New Zealand Wants To Raise Their Tech Game, and They May Just Pull It Off...

For New Zealand to be the most competitive for digital investments in the world, we need more internet providers in New Zealand.

This can be done by moving the National Broadband Network to the public sector and putting the government on the back foot, and with it putting the public on the side of broadband." New Zealanders Need Better Telecom Services  is another reason that people should demand the national broadband network built by the government.

The reason that so many Kiwis rely on the current government for basic services such as telecommunications is that the government simply doesn't have the money to build a modern, high speed broadband network.  It doesn't have the ability to spend hundreds of millions on a network that would actually make high speed fibre accessible to all the people of New Zealand.  It's simply not going to happen.

This is because New Zealand uses international standards for telecommunications.  In other words the international standards for telecommunications are set up to be the same with respect to bandwidth or frequency that the New Zealand government must provide itself for the purposes to which it is responsible for building the National Broadband Network.

The National Broadband Network can be built in two major parts: The National Broadband Network will have to be built, and be fully operational, throughout NZ.  What this means is that the company that will build the network must be the national broadband company.  It will not be owned by the Government, and it will not be controlled by an international consortium.  This will mean that the company that builds the network has no corporate shareholders, and will not be beholden to the political considerations of any company in New Zealand.

The Government owns, or at least has control of, a majority of the company that develops, manufactures and/or distributes the NBN (i.e. Telstra).  This means that when the company builds the NBN it can choose to build the NBN of its choice, it can choose to be a private company or a government company, but it cannot be both.

If the Government decides to sell that monopoly to the company that creates the new fibre infrastructure in the next ten years (such as NBN Co or CVC Group) the government will no longer be able to dictate to the company which technologies they choose to use.  It doesn't have that option.  So the Government has a very little control over the company that builds the NBN.  This makes the NBN less attractive to new companies that want to build or maintain

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Author: Hal Burr

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Apple, Google, And Other Tech Companies Fight COVID 19...

Many tech companies are developing new technology to help fight the spread of COVID-19. Apple and Google are in the middle of developing a contact-tracing feature for their smartphones. 23andMe is conducting a genetic study to understand the range of severity of symptoms in COVID-19 patients. Facebook created a map that shows people who have reported COVID-19 symptoms. Alibaba hopes to use its artificial-intelligence technology to analyze CT scans. And some smaller tech companies are rolling out smart wearable tech and at-home test kits.

Video Provided By Our Friends At Tech Insider

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What Role Has Each Social Platform Played In The Spread of True, or False News?

Twitter, Facebook, Reddit — as well as other social media platforms such as Snapchat and Tumblr — now show the full picture of our online news, according to a University of Waterloo study published today in PLOS ONE. The research, led by university professor Jordan Sinclair, used the platform to collect social media data across 3,000 news articles published between January 2018 to October 2019.

Their analysis, which examined Facebook comments, tweets, website posts and direct mail to determine the public's perspective on the health situation. Sinclair and his team also analyzed the content of Google search results for the same 3,000 news articles.

The results confirmed their hypothesis, that while many social media platforms are useful to consumers, they are not the main source of information on health and disease related topics.

Sinclair's team found that of every 100 news articles from January 2014 to October 2013 they collected for analysis, nearly 75 per cent were sourced from blogs, websites and other social media websites.

Although social media did not necessarily contribute to the spread of the news the way it did the news of the coronavirus, most websites — particularly the BBC and the Huffington Post — contained a disproportionate amount of information and, in some cases, promoted misleading information.

The study highlighted the importance of social media in informing the public through both news and opinion, because misinformation can have devastating consequences, Sinclair said.

"This results can be translated into a broader public health message of 'trust us, we think there is evidence for this,' and 'if you want help, check the source of what you're seeing online.'"

For example, many of the articles referenced a government-controlled media report which linked the virus to a number of health risks in Australia and even the country's prime minister Tony Abbott.

"This media report was not the truth, and its use by the media amplified and amplified the false information it was promoting. It promoted misinformation that had a wide audience. It then was picked up by a number of health care organisations across Australia, and it influenced public opinion and public health interventions, both in Australia and internationally," Sinclair said.

Sinclair said he's surprised at how prevalent the misinformation was on social media.

"It is surprising that so many of the articles on health care are so easily disseminated via social media; that is why a paper like ours is so important — it is a window into how quickly misinformation can spread."


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Author: Jurang Lang

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When a Silicon Valley Technologist Works for the Government...

What if the government ran more like Silicon Valley? Engineer Matt Cutts shares why he decided to leave Google (where he worked for nearly 17 years) for a career in the US government -- and makes the case that if you really want to make an impact, go where your help is needed most.

Video Thanks To Our Friends at TED

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Mark Cuban of Shark Tank Talks Bitcoin, Economics, Coronavirus and More on Pomp Podcast...

Mark Cuban, the billionaire entrepreneur and investor. He is the owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and chairman of AXS TV. He is also one of the main "shark" investors on the ABC reality television series, Shark Tank. 

