In a race with Amazon to the bottom, Samsung has unveiled a new spy machine robot called “Ballie” that rolls around people’s homes watching and listening to everything they do while controlling all their electronic devices.
First unveiled back in 2020, Ballie’s latest hypothetical design is roughly the size of a bowling ball on wheels – previously it was only about the size of a tennis ball. The spying device also now contains a built-in projector that can display a virtual work call, a yoga program, or whatever else the user wants projected on a wall or ceiling – the video below shows what Ballie looks like and what it does:
(Related: Previously, Amazon’s Echo device was considered to be the ultimate spy machine to listen to and record everything users do and say.)
Does the world really need another in-home spying device?
At the recent CES 2024 event, Samsung showed off the Ballie in a demo, though attendees were not allowed any one-on-one time with the spherical robot device. In the demo, Ballie’s movements were “obviously tightly scripted and controlled,” to quote Engadget‘s Nathan Ingraham.
Ingraham says the demo “at the very least … gave us an idea of how the company envisions Ballie being used.” In other words, Ballie’s real-life use cases are still all hypothetical as the device is still under development.
An actor at CES 2024 asked Ballie to start a workout routine for him, which prompted the machine to project a workout video on the wall for immediate use, along with music to go along with it.
“Sure, you could just use your TV for that, but when one of the exercises called for laying down, Ballie shot the video to the ceiling so the actor could continue following along,” Ingraham explains.
In another demo example, Ballie displayed a visual representation of the air quality of a home to which it was connected via an air purifier. Ballie displayed not only particulate statistics but also a warning that the filter in the air purifier needed changing.
“The idea here is to show that Ballie can talk to all your smart home devices and display info from them, even if they don’t have a dedicated display,” Ingraham says.
Much like a smartphone, Ballie is also able to display a user’s calendar, place phone calls and even show video footage of, say, the inside of one’s “smart” Samsung refrigerator or the front stoop in the pathway of a “smart” doorbell.
“It’s cute, and it was fun to see Ballie confidently rolling around the floor of the demo area, but I can’t help but think that it’s solving exactly zero real world problems either,” Ingraham further notes.
According to Samsung, the first working Ballie devices will be on sale towards the end of the year, but not everyone, including Ingraham, is convinced it will actually materialize.
“I’m not fully convinced, as we’ve seen a lot of similar projects die in the wind, but I am definitely rooting for the little robot,” he writes.
Reports indicate that the latest iteration of Ballie presented at CES 2024 contains a spatial LiDAR sensor and a 1080p projector, the latter of which has two lenses and allows the robot to project movies, video calls and “greetings” on its surrounding surfaces.
A video shown during the device’s keynote depicted Ballie greeting a user who just returned home from work or an errand by projecting the word “Welcome” on the wall.
New reports warn that, following a spate of localized cyberattacks against health care facilities, federal officials and health systems are concerned that the next cyberattack target will be medical devices, including those in hospital rooms, at imaging centers and even inside patients’ homes.
“Hackers have especially targeted health systems for their valuable troves of patient data and in some cases have temporarily knocked systems offline, disrupting patient care,” Axios reported about the matter.
“But there are also a range of medical devices – such as MRIs, ventilators and pacemakers – that are potential targets, particularly when it comes to aging devices with outdated software.”
Though the cyberattack threat to medical devices is still largely theoretical, experts like Toby Gouker, an executive at privacy and security firm First Health Advisory, believe that it is only a matter of time before hackers figure out a way to break them virtually.
“It’s a real Achilles’ heel and a blind spot for health systems,” Gouker is quoted as saying. “What makes more money in a hospital than anything else? If you bring an MRI down, you can take a lot of health systems to their knees.”
(Related: Some people believe that communist China is planning a cyberattack to take down America.)
Government watchdog calls on FDA to expand cybersecurity of medical devices
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is calling on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which oversees medical devices, to work more closely with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to coordinate cybersecurity and medical devices in advance of a potential attack.
Both agencies have responded to the GAO’s call positively, stating that they, too, believe more needs to be done to protect medical devices from hacking attempts.
The GAO produced a report that says the vulnerabilities inherent to medical devices “still pose risks to hospital networks – and patients.”
As of last March, a new law requires all medical device manufacturers to submit plans for how to address any cybersecurity vulnerabilities inherent to their products. That law does not, it is important to note, affect any connected devices that are already on the market.
“Everything from your hospital bed to your infusion pump next to the bed, to the monitor next to the bed that’s measuring, monitoring your vitals, they’re all connected,” said Chelsea Arnone, director of federal affairs for the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives.
“Everything is online … so they’re all ostensibly hackable.”
