New Technology Enhances Dog-Human Communication

From Maria Goodavage’s brand new book Doctor Dogs, an excerpt in Wired probes the FIDO program at Georgia Institute of Technology’s Animal-Computer Interaction Lab. The epicenter of dog-human communication studies in the US, FIDO’s researchers have developed several prototype talking vest for dogs. They employ tabs and pulleys that trigger prerecorded statements that the wearer dog intends to convey. FIDO is also experimenting with touchscreens …

ImageNet Database Removes Images Contributing to Racist Bias

The inspiration for this week’s Image Net Roulette art installation, ImageNet operates as an online database of thousands of pictures, cataloged using 2,500+ tags. But, as this newfound popularity proved, the cataloging is steeped in systemic racism and bias. One tweet showed that no matter how many times a man uploaded his photo he was assigned “Black,” “Black African” or “Negroid”—when other options like “Doctor,” …

Lyft Expands App to Include Maps and More Options

In an effort to rebrand their service as a multimodal transportation hub and to compete with the likes of Google Maps and Apple Maps, Lyft expanded their app to include nearby ride-shares, bikes, scooters, car rentals and public transit options. When a user opens the app they’ll be greeted with a real-time map that will display the aforementioned transport options within their proximity. “At Lyft, …