Technowize Magazine Q4 2016

EYE IN THE SKY DATA PI

Can we Evade the All-pervasive Surveillance Culture?

Rich Tech Billionaires from around the World

ARE YOU UP FOR FAMILIAL DNA SEARCHING? Is It a Dragnet to Exonerate the Guilty and Incarcerate the Innocent?

THE WHIMSICAL WORLD OF ONLINE DATING APPS The Rise Of Fake Intimacy Culture Using Technology

GOOGLE, APPLE RIVALRY HEATS UP Why Does Google Want to Beat Apple?

Technowize November 2016

editor’s

NOTE

Like always, we welcome your comments (facebook. com/Technowize, @ technowize on Twitter).

You may reach us at editor@technowize.com or Editor - Technowize, The Fastest Media, 3651 Lindell Road, Suite 320D, Las Vegas, NV 89103.

Why is our privacy important? What’s the big deal about privacy? Why can’t we let companies like Google and Facebook collect data? The question is, why?

Consumers are worked up about privacy, and rightfully so. There is a sudden loss of freedom when privacy is taken away from us. We do nothing when seek privacy to wildly sing in the shower, write secret love letters, or keep private journals. We seek privacy to be free of the judgmental eyes of other people. Privacy is a basic human need.

Back in 2006, internationally renowned security technologist, Bruce Schneier wrote a great article about privacy. To sum up the key point, he wrote, “The most common retort against privacy advocates -- by those in favor of ID checks, cameras, databases, data mining and other wholesale surveillance measures -- is this line: “If you aren’t doing anything wrong, what do you have to hide?”

Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, once pronounced that privacy is no longer a social norm. A few years later, Zuckerberg and his wife purchased not only their own house, but also four adjacent houses to ensure privacy in their personal lives. Doesn’t Facebook, Google, and basically, every other website, app and device invade your privacy when they’re ‘collecting your data’ to make their services more convenient for you?

The worldview about mass surveillance as a sine qua non is grounded on the proposition that we wouldn’t be living in a free world, if otherwise. For the future of liberalization and democratization, mass surveillance is the only resolution.

The question is, why?

TECHNOWIZE Features

Technopolis Where Fashion And Technology Collide

Short takes on the latest cult-coverage straight from the tech world

10

20

Can We Evade the Allpervasive Surveillance Culture?

36

Hardware inc.

Apple won the smartphone war a long time ago. So, why now, Google?

SPOTTING

The Whimsical World of Online Dating

28

48

DATA PI Rich Tech Billionaires From Around The World

Are you up for familial DNA searching?

55

69

95

THE NERDIST

Build Your Own Private Netflix

77 When Privacy Policies Aren’t Enough…

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Technowize Magazine // November 2016

Short takes on the latest cult-coverage straight from the tech world ď‚„

Technowize Magazine // November 2016

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DONALD TRUMP TV NETWORK COULD GO MAINSTREAM

Donald Trump | by Gage Skidmore Donald Trump

Trump’s experiment in Facebook Live adds another wrinkle to this wonder, showcasing how, with next to no foundation by any means, politicians can sidestep the very media organizations that may challenge or keep them accountable.

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Haute Money // Short Takes on the Latest Cult-Coverage Straight From the Tech World

If Donald Trump doesn’t make it to the Oval Office on Election Day, it appears the business mogul has a backup plan in place. Two weeks before the Election Day, the Trump campaign kicked off a show that will air on the Trump’s Facebook page every night at 6:30 pm ET via Facebook Live from the campaign war room at Trump Tower. The show will be hosted by Boris Epshteyn, a senior adviser to the campaign, Cliff Sims, another Trump adviser, and Tomi Lahren, a conservative commentator for Glenn Beck’s TheBlaze. In the inaugural episode, they interviewed Trump’s campaign manager KellyAnne Conway and adviser Jason Miller.

Epshteyn says this daily Facebook Live stream is basically a route for the campaign to dodge the mainstream press Trump so openly hates. Trump has unquestionably not been shy about his despise for the media, especially as of late, as he’s contended that a confluence of media bias and voter fraud could fix the race to support Clinton. Furthermore, he’s turned his supporters against the press, as well.

The series, which will stream Trump’s rallies every night and highlight pre-and post-event commentary, goes ahead the heels of the campaign’s debate night Facebook Live a week ago, which got more than 9 million views.

Trump’s experiment in Facebook Live adds another wrinkle to this wonder, showcasing how, with next to no foundation by any means, politicians can sidestep the very media organizations that may challenge or keep them accountable. In any case, this approach isn’t one of a kind to Trump. Amid the Democratic convention this year, the DNC and the Clinton debate made a ritzy live stream of their own, called Studio 2016. Also, Clinton has a podcast created by the campaign in which she talks to voters directly without the intercession of the media.

Members from the media quickly seized on the occasion, calling it a test drive for Trump TV, the postelection TV network that Trump is supposed to consider if he loses in November. Regardless of reports that his son in-law has been talking with media dealmakers about Trump TV, Trump himself has denied he has any interest for a career as a media mogul.

Technowize Magazine // November 2016

Looks like Trump is more than just building an audience for a future television network. Since his Twitter feed is already a massive soap-opera, a Facebook Live Stream is only an extension of that.

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Tesla Rockets Ahead of Time

Musk and President Barack Obama at the Falcon 9 launch site

Now, Musk is vowing that before the end of 2017, he’ll deliver a Tesla that can drive itself from Los Angeles to New York City, no human required.

Remember the time when Elon Musk promised electric cars for everyone and a trip to Mars, and built a notorious reputation of actually achieving those things, albeit far behind the schedule? The CEO of Tesla Motors and SpaceX has yet again made an aggressive prediction for his technology, paired with an unreasonable deadline.

Now, Musk is vowing that before the end of 2017, he’ll deliver a Tesla that can drive itself from Los Angeles to New York City, no human required.

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Technowize Magazine // November 2016

Haute Money // Short Takes on the Latest Cult-Coverage Straight From the Tech World

That timeline puts him years ahead of other bigwigs on fully autonomous cars. Ford is going for 2021, China’s Baidu for 2019.

Google hasn’t given a hard date, we’re guessing it could be 2021.

Same goes for GM. They’re discussing a range of automobile that will stay in constrained territories—nothing that can cross the country.

What are the odds Musk can really get this going? Tesla’s site now gives a checkbox to “Full SelfDriving Capability,” guaranteeing, “all you will need to do is get in and tell your car where to go.” But the cars won’t really do that, at least not for some while.

Musk isn’t issuing the necessary programming. The earliest cars won’t have first generation Autopilot, Tesla’s system that keeps the vehicle in its path and a safe distance from other vehicles on the roadway.

Building a car that can deal with any situation requires a great deal of teaching. Google is the recognized pioneer here: Its armada of 60 self-driving cars has secured more than two million miles, mostly around a few big cities. Yet, Tesla guarantees leeway: Its cars have secured more than 222 million miles in Autopilot mode, all over the world, gathering Technowize Magazine // November 2016

data the entire time.

Tesla’s cars are constantly online, however don’t think the automaker is expanding on every one of the data they give.

Musk is shunning broadly utilized LIDAR sensor technology, which fires out laser pulses to build a super accurate graphic representation of the surrounding.

Musk has despised it, and its cost: What Google engineers call the “KFC bucket” on top of their car costs generally $80,000.

To translate sensor data into driving commands, Tesla is using equipping its cars with Nvidia’s Drive PX 2, a supercomputer that uses deep learning to instruct the car to handle itself. For the cameras, Tesla will keep running in-house software, since its previous supplier, Mobileye, dumped it for moving too fast.

Tesla’s self-driving capable cars are on sale, regardless of the possibility that they can’t do what Musk promises just yet. Presently, the market will appear if people want them. Early adopters— Tesla’s present core buyers — likely will. Whether they’ll need to trust a computer, and Elon Musk, to drive them around will be answered by the sales figures.

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4Chan Beams the Internet to Julian Assange On October 16th, the Ecuadorian government cut off Julian Assange’s internet connection from inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London. The nation’s foreign office said the severance came in light of Assange’s continued interference in the US election campaign, as WikiLeaks continued to publish hacked emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign advisor John Podesta.

From that point forward, a little movement has grown online, attempting to get Assange his internet connection back. Recently, a post showed up on 4chan urging individuals to head to the Ecuadorian embassy to set up mobile WiFi hotspots for Assange. The operation is known as #OpHotpocket, or Operation Hotpockets.

