Efforts Underway to Stop Robocalls

With estimated robocalls at 167.3 million per day in the US, many Americans simply ignore unknown numbers or “Scam Likely” calls. This doesn’t assuage the anxiety of missing something important or the sense of violation. Two programs—STIR (Secure Telephone Identity Revisited) and SHAKEN (Signature-based Handling of Asserted information using toKENs)—aim to verify callers. Right now, they’re only deploying on T-Mobile but the FCC strongly believes more carriers …

Google Translate Employs Decades-Old Language Theory

Google Translate uses complex neural and numeric systems to find equivalencies in speech and text across languages. The tool is seemingly simple—at least for users. But on the backend, developers worked tirelessly to get the application to where it is now. One fascinating breakthrough came when Google employees applied Wittgenstein’s language theory: a posthumously published theory that words hold no supreme meaning and that meaning …

Google Chrome’s Quest to Kill the URL

Driven by security concerns, a desire to curb fraudulent sites and phishing attempts, Google Chrome’s usable security lead Emily Stark and her team aim to rework how the browser presents web addresses. Their goal includes the removal of long and complicated URLs—and two projects are currently underway. First, the just-launched TrickURI will help developers confirm URL accuracy. Second, Stark’s team is developing an alert system …