Instagram ramps up battle against bullying
Google launches connected speaker with screen, but no camera
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 10, (Agencies): Instagram added more weapons to battle cyber bullying, using artificial intelligence to scan photos for abusive content at the Facebook-owned service.
The move comes after Facebook also increased anti-harassment measures, following a survey which said young victims of online abuse feel social media firms aren’t doing enough to fight the problem.
Instagram chief Adam Mosseri said artificial intelligence is being used to detect signs of bullying and then automatically flag content for review by staff from the image-oriented social network.
“This change will help us identify and remove significantly more bullying,” Mosseri said in a blog post.
“It’s a crucial next step since many people who experience or observe bullying don’t report it.”
Rolling the technology out across the entire social network is expected to take a few weeks.
In another move, a filter that enables Instagram users to detect and hide bullying remarks from Instagram feeds or profiles was extended to comments on live videos, according to Mosseri.
Effect
In the spirit of inspiring people to be nice to one another, Instagram also added a camera effect which can be used to adorn images with hearts or the word “kindness” in a variety of languages.
“Online bullying is complex, and we know we have more work to do to further limit bullying and spread kindness on Instagram,” Mosseri said.
Last week Facebook said its users will be able to hide or delete groups of comments, including responses, instead of having to remove them one at a time.
The network also began letting people report bullying or harassment on behalf of friends reluctant to complain to the social network themselves.
A majority of US teenagers say they have been victims of online harassment or bullying, most commonly namecalling, a Pew Research Center survey found in September.
It said that 59 percent of US teens reported online abuse, and 63 percent said it was a major problem for people their age.
The survey found that most young harassment victims feel that teachers, social media firms and politicians are doing a poor or fair job in addressing the problem of cyber bullying – an issue which has drawn the attention of US First Lady Melania Trump and Britain’s Prince William.
Google on Tuesday launched a new version of its connected speaker with a touchscreen display designed to be a hub for smart home devices but without a camera for privacy reasons.
The Google Home Hub, competing against Amazon’s Echo Show, was unveiled at a New York media event at which the tech giant also announced its upgraded Pixel 3 smartphone and a new tablet computer dubbed Pixel Slate.
The new speaker, to be sold for $149, is powered by Google’s smart digital assistant and is designed “to get the state of the entire home” by connecting to other smart devices, said Google vice president of product management Diya Jolly.
Jolly said the Home Hub, with a seven-inch screen, will allow users to access a “dashboard” that can be used to control any of several thousand internetconnected devices or appliances.
“You can turn down the temperature in the bedroom and turn up the music in your living room” using the screen, Jolly said.
But unlike the Echo Show and a new Portal chat device unveiled by Facebook, the Home Hub won’t have a camera, Jolly added.
“We consciously did not put a camera on the Hub so you can use it in private spaces like your bedroom,” she said.
The new device also can allow users to play music and videos from Googleowned YouTube.
Google also showed its new Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL smartphones, with upgrades including edge-to-edge screens that offer more display space without increasing the size of the handset. The 5.5-inch Pixel 3 will sell from $799 and the 6.3-inch Pixel 3 XL from $899.
Google’s new Pixel Slate unveiled Tuesday brings “the power and productivity of a desktop to a gorgeous tablet,” according to senior vice president Rick Osterloh.
Osterloh said the new devices were designed to take advantage of Google’s development of artificial intelligence.
Breakthroughs
“The big breakthroughs come at the intersection of AI, software and hardware, working together,” he said. “This approach is what makes the Google hardware experience so unique, and it unlocks all kinds of helpful benefits.”
The Pixel includes improved tools aimed at limiting screen time and allows parents to control device time for children.
While Google has been ramping up its hardware efforts, its smartphones have captured less than three percent of the global market, according to surveys.
However, Google appears to be catching up with Amazon in the race for connected speakers. One survey showed the Google Mini to be the top-selling speaker in the second quarter of 2018.
The third generation of Pixel phones comes in two sizes, and both feature high-definition screens that span from one edge to another. It’s the first time Google has embraced the format, which Apple adopted last year with its ballyhooed iPhone X.
Google is undercutting Apple on the pricing of its phones. It’s also hiring photographer Annie Leibovitz to take pictures with the new Pixel in an effort to persuade consumers its camera is superior to the iPhone XS that Apple released last month.
The Pixel 3 will be available Oct 18 and sell at prices starting at $799. That’s $200 below the least expensive iPhone XS.
Google also rolled out a new device called Home Hub that couples a small display screen with an internet-connected speaker. That’s similar to Amazon’s Echo Show and a new Facebook device called Portal.
But again Google is attacking its rivals on the pricing front. The Home Hub will sell for $149 when it comes to stores Oct. 22. The new version Echo Show starts at $229, while the least expensive Facebook Portal sells for $199.
As usual, the Pixels focus heavily on Google’s search engine, maps, digital assistant and YouTube video service.
While all those service are hugely popular, the Pixels so far have generated more media attention than sales. Google has sold an estimated 7 million Pixels over the past two years, almost imperceptible next to the 3.6 billion phones shipped during that time, according to the research firm International Data Corp.
Google doesn’t disclose its phone shipments, unlike Apple, which has sold about 388 million iPhones since the first Pixel came out in October 2016.
“If you have a Google tattoo on you, then these are the phones for you,” IDC analyst Ramon Llamas said of the Pixel’s limited appeal so far.
Google has been somewhat restrained in its distribution and marketing of the Pixel phones, Llamas said, because it doesn’t want to alienate Samsung and hundreds of other device makers that feature Android in their own phones. Because Android highlights Google services, it’s key to Google’s business of selling ads through its search engine and other mobile apps.
The iPhone also features Google’s search engine, but Google may be paying Apple as much as $9 billion annually for that privilege, based on the estimates of Goldman Sachs analyst Rod Hall.