Because many medical devices incorporate off-the-shelf software that, like all other software, is vulnerable to threats like viruses and “worms,” it is important that medical device manufacturers pay mind to this threat early on to avoid potential hacking problems later on down the road.
Up until the new law took shape and was signed into law, most medical device manufacturers offered little to no support in providing patches or other cybersecurity solutions to their customers, especially for older medical devices that no longer hold “blockbuster” status.
The name of the game for the medical device industry, just like with the pharmaceutical industry, is profits. And providing constant software support for older products means fewer profits, hence the need for legislation to force these companies to do the right thing.
One recent incident that illustrates the problem occurred in Russia after a hacker found a backdoor into a hospital’s medical device. The hospital was unable to take the product offline in order to isolate the problem, and when its employees contacted the company for assistance, they were told there is no fix.
“It’s just old school,” Arnone said about the incident. “You’re calling someone on the phone and waiting and trying to get the right person who can help you. It’s like the worst kind of customer support.”
True-to-life worlds, sensory-rich feedback, and the end of lag. From edge computing to faster-than-ever response times, 5G is coming for the gaming experience — and it’s going to be better than ever.
With more than 2.69 billion players in the world, video games have climbed the charts as one of the most popular ways we spend our time. As the most convenient platform for on-the-go users, mobile gaming has entered the stage as the industry’s rising star, with more than 209 million mobile gamers in the US alone. Despite its popularity, gaming’s got a lot more potential to be realized. Here’s how.
Gaming on the edge
Today, most game processing is done locally on devices. While it’s possible to allow some processing to be done on a cloud server — where a device can send data to be processed and then returned — these servers are usually faraway in large data centers, which means the time it takes for the data to return will ultimately degrade the gaming experience.
Mobile edge computing, on the other hand, relies on several small data hubs that are deployed in closer physical proximity instead of one large faraway server. It allows you to save processing power on your device for a better, faster gaming experience because the device won’t have to send data to a central server, process it, and then return the information,
“You can offload the processing of your devices into the network while also improving the experience of the game,” says Carlos Bravo, our Ericsson Director of Cloud Strategy Execution. “Before edge computing, you had to send a lot of information between the players to make sure everything fit well together. This put high demands on the device processors and batteries. Edge servers can be dimensioned in a better, more efficient way, generating a synchronized gaming experience in the cloud. You won’t feel any lag as you’re moving around, which is critical for a good gaming experience, and you won’t have to be hooked into a Wi-Fi network.”
Or, as Tommy Palm, founder and CEO of Resolution Games (a Swedish developer specializing in VR and AR games), puts it: “With 5G, we’re heading into a future where we will be able to do a lot of cloud-based gaming, where the processing power isn’t necessarily on your phone, but it’s on a server somewhere. If you have cloud-based gaming, you can run all the calculations on the same machine, and you don’t need to synchronize a lot [of individual players’ phones]. This opens up [the possibility] for games that we could only dream of, where you have fully destructive worlds, for instance.”
Caption: Mobile edge computing: save processing power on your device for a better, faster gaming experience
A better augmented reality
5G (together with edge) could also help AR games live up to their potential, going well beyond the limitations posed by the available technology.
As an example of the current situation, think Pokémon Go, where images of game characters are merely overlaid onto feeds of the real world using mobile phone cameras — an experience made even less appealing by the toll it takes on battery life. It’s precisely these kinds of limitations that prompt many mobile phone users to simply shut off their AR functionalities altogether.
Paired with edge computing, 5G will effectively fix these issues, and games will do most of their processing on the edge without people even realizing it.
AR devices also tend to require a huge amount of processing for object recognition, among other things, and in location-based AR games (where multiple people play the same game in the same place), the same data has to be individually processed on each device. But with edge processing, this redundancy can be removed, allowing certain data to be processed just once before streaming the results to multiple users. As a whole, this will bring a more enjoyable and accurate AR experience, enhancing the mobile AR gaming experience and improving battery life.
These advances in cloud and edge computing will decrease the need for high-end devices in order to play high-quality, collaborative games, removing an entry barrier to gaming and increasing the number of people who can access the enjoyment of gaming from our everyday devices.
Gaming communities and 5G
Today’s gaming communities include more than just the players — esports, for example, has largely become a spectator sport – and 5G can help improve the audience experience by providing high-definition video streaming on the go and in real time. If done properly, it is possible for the audience to follow multiple players across multiple screens, some powered by different providers, and all without lag.
In fact, 5G already made its first grand appearance for professional gamers during 2019’s Milan Games week, successfully supporting the finals of the first live mobile gaming tournament on Vodafone Italy’s 5G network.
