Is Siri spying on me? Apps on my iPad began playing Spanish ads after conversations at home “The simple answer is no, your (gadget) is not likely actively listening to your conversations,” Northeastern Associate Professor of Computer and Information Science David Choffnes told me over the phone. “But that doesn’t mean they aren’t (enabling the collection of) millions of data points to know who you are, where you live, what stores you shop at, […]
Vanity Fair How right-wing media is ignoring the Mueller indictments It’s an old debate that predates the internet and social media. Should the supposedly neutral City Hall reporter be allowed to go on social media and call the mayor an idiot? In its current form, Mathew Ingram made the case for making opinions known (and thus disputing such moves to limit social media by journalists) […]
CNBC Use these hacks to get the best online price for holiday gifts “It’s very hard to know why you’re seeing what [price] you’re seeing,” said study co-author Christo Wilson, an assistant professor at Northeastern. Now, that same team of researchers, in conjunction with Volunteer Science, is aiming to raise the curtain on price differentiation. Their plugin for Chrome browsers runs the same search you did on the […]
Fast Forward: A cleansing rain, safe biking, and Obama-Biden memes Riding a bike around Boston and environs can be a risky proposition: In the first four months of 2016, eight people were killed and 307 injured from bicycle crashes on Boston streets. In Cambridge, two bicyclists have been killed this year. At noon, a Northeastern University professor will urge a City Council committee to consider […]
Boston Magazine Six tips for using standing desks correctly Chances are, you know somebody who switched to a standing desk after reading those sobering studies about how bad sitting is for your health. The problem is, though, ergonomic guidelines for using the desks are scant, so arranging them can involve a lot of guesswork. Jack Dennerlein, a professor in the Northeastern University Department of […]
Hillary fails with Donald in trail’s gotcha moment: Read my lips “They’re all playing a similar game,” Nicholas Beauchamp said on the phone the other day. He’s an assistant professor in the political science department at Northeastern University in Boston. “The question is where do they have their settings, inasmuch as all of them are thinking about their public persona. And as we all know when […]
How to hack Uber surge-charge fares by 10-20% A study from Northeastern University researchers published Thursday, billed as “the first in-depth investigation of Uber,” offers some tangible tips — and other fascinating insights — about the mysterious algorithm that guides the country’s most popular ride-share service. The bottom line: Uber’s surge-pricing algorithm, which is based on supply of drivers versus demand of rides […]
7 minutes that set a child’s course for tragedy Other legal specialists, even as they acknowledge the horrors allegedly inflicted by Lints, recoil at the notion that judges should intervene in cases in which an entire family is in agreement about who should gain custody. “The idea that the state gets to tell you whether you have it together enough to bring up your […]
Salon Men are brilliant, women are bossy: What research tells us about unconscious bias, gender and “genius” Whether you think your professor is an eccentric genius or a disorganized mess might depend on his or her gender, according to data mapped by a history professor at Northeastern University. You can plug words like “rude” or “brilliant” into an interactive chart created by Benjamin Schmidt and see how often those words were used […]
Why we love to gossip Humans have a powerful drive to know about other people’s lives. It’s the fascination — often seasoned liberally with schadenfreude — behind a welter of magazines and television programs that have made celebrity gossip a more than $3 billion industry. “Your life may be more glamorous than mine,” we might think as we scan the […]
Daily reading rituals that will make you more productive What we do daily has a profound effect on our lives. A good daily reading ritual can keep you informed about the world and your industry. But if you’re a curious person with limited time, how can you make the most of the minutes you have? MAKE PEACE WITH INCOMPLETE KNOWLEDGE. You will never read […]
WGBH Boston bombing suspect’s friend is convicted on obstruction charges Tazhayakov insisted that he had nothing to do with dumping the bag and didn’t even know it was thrown out until after the fact, his attorneys casted him as a scared teenager who never intended to cover up any crime. But as Northeastern University law professor Daniel Medwed notes, the defense couldn’t overcome the facts. […]