Weekly Tech Roundup for November 30 2018

by Bincom Dev Center · November 30, 2018

We are stuck with technology when what we really want is just stuff that works. – DOUGLAS ADAMS

Can you avoid knowledge? Can you avoid technology? Well, given the current situation as regards development in the world today, you actually can’t! Things are gong to improve and new things will be developed in spite of ethics, personal beliefs, and what have you. We make it our priority to always keep you up to date on the latest news about tech.

We also included some snippets from our daily knowledge development sessions, just to give you a little extra knowledge. After all, knowledge is never enough. Take your time and digest every one of them. The world is fast evolving and so should your mind.

Tech Turks | Social Lender | Bade Adesemowo | DiamondTV

Social Lender is one of the portfolio companies built and incubated by Bincom ICT Solutions. In Nigeria, Social Lender helps financial institutions offer microcredit based on social reputation to individuals who are under banked or have little or no access to formal credit.Want to learn a little more about Social Lender: the company, the technology and the platform? Bade Adesemowo, CTO of Social Lender sat down to share some information about Social Lender with Uzoma Dozie , CEO of Diamond Bank on Tech Turks, a programme on Diamond TV.

Getting e-mail on your skin is actually a thing now, thanks to Facebook

Ever wish you could just “read” incoming smartphone messages by feeling them on your arm? Well, Facebook researchers are creating a device that could do just that, by translating words into something like real-life pokes.

The researchers built a prototype of a cast-like wearable device filled with actuators that, when triggered, cause vibrations on the arm in patterns that match up with certain sounds. In a study, researchers were able to teach people to feel four different phonemes—the individual sounds that make up words in a language—in three minutes. Over more than an hour and a half of training, study participants were able to learn to recognize 100 words, according to Ali Israr, the technical lead for the project.

Goodbye Electron, Welcome PWA’s

Imagine a world where you could leverage the look and feel of an Electron Application, without requiring lengthy installs, software updates, all while shipping a single web application. Chrome seems to be setting the standard for this behavior in Desktop PWAs. – K.O

State of Javascript.

The State of JavaScript is a project that details the survey described below. The project is a thing of beauty, I think we should check it out and look at how developers are using the various features and flavours of JavaScript. See the summary of the survey result below called from Smashing Magazine:

“The annual State of JavaScript report is here. This year, they surveyed over 20,000 JavaScript developers to find out what they are using, what they are happy with, and what they want to learn. In a nutshell: ES6 is used by 86.3% of developers, TypeScript by 46.7%, React by 64.8%, Vue.js by 28.8%, Electron and React Native by 19-20%. Interesting stats and insights to help you make your way through the JavaScript ecosystem. (cm)”.

Lawmakers say Amazon’s facial recognition software may be racially biased and harm free expression

Amazon has “failed to provide sufficient answers” about its controversial facial recognition software, Rekognition — and lawmakers won’t take the company’s usual silent treatment for an answer.

The letter, signed by eight lawmakers — including Sen. Edward Markey and Reps. John Lewis and Judy Chu — called on Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos to explain how the company’s technology works — and where it will be used.

It comes after the cloud and retail giant secured several high-profile contracts with the U.S. government and at least one major metropolitan city — including Orlando, Florida — for surveillance.

U.S. mobile app stores had their biggest day ever on Black Friday 2018

Black Friday wasn’t just a boon for e-commerce retailers, it helped the mobile app stores break new records, too. According to a new report from Sensor Tower, the combined consumer spending across the U.S. Apple App Store and Google Play on Black Friday 2018 reached $75.9 million – a record for the most ever spent in a single day on both stores.

The App Store accounted for most of that figure, however, with U.S. consumers spending a record $52 million on Black Friday. That’s a 31.6 percent increase in spending over last year’s shopping event, when consumers then spent $39.5 million.

Companies fed up with crappy Wi-Fi are deploying 5G instead

Automakers, oil companies, and shipping ports plan to build private 5G networks for faster, more reliable connectivity.
The German automaker plans to build its own, private wireless network at its production sites using 5G, the next generation of cellular technology. Audi believes this private 5G network, which the company would be responsible for managing, will enable it to connect manufacturing robots and other devices faster and more securely than existing Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or 4G LTE options, says Henning Löser, the head of its production lab.

A US attempt to keep AI out of China’s hands could actually help China

The US and China are in a race to become the AI superpower of the century. The perceived stakes are high: not only would the victor reap massive economic benefits,but it could also establish a new military edge. As Russian president Vladimir Putin phrased it last year, “Whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world.”
Not all experts agree—and most AI researchers don’t see themselves in an arms race at all. But that hasn’t stopped leaders in both countries from rapidly escalating their offensives.

Browser Fingerprinting : Fisayo Adesomoju

Browser fingerprinting is an incredibly accurate method of identifying unique browsers and tracking online activity. That means that, when you connect to the internet on your laptop or smartphone, your device will hand over a bunch of specific data to the receiving server about the websites you visit. All of this information does not necessarily reveal exactly who you are, your name and/or home address, but it’s incredibly valuable for advertising purposes, as companies can use it to target certain groups. These groups have been formed by matching people based on browser fingerprinting.

About Weekly Tech Roundup by Bincom Dev Center

You probably already know that Bincom ICT‘s core is Best Use of Technology. This initiative is a compilation of some of the things the people at Bincom Dev Center found interesting during the week in review. Bincom Dev Center is the Training & Development Arm of Bincom ICT.

In this weekly publication, You will find various pieces ranging from ideas to trends, to random thoughts. They are here because we found them interesting. We also include some knowledge development pieces and where to get more information about the topic. We aim to publish an edition every Friday at 5:00pm (with exception of Holidays). We are working hard to keep ourselves updated and we think you should too!

Time for some Shameless Advertising:

Did we mention that we build awesome tech? From core software development to bespoke Enterprise systems, check out Development + Support Services to see more details.
And if you are more of a “Do it yourself” person (or organization) or simply need additional technology resources to augment your team, you can check out our IT outsourcing solution called Outsource IT by Bincom.

One more thing, Credits for this edition goes to :