Could genetically engineered bacteria make tooth decay (and brushing?) a thing of the past? CC-licensed photo by makelessnoise on Flickr.
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A selection of 9 links for you. Smile! I’m @charlesarthur on Twitter. On Mastodon: https://newsie.social/@charlesarthur. Observations and links welcome.
About — Lantern Bioworks
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Lantern Bioworks is a biotech startup dedicated to developing effective oral probiotics as a means of preventing dental caries. By harnessing the power of beneficial bacteria, we believe that it is possible to fully eradicate cavities worldwide.
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This is pretty mindblowing, as prospects go: it says a strain of Streptococcus mutans (S.mutans) – which lives around the teeth and converts sugar into acid which then eats into tooth enamel and causes cavities – has been created by genetic engineering which instead produces ethanol.
And this was back in 1985. Clinical trials in the 2000s led to no ill effects – the company claims. The idea isn’t new: it’s been written about multiple times (here in 2016, here in 2002 – with the latter describing trying it out himself and a medical colleague, but that “wives and children” were not then infected by it 14 years later.
The problem is, this doesn’t have a valid patent: it ran out. Plus there’s the question of whether the bacteria might colonise other parts of the body. Plus we’d be ever so slightly intoxicated all the time.
Well, maybe it’s not all bad. (Thanks Adewale for the link.)
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The workers at the frontlines of the AI revolution • Rest of World
Andrew Deck:
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Since the blockbuster launch of ChatGPT at the end of 2022, future-of-work pontificators, AI ethicists, and Silicon Valley developers have been fiercely debating how generative AI will impact the way we work. Some six months later, one global labor force is at the frontline of the generative AI revolution: offshore outsourced workers.
These include workers hired per commission or on a contractual basis, such as freelance copywriters, artists, and software developers, as well as more formal offshore workforces like customer service agents. As generative AI tools present a new model for cost cutting, pressure is quickly mounting for these outsourced workers to adapt or risk losing work.
Rest of World spoke to outsourced workers across different industries and regions, including call center operators in Manila, programmers in Lahore, and designers in Cairo. Many said they are already seeing generative AI change the demand for their work and the stability of their income. But while some brace for layoffs or diminishing commissions, others have embraced generative AI tools in an effort to keep ahead of the curve. If generative AI represents a tectonic shift in the way we work, offshore outsourced workers are at the fault lines.
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Typically clever choice of topic, and amazing in revealing how far ChatGPT use has spread: Lagos, Guadalajara, the Philippines, Shenzhen.
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The invisible problem • Scott Jenson
Jenson works at Google:
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Whenever I explain my research at Google into mobile text editing, I’m usually met with blank stares or a slightly hostile “Everyone can edit text on their phones, right? What’s the problem?”
Text editing on mobile isn’t ok. It’s actually much worse than you think, an invisible problem no one appreciates. I wrote this post so you can understand why it’s so important. But as it’s a rather nuanced issue, I may lose you. To help, I’ve sprinkled lots of headers throughout so if you get bored, just skip ahead.
TL;DR: Android and iOS share a common problem: they copied desktop text editing conventions, but without a menu bar or mouse. This forced them to overload the tap gesture with a wide range of actions: placing the cursor, moving it, selecting text, and invoking a pop-up menu. This results in an overly complicated and ambiguous mess-o-taps, leading to a variety of user errors.
It’s less of a problem if you only do short bursts of text in social media or messaging apps. But doing anything more complicated like an email gets tedious. However, in my user study on text editing, I was surprised to find that everyone had significant problems and rather severe workarounds for editing text.
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The appalling thing about reading this is that it makes you realise how bad things are. Even worse, Jenson has the (or a) solution – but doesn’t think anyone would take it up.
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Pixel 8 camera features “leak” with manual controls and face-changing AI • 9to5 Google
Ben Schoon:
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The focus of Google’s Pixel phones has always been on the camera, and it seems there’s a lot of new stuff coming with the Pixel 8 series, as a new leaked ad reveals manual camera controls, new features, and a whole bunch of AI in the pipeline.
A leaked video posted to 91Mobiles by the reliable leaker Kamila Wojciechowska offers a pretty detailed breakdown of all of the new camera features coming to Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, including some returning favorites like Night Sight, Astrophotography, and Super Res Zoom.
What’s new this year, though, is actually quite a bit.
That starts with “Video Boost,” which Google says will use AI to create a “smoother view” as well as bringing Night Sight’s effects to video, as we had previously reported was coming. The video also gives us a first look at “Audio Eraser” – another feature that popped up previously – with a quick example of removing city noise from the background of a video of a cello player.
Perhaps the most wild use of AI in the video, though, is a Google Photos feature on Pixel 8 where the app will literally be able to change people’s faces in a shot to create the shot you want – the Michael Scott treatment, if you will. There’s no explanation on how this works, but it seems like it uses multiple, similar shots to create one final product. Again, it looks absolutely wild.
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Google certainly doesn’t like surprising people; it’s been giving out the details of the upcoming Pixels for weeks. Now there’s video showing the face-replacement AI (turning that frown upside down!), and we can now definitely say that you’ll no longer even be able to trust photos taken straight off a camera.
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Rishi Sunak scraps home energy efficiency taskforce • BBC News
Ione Wells:
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A taskforce to speed up home insulation and boiler upgrades has been disbanded, the BBC can reveal.
The group – which included the chair of the National Infrastructure Commission Sir John Armitt and other leading experts – was only launched in March. But it appears to be a casualty of Rishi Sunak’s decision to scrap energy efficiency regulations for landlords in an overhaul of green policies.
