Recently, TikTok made a change to its U.S. privacy policy, allowing the company to "automatically" collect new types of biometric data, including what it describes as "faceprints" and "voiceprints." TikTok's unclear intent, the permanence of the biometric data and potential future uses for it have caused concern among experts who say users' security and privacy could be at risk. On June 2, TikTok updated the "Information we collect automatically" portion of its privacy policy to include a new section called "Image and Audio Information," giving itself permission to gather certain physical and behavioral characteristics from its users' content. The increasingly popular video sharing app may now collect biometric information such as "faceprints and voiceprints," but the update doesn't define these terms or what the company plans to do with the data. "Generally speaking, these policy changes are very concerning," Douglas Cuthbertson, a partner in Lieff Cabraser's Privacy & Cybersecurity practice group, tells TIME.

The theme of the day was tech, growth, and innovation. Last week, investors shook off hotter than expected inflation data. This week, they are doing the same, as bond yields that skyrocketed in the first half of the year continue to taper off. While the Dow Jones slipped 45 points and the S&P was roughly flat, the Nasdaq NDAQ managed to gain 0.1%. In keeping with the theme of growth's rebound, Cathie Wood's Ark Innovation, an ETF focusing on disruptive technology, and the face of 2020's boom, and the first half of 2021's tech bust, gained about 6% last week.

Mark is the CEO of W3.Digital, a Digital Transformation focused consultancy. There have been a few moments in history where technological advances and market forces combine to change the global economy's functions. These moments bypass incremental changes and create significant leaps that spur new businesses and sector-wide disruption. Railways, electricity power grids, telephony, air travel, early-stage computing, the internet and the advent of the mobile phone -- followed by the now-ubiquitous smartphone -- are examples of such leaps. While each of these moments was messy as they first emerged, each rapidly matured to a state where we cannot imagine life without them.

You won't find it written anywhere in the press materials, but the Beats Studio Buds may as well be called the AirPods 3. From their funky new design and minimalist theme to Apple-ready features like voice-activated Siri, these are immediately the obvious choice right now for AirPods fanatics who don't want to spend up for the AirPods Pro. Wisely, though, Apple has crafted these buds to be nearly as useful for either side of the mobile aisle, including native one-touch pairing for Android or iPhone, a simple but useful Android app, and quick access to alternative voice assistants. The result is a pair of buds that easily outdo the aging AirPods, no matter which phone you choose. The beats have a new pill-like design at their exterior for controls as well as easy insertion. The last Beats earbuds, the Powerbeats, were simply a step-down version of the Powerbeats Pro, chaining the clip-ons together for a more affordable workout option.

Automated data storytelling is the future of analytics. Its rise, meanwhile, could signal the demise of self-service analytics. That was the premise of a presentation by James Richardson, a research director at Gartner who spoke on Feb. 24 during a virtual conference hosted by data storytelling vendor Narrative Science. According to Gartner, data storytelling will be the most widespread means of consuming analytics by 2025. In addition, by then a full 75% of data stories will be automatically generated using augmented intelligence and machine learning rather than generated by data analysts.

The automation industry is experiencing an explosion of growth and technology capability. To explain complex technology, we use terms such as "artificial intelligence" to convey the idea that solutions are more capable and advanced than ever before. If you are an investor, business leader, or technology user who seeks to understand the technologies you are investing in, this article is for you. What follows is an explanation of vision-guided robotics and deep-learning algorithms. That's right, the article is titled "artificial intelligence" and yet by the end of the first paragraph, we've already switched to deep-learning algorithms!

"For example, when you type in a search for a job title, say with the phrase'job manager,' the LinkedIn engine will not only look for the title itself, but also people with relevant skills like time management, team coordination, risk assessment and so on," said Sakshi Jain, who is the Engineering Manager on LinkedIn's Responsible AI team. It can index and surface information on people from hundreds of sources as passive candidates typically aren't on job or career sites, and many people tend to only include piecemeal information on their LinkedIn and other profiles." "With the use of automated scheduling and email follow-ups, AI can help free up valuable time and solve the major pain point of extensive back-and-forth coordination with candidates and interviewers." "While there is no need to inspect every transaction or process run by the AI, there is a need to constantly review the performance of the AI steps to ensure that the outputs are in line with expectations. Tom (@ttaulli) is an advisor/board member to startups and the author of Artificial Intelligence Basics: A Non-Technical Introduction, The Robotic Process Automation Handbook: A Guide to Implementing RPA Systems and Implementing AI Systems: Transform Your Business in 6 Steps.

Flexible plant operations are highly desirable in today's power generation industry. Every plant owner desires increased ramp rates and the ability to operate at lower loads so their plants will remain "in the money" longer in today's competitive power markets. This goal, while laudable, remains elusive. The ADEX self-tuning artificial intelligence (AI) system allows plants to continuously optimize plant performance at any operating point rather than being constrained to a static "design point" commonly found in gas- and coal-fired plants. Better yet, no changes to the plant distributed control system (DCS) are required.

Many Fortune 500 companies - perhaps as many as 20 percent of them - may not survive this year, Forrester Research has predicted. As companies transition to a post-pandemic recovery, savvy CIOs understand that their organizations must continue to accelerate intelligent automation initiatives to thrive in the new digital-first era. Most are looking to remain digital-first even as the crisis dissipates. According to a recent Statista report, spending on the technologies and services that enable digital transformation worldwide is expected to amount to $2.3 trillion. How do CIOs maintain momentum and ensure they have a sustainable digital-first strategy in place to meet new customer expectations post-pandemic? The digital transformation journey starts with prioritizing where to focus and invest in order to build your digital-first landscape.

Accenture on Monday announced that it's acquiring German engineering consulting firm umlaut. The services and consultancy company said the purchase will expand its engineering capabilities in the areas of cloud, AI and 5G. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Umlaut's technology expertise span traditional and digital engineering services, including testing and validation of smart connected products, strategy and organizational consulting, hardware product development and software development. More than 4,200 engineers and consultants from umlaut will join Accenture's Industry X services group, which aims to combine Accenture's data and digital knowhow with engineering digitization services.