“If you take Fortnite or Call of Duty, the latest versions are free to download and free to play, but then it’s all about having as many players as possible. Smartphones, in sheer numbers, are probably the broadest platform developers can find,” says Greger Blennerud, Head of Marketing, Mobile Broadband here at Ericsson. “The challenge there is, of course … the network quality. I think the key characteristics of 5G that really make it relevant are the bandwidth and the low latency that we’re getting. Gaming [is] maybe one of the most obvious beneficiaries of 5G.”
Wearable game devices
From headsets and glasses to vests and gloves, a new sensory frontier is ahead of us in the gaming world, promising spine-tingling realism and — most importantly — fun. Future games will incorporate lifelike haptic feedback in virtual worlds, giving us the same physical rush as real-world motions and sensations. To achieve this, wearables should be built on similar architecture and utilize the same development tools as mobile phones, allowing them to similarly benefit from cloud computing and network features.
“When it comes to successful headsets, they’re going to be built on mobile technology,” Palm continues. “But a consumer is never going to know that unless they’re very interested in what is powering them. We’ve released two proper games on the Magic Leap, which is an AR headset. Both that and Oculus Quest for VR are actually running kind of mobile phone technology in the background, and they’re building on that type of hardware. They’re very similarly performing devices, whether it’s a mobile phone or a next-generation headset.”
Caption: Wearables should be built on similar architecture and use the same development tools as mobile phones, allowing them to benefit from cloud computing and network features
Towards the future
Ultimately, we want this experience to be seamless for everyone. Game providers should be able to utilize network features without concern of what specific network is being used and users should be able to play games without too much concern of their specific hardware There are, several challenges that need to be addressed to accomplish this.
Game designers will have to figure out which part of the processing should be done remotely, which part should be done locally, and how to effectively balance this out to achieve the best possible experience. We also have to understand tradeoffs and when to apply them. Ideally, everyone would have the right amount of bandwidth and latency for the game they want to play. But what happens when a spike in online players occurs? Should we sacrifice high frame rates for resolution? Or should we preprocess based on all possible outcomes beforehand, utilizing more central processing unit (CPU) power to preserve quality?
Game designers are also in for a whole new level of integration with networks. They may need to inform a network of a person’s bandwidth demands beforehand, or ask the network how the user’s bandwidth is going to be for the next five minutes, then adapt the game accordingly. For example, if someone is going into a tunnel for 30 seconds, the game may choose to preload some objects or reuse existing local objects without changes to the gaming experience. Such network APIs will have to be built not only with user experience in mind, but also considering the developer experience of those using the APIs.
Some considerations depend on the genre of the game. First-person shooters, for example, may be more demanding in terms of video quality than strategy games, while arcade games may be more sensitive to latency. And then there is the question of mobility. If we know people are playing online games in their autonomous vehicles on the way to work, should we sacrifice arrival time for better playing quality during their journeys?
Interactions of the future will incorporate more senses than just vision and hearing too. The Internet of Senses applied to gaming will bring haptics, spatial audio and smell to the forefront. All of these will be communicated over networks, which will present a few exciting challenges in understanding human factors, including the strengths and limitations of our senses. Research into ergonomics, cognitive psychology, kinesiology, and human-computer interaction will play an important part in ensuring we understand people — especially gamers — before committing to technical designs.
Caption: Hear more from Alvin Jude, Researcher at Ericsson, about the future of immersive gaming
When it comes to providing great experiences with these new interactions, the role of the network is evolving, and in turn, our work is evolving with it. My team’s charter is to investigate the impact of interactions on the network, and the impact of the network on interactions. There are many people working hard with domain experts and industry leaders to realize not only what it means to build these networks alongside developing technologies, but to understand what it means to provide a truly great experience for end users and developers.
We’re here to bring tomorrow’s gaming experience to more people today.
Smart phones and tablets have become a cancerous growth in our lives – never leaving us, feeding off our essence, and sucking away our attention, life, and energy. Social media is like an aggressive form of brain cancer, attaching to our mind, addicting us to cheap dopamine rushes, replacing human interaction with a digital façade of living. Stealing away our time, technology has become a disease that infiltrates our mental and social health, leaving us depressed, anxious, worried, envious, arrogant, and socially isolated.
What we type and text to others causes over-thinking, rumination, and misunderstanding. The way we respond with type and text can be misinterpreted, leading to social strain in relationships. Digital communication lacks the natural flow of body language, eye contact, touch, voice inflection, tone, and real-life rapport. Accustomed to digital communication, people lose their ability to have adult conversations. This hurts everyone’s ability to work together, discuss ideas, solve problems, and overcome multi-faceted challenges.