“We are now calling all BRITS to get their ass down to the embassy and stand around in mass, taking shifts with wifi-hotspots on hand!” reads the post. “Give Assange constant network and morale support all while streaming it live for the world to see.”

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has claimed political asylum since August 2012 at the Ecuadorian embassy in London. While no charges have ever been brought against Assange, he hasn’t been able to leave the embassy for more than four years now. If he did, Britain would deport him to Sweden to face allegations of sexual assault.

It has been widely speculated that the embassy may be using a jammer to block Assange’s internet. Ecuador had no choice but to bow to pressure from the US. 12

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Haute Money // Short Takes on the Latest Cult-Coverage Straight From the Tech World Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy in August 2012

Technowize Magazine // November 2016

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Hackers Weaponized Internet of Things Devices In Over 177 NationsÂ

Visual Representation of the Internet of Things

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Haute Money // Short Takes on the Latest Cult-Coverage Straight From the Tech World

The malware that powered one of the worst bad denial of service cyberattacks of the last few years has infected internet-connected devices worldwide, reaching as many as 177 nations, according to security researchers.

In October 2016, a cybercriminal released the source code of the malware that controlled one of the worst-ever botnet, made of Internet of Things.

The release of the malware, known as Mirai, gave cybercriminals with minimal skills a new tool to launch cyberattacks. It additionally gave security researchers a way to map the slew of hacked devices.

Imperva, a company that gives protection to sites against Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, is among the ones who have been caught up with investigating Mirai. As indicated by their count, the botnet made of Mirai-infected gadgets has achieved a total of 164 nations. A pseudonymous researcher that goes by the name MalwareTech has additionally been mapping Mirai, and as indicated by his count, the total is considerably higher, at 177 nations.

Mirai was utilized to build a botnet that hit the site of security journalist Brian Krebs with a large DDoS assault a month ago. A hacker who goes by the name Anna-senpai released the source code of the malware toward the start of October, however it’s unclear who truly is behind it.

Mirai isn’t generally a fancy bit of malware, however it’s successful and spreads quickly because it targets Internet of Things (IoT) devices that are simple to hack. These devices, generally DVRs and surveillance cameras, use default and predictable passwords, for example, “admin” and “123456”, “root” and “guest” or “password” among others.

Thanks to such simpleton passwords, the Mirai malware has gone global.

Technowize Magazine // November 2016

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How the Rest of the World Sees The US Presidential Election TOP CONTINENTS SEARCHING FOR CANDIDATES + HILLARY CLINTON (AVERAGE)

You are looking at search interest outside the US for Hillary Clinton and Economy, grouped by world region.

More about Hillary Clinton and this issue

AMERICAS

OCEANIA

EUROPE

OCEANIA AMERICAS

ASIA

ASIA

EUROPE

World Potus http://www.worldpotus.com/

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Haute Money // Short Takes on the Latest Cult-Coverage Straight From the Tech World

Amid an election cycle, when the Internet turns into an echo chamber molded to bolster your interests and predispositions, it’s difficult to overlook that other people, places, and opinions exist. The president of the US, regardless, influences life everywhere throughout the world.

There’s a whole universe of people outside of the US who care about what happens on November 8, and there’s data to prove it.

Gabriele Rossi of design studio Accurat, alongside Giorgia Lupi of Dear Data has joined forces with Google News Lab to bring data through a project called World Potus. Using information from Google Trends Index over the last 24 hours, Accurat creates an intuitive web and desktop application that takes a look at how nations outside the US are searching Google for issues related to the election. The names “Hillary Clinton” or “Donald Trump” shows up in the same search query as issues relating to abortion, the economy, immigration, Black Lives Matter, gun control, ISIS, etc.

The app’s three main views organize the data by geography, search similarity, and how the search trends are changing over time. Every one of them are shown in the form of a visual metaphor for the evolving conversations happening around the world.

Every bubble represents a geographic area; the bigger the bubble, the larger the interest in a particular topic. You can see, for example, that in the most recent 24 hours, Americas is the continent most keen on Hillary Clinton, while Oceania (Australia and New Zealand) is more keen on Donald Trump. Sweden is searching Clinton and foreign policy significantly more than Canada. Overall, more people search for Trump, for topics like gun control and oil.

There’s no real way to know how people search for these terms actually feel about the candidates or the issues. However, most of the search trends are somehow tied to the news cycle, even that is only a speculation. Thus, the app’s data is a blemished representation of what discussions are going on around the globe—a reality that Lupi says is characteristic in most. Perfect or imperfect, World Potus is a significant reminder that the impact of this election will extend beyond American borders.

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Technopolis

Where Fashion And Technology Collide In a world filled with venture-backed consumer startups, a new league of apparel startups are trying to make e-commerce, personalized shopping, and collaborative consumption easier globally.

Today, fashion and technology are consistently overlapping, as prêtà-porter pieces are available in abundance on the internet and the traditional brick-and-mortar shops that are popular SoHo have moved into the e-commerce era. It is estimated that by 2020, almost 79 percent of all fashion buyers will be buying goods using their mobile devices. The numbers are astounding and to better prepare for what’s coming, many startups are seeking to augment their e-commerce platforms and smartphone apps. Certainly, we won’t deny that New York, Paris and London are fashion hubs. But, if you think fashion startups need to be based in one of those three cities, think again. Here’s a roundup of a few top apparel e-commerce startups that are taking over the world of fashion by storm.

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Technopolis // Where Fashion And Technology Collide

Rent the Runway

Rent the Runway allows customers to rent designer merchandise and accessories instead of forking out hundreds of dollars to purchase them.

The platform has styles from over 270 top brands. Using the platform, customers can rent a piece of clothing for four to eight days, choose a delivery date, receive a free backup size, and return everything for free.

JOOR

JOOR is an online fashion marketplace for wholesale buying. JOOR is the biggest B2B fashion commerce business, where brands and retailers can connect and interact online. JOOR’s browser and apps help brands display their stock, communicate with retailers and transact with buyers.

JOOR’s platform helps retailers put orders, run reports and track budget plans.

Technowize Magazine // November 2016

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Technopolis // Where Fashion And Technology Collide

Mallzee

Edinburgh (UK) based mobile-exclusive fashion merchant Mallzee was established in 2012, initially starting out in Glasgow. It has seen exponential success since the launch. The site emulates Tinder’s ‘swipeto-like’ model – customers select an article of clothing and a size and are given pieces of clothing, with shoppers being able to swipe left if they dislike the item and right if they like it. There is additionally a web-based social networking aspect to Mallzee in that shoppers, having chosen an article of clothing as one they like, then have the option of asking the opinions of their friends.

Shoptiques

Nineteenth Amendment

Shoptiques brings boutique shopping online. While boutiques customarily don’t have a huge online presence as online retailers do, Shoptiques fills in as an online marketplace brimming with boutique stock. The online boutique presently partners with more than 15,000 boutiques in three different nations.

Nineteenth Amendment is a platform for fashion designers to showcase their designs through an interactive crowdsourcing model. The company connects buyers specifically to emerging designers, engaging clients to decide future fashion trends. The company manufactures these designs on-request.

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Technopolis // Where Fashion And Technology Collide

Poshmark Consumers are always looking to add one additional thing to their closet have an issue: Their closets don’t expand just because their wardrobes do. Poshmark, a mobile closet swap allows shoppers to empty their closet, finance their next shopping spree and go on said spree all in one place, which they can access through the company website or their phones or iPads.

Poshmark has a social component: Posh Parties, as it calls its themed, real-time sales. It takes care of postage and says it refunds payments if a request doesn’t arrive or the thing doesn’t match the portrayal.

Hussein Chalayan (British, born Cyprus, 1970) “Kaikoku” floating dress, autumn/winter 2011–12 Courtesy of Swarovski Photo © Nicholas Alan Cope

Technowize Magazine // November 2016

Poshmark, which has raked $16 million up in two rounds, was established in 2011

by CEO Manish Chandra, the founder and former CEO of social shopping site Kaboodle, alongside Chetan Pungaliya, Gautam Golwala and Tracy Sun. It is available only in the United States and its territories, however says it would like to be available to worldwide clients soon.

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Technopolis // Where Fashion And Technology Collide

PERCH

PERCH aims to boost retail sales through interactive engagement in stores. As shoppers touch and pick items, PERCH extends experiential media to the shopper through enthralling physical displays. This strategy builds shoppers’ stay times as well as sell-through rates for retailers. While clothing brands are increasingly investing more energy and money on digital campaigns.

