Pressure has been growing in the past few weeks for politicians and regulators to clamp down on the monopoly power of Big Tech. In a speech given in Washington DC on September 12, Maureen Ohlhausen, the acting chair of the Federal Trade Commission in the US, tried to pour cold water on the idea. “Given the clear consumer benefits of technology-driven innovation,” she said. “I am concerned about the push to adopt an approach that will disregard consumer benefits in the pursuit of other, perhaps even conflicting, goals.”

Her words echo US antitrust policy of the past 40 years: if companies bring down prices for consumers, they can be as big and as powerful, economically and politically, as they want to be. This hugely favours companies such as Google, Facebook and Amazon, which offer up services and products, from search results to self-publishing platforms, that are not just cheap, but free.

Yet Ms Ohlhausen is overlooking a key point: free is not free when you consider that we are not paying for these services in dollars, but in data, including everything from our credit card numbers to shopping records, to political choices and medical histories. How valuable is that personal data?

It is a question of growing interest to everyone from economists to artists. For example, at Datenmarkt, an art installation cum grocery store set up in Hamburg in 2014, a can of fruit sold for five Facebook photos; a pack of toast for eight “likes” and so on.

The bottom line is that it is almost impossible to put an exact price on personal data, in part because people have widely varying behaviours and ideas about how likely they are to part with it, depending on how offers are posed. In one recent study, when consumers were asked straight out whether they would consent to being tracked by a brand name digital media firm in exchange for being targeted with more “useful” advertising, four-fifths said no. Yet another study published this year by researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University shows how pathetically little incentive is required to convince people to give up their entire email contact list. Students in the study were far more likely to do it if offered a free pizza.

One might argue that this is simply the market working as it should. Consumers were given a choice, and they made it. And whether or not it was a bad one is not for us to judge.

But as the latter study also showed, companies can nudge users to part with data more freely by telling them it will be protected by technology designed to “keep the prying eyes of everyone from governments to internet service providers . . . from seeing the content of messages”. In fact, the encryption technology in question could not guarantee this.

The bottom line is that big data tilts the playing field decisively in favour of the largest digital players themselves. They can extract information and plant suggestions there that will lead us to entirely different decisions, which results in ever more profit for them.

Not only is that too much power for any one company to have, it is anti-competitive and market-distorting in the sense that the basic rules of capitalism as we know it are being overturned. There is no equal access to market information in this scenario. There is certainly no price transparency.

The personal data we give away so freely are being lavishly monetised by the richest companies on the planet (Facebook’s second-quarter operating margin, for example, was 47.2 per cent). They get their raw material (our data) more or less for free, then charge retailers and advertisers for it, who then pass those costs on to us in one form or another — a dollar more for that glass of wine at the bistro you found via a search, say. They have a licence to print money, without many of the restrictions, in terms of all sorts of corporate liability, that other industries have to grapple with.

These companies are not so much innovators as “attention merchants”, to borrow a phrase from Columbia University law school professor Tim Wu. Economists have yet to put good figures on their net effect on productivity and gross domestic product growth. Surely it is high. Yet any tally would also have to include the competition costs as these firms devour competitors and reshape the 21st-century economy to suit themselves.

Whatever the FTC might say now, there are a growing number of legal cases that could change the ground rules for Big Tech. While American antitrust law has been based on very literal interpretations of the 1890 Sherman Act, lawmakers in Europe take a broader approach. They are trying to gauge how multiple players in the economic ecosystem are being affected by the digital giants.

I am beginning to wonder if we should not all have a more explicit right not only to control how our data are used, but to any economic value created from them. When wealth lives mainly in intellectual property, it is hard to imagine how else the maths will work. We are living in a brave new world, with an entirely new currency. It will require creative thinking — economically, legally and politically — to ensure it does not become a winner-takes-all society.

