giants willing to do what it is not.

Truly useful AI

For AI to be truly useful, it must:

always be available everywhere you want to use it
be personalized and provide the information you need exactly when you need it with no fuss or complication
be usable as a natural extension of your everyday life

It must be everywhere

We are currently living in a siloed world where everyone tries to trap you in their ecosystem. Eventually AI will be sprinkled everywhere in everything and will follow the user.

Nowhere is the first generation of this concept more apparent than the Amazon Echo. Like many, I laughed at it, thinking it was the most absurd creation in the world. Why would I want to buy another intelligent assistant when I already had one on my phone. Then I had a chance to use it and it was a revelation. Once it is setup, the Echo disappears and you feel like you are talking to your house. I realized that the simple fact that I could talk to it without pressing a button or finding my phone was incredibly freeing.

AI of the future will be in all places, all the time. AI will be in your house, your car, your mobile device, built into your office and everywhere in between. It will be there when you want it without any cognitive stress (without having to think whether it is available).

It must be personalized

As a security leader, I am conscious of the incredibly tumultuous topic of personal privacy. Proponents say that once it is lost, it is impossible to gain back and they are right. But in order to move forward, we will need to adjust to the new reality of limited or differentiated privacy.

Truth is Siri is rather annoying. So annoying in fact that I rarely use it. Even though it is more difficult, I keep going back to the Google search app on my iPhone. Why? Because it works better. Google sees my email, calendar and location. It knows what I search for. It knows the stocks I follow and the people I interact with. Google has never been shy about using the information provided by its users. Its voice recognition engine is several generations better than Apple’s because its tools are always learning from every user interaction and those learnings are quickly made available to the entire population of customers. I am more likely to get a “good answer” from Google than Apple.

As the need for apps diminishes, the true differentiator of platforms will become intelligent AI, something Apple will have a tough time doing with its privacy stance.

Photos in IOS 10 will get much starter. It will allow you to search for some predefined scenes (beach, snow, etc) and categories of things (landmarks, dogs, etc). But the engine will only be able to index images on that specific device. Indexes will not be portable between devices and images not on a MAC, ipad or iphone will not benefit from these improvements. And searchable indexes made on one device aren't available on another.

Google Photos on the other hand has a highly evolved neural network that benefits from the hundreds of millions of images uploaded monthly by its users. It can identify not only that an image contains a dog but can determine that the the picture contains a Siberian husky. Because it indexes faces of people in your pictures, you can ask it to find a “beach picture of your aunt Gertrude taken last year in Venice”. Apple can’t do that. Apple won’t be able to do that until it changes its stance on privacy.

I will also use this space as an opportunity to remind users that although Apple protects your privacy, nothing else does. If you use Facebook with the Facebook app, it tracks were you are and what you are doing. If you browse the web, you are being tracked, by ad networks, websites and search engines. Being truly private is difficult and complicated. It requires a careful planning that the average user cannot do. Even the TOR proxy network isn’t totally private unless you take the necessary precautions. So the moral of the story is that much of what Apple is selling is security theatre.

“We respond to the feeling of security not the reality”

— Bruce Schneier

The last pilar is natural interaction

All of the available assistants today require you to use some standardized query format. Sure Google now supports close to 150 different queries but you still have to remember what it can do and remember to ask it, instead of performing the function yourself.

This leads to frustration and eventually you give up on that tool. The Amazon Echo is the closest to supporting natural queries but start adding skills and you will quickly forget the format it will respond to.

None of the assistants today are good but they will get better. Viv Labs (from the creators of Siri) are trying to bridge this gap by allowing the AI to automatically learn new skills when challenged and grow without human intervention. The goal is to build the skill quickly and automatically if it doesn’t already exist. This large available response set is critical. You have to subconsciously believe that it will respond correctly regardless of what you ask it

The second part of this equation is the way you interact with it. You should not be force to learn a special syntax or change the way you talk. The AI should adapt to you. It should learn your style and allow you to ask questions anyway you want and provide you the right answer (wether your are British nobility or a high school drop out from the intercity with slang based speech. It must allow you to be who you are and respond the way you expect it to respond.

Conclusion

The coming explosion of AI is exciting since things that are dumb will be connected and gain intelligence. Distributed highly available, customized and accurate AI will materially change the way we live. I believe it will impact humanity as much as the industrial revolution did.
Computers will disappear and everything will be be become a portal to your personal AI. Your AI profile will follow-you and will be available everywhere (from a store changing room, to your office, your car, your portable smart-device and even you refrigerator.)

Pokemon Go players targeted in robbery & police issue safety tips

July 24, 2016GeneralEdward Kiledjian

Pokemon Go is an incredible phenomenon encouraging people to get outside, walk and socialize. For all its faults, it has tones of positive attributes. The challenge (and what keeps the game interesting), is the fact you never know where Pokemon are going to pop up.

Here is the stampede that ensued when a rare Vaporeon Pokemon showed up in central park. Notice the guy that just leaves his car in the middle of the road and rushes in.

While its a great game, many get too enthralled in the game and forget to stay alert and aware of their surroundings. This is why we have heard of a handful of issues from injuries to theft. Now the Ottawa police are urging Canadians to stay alert after an attempted theft Wednesday (reported by the Winnipeg Free Press).

