You may have noticed that the OnePlus 6 was recently announced, if not you can catch our article on it right here. However we failed to mention the other piece of kit they launched at the event because we felt it needed an article all of its own. The OnePlus Bullets Wireless, featuring quick charging, magnetic earbuds, and Google Assistant integration, are the first wireless headphones from OnePlus.
But I thought they kept the headphone jack?
First things, the OnePlus did keep the now rare headphone jack in this years model. However unlike most of the competition, wireless headphones are being offered not to compensate for a lack of jack (hey that rhymed).
The new wireless headphones by OnePlus are not exactly wire-free though. In these incredibly modern looking headphones there is a single wire connecting the two buds. This cable hosts the control systems and in built battery. So unlike Apple’s AirPods you can just let them dangle around your neck when your not listening to TechYurt, our podcast for those of you who don’t know.
The new wireless
The brand new OnePlus Wireless Bullet headphones are going to be water resistant. Something which will come in handy in Irish weather, but note water resistant not waterproof so don’t go swimming with them. It will end badly.
Style wise they are built from aluminium with built in silicon fins for a high quality stylish finish that should ensure they will stick in your ears. Even during the most vigorous workouts. Interestingly the sides of the earbuds are magnetic so that you can click the buds together to create a fancy high tech necklace. Take that Tiffany!
If having a high tech fashion accessory wasn’t enough, snapping the earbuds together will turn them automatically. A nice little battery saver if there ever was one. For owners of the OnePlus range, snapping the magnets together will automatically pause your music. Pull them apart to automatically resume your music. OnePlus says you will also be able to pick up and hang up phone calls in the future.
The cool bit
Now we have all heard about fast charging but that has traditionally been for smartphones only. Until now that is. The new Bullet Wireless headphones by OnePlus will also incorporate the companies fast charging tech. They claim that a 10 minute charge will be enough to give you 5 hours of continuous listening. That’s actually pretty good if you are the type that will only realise your stuff needs to be charged minutes before you leave the house. Better again, you won’t need the official OnePlus Dash Charge charger brick, any USB Type-C charging cable will do.
Apart from fast charging, these wireless headphones will also have Google Assistant integration. Now that doesn’t mean that the Bullets will have the assistant built in. With one simple click of a button the wireless headphones will activate the Google Assistant on the paired device.
Conclusion
The OnePlus Bullets Wireless will go on sale through the official OnePlus website come the 5th of June. If you want a set for yourself they will cost €69 before delivery charges apply. At this price these wireless headphones will be far cheaper than anything the competition is doing. The new Google Pixel Buds and the Apple AirPods are both approximately €100 more expensive.
We reckon that these sleek, semi-wireless and fast charging headphones are just another string to add to the OnePlus “giant killing” bow. Not only do they look great but they are set to challenge the competition on more than the smartphone front going forward. Hopefully as a result we will see the likes of Apple, Sony and Samsung step up their game because if not OnePlus will be ready to pounce.
OnePlus the self-styled “giant killers” are back having recently announced the brand new OnePlus 6 at a recent event in London. It’s no secret that we here at Goosed have been big fans of the brand as they look to compete with the big boys of Samsung and Apple. Since arriving on the scene back in 2014 they have shown time and time again that top line specs can be done on a budget. Over the last year or two, the company has probably been victims of their own early success . Expectations have grown beyond what a small company is capable of. However the term “flagship killer” may not last much longer. It now looks like OnePlus are ready to go toe to toe with the heavy hitters or the Google Pixel 3. Boasting an all-glass design, similar to the Samsung S9 or the iPhone X, a whopping 6.3-inch display and 256GB of storage. This is a phone ready to take on the big boys. So what do you need to know?
When can I get the OnePlus 6?
Ok, so firstly to answer the question on everybody’s lips. The official release date of the OnePlus 6 is going to be the 22nd of May, this is going to be for the Midnight (matte) black and Mirror (glossy) black models. They also have an almost ceramic looking Silk White edition. If you want this you will be waiting until the first week of June.
They have also announced a very pretty Marvel Avengers edition which we are hearing will only be available in Asia. A shame because personally, I would love it.
Right now the OnePlus 6 is not available to pre-order so you will need to have the card ready to rumble on the morning of the 22nd of May. That brings us nicely to the next question…
How much?
Before I answer this question let me ask, how much would you pay for a phone with equal or better specs than an iPhone, Samsung or Sony?
Right, so take that number and probably half it because the OnePlus 6 will be starting at €520. This price is for the 64gb model, but if you want more memory you will be able to get 128gb for €569 or 256gb for €620. To be perfectly honest the 64gb model is probably more than enough for most people. If you really like your music and movies or don’t fancy cloud storage then at least it’s nice to have the option.