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Technopolis // Where Fashion And Technology Collide

StyleSage

StyleSage is an analytics web platforms that offers fashion retailers with actionable insights into their local and global markets. Dubbed the “Bloomberg of fashion,” the platform delivers data that helps brands settle on decisions regarding planning, wholesale, merchandising, and overall market trends.

Dafiti Dafiti, the e-commerce site is using location-sensing technology iBeacon to draw in shoppers by sending them personalized mobile promotions about companies or specific brands. Between 2011 and 2013, its sales reached $177 million, placing it on top of the fastest-growing fashion e-tailers in Brazil.

Dafiti places its beacons in high-traffic areas of Sao Paulo, the nation’s biggest city, which is packed with shopping centers and malls that the Frommers travel guide says residents boast that if you can’t buy it in Sao Paulo, you can’t get it anyplace in Brazil. Founded in 2010 by David Geisen, Malte Horeyseck, Malte Huffmann, Thibaud Lecuyer and Philipp P.M. Povel, Dafiti has raised $249.3 million up in five rounds.

Technowize Magazine // November 2016

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Technopolis // Where Fashion And Technology Collide

Shoes of Prey Shoes of Prey takes individual product customization to a whole new level. Co-founder Jodie Fox, realized she wasn’t the only one who wanted to walk around in custom-made footwear. Shoes of Prey was co-founded in 2009, offering shoe lovers 12 basic styles – and the ability to adjust everything from heel height to embellishments to the material and color of the shoe.

Shoes are shipped to pretty much any part of the world.

Established by Jodie Fox, Mike Knapp and Michael Fox, the startup has raised $8.6 million up in three rounds, $5.5 million of that in Series A funding in December from Khosla Ventures and Sequoia Capital. The show startup plans to use the funding to open a second, bigger manufacturing plant and develop a partnership with Nordstrom, which will have six Shoes of Prey “shop in shops” over the coming year, where shoppers will have the ability to see what it is like to customize shoes and try on the 12 basic styles, then request by iPad. It said the business became profitable within two months of launch and started creating multimillion dollar revenue in less than two years.

LIFT12 LIFT12 uses Big Data to make many of the design decisions for its house labels. Founded in 2012, by Goncalo Reis, Andrew Wolf and Arka Dhar, the e-commerce startup raised $560,000 in a 2013 seed round. LIFT12 uses Web crawlers to scrape data about latest fashion trends, pricing and sales from fashions labels and retailers. It uses this data to determine what it has decided shoppers need. New collections are released as frequently as six weeks, allowing LIFT12 to react quickly to new trends – whether that implies restocking mainstream items or designing variations.

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SPOTTING

The Whimsical World of Online Dating

Americans are prime candidates for dating from age 14 or younger to close to 30 or older. That is around 15 years, or approximately a fifth of their lives. For an activity embraced over such a long period of time, dating is amazingly hard to characterize. The term has outlived over a century’s worth of courtship rituals, and yet we still don’t know what it means. Middle schoolers claim to date when, two of them go out for frozen yogurt. Undergrads and twenty-year-olds don’t begin dating until after they’ve had sex. Dating can be used to depict selective and nonexclusive connections, both fleeting and long-term. Thanks to a slew of mobile apps, dating can involve a succession of rendezvous over drinks and much, much more.

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Trend Spotting // The Whimsical World of Online Dating

Online dating has grown two-fold in the last five years

2007

2012

2013

20M

40M

45M

Males

Females

Have Used Online Dating

9%

66%

13% Americans who use online dating sites or apps and have gone on dates with people they met online

Technowize Magazine // November 2016

AGE

Mid 20’s Mid 40’s Most likely to have used an online dating service

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Trend Spotting // The Whimsical World of Online Dating

Marriages Due to Online Dating by Website 24.34%

7.21%

25.04% 5.71% 37.73% Others The purpose of dating is very little clearer than its definition. Before the mid-1900s, when people started “dating,” they “called.” That is, men approached ladies, and everybody pretty much agreed on the purpose of the visit. The potential life partners assessed each other in the security of her home, her parents evaluated his eligibility, and it is possible that they got engaged with or he went on his way. Through the span of the twentieth century, such experiences turned out to be more easygoing.

Five decades earlier, 72 percent of men and 87 percent of ladies had become hitched by the time they were 25. By 2012, the situation had fundamentally switched: 78 percent of men and 67 percent of ladies were unmarried at that age.

In case you’re one of the many who have used a dating app, you know how quickly dating devolves into a meaningless function. Tinder’s creators displayed their app on playing cards so it would appear to be more similar to a game than services like OkCupid, which put more emphasis on making a detailed profile. Yet, checking and being screened by such a large number of strangers still requires some serious energy and purposeful attention. Like some other independent contractor, you need to create and ensure your brand image. The worst part is, you can’t make certain where things are heading.

We are in the early stages of the dating revolution. The sheer amount of relationships available through the internet is changing the nature of those relationships. In spite of the fact that it is most likely too early to say precisely how. We’re no longer a generation that can live without the internet. In any case, the swiping culture that dating apps add to has made a fixation on “trading up,” where, much like the chase for the ideal body, we’re continually searching for a superior match. Among 30

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Trend Spotting // The Whimsical World of Online Dating

COUPLES IN

COUPLES IN

20’s

50’s

Singles in their 20s are nearly 4x more likely to send sexts than singles in their 50s

Singles have sent/received a sext

51%

36%

received

sent

Nearly

23%

of all ages have shared a sexy photo they have received with others

internet users have flirted with someone online 2005 2016

14%

24%

28%

online dates have been contacted by someone through an online dating site or app in a way that made them feel harassed or uncomfortable

Technowize Magazine // November 2016

42% Men

13%

Women

SINGLES who sext would not be offended if their date share their pic

BREAKUP More than

90%

Singles agree it's not okay to text someone to break up

17%

broken up with someone, Americans or had someone breakup by text message, email, or sending a message online after recent dating experience.

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Trend Spotting // The Whimsical World of Online Dating

accomplishment driven Millennials, it can feel practically stupid not to be perseveringly hunting down somebody better. While Baby Boomers remained with one partner, one job for their whole lives, we have swung to the opposite end of the spectrum and feel like if we aren’t continually addressing whether something (or somebody) is adequate, we’re by one means or another idiots.

Swipe-centric dating apps like Tinder can be absolutely effective in helping you find a meaningful match. To be on a dating app, you need to be confident and concentrate on what you want. If you need to meet ATTITUDES TOWARDS ONLINE DATING Attitude

2005

2013

Online dating is a good way to meet people

44

59

Online dating allows people to find a better match

47

53

People who use online dating are desperate

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21

in person, then go ahead with it. Offer a date and time to meet and be forward and forthright in the tone you pick. Instead of saying, “Are you interesting in meeting up....” say what you need and say, “I need to meet you. I’m free at this day and time… “ Finally, it’s better not to wait or make excuse for someone. Similarly, if you don’t get a response or feel that the individual is being flaky...the end!

Tinder has such a large number of choices so you shouldn’t waste your time on somebody that isn’t prepared to become more acquainted with you.

Using dating apps is not a new phenomenon by any means. The American Psychological Association says hookups turned out to be more frequent in the 1920s, when more people were driving and going to film theaters.

At that point, in the 1960s, with woman’s rights on the rise and more people sexually liberated, it turned out to be even more acceptable. The APA says that today’s hookup culture speaks to a shift openness and acknowledgment of uncommitted sex.

Why does all of this matter, you ask? Let’s take a look at today’s trends as it identifies with the dating apps that now exist.

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Trend Spotting // The Whimsical World of Online Dating

Last August, a Vanity Fair article came out claiming that Tinder and other dating apps are beginning what they call a “dating apoclypse.”

The article says that in today’s dating culture, people, particularly millennials, are moving toward this hookup culture, where everything is dictated by instant gratification. The article goes ahead to say that the general demographic they profiled - 20-year-olds in New York City - are using dating apps as a game to see how many people they can hook up with in a given period of time. It goes ahead to say the specialty of dating is exclusively getting to be wiped out, much like the floppy disk and telephones with cords.

People constantly wonder these days, “Are dating apps only to hook up?” The answer is dependably the same: Yes ... if you both connect.

Any website or app can be used for anything you’re looking for. That is the power of the internet. So, do more people hook up from eHarmony or JSwipe? Probably! Who cares? Do a few people troll the “genuine” dating sites in search for a one-night stand? Of course, yes! Do a few people find important, enduring connections from an app? You bet, folks!

