San Francisco becomes the first city in the US to ban its government from using facial recognition tech. Microsoft has thrown its support behind epilepsy prediction technology. And Facebook has had trouble hiring since the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
It’s all the tech news that’s popular right now. Welcome to Hashtag Trending. It’s Monday, May 21st, and I’m your host, Buckley Smith.
First up we have a story trending on Reddit. Despite being viewed as one of the more forward-thinking cities when it comes to the development and adoption of technology, San Francisco has become the first city in the US to ban its government from using facial recognition technology. This came about with the introduction of a wider-reaching anti-surveillance ordinance approved by the city on Tuesday. While private corporations will still be able to use it as they see fit, this will ban all 53 departments of the city’s government, including the police department.
Next up is a story trending on Google. Microsoft is throwing some money behind research to develop technology that would predict seizures in people with epilepsy. Microsoft awarded its Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Accessibility grant to the University of Sydney in Australia for the development of this device, which is called NeuroSyd. By monitoring and processing brainwaves, the NeuroSyd will be able to warn its user of an impending seizure. While initially designed to allow drivers with epilepsy to receive warning that they need to pull over, its benefits will extend far beyond that.
And our final story of the day comes our way from Reddit. We have all heard of Facebook’s data privacy scandals. It seems like almost every other day they do something to drag their reputation through the mud again, and I don’t know about you, but I am getting sick of it. And it seems the consequences of their actions are now affecting their ability to recruit the talent they need. They have seen the acceptance rate for job offers drop by almost 50% in the last couple of years.
That’s all the tech news that’s trending right now. Hashtag Trending is a part of the ITWC Podcast network. Remember to add us to your Alexa Flash Briefing or your Google Home daily briefing. I’m Buckley Smith. Thanks for listening.