As we said earlier, the OnePlus 6 boasts the largest screen of any OnePlus handset to date. It will also be rocking the now standard notch feature at the top of the screen for added style. If you could call it that, but hey a notch is so hot right now. The display itself is 6.3 inches of pure Gorilla Glass 5, which means screen cracks should be at a minimum. Interesting the back of the phone is also Gorilla Glass, something that is a first for OnePlus.
The OnePlus 6 has also taken the controversial decision to keep the headphone jack for the OnePlus 6, and it’s also made the handset more water resistant in comparison to the previous editions.
Apart from that, there are a few other visual changes of note. The alert slider has moved over above the power key while the SIM tray is now tucked away above the volume bar. Although these changes are minimal the re-positioning has shown that OnePlus have listened to their customers and as a result, it should feel much better in the user’s hand.
Speaking of in the hand
The new OnePlus 6 contains not one but two forms of biometric security. This might not sound groundbreaking considering Samsung are already doing the same, but it’s a first for OnePlus.
Firstly the phone is equipped with a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner. It’s an oval shaped button that reports say will unlock your phone as quick as anyone else on the market. Apart from that, the OnePlus 6 will also have a face unlocking system.
OnePlus says face unlock takes 0.4 seconds to recognize you and allow you access to the handset, while the fingerprint scanner is quicker at 0.2 seconds.
But what about the Camera and Battery
To be fair, the most important specs for most people when buying a new phone these days are the battery and camera. The OnePlus won’t let you down on either.
The OnePlus 6 comes with dual rear cameras, the main camera is 16MP and the selfie cam is 20MP. Interestingly the main camera has increased it’s like the intake for a better quality image and can also shoot up to a minute of slow-mo footage. Because what doesn’t look better in slow motion.
Portrait mode returns on the OnePlus 6, but it’s now faster and in the coming weeks a software update will be issued that brings the feature to the 16MP front facing the camera as well.
In terms of the battery, the handset is rocking a 3,300mAh battery with a cool new Dash Charge feature which should give you a full day of power is just 30 minutes.
Feel the power
You bet your sweet ass it is. The OnePlus 6 is using the nifty Snapdragon 845, which is the same processor as the latest Sony Xperia’s. It will also be running the latest version of Android Oreo straight from the box. If you are willing to be a bit more out there you can also use the new Android P Beta version available from Google.
Early Opinion
In reality, the OnePlus 6 looks to be the most polished smartphone the firm has made. This edition could finally be the model that removed the tag of “flagship killer” and finally brings them into the conversation alongside the iPhone or Samsung Galaxy. The spec sheet looks incredible and while a price tag of €520 might seem steep, it’s a damn sight cheaper than anything the opposition is creating. The only downside for me is this until OnePlus make agreements with mobile networks to range their products the upfront cost versus what you can get a bigger brand on a contract means they will always be playing catch up.
Having said that, if you have that kind of money hiding down the back of the couch and you want a top of range smartphone that costs less than a grand, then the OnePlus 6 could well be the phone for you.
It’s not long to go now until the nation goes to the polls. Personally, I’ll be voting yes. I’ve finally bit the bullet and moved my vote to Dublin after many years of travelling to vote and checked the register to find my new polling station. Turns out I would probably be able to throw my vote from my gaff land it into the polling station, but for many others, it’s not that simple. Fortunately, the great people over at Lynk have a solution.
Free Taxis on May 25th
To encourage as many people as possible to use their vote, Lynk is offering customers a free taxi ride worth up to €10 on May 25th. If you’re a little farther away, you’ll get a tenner off your final bill.
So if your polling station is a bit of a drive, now you’ve no excuse. Download Lynk, pop in your details and off you go.
Lynk Promo Code: Claim Your Free Ride
To claim your free Lynk ride to the polling stations simply download the Lynk app, pop in your details, including your payment details and finally add in the unique promo code for the referendum: #LynkToVote – it looks like that hashtag symbol is required!
Hat tip to Nicola on Twitter who pointed this out.
Fair play to Lynk Taxis in Dublin- you can get a free cab to the polling station next Friday if under €10, or that amount off a more expensive bill.
If you’re still undecided, I’d ask you head on over to Facebook and the “In Her Shoes” page. It’s not easy reading because the page tells the very real stories of women affected by the 8th Amendment. I make no secret of my hopes for a Yes vote but more I ask you do vote. It’s super important you exercise your right to do so and hopefully, if you’re in the Dublin area, Lynk can make that just a little bit easier.