If you’re searching for a genuine relationship, but you allow somebody into your life in a physical-only limit, then that is the thing that you get. If you rather wait for somebody who is likewise searching for the commitment you are, then you’ll get that.

There are, of course, advantages to using the dating apps: They’re quite efficient. When you meet somebody, you could meet that person within a couple of hours, or even minutes, depending upon how close you are. So meeting up close and personal in a timely manner is one of the keys to online dating. Additionally, because of the GPS system, the apps allow you to discover individuals in your region whose paths you won’t have crossed. Some dating apps focus on a radius within your ZIP code, which additionally finds individuals you won’t not meet generally but rather within a much bigger range. Finally, they’re anything but difficult to set up and free. With a couple clicks and a Facebook account, you can make a profile.

Whether or not you should use a dating app is entirely up to you. We live in an era where people use any resources available to them. I say, don’t use something for its reputation!

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Eye in the Sky

Despite all the technological advancements, there’s one challenge humans are yet to overcome - evading the all-seeing Surveillance Culture.

Is such a thing even possible?

Santa keeps a great many elves at work. His scout elves serve as his eyes and ears in homes around the world, and are tasked with documenting any misdeeds for his jolly boss. To be honest, his elves are a little overtly threatening. Kids are cautioned that Santa Claus sees them when they’re sleeping and knows when they’re awake.

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Coverstory // Eye in the Sky

Santa Clause, they’re told, keeps lists of kids based on this judgment.

Nowadays, Santa hardly needs his army of elves to report back to him.

The NSA does it for him. In fact, the NSA does not just keep an eye on bad kids, but adults too. And, it’s not just the NSA, millions of apps, softwares, social networks, sites and devices do it, too. This explains the complicated series of privacy-related SNAFU we’ve witnessed in last few years. The post-NSA culture has ridiculed privacy in a hostile way!

Throughout the day, in any number of potential transactions, we are traversing through are parallel to convenience and surveillance. A loyalty program at your favorite supermarket might mean unlocking cheaper deals, but it gives the store access to information related to your shopping habits. When you sign up for a social network which requires no monetary fees, the site tracks your online behavior so it can display targeted advertisements on your feed and rake millions out of it. Data collection happens even without your explicit consent. For example, surveillance cameras record you in restaurants, on public streets; data is captured every time you swipe your Amex; the location information is gathered every time you make a phone call.

A Pew Research Center report found that many people in America are upset about the degree to which their own information is being gathered, and feel the situation is getting out of control.

“The data is there, and it’s being used, and there isn’t a damn thing most of us can do about it, other than strongly resent it,” one respondent told Pew. “The data isn’t really the problem. It’s who gets to see and use that data that creates problems. It’s too late to put that genie back in the bottle.”

Pew surveyed 460 individuals to better see how Americans draw lines amongst privacy and convenience. Despite the fact that a large number of those surveyed said data tracking made them uneasy—the words “Big Brother,” “creepy,” and “stalking” came up quite often. People also acknowledged the benefits in exchange of losing their personal data.

People like no-cost services, and will relinquish some privacy in return for them. An individual’s private data has turned into its own sort of unique digital currency. For example, when you’re using Gmail or Facebook Messenger, Google or Facebook will capture some of your data, but it doesn’t matter when you’re getting those services for free.

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Coverstory // Eye in the Sky

We complain about eroding privacy, but we have taken no such measures to curb data collection. In a 2015 study, Pew found that people in America responded to concerns about surveillance by changing by privacy settings on – Social Media 17% Using social media less often 15% Avoiding certain apps 15% And sometimes opting for face-to-face conversation instead of using the phone or Internet 14% A few of the individuals responded to Pew have taken advanced measured to improve security. During the same survey, Pew found a majority of people haven’t considered switching to search engines that don’t track them. Around 33% of respondents said they were unaware of technologies like anonymity programming and proxy servers that may help them evade complete surveillance. In the United States, however, exploring the data collection ecosystem is quite difficult. Unlike other nations, the U.S. has no resources that give plan of action to people who need to see or modify their detailed profiles that data brokers buy and sell.

More Continue To Be Concerned With Country’s Protection Over Civil Liberties Bigger concern about govt anti-terrorism policies? (%)

58

55 49

47

32

29

05

06

07

50 49

35

35

37

27

26 04

47

08

Not gone far enough to protect country Gone too far restricting civil liberties

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09

10

11

12

13

14

15

Survey conducted Jan. 7-11, 2015.

Volundeered responses of Both/Neither/ Don’t Know not shown.

PEW RESEARCH CENTER

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Privacy Is Inescapable One interesting aspect about the Pew study was the degree to which people assume about security inside the context of physical space. Data collection on the internet or in broad daylight was maybe annoying, yet by and large acceptable to those surveyed; data collection in the home, less so. To coax out these qualities, Pew offered a series of speculative scenarios in which an individual’s activity may be tracked, then asked individuals whether they’d approve of it.

The theoretical that was most satisfactory to the vast majority identified with workplace surveillance as a way to identify hackers, improve workplace security, and otherwise track employee attendance and performance.

“Certain physical spaces or types of information are seen as inherently less private than others,” Pew wrote. “One survey respondent noted how these norms influence his views on the acceptability of workplace surveillance cameras: ‘It is the company’s business to protect their assets in any way they see fit.’”

The situation that was least acceptable to a majority: the possibility that smart-thermostat company may track individuals’ movement around their homes, starting with one room then onto the next, and offer no-cost remote programability in return for this data. People’s views on the key tradeoff of the modern, digital economy—namely, that consumers offer 40

Technowize Magazine // November 2016

Coverstory // Eye in the Sky

information about themselves in exchange for something of value—are shaped by both the conditions of the deal and the circumstances of their lives,” Pew wrote.

As per the finding, there were no consistent demographic patterns to how people reacted to various situations. Notwithstanding the hypotheticals about workplace surveillance and home movement tracking by a smartthermostat by a company, Pew sketched out data tradeoff situations identified with targeted advertising and social-media sites; consumer loyalty-cards; customer profiling; car insurance discounts for drivers who consent to be monitored; and online access to medical records that would be helpful, however may pose security risks.

“It is interesting to note that 17 percent of adults say they wouldn’t take any of the deals described in the six scenarios, and 4 percent say they would accept all of the deals,” the report said. “The substantial majority indicate that at least one of these transactions is potentially acceptable to them.”

A few widespread concerns when people are weighing privacy: the probability of getting barraged with spammy email, the dangers of hackers taking their data, and the degree to which sharing personal information may add to ongoing customer profiling.

The vast majority who responded to Pew seemed to see the disintegration of privacy as inescapable.

Technowize Magazine // November 2016

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Coverstory // Eye in the Sky

Majority Think Enhancing Their Privacy Protections Would Be Difficult If you wanted to be more private while you were using the internet or your cellphone, how easy do you think it would be for you to find tools and strategies that would help you? % saying ...

NET EASY: 44% Very easy

9%

NET DIFFICULT: 54%

Somewhat easy

Somewhat difficult

35%

35%

Very difficult Refused

19%

3%

Source: Survey of 475 adults on GfK panel November 26, 2014 - January 3, 2015.

PEW RESEARCH CENTER

Surveillance Programs Prompt Some to Change the Way They Use Technology Among the 87% of U.S. adults who have heard of the government surveillance programs, the percentage who have changed their use of ... “a great deal” or “somewhat”

Email accounts

18%

Search engines

17%

Social media sites

15%

Cell phones

15%

Mobile apps

13%

Text messages

13%

Landline phones

9%

Atleast one of the above

25%

Source: Survey of 475 adults on GfK panel November 26, 2014 - January 3, 2015.

PEW RESEARCH CENTER

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Coverstory // Eye in the Sky

Most Americans Believe It Is Acceptable to Monitor Others, Except U.S. Citizens % of U.S. adults who say it is acceptable or unacceptable for the American government to monitor communications from ...

Acceptable Unacceptable

American citizens

40%

57%

Citizens of other countries

54%

44%

American leaders

60%

38%

Leaders of other countries

60%

37%

Terrorism suspects

82%

15%

Source: Survey of 475 adults on GfK panel November 26, 2014 - January 3, 2015.

PEW RESEARCH CENTER

Americans’ Views of NSA Surveillance % of _____ of government’s collection of phone and internet data

Disapprove

Approve

TOTAL

54%

42%

Republican

56%

41%

Democrat

48%

47%

Independent

57%

39%

Note: Don’t know/refused responses not shown Source: Spring 2014 Political Typology Survey PEW RESEARCH CENTER

Technowize Magazine // November 2016

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Coverstory // Eye in the Sky

Evade the All-Seeing Surveillance Culture According to a privacy expert on Voat.co, you can do that following: Tor, proxies and VPNs. Use Tails OS whenever you can.