Members were informed in a letter, seen by the BBC, that it was being wound up. Energy efficiency minister Lord Callanan told the group its work would be “streamlined” into ongoing government activity.
A spokesperson for the Energy Security and Net Zero department said: “We would like to thank the Energy Efficiency Taskforce for its work in supporting our ambition to reduce total UK energy demand by 15% from 2021 levels by 2030.
“We have invested £6.6bn in energy efficiency upgrades this Parliament and will continue to support families in making their homes more efficient, helping them to cut bills while also achieving net zero in a pragmatic, proportionate and realistic way.”
But former Conservative MP Laura Sandys, who sat on the taskforce, said she was “disappointed” by the decision to disband it and “confused” about the government’s intentions on the cost of living. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, she said energy efficiency must be the “first priority to reduce citizens’ costs” and “improve energy security”.
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Just incredible. Data in 2020 found 12m homes in the UK with a “D” or worse rating, out of nearly 24m “occupied residential dwellings”. The £37bn spent on subsidising energy bills last year could have been better targeted at improving the worst homes.
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Spotify code suggests HiFi tier is coming with lossless audio for $20 / month • The Verge
Emma Roth:
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Spotify’s long-awaited HiFi tier could finally be getting closer to launch. Code within the Spotify app reveals new details about the “Supremium” tier, which could feature 24-bit lossless audio, the ability to create playlists with AI, and more, as spotted by u/Hypixely on Reddit.
Spotify first announced the more expensive HiFi tier in February 2021, but the feature has been stuck in limbo since then. The last we heard about the tier was in June of this year when a Bloomberg report found Spotify had rebranded the HiFi tier as “Supremium.” The Redditor’s findings corroborate this claim, as they say Spotify now refers to the audio as lossless with “no lag and delays.”
Additionally, the Redditor found that the Supremium tier could feature 30 hours of audiobook listening each month, along with the ability to sort your library by mood, activity, and genre.
The app’s code also mentions advanced mixing tools, allowing you to customize the order of playlists by beats per minute, enable smooth transitions between songs, and filter songs in a playlist by mood or genre. There’s even a “soundcheck” feature that lets you “learn more about your
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The audiobooks might be attractive to some people, but the price hike – compared to the $11/month it presently costs (expect $ to translate directly to £ and €) – is pretty substantial for lossless audio, which makes a difference basically nobody can hear without the world’s most expensive studio speakers.
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OpenAI and ChatGPT Lawsuit List • Originality.AI
Jonathan Gilham:
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We looked at all lawsuits occurring against OpenAI and listed them below. In addition to the relevant detail we had a lawyer provide some commentary. This list will remain updated as an easy-to-reference location for any lawsuits against OpenAI ordered by date (oldest to newest).
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Currently standing at five. I wonder if OpenAI has a sign in its HQ with “– DAYS SINCE A LAWSUIT WAS FILED AGAINST US”.
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Warning: update your iPhone 15 to iOS 17.0.2 before transferring data from another iPhone • MacRumors
Joe Rossignol:
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If you are unboxing an iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, or iPhone 15 Pro Max today, make sure to update the device to iOS 17.0.2 before transferring data to the device from another iPhone, or else you might encounter issues.
iOS 17.0.2 is only available for the iPhone 15 lineup. Apple says the update fixes an issue that may prevent transferring data directly from another iPhone during the device setup process, so installing it is very important. The update should appear during the setup process, or it can be installed via the Settings app under General → Software Update if you proceeded to set up the device as new and transfer data later.
If you already attempted to transfer data from another iPhone before updating to iOS 17.0.2, and your iPhone 15 is now stuck showing an Apple logo, Apple has shared a new support document with steps on how to restore the iPhone:
1. Connect your new iPhone to a computer with a cable
2. Press and quickly release the volume up button. Press and quickly release the volume down button. Then, press and hold the side button
3. Continue to hold while the Apple logo appears and don’t let go until an image of a computer and cable appears
4. On your computer, locate your new iPhone in the Finder or in iTunes
5. Choose Restore when you see the option to Restore or Update.«
Happily I missed the delivery of my new iPhone last week so didn’t get caught by this. Somewhat embarrassing for Apple, though.
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Craptacular is more like it • Daring Fireball
John Gruber did a detailed takedown of the WSJ article that I linked to last week:
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We can’t know that Qualcomm is behind this, but we do know that Qualcomm threw shade at Apple’s modem efforts with a press release about a renewed deal between the companies the day before the iPhone announcement event. How better to follow that up than a new story painting a picture of technical ineptitude and managerial chaos inside Apple’s modem team, set to appear the day before the iPhones 15 hit customers’ hands? This narrative especially suits Qualcomm if they’re concerned about their own engineering talent defecting.
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I’m slightly annoyed at myself for not having picked up the inconsistencies in the WSJ story that Gruber points out. There are plenty, mostly around timing and lead times and sources. Evidently, Apple hasn’t managed to make its own modem – yet. But is everything a shambles? Anyhow, this story will not make the already frosty relationship between Apple and Qualcomm any warmer. It may even spur Apple’s team on.
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| • Why do social networks drive us a little mad? • Why does angry content seem to dominate what we see? • How much of a role do algorithms play in affecting what we see and do online? • What can we do about it? • Did Facebook have any inkling of what was coming in Myanmar in 2016? Read Social Warming, my latest book, and find answers – and more. |
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