WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives
Audio archives of spoken word broadcasts from Community Radio WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill (weru.org)
A weekly feature on electronic technology as it affects everyday life with Jim Campbell. Broadcast on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, ME every Thursday at 7:30 AM.
Producer/Host: Jim Campbell
AI & Life 3.0
Have you ever wondered what it means to be human in the age of Artificial Intelligence? If not, now is a good time to start pondering because the age of AI is upon us. A recent book tries to at least begin a discussion about that question. It’s called “Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence” by Max Tegmark. Here are some of the questions that book raises, questions we are all going to have to answer for ourselves very soon.
Producer/Host: Jim Campbell
What do fitness trackers and cars have in common? They both provide a treasure trove of information about where their users go, the routes they take, when and how long they are moving, and a whole lot more. Estimates are that 98% of cars sold this year will have modems embedded in them, which could be very convenient – and very revealing about their drivers’ lives. Fitness trackers can sometimes tell even more, as the military recently found out when the data from fitness trackers that soldiers were wearing made secret military bases not so secret any more.
Producer/Host: Jim Campbell
Two topics today, both very important in our daily lives in different ways. March 11-17 is Sunshine Week, a time devoted to thinking about how much access we taxpayers and citizens have to the information that our governments generate. The name comes from the famous line by Justice Louis Brandeis that “Sunshine is said to be the best disinfectant.” We also take a look at what money is in today’s world, and why a new digital currency called bitcoin, and the technology it is based on called blockchain, have a very good chance of changing the way we shop, pay bills, make contracts, and more. Here’s why.
Producer/Host: Jim Campbell
Copyright is supposed to strike a balance between the rights of copyright holders and the rights of users. One tool to help do that is Fair Use. Fair Use Week offers a great opportunity to become more familiar with the Fair Use provisions of our copyright law.
Here are some resources, discussed in today’s program, that might be useful in expanding our understanding of Fair Use.
fairuseweek.org
gutenberg.org
librivox.org
fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fair-use/four-factors/
www.law.duke.edu/cspd/comics/
Producer/Host: Jim Campbell
Think you are a pretty unusual driver? Many of us do, and guess what – we’re right! In fact, a recent study suggests we all might be so unusual as drivers that we can be individually identified using the sensors in today’s cars. Let’s ponder that possibility for a moment.
Producer/Host: Jim Campbell
Continuing our “back to basics” look at compression, ever wonder how how sound compression works? The answer is: by fooling our ears! Here’s how…
Producer/Host: Jim Campbell
Continuing our “back to basics” look at compression, today let’s look at what jpeg, gif, png and other compression techniques for compressing graphics mean and what they are good for.
Producer/Host: Jim Campbell
Every once in a while, it’s a good idea to go back to basics. One of the most basic things about the digital world today is compression of files. But what does that mean and how does it work? Let’s start with text…