Give up all social media, and any services you have to log into. If you need email try protonmail or another privacy-oriented email client, and sign up for things using guerrillamail.

Use “HTTPS everywhere”. Even the way you type can point you out, vary the amount of proper punctuation you use and use words you normally don’t. Vary them up from time to time.

Use different usernames and passwords for everything.

Get a dumbphone, if you’re super tinfoil, just be phoneless. There isn’t a phone OS that is designed for privacy. Even if there is one, you would have to live without near every app.

P.S. Get a faraday bag. You may also purchase a bag that blocks wireless signals.

But above all, if you’re going to try to flex your online privacy rights, don’t half ass it or else you’ll end up on more lists than you would’ve by just being an average user. By trying to evade surveillance, you become a suspicious target, so do it right.

If none of this works, you can always live under a rock. You may take this advice with a grain of salt!

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Coverstory // Eye in the Sky

Technowize Magazine // November 2016

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Apple won the smartphone war a long time ago. So, why now, Google?

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Hardware INC // Apple won the smartphone war a long time ago. So, why now, Google?

It’s details like these we worked hard to get right—these little things that make the whole experience easier and more seamless,” said Clay Bavor.

Bavor is Google’s VP for virtual reality, and he was discussing the company’s new VR headset. Hours before he stepped on the stage, a large number of Google executives had already spunned similar lines as they announced Google Pixel, Google’s first-ever Android phone. The entire product launch of Google Pixel sounded like a Google Apple mashup.

Google Pixel is built on Google’s collective strength, i.e. two decades of search – engine prominence, and at the same time it has hardware capabilities better than Apple’s.

In 2010, when Google released its first flagship smartphone, the Nexus, Apple was at that point on its fourth-generation iPhone. Google didn’t make Nexus phones itself - throughout the years, they were manufactured

by HTC, Samsung, and LG. However, they were the most ideal way to experience Android as Google planned it to be used.

Unless Google includes a genie into their new Pixel smartphone, no one is truly going to care. After all, Apple won this smartphone war a long time ago. But Google knows the future better than anybody else in the world. And, it knows that in a few years, it’s going to be the undisputed king of Android smartphones.

Google is taking complete ownership for software and hardware on the phone. They basically replicated Apple’s mojo when it comes to smartphone design. Mind you, this war isn’t over who designs the best smartphone.

Apple may have had a head start when it comes to the design part. By swiping through the generation of its smartphones and carefully planning the product that keeps running on them, it could tailor the user experience more precisely than Google.

Google, then again, is more than just ‘Google’. Between gmail, calendars, maps, chat, and recent offerings like Google Photos, most Apple aficionados spent and still spend a lot of their time on iPhones using Google’s products.

At first glance, the Pixel seems like it is competing with the iPhone.

Google says the phone’s camera is rated higher than the one in iPhone Technowize Magazine // November 2016

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Hardware INC // Apple won the smartphone war a long time ago. So, why now, Google?

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Hardware INC // Apple won the smartphone war a long time ago. So, why now, Google?

7, and that a 15-minute charge can restore seven hours of battery life.

If the Pixel’s hardware measures up, its product offerings could make it the first smartphone positioned against iPhone to knock it off its throne. It is bundled with fullresolution backups for photos and 4K video, which equals to more disk space, and also integrates with Google Assistant, Google’s firstever personal assistant.

The assistant can extract requests from conversational questions, and follow up by requesting more information. It appears to be significantly more valuable than Siri, yet at the same time nowhere close.

Google over and again emphasized another value that separates it from Apple, ‘personalization’. Google has a humungous database of information about its clients, and it’s not afraid to use it. Search patterns, emails, voice queries, location history, and texts. With access to this information, Google Assistant can out together a pretty good picture of what the user is going to want to need.

The convenience Google can offer may exceed the privacy concerns.

Google isn’t hesitant to gather up more data about its users, since it supposes the users will overlook the privacy factor as convenience and Technowize Magazine // November 2016

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Hardware INC // Apple won the smartphone war a long time ago. So, why now, Google?

benefits. Probably the most powerful things its Assistant can do—like proactively telling you should leave sooner than usual for your meeting across the town, or may be, take another route to avoid an accident, etc.

It can gather real-time traffic data from thousands of other Google Maps users to make every life convenient for you.

Regardless of the possibility that the Pixel is a better and capable smartphone, and Google’s services attract buyers willing to pay hundreds of dollars for a high-end smartphone, Google’s still a long way to go.

Recently, the Play Store overtook the iOS App Store in the number of apps it hosts, and the number of developers it attracts. It’s still losing when it comes to quality offerings.

But it seems, though, that Google is getting more serious about beating Apple. When app developers feel they’re being left behind if they don’t support Android, they’ll start flooding the Play Store ecosystem with better apps.

So what exactly is Google trying to achieve?

With the introduction of the new hardware, it will provide enough value to its users to achieve their primary business goals.

Google is, has been, and will always be a search engine. This is where it generates most of its revenue. The comprehensive business model of using personalized data in order to offer relevant ads to its audience is not going to change in anytime soon.

So how can this identify with Pixel? The Google Pixel is basically a drop in the ocean, where the ocean is characterized as the end-to-end strategy for Google’s personalized search strategy.

To take it to the next level, Google needs to take ownership for hardware which can give the ultimate value to its user base. Google has attempted to accomplish this goal in the past by acquiring the Android ecosystem and improving it.

In the long run, Google realized that controlling the software wasn’t sufficient. Google may have the best development platform, yet Apple’s better hardware made iPhones speedier, more reliable, and less inclined to errors, and much more.

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Hardware INC // Apple won the smartphone war a long time ago. So, why now, Google?

With Google Pixel, the search engine giant gets to control its own hardware, and innovate on the surface and the inside. It can leverage on the massive amount of data it has collected over the users from billions of users and create the most convenient phone as well as the best advertising platform for its partners.

By controlling both the hardware and the software, it can implement hardware changes at a much earlier stage and enable software changes over time. With Google Pixel, it can now innovate in short-term as well as long-term.

During the last decade, Apple has been releasing one great iPhone after another. Their user experience is top notch, however, their hardware is the ultimate winner. Constrained to work within the limits of smartphones made by different manufacturers and not ready to control software updates for its Android, Google has lost in many arenas. The Pixel smartphone is Google’s way for positioning itself to have full control of hardware, software, user experience, and integration with IoT and much more. It’ll be interesting to see how quickly Google will move and whether it will make Apple fail in the long race towards the smartest smartphone. For now, it looks like Google is certainly winning.

Technowize Magazine // November 2016

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Rich Tech Billionaires From Around The World Technowize Magazine // November 2016

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Data Pi // Rich Tech Billionaires From Around The World

Bill Gates

Founder and Technology Advisor at Microsoft and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Estimated Net Worth

$82.2 Billion

“ 56

In 1975, Bill Gates and Paul Allen cofounded Microsoft, which later became the world’s largest PC software company.

As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others

”

Technowize Magazine // November 2016

Data Pi // Rich Tech Billionaires From Around The World

Jeff bezos

CEO of Amazon.com

Estimated Net Worth

$72.0 Billion

“

Jeff Bezos founded Amazon.com in 1995 as an online bookstore

”

You have to be willing to misunderstood if you’re going to innovate

Technowize Magazine // November 2016

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Data Pi // Rich Tech Billionaires From Around The World

Mark Zuckerberg

Chairman and CEO of Facebook Inc.

Estimated Net Worth

$57.1 Billion

“ 58

Mark Zuckerberg is cofounder and CEO of the social-networking website Facebook, as well as one of the world’s youngest billionaires.

A squirrel dying in your front yard may be more relevant to your interests right now than people dying in Africa

”

Technowize Magazine // November 2016

Data Pi // Rich Tech Billionaires From Around The World

Larry Elison

Co-founder of Oracle Corp.

Estimated Net Worth

$48.4 Billion

“

Larry Ellison went from being a two-time college dropout all the way to the co-founder of Oracle Corp.

See things in the present, even if they are in the future

Technowize Magazine // November 2016

�

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Data Pi // Rich Tech Billionaires From Around The World

Larry Page

CEO of Alphabet Inc.

Estimated Net Worth

$40.2 Billion

“ 60

Co-founded Google Inc, invesnted PageRank, which is Google’s best known algorithm timme date.

