There's something magical about voices. We grow up with the voices of our parents, recognize our friends by theirs and enjoy listening to memorable lines delivered by talented actors and speakers. So far, computer voices sounded anything but natural whether in the shape of assistants like Cortana or navigation systems. They always sounded alien, robotic and artificial. The Lyrebird software aims to change all that. What was once unmistakable is said to soon become perfectly imitable.
Recently, I had fallen sick. A serious cold forced me to spend my days on the couch. We like to imagine sick days as a chance to take a break on a comfy sofa with a nice cup of tea and lots of time to read and maybe even a beloved movie interrupted only by the occasional need to clear our throats. In reality, my eyes were burning, my lungs wheezing and may brain obviously restricting its activity to mere life support. So what harm could there have been in picking up the remote and watching a much-lauded series in one sitting?
Until now, the update policy of many Android cellphone manufacturers resembled the nursing behavior of a cuckoo: they took to their heels. This annoyance has been tolerated by buyers for several years, maybe many didn't even realize the importance of regular updates. Only owning a Google-backed device like Nexus or Pixel meant you were on the safe side. Super cheap phones were sometimes even cut off from updates the moment they were sold. This grieved not only users but also Google - and it may finally be about to change with Android One!
You can't escape them. They're in the news, on entertainment programs or show up in Internet ads. Cryptocurrencies are ubiquitous. But how do they work and how can a single individual, that might not even exist, invent a new currency along with the technical foundation? Though there are now quite a number of cryptocurrencies available, I'll focus on the darling of the digital currency movement: Bitcoin.
Seldom does the media paint a more distorted picture than when it comes to hacking. It goes something like this: a man wearing a balaclava sits in a dark room typing away at his computer. Green cryptic characters fill up his screen until he reaches his murky goal! So far, so unrealistic. That there's more to the hacker community that once featured prominent members like Apple founders Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs and that many security issues became public thanks to hacking is a story that is rarely told. And the many positively motivated members are also swept under the rug all too frequently. Reason enough to take a closer look at hackers.
