Computer Shopper - UK (2019-10)

ISSUE 380|COMPUTER SHOPPER|OCTOBER 2019 15

YOUMIGHTSHRUGat the idea of 5G; after
all, 4G provides apretty swift connection
compared to mobile internet of years past. But
5G has alot more up its sleeve than just faster
connection speeds.
5G connections can stream alot more data
than 4G LTEconnections, which will allow for
thingssuchasstreaminganduploading4Kvideo.
Given the quality of smartphone displays, being
able to stream UHD content rather than 1080p
video means people will be able to get the best
out of their fancy phone screens.
Online gaming across amobile broadband
connection will be faster and more responsive
on 5G, which will be aboon forcompetitive
mobile gaming fans.
There’s also awhole range of augmented
reality and artificial intelligence features that
can be enabled on smartphones thanks to
faster,higher-capacity connections to central
and cloud-based systems, which take care of
the complex processing needed forvery smart
and image-processing features.

SOWHAT?

Un-foldable things

IBM has patented a

wearable device that can

befoldedoutintoatablet,

hinting that anything

without afoldable screen

could be old hat in the

coming years

Defending democracy

Microsofthas warned 10,000 customers

that theyare being targeted by

nation-statehackers. Especially at risk

are organisations involved in democratic

processes and elections

MacBook melancholy

Apple has discontinued the 12in

MacBook, its thinnest Mac, once

praised as adesign innovation but

overshadowed by MacBook Pro models

and the redesigned MacBook Air

Facebook fine

Facebook has been fined ahefty$5bn

forprivacy violations by the US Federal

Trade Commission. Such is Facebook’s

wealth, the fine is adrop in the ocean,

and the social network’s share price

actually rose after the fine was imposed

Chips ahoy

Thanks to Intel’s chip shortage easing,

analysts Gartner and IDC report that PC

shipments have surged in the second

quarter of 2019; the PC is not dead yet

Noteworthyrecognition

Alan Turing, father of the

modern computer and

the driving force behind

cracking the Enigma

code in World WarII, is

being commemorated

on the new polymer £

note, due to enter circulation in 2021

Switching it up

Nintendo revealed the Switch Lite, a

take on the original Switch that eschews

the docking station and is instead

designed forhandheld use only.It’s set

forarelease dateof20September

Sextech showcase

CES 2020 will allow sex toys to be

shown off at the consumer tech show,

but only if theyare “innovative and

include new or emerging tech”

ITMIGHTNOTseem abig issue to folks living
alifefree of crime,but the use of biometric and
facial recognition technology by the police and
government organisations is questionable.
Facial recognition relies upon automated
systems, which use machine learning to classify
images and, in the case of police
systems, identify dodgy people.
However,the configuration of
such systems can result in bias
finding its wayintothe
underlying algorithms.
Aresearcher at the
Massachusetts Instituteof
Technology found that facial
recognition tech identifies
light-skinned men more accurately than
dark-skinned women. This stems from the
potential bias in the databases and images such
systems are trained upon, which can be
unrepresentative of the population as awhole.
Human biases could also creep intoalgorithms
at the development stage,even subconsciously,
if adevelopment team lacks diversity.

Such bias can lead to systems flagging

certain people forpolice attention more than

others, even if they’re perfectly law-abiding

citizens, while some people who are of interest

to the police might go by unnoticed.

More worrying is the retention of images of

completely innocent people by

the police.Given how much

personal information many

people share online,you might

not think this matters. But the

police can use these databases

to createwatch lists, which

could result in citizens being

put under surveillance even if

they’ve never come close to

doing anything suspicious. Again, this has the

potential to infringe upon people’s privacy

beyond just scanning them in public areas.

Facial recognition technology is also used by

authorities in nations with oppressive regimes,

so it’s not hard to imagine how the technology

could be abused and affect the average person

more than they’d first think.

SOWHAT?

5G has also been touted as the connection

technology that will allow formore advanced

sensors in smart cities and enable driverless

cars to communicatewith each other,aswell as

arange of industrial applications such as

remotemonitoring of fisheries and other uses.

At the moment, those uses cases aren’t

particularly widespread. But where 5G could

have avery real day-to-dayeffect on the

average person is with home broadband. Both

EE and Vodafone provide 5G home routers

to bring faster connectivity intothe home.

Forpeople that don’t have access to fibre

broadband, these 5G routers could provide a

fuss-free waytoget speedy connections.

There are caveats for5G: rollout is still

limited, and early adopters will payapremium

forfaster networks and 5G-enabled phones.

But 5G is now off the concept board and in

its early days. It might take awhile to bring

about the most intriguing elements companies

have been promising, but we’re now entering a

new generation of connectivity.

No further

trials should

takeplace until

alegislative

framework has

been introduced”

HouseofCommonsScience

andTechnologyCommittee

IBM

wea

be

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