Assorted Internet News
Lego Launches a Social Network for Kids
I don’t know about you, but I’ve never played with Lego blocks when I was a child. This may explain why I simply love building all sorts of block-based creations with my daughter these days. We’ve created complex buildings, zoos filled with funny animals, and much more – often times, without having any instructions!
Something was missing, though. We wanted to share our creations with the world, and Facebook or Twitter weren’t the best channels, in my opinion. You want to share the results of your work with people who love Lego and can appreciate your efforts, right?
If you’ve been thinking along these lines, you will be happy to hear that Lego has just come with the idea of creating a place where kids can exhibit their creations for the entire world to admire. The company has created a social network for kids under 13 years of age.
The network is named Lego Life, and it uses an app that allows kids anywhere in this world to connect and share pictures of their creations. Children can post their own work, admire other kids’ creations, and even learn to build new stuff.
Lego Life works fine on regular computers, but it is also optimized for mobile devices. The network will offer support for several languages in the near future, and any kid can join for free.
According to its creators, Lego Life is going to be a 100% safe network; children need to register an account by using their parents’ email addresses, for example. It is good to know that Lego has worked with UNICEF and the FTC, making sure that the network meets all the required security aspects.
Workplace AI Keeps an Eye on You
Who hasn’t wasted at least a few minutes of time checking what’s happened on Facebook, or watching that silly cat movie on YouTube? I know I did – and sometimes several times per day!
But now, Workplace AI wants to change that, turning us all into productivity addicts. It was created by British firm StatusToday, which has joined forces with the GCHQ intelligence agency.
The resulting AI uses metadata from the person’s workplace habits, logging the name of the files that are accessed. The manager can also be alerted when unusual things happen – when people do things that they are not authorized to do, like downloading resources that they are not supposed to, etc.
Workplace AI may also be valuable for company owners who fear that their ex-employees may take valuable data with them before leaving the company. Managers will also be able to determine if employees take long lunch breaks, or break their usual work patterns.
It’s clear that at least some employees will start missing their privacy, and others will not accept to be monitored at their workplaces. Companies will need to inform people, once they apply for a job, that an AI system will be used to monitor their activity.
Augmented Reality Dressing Rooms
People who love Gap clothing will be able to try the clothes from their homes from now on. The Dressing Room app was created in collaboration with Google and Avametric, a San Francisco start-up.
Dressing Room makes use of augmented reality, allowing potential customers to try the clothes without having to visit a Gap store. People are asked their height and weight, and then a virtual 3D model appears on the screen, allowing them to cloth it with the items they like.
If a person likes the way the item looks on the virtual model, he or she can buy it. It’s a good move from Gap; most clothing companies went through a long period of sales decline. The reason for the decline is, at least apparently, Amazon, which has drawn lots of customers from its competitors by starting to sell its own clothes about a year ago.
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