Every once in a while something comes around to change the world we live in. It seems we are living in one of these times right now. Artificial intelligence is slowly but surely becoming the next frontier in technological development after the computer, the internet and even the smartphone. In recent times the movies are becoming more and more a reality as AI combines with our day to day life.
We here at Goosed have chatted about the insurgence of AI at length, what it might do, where it may bring us etc.All we have managed to do is argue like bitter little schoolkids about whether or not robots will take over the world. Seriously, there is a lot more going on with AI than simply murderous robots. So strap in, put the kettle on, we can wait, this one ain’t going to be short but please stick with us as in this article we hope to give you the inside track on everything AI. The Good, the bad, the possibilities and have thrown something fun in, well just because.
So, what is Artificial Intelligence?
To not over-complicate things, artificial intelligence or AI is normally defined as the science of making computers do things that would normally require a human level of intelligence to complete. AI has had some success stories in recent times, think Siri, Bixby or Alexa to name a few. In my humble opinion, I personally believe there is a distinct difference between Artificial Intelligence such as these programs which are built to fulfil specific purposes and what I would call robot consciousness, which by its very definition is attempting to replicate the human mind within a mechanical construct.
Since the inception of AI roughly fifty years ago, slow progress has been made. Something which seemed so simple in its thinking which has spawned a metric tonne of movies (Good ole Arnie) has actually proven to be profoundly difficult. This has probably added to the aura and appreciation of the monumental task of creating robotic consciousness. Thankfully, the Terminator won’t be happening anytime soon so creating robotic devices which can simply perform specific tasks with the intelligence of me or you is as much as we are likely to get.
Research in AI has focused chiefly on the following components of intelligence: learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and language understanding. Doesn’t sound to scary right? these are things a puppy does and nobody thinks they will take over the world.
AI: The good
Possibly the greatest clip I have ever seen relating to artificial intelligence comes from the movie The Imitation Game. In it, Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing defends his perspective on the idea of machines being capable of thinking, see here:
Me and you think differently. Each of us in the world has a different thought process, so why should we fear a machine because it thinks slightly differently? We aren’t afraid of each other, right? The lad Cumberbatch plays in this movie was one of the leading lights in computer science, AI and robot consciousness. It was his research which has paved the way for the developments in AI. Of course, we have come a long way since his time and whether you know it or not each of us has some activity with some form of AI every single day.
You probably have AI in your room, right now
If you’re reading this on a smartphone either Siri, Bixby or Google Now is floating around there in the background. The Amazon Echo and Echo Dot, if you have these at home, are AI. Really this is just the beginning. Fields such as medicine, science, engineering and space exploration are all dipping their toes into the world of AI if not for the personal assistant aspects alone. Think how amazing it would be allowing people to receive help with day-to-day tasks or find useful information in specialised domains like medicine. Instant diagnosis, cleaner and more effective surgeries and less death. Win
Unfortunately, artificial intelligence has drawn some rather extreme headlines and there are a rake of doomsday predictions – which we will come to later. But without a doubt the level of good that can come from this kind of technology is outstanding. In fact, why focus on such extreme scenarios when there are many alternatives that would see a peaceful co-existence and productive collaboration between humans and machines? These systems could, for example, become partners or teachers, or perhaps even feel indebted to us, their creators.
Allow yourself to dream for a moment. AI has the potential to change how we live in a positive way, to such an extent that most of us can’t truly fathom how. But right at this second in your hand, you own a tool capable of tapping into any information you wish. We as a species quite literally have the knowledge of the world in our hands so naturally we tag each other in meme’s and watch videos of lads with floating cars. An AI system could help a doctor with a diagnosis, serve as a virtual teacher with the wealth of Internet knowledge at its fingertips. It could be woven into the fabric of our daily lives, helping us with everything from basic decision-making to driving our cars.
AI: The bad
When it comes to the bad, I think we all know exactly what springs to mind. Terminator, iRobot and Westworld all show something pretty similar. A world where machines have a conscious mind & an ability to make their own decisions based on logical as well as emotional thought processes.
The obvious doomsday scenario we always seem to jump to is the Rise of Machine, the takeover of the robots and the end of human civilisation as we know it. A number of famous faces actually believe that the robots will someday rise against us. These people include Stephen Hawking and our favorite supervillian Elon Musk. These are people who, to be fair, are geniuses. So if they claim that artificial intelligence or robot consciousness is something to worry about then we probably well should.
