Privacy and Cybersecurity

Can data science meaningfully change your life? Asked differently, can you use easily available sensors and apps along with common data and analytics tools to collect enough data about your daily life to craft a sustainable action plan? The answer is yes. Here’s how. Continue Reading →

Known simply as 5G, the next-generation wireless network has been touted as “world-changing” and a quantum leap in the evolution of communication. There’s a good reason: it will be. If you’re wondering how and why, here are 5 things 5G should make you think about. Continue Reading →

Since we first met the Jetsons on September 23, 1962, the idea of a smart home has enthralled us. In the 56 years since the show’s premiere, technology has advanced in ways Hanna-Barbera could never have dreamed of, yet we’re no closer to a world where Rosie the Robot is real. What gives? Continue Reading →

On Tuesday at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Apple held its second major hardware event of the fall to unveil a new lineup of iPads, MacBooks, and more. The big takeaway: all of Apple’s new products are the best they’ve ever been … and also the most expensive they’ve ever been. If you’re looking to drop some serious coin this holiday season, here’s what you need to know. Continue Reading →

Apple is the most valuable tech company in the world. So when its CEO lambasts other tech companies for "weaponizing [user data] against us with military efficiency," people are going to take him seriously. After all, Tim Cook is the de facto leader of the tech world. While he didn't name names, his vilification was clearly aimed at his corporate peers (which ordinarily would be good clean fun), except as presented, his accusations sounded like self-serving corporate posturing. Of course, there is another possibility ... Tim may have just been speaking metaphorically. Continue Reading →

For about 200,000 years, modern humans have relied on our eyes and ears to separate truth from lies and fact from fiction. Even if we ignore the rise of fake news (and how difficult it is to do anything about it), technology (like deep learning) is on the verge of making it impossible to know if what you are seeing and hearing is real or fake. Continue Reading →

Adapt or die! For smartphone makers, this immutable law of nature incentivizes innovation and forces continuous improvement as they seek new ways to make their great devices even greater. What's next? Here are five awesome new smartphone features we're likely to see in the near future. Continue Reading →

I hit rock bottom in April 2013. My weight had ballooned to 252 lbs., and eating had become a compulsion. I hated the way I looked and the difficulty I had moving around, and I especially hated the way I felt. I had tried everything (or so I thought) and had a 100 percent failure rate. But, luckily for me, 2013 was the height of the quantified-self hype-cycle, and there was no end to the number of fitness trackers and health and wellness apps coming to market. I started a journey. Continue Reading →

On Wednesday in Cupertino, Apple officially unveiled the worst-kept secrets in tech: the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR. Apple also announced a new Apple Watch (the Series 4, its best yet), price drops to legacy iPhones (the iPhone 7 now starts at $450), and official release dates for iOS 12 (September 17) and MacOS Mojave (September 24), but let’s talk about new iPhones. Continue Reading →

During the recent congressional hearings, Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), the Senate intelligence committee's vice chairman, said, "The era of the wild west in social media is coming to an end." Congress, he said, will have to take action. "Where we go from here is an open question." More hearings are clearly in the offing, and some kind of regulation is likely to follow. That's the probable future, but what would happen if the government lost its ability to control the tech industry? What if tech fought back? What if our democracy transformed into a technocracy? Continue Reading →