Snap Spectacles

Introduction

     Recently, Snapchat has rebranded itself as Snap Inc. and released plans for their new Snap Spectacles- a pair of glasses with wide-angle, circular video capturing capabilities. This allows for a fuller view than the regular smartphone camera, and a way to "see a memory in the way you experienced it", as the company said in their blog post.

     Comparisons were immediately made to a previous wearable model, Google Glass (you can see my blog post about that here).  While Glass was modeled as an extension of nearly every feature of a regular smartphone, Snap Spectacles are meant to work only with the Snapchat app. It is simple and designed to be fashionable- aspects that Google Glass lacked, and likely contributed to its failure. While Glass sold for upwards of $1,500, Spectacles are planned to launch with an initial price-tag of $130. Each product will come with a charging case, and a full charge is said to last approximately a day.

How it works

     With very little information available on the specifics as of now, I can only comment on the basic capabilities. For instance, the device will have a button or touchpad to begin recording video on the left side. This will trigger a circular series of lights around the camera lens to indicate that the device is recording. This will last 10 seconds, and then the information gathered will be sent to the device paired with Spectacles via Bluetooth or WiFi connection. In pseudocode, this might look something like:

while the device is on/has charge:

   if the button is pushed or touch is registered:

          if a connection is made to the external device:

                 turn lights on
                 begin recording sequence

                 send information to paired device

          else:

                 prompt user to pair a device with an error light

       The information sent to the device will be stored in the "Memories" section of the Snapchat app, which the user can then post to their story or save to their phones camera roll.

Sources
Images/Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqkOFLBSJR8

Content:
http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-snapchat-spectacles-20160926-snap-story.html
https://www.snap.com/news
http://www.businessinsider.com/snapchat-spectacles-glasses-how-they-work-2016-9?op=0#

Basics of The Turing Test

                                        

    Background   

       Alan Turing, a mathematician, codebreaker, philosopher, and considered by some to be the founder of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence (AI), laid the foundations of virtually everything having to do with research in AI. Most notably, he created the Turing Test, a test that determines the proficiency of a machine to exhibit or mimic human consciousness and complex behavior. This test is used still to this day to determine how advanced an AI creation is.

How does it work?

      

      The Turing Test is performed by recruiting three sources: the machine, the control human, and the interrogator We can consider these A, B and C respectively. C knows that either A or B is a machine, while the other isn't. It is C's job to ask A and B questions or engage in a conversation with them to determine which is the human (B). A attempts to mimic what a human may respond with in an attempt to trick C into believing that A is the human and B is the machine. The test has no set questions or answers, it is simply a test to see if a human interrogator can determine which of two sources is the machine. The goal of the machine is not to know every answer to the questions the interrogator asks, but to respond in a way that a human may be expected to respond. This makes sense, since you wouldn't expect a human to be all-knowing. The original test guidelines produced by Turing said that if the machine could trick the interrogator at least 70% of the time, it passes.

How this relates to Computer Science

        The machine used in this test is essential a program or collection of programs that work together to build responses based on key words that they interrogator uses in their questions. Basic AI is possible through user input and string analysis. For instance, a program could check if the string the user input contains certain words like "rain", "cloudy", "sunny", "hot", "cold", etc.. and respond in a way that may integrate weather, to show that it understands the meaning of those words. Implementation of the random operator could generate a random response among a list of responses to show that it is capable of expressing understanding in more than one way. For example, the program could be made to choose from a list of possible weather statements like "Tell me more about the weather.", "I hope it clears up tomorrow", etc.. This is a very rudimentary example, and would definitely not pass the Turing Test.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_test

http://www.biography.com/people/alan-turing-9512017

http://tinyurl.com/h4s67ev

How Fingerprint Scanning Works

Fingerprint scanning is the new norm for unlocking your devices, but have you ever wondered how they work and manage to be so accurate? 

Two Common Approaches

One technique for fingerprint scanning is to capture an image of the print under bright light. Also called electro-optical scanning, this method shows the peaks and valleys of a finger print (white and black spaces, respectively), and can be stored and used to compare to future user input. An algorithm is used to compare the black and white spaces of the two images, and if they are nearly identical, access would be granted.

   Another technique called capacitance is also used for fingerprint scanning. This method is commonly used by the IPhone 5 and above, and uses tiny capacitive cells smaller than the ridge of a fingerprint. These cells will close or remain open depending on if they are under a ridge or valley in the print, thereby closing a circuit or allowing current to pass. This information is stored, like the previous model, and used to compare to future input. This method is harder to fool as well, since it requires the shape of the print to work rather than just an image of the print.

Logic and How This Relates to Computer Science

  The logic behind comparing the two inputs can be thought of in very simple computer science terms. Just as we compare the equality of two numbers with == and two strings with .equals(), the two images are checked for similarity in roughly the same way. With electro-optical scanning, the image can be thought of as in binary - black and white corresponding to 1's and 0's. Logically we can say if a certain proportion of those match the original image, then grant access. Else, try again, lock the phone until a valid passcode is entered, or even delete all data on the device depending on your settings.

