Gadgetory

now everyone knows that you're smart speaker needs to listen to you to hear for instructions but the new Google Home minis up until recently have been listening to everything all the time Google home minis touch activation had prompted an error which saw some units almost permanently record conversations around them but Google was quick to release a fix for it despite this google has now said it will permanently disable that part of the functionality in a bid to allay further fears in a statement a 9 to 5 Google the company said and I quote we take user privacy and product quality concerns very seriously although we only received a few reports of this issue we want people to have complete peace of mind while using Google home mini we have made the decision to permanently remove all top-notch functionality on the Google home Mini as before the best way to control or activate your Google home Mini is through your voice by saying ok Google or hey Google which is already how most people engage with our Google home products you can also adjust the volume by using the touch control on the side of the device now you know what this really gets my goat because when companies like Google say that they care about our privacy concerns and they want us to have a peace of mind when it comes to those privacy concerns it's sort of like a big oil company saying hey we really care about the environment and then they sell us billions dollars of fossil fuel that soul sucks our environment yeah Google's basic fundamental business model and large tech companies like it are based on collecting private data personal data and using that to sell us stuff you can't really care about our privacy the way we want to care about it because those interests are in direct conflict with each other so no they may turn off this functionality and this particular issue on this particular product may not work anymore may not collect your data but there are hundreds thousands of other ways that they are collecting your personal data now I don't want to go overboard here I want to clarify that Google and tech companies like Google do not care about your individual data they're not looking at your emails your tax or your phone calls it's valuable to them and aggregate with everyone else within your social group right so for example they care about my data as they care about my whole group all middle-aged white guys in southwestern Ontario have a certain income University grads in a certain country you know if you're a female university student from Gujarat that's a whole certain segment that they will sell stuff to that's that's the kind of data that's valuable to them in aggregate not individual stuff so you please don't worry that Apple and Google are reading your personal text they don't care about your personal stuff it's valuable to them in aggregate let's talk about some better news specifically leaks surrounding the Oppo f5 Oppo has confirmed the launch markets for its first full screen smartphone the Oppo f5 coming October 26th the latest device in opals selfie expert series will be made available in India Indonesia Malaysia Myanmar the Philippines Thailand and Vietnam though details of what the handset will offer are currently scarce Oppo has revealed only a few bits of information about the f5 which they gave to us via email most notably that it will feature a full HD display with 2160 by 1080 resolution and an AI beauty recognition technology Oppo says the f5 will use the AI to beautify selfie shots learning the unique facial features of a subject for example the nose cheek lower jaw etc to make the best enhancements for each image regardless of the facial expressions or shooting angle the AI component is also said to understand the differences between age and gender to make the most appropriate tweaks for each subject and will self learn to improve future pictures and we also have good news for those of you who are looking forward to the Galaxy s8 active Evan Blas folded up on his report from September 29th with an image of what's alleged to be the Galaxy s8 active for t-mobile looking at the image there's no notable difference between t-mobile's and 18 T's version of the device Evan got his hands on marketing revealing that the t-mobile's variant of the s8 active will carry the model number SMG 8 9 2 t this isn't surprising based on the fact that the 18 t version of the device is already available in retails for 850 bucks and it has the same model number with the a at the end and this matters because of course the active models have traditionally been exclusive to AT&T now if you're Timo blur you have the option well as someone who runs an online business I can tell you that I look for tools that make my life easier and our sponsor fresh books not only makes this show possible but they make online payments and accounting much less painful and how do they do that exactly well you can send clean and professional-looking invoices in about 30 seconds and in about two seconds you can set yourself up to receive online payments and you don't have to manually input your receipts you can take pictures of your receipts with your phone using fresh bookses mobile apps and for a 30 day unrestricted trial you can go to fresh books com4 which lasts Android and in the section where it says how you've heard about us Phil in Android authority now I'm curious to know what you guys think of the whole privacy issue with not just Google but of course what's happening with oneplus and all these tech companies they want our data they need our data data is now more valuable than oil yes as of this year that's officially happened I don't know how they measure that but it's happened and these press releases that are written you know with subtle manipulation and they're leaving out bits of information just to allay the concerns and fears of sheep people who either don't think about it deeply or just don't care enough to think about it deeply your privacy is done it's been done for more than a decade and any notion that they care about your privacy is utter nonsense let me know what you think about it in the comments below and on Twitter verse