Space Weather May Be Killing Sperm Whales

The same phenomenon that creates the Northern Lights might also be confusing male sperm whales. In case you’ve forgotten already (really, how could you?), early 2016 brought a veritable tidal wave of beached spermaceti in the North Sea. No one could figure out why at the time, but thanks to a study in the International Journal of Astrobiology, we now have a working hypothesis: it was those gosh darned solar storms at it again.

So...what’s a solar storm?

Charged particles from the Sun are constantly flying towards the Earth and getting all mixed up in our magnetosphere, which is the magnetic field surrounding our planet. They mostly impact at the poles, where the magnetosphere has its poles and is therefore most susceptible to disruption. The collisions between particles give us an aurora (a.k.a. The Northern Lights). Sometimes the Sun spews more particles than normal during what’s called a coronal mass ejection, and when that cloud hits us, it creates a solar storm. They don’t just happen at the poles, though they are more frequent in those areas. And they happen on other planets, too.

What does this have to do with whales?

Solar storms can knock out systems that rely on the magnetic field, like GPS units and electricity grids. They can also knock out birds. Not literally—the birds stay airborne. But because some of our avian friends navigate using the Earth’s magnetic field, the disruptions caused by solar storms can pull them off-course.
Whales are similar to birds, at least in this respect. The going theory is that some species use the magnetosphere to navigate over long distances in much the same way that migrating avians do, since whales also travel quite far on a regular basis. It’s not the only way they navigate. Sperm whales use a lot of echolocation both to find their prey and to, you know, not crash into things.

Disruptions in the magnetosphere mess with that navigation system. Migratory birds seem to change altitudes in magnetically abnormal areas, and homing pigeons have more trouble finding their way. If whales use the same kind of internal navigation, they too might be running off course.

Sperm whales especially are used to quiet magnetic fields, because they live in warmer waters where the magnetosphere is calmer. The females and calves tend to stay in those climes, but young males leave their families to form bachelor pods. They travel north together, many of them bound for the Norwegian sea, where there are squids a-plenty—a delicacy in sperm whale cuisine. That area, along with the North sea, is far shallower than their normal feeding grounds, and dotted with many more land masses. It’s possible that if their internal navigation is out of whack, they could get disoriented and accidentally swim towards a shore. This wouldn’t be a problem in the open ocean, but in coastal regions it spells a beaching.

Do we know that this is how those sperm whales died?

Unfortunately, we don’t. These researchers have identified two solar storms that would align well, timing-wise, with the mass beachings we saw in 2016. But they couldn’t say for sure that this was the cause. Whale autopsies showed that the spermaceti were perfectly healthy and had recently been chowing on some squid, which implies that they were traveling south from their annual feeding fest when they got lost. Beyond that, we may never know for sure what happened.

It’s worth noting that past studies have found an association between solar storms and whale beachings, so this theory isn’t totally out of the blue.

It’s also worth noting, just as a fun fact, that sperm whales aren’t so-named because of their resemblance with sperm (though honestly, there is one). Back when the oil industry was pretty much just whaling, sailors would go out in search of sperm whales to gather the waxy oil that they store in their giant, square heads. The whales themselves seem to use their spermaceti oil to create loud clicks for use in echolocation and communication. Humans liked it because the purified oil could be burned and stayed liquid even in very cold weather. So sailors would kill a sperm whale, hack off its head, and pull it on board. There they would crack open the head to reveal the spermaceti, which with its whitish hue and semi-liquid appearance, looked to seamen like semen. So they called it spermaceti: “sperma” meaning semen in Latin, and “ceti” meaning whale. Why the sailors thought a whale’s semen was stored in its head is still a mystery.

The Lifeline For The Socially Isolated

With every week that passes I grow increasingly upset with the world, so trying to change it for the better simply makes sense. The idea of somebody suffering in solitude, lacking meaningful connections in their life, is something I cannot abide. People need to be social. We are fundamentally dependent on others, and social interaction should not be reserved for those that fit perfectly into the ‘norm’.