Popular social media platforms prey on human weaknesses
On Facebook, the pursuit of likes and comments can become an addicting sensation. When the attention fails to come in, the Facebook user may feel unheard or undesirable. When the user sees their friends getting more likes, they may perceive other people having a better life than they do, leading to depressed feelings. (Related: Former Facebook exec: “Social media is ripping society apart.“)
On Twitter, communication is limited to short bursts. These bursts encourage people to engage in divisive language that is used in inflammatory ways and is easily misunderstood. Twitter is used to build a “following” which becomes a high-school-esque popularity contest that easily inflates egos and gives a platform to the most annoying ones in the bunch.
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Instagram and Snapchat have become more popular as well, making users anxious to show off their lives online 24-7. This infatuation with documenting every moment is an anxious, self-absorbed way to live and it does the person no good, because these technology gimmicks interrupt the actual moment and disturb the flow of real life. Do we really think that everyone cares about every picture, every meal, and everything that we do? As the digital world continues to bloat up with information, pictures, and voices, all of it loses its value and sacredness. Over time, no one genuinely cares. The louder a person gets on social media, the more annoying they are perceived.
Technology addiction destroys sleep, leads teenagers to other addictive substances
As parents pacify their children with screens, the children are exposed to constant light stimulation which excites brain chemicals. The colorful games and videos over-stimulate the child’s mind, making them addicted to the sensation. Consequentially the child becomes more restless and behavioral distress increases over the long term.
Technology has made our lives more selfish, isolated, and interrupted. Social media has preyed on our weaknesses, trapping us in its mesmerizing facade of happiness. According to SurvivoPedia, teenagers who spend more than five hours a day on their devices are at a 72 percent higher risk for suicide risk factors. In order to alleviate the mental health issues associated with social media, teenagers may turn to other addictive substances to take the edge off.
Additionally, these devices interfere with healthy sleep patterns — which are essential for proper brain development. The onslaught of blue light and electromagnetic frequency interferes with healthy melatonin levels in the brain. The things that we post online can keep us up at night as well. The addiction to check the phone for responses and likes can keep a person up, too. All this brain excitement and depression throws off the body’s circadian rhythm, leading to poor sleep and mental fatigue during the daytime.
On Wednesday, IBM scientists will make a quantum computer available to the public as a cloud service for the first time.Although the cloud service is geared mostly toward scientists and students, anyone interested in this strange new computer will be able to give it a try, Jerry Chow, one of the scientists leading the project, tells Business Insider.
A completely different kind of computer
A quantum computer is different than today’s digital computer.
A digital computer thinks in two states: zero and one (or off and on). A quantum computer uses “combinations of zeroes and ones” to creates multiple states. It can be a zero, a one, both at the same time, something in between them, or it can be a mysterious zero/one state that you can’t really determine, Chow explains.
These messy states are called “entanglement” and there are some well known algorithms (mathematical formulas) that use them, Chow tells us.
Because quantum computers think differently, they can quickly solve tasks that regular computers can’t do, such as working with billions of variables at the same time, like the interaction between molecules in chemistry.
They are also great for machine-learning tasks. These computers are expected to help find new drugs, new forms of computer security, and become smart computers that can think and reason.
Likewise, programming a quantum computer is completely different.
So the IBM team has created a tutorial to help people learn how to do it. You need high-school algebra skills and a background in programming. (It also helps to read a book on the subject before trying your first “Hello world” app, Chow advises.)
As cold as outer space
Quantum computers are also built differently. This one uses a silicon base, like regular computers, but relies on superconducting metals like niobium and aluminum that must be kept unbelievably cold. The low temperature brings out their special quantum mechanical properties.
IBM
This is the microwave hardware that generates pulses sent to the quantum processor.
So it’s kept in a special fridge that keeps the computer at “.015 above absolute zero, which is colder than absolute space,” Chow says. (See picture, below.)
The computer behind this cloud service is a five “quantum bits” (qubits) computer, which is powerful (other quantum computers have been 2 qubits), but not so much smarter than a regular supercomputer.
However, the industry is working its way up to a 50 qubits computer which would be so vastly more powerful than any of today’s supercomputers.
No one knows what kinds of problems a computer that fast and smart could solve.
But there’s a race between IBM and Google to find out.
The other prominent US school working on this is UC Santa Barbara under Professor John Martinis Group, which was backed and absorbed by Google in 2014.
“Google is working toward very similar goals,” Chow says, and describes the situation as a bit of a turf war.
So score one for IBM for releasing the first cloud service.
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