“Police say a 24-year-old woman and a 23-year-old man were using their phones to play the augmented-reality game in the area near Ottawa city hall around 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

Ottawa police say two suspects approached the players and one of them grabbed the man’s phone and fled. They say the man ran after the suspect to an area where the suspect was arrested by military police, who turned him over to Ottawa police.”

— Ottawa Police

Due to the unprecedented success of this game, police agencies have started blogging safety tips for players. The Regina Police have an interesting blog post.

The Irving Police department released a hilarious Pokemon Go safety video

The moral of the story is go outside, have fun but stay alert.

Review of The Grayl water purifier and filter

July 23, 2016GeneralEdward Kiledjian

The problem

As a "light prepper", lover of camping and traveler, I have been looking for the ultimate water filter/canteen/bottle for years. I have tried over 50 different solutions over the last 10 years and although some did better than others, most left me wanting more.

Most of my readers are young professionals so here is the scenario for you. You just finished a long day while travelling and finally came back to your hotel room. All the shops nearby are closed and you want some fresh clean water. Do you drink tap water (which often tastes bad) or do you pop open one of those $8 bottles the hotel strategically places in your room?

Now until recently, my solution was to use the Sawyer Mini in straw mode, that way I didnt have to trust the (likely dirty glass in the room) or the bad tasting water. It did a decent job but wasn't practical and didn't improve the taste of the water,

Now imagine the situation when you are travelling overseas. The water quality is often questionable. This meant I had to filter the water with the Sawyer mini first then zap it using Ultraviolet light (UV Sterilization) with my Steripen. Taste didn't improve, the solution didn't remove contaminants but at least I was unlikely to get sick. But my onebag travel (carryon only) means I sacrificed other comforts to make room for these 2 devices.

The Solution

Following the recommendation of a trusted acquaintance, I picked one up during one of my trips to the USA (I picked up the Quest model but all of them filter exactly the same way). The Grayl promised to filter and purify the water easily and in a compact package.

Filtration: Filtration means the water is cleaned from contaminants
Purification: Purification means the water is safe to drink

This one product is performing the same task as my Sawyer Mini and Steripen. All without any pumping, batteries or extra containers. They claim (and have independent lab tests to prove it):

Removes 99.9999% of viruses (e.g. Rotavirus, Hepatitis A)
Removes 99.9999% of bacteria (e.g. E coli, Salmonella)
Removes 99.999% of protozoan cysts (e.g. Giardia, Cryptosporidium)
Filters particulates (e.g. sediment, dirt), many chemicals (e.g. chlorine, benzene) and heavy metals (e.g. lead, arsenic)

Now the level of filtration depends on which filter you attach, so let's talk about those...

The Grayl Filters

The Grayl water filter and purifier offers 3 very different filters (all filters will work will all models). The filters are Tap (blue), Trail (green) and Travel (orange).

I use the Tap (blue) $15US filter when in locations with known clean tap water to remove some chemicals (e.g. chlorine, iodine) and heavy metals (e.g. lead, arsenic). Anywhere else, (Camping or travel), I use the orange $25US Travel filter that provides the maximum filtration. Using the tap filter costs about $0,10US/L while the Travel costs $0.17/L. Each filter is good for 150L.

The Trail filter cost's $20 but is being discontinued.

I tried the Travel filter in a local lake and it worked like a charm. I tried it with very strong smelling well water (caused by Hydrogen sulfide) and the resulting water, using the Travel filter, was clean no smell fresh tasting water.

The Process

The process is simple and straight forward. No sucking, squeezing, or zapping. You fill the outer container with your tainted water, insert the middle section and press down. The Tap filter is easier to push and takes about 7 seconds. The Travel filter provides more resistance, more filtration and therefore takes a full 30 seconds.

You don't have to count, the resistance from the filter will guide you. You just press down with a reasonable amount of force and let it do its job. You can then drink directly from the top of the bottle or pour it into a canteen (which I don't do).

Important additional notes

You fill the outer shell with the "dirty" water then press the inner-core filter section down like a french press. It is important to make sure dirty water from your hands doesn't contaminate the inter tube (where the fresh clean water is stored).

If using water with lots of sediment, I recommend using a handkerchief or bandana as a pre-filter, to prolong the life of the filter.

My version is the Grayl quest with a plastic outer shell and a stainless steel inner shell (weighs about 16 oz). The full stainless steel version ,the Legend, weighs in at 20oz. The new Ultralight is all plastic and weighs only 10oz. If you are an ultralight camper or traveller then go with the Ultralight but I prefer to store my water in a stainless steel vessel and am fine with a little extra weight,

The Grayl fits in a standard car cup holder or the bottle holder of most bags I have tried it with, so no worries for day to say use.

Complaints

It was hard to find anything negative to say about the Grayl. It has become my everyday carry water bottle.

There is no automatic reminder to change your filter. They say it is about 3 months of use when used 3 times a day but it will be easy to lose count in the field. I don't know how they can add a counter but it is something to keep in mind.

Because of the design, it holds less water than you would expect at first glance. It carries 473ML. This is in no way a show stopper but something to keep in mind if using it in areas with limited water, You may need to carry additional untreated water in another water bag.