Gadgetory

welcome to the 359 I'm Ben Fox Ruben I'm Alfred Eng cambridge analytic became a household name for all the wrong reasons and now it's dead the political consulting firm accused of misusing facebook users data is shutting down that was announced yesterday alfred let's get people up to speed in case they didn't already know what did cambridge analytical what were they accused of doing so they are a political consulting firm and they say that they can profile people based off of like data that they take now a lot of this is supposed to be like public data from like advertisers and things like that but what had happened with it scandal with facebook is that they created an app and they created a bunch of apps actually that were supposed to be like fun quizzes kind of like oh this is your digital life online this is a what type of what you know what song represents who you are or something like that and then instead of you know only giving them those answers they would take your answers and then use that to like build a whole profile about you but not just you but like all your friends and stuff and then they would use that data to basically create voter profiles and say okay so this person is most likely going to vote if you like target your ads to them in this way and that kind of stuff so considering how creepy that sounds do you think that there was any possibility that they might have been able to hold on or the fact that all their clients were fleeing there just potentially wasn't like like there was too much heat around it yeah I think the service is definitely still in demand if you look at their former CEO Alexander nicks he's at a new company now with several other Cambridge channel former Cambridge analytic executives now called Emer data and they're pretty much doing the exact same thing that they might not be getting the data illicitly anymore but i think it was more of a a-- we're going to dump this ship and then jump on another one that does the exact same thing but like it doesn't have as much heat on it as cambridge analytical so as far as the 87 million Facebook users that their data was allegedly misused what happens to that data what do you unclear right now a few lawmakers from both the US and the UK have told camera gentlemen okay hey look you can't delete this data you have to hold on to it we don't care that you know you're not a company anymore we're still investigating this so you can't just up and delete all this data it's unclear whether or not they're gonna listen to them so we you know it's it's still it's jury's still out there and where do that data is going to end up yeah the Cambridge analytical closure came at the same time of the Facebook f8 Developer Conference they're the social media company has worked to move forward from the controversy by showing off some of its newest projects among them was a VR prototype headset called Half Dome which promises wider field of vision and improved depth of focus it sounds like it could help make V are a little bit more immersive a little bit more like the real world which I'm obviously all for that sounds like it could could be really helpful yeah I mean I just because they announced the oculus go yesterday right I'm not yesterday that it was gonna be shipping yeah yeah so I'm compute imeem I feel like this one probably looks a lot better than the oculus go I'm just confused why then it just put all these features on a product that they already have this is still in prototype they're still working on it that's why and there's also another VR headset that's expected to come out before this one call me Santa Cruz I think it probably was a lot for the future VR though I think like the biggest gripe against is like things don't really look that realistic here when you're putting in it is very immersive it's just like it's hard to buy into the illusion that you're in VR yeah and you know it shows that they're working on not just the current head side oculus go but a handful of next generation headsets that could help improve that and get people more interested in VR last our own Abrar LGD wrote about simulations using virtual patients to train healthcare professionals to be more empathetic and to tackle some tough conversations on topics like mental health this is of course on a screen but I could see how this could be useful if it was in VR I don't know I don't think I mean I don't feel empathetic towards like virtual reality but simulations or anything like that so I feel like it might have the opposite effect where you start looking at like real people as if oh I've done this in my simulation oh that's an interesting yeah I don't I don't know I'm a I'm weird about that but yeah I don't know I'm glad you're not my doctor if you want to read more about these stories check us out on CNET I'm Ben Fox Ruben I'm Alfred Aang thanks for listening all right everybody thanks as always for joining us in the recording of the audio podcast I'll jump into the chat now and yes that's really me don't at me bro I'll find some good question the comments keep the conversation going and in the meantime Alfred them been busy my point though like I feel like it's weird if like the only like trauma or stress that you're dealing with is like when you're doing it or like a VR setting I feel like you're like very desensitize to that at some point it's a weird example but like I think of somebody who if like their only interaction with like women is like VR like pornography or something like that then yeah that's an interesting job it's just like oh this is how it's supposed to be I don't know what I'm doing anymore I heard it's a very weird job arguments no III know where that argument is but taking it back to the healthcare professional perspective I think a lot of doctors and health care professionals are accused of having lousy bedside manner especially when they're giving people bad news so