You don’t need to have a 100 person company to develop that idea

”

Technowize Magazine // November 2016

Data Pi // Rich Tech Billionaires From Around The World

Sergey Brin

President of Alphabet Inc.

Estimated Net Worth

$39.2 Billion

“

Co-founded Google Inc, the most popular search engine on the planet

Solving big problems is easier than solving little problems

Technowize Magazine // November 2016

�

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Data Pi // Rich Tech Billionaires From Around The World

Jack Ma

CEO of Alibaba Group

Estimated Net Worth

$28.6 Billion

“ 62

Founded the Alibaba Group, a Chinese e-commerce company that hosts several successful internetbased businesses

When you are small, you have to be very focused and rely on your brain, not your strength

�

Technowize Magazine // November 2016

Data Pi // Rich Tech Billionaires From Around The World

Steve Ballmer

Former CEO of Microsoft Corp. and owner of the Los Angeles Clippers

Estimated Net Worth

$27.8 Billion

“

Under Ballmer’s leadership, Microsoft’s Enterprise divisions grew rapidly, it now accounts for 55% of MS’s revenue.

”

The number one benefit of information technology is that it empowers people to do what they want to do. It lets people be creative. It lets people be productive. It lets people learn things they didn’t think they could learn before, and so in a sense it is all about potential.

Technowize Magazine // November 2016

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Data Pi // Rich Tech Billionaires From Around The World

Ma Huateng

Founder, CEO and Executive Director at Tecent Holdings

Estimated Net Worth

$25.3 Billion

“

In 1998, at just 26 years old, Ma Huateng founded what’s regarded today as China’s largest internet portal, Tencent Holdings

”

You need to have extraordinary wisdom to be the forerunner

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Technowize Magazine // November 2016

Data Pi // Rich Tech Billionaires From Around The World

Michael Dell

Chairman and CEO of Dell Inc.

Estimated Net Worth

$19.8 Billion

“

Michael Dell founded Dell Inc. with $1000 in 1984 at the age of 19.

”

Don’t spend so much time trying to choose the perfect opportunity, that you miss the right opportunity

Technowize Magazine // November 2016

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Are you up for familial DNA searching?

Is it a dragnet to exonerate the guilty and incarcerate the innocent?

DNA (n.)

The fundamental and distinctive characteristics or qualities of someone or something, especially when regarded as unchangeable.

What forensic scientists have done is identify parts that we can break down and use in correlations for identifying crooks. We can’t break down it all – obviously, it’s time consuming, however, we take a look at 10 unique areas of DNA that are known to be exceptionally variable.

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Futurist // Are You Up FOr Familial DNA Searching?

Technowize Magazine // November 2016

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Futurist // Are You Up FOr Familial DNA Searching?

These areas aren’t genetic. They don’t control anything like having blue eyes. They’re the bits in the middle. Consider DNA resembling a string with knots in it. The knots are the genes, and the string in the middle of basically connects them. The bits are still DNA, so they do follow the basic rules of inheritance: half come from your mum and half from your father.

Each of the 10 areas has two numbers. One number represents to DNA from mum, one from father. So a DNA profile is an arrangement of 20 numbers, in 10 sets, which can be added to a database, which can then be searched.

So you can stack up a crime scene profile and the PC compares and every one of the profiles on the database. If the profile matches an existing sample, you can give that data to the police. If you have a vast DNA database and you’re not getting a total match, you can augment out to hunt down familial matches – so you can discover the guilty party through lining up parents or kin with similar DNA who are on the database. This has a sociological basis: the presumption is that criminality will keep running in families. In the same way, families likely to carry out crime are more likely to remain in the same topographical territory.

If the crime test is a correct half-match to another sample, that is a parent-child match. In a sibling comparison – a nearby match of 18 or 19 out of 20 numbers. Investigators pass a 100 of these profiles to the police, who can research and check whether any is a decent suspect.

Recently, where a serial killer’s DNA had no match on the DNA database, they used familial seeking to discover his child. The police watched that the father [Lonnie David Franklin, charged for 10 murders] was a good suspect, and they took a sample from a glass he had used to get a DNA match that proved the case.

Technowize Magazine // November 2016

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DNA was initially used as a part of crime-solving in the late 1980s. In any case, familial seeking truly came into use in 2000. The first was in 2001, it was the murder of three young ladies in 1973 in South Wales.

It wasn’t until they had the database search that they truly made some progress. The investigators were getting no immediate matches, so they hit on trying to locate a relative. It was all done by hand as they didn’t have a PC program then. They listed around 100 close matches and acknowledged there was a solid suspect. He was deceased however relatives volunteered their DNA, so they could do a reverse paternity test, which made it look like it was him. The suspect’s body was exhumed, and found a complete match.

For whatever length of time that you have a DNA test from the crime scene, there’s no time limit, whatsoever. In a case from 1946, the murder of a 12-year-old young lady, they performed a DNA test, and we’re trying to discover a match that could lead to the criminal’s grandson. They analyzed the Y-chromo-some from the semen, which could be indistinguishable to his child and his grandson. For whatever length of time that there’s a male line, you can simply continue onward.

Familial searching is now a common intelligence tool. It’s to a great degree significant in cases including serial killers, murders, or rapists.

Familial searching is used in countries that have humungous databases; in Britain, there are 5.6 million individuals on the National DNA database.

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Futurist // Are You Up FOr Familial DNA Searching?

In most cases, familial DNA searching is used as a casedependent. There are no rules for what it can be used for, yet it is a tedious work out. Similarly, its use, needs to be approved at the highest police level. There’s not much you can do with familial searching – it’s limited to guardians and kin.

You couldn’t look for somebody’s close relative, say, if only a fourth of the DNA is shared.

Familial DNA searching is just going to get more predominant as the cost of quick DNA analysis dives and the span of genetic databases swells. States must begin setting up regulations to protect citizens, starting by prohibiting police from running searches through nongovernmental databases.

This is not just in view of privacy concerns—the people who contribute their DNA to such endeavors, whether medicinal or genealogical, never hope to have their hereditary code investigated by cops—additionally on the grounds that those databases haven’t been reviewed for use by law authorization.

Even under the best of circumstances, familial DNA searching will result in some innocents being forced to offer DNA samples, and getting incarcerated for no good reason. We want these people to reclaim their genetic privacy.

Technowize Magazine // November 2016

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THE NERDIST 76

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The Nerdist // Build Your Own Private Netflix

Build Your Own Private Netflix Movies and TV shows come and go on Netflix all the time, which means you may be one season away through your most loved show when it gets yanked from the service. So, what would you do? Buy all your own content and set up your own private cloud-based streaming service!

Technowize Magazine // November 2016

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The Nerdist // Build Your Own Private Netflix

THE NERDIST PLEX The best service here is Plex. It’s new Plex Cloud service, now in beta, gives you a chance to use an Amazon cloud locker to store every one of your movies and shows and stream them from anyplace in the world.

Earlier, the service gave you the option of hosting the files, which meant you had to leave a computer or network drive on all the time.

With Plex Cloud, all you need to do is pay for a Plex Pass (from $4.99 a month) and sign up to some Amazon storage (it’s $59.99 a year for unlimited data storage).

it as good to rip media they’ve paid for to watch the contents anyplace they like. However, we’d say you must check the national laws before going ahead with the plan. We can’t ensure any of these services will deliberately ignore to copyright-infringement material, so continue at your risk.

Back then, Plex was already a good alternative for building your very own Netflix, and Plex Cloud makes it even better. All you need to do is transfer all that you have to Amazon’s servers, and Plex pulls it down from that point.

You have a few more options if Plex Cloud doesn’t fancy your needs.

They’re not exactly like Netflix – but if you pay for storage on these services, then they’re a great alternative you could consider.

You have to pay up for unlimited Amazon storage or settle for the 5GB you get with Prime, then get a Plex Pass or use Plex Cloud beta.

You can transfer your recordings through the Amazon web interface or using the desktop apps.

Every one of these services require you having your films and shows in DRM-free video format in the first place. If you’re looking for a good converter then you can use Handbrake. It’s important to note that while a lot of people think of

Once all of that is done, you get a Plex Cloud option when you sign in, and it works in the same as way to setting up your own server.

Point Plex towards the content in your Amazon locker, and it sorts out them into a library for you. You

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The Nerdist // Build Your Own Private Netflix

THE NERDIST get the alternative to consequently binge watch episodes, thumbnails and metadata pulled from the internet, and an instinctive interface to monitor what you’re watching and what you haven’t yet already seen.

