#Pro-tech technology

[theallinoneca]

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[l0ve-lett3r-4-u-txt]

iMac g3 bondi blue (1998)

Isn’t she pretty ? :3

[fruitiermetrostation]

Motorola Pro+ (2011)

[reasonsforhope]

Determined to use her skills to fight inequality, South African computer scientist Raesetje Sefala set to work to build algorithms flagging poverty hotspots - developing datasets she hopes will help target aid, new housing, or clinics.

From crop analysis to medical diagnostics, artificial intelligence (AI) is already used in essential tasks worldwide, but Sefala and a growing number of fellow African developers are pioneering it to tackle their continent's particular challenges.

Local knowledge is vital for designing AI-driven solutions that work, Sefala said.

"If you don't have people with diverse experiences doing the research, it's easy to interpret the data in ways that will marginalise others," the 26-year old said from her home in Johannesburg.

Africa is the world's youngest and fastest-growing continent, and tech experts say young, home-grown AI developers have a vital role to play in designing applications to address local problems.

"For Africa to get out of poverty, it will take innovation and this can be revolutionary, because it's Africans doing things for Africa on their own," said Cina Lawson, Togo's minister of digital economy and transformation.

"We need to use cutting-edge solutions to our problems, because you don't solve problems in 2022 using methods of 20 years ago," Lawson told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a video interview from the West African country.

Digital rights groups warn about AI's use in surveillance and the risk of discrimination, but Sefala said it can also be used to "serve the people behind the data points". ...

'Delivering Health'

As COVID-19 spread around the world in early 2020, government officials in Togo realized urgent action was needed to support informal workers who account for about 80% of the country's workforce, Lawson said.

"If you decide that everybody stays home, it means that this particular person isn't going to eat that day, it's as simple as that," she said.

In 10 days, the government built a mobile payment platform - called Novissi - to distribute cash to the vulnerable.

The government paired up with Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) think tank and the University of California, Berkeley, to build a poverty map of Togo using satellite imagery.

Using algorithms with the support of GiveDirectly, a nonprofit that uses AI to distribute cash transfers, the recipients earning less than $1.25 per day and living in the poorest districts were identified for a direct cash transfer.

"We texted them saying if you need financial help, please register," Lawson said, adding that beneficiaries' consent and data privacy had been prioritized.

The entire program reached 920,000 beneficiaries in need.

"Machine learning has the advantage of reaching so many people in a very short time and delivering help when people need it most," said Caroline Teti, a Kenya-based GiveDirectly director.

'Zero Representation'

Aiming to boost discussion about AI in Africa, computer scientists Benjamin Rosman and Ulrich Paquet co-founded the Deep Learning Indaba - a week-long gathering that started in South Africa - together with other colleagues in 2017.

"You used to get to the top AI conferences and there was zero representation from Africa, both in terms of papers and people, so we're all about finding cost effective ways to build a community," Paquet said in a video call.

In 2019, 27 smaller Indabas - called IndabaX - were rolled out across the continent, with some events hosting as many as 300 participants.

One of these offshoots was IndabaX Uganda, where founder Bruno Ssekiwere said participants shared information on using AI for social issues such as improving agriculture and treating malaria.

Another outcome from the South African Indaba was Masakhane - an organization that uses open-source, machine learning to translate African languages not typically found in online programs such as Google Translate.

On their site, the founders speak about the South African philosophy of "Ubuntu" - a term generally meaning "humanity" - as part of their organization's values.

"This philosophy calls for collaboration and participation and community," reads their site, a philosophy that Ssekiwere, Paquet, and Rosman said has now become the driving value for AI research in Africa.

Inclusion

Now that Sefala has built a dataset of South Africa's suburbs and townships, she plans to collaborate with domain experts and communities to refine it, deepen inequality research and improve the algorithms.

"Making datasets easily available opens the door for new mechanisms and techniques for policy-making around desegregation, housing, and access to economic opportunity," she said.

African AI leaders say building more complete datasets will also help tackle biases baked into algorithms.

"Imagine rolling out Novissi in Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Ivory Coast ... then the algorithm will be trained with understanding poverty in West Africa," Lawson said.

"If there are ever ways to fight bias in tech, it's by increasing diverse datasets ... we need to contribute more," she said.

But contributing more will require increased funding for African projects and wider access to computer science education and technology in general, Sefala said.

Despite such obstacles, Lawson said "technology will be Africa's savior".

"Let's use what is cutting edge and apply it straight away or as a continent we will never get out of poverty," she said. "It's really as simple as that."