Whether it’s a day out enjoying nature with friends, a trip to the cinema to see the latest blockbuster, or dining out with family, there are many ways in which we interact socially with others. Though the unfortunate truth is, whether due to long-term illness or other factors, not everyone has the capability or opportunity to foster these connections, which can be extremely damaging to their social development. Technology can change this.

Social connectedness is a known protector against loneliness, and technology can play a key role in addressing this by enabling people to stay connected and empowered. The advance in technology is often blamed for the decline in real, face-to-face socialising, but for those unable to, these platforms can offer a much needed lifeline.

While the development of social networks, such as Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram, have completely changed the ways in which we communicate and allow us to maintain more relationships than ever, it is argued that this form of communication is less meaningful, and lacks the genuine intimacy humans crave. However,  John Cacioppo, the world’s leading expert on loneliness, suggests that although online contact can sometimes increase loneliness, these sites can be valuable tools if they are used to develop offline social connections:

“If you use Facebook to increase face-to-face contact, it increases social capital.”

It may be unhealthy to turn to social media as a substitute for actual encounters, but if internet sites are used to organise a football game, a community meet up, or a conversation, they can be a healthy way to maintain and build social ties. For those with long-term illness, technology can offer a vital solution to isolation by overcoming barriers to social connection.

For children and adolescents who are unable to physically engage with their peers, be it at school or during extracurricular activities, technology can help to advance both their social and educational development by allowing them to maintain a presence even when absent. We started working within this market before we had any idea exactly what product we were going to create. The hospitals, schools, parents, and children told us first-hand that this was the main challenge they faced, and we thought of a way of solving this problem.

The technology to tackle social isolation, and enable educational and social development, has always been there - someone simply needed to utilise it. Personally, I couldn’t understand why something like No Isolation’s AV1, a telepresence robot to help children with long-term illness, wasn’t on the market already. Sadly, there are a lot of engineers who don’t want to make something useful, they want to make something cool, but the tech that really helps people is the most practical, and is therefore without doubt the most essential.

Why Technology Could Be The Answer To Solving Dyslexia

Do you know somebody who suffers from dyslexia? Is this something you have overcome in the past? Are you interested in learning more about the developments (such as the use of technology) in treating this serious learning problem?

Many people are unfamiliar with the fact that there are approximately 40 million American adults with dyslexia. That’s a big number that shows just how serious this problem truly is.

Adding to the above, here are three more statistics that are sure to surprise you (courtesy of the Dyslexia Center of Utah):

70 to 80 percent of people who have poor reading skills are likely to be dyslexic
Dyslexia is the most common language based learning disability
30 percent of children with dyslexia also have at least a mild form of ADHD

Now that you understand just how big of a problem this is – both for adults and children – it’s time to answer an important question: What’s the best way to treat dyslexia?

For many years, the same methods of treatment have been in play. While a traditional approach can generate results, many people are turning their attention to advanced technology. They have come to find that there are many types of technology that can treat dyslexia, as well as a variety of other learning disabilities.

Since no two people are the same, there is no way of knowing what treatment will work best. This is why it’s so important for anyone dealing with this problem to learn more about their options.

Here are a few of the many types of technology that could be the answer to dyslexia:

Technology that teaches people to read and write

Learning to read is easier said than done. Speechify has a variety of tools that make it easier for people to not only learn how to read, but to become proficient in a reasonable period of time.

For example, you gain full control over your readings when using this tool. Here’s what the company has to say about this:

“Pause, skip, or change the speed anytime you want. Have full control over your readings.”

It’s this type of control that makes it easier to learn, as you don’t have to adhere to strict guidelines that may not work for you.

Cliff Weitzman is the mastermind behind Speechify AI technology. As a Forbes 30 Under 30 winner, it’s easy to be confident that his technology is on the right track to treating people who suffer from dyslexia (and other learning disabilities).

Sound literacy

The Sound Literacy App continues to grow in popularity, thanks to its approach to helping students learn how to read.