Google Drive Google Drive lets you store any file you like in the cloud, including most common of all video formats, which it plays in YouTube-style windows. You get 15GB of space for free, which you can up to 1TB for $9.99 a month or 30TB for $299.99 a month.

Files can be transferred by using the web interface or the desktop clients for Mac and Windows.

Apps for iOS and Android let you get at your movies and shows from anyplace, and you can sync files for offline watching on other devices.

Google Drive does not have the instinctive media center-style interface of Plex Cloud, and isn’t really built to be like Netflix. All things considered, this is Google, so the cloud storage and sorting

Technowize Magazine // November 2016

features are all easy to use. The simplest approach to using it is just to set up folders containing movies and shows and use the Drive’s search capabilities to fetch you whatever it is that you want.

Dropbox Dropbox isn’t set up to provide a Netflix experience the way Plex Cloud does. However, it will play your movies and media content directly from the web. You get 2GB of space for free, but if you want pump up, you may settle for $99 a year or $9.99 a month for 1TB. Dropbox is about more than playing your media documents. It’s a good alternative if you already use it to sync files and backups.

For watching content, you’ll need mobile apps for iOS and Android as well as Wi-Fi, so you can easily save movies onto the local storage for offline viewing.

It’s the least creative alternative to building your own Netflix, but it’s the most ideal way to sync up your media library across multiple devices.

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The Nerdist // Build Your Own Private Netflix

Get Free, Unlimited Wi-Fi on Flights and Bypass Paywalls In-flight Wi-Fi is amazing! The cost to use it then again, not so good. There are a couple of strategies to get free Wi-Fi, however these two are quite basic. The first requires just an iPhone. The second requires either a VPS or server you control. Both of these result in free, unlimited access for the entire flight.

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The Nerdist // Build Your Own Private Netflix

There are two unique techniques to bypass Wi-Fi paywall, and neither of them include any real hacks. To start with, the iPhone strategy, here’s what you need to do: 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Connect to the GoGo Wifi Browse to the GoGo Movie library Click on a movie and it will show you to a page to download the GoGo app Enter the Captcha Code to get to the app and submit it Do not close the browser. Open another tab and begin browsing the web. If you leave the auth window open, you will hold your authentication cookie! You can browse as much as you’d like at this point. When you finish off the program window, you will lose your session.

Make the most of your free wireless internet!

The iPhone strategy is basic. The following technique—which requires you either have a VPS (virtual private server) hosted some place else, or your own particular home server with web access you can proxy into.

On Port 53 you can make a full TCP connection, however, you won’t be able to pass the SSH cert to the VPS. On 443 you won’t be able to leave the network at all. It’s SYN SENT on netstat.

On 3128 you will be able to SSH into your VPS port 3128. The port is never inspecting traffic on this port, so you can run the below given SSH command to create a proxy on the system. ssh - D 3128 root@VPS.IP - p 3128 Now go to your browser network setting, check “use proxy server” and under “socks”enter your localhost and port and save it. There you go!

Now you have free internet!

This method isn’t for everybody. It requires that you have a server on the outside that you can SSH into and configure as your proxy.

Technowize Magazine // November 2016

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BUILT YOUR OWN RASPBERRY PI TELESCOPE Telescopes are awesome, keeping in mind you can buy a decent one.

However, there’s more fun into making your own! If you don’t mind putting in a little effort, here’s what you can do to make your own using a 3D printed case!

There’s a guide based on PiKon and you’ll find official guidelines on Dropbox. When you get every one of the parts 3D printed and find a PVC pipe, you simply need to assemble everything, line up the mirrors, then install the Raspberry Pi and camera. Voila! You’ll have a telescope that can take photographs and transfer them anyplace you please.

Technowize Magazine // November 2016

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When Privacy Policies Aren’t Enough…

Unless you live under a rock, it’s hard to communicate information securely. Phone calls, text messages, emails could be open to snooping from governments, companies, or hackers. This, by the way, also includes paper mail!

How can companies guarantee whether you’re privy to private communication or not?

Technowize Magazine // November 2016

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App Labs // When Privacy Policies Aren’t Enough…

You could be privy to private online communications, but most of these tools require a high-level of technology knowhow. If you cannot set up a PGP key to encrypt your emails, there is no way you can expect to communicate securely.

However, since Edward Snowden’s trove of leaked government reports uncovered the degree of the National Security Agency’s domestic spying tools, digital privacy awareness among average consumers and even a small group of alls has sprung up to them. A couple companies, like Signal, Telegram, and WhatsApp, have made basic apps for private communication, their advanced interfaces masking complex security systems built to withstand even the most intense attacks.

A digital security software company is trying to make privacy tools open to more app developers, and also to more consumers. SpiderOak has been in the business of protecting data for quite a long time now, with a Dropbox-like backup service that allows users to save data on the company’s services. This is saved in a way that even the company itself cannot decrypt the information the servers hold.

SpiderOak also built up an open-source platform called Crypton, a code library that is free for developers so they can create their own apps. The library handles security protections, allowing less crypto-savvy programmers to focus 86

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on more important aspects.

David Dahl, Crypton’s director, says privacy is a user-experience problem. “There has historically been very little interaction between [user-experience] designers who love to create very pretty and functional things and computer scientists who 88

specialize in cryptography,” Dahl wrote in an email.

This kind of disconnect has kept encrypted correspondence from “looking and acting like everyday software.” Sending a PGPencrypted email, for example, is a lengthy process that includes a setup, finding and verifying Technowize Magazine // November 2016

Image: Former NSA Contractor Edward Snowden

the public key of the intended beneficiary, using software to encode a message with that open key, and later decoding the response. A couple of basic privacy apps have such pleasant interfaces that cover complex security systems worked to withstand intense attacks.

As a proof-of-idea for basic privacy software, SpiderOak built a basic social networking app called Kloak on the Crypton stage. Like Twitter, Kloak allows users to communicate short status messages, however not at all like Twitter’s emphasis on public engagement, it just allows sharing between users who have follow each other, encrypting the messages Technowize Magazine // November 2016

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App Labs // When Privacy Policies Aren’t Enough…

and photos as they go between users gadgets. Still in beta stage and a little rough around the edges, Kloak is more of an experiment than a fullyformed viable platform.

“It’s an easy way for us to encourage other people to build other zeroknowledge applications,” said Alan Fairless, SpiderOak’s co-founder and CEO. “Here’s a nice example of one: It was built without using any fancy tools, no advanced JavaScript frameworks—just very vanilla, approachable by new developers.”

One of the security capabilities that Kloak shows is a very simple keyverification process, which is an essential part of most encrypted communications. Whenever sending and receiving encrypted messages, every member involved must verify that the individual on the other side to be sure who they say they are. A lot of advanced encryption services use an arrangement of open and private keys, allowing users to check their partners’ identities by comparing computer-generated images or passcodes.

One of the ways user-experience focused privacy apps are making secure communication more friendly by integrating a simpler verification process.

Telegram, for instance, creates blue squares based on the public keys of the participants in an encrypted chat, which by the way are identical.

An encrypted call made through Signal displays two words on the users’ devices, which they can compare to verify whether their communication is secure or what.

Kloak uses a process more similar to Telegram’s, creating a QR code that allows users to add others to their system by verifying it. Yet, SpiderOak says it’s building up a stylish substitution for Kloak’s drained looking QR code that will include an animated design.

“If you’ve ever used a product like PGP, the key-verification process is just a disaster for most people,” Fairless said. “How can we make it feel private, and be effective, and unobtrusive enough that people will actually do it?”

The animated key-verification system will include in a product SpiderOak plans to launch in the next couple of months, a team-collaboration app that will rival tools like Microsoft SharePoint. It has been derived from the company’s Crypton system, the product will allow groups to trade 90

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messages and records that will remain encoded and inaccessible even to SpiderOak employees.

Andrew Mitry, a cloud-computing engineer at Walmart said he likes Kloak’s privacy focus. Acknowledging that he keeps running in techsavvy circles, many in his network would love such a private/secure social network.

Another early Kloak user, Brazil-based beta tester David Nielsen, said he kept running into a few ease of use issues, but on the other hand loved the application’s way to deal with privacy. “At least Kloak offers something unique and hopefully valuable to users in this post-NSA-data-addiction world: the freedom to make an informed decision on privacy,” Nielsen said. “Provided everybody they care about make the same choice.”

For sure, the biggest hindrance to any security first software is launch.

