You better watch out what you say to your devices, they might be able to put you behind bars. In Arkansas, a man by the name of James Bates, might be facing time in prison if his Amazon Echo holds information in regards to why a man was found dead in his hot tub.
Crazy to think that a device could potentially hold evidence to a high stakes murder case. However, Amazon is not handing over the information with ease. This brings us back to the continued argument over American privacy and needed information for investigations.
How it Works
The Amazon Echo is a smart speaker that is activated by the sound of her name, Alexa. The Echo has the ability to play music, read you the news and connect to other devices that you own. However, she is always listening for her name, so she can properly respond to your request.
Amazon has those recordings stored away and prosecutors believe that Bates’ Echo may hold key evidence in regards to the murder investigation. However, many are stating that this is violation of Bates’ privacy, thus Amazon is withholding the recordings until further legal action is taken.
This isn’t the first time that devices have been used against their owners. The 2015 mass shooting in San Bernardino, California revolved around Apple when the FBI was seeking information from the shooter’s cell phone. Another case in Georgia, required prosecutors seek information from texts, Reddit posts and Google searches, reported CNN.
Questions about Privacy
This brings to question if anything is really private anymore? We use all kinds of devices that carry important personal information. According to CNN’s article, many claim that devices such as the Echo, Google Home or Siri should have different rules and regulations when it comes to personal privacy. However, other sources claim that requesting a device to do something is no different than typing something into your web browser.
The prosecutor involved with the case has attempted to obtain the information from the Echo two separate times but has been declined for both requests. While those involved with the case are still pressing the subject, Amazon claims it will not budge until further notice.
All the way around this raises eyebrows in regards to customer privacy and what can be collected by the devices we use. CNN even reported that The Electronic Privacy Information has voiced concerns about “always on” devices. As time goes on, we will have to seek solutions to these changes in technology. What is a violation of privacy and what is not?
For more about “Amazon Echo or Murder Investigator?”, here is my source…
These small changes will drastically affect the daily life of your iPhone battery
1. The Background Refresh App – You will find that making changes to this new App could be the most effective way to save battery life. However, refresh feature is an enemy for draining your battery, not only that, the default setting in IOS 7 is set to “ON”. Furthermore, background refresh allows apps to run silent in background and will refresh continuously when connected to Wi-Fi or your precious Data Network; not only using battery life, but also using your data plan as well. You can easily stop the feature by going to:
Settings > General > Background App Refresh. Here, you can turn off the entire function or just chose app that you don’t need to automatically refresh them by sliding the switch to off “green”
2. Automatic Updating – iOS 7 will automatically download new updates for all installed apps whenever they’re ready without prompting you to visit the App Store to do it yourself. However, app is helpful, but will use battery and can be disabled.
Settings > iTunes and Apple Store and uncheck the “Updates” option.
3. Turn down the Auto Brightness – As always this is a well known way to save battery life on any device including iOS 7. Go to:
Control Center or visit Settings > Wallpapers & Brightness and disable Auto-Brightness and decrease the settings manually.
4. Spotlight Search Function – Apple internal search functionality (called Spotlight) is available from any screen by wiping down not at the top but below the top, but because of that it is constantly indexing new data, and draining your battery. However, you can stop it from indexing all of your apps, settings, and data by going to:
Settings > General > Spotlight Search and disable what you don’t need, for instance events and podcasts.
5. Dynamic Backgrounds – The new dynamic or animated backgrounds are a cool new feature but use battery life’
Settings > Wallpapers & Backgrounds> select a static background.
6. Turn Off Bluetooth – Simple if you don’t use it disable it
Settings > Bluetooth > and there you go.
7. Location-Tracking Apps – iOS camera, Google Maps, Twitter, and Facebook to name a few— are tracking your location at all times. However, you can turn off Location Services completely
(Settings > Privacy > Location Services) or disable certain apps individually.
We strongly recommend the individual option, However, we never recommend disabling important location-based functions such as Find My Phone in case its ever lost or stolen. Look in
System Services option under Location Services will reveal other app features that are unnecessarily using battery life, including “Popular Near Me” and “Frequent Locations.”
8. Parallax – It is a feature that makes images or wallpaper seem as though they are moving behind the stationery apps. However, it does use battery life and resources. Additionally, users have complained that it makes them dizzy too. It is simple to disable:
Settings > General > Accessibility and click Reduce Motion to “on.”
9. Double Click Home Button – By double clicking the home button, you will see all the “running” apps and you can swipe them upward to close or “force quit”. Furthermore, you then likely you will be surprised to see what is running.
10. Turn-Off Wi-Fi – Our Wi-Fi reception is faster than 3g or even 4g but if you are not in an area where you have a trusted network or have an available service to connect to iOS7 will continuously search for available networks in range using battery and system resources. Furthermore, to disable Wi-Fi visit:
Settings > Wi-Fi > Slide to Off
These are 10 Easy Ways to Save iPhone Battery Life on iOS8 that will undoubtedly help increase battery life during your day. Additionally, if you know of any other helpful battery savers please comment so we can add them to the list.
Screen Time for Kids: Should parents limit children’s daily use of digital technology – computers, laptops, TV? The Department of Health screen time recommendations limit the amount of screen time for kids based on the age range of the child. No more than 1 hour a day for children aged 2 to Continue reading “Screen Time for Kids”→