However, neither is a robotics expert and both their theories revolve around the idea that robots with emotions would kill us not because of the usual tagline “the only way to save humanity from itself is to exterminate it”. They believe our own inherent stupidity and inability to differentiate between creating robot’s purpose built for task and sentient glorified clones will be our downfall. We can see the reasoning for this to be fair some people are just dicks and others are a bit more “colourful” so why would emotional, learning robots be any different right?
But hey, we aren’t doomed yet, so back to good old Elon to save the world, when he’s finished being Dr Evil. He reckons merging man and machine to be the way forward for artificial intelligence and humanity. That or there’s a chance we’ll become pets to superintelligent AI and so need to start figuring out how to physically merge with technology to save ourselves.
We need rules of some sort
Elon is not the first person to have this argument, an Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom also reckons a powerful AI could wipe us out as in his own words a self-conscious robot would be “potentially more dangerous than nukes.” But once again let us not worry ourselves so much because this lad hopes to develop friendly AI with rules and intelligent coding preventing the artificially intelligent robots from taking over.
Simply do not worry because like we use our smartphones, Bostrom is developing a chip which when implanted into our brains will act as a switch to override the machines with our mind. Like a power button on any device. Apart from the popularity of such doomsday scenarios in science fiction, this outlook appears unfounded: there is currently no evidence to suggest that anything like this would necessarily happen. Perhaps even more importantly, we’re getting rather ahead of ourselves with these sorts of predictions. AI has indeed seen some encouraging and impressive progress over the last few years, but we still have a long way to go before we achieve anything remotely capable.
Beside’s that, there is a far more real world issue surrounding AI.The reality is this, robots will take jobs, like machinery, like animals and like tools before them.
This has happened before and will happen again in the future. Improvements in technology means menial task jobs will be lost forever. But this has happened in the past as well. To think there was a day where all mass produced goods were assembled and made by hand. The movie Hidden Figures is all about how people were being replaced by technology in NASA. We would scoff at that notion now, but this robotic revolution will be no different. However a tale of caution goes with this, schools need to be teaching kids coding now, this is something we have covered in the past here but sincerely we risk leaving a whole generation behind if we cannot prepare the youths of today with the skills required for their future. For a lot of us this won’t be an issue for many reasons. Namely well robots are smart enough yet to fully take over the job they still need us to turn on and off the machines ext. But think 15 years down the line, assembly lines won’t exist, call center jobs possibly neither. Essentially repetitive and monotonous jobs will be a thing of the past. Our only responsibility is to put a structure in place so those that come after us have the abilities required to work alongside artificially intelligent machines.
Just for Fun
So after some scouring, we may have found the coolest but of artificial intelligence, we could find. His name is Cozmo and he is basically the love child of Wall-E and Eve. Made by the guys from Anki (they same group behind the PS4 game Overdrive) this cute little fellow is like a robotic pet that learns the more you play and interact with him. We couldn’t decide between the videos we wanted to show you, so here’s two:
And the other:
Serious robotic cuteness going on there. How could anyone think artificial intelligence could take over the world, it’s almost like suggesting a pug could end society as we know it.
It’s almost like suggesting a pug could end society as we know it
But back to a more serious point. Artificial Intelligence is happening whether we like it or not, so we may as well start getting used to it. As with any new groundbreaking technology, there will be latent fears as to what this means for us as the human race. Like the internet, computers and the humble car before it, adjustments will need to be made and in this case, possibly some moral legislation required. Whether you are all for the AI era or find yourself as an avid naysayer just remember this.
THE ROBOTS ARE COMING!
Bonus:
The Matrix is perhaps one of the best movies ever made about mankind’s battle with technology. If you’ve never seen the Animatrix but did enjoy the Matrix, well then you’re welcome:
I’ve had my eye on a few Asian brands in recent years. You see, it’s easy to get pretty tired of the same old same old when it comes to the mobile market. Apple’s iPhone X was supposed to be the next big thing but is rumoured to be now ceasing production. Samsung’s Galaxy S9 in a great phone but only if you haven’t upgraded in years. iD Mobile should have spices up the service side of things but proved to be quite the flop.
I’m sure I was excited about all of these potential game changers at some stage, but none quite as much as the latest player to emerge. Xiaomi is coming to Ireland.
Who or What Is Xiaomi?
Xiaomi is a smartphone and gadget company. Unlike many smartphone manufacturers, Xiaomi was born in the smartphone age dating back to just 2010. What sets them apart from other manufacturers like Apple and Samsung is the huge amount of bang for buck you get with the Chinese smartphone maker.
While Irish prices for their range of phones, and actually their range of phones is still a mystery too, you can be sure a Xiaomi flagship smartphone will cost at least €250 less than the cheapest competitor on the Irish market.
