Newsletter Archives

• The Star Trek universal translator is here today

  Posted on June 19, 2023 at 02:44 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  PARISOT, FRANCE — I’m working this month in Europe. During this time, I’ve found that handheld language translators have become truly useful in speaking with people when you don’t understand their native tongue.

  My knowledge of French is fairly nonexistent. I can manage to say “oui,” “non,” and “un grand café noir, s’il vous plaît” (a large black coffee, please). So you can imagine my fear when I learned — as I’ll explain later— that I’d be spending 30 days in the land of le Louvre, which I can’t even pronounce correctly.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.25.0, 2023-06-19).

  Public Defender Handhelds, Language, Newsletters, Smart Devices, Translation

• ‘Matter’ wants to talk to all your devices. Should you talk back?

  Posted on March 21, 2022 at 02:43 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  The most exciting development coming in wireless connectivity this year was quite the rage at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January. Since all the cool names were already taken, the new technology is called simply “Matter,” and it promises to unite the devices in your home or office that you can talk to — and which may even talk back.

  The platform isn’t the brainstorm of some garage startup. It’s being brought to the market by heavyweights such as Amazon, Apple, Google, and many other household names. They’re united under an umbrella organization called the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), which includes more than 400 companies. At first glance, that’s an impressive exercise in herding cats.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.12.0, 2022-03-21).

  Public Defender IoT, Newsletters, Public Defender, safety, Smart Devices, Smart home