Each week, TP1 shares the top five articles that caught our attention. Here are your must-reads, published here and abroad, for the week of March 21.
Ladies, Siri doesn’t get you
In a review of recent games, apps and tech assistants, the technology was found to be 86% compatible with men and only 20% compatible with women. One mobile health app completely omitted menstruation. Siri doesn’t have answers for victims of conjugal abuse. Journalist Soraya Chemaly asks, why is technology designed primarily for men?
→ Read it on Quartz Pocket
The future belongs to… toddler programmers
Cubetto is a four-wheeled wooden robot that’s controlled with a programming board. Is it now possible to learn code before you learn how to write? Cubetto thinks so.
→ Read it on Fast Co.Design Pocket
UX design and mobile
Design is more than how something looks. Truly good design makes it easier for users to interact with the platform. To do so, designers must study how a device is handled under different circumstances. What have they learned? That all the real action happens at the bottom of the screen. So users actually love it when designers aim low.
→ Read it on UX Planet Pocket
Massapps
Stressed? Don’t feel like calling the spa for an appointment and then dragging yourself across town? No worries! You can have a massage therapist working on your back with just a few taps. Simply open the app, select one of the certified independent therapists listed and, as little as one hour later, you’ll hear knocking at your door. Payment, tax and tip, all handled online. Aaaah!
→ Read it on Bloomberg Pocket
Conversations with animals
How would you like to compare restaurants with a bonobo? Technology is getting us there! In the U.S., three generations of primates have learned to communicate using touch screens. In fact, thanks to lexigrams, some bonobo monkeys have mastered nearly 400 words associated with objects or ideas. Dogs beware–there’s competition in the man’s best friend department.
→ Read it on Babel Oueb (French only) Pocket
Neologisms
#Sponsored
To mark the Mois de la francophonie, TP1 will publish four articles about the French language in the Grenier aux nouvelles newsletter. First up this week: neologisms.
→ Read it on Grenier aux nouvelles (French only) Pocket
This week’s favourite thing: Moodmap
Tell me your mood and I’ll tell you where to go… Or so promises Moodmap, an online platform that suggests different activities in Montreal according to your current whims. So, what are you in the mood for today?
→ Try Moodmap
In your earbuds: The Urbanist
Can technology make our cities better places to live? This is the subject of a compelling discussion between Andrew Tuck, host of the The Urbanist podcast, and Jascha Franklin-Hodge, the City of Boston’s Chief Information Officer. Happy listening!
→ Listen to it on Monocle