providing folks with providing those specific professionals with a little more training specifically directed around that I think could absolutely be helpful whether doing it on a screen with virtual people like a little software program is actually gonna help I don't know I'm also curious when like doctors and medical professionals would even have the time to do this I don't know they're always training they're always doing stuff yeah but like our doctors training in the same way that we trained like for like for like annual like you know what I mean like those seminars I don't know yeah yeah I'm not a doctor I'm not sure you're asking me questions I have no idea about so I'm usually all in favor of using technology for to better healthcare to better legitimate resources rather than just put silly new cameras in their pockets this one you see how it feels kind of like a swing and a Miss though it seems to kind of like one step forward two steps back where I don't know if this is actually going to help further encouraging virtual interaction doesn't necessarily mean better one-on-one interaction area I'm very skeptical of somebody learning empathy through like virtual reality that does that just doesn't really like I just wanted to learn to love it's as my Zuckerberg impression but it's like when good it's like when Nintendo had like Nintendogs or whatever where's like you took it or like Tamagotchi where like you take it oh love their time ago it's like taking character Tamagotchi I just think it's paging doctor very different thing than like something having something like they're in front of you people love their Sony dogs to Nintendogs no no no what is it I bow yeah oh yeah but that's like they're in front of you that's a digital thing that's like it's also not real you know that right yeah maybe that's what they should do maybe instead of VR they should have robot patients crying and whoa now you're just getting into like West where we see baby dolls that used to cry and wet themselves and we're like which you would give to high school students so uh to like teach them what it's like and that really traumatized us at all I don't know I never was in that class but I do remember that from high school that there would be you know the kids would get paired off and then they'd have to take care of a kid and it would start crying in the middle of class and you have to push a button on its back to make it stop crying which in real life now that I have kids I can tell you that button does not exist anyway do we have questions or I wanted to pivot back to f8 because I was I was interested in asking you guys whether after two days of f8 whether you think Zuckerberg and Co managed to get get away from this whole Cambridge analytic a thing maybe they showed us enough shiny new things to I mean they've gotten away from it for a while now i feel i i i think that the the political pressure on them has kind of died down but i also think that it's like it's something that like looms in the background for them like that will always like loom in the background for them like it's it's not like the focus now but like people like that's like the undertone of like everything that i look at Facebook of now yeah I'm also pretty bummed out to hear that the Cambridge analytical folks basically just renamed themselves and move to a different anything less it's true it's true but it is unfortunate for users and when you exist as a POS you will continue as a POS that's right speaking of that we'll take a question about the shutdown of Cambridge analytic a--from DC one four seven does anyone think that the shutdown of Cambridge Anna Luca the problem with that with this shutdown the problem is actually over are we just waiting until the next company makes headlines I mean do you think they're actually going to try to better themselves or are they just going to do a better job hiding it no you Data Corporation you're talking about a Facebook specifically no no no what are their what's a new Emer data Emer data no data collect again a terrible friggin name yeah it's always Cambridge analytic I mean were they can also change it to like Oxford Statistics or something like it's actually like that name they have a style yeah I mean the point is that like data collection is a massive industry and it's here to stay and I don't think it's going away anytime soon you have all these websites that you use for free like Facebook and Google and Twitter YouTube which is owned by Google the fact and you know all that data is going somewhere and you know they're using this to basically develop profiles on any money at like essentially you know massive demographics on the Internet and you know that's how like advertisements get to you like specifically to you it's like oh wow when you see something that's like oh that's very specific to like what I just looked up like two hours ago I don't I don't know how this ad landed on like that's all like the data industry oh yeah and it the advertising is one thing the other one is these political consulting firms that use this type of information to target either potential voters for your candidate or against your can yeah to try to encourage or suppress votes it one way or another which is it's it's so important I think to really tell people about this because it's something that's going on and it's going on and like your your social media feeds and is with with Cambridge analytic Oh like what they were doing as a data you know analytical firm wasn't inherently wrong I mean like their people are very quick to point out that the Obama campaign did the same thing in 2012 I think the you know the big issue of camera janaloka was that they misused that like they took it without telling people hmm so I mean I'm sure that these companies like all these other data companies include including Emer data are gonna be doing the exact same thing but you know