The nice thing about this app is that it was developed by a teacher. This goes a long way in ensuring that it translates seamlessly into the classroom.

While this app may not be the most advanced technology available, it has a long list of features that can help people with dyslexia learn in a more efficient manner. From learning sounds to processing words, it’s a tool that many parents, students, teachers, and tutors are using to their advantage.

Student learning

There is more to Nessy than a cool name. The technology is defined by the company as follows:

“Nessy programs are designed to help students of all abilities learn to read, write & spell, especially those who learn differently.”

Just because someone is dyslexic doesn’t mean there is something wrong with them. It simply means that they need to learn in a different way.

The Nessy Dyslexia PD training program is designed for teachers and tutors. This goes a long way in helping them better understand dyslexia, including how to pinpoint this problem and the best way to teach students who are struggling with this disability.

Conclusion

In the years to come, technology will remain a big part of conquering the problem of dyslexia.

While there is no cure for this learning disability, it’s possible for anyone with dyslexia to get past this problem as to lead a better life in the future.

What are your thoughts on this technology? Do you believe that advanced technology could be the answer to treating dyslexia in the most efficient and effective manner? Share your personal experiences and thoughts in the comment section below.

The Art Of Using Technology To Build Better Golf Courses

Veteran golf course architect Paul Albanese is walking the grounds at his upcoming Sage Run Golf Club in Hannahville, Mich. It’s a cool, rainy late August morning in the Upper Peninsula, so the 50-ish Ivy Leaguer is decked out in work boots, khakis and a light jacket. Part of the Island Resort & Casino, Sage Run will officially open for play next June and is located four miles from the hotel and its nine-year-old, highly acclaimed Sweetgrass Golf Club that Albanese also designed. “These are two of my babies,” he says. “But they’re entirely different golf experiences. I liken them to a red wine and a white wine.” As he should. Because so much time has passed between the design process of each course, the technology Albanese used for each job has drastically changed. How so?

How does GPS help you get a better design?

PA: Design is all about tweaking an iteration and making changes. In the old days when we had to stake things out with tape measures and wheels, it would take a long time to make a change and see how it looked on paper -- in comparison to what you just staked in the field. With GPS now, I literally can tap my phone and say 'this is where I'm at, this is where I think the 8th tee should be' and I can text it to my associate in the office who makes the change in real time and texts me back an image of what the hole would look like. It's instantaneous feedback using GPS, and the time saved in not only initially staking out the course but being able to make changes and adjustments using GPS versus stakes is an incredible advantage to creating a better golf course. Staking out 18 holes by hand would take two-to-three days, and in some cases longer if it was wooded and we had to get the stakes through woods. By comparison, we were able to stake out the upcoming Sage Run in half a day.

Do you factor in the sun?

Software lets us analyze whether holes will have the sun in your face or not. It maps out from from space where the sun will be at any time of the year and day. My associates and I map the points and say here's where we want the 9th hole, and then map out the sun path that shows us where it will be in relation to that tee shot for every day of the year. So we can tell early spring if golfers might have the sun in their eyes on the final hole, for example. We’re able to analyze exactly what golf architects have been trying to do for years, and we used to do it in a more general way. A general rule of thumb some 20 years ago or even 10 years ago was don't tee off into the east and don't finish into the west.

But using technology, we're now able to tweak that and know what is east exactly. Can it be 20 degrees north of east, if the hole is 23 degrees south of east? There's all this different tweaking we can do, to know if a golfer's gonna be heading into the sun or not, and whether it would actually preclude you from making a good golf hole there. And in fact, that's what we did at Sage Run here. We originally and cautiously had a hole finishing to the west. But after doing sun analysis, we realized that although it was west, it was slightly southwest, and that for the majority of the summer the sun was going to be southeast. So golfers won’t be hitting into the sun like we assumed they would. That actually turns out to be our final hole now, and is a much better hole. Without that technology, we may have not finished and designed this course the way we did, which I think is a superior way to do it.