Tech

YouTube Music and Amazon Music Streamable on Google Home and Amazon Echo

April 21, 2019 by Ydraft Editors

YouTube Music and Amazon Music Streamable on Google Home and Amazon Echo: Users were in for a treat this week. First, Google and YouTube decided to end their long running feud, and second, both the companies announced that users will now be able to stream music from their services on their respective smart speakers. This means that if you are a Google Home user, you will be able to stream songs on Google Home devices through YouTube Music, and similarly, if you own an Echo devices, you can now stream audio through Amazon Music.

“Starting today, YouTube Music is offering a free experience with ads on Google Home speakers (or other Google Assistant-powered speakers). With YouTube Music and Google Home, you can ask Google Home to play the right music for any moment or mood. YouTube Music Premium on your smart speakers gives you the ability to request specific albums, songs, artists, and playlists on-demand,” Google said in a statement.

Users in the US, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Great Britain, Ireland, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Japan, Netherlands, and Austria can now listen to YouTube Music on smart speakers. The support will be available in more countries soon. You just need to navigate to Account Settings in Google Home app, tap Services and select Music. Then, select YouTube Music as the default music service.

Similarly, those who own Amazon Echo devices, can stream songs from Amazon Music on the smart speakers with Alexa. Amazon Prime members already have Amazon Music subscription so they don’t have to spend more to stream music on Alexa-powered devices. If you don’t have Prime membership, you can still stream ad-supported selection of top playlists and stations for free. The support is extended to customers in the US.

To listen, users can simply say:

“Alexa, play the playlist Pop Culture” to hear the ultimate global playlist for today’s pop music.
“Alexa, play the Imagine Dragons station” to hear a station inspired by the popular rock band.
“Alexa, play 80s music” to hear a station filled with music from the era.
“Alexa, play country music” to hear a station with some of the best in the genre.

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Twitter CEO Acknowledged “It’s easy to Abuse Others on Twitter”

April 21, 2019 by Ydraft Editors Leave a Comment

Twitter CEO Acknowledged “It’s easy to Abuse Others on Twitter”: Admitting that Twitter makes it “super easy to harass and abuse others”, CEO of the microblogging platform Jack Dorsey has said that addressing the issue in a systematic way is his biggest worry.

The platform is relying more on Machine Learning (ML) to identify abusive tweets as opposed to having people individually report them, Dorsey said in his TED talk this week, Business Insider reported.

“We have seen abuse, we have seen harassment, we have seen manipulation, automation, human coordination, misinformation,” Dorsey was quoted as saying.

“These are dynamics that we were not expecting 13 years ago.”

Dorsey also lamented that the system places undue weight on followers and likes.

“Right now the system makes it super easy to harass and abuse others,” he said, while adding that Twitter has created a “pretty terrible situation” for women.

As part of the efforts to make its platform appear less toxic, Twitter this week also announced that it is planning to give people an option to hide replies to their tweets, thereby giving users more control over the nature of conversation they would like to have on the platform.

“Starting in June, we’ll be experimenting with ways to give people more control over their conversations by giving them an option to hide replies to their Tweets,” Donald Hicks, Vice President, Twitter Service and David Gasca, Twitter’s Senior Director, Product Management, Health, wrote in a blog post on Tuesday.

Also on 7th March Twitter Safety tweeted, “We want to move faster in reviewing reported Tweets that share personal information. Starting today, you’ll be able to tell us more about the Tweet you are reporting.”

We want to move faster in reviewing reported Tweets that share personal information. Starting today, you'll be able to tell us more about the Tweet you are reporting. pic.twitter.com/quJ2jqlYIt

— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) March 7, 2019

And Donald Hicks quoted and said, “Our teams have been working hard to make it easier for you to report Tweets you think may violate our rules, and add additional context when you do. We are excited to announce a change in the flow!”

Our teams have been working hard to make it easier for you to report Tweets you think may violate our rules, and add additional context when you do. We are excited to announce a change in the flow! https://t.co/uuUZVFgdNL

— Donald Hicks (@DHicks) March 7, 2019

While the feature has the potential to make trolls invisible, it could make it difficult for users to correct wrong statements made by others.

Other social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram already give users much more power in terms of dealing with the comments to their posts, including the option to delete them.

Twitter last year said that making the platform free of abuse, spam and other things that distract from the public conversation is its top priority.

Google is removing all tech support scammers

September 2, 2018 by Ydraft Editors

Google is removing all tech support scammers: Google is taking action against the tech support scams that advertise on its platform.

The tech giant is making a commitment to removing misleading ads. Google told the Wall Street Journal it removed more than 100 ads every second for violating some part of its policies. Now, it’s also implementing a verification program to further combat bad actors.

The program is meant to ensure that only legitimate third-party tech support companies will be able to advertise on Google. The company announced it will also restrict the category globally in a blog post-Friday.

The move comes after an investigation from the Wall Street Journal found fraudulent tech support ads masquerading as larger companies like Apple. Scammers would utilize Google’s advertising system to create misleading ads. The ads would display a link to Apple’s website, but the number in the ad would direct to a call center that the Wall Street Journal says “engages in tech-support scams.”

Google and Harvard build an AI that predicts earthquake aftershocks

September 1, 2018 by Ydraft Editors

Google and Harvard build an AI that predicts earthquake aftershocks: Google and Harvard have developed an AI that predicts the earthquake aftershocks may occur.

Today Economic times stated with the ANI report, To train the net neural network, the researchers used historical seismological data. 131,000 main-aftershock pairs to accurately predict aftershocks.

Despite the accuracy compared to Coulomb’s forecast method, the system is not completely ready.

The system counts only one type of aftershock triggering while predicting, rather than accounting for static and dynamic for static and dynamic stress changes.

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