they're either gonna try much harder to not get caught or they're actually going to just continue taking your data in like the legitimate way which is so shady but perfectly okay because they told you yeah well but shall we pivot back to virtual doctors short hunter Manzon had a some great input I think it's good for the students in med school have you seen the Grey's Anatomy where all the interns freeze up and make huge mistakes I have not seen Grey's Anatomy however I have watched scrubs at least 11 times maybe it will prepare them better than throwing them straight into the fire see that sets may be applicable right yeah there's actually frankly I was a little surprised that you guys were so down on this concept because I'm gonna sit down just very cautious yeah I mean obviously especially with like health care tech it's really important not to over promise that kind of thing I think we try to do that as much as we can on this podcast to say like hey this is interesting but you know let's not promise everybody the moon with this it's not gonna solve cancer whatever but any level of additional training especially as it relates to empathy I think there's is just a lot of health care professionals don't do a lot of training related to that at least that's generally the knock about that point well-taken yeah shall we talk a little bit about VR sure I wish Joan was here for this I know right I don't and Scott yes well we already had Scott on yesterday oh that's right he thought woman yes okay I am go get him right now I don't know how much I care about this innovation of the focal length crap with the VR because I'm getting really strangely paranoid about finding myself in the matrix where the simulation has become too real we've surpassed the uncanny valley like I want to know I'm immersed in a virtual experience and not have any questions about the reality of it hmm any any feedback on that one I don't think they're anywhere near that type of situation I mean like I I've seen some of like the higher level VR headsets and those are kind of fun you get to mess around with them a bit like the HTC vive I believe it was the HTC vive where there was this like cool Mount Everest climb that I got to do and you're like going over this shaky bridge and you're climbing up like it was it was cool but like and and the visuals I thought were really good for VR but at no point was I just like oh yeah I'm definitely doing this yeah you know I think it's gonna take a really long time if the robots are ever gonna take over to make us think that this is a simulation that's where they want you to think right and then we'll leave already taking over then this is already all just a simulation red pill and end up in like this weird vat of goo and I have to take like you know that really long thing out of your mouth like neo does and then eat that nasty oatmeal stuff yeah yeah right why don't they have better food doesn't make any sense we need to talk more about virtual doctors I guess a couple great Orient's brought up in the chat from Matthew doctor I guess the idea is kind of like flight simulators for pilot training so that's a very good analogy I've done a flight simulator before when I was doing a story out of Louisville with ups I got to do a flight simulator and I will tell you that it was way easier I'm sure than actually trying out trying to fly for real well they probably put you on like the novice setting not only that only game genie codes in there the guy that had been a pilot for like 40 odd years was sitting right next to me and I'm pretty sure he was like secretly working the controls so I wouldn't crash completely but you know it gave it gave me at least like a very very minor flavor of what it might be like or what it's kind of like you know it was when you're when you're flying it's totally different than driving a car where it's kind of like you know working like a really big ship anything that you do you have to anticipate and move things like you know pretty slowly and carefully and deliberately so like if I got even that little bit from a flight simulator then you know maybe doctors could get something out of this true Josh boy de also points out that I'm going to school to become a police officer Congrats sir I feel that this taller technology will be applicable in law enforcement training as well that's another good point because there is a lot of interpersonal especially in this modern day and age sensitivity wise we're more peer-to-peer training could be a beneficial yeah yeah I would agree with you so for sure I think that's interesting good points everybody thanks for bringing those up we're probably just about out of time any closing thoughts for the week we had a busy week we had FA next week we got Google goog leo is that happening next week yeah oh wow all right sucks is that is that your official review I'll uh we'll see I'm definitely very interested to see if there's gonna be more like Google home news because like I write so much about like Alexa and Google assistant that if they make another announcement about some like interesting Google home stuff I think that could be kind of cool because um Facebook was rumored to be working on a smart speaker but apparently they delayed that effort because of all the controversies for f8 so but we had time to work on dating profiles yeah definitely dating profiles I'm glad they got your priorities straight sure all right thanks everybody that's gonna wrap it up for the week it's been a busy week but it's nice to end on a nice somber thought-provoking episode for for the UH for the weekend and we'll be back with googley oh crap next week sounds good to me alright I'll get us out of here the 3:59 podcast is available on iTunes tune in stitcher feedburner Google Play Music the Amazon echo and of course cnet.com thanks everybody for listening I will see you again on Monday so take care everybody you