Microsoft Excel is still one of the world’s most widely used data tools and a new feature (for desktop), ‘Data from Picture’, means that you can now import a picture of a data table and convert it into a usable one within Excel. Here’s how:

– Save a cropped-down screenshot of an excel data table.

– Open Excel and go to the ‘Data’ tab (top menu).

– Select the (new) ‘From Picture’ option (top menu).

– From the drop-down options choose ‘Picture from file’.

– Select and click ‘insert’. Right hand side of the screen will show as collecting and preparing data.

– Click ‘Review’ or ‘Insert Anyway’ if happy you’re happy that the table produced is accurate.

Privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch has filed a complaint to the ICO that the face recognition search engine PimEyes may be unlawful, plus it could be enabling surveillance and stalking.

What Is PimEyes? 

PimEyes is a search engine that uses facial recognition technology to provide a reverse image search tool, and a photo search mechanism so that users can search for any face they upload and find which websites publish images of their faces to protect their privacy. It can also be used to assist investigative journalists. PimEyes only searches images posted publicly.

Complaint 

Big Brother Watch has made a complaint about PimEyes to the UK’s data protection watchdog, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The privacy campaign group’s complaint is based around suggestions that:

– The online facial recognition website is “unlawful” and enables surveillance and stalking “on a scale previously unimaginable” and is “deeply privacy-intrusive”.

– PimEyes is a threat to the privacy of millions of UK citizens because it is allegedly unlawfully processing their biometric data. For example, PimEyes could be processing the facial images of millions of UK citizens which are regularly searched without the knowledge or consent of those citizens.

– It could enable people to “surveil, harass and stalk” others because it allows anyone on the internet to upload a photo of any person’s face (including a child’s), search billions of faces, find matches, and track them across the Internet. This could include, for example, finding person’s place of work, and finding a person’s photos in any media articles, personal blogs, dating websites, employment profiles, and other publicly available websites.

– PimEyes could be used to discover the identity of an unknown individual seen in revenge porn or child sexual abuse material.

– Although PimEyes asks customers to use the technology ethically, it doesn’t appear to place limits on the type of images that may be used for search or have any safeguards to prevent people using the service to extract a library of photos of someone other than themselves.

Enables Intrusion and Stalking? 

Madeleine Stone, Legal and Policy Officer at Big Brother Watch highlighted their concerns saying that “PimEyes enables privacy intrusion and stalking on a scale previously unimaginable” and “lawlessly scans billions of our photos without our knowledge or permission”. She also said of PimEyes: “Images of anyone, including children, can be scoured and tracked across the internet. This extraordinary power is available to anyone at the click of a button and could be secretly used by potential employers, university admissions officers, domestic abusers or stalkers.” 

What Does PimEyes Say? 

PimEyes is reported to have said that its search engine is not intended to be used for surveillance of others and that it is actually in talks with law enforcement agencies in several countries, including the UK, about using PimEyes to combat crimes against children, human trafficking, and terrorism.

Similar To Clearview AI 

Big Brother Watch has highlighted the similarity between the business model of PimEyes and Clearview AI Inc, another facial recognition company. Clearview AI Inc had a database of over 20 billion facial images and was fined £7.5 million and ordered to delete all UK data by the ICO earlier this year for violating data protection law by unlawfully processing the biometric data of UK citizens.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

It is possible to see how there are useful aspects to the PimEyes search engine when used responsibly and ethically, e.g. people using it to protect their own privacy or journalists using PimEyes as part of their work. However, if, as Big Brother Watch has pointed out, the business model is very similar to Clearview AI Inc who have already been fined, and if it is acting unlawfully in relation to UK data protection laws, things may not go well for PimEyes. It is worrying that it appears that anyone could misuse the search engine and gather photos and an information trail about anyone else without their knowledge or consent. It particularly concerning that this apparent lack of privacy and ease of misuse could potentially endanger children. It remains to be seen what action (if any) that the ICO takes. This story is also reminder to all other businesses and organisations that data protection laws do cover images as well as other data and that consent is an important part of data protection laws to consider.

Meta’s WhatsApp has announced the global rollout of it ‘Communities’ feature along with in-chat polls, 32-person video calling, and groups with up to 1024 users.

Communities 

The Communities feature, for iOS and Android, allows users to connect multiple groups, e.g. schools, local clubs, non-profit organisations, and businesses together under one umbrella to organise group conversations on WhatsApp. In Communities, users can switch between different available groups to get information, plus admins can send important updates to everyone in the Community.

More Secure Than The Alternatives? 

The Communities feature is likely to take over from Groups, and offers an alternative to platforms like Discord, Slack, and Meta’s own Messenger, with the extra selling point of “a level of privacy and security not found anywhere else”. For example, WhatsApp says about Communities: “The alternatives available today require trusting apps or software companies with a copy of their messages – and we think they deserve the higher level of security provided by end-to-end encryption.” 