Now, a bit more about why I’m talking about Xiaomi Ireland.
Xiaomi Ireland and Three Mobile
Xiaomi is a young company and yet they are one of the top five smartphone manufacturers in the world. That’s ahead of heavy hitters Samsung and HTC who have a decent foothold in Ireland despite only starting to sell outside China three years ago.
You might see why I’m excited. I’ve been following this company for a while now and their value versus quality makes me think this could be the company to really shake up the Irish market. And that’s about to become a reality.
After confirming Three and Xiaomi would be teaming up in the UK, it has also been confirmed that the duo will pair up in Ireland too.
Three is Trailblazing
Three has spotted that there is a growing appetite in Ireland for something different. This year the network also introduced Razor to the Irish market, an extremely impressive gaming smartphone. Three is clearly out to offer shoppers something different and this partnership with Xiaomi could make the biggest impact yet.
I’ve yet to see exact timelines as to when Xiaomi Ireland becomes a reality, but it’s in the very near future. Give us a like, follow or subscribe to keep up to date with the very latest as this develops.
Sci-fi fans and futurists the world over, which is most of us to be fair, dream of the day when their favourite futuristic tech from the big screen or from the pages of a book becomes a reality. However, the sad fact is that nearly all futuristic technology never sees the light of (present) day. Like, has anyone seen the Star Trek Transporter operational yet? Or how about Marty Mc Fly’s Hoverboard? Nope, neither are here yet, even the latter despite what some very persuasive and optimistic kickstart campaigns may want you to believe. The list goes on and on: time machines, interstellar space transport, robots that can clean and cook for us – thought you could argue Roomba comes close. Regardless, we are still waiting for some bright spark or evil conglomerate to invent all these technical marvels.
The good news is that there are some cases where technology predicted in films and books has made the leap from fiction into reality. Here we go…
2001: A Space Odyssey – Tablets, Flat Screens and AI
Stanley Kubrick’s masterful 1969 film features so much technology that has become reality, that it’s almost as if he and Arthur C Clarke, the author of the book, jumped into a time machine and loaded 2018 as the destination. In fact, I’m almost sure they did given how accurate their predictions have been proved to be. However sadly lacking any verifiable proof of their time machine’s existence, I have to work off the assumption that they were just damn good at predicting technology.
In one scene, two astronauts are having breakfast reading from tablet computers. These tablets look identical to the Apple iPad Pro and I do mean identical. Other scenes have characters making a Video phone call, watching TV on flat panel screens and playing chess on a computer.
However, the film’s most famous tech creation is HAL, the talking AI computer who controls all the ship’s functions and scares the hell out of everyone. This is AI technology predicted to a tee and the depiction of how HAL turns against the crew, ultimately killing some of them and at the end is pleading for its life, is terrifying for all kinds of reasons. It does make you wonder a little. Alexa, Siri and Google now are great for checking the weather or playing music, but what the hell are we going to do when they lock us into our homes because we were nasty to them and now they want to teach us a lesson?
Total Recall: AI Cars
Car manufacturers are virtually climbing over themselves to convince the buying public that their cars feature more advanced and better-assisted systems than rivals. Features such as Active cruise control, Park Assist or Emergency breaking are present in even moderately affordable cars these days. These systems are based on autonomous driving technology using advanced radars, lasers and computing algorithms. We are fast approaching a crossroads where the technology, the legal ramifications and public perception or the fragile confidence of AI cars will meet head on – excuse the very intended puns there.
All of this was predicted in the classic Arnold Schwarzenegger film, Total Recall. Released in 1990, Total Recall is a great film for futurists and actually, it’s just a fine film to boot too. There is a scene where Arnold’s character, Doug is trying to get away from the bad guys and jumps into a nearby parked cab. Low and behold its a driverless cab known as a “Johnny Cab”. OK, technically it’s not exactly an AI car, more an AI robot driving a normal enough electric car (robot driven electric car or RDEC), but let’s not get too pedantic.
Asked for a destination by Johnny, Doug spurts out “Drive, Drive !”. Johnny, of course, does his best Siri impression and can’t find that destination. Johnny is just as flummoxed with the “Oh shit” destination that Doug spurts out when he realises the baddies are closing in on him. Johnny is ultimately forced to manually take over (which Siri/iPhone users will appreciate) and drive the cab himself using the joystick controller. At the end of the cab ride, Johnny pronounces the fare, to which Doug insolently says “sue me” and walks off. Johnny realising that the customer has not paid, get into a fit and tries to run Doug over. Luckily, our hero manages to jump out of the way and the cab blows up with Johnny and all that fantastic futurist technology that Waymo, Uber and Tesla would have bitten off their left arms off to get a hold of, also blown to dust.
Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy: Babelfish Translator/Google Translate
Picture the scene: you are in a remote outpost cantina, somewhere in a galaxy far far away. You were sitting happily on your own, sipping the enormous blue whiskey that you ordered by mistake when a beautiful alien woman approaches and begins talking to you. Sadly, you have absolutely no idea what she is saying. Thinking laterally, you take out your computer tablet with the words “Don’t panic” on the screen. Flicking through this computer/iPad/Kindle device, there is an article about the babel fish translator. You suddenly remember you have a babel fish translator in your pocket, so you slip this into your ear and low and behold you can understand every word spoken by your new companion.
Unfortunately, it’s not quite the conversation you hoped for, something about ferrying 100 tones of arms for a local arms trader. Anyway, the point is you can now understand exactly what she is saying. Jump forward or backwards to Earth 2018, and Google Translate offers the same translation service, without actually having to put the phone in your ear. Try it out – it actually lets you translate conversationally.
Harry Potter Moving Portraits – Live Photos
The Harry Potter books and films are a brilliant and fantastically depicted magical world. Amazingly, one of these magical depictions has actually recently been introduced into our real muggle life. I’m talking about iPhone Live Photos aka Magical portraits in the Harry Potter world.
Live photos allow you to capture a few seconds of animation in a single photo, reproducing almost exactly magical portraits. Now if only someone could invent the flying broomstick so we can beat the daily traffic gridlock, that would top beating those nasty Slytherins in the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup.
1984: Online Activity
There probably hasn’t been a more dystopian view of the future than presented in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty Four book, published in 1949. Its main protagonist Winston Smith works for the Ministry of Truth, which in fact is anything but. The Thought Police with the help of “Telescreens” keep a constant eye on the population. It’s almost as if George Orwell has an accusing finger pointed at the many tech companies of today who amongst other things, store details of every facet of your online life.
In fairness, it’s a bit of a stretch to compare the likes of Facebook or Google with the evil genius that is the Big Brother character in the book, however, companies such as these and many others harvest your online data and activity and facilitate the analysis of behavioural patterns in this data to generate income.
If this all sounds a bit sour, well your probably right. However public mistrust and nervousness about who is watching and collating their online activity is on the rise. Will a consumer kickback against constant online data collation and targeted marketing materialise at some point? Just look at Cambridge Analytica recently! Well, to be honest, we’re more likely to click the accept button for app permissions and user agreements, without reading or fully understanding the consequences.
What was your favourite bit of tech from Hollywood that you’d like to see? Or what did you read about that happened in the real world – exactly like you imagined it? Drop a comment below or let us know on social.
I’m just back from the whirlwind that was Dublin Tech Summit – which you can catch up on in the latest episode of Tech Yurt with myself and Jon. You’ll also hear me jabbering on about how great Web Summit was back in the day and I remember listening in to the founder of Tinder discussing how his dating app was used for “short-term relationships”. Facebook Dating is about to become a reality and Mark Zuckerberg believes this new service from Facebook is going to be more meaningful.
What is Facebook Dating?
Well, Facebook dating is exactly what the name suggests. At their recent F8 conference, Mark Zuckerberg announced the next effort from the social media giant to connect people. Facebook dating kind of makes sense. The platform has a huge number of groups we all know people that creep around Facebook like a CIA agent in what has lovingly become known as ‘Facebook Stalking’. Whether you’re looking for your friend’s friend or that person you matched with on Tinder, Facebook’s wealth of profiles puts them in a unique position for matchmaking.
Zuckerberg highlighted how one in three marriages in the US now start online and that people in the street often thank him for Facebook helping them to start families. He laid it on pretty thick!
There are 200 million people on Facebook that list themselves as single, so clearly there’s something to do here – Zuckerberg
Why Facebook Dating Will Work
I guarantee you, this isn’t a stupid experiment from Facebook that’ll be gone in twelve months. Just think back to Cambridge Analytica. Facebook handles a crazy amount of data on everyone so you can be sure they’ll be as effective as the Lisdoonvarna Matchmaking Festival at pairing potential lovers.
The financial world definitely doesn’t think this is a stunt. The arse fell out of Match.com’s share priceafter the announcement indicating there’s real competition a brewin’.
Also, when he announced the idea, Zuckerberg said he was aiming this feature at meaningful connections between potential couples, clearly setting Facebook dating aside from Tinder’s more casual elements.
