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Daily Archives: August 25, 2020

Microsoft’s new Transcribe in Word feature is designed for students, reporters, and more

The Verge: “Microsoft is adding an audio transcription feature into Word for the web today. Transcribe in Word will appear in the online version of Word for Microsoft 365 subscribers, providing an easy way to automatically transcribe audio. Microsoft is supporting existing audio files, or even the ability to record conversations directly within Word for the web and have them automatically transcribed. Once a conversation is transcribed, Microsoft’s AI will separate out each speaker and break the conversation into sections that are easy to play back, edit, and insert into a Word document. Transcribe also supports audio or video that you’ve captured elsewhere, with support for up to 200MB of MP3, WAV, M4A, or MP4 files. Processing time will obviously vary considerably if you’re uploading separate audio, but I’ve been testing the feature for recording meetings and it’s a matter of seconds for transcription to complete if you’ve been recording within Word itself…”

OSHA Need To Improve Its Handling of Whistleblower Complaints During the Pandemic

U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General Audit – OSHA Need To Improve Its Handling of Whistleblower Complaints During the Pandemic. August 14, 2020: “We found the pandemic has significantly increased the number of whistleblower complaints OSHA has been receiving. OSHA was challenged to complete investigations in a timely manner before the pandemic, and… Continue Reading

Autonomous Systems as Legal Agents

Autonomous Systems as Legal Agents: Directly by the Recognition of Personhood or Indirectly by the Alchemy of Algorithmic Entities By Dalton Powell. Cite: 18 Duke L. & Tech. Rev. 306 “At its core, agency law governs fiduciary relationships between two distinct parties (the principal and agent) in interactions with third parties. The three separate relationships within… Continue Reading

Facial recognition designed to detect around face masks have varying results

cnet– “Many facial recognition companies have claimed they can identify people with pinpoint accuracy even while they’re wearing face masks, but the latest results from a study show that the coverings are dramatically increasing error rates.  In an update Tuesday, the US National Institute of Standards and Technology looked at 41 facial recognition algorithms submitted… Continue Reading

Meet the National Parks’ ‘Ranger of the Lost Art’

The New York Times – Doug Leen has made it his life’s work to discover, restore and reproduce W.P.A. renderings of America’s threatened public lands. “Hundreds of thousands of sweaty, athleisure-clad national park visitors have entered the park gift shop after a hike and immediately gravitated toward one particular display: the vintage-looking magnets, postcards and… Continue Reading

Postal Service delays of prescription drugs put thousands of American lives at risk

NBC News: “…The Postal Service manages 1.2 billion prescription drug shipments a year — or about 4 million each day, six days a week — the National Association of Letter Carriers reported earlier this year. That number has grown during the pandemic, and many recipients are accusing President Donald Trump and the White House of… Continue Reading

Chief Actuary Warns Terminating payroll tax could end Social Security benefits in 2023

NBC News – “The federal government’s ability to pay Social Security benefits could stop by mid-2023 if President Donald Trump were to permanently terminate the payroll tax and not offer another revenue source, the chief actuary of the Social Security Administration said Monday. The chief actuary, Stephen Goss, offered the prediction in a letter to… Continue Reading

If You Wait Until Your State’s Deadline To Mail Your Ballot, You May Be Too

FiveThirtyEight – Late Check the USPS’s recommendations before dropping your vote or paperwork in the mail. “The post office has long-standing guidelines (which predate DeJoy) that recommend how much time voters and election officials should allow to apply for, send and receive mail-in ballots. “We’ve been working on this for a while across the country… Continue Reading

One Twitter Account’s Quest to Proofread The New York Times

The Ringer – “In 2017, the Times dissolved its copy desk, possibly permitting more typos to slip through. Meet the anonymous lawyer who’s correcting the paper of record one untactful tweet at a time. …The proud pedant behind @nyttypos is, as his Twitter bio proclaims, an “appellate lawyer and persnickety dude.” While working for a… Continue Reading