Conclusion

     Fingerprint scanning is just one part of an expanding realm of biometrics. Some devices have moved to facial recognition such as Windows Hello in Windows 10, while others implement iris scanning similar to what you might see in science-fiction movies. With passwords and personal information being stolen online constantly, I look forward to the day that I no longer have to input and memorize dozens of passwords, and can log in to my accounts for simply being myself.

Sources:
Graphics: http://tinyurl.com/gofbzwn, http://tinyurl.com/h22r2eb
Info: http://gizmodo.com/how-the-iphone-5ss-fingerprint-scanner-works-and-what-1265703794, http://www.windowscentral.com/how-set-windows-hello-facial-recognition-windows-10,

Google Glass as a Trailblazer for Modern Wearable Technology

 Background 

  In 2012, Google announced their new wearable piece of technology named Google Glass. Though this project is largely regarded as a failure, as it has since been taken off of the market and its development halted, the computer science behind it is fascinating and could very well have influenced aspects of other (more successful) wearable technologies such as the Apple Watch.

   The basic abilities of Glass included reminding the user of calendar events, giving directions, displaying to the wearer any alert activity on their phone, displaying weather and traffic updates, taking photos, performing Google searches, and lastly allowing video chats via Google Plus. To buffer the argument that this technology paved the way for other wearable successes; 5 out of the 7 basic capabilities listed are implemented on the Apple Watch.

How does it work?

   One of the main control functions of Google Glass was capacitive touch pad. Located on the right side of the wearable, the capacitive touch pad was essentially a weak electrostatic field across the screen. When something makes contact with this field (in this case, a finger), the controller chip detects this change and registers it as a touch. This chip recognizes several different movements or swipes, and interprets that into instructions for the system. For example, a horizontal swipe tells it to display one of the various menus available on the device and a downward swipe will either back out of one of those menus or put the device into sleep mode. This can be thought of as a series of "if" statements, and the resulting action as the following statements in the braces (Ex. If a downward swipe is detected, trigger sleep mode).

Other sensors on the Glass include a bone conduction speaker which sends vibrations through your skull and into your inner ear eliminating the need for ear pieces, a proximity sensor and ambient light sensor that allow the device to detect if it is being worn as well as certain eye movements that can act as commands, and finally an inertial sensor that detects motion such as leaning your head in certain ways which can also act as a command to the device to "wake up".

Google Glass Today

     While the devices are not being sold by Google any longer, many are being sold second-hand on sites such as Amazon and Ebay. Most people have abandoned the expensive accessory, but Google still offers guides for developers looking to create their own Glass content (https://developers.google.com/glass/). On the official Glass site, Google mentions that a future version will be available "when it's ready". While this isn't by any means a formal announcement, it's exciting to look forward to a far more advanced wearable product by this massive company.

Innovation requires failure, and in this case, Google Glass needed to be the failure that led to greater innovation, design, and implementation.



Sources: 
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/other-gadgets/project-glass2.htm
http://tinyurl.com/hs6f55v

Apple vs. FBI and the San Bernardino iPhone Conflict

Background and Conflict

   In the aftermath of the San Bernardino attack, the FBI had in their possession an iPhone belonging to the perpetrator. They were initially unable to unlock the phone and gain access to the data stored on it as it was protected by encryption and passcode with an automatic data wipe if the user fails to correctly enter the code a certain number of times. The FBI approached Apple, asking that a backdoor be created to breach the security of the iPhone and allow them access to data that they believed could fill in key gaps in their timeline of events during the attack. Apple then declined, and in their official statement said that they have cooperated with authorities and valid search warrants, have given data in their possession to the FBI for investigation, and have lent Apple engineers to assist the bureau in determining their options through which they can solve their issues with the technology. They noted that although they have complied up to that point in time, the FBI had requested they make a version of iOS that would breach the security of the iPhone and install it on the device in question -- something they were unwilling to do.

   While this may seem a reasonable request on the FBI's part, Apple points out that the implications of the creation of this sort of backdoor are potentially dire. Citing their official statement, CEO Tim Cook states that if this version is placed into the wrong hands, it could fundamentally compromise security on all iPhones. Law enforcement insisted that it was a "one-off" deal, and that this version of iOS would solely be used for this case. While it would be nice if we could believe that this could be kept secure in our governments hands, many have doubts about the intentions of our system, especially after Snowden. By creating this version, Apple could give the government and possibly black-hat hackers the opportunity to compromise our already dwindling level of privacy and security.

Outcomes

 Though this story is relatively old news now, it holds key ideas about cybersecurity and the grey area that exists between privacy and defense. This situation made me question the values I put on my privacy and how much of that I would be willing to give up for the safety of my country. Regardless, it doesn't seem that I have much of a say in this, as access was gained to the data on the phone without Apple's assistance. This leads us to question whether the FBI and their agents themselves gained access, or whether an outside "gray-hat" hacker or hacker group was hired to break in. Either way, the fact that access was gained suggests an existing loophole in the iOS - one that could compromise the privacy of any iPhone user.



Sources:
Content: http://www.apple.com/customer-letter/,
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/29/apple-vs-fbi-all-you-need-to-know.html,
http://www.theverge.com/2016/3/28/11317396/apple-fbi-encryption-vacate-iphone-order-san-bernardino

Graphics: http://tinyurl.com/jrqxhqo