ICT

Amazon deploys AI ‘distance assistants’ to notify warehouse workers if they get too close

Published

4 years ago

June 19, 2020

Amazon deploys AI ‘distance assistants’ to notify warehouse workers if they get too close

Amazon, which is currently being sued for allegedly failing to shield workers from COVID-19 Pandemic, has uncovered a new AI (Artificial Intelligence) distance assistant it says will help employees follow social distancing rules.

“Amazon distance assistants” combines a TV screen, depth sensors, and AI-enabled camera to track employees’ movements and give them feedback in real time. When workers come closer than six feet to one another, circles around their feet flash red on the TV, indicating to employees that they should move to a safe distance apart. The devices are self-contained, meaning they can be deployed quickly where needed and moved about.

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Amazon compares the system to radar speed checks which give drivers instant feedback on their driving. The assistants have been tested at a “handful” of the company’s buildings, said Brad Porter, vice president of Amazon Robotics, in a blog post, and the firm plans to roll out “hundreds” more to new locations in the coming weeks.

Importantly, Amazon also says it will be open-sourcing the technology, allowing other companies to quickly replicate and deploy these devices in a range of locations.

Amazon AI distance assistants

Amazon isn’t the only company using machine learning in this way. A large number of firms offering AI video analytics and surveillance have created similar social-distancing tools since the coronavirus outbreak began. Some startups have also turned to physical solutions, like bracelets and pendants which use Bluetooth signals to sense proximity and then buzz or beep to remind workers when they break social distancing guidelines.

Although these solutions will be necessary for workers to return to busy facilities like warehouses, many privacy experts worry their introduction will normalize greater levels of surveillance. Many of these solutions will produce detailed data of workers’ movements throughout the day, allowing managers to hound employees in the name of productivity. Workers will also have no choice but to be tracked in this way if they want to keep their job.

Amazon’s involvement in this sort of technology will raise suspicions as the company is often criticized for the grueling working conditions in its facilities. In 2018, it even patented a wristband that would track workers’ movements in real time, directing not just which task they should do next, but if their hands are moving towards the wrong shelf or bin.

The company’s description of the Distance Assistant as a ”standalone unit” that only requires power suggests it’s not storing any data about worker’s movement, but we’ve contacted the company to confirm what information, if any, might be retained.

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Finance

Nigerians to Pay 7.5% Vat on Facebook ADs from January 1, 2022

Published

2 years ago

December 10, 2021

Onyebuchi Aniekeyi

Nigerians to Pay 7.5% Vat on Facebook ADs from January 1, 2022

Social media giant, Facebook has said Nigerians will from January 1st 2022 pay 7.5 percent value-added tax (VAT) on all ad placements.

The company which announced this in a statement issued on Thursday, said the charge will apply to those buying ads for businesses or personal purposes.

Facebook (now META) is the parent company of Instagram, FB Messenger, and Facebook social media channel. The new 7.5 percent VAT charge will also apply to Instagram ads.

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The statement added that those exempted from VAT would be able to recover the fund if they provided their tax ID.

The federal government is currently working on modalities to tax the digital economy and improve revenue. President Muhammadu Buhari had transmitted the 2021 Finance Bill to the national assembly.
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ICT

TELCOS Kick Against N75BN Reserve Price for 5G License

Published

2 years ago

November 5, 2021

GiftUgbede

TELCOS Kick Against N75BN Reserve Price for 5G License

Telecommunications operators in Nigeria yesterday frowned at the federal government’s decision to peg the reserve bid price of 5G license at N75 billion (approximately $197.4million). The Commission also announced that the auction for the slots will happen on December 13, 2021.

NCC made the revelations at a stakeholders’ engagement forum on draft information memorandum for 3.5 Hgz Spectrum auction, it held at Ikeja Lagos. In spectrum auctioning, reserved price means the starting point at which those interested in acquiring the slots could bid.

Meanwhile, NCC has scheduled December 10 for the mock auction, while the actual auction is fixed for December 13, 2021. Interested operators are expected to pay 10 percent of the reserved price of $197.4 million to qualify to participate in the auction.

Kicking against the price, the Chairman, Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria, Alton, Engineer Gbenga Adebayo, expressed concern that the price came a bit high for the operators, considering the huge investments they needed to make to ensure a robust 5G roll out in the country.

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Adebayo believed that the best government should have done was to make the spectrum license as affordable as possible, so the country could maximize all the potentialities of 5G technology when rolled out.

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ICT

Pantami Says USSD Challenge Faced by MTN Users will be Resolved Soon

Published

3 years ago

April 3, 2021

Onyebuchi Aniekeyi

Banks disconnect MTN customers from Banking Channels

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy Isa Pantami have assured that the challenge encountered by MTN users through the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) channel will be resolved soon.

Earlier: Banks disconnected MTN customers from Banking Channels

Millions of MTN customers on Friday were stranded as they were disconnected from banking channels including the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) and banking apps.

According to Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), MTN has up to 77.35 million subscribers.

Customers complain on Friday of being unable to recharge their MTN lines using USSD and other banking methods

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This also affected other banking services with USSD.

It is said that banks wrote back to aggregators to revert back to the old commission or face being blocked from banking service.

The channels were blocked at midnight leaving MTN customers stranded, as they face declined transactions.

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