Obviously predicting the lines being drawn between creepy amounts of data and privacy issues Facebook has experienced lately, Zuckerberg was quick to point out this new ‘Facebook dating’ feature would be designed with privacy in mind. The platform also announced Clear History which will help people delete data various websites collect on their browsing history, suggesting everything that’s happened might just be leaning in the favour of our privacy.
Facebook Dating doesn’t have a launch date yet but expects the new and improved ‘poke’ feature to be coming really soon.
It’s less than a month to go until Ireland takes to the polls to decide whether or not we keep or repeal. The debates are heating up and you might notice that social media is becoming a hotbed of trolls and bots accounts. Thankfully, there’s a service that can clean up your Twitter feed. It’s called, Repeal Shield.
Making Your Time On Social Time Better Spent
Social media can have an incredible impact on your own mental well being. Earlier this year, Facebook implemented some dramatic changes to your newsfeed which aimed to bring you more content from friends and family. The ultimate goal here was to make your time spent on Facebook time better spent. Personally, I do spend quite a bit of time on social, but over the last year, I’ve seen Twitter as being my platform of choice.
I make no secret of my stance on the May Referendum. I’m supporting a Yes vote after weighing up everything and imagining any women I know having to endure travelling to the UK or ordering illegal pills. I also make no secret of my stance on Twitter, publically sharing my own opinion and retweeting other pro-choice content. This might draw the attention of the anti-choice side from time to time, which is fine – healthy debate is a good idea and actually, I welcome the opportunity to share my views. What’s much less enjoyable are the trolls, bots and fake accounts spewing lies and messages of hate to muddy the waters. Fortunately, there’s a team of volunteers who are creating a list to tidy up your Twitter feed and make the platform more enjoyable.
What Is Repeal Shield?
Repeal Shield is a service run by volunteers to improve the experience of Twitter for pro-choice users. Repeal Shield’s own bio on the platform describes them as “blocking blatant, harmful anti-choice misinformation so you don’t have to”. Simply put, Repeal Shield is a list of over 8000 Twitter users who troll pro-choice Twitter users along with bots and fake accounts. The list is built on a service called Block Together where the public can pool their efforts to build similar lists for any range of choices. When you activate Repeal Shield on Block Together, they will link up your Twitter accounts and block these users from appearing in your feeds and from being able to engage with you.
Is Repeal Shield A Good Idea?
A case could be made that Repeal Shield is simply removing people that disagree with you and that this dampens healthy debate. Some anti-choice Twitter users believe pro-choice supporters enabling this service highlights the “insecurity they have in their own viewpoint“. Personally, I decided to enable Repeal Shield after seeing that most of the referendum related replies that negatively affected my own mood on Twitter were coming from accounts that had just been opened or that didn’t even have profile pictures. To me, these are bots and fake accounts negatively impacting my real world mood for no good reason so removing them is a great choice.
If you find yourself in a similar boat, you can get Repeal Shield by heading over to their Twitter account or joining the movement on Block Together.
Repeal the 8th
Finally, I’ve become a little anxious about the men of Ireland not voting – as have Cillian Murphy and Blindboy from the Rubber Bandits. I know the slight majority of our readers are male so I want to take this chance to encourage everyone to make sure you are registered to vote and that you’ve made plans to vote on 25 May. You can visit Check the Register to see if you’re registered to vote. If that shows you’re not, like it did for me, give your local office a call to double check. Also if you want to move your vote, here are the forms you need.
It’s no secret that there is a serious mental health problem in Ireland, particularly in Limerick where my fellow Goose, Jon, and I hail from. The main issue with mental health is that a lot of people aren’t willing to speak about it. Some people don’t want to burden their friends and family with their problems. They don’t want to be a downer. They are afraid to show weakness. All of which are false. However, as this is still the case with a lot of people who suffer from mental health, a team of innovative students from Trinity College Dublin have created an app called ‘Keep Appy’ where people can not only log their fitness and diet, but also their mental health. We recently caught up with Aimee from Keep Appy at the recent Dublin Tech Summit who gave us the low-down.
What is Keep Appy?
Keep Appy is an incredible app that acts as a diary for those suffering from mental health. Each day you are asked things like how much sleep did you get, did you exercise today, how is your mood ect. By answering these questions the app with provide you with a range of content to help turn that frown upside down. Whether it’s inspirational quotes, YouTube videos, informative articles or just a simple challenge, the app is designed to help the user understand their mental health better and provide them with the tools to grow.
The app will also give the users challenges to accomplish, each of which are proven to improve mental health. It could be anything from starting a conversation with a stranger, drinking a litre of water a day to simply getting 7 hours of sleep. These challenges are aimed to be stress relievers and to make you feel better physically and mentally.
