Category Archives: Daily dose

Snapchat Cameo: Star in your own video clips

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Taking Bitmoji to the next level, Snapchat is working on an upcoming feature that lets users put their selfies into short clips that convey quick emotion, reaction, or silly situation in Snapchat messages.

It uses Deepfake tech to add your face into short video clips. It’s under limited testing in France as seen in a few tweets by French Snapchat users who have stumbled into it:

https://twitter.com/toddflanderrs/status/1203305620188913665

Snapchat has not yet confirmed when the feature will be available globally and you can be sure this will start a new trend among social messaging platforms like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Viber etc.

The concept has so many potentials, the applications actually scare me a bit. What do you think of Snapchat Cameo?

By the way, here’s a good explanation of what Deepfake is. You’d understand why the technology is quite scary.

How to clear app cache or app data in Android

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If an app is not behaving the way you expect it – white screen when you open it, freezes every now and then, etc a basic troubleshooting fix is to clear the app cache or app data or both.

Clear app cache vs app data

App cache is the temporary data stored on your device that is used by an app in doing its tasks. Over time, apps may accumulate a lot of temporary data in its app cache which could cause issues like slow responses, freezing up, or would just not start.

Clearing the cache app means deleting the temporary data so that the app can work on a clean space.

App data means the settings, preferences or account information stored by the app in order to work properly. Clearing the app data is just like resetting it to default settings as if the app has just been installed.

You would need to provide your login information, give or deny permissions to access your data or device components, all over again after clearing the app data. So you may need to take note of the settings of an app before you clear its app data.

How to clear cache app or app data

  • Go to the Settings Menu.
  • Click on Apps.
  • Find the All tab or All apps (if it doesn’t show you all apps by default)
  • Choose an app that you want to clear the cache or data.
  • Click the button Clear Cache. For devices running Android 6.0 Marshmallow or newer you’ll need to click on Storage and then Clear Cache.
  • To clear the app data instead of the cache, simply select Clear Data/Storage instead.

Once done, you can relaunch the app and see if it works better. Again, you may need to re-enter your account information and give it permissions upon launch.

Hopefully this will fix your app troubles.

Microsoft releases critical update to fix Windows flaw

Daily dose,

Do you have Windows update enabled? If not, now is the best time to check for updates to your Windows operating system as Microsoft released a set of patches to address critical vulnerabilities for the Remote Desktop Services component of Windows.

The critical flaw could allow for remote code execution, hackers could use it to run programs on a vulnerable computer without knowledge or permission of the owner. In addition, the vulnerability is ‘wormable‘ futue malware could exploit it to spread from an affected computer to another un-patched computer without action from a user.

The following versions of Windows are affected:

  • Windows 7 SP1
  • Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1
  • Windows Server 2012
  • Windows 8.1
  • Windows Server 2012 R2
  • all supported versions of Windows 10, including server versions

The update should be available on your Windows computer by now if Windows Update is set to automatically download and install.

If you have it on manual, you just launch Windows Update, click on the Check for Updates button to refresh, then click on Install to download and apply the fix to your Windows PC.

Windows Update
Windows Update will automatically download the right fix for your Windows version

You would need to restart the machine after to complete the installation of the critical fix. Go ahead, update your Windows PC now.

Facebook voice messages transcribed by contractors

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Have you ever sent a voice message through Facebook Messenger? If so, there’s a great chance that someone else might have listened to it and even made a transcription. That’s right, someone else has heard and written down those words you intended only for your friend, family or special someone. Bloomberg reports that Facebook has hired contractors to transcribe voice messages sent through its Messenger app/service.

While Facebook uses AI to mine or analyze our chat conversations in Messenger for information so that it can serve ads, give suggestions like canned responses or what emoji to reply with, it’s clear that it’s not yet good enough to analyze voice messages.

Their solution is simple – outsource it to contractors and have their workers literally listen to the voice messages and transcribe it for the AI to digest. Simple yet has ‘invasion of privacy’ written all over it. In red.

Is Facebook allowed to do this? It seems we have given it our permission to do so:

The Facebook data-use policy, revised last year to make it more understandable for the public, includes no mention of audio. It does, however, say Facebook will collect “content, communications and other information you provide” when users “message or communicate with others.”
Facebook says its “systems automatically process content and communications you and others provide to analyze context and what’s in them.” It includes no mention of other human beings screening the content. In a list of “types of third parties we share information with,” Facebook doesn’t mention a transcription team, but vaguely refers to “vendors and service providers who support our business” by “analyzing how our products are used.”

Facebook Paid Contractors to Transcribe Users’ Audio Chats by Sara Frier, Bloomberg.com

Other companies like Amazon, Google and Apple have done the same in order to improve their AI services Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri respectively but has stopped the practice after they got criticized for it. Facebook has also recently stopped it as well, for now.

I’m not yet sure how this sits with privacy laws in each country around the world. In the Philippines our own Data Privacy Act is quite stringent with this regard and will be the subject of a follow up to this post. In the meantime, bear in mind that the next time you send another voice message in Messenger, someone else could listen to it at any time and most likely, without you knowing.

In shutting down PCSO, Duterte has helped promote jueteng

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without giving details or offering any evidence of the alleged corruption in PCSO, the public headed into the weekend surprised and puzzled with the sudden shutdown of Lotto, Keno, STL and other gaming activities by PCSO.

All the Palace could say was that details will be given “in due time.” No one from the top brass of PCSO has resigned nor has given any statement to Duterte’s shutdown order, only that they will make an appeal to the President’s office.

Recall that one of PCSO’s offerings is the Small-town lottery or STL which was meant to compete and help get rid of the illegal numbers game ‘jueteng’. Now that STL has been shuttered, one would expect an increase of jueteng’s popularity as people will turn to it for their gambling fix or livelihood.

With one stroke, Duterte has indirectly boosted the illegal numbers game. He was even able to mobilize the PNP in closing down the thousands of Lotto stalls nationwide under generous media coverage.

Then there was this speech the President gave last June during an oath-taking ceremony of newly elected officials in Malacanang:

May mga jueteng na activity…Maski sinong Presidente ilagay mo dito, for as long as the economy does not really provide food on the table for so many families, hayaan mo na lang ‘yan. At least ang pera doon [There are jueteng activities. Regardless who the President is, for as long as the economy does not provide really food on the table for so many families, you just let it be. At least the money is there]

Kasi hindi ko talaga rin kaya. At pagka sinira ko ‘yan, ang papalit sa apparatus niyan, droga. So choose between the lesser evil [Because I also can not do it. And if I order the closure of jueteng, it will be replaced by the drug apparatus. So choose between the lesser evil]

So it seems that Duterte has really chosen the ‘lesser evil’ and gave jueteng a Presidential boost by shutting down its competitor. Until Duterte reveals more details or progress of his so-called investigation into the alleged corruption in PCSO, the public will just have to wait and wonder.