If it’s Thursday, that means it’s time for tech talk with Mark Starling and the First News 570 crew. This week, we’re talking about Data Dividends, how the NBA is using tech for player C19 diagnoses, and Olympus exiting the camera business. You can listen to Mark and I point and laugh while talking about the wild and crazy technology world every Thursday morning, LIVE at 6:43am Eastern.
NBA USES BLING TO DIAGNOSES COVID-19
The NBA is planning to restart its regular season on July 30th. In addition to self-isolating the players to Disney’s Wide World of Sports in Orlando, the league is adding a new C19 diagnosis device to helping contain the spread of coronavirus. The NBA is planning to use Oura smart rings to predict a COVID-19 diagnosis. West Virginia University conducted a study in which the biometric data obtained from the Oura can predict the onset of COVID-19 symptoms in 3 days by a rate of 90%. The league is using social distancing, and restricting player access up until the start of the season and it looks like technology will be used to keep players playing on the court.
OMG! OLYMPUS EXITS CAMERA BUSINESS
Canon had the best lenses, Nikon had the better bodies, and Olympus provided a solid combination. Olympus, one of Japan’s great camera makers is calling it quits after 84 years. Olympus entered the camera business by pivoting from manufacturing microscopes in the 1930s. Obviously, it hasn’t been easy for digital camera makers. Smartphones have cannibalized the digital camera market as iPhone and Samsung cameras have steadily gotten more impressive. Olympus plans to continue business as usual until another company buys its camera business, and they continue using their lens technology in other areas. They’ve never stopped making microscopes. The move is confusing some fans of the brand, what does it actually mean if they’re getting out of the camera business if they’re continuing as usual when no one sane is buying digital camera companies.
IF YOU’RE NOT PAYING FOR THE PRODUCT, YOU ARE THE PRODUCT
This is a phrase I’ve coined and uttered for several years. Everyday we’re freely inputting valuable, fresh data in search engines, social networks, and media companies, and we’re not getting paid for it. Meanwhile, the tech companies are continuously dicing, slicing, and packaging our data and selling it for profit through ads, and other means. Imagine getting a dividend paid to you thanks to the pipes your personal data travels through. Andrew Yang’s Data Dividend Project is trying make a shift, and get Big Tech in the market of paying users for their data. The data-as-product idea is being brought about by new privacy and protection laws that are going into effect in states like California and nation blocs like the European Union. Data ownership has its pluses and minuses, and quite frankly our laws are behind technology, but project like the Data Dividend Project and California’s Consumer Privacy Act can start the conversation.
Right now, some of you are living in states and counties where COVID-19 infections are increasing. Based upon Google Analytics, some of our readers are in counties that have seen record infection rates. Please stay safe out there. Coronavirus is a real issue. Wear a mask, protect yourself, and give consideration for your fellow man.