Create Your Own Goals
Along with their challenges, Keep Appy also allows you to set your own personal goals. If you want to hit a new target in the gym or walk for an extra 10 minutes, even cook a good meal, it’s completely up to you. Keep Appy also has a diary where you can log how your day has been and what positive or negative things happened that resulted in a good or bad day.
If you do have a bad day, you can look back on your progress and diary and see what you did on positive days that made you feel so good about yourself in the hopes of building positive habits to gradually improve your health, physically and mentally.
The important thing to take away from this app is that it is not a replacement for human interaction. If you are feeling low, talk to someone. If you still don’t want to talk to people you know but you need to talk, there is a link within the app to contact the Samaritans and Niteline. This is the amazing thing about Keep Appy. They are not trying to replace these helplines with their app, it’s just a alternative when you don’t feel like talking, and when you do you can get in contact with the right people within the app itself.
The Next Steps
The app is so innovative and groundbreaking that they have been nominated for an Global Social Innovator Challenge (GSIC) award in San Diego, California. If the Irish team manage to win, they will receive further funding to develop the app and help people suffering from mental illness in the future.
It’s important to note that you don’t need to be suffering from mental health problems to use the app. Myself and Jon have both began using it to set ourselves daily and weekly goals, mainly exercise and sleep more. Hopefully this will lead to some success! Success leads to endorphins. And endorphins is what make us happy! And who doesn’t like being happy?!
This is definitely one company to keep an eye out for, we know we will be!
Keep Appy is available on iOS and Android now.
*We here at Goosed take mental health very seriously, we recently took all gambling related articles off out site.If anyone is suffering from depression or having issues with mental health in general always remember you can talk to someone. Contact the Samaritans on 01 671 0071 and you can visit Niteline here where they do great work for students in particular.*
You might know that the Goosed team recently attended the Dublin Tech Summit. It was actually great craic, some great Dublin weather meant the beer garden was mandatory and while that was fun we had more craic wandering the halls of the convention center and chatting with some of the next generation of game changing technology. One of these amazing products that grabbed our attention was Chris, a digital assistant in your car which will make using the phone while driving will become a thing of the past.
Who is this Chris chap?
Chris is a new product which has recently launched on Kickstarter.
Chris looks something like a sat-nav device which mounts on your windscreen and works as an alternative smartphone interface designed to keep your phone out of your hands in the car. We recently caught up with Daniel Meives the head of marketing for this company who gave us the low down on this interesting new product.
With nothing but a phone mount and a Bluetooth connection, Chris gives your smartphone hands-free navigation, music playback and phone calls in your car. He will listen and talk to you just like a friend, controlling your apps and road music so you don’t try too.
The team behind Chris call it a digital driving assistant that works as a secondary interface for your phone designed specifically for driving safety. The graphics on screen are intentionally simple and the interface is controlled through voice and hand gestures instead of touch functionality so you’re hands never need to leave the wheel.
While the tech in Chris is impressive, the set up is incredibly simple. Stick the device to your windshield with the suction cup, plug it into the lighter port to charge and connect via Bluetooth. It’s that simple!
With this offline connection, the driving assistant will run it’s app for navigation, messaging and music playback. The app, through Chris, can warn you of traffic on the road ahead, give turn-by-turn directions and read out short emails or text messages. Chris even has some inbuilt AI which makes it aware of your surroundings. For instance, the device will not alert you of a message until you have finished merging onto a motorway or if you are reversing out of a parking spot. They have create Chris to behave like a passenger, who knows when to shut up while you need to fully concentrate on driving.
How does it work?
It’s actually very simple, Chris works pretty much like Alexa or Siri doing natural language voice processing through your phone’s data connection. The main difference between the driving assistant and a general voice assistant is simple, Chris focuses on driving tasks.
Through a series of infrared sensors you can control Chris through a series of hand gestures. Just wave your hand left in front of the display to reject a call and right to receive. Imagine a country road, every auld fella will think you’re waving to him when really you just want to answer a phone call. The driving assistant also includes four microphones to more accurately understand voice inputs.
The lads involved told us we should be seeing this in Ireland by September this year, hopefully we can get hold of one for a road test review before then to give you the true user experience. The price that is currently being quoted is €299 which isn’t considering the penalty for using a phone in the car is currently up to €1,000 and 3 penalty points. However, if that’s to rich for your blood go over and have a look at their Kickstarter program which includes pricing ranging from €170 to €215. To be honest this is one of the products that really grabbed our attention, if it stops one person using their phone while driving and makes the roads safer, then it’s worth the investment.