In-Chat polls 

Another new feature also being launched in WhatsApp soon is in-chat polls. Tested back in April, and similar to voting polls features on other platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, in-chat polls can be used in Groups and Communities to make it easier for group members to make democratic decisions or to gather opinions of group members on specific subjects.

32 Person Video Calling & Groups With Up To 1024 users 

WhatsApp has also announced the rollout of 32-person video calling (more than is allowed on a Discord or Slack video call), and groups with up to 1024 users which it says can be used in any group but will be particularly helpful for Communities.

Loads Of New Features Lately 

Meta’s WhatsApp has been piling-on the new features this year to help it compete more effectively in an environment where, following the pandemic, online groups and collaborative remote working has become the norm for many. New features introduced this year include:

– Privacy features like Leave Groups Silently, Choose Who Can See When You’re Online, and Screenshot Blocking For View Once Messages.

– Emojis and the ability to share files within WhatsApp up to 2GB in size.

– Improvements to voice messaging, including Out of Chat Playback, Pause/Resume Recording, Waveform Visualization, Draft Preview, Remember Playback, and Fast Playback on Forwarded Messages.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

The new ‘Communities’ feature is about Meta capitalising on the fact that many non-profit organisations, as well as businesses now use WhatsApp, and that building in more engagement and loyalty among these valuable segments could also deliver competitive advantage and benefits. This follows attempts dating back to 2018 to attract more small businesses (of which there is a large number) with WhatsApp Business followed by its testing of a multi-device capability to appeal to multi-device owning (business) users. Adding features to expand the capabilities of Communities, i.e. in-chat polls, 32-person video calling and groups with up to 1024 users enable WhatsApp to both compete effectively with a raft of its rivals (Slack, Discord, Twitter, Instagram), create a successor Groups, establish WhatsApp as a leading group comms app, and fully take advantage of the post-pandemic demand for effective online group chat and information platforms.

In this insight, we look at how you can use voice commands to carry out tasks in Windows, plus how speech recognition technology can be used for voice control of different systems and devices.

How Does Speech / Voice Recognition Work? 

Voice commands can be used to carry out tasks in Windows, plus Android and iOS, and in other situations due to the use of speech/voice recognition technology. Speech recognition works by combining a range of technologies, tools, and algorithms such as machine learning, natural language processing (NLP), and contextual awareness as conversational AI which facilitates a real-time dialogue between a human and a device or system.

How To Set Up Speech Recognition In Microsoft Windows 

Microsoft Windows Speech Recognition enables you to use voice commands to operate Windows on your computer. It is supported by Windows 8.1, 10, and 11 and allows you to control your PC with your voice and dictate text, i.e. Speech Recognition transforms your voice into text on the screen in different Windows apps and enables you to write emails in Microsoft Mail using just speech.

How To Set Up Speech Recognition In Windows 

Speech recognition in Windows doesn’t work by default so, to switch it on:

– Type ‘Settings’ in the start field or press the Windows key+ I.

– Click on ‘Time & Language’ and ‘Speech’ (left-hand side menu).

– Click the ‘Get Started’ button under the ‘Microphone’ heading to test for any microphone issues and follow any trouble-shooting instructions.

– Use the Windows key + Ctrl + S to open the ‘Set Up Speech Recognition Tool’ to train Windows to recognise your voice by following the instructions.

– Answer the questions about the microphone / microphone headset you’re using and its positioning and click ‘Next.’

– Choose whether to disable ‘Document Review’ (the way the system improves its understanding of your way of speaking), click ‘Next’ and choose whether to opt for manual or voice activation (manual is the default). To choose manual recognition, press the Windows key + Ctrl or click the on-screen microphone.

Activating It 

Once Speech Recognition setup has been completed and it is enabled in Windows, to activate it for manual operation, say “start listening” or click on the on-screen microphone, or for voice activated operation say, “start listening.” To stop it from operating say “stop listening”.

Sending An Email In Windows Using Your Voice 

It is possible to compose an email in Microsoft’s ‘Mail’ app, for example by:

– Saying “launch mail”. Alternatively, you can click on the ‘+’ in the left-hand side bar (create a new message) and use voice commands from there.

– Say “show numbers”. This divides the email operation into numbered sections that you can then refer to (saying ‘OK’ for the right ones) in your voice commands to construct and send the email.

– Write the email address by spelling out the letters individually, e.g. say “press a”, “press n”, etc, and “press @ sign”.

– Dictate the message and use commands such as “new line” and “new paragraph”.

– Find the numbered section for the send button, then say “OK”.