Security-cognizant early adopters aside, a lot of users aren’t willing to give up essential features for encryption, and understand very little about it too. Also, more current security first apps are up against giants like Facebook and Gmail, which have built gigantic user bases, and get by profiting from those users’ information.

In any case, as the intensified impact of Snowden’s NSA secrets and the expanding list of hacks at companies and government agencies saturates people in general awareness. There is a possibility that users will demand more protection from their everyday software. To meet the demand, developers need to invest more in creating user-friendly privacy tools.

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Tech Events & Tradeshows

Tech Events & Tradeshows DX Summit

Date: Nov 14 – 16, 2016 | Venue: Chicago, Illinois, USA CMSWire’s DX Summit brings together some of the world’s foremost DX thought leaders and practitioners who are defining the next generation of digital experiences. This year’s event will feature speakers from Hilton Worldwide, Clorox and Chiefmartec.com, among others.

Microsoft Connect

Date: Nov 16 – 17, 2016 | Venue: New York, USA Join the Connect(); 2016 live stream to watch keynotes and deep dive technical sessions led by Executive Vice President Scott Guthrie, Principal Program Manager Scott Hanselman, and other industry innovators.

The Open Mobile Summit 2016

Date: Nov 29 - 30, 2016 | Venue: San Francisco, USA The Biggest B2C Mobile Event in America for Mobile Product, UX/Design and Mobile Marketing Executives Digital product, mobile marketing, UX and Design executives will meet at the Open Mobile Summit on November 29-30 in San Francisco. Now in its 8th year, this event draws together the most influential B2C brands, mobile-first companies and app-idols. It’s the definitive mobile consumer event, no other conference gives you such a complete view of the mobile world.

Amazon re:Invent

Date: Nov 28 – Dec 2, 2016 | Venue: Las Vegas, Nevada, USA AWS re:Invent is the largest gathering of the global Amazon Web Services community. Designed for current customers and cloud newcomers, this conference promises to provide the skills and knowledge to refine users’ cloud strategies, improve productivity, and increase performance and security, all while reducing costs. Attendees can choose from more than Technowize Magazine // November 2016

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Tech Events & Tradeshows

250 technical sessions and gain hands-on experience through self-paced labs, all-day bootcamps and hackathons. The architects and engineers that built the AWS Cloud will also be on-hand to answer questions and provide advice before the after-parties and pub crawls commence.

TechCrunch Disrupt London

Date: Dec 5 – 6, 2016 | Venue: London, United Kingdom TechCrunch Disrupt is the world’s leading authority in debuting revolutionary startups, introducing game-changing technologies, and discussing what’s top of mind for the tech industry’s key innovators.

Disrupt gathers the best and brightest entrepreneurs, investors, hackers, and tech fans for on-stage interviews, the Startup Battlefield competition, a 24-hour Hackathon, Startup Alley, Hardware Alley, and After Parties.

IGNITION

Date: Dec 5 – 7, 2016 | Venue: New York, USA Business Insider’s flagship annual conference—now in its 7th year!

Change happens fast. In the past 20 years we have seen more technological innovation than in the 80 years prior. Mobile is overtaking desktop, social is beating search, and messaging apps are challenging email. What’s next?

At IGNITION you’ll get a new understanding of the transformations taking place in the digital world. Join 700 senior executives working in technology, media, entertainment, investment, and finance in staying on top of today’s most innovative ideas.

Tectonic Summit

Date: Dec 12 – 13, 2016 | Venue: New York, USA Tectonic Summit is premier enterprise Kubernetes event for those interested in the business implications of adopting Kubernetes.

Leaders in engineering, infrastructure, operations, DevOps, cloud, and architects testing container management platforms should join their peers at Tectonic Summit to learn more about how their industries are integrating containers in their development lifecycle.

AdExchanger’s Industry Preview

Date: Jan 18 – 19, 2017 | Venue: New York, USA 96

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More than 600 senior executives from the world’s leading brands, advertising agencies, media companies, marketing technology providers and industry analysts will attend Industry Preview. With visionary content and a big picture approach to marketing technology, Industry Preview attracts more VP and C-level executives than any other AdExchanger conference.

Crunchies Awards

Date: Feb 6, 2017 | Venue: San Francisco, USA The Crunchies are an industry award given out since 2008 by several technology blogs to the Silicon Valley companies and venture capitalists they cover. The awards have been sponsored and co-hosted by blogs such as GigaOm, TechCrunch, and VentureBeat, and tabulated from votes on their sites. Awards have been given out at ceremonies at various theaters in San Francisco, California.

SaaStr Annual 2017

Date: Feb 7 – 8, 2017 | Venue: San Francisco, USA SaaStr Annual 2017 aims to be the largest non-vendor confab in the world by uniting the global SaaS community both online and off. We want to help everyone do better, more quickly and with less stress. The SaaStr Annual is your opportunity to join your peers in SaaS - 5K SaaS founders, execs and investors - to learn from the best in the business, to avoid the big mistakes, to strengthen your ties, to do better - so we can all achieve The Impossible.

SaaStr is hosting SaaStr Annual 2017, where 5,000 attendees will come together over three action-packed days of high-quality networking, learning from those who’ve done it, and of course, great food, generouslypoured drinks, and plenty of fun.

Developer Week

Date: Feb 11 – 12, 2017 | Venue: San Francisco, USA DeveloperWeek 2017 is San Francisco’s largest tech event series with over 60 week-long events including the DeveloperWeek 2017 Conference & Expo, DevOps Summit, WebRTC Summit, LearnToCode Camp, 1,000+ attendee hackathon, 1,000+ attendee tech hiring mixer, and a series of workshops, open houses, drink-ups, and city-wide events across San Francisco!

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Tech Events & Tradeshows

DeveloperWeek puts the spotlight on new technologies. Companies that participated in last year’s DeveloperWeek include Google, Facebook, Yelp, Rackspace, IBM, Cloudera, Red Hat, Optimizely, SendGrid, Blackberry, Microsoft, Neo Technology, Eventbrite, Klout, Built.io, Ripple, GNIP, Tagged, HackReactor, and 30+ more here!

Because DeveloperWeek covers all new technologies, our conference and workshops invite you to get intro lessons (or advanced tips and tricks) on technologies like HTML 5, WebRTC, Full-Stack Javascript Development, Mobile Web Design, Node.js, Data Science, and Distributed Computing to name a few.

Code Media

Date: Feb 13 – 14, 2017 | Venue: Laguna Niguel, California, USA Code Media is bringing together the most interesting and influential people in tech and media at The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel, February 13-14, 2017.

Produced by Recode senior editor Peter Kafka, in conjunction with Kara Swisher, this exclusive conference features candid, unscripted onstage interviews with the best-known names in the business. Over a two-day period, attendees will hear great stories, learn about important news first, and connect with the industry’s most prominent leaders.

Additional details can be found on the official website in the coming weeks.

Startup Grind Global Conference

Date: Feb 21 – 22, 2017 | Venue: Redwood City, California, USA Startup Grind is the largest independent startup community, actively educating, inspiring, and connecting 400,000 founders in over 200 cities.

We nurture startup ecosystems in 85 countries through events, media, and partnerships with organizations like Google for Entrepreneurs.

The cornerstone of our global community are monthly events featuring successful local founders, innovators, educators and investors who share lessons learned on the road to building great companies. Founded in Silicon Valley, Startup Grind has now hosted 2,000 fireside chats since its founding in 2010. To date, Startup Grind has helped millions of entrepreneurs find mentorship, connect to partners and hires, pursue funding, and reach new users.

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Tech Events & Tradeshows

Mobile World Conference

Date: Feb 27 – Mar 2, 2017 | Venue: Barcelona, Spain The GSMA is proud to announce Mobile World Congress 2017. This event continues to expand and build on its success year after year. With several existing sponsors and partners, along with new partnerships, we are excited for everything this year has to offer. Visit each of the topics below to learn more.

MWCapital hosts the Mobile World Congress and delivers 4 Years From Now (4YFN), a business platform for the startup community.

4YFN’s international start up event, held at Mobile World Congress in partnership with the GSMA, brings together the best mobile startups and entrepreneurs with investors, accelerators, incubators and corporations from the mobile ecosystem.

Google Cloud Next

Date: Mar 8 – 10, 2017 | Venue: San Francisco, USA Get new ideas. Learn from experts. Engage with peers. Join us for an immersive event that brings together executives, customers, partners, developers, IT decision makers, and Google Engineers to build the future of the cloud. See what’s coming from the Google Cloud Platform, G Suite, Maps, and Devices teams. Registration opens November 15.

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