December 26, 2024

This international surveillance project aims to protect wheat from deadly diseases

When Dave Hodson walked through wheat fields in Ethiopia in 2010, it seemed as if everything had been painted yellow. A rust fungus was in the process of infecting about one-third of the country’s wheat, and winds had carried its spores far and wide, coating everything in their path. “The fields were completely yellow. You’d…

May 2023

Acapela lets anyone back up their own voice for free in minutes — just in case

May 8, 2023

Synthetic speech can be a fearful object these days when paired with deepfakes and other AI deceptions, but it’s also an indispensable tool for anyone who can no longer speak on their own. Acapela Group has these folks squarely in mind with its new “my own voice” service, which lets anyone train an AI voice […]

Acapela lets anyone back up their own voice for free in minutes — just in case by Devin Coldewey originally published on TechCrunch

MWC’s organizer slapped with GDPR fine over biometrics ID checks due diligence

May 8, 2023

Conferences and other in-person events rushing to impose facial recognition on attendees in Europe without doing the necessary due diligence over data protection risks beware: The organizers of the global connectivity industry shindig, Mobile World Congress (MWC), which takes place annually in Barcelona, have been fined €200,000 (~$224k) by Spain’s data protection watchdog over a breach […]

MWC’s organizer slapped with GDPR fine over biometrics ID checks due diligence by Natasha Lomas originally published on TechCrunch

Optery using its new funding to evolve from data broker opt-outs to personal info platform

May 8, 2023

We can all agree that data brokers are creepy and bad, and that in this age they have feasted upon our personal information like never before. Opting out is hard enough — which is why Optery is there to help — but as the data economy continues to evolve, we may want a more proactive […]

Optery using its new funding to evolve from data broker opt-outs to personal info platform by Devin Coldewey originally published on TechCrunch