Commands 

Microsoft’s Speech Recognition supports many commands. A full list of commands can be seen here.

Sending Texts From Android and iPhone 

Voice commands can also be used to send texts from Android and iPhones. For example:

– For Apple, follow the steps to set up voice controls here and how to dictate text can be found here:

– For Android, follow the steps for setting up voice control here.

Others Popular Uses For Voice Recognition Technology / Speech Recognition 

Many of us have used / are regularly using voice commands to activate services and carry out tasks. Popular examples include:

– Digital assistants / virtual assistant technology used for smart speakers and phones, e.g. Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri (Apple).

– Speech recognition / voice chatbots used for multiple purposes, e.g. customer service automation, company websites, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and more.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

Many businesses have been reaping the benefits of saving time/costs and being able to offer 24/7 assistance by enabling customers to use voice activated systems, e.g. in customers service (online chatbots and phone systems) and to operate aspects of their service.

Microsoft, Apple, and Google also offer users the capability and convenience of using voice activation for their operating systems, which can help businesses by saving time, simplifying tasks, and enabling multi-tasking. Speech recognition and voice commands can also help businesses (like Microsoft and others) offer wider accessibility. Although these systems inevitably don’t always operate as smoothly as they should (as anyone with a smart speaker will know), the hope is that these technologies along with how they work together will improve over time to the point where we are not so tied to a manual keyboard, mouse, and screen-touching to carry out work and personal tasks.

Here we look at what Matter 1.0 is, its advantages for the IoT and setting up a smart home (or office), and what its current limitations are.

What Is Matter? 

Released just recently this October, Matter 1.0 is the new open standard that resolves interoperability and connectivity issues between all the IoT devices in smart homes. This new single software standard and certification will mean that different IoT gadgets and devices from different manufacturers will be compatible and able to link together to create a smart home if they are Matter certified, communicating with a common standard. Up until now, for example, consumers trying to create a fully connected ‘smart home’ (e.g. where the lighting, locks, heating, music, and home devices can be all be voice operated from a digital assistant) have faced compatibility issues, complications, and difficulties in setting up and managing lots of smaller micro-ecosystems.

Who? 

The new Matter 1.0 standard and accompanying certification has been developed by the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA). Formed in 2002, it is comprised of an international community of more than 550 technology companies. The Alliance describes itself as “the foundation and future of the Internet of Things (IoT)” and its mission “to simplify and harmonise the Internet of Things (IoT) through open, global standards and by creating a place where companies can work together to create a more connected, accessible, sustainable, and equitable world.” 

It is not compulsory for IoT device makers to get Matter 1.0 standard certification, but they risk being left behind if they don’t.

Underlying Technologies – Wi-Fi & Thread 

In order to make Matter work effectively, underlying network technologies, like Wi-Fi and Thread were needed. The Wi-Fi Alliance and Thread Group partnered with the Connectivity Standards Alliance in the development of Matter. For example, Wi-Fi enables Matter devices to interact over a high-bandwidth local network and smart home devices to communicate with the cloud.

Thread is a low-power and low-latency wireless mesh networking protocol which solves the complexities of the IoT, addressing challenges such as interoperability, range, security, energy, and reliability. Thread essentially provides an energy efficient and reliable mesh network within the home.

How Is Matter Being Introduced? 

Matter is to be rolled out as an update in early 2023 to current devices and their smartphone apps so owners of existing smart home set-ups can continue using them as normal. The CSA says this initial release of Matter will be “running over Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and Thread, and using Bluetooth Low Energy for device commissioning”. 

Certification  

For IoT device manufacturers looking to get Matter certification for their products it’s a case of being a CSA member and making sure that their products comply with the requirements of the new standard and submitting their product to a testing lab. All new product CSA certifications, for example, require product testing at a CSA Authorised Test Provider, followed by an application with the CSA in its Certification Tool.

The CSA’s global certification program includes eight authorised test labs that can test Matter, but also Matter’s underlying network technologies, Wi-Fi, and Thread.

The Certification Tool is an online web tool that allows CSA members to manage and submit product certification applications to the Alliance.

The Advantages of the Introduction of Matter 1.0 

The many advantages of introducing Matter include:

– It will now be much easier for consumers to find and set up compatible smart home-tech. Matter-compatible products should integrate seamlessly and interact, e.g. with Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, or Apple Homekit-powered setup.

– There will be more options for the gadgets that can be added to the home smart home system.

– Existing smart home setups will continue to work as well as ever and won’t require the cost and hassle of replacing straight away – they will (if new enough) receive the update automatically.

– Manufacturers/developers will be able to build truly compatible cross-platform devices using the standard. This could increase their market potential, share, and profits.

– Improved IoT device/gadget security. For example, Matter certification includes compulsory compliance.