In this conversation, Anthony "Pomp" Pompliano and Mark discuss the current economic and health crises, the subsequent monetary policy decisions, how various asset classes will perform, what small businesses are doing to survive, whether corporations should receive bailouts, what privacy concerns people should be aware of

Video Courtesy of Pomp Podcast

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FREE FOOD Delivered During Coronavirus Crisis - Don't Go Hungry While 'Sheltering In Place' Thanks To These Apps...

Just because the streets are empty, doesn’t mean your stomach needs to be too!

A number of services have made account credits available to people who may need to use their services during this time.

Here’s how you can claim free food delivered to your door while you 'shelter in place'.

Note: These are only for people who have not used these programs before. Unfortunately for existing users these will not work. 

✔️ 

DoorDash: This one is fast, easy, and a enough to cover a meal!

• You MUST join this special link, otherwise no credit will be given.
• You will receive a $15 to spend in the app immediately!

✔️ 

Uber Eats: You Uber drivers can't take passengers right now, but they will deliver your food!

• For this one, you need to go to http://ubr.to/EatsGiveGet and enter code “eats-rossi3”.
• The amount varies by area but expect something between $5 and $20, also immediately!

✔️ 

Groceries Delivered: While food from restaurants is great, you may want do make a home cooked meal, or need items that aren't food related at all. For that, there’s Shipt.

• They’ll buy ANYTHING you need at the grocery store (places like Safeway) and deliver to your door.
• Click here and get $50 off!

America thanks our delivery workers!
Make sure to tip them a little extra during this challenging time.

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Author: Garrett Kain
Silicon Valley Newsroom

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Samsung Debuts Their New Camera Technology "ISOCELL" Advanced Pixel Isolation

ISOCELL technology is an advanced pixel isolation technology that adds a wall-like barrier around each pixels reducing color cross-talk to improve color fidelity.

Video Courtesy Of Samsung

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Zoom Re-Ignites The Battle Of The Video Conference Platforms...

The Zoom explosion shows that video and voice communication is really just starting to catch on. But what will end up being the platform everyone agrees upon using?

"It has to go into video chat," said Dan Goodin, co-founder of Skype's video and voice division and the former CEO of Skype. "A Skype group will be like any group chat. You could do voice at 1 million people, but not voice at all?" For Facebook, said Peter Kafka, Skype's vice president for engineering and product: "We want to have video in the first couple of years."

The other big question is how the two major players will deal with video-on-demand. Skype, which has an app for iOS and Android, has said video streaming will be in "beta" on Android by the end of the year. The question, though, is whether this includes live-streaming for people who are not signed into Facebook. Skype does provide video calling, but only within the live channel — it doesn't go live with footage. (Facebook has said only in-app video calling will be live.)

Facebook and Google say their videos will include live-streaming and all the other features needed to bring Facebook video streaming to the masses. And as with Facebook's other video offerings on the Web, Facebook wants to make sure it's not an expensive app to access.

"It's going to be one of the most expensive video products out on the market," said Kafka. "We're going to build in video ads to monetize that. There will be a lot more than is out right now on the Facebook app."

There is a major barrier to Facebook video. Facebook's mobile application is limited by the number of users in the app's video chat channel. The company believes it can add live streaming of live video to the app soon. The other major player trying to add live to YouTube is Facebook's own video app in a browser, though it won't make it immediately available to download. Instead, the company will test it on Facebook by showing a live video of something at its Facebook page.

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Author: Barley Hejim

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The Coronavirus Crisis Has Many Asking: Is Tech And Social Media Doing Us Any Good?

In short, how well are their products actually useful? Let's find out.

To get started, we need to understand each company better, and what they represent.  A few companies to look at will be: Facebook, Twitter, and Microsoft are very much like each other as they do many things very similar.

Google, as a product of the search engine, is very similar to Facebook as well. So let's start from both of our bases, and compare the two products to find out what each represents.  We can do this by using the following four charts: Google vs Facebook: An Example of Product Differences Google vs Facebook (Theoretical)

Google vs Facebook: An Example of Product Differences Google vs Microsoft Microsoft vs Facebook Google vs Microsoft (Theoretical) The first, "Theoretical" chart, will show you how different the products are.

In fact, if you think about it, the difference is not just in the features; there are many similarities between the two.  There are other factors that determine what is considered "theoretical," such as size and price (Microsoft's search engine is much smaller and more expensive, which makes it look more like Google). "Applied" or "Realistic" in the case of Google vs Facebook, or "Innovation" in the case of Microsoft vs Facebook would be more accurate.

The important thing is, the difference isn't as great in the actual application or technology, so to see the impact of this difference, the difference must come from the theoretical differences. "Applied" shows the actual differences, just like in the above example, but, in the case of Google, you could make an analogy to the different approaches in different types of programming, for example, the way they approach different platforms and features.

So, for example, for Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge, the difference is relatively small, but I would consider it an innovation for Microsoft to be taking steps that Google has already taken. "Realistic" compares both companies as they currently stand.

This is based not only on the companies' actual products, but how long they have been in the situation, and how far they have come since the last time they took such steps.

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Author: Hudson Reese

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Apple and Google Team Up To Develop Coronavirus Tracing Technology...

Apple and Google are teaming up to work on technology to help reduce the spread of coronavirus. CBS News and Wired editor-in-chief Nick Thompson joined CBSN with more on how their tracing technology will work.

Video Courtesy Of CBSN

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