Tek Review

By Terrence Russell, September 24, 2007

The world of VoIP calling got creepier today with Pudding Media's plans to monitor phone calls on its service in an attempt to provide tailored ad content. The San Jose, Ca-based start-up has announced that it will offer free VoIP calls to those willing to let the company's voice-recognition software monitor the conversation for keywords. The tracked keywords will then be used to trigger targeted on-screen ads for the duration of the call.

"We saw that when people are speaking on the phone, typically they were doing something else," explained Pudding Media's Chief Executive Ariel Maislos, to the New York Times. "They had a lot of other action, either doodling or surfing or something else like that. So we said, 'Let's use that' and actually present them with things that are relevant to the conversation while it's happening."

However, this advertising pipe dream has its share of pitfalls. Although consumers are known for flocking to free web-based services, the concept of free VoIP calling is hardly new. For Pudding Media, running the risk of being singled out as the VoIP provider with the most Big Brother tendencies hardly seems like an advantage. Even though it is widely acknowledged that most web surfing is monitored in some way, most consumers still consider the monitoring of voice communications as a direct assault on privacy. Pudding Media has addressed some of these concerns by revealing that the keyword information is discarded after every call, but it will be up to consumers to decide whether or not that provides enough privacy.

Google weathered a similar storm with Gmail, due to its ability to monitor phrases used in email to tailor its text ads. But it's doubtful that a company with less in the way of street cred can escape the stigma that the search giant was able to partially side step. The key for a start-up of this size will lie in its ability to back its service with confidence and to be extremely transparent about privacy concerns and the technology involved in its voice recognition software. Until then, it's questionable whether or not consumers will see the proof in the pudding.

Labels: VOIP

By John Leyden
14th September 2007

Two team of boffins have independently set up quantum computers running proof of concept versions of an algorithm for factorisation.

The development poses a threat to the security of the cryptographic codes, based on public key cryptography, that protect ecommerce. Both teams used rudimentary laser-based quantum computers to implement Shor's algorithm, a mathematical process for factoring numbers. The difficulty of factoring the product of extremely long prime number is the mathematical principle used to underpin the security of cryptographic keys.
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One of the teams was led by Andrew White at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, and the other by Chao-Yang Lu of the University of Science and Technology of China, in Hefei. Both used rudimentary quantum computers in a proof of concept demo, factoring the number 15.

That's a bit like using the laser weapon from Diamonds are Forever to warm up a cup of tea but what establish that the boffins are on the right track. Quantum computers are firmly in the world of engineering possibility, although the process of building a viable machine is still a long way off. New Scientist carries a story of the research in its latest edition. A short summary is available here but the full low down is available to subscribers only.

http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=37808659

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