– Less connectivity drop-off and disruption. This is because, although Matter is IP-based, the standard works as a layer on top of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Thread so some smart home functions will still work even when the local internet goes down.

– Support and resources relating to Matter are available for developers, e.g. the open-source Matter code repository on GitHub.

Limitations/Drawbacks

There are, however, a few limitations and drawbacks to the introduction of the new Matter 1.0 standard, including:

– Not all devices will support it. For example, older smart speakers / smart devices won’t support Matter.

– Brands will differ in how they integrate their products with Matter, i.e., Support for the new standard may only come to newly released smart home gadgets from some brands, and even some fairly recent models from some brands won’t update to Matter.

– The initial release of the Matter 1.0 standard will only support a limited variety of common smart home products, including lighting and electrical, HVAC controls, window coverings and shades, safety and security sensors, door locks, media devices including TVs, controllers as both devices and applications, and bridges.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

The vast and rapidly growing Internet of Things has presented many challenges. Smart speakers and digital assistants, however, brought the promise of actually being able to have a truly smart home, if it wasn’t for the fact that it required lots of time-consuming research and the frustration of gadget and device compatibility and interoperability issues.

Having one common standard, therefore, that can link many different IoT devices and gadgets together seamlessly and easily does sound like a significant breakthrough that could really open up the possibilities of the IoT and help consumers and developers alike. Matter’s introduction could mean more choice and less hassle for consumers, make the linking up elements of a smart home easier, less time consuming, and less costly, and could deliver more consumer confidence in the whole smart home area. This, in turn, could lead to more scope, sales, and a bigger market for developers and manufacturers. It could also bring new opportunities for smart home ideas, could help save home energy costs, and could (with the need for devices to be security compliant to be Matter certified) tackle the security problems that many IoT devices have posed until now. Matter, therefore, looks like it could be a real a proper breakthrough in gaining more control over the IoT and how it’s managed, operated and protected in a way that benefits individuals and businesses

A prototype of an award-winning robotic fish design that fish filters water to trap microplastics has now been tested in lakes as well as the lab.

Gilbert Wins 

Eleanor Mackintosh’s design for the glow-in-the-dark, water-filtering ‘Robo-fish’ named “Gilbert” won the University of Surrey’s public competition, the Natural Robotics Contest, which resulted in Gilbert being turned into fully 3-D printed working prototype.

How The Robo-Fish Works 

The robo-fish has been designed to work in the following way:

– The watertight tail contains electric motors to power the fins that move the unit around. The head is designed to flood, and the gills either side contain a fine mesh that can filter two-millimetre (microplastic) particles out of the water.

– While swimming, the mouth opens (gills closed) as wide as possible.

– The mouth cavity fills with water, the mouth closes, and the gills open as the floor of cavity is compressed to force water over gills.

– The mesh catches microplastics and the water is ejected.

Other Advantages of The Robo-Fish Design 

It was decided that the robo-fish should only use affordable off-the-shelf components and manufacturing techniques, so that the design is accessible to all. With this in mind, some of the other advantages of the robo-fish design are:

– It can be entirely 3D printed in ABS plastic (dipped in acetone to seal it) with a low-cost fused deposition manufacturing (FDM) printer.

– The modular design i.e., a sealed ‘tail’ unit, onto which the ‘head’ of the robot is attached via a snap-fit joint means that the head can be changed to be updated and meet different gill arrangements in the future.

Tested 

A prototype of Gilbert the motor-driven, currently remote controlled robo-fish has been tested in an outdoor lake in Guildford (UK) and has demonstrated effective swimming and steering on the water surface.

However, although the prototype, which was developed from a simple sketched idea from the designer can currently swim, ingest, and retain particulates, it cannot yet distinguish between organic matter that is vital to the ecosystem such as plankton and ‘marine snow,’ and harmful synthetic pollutants /microplastics. More development is needed, therefore, to enable the robo-fish idea to work as an effective tool for ocean clean-up and sampling. Also, the developers have suggested that the finished working robo-fish should be automated rather than remote controlled (as it is currently).

What Does This Mean For Your Organisation? 

Although the robo-fish was developed from a simple sketch idea in the first iteration of a contest and needs more work to enable it to be effective, it demonstrates that there could potentially be many different ways to use technology help tackle the microplastic pollution crisis. In reality, the number of robo-fish needed to make even a dent in the level of microplastic pollution wouldn’t be feasible but some good could come from focusing thinking of developing effective filtration systems of biological solutions such as algae that can break down plastics. The fight is now on to find ways that different technologies can be combined to develop multiple solutions to tackle the existing problem, but real progress will be made when the use of non-biodegradable plastics is finally halted and replaced with a better solution for the environment.