Sunday Paper - Brain Training Games, Ansel Adams, Tim Cook

Every Saturday, I share a list of inspiring or interesting articles that I read during the week. Here’s what I read this week.

The government has used tracking technology in printed documents to unmask anonymous writers.

Not all printers' tracking information is readily visible. Some of the documents we obtained about this technology showed that there is a subsequent generation of tracking technology, which apparently works by slightly rearranging dots that the printer is expected to print, rather than by adding new dots. Anyone using a color laser printer should assume that it uses some kind of tracking mechanism, whether or not tracking dots are visible in its output.deeplinks

The new iPad Pro.

There are also ergonomic issues: To use two-handed gestures, your iPad can’t be in your hands. So these are gestures primarily intended for iPads that are on a table, in a case, in a lap, or otherwise someplace where you’ve got both hands free to manipulate data. That’s limiting, but it’s also freeing—these large devices are far more likely to be put into situations like that, and if you consider a future with even larger iOS devices, two-handed gestures should become an even bigger part of the interface story.Jason Snell

Apple CEO, Tim Cook on technology.

While he calls AI “profound” and increasingly capable of doing unbelievable things, on matters that require judgment he’s not comfortable with automating the human entirely out of the equation. “When technological advancement can go up so exponentially I do think there’s a risk of losing sight of the fact that tech should serve humanity, not the other way around.”MIT Technology Review

Apparently, memory boosting games are a crock of shit.

All isn’t lost though; where specialised brain training games failed, regular games, inclusive of Mario Kart-style experiences and more conventional hobbies like blackjack and bridge, succeeded. Alzheimer’s Research UK, while stopping short of linking stimulating hobbies to the prevention or cure of degenerative brain disorders, notes that people who play card games have better cognitive abilities and even larger brains.High50

The HomePod is $350.

It’s really meant to be a “smart” music listening device that you can get answers from… that’s it.Nuclear Bits

Photography trends.

The great 20th-century American landscape photographer Ansel Adams, when asked what camera he used, famously answered: "The biggest one I can carry!"The Online Photographer

Every Saturday, I share a list of inspiring or interesting articles that I read during the week. Here’s what I read this week.