-via Good Good Good, February 16, 2022

[wikipediapictures]

MacBook Pro

[netscapenavigator-official]

Not to give the iPhone 16 Pro too much praise, but I’m so glad Apple decided to double the frame rate on their cameras instead of the resolution.

Like, Google’s 8K30 video on the Pixel 9 Pro is impressive, but… to put it quite bluntly: who cares. 8K will one day be relevant. I don’t wanna sound like one of people who tries implying “good enough” will ever be an endgame. 8K video and photo will takeover one day… but that day is not today.

4K TVs are just now becoming the norm, with 8K still being seen as an ultra-luxury. 4K PC monitors have barely entered the market. Hell, even Apple’s own computer lineup has never exceeded 6K, and their primary advertisement for displays larger than 4K is “you can edit 4K video without scaling it down to fit the UI on screen!”

Not to mention, 4K displays on phones are still rather unheard of. Also, most people don’t even view photos with their phones in landscape mode.

But you know what has penetrated the market substantially? 120 Hz displays!

Almost every phone, tablets, and laptop these days has a 120 Hz display. Hell, 240+ Hz has been standard in the PC gaming space for quite some time.

I’ve long held the belief that we need to make 120 fps, full speed video a thing, and I’m so glad Apple made the iPhone 16 Pro able to shoot in 4K120 instead the Pixel 9’s ridiculously gimmicky 8K30.

[yourfuturemachine]

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[ceiling-karasu]

I think these are really cute the way they came out. But it was really hard to make them in the far off background using only a small phone.

They kind of look like sprites, which is cute, but still, I think I need to get a larger screen to work on.

Does anyone have some recommendations for a small tablet? Can tablets download Sketchbook Pro, email, and internet and stuff or do I have to get an iPad for that?

What’s the difference between the two? I’ve never actually used any before.

[junosswans]

The fact that unification is more or less "made for" apple vision pro just sends me

It's just such a weird marketing decision cause I don't really think the demographic of "people who enjoy star trek tos" and "people who would spend a fortune on vision pro" overlap like, at all

[galaxythedragonshifter]

Anyone have suggestions for laptops for art college? I have two options I'm thinking of but I'd like a few more to choose between

Minimum specs: 32 GB ram, 1920 x 1080 res, 100 GB of hard disk space (preferably more)

[paulcirigliano]

[l0ve-lett3r-4-u-txt]

This is what my insides look like btw . In case anyone was wondering . ,,

[fruitiermetrostation]

Windows iPhone Home Screen wallpaper by maxypoo

[ytmarketing001]

Ever wondered what the future holds for robots? As we dive into some of today's most extraordinary robotic innovations, prepare to be amazed. From lifelike dolls that mimic real people to futuristic maintenance bots and even a robot bartender, these creations are quickly becoming part of our reality. Imagine interacting with a robot so realistically that it feels like talking to someone or seeing a giant robot maintaining railways on its own. Join us as we explore groundbreaking advancements like Iron Tech Dolls Real Lady series, DS Doll's autonomous humanoids, Hansen Robotics' Whitney Cummings robot, and Japan's railway-maintenance transformer robot. Discover how these technologies are shaping our future. If you're enjoying this glimpse into the future of robotics, make sure to hit that subscribe button and give us a thumbs up. Stay tuned for more amazing updates right here on AI Evolves! Please subscribe 🙏    / @aievolves  

[netscapenavigator-official]

My primary laptop is a 2017 MacBook Pro. You know, one of the many laptops that Apple put their incredibly unreliable butterfly keyboard in. Well, my laptop has aged out of Apple's free keyboard replacement program, by a long shot.

One of the most common issues (that I'm now encountering) is duplicated keystrokes. My "A" key has recently started doing this. I dealt with it for a while, but then I got a bright idea: "I bet there's software that can stop duplicate keystrokes if they happen to soon after one another." And you know what? The answer was yes! Yes, that software exists!

How I never thought of this, and why Apple didn't update their keyboard's controller to do this, I do not know. I found out old-school mechanical keyboards used to have a common problem called "bounce" or "chatter" which did the exact same duplicating bug.

As a result, Ubuntu (and thusly Zorin OS) have a native setting to stop duplicate keystrokes. They also have a toggle to enable a beep whenever the software blocks a duplicate keystroke. And you know what? It works! No more duplicated keys, and I occasionally get a beep when I type an "A." This if fucking fantastic!

[yourfuturemachine]

This advanced bionic arm has a 360-degree wrist rotation and can work wirelessly