What do you think of the AoS forum?

[Pigmy Pony]

I prefer to use my laptop when posting here, as I can open several pages at a time and 'cut and paste' between them; something I cannot do with my smartphone. However my version of Word on the laptop does not have an automatic correcting spell checker, nor can I readily type accented characters, or those from, say, Cyrillic or Greek.

Being a wireless laptop, I might have difficulty using it on the beach.

What is it with yours, Tims, and Chris Rea's obsession with the beach? Got to be the worst place to be taking any kind of tech, too sandy and too many opportunist thieves about.

I don't like taking my mobile with me anywhere, and if it weren't for the sat nav I probably wouldn't bother.

[Tim]

What is it with yours, Tims, and Chris Rea's obsession with the beach? Got to be the worst place to be taking any kind of tech, too sandy and too many opportunist thieves about.

Oh it's not so bad, can be tricky when the tide comes in though

[Macca]

Yeah, I think you're right Martin.

I was trying to be positive as I get told off all the time about my negative views on AI, but as one of the lead developers of OpenAI said, after he left when they released ChatGPT for the general public (can't remember his name), "We've fucked up big time" I really do think we have.

I leave my phone at home all the time - I love it. I'm very tempted to get a basic Nokia and never take the smartphone out of the house, as long car journeys could be tricky without some kind of way to summon help. But going out locally, I never take my phone.

When I went with Steve to collect his speakers we were using the sat nav on his phone, but being a red hot day after a few hours it was giving out an overheating warning so we switched to the sat nav on my phone. During the course of the journey we were talking about cats. Next day I boot up my PC, what's in my news feed? Loads of articles about cats. Coincidence?

[Tim]

Coincidence?

Nope, no coincidence whatsoever Martin, I have tested this out with my nephew who disbelieved me when I told him. What is funny and might make Barry laugh, is that our 'test subject' was Tom Waits, which was my idea. He was really shocked when he got Tom Waits across his feeds, as he was in the dark about Tom beforehand.

You can bypass this by not using a Google Andoid O/S but that's technically challenging for a novice - most people don't really care though.

[Pigmy Pony]

That is really unsettling. Are you saying that they are listening to private conversations via our mobile phones?

[Macca]

That is really unsettling. Are you saying that they are listening to private conversations via our mobile phones?

Yes. Not when it's just sat in your pocket but if you have an app on the go, like satnav.

Obviously it isn't humans who are listening so listening is the wrong word, but it will monitor and profile you from what it detects.

I can't say as I care but it is unsettling.

[Barry]

There have been times when certain words I have used here on AoS have cropped up on subsequent news feeds. It was after having mentioned Rolex watches on Roy's watch thread, that I started to get adverts from jewelers selling said watches, as well as from the official Rolex website.
And of course encouragement to bid on an item mentioned on the "Bargains on eBay" thread.

I often type in the names of music artists mentioned on "Spinning Today ", simply to find an image of the cover; usually from either Amazon or eBay, but there is never any reminder afterwards, or encouragement to buy.

I don't use any of the social media sites, so I'm probably safe from Big Brother and the risk of falling down the AI rabbit hole. That aspect of AI is the most worrying.


(And no, I don't use my laptop away from the house. It's a wireless device and I wouldn't know how to connect it to another network: regardless if it is on the bus, in a cafe or pub, let alone a beach!)

[Tim]

Are you saying that they are listening to private conversations via our mobile phones?

As Martin says Steve, it's not really a 'they', it's an algorithm collecting profile data - it's nothing new, been happening for years. Ever wondered how Shazam gets results so quickly? Google now asks you about listening for music and so many apps get installed where the user happily clicks accept without actually knowing what they are saying yes to and giving the app consent for. So we are actually saying it's OK, without really thinking it through.

My issue is normally a point of principle, in that it's hard to say no and we are not really given a choice anyway, it's all done by stealth. It should be very clear what you are agreeing to and you shouldn't be penalised for saying no.

[Macca]

As Martin says Steve, it's not really a 'they', it's an algorithm collecting profile data - it's nothing new, been happening for years. Ever wondered how Shazam gets results so quickly? Google now asks you about listening for music and so many apps get installed where the user happily clicks accept without actually knowing what they are saying yes to and giving the app consent for. So we are actually saying it's OK, without really thinking it through.

My issue is normally a point of principle, in that it's hard to say no and we are not really given a choice anyway, it's all done by stealth. It should be very clear what you are agreeing to and you shouldn't be penalised for saying no.

A lot of these apps are 'free' but of course they're not really giving it you for nothing.

Like adverts on Youtube, you can pay not to have them. I won't pay so I have to put up with them. That seems fair enough to me. I don't expect to get a service for nothing.

[Tim]

I don't expect to get a service for nothing.

Me neither Martin, I'd happily click a pay button rather than get something free and have my data harvested as the payment. Unfortunately that's not usually an option.