Don rides: The Honda Africa Twin CRF1100D2-L DCT Adventure Sport.

 

I rode Ariel up to Doble Honda (Coulsden) today for her first annual service. Seems like every time I go to Doble it rains! Fortunately, it was only light drizzle today. That notwithstanding: an absolutely cracking ~150 miles of wonderful riding was had :0).

While at Doble I had a chat to Paul & Mike bemoaning my lack of a touring bike. I really miss Holly the Crosstourer - we had some fab trips on that bike. As incredible as Ariel is - she just isn't a bike one would want to tour on. OK, technically it's possible to tour on anything (Matt and Reece circumnavigated the globe on a scooter with a sidecar back in 2015 - God Bless 'em!). But for me, taking a light & dynamic sportbike & lathering her in luggage seems like heresy! Never mind two up!

So, today I took out Doble's demonstrator Honda Africa Twin CRF1100D2-L DCT Adventure Sport. Its for sale, and very tempting too...

Mike wheeled it out front of their showroom, The CRF is a sizeable beast, but that said, legover was easy, and both feet flat on the ground (seat turned out to be in the low position). The engine note is quite soft (for a parallel twin 1100), and the bike has a Dual-clutch transmission (automatic in layman's terms). I have actually ridden this bike's predecessor for a couple of days back in 2016 and enjoyed it. In all honesty I wasn't expecting the new CRF to be as good as the Crosstourer - I was wrong: it's a fantastic bike! From walking speed to motorway - comfortable & really easy to ride. Looks like a big bike, rides like a small bike. Lots of power with plenty of rapid pickup. Great wind & elements protection. Comes complete with superb luggage & bike protection. Proper abilities in the mud. Yup this would absolutely work as a Crosstourer replacement! 

Wouldn't ever want to say goodbye to Ariel the CB though. I found that Holly was a bit too big for a quick run out & scratching about - but perfect for touring / holidays. Need one bike for  everyday & one for special occasions. So what's needed is one CB & one CRF - sorted!

www.doble.co.uk

Sonos gets early patent victory against Google smart speakers

Sonos scored an early victory in its case against Google Friday, when the US International Trade Commission ruled that Google infringed five of Sonos' smart speaker patents. The ruling is preliminary and subject to a full ITC review, but it could lead to a ban on Google smart speakers.

In January 2020, Sonos brought a patent infringement case against Google targeting Google's smart speakers, the Google Home, and later the Nest Audio line. Sonos is the originator of Internet-connected speakers that easily hook up to streaming services, while Google speakers combine a similar feature set with voice-activated Google Assistant commands. To hear Sonos tell the story, Google got a behind-the-scenes look at Sonos' hardware in 2013, when Google agreed to build Google Play Music support for Sonos speakers. Sonos claims Google used that access to "blatantly and knowingly" copy Sonos' audio features for the Google Home speaker, which launched in 2016.

However you want to measure it, Sonos is a tiny company compared to the tech giants it regularly battles. The 19-year-old company only has products in the connected speaker market, and it has a $5 billion market cap. Its competitors—Google, Amazon, and Apple—are some of the world's biggest companies, each with a market cap above $1.5 trillion. To make matters more complicated for Sonos, the company relies on both Google and Amazon to do business in search, advertising, and retail sales, and it worried about retaliation from the two giants. Plus, once Amazon and Google entered the market, Sonos was forced to adopt support for both voice assistants in order to compete. Back in 2020, Sonos said Amazon also seemed to be using its technology, but it would focus its legal efforts on Google.

www.arstechnica.com

Parcel delivery texts now the most common con-trick

 

The majority of "smishing" fraud attempts have come through the blitz of parcel delivery texts sent out during the Covid crisis. Smishing is a technique that criminals use to target consumers with texts impersonating trusted organisations.

Millions of mobile users have received the texts that claim a small payment is needed for a package delivery to be completed.

But the texts are a front for fraudsters attempting to steal personal banking details.

www.bbc.co.uk

2084: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity

What dangers lurk in technology’s ubiquitous and unrelenting encroachment in our lives? What are the perilous spiritual implications of artificial intelligence, bioengineering, facial recognition, and other hi-tech applications we’re accepting into our daily world with little concern? What does the Bible say about it all?

In response to recent popular accounts, scientist and philosopher John Lennox offers a Christian perspective on humanity's future, the problems raised by AI and the atheist conception of what it means to be human.

"2084: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity" by John Lennox is the perfect introduction to where AI and technology are going in our lifetime.

www.biblegateway.com

Warner Bros uses personalized Deepfakes for its latest movie "Reminiscence". Here's one I prepared earlier!

 

Hollywood is embracing deepfakes, and we all can be a part of it: Warner Bros. has tapped synthetic media startup D-ID to promote its new movie "Reminiscence." A new website allows anyone to upload a photo, which D-ID's AI then turns into a moving deepfake video sequence in a short video clip promoting the film.

“Reminiscence,” stars Hugh Jackman, Rebecca Ferguson and Thandiwe Newton. Nick Bannister (Jackman), a private investigator of the mind, navigates the darkly alluring world of the past by helping his clients access lost memories. Living on the fringes of the sunken Miami coast, his life is forever changed when he takes on a new client, Mae (Ferguson). A simple matter of lost and found becomes a dangerous obsession. As Bannister fights to find the truth about Mae's disappearance, he uncovers a violent conspiracy, and must ultimately answer the question: how far would you go to hold on to the ones you love?

This is clever stuff! This (albeit relatively simple) Deepfake was generated from this one image - very quickly. Try it yourself here.

www.youtube.com

2B! Hamlet as you've never seen it B4!

 

From the stage of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon: a stellar cast, including Paapa Essiedu, Tim Minchin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dame Harriet Walter, David Tennant, Rory Kinnear, Sir Ian McKellen, Dame Judi Dench and the HRH the Prince of Wales discuss what they think to be the correct way of saying 'To be, or not to be, that is the question'.

www.youtube.com

Yearning for the "freedom" of the open road? Mandatory speed limiters on new UK cars (bikes too eventually) from 2022...

All new vehicles sold in Europe – including the UK – will be fitted with a mandatory speed limiter from 2022 to keep cars within the UK speed limits and boost road safety.

• From 6 July 2022, all newly launched cars will legally have to be fitted with a speed limiter

• European Commission reached a provisional agreement in 2019

• The UK is likely to adopt the new speed limiting rules, even after Brexit

The European Commission has reached a provisional agreement that all new vehicles sold in Europe will be fitted with a speed limiter as a legal requirement from 6 July 2022. The 2019/2044 regulation also mandates all new cars that have already launched be fitted with an Intelligent Speed Assist (ISA) by 7 July 2024.

While it hasn’t been decided, the UK will likely obey the new road safety regulations despite leaving the EU as even after Brexit, the UK has retained most EU laws for new cars. Following this agreement also helps in standardising the car manufacturing process for different markets.

Using speed limiters successfully would also be a step forward in developing self-driving cars in the UK.

The speed limiter technology, called Intelligent Speed Assistant (ISA) uses GPS data and/or traffic-sign-recognition cameras to determine the maximum speed allowed in an area. The system then limits the engine’s power and the vehicle’s speed to that limit.

Have a watch of this excellent video by Stuart Fillingham - and get a terrifying glimpse of what is round the corner: speed limiters & data loggers... I don't want the chief witness for the prosecution to be my own vehicle! Like Uncle Stu said: George Orwell was right, he only got the year wrong: not 1984, more like 2024! I confidently predict that sales of new vehicles will plummet, and demand/price of quality used cars & bikes will increase. Oh look: it's already happened! 

www.autotrader.co.uk