Amazon workers reportedly get to hear some of what you tell Alexa, and they have a chat room to talk about 'amusing' recordings (AMZN)

• Amazon has thousands of workers around the world listening to recordings of conversations between users and the Alexa voice assistant, in the name of improving its ability to understand human speech, according to Bloomberg.
• Amazon told Bloomberg that it tasks humans with reviewing only "an extremely small sample of Alexa voice recordings."
• The moderators reportedly have a chat room where they can ask for help or just share "amusing" recordings.
• The moderators also occasionally hear more upsetting things: Two workers told Bloomberg that they heard a recording of what they believed to be a sexual assault. 
• Visit BusinessInsider.com for more stories.

A report from Bloomberg highlighted the human labor that goes into making Amazon's Alexa voice assistant — which comes built in to every Amazon Echo speaker — a little smarter. 

The company has a mix of contractors and full-time employees all over the globe reviewing and transcribing clips of conversations between users and Alexa, according to Bloomberg. The idea, the report said, is to have humans annotate those interactions to help identify phrases, such as "Taylor Swift," that might otherwise be meaningless to the software. 

"We only annotate an extremely small sample of Alexa voice recordings in order improve the customer experience. For example, this information helps us train our speech recognition and natural language understanding systems, so Alexa can better understand your requests, and ensure the service works well for everyone," an Amazon spokesman told Bloomberg. 

"Employees do not have direct access to information that can identify the person or account as part of this workflow. All information is treated with high confidentiality and we use multi-factor authentication to restrict access, service encryption and audits of our control environment to protect it," the spokesperson said.

The Amazon workers, who number in the thousands, have a chat room, too, where they can get help when they can't quite make out a word or phrase — or where they can share "amusing" recordings, according to Bloomberg.

Additionally, one Amazon worker told Bloomberg that each member of this team will listen to as many as 100 clips a day in which Alexa is mistakenly or unintentionally activated. Bloomberg reported that one of these workers will review as many as 1,000 clips in a nine-hour shift. 

The report indicated, however, that the content in those recordings can be quite serious: Two workers with whom Bloomberg spoke detailed what they believed to be a recording of a sexual assault. Separately, two workers told Bloomberg that they were given guidance that Amazon didn't consider it the company's place to intervene in cases like these. 

Amazon did not immediately return a request for comment from Business Insider.

You can read the full Bloomberg report here.

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Twitter is trying to fix a bug that tells users to tag the New York Times when they type the word 'People' (TWTR)

• Multiple Twitter users noticed that after typing the word "People," or phrase "Enemy of the People" in the Tweet box, Twitter will suggest they tag "The New York Times" newspaper.
• US President Donald Trump has repeatedly called the 'New York Times' newspaper the enemy of the people, most recently on April 5th.
• The recommendation happens regardless of whether or not you're following the @NYTimes account, and requires the user to type "People" with a capital P.

Some Twitter users noticed Wednesday that the social media platform automatically associates the phrase "Enemy of the People" with the official New York Times Twitter account, a seemingly strange phenomenon that's fanning the flames of speculation in the current overheated political climate. 

In fact, Twitter is not just associating "Enemy of the People" with the 168-year-old newspaper. Typing "Friend of the People" will also trigger as a suggestion to tag the @NYTimes account. As will simply typing the word "People" - so long as the P is uppercase.

So what's going on? 

It's not entirely clear yet and Twitter has not responded to comments from Business Insider seeking an explanation. 

But there are some potential explanations, most of which are more about the problems with algorithms than overt political bias. 

President Donald Trump has repeatedly used that phrase "Enemy of the People" to attack the Times and the media at large, prompting many other users to do the same when tagging news outlets like the New York Times and CNN in their tweets. 

It's possible that Twitter's algorithms have inferred a connection with the word "people" and the New York Times, prompting Twitter to auto-suggest the newspaper whenever the word is typed into a tweet. Remember, as it stands, any tweet that includes the word "people" will recommend the New York Times tag. 

The connection was first noticed by Washington Post editor Jacob Brogan, and other Twitter users noticed the broader association between the word People and the New York Times. 

It's also worth noting that the recommendation only seems to pop up when accessing Twitter on desktop browsers; the mobile app and desktop programs like TweetDeck do not appear to share the issue. For those using their browser, the recommendation will appear regardless of whether or not you follow The New York Times on Twitter.

The press is doing everything within their power to fight the magnificence of the phrase, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! They can’t stand the fact that this Administration has done more than virtually any other Administration in its first 2yrs. They are truly the ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 5, 2019

When asked for a statement, Twitter offered the following: "This is a bug in our search typeahead system limited to desktop that we are working to fix. The issue is that for some search queries the word 'People' is linked to @NYTimes."

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This device will be the next smartphone

The smartphone is an essential part of our everyday lives.

But as with all technology, things change. So the question becomes: What will be the next smartphone?

Will it be the connected car? Or the smart speaker? What about the smartwatch?

Find out which device, if any, will take over the smartphone's role with this brand new slide deck from  Business Insider Intelligence called The Next Smartphone.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• Smartphones are the fastest adopted tech in the U.S.
• Whichever device becomes the next smartphone needs to go everywhere
• Consumer expectations around the smartphone are changing
• And much more

To get your copy of this FREE slide deck, simply click here.

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15 tips and tricks to master 'Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice,' one of the most difficult games ever made

• "Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice," the latest game from the creators of "Dark Souls," is one of the most difficult video games ever made.
• It's also incredibly rewarding when you learn to master it.
• If you're struggling, this guide can help you push through — you'll be happy you did.
• Visit Businessinsider.com for more stories.

"Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice," from the Japanese game studio From Software, is one of the most difficult video games ever made.

It's also one of the most rewarding gaming experiences out there.

Like previous From Software games, like "Dark Souls" or "Bloodborne," "Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice" is all about exploration and persistence. You're given a massive interconnected world to discover, which is filled with lore and secrets, but progressing through that world means tough enemies that get progressively harder and more complex.

What's so good about "Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice" is that it forces you to break habits you've picked up from other video games, even past From Software titles, in order to succeed. The game can feel unforgiving, but there's usually a point where it all clicks, and difficult areas and bosses become pushovers.

If you're struggling with "Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice," we've put together a short guide of 15 tips and tricks to help you master the game.

SEE ALSO: 'Bloodborne' is one of the most terrifying and rewarding games I've ever played

1. Learn to deflect. You cannot beat this game by attacking alone.

Unlike other games developed by From Software, the makers of "Dark Souls" and "Bloodborne," you can't simply dodge enemies and hit them when there's an opening. You won't win that way.

Deflecting is learned early on, but it's absolutely crucial in "Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice." Pressing the block button at the moment you are getting hit will not only block 90% of attacks, but it will also break down the posture of your enemy. If their posture bar fills up from your deflections, you can perform a death blow, which is usually a one-hit kill.

When fighting the game's later bosses, you simply won't win unless you're deflecting their attacks, so practice on the game's smaller enemies, and practice often.

2. Wait for the enemy's attack to begin before you block or parry it.

You'll get in trouble with this game if you try to act too early. Maybe you see a sword about to be swung, and you get nervous and try blocking or dodging or swinging back out of anticipation. Don't do that. Wait until an attack actually comes to your character before you block or parry it. The timing here can be the difference between a perfect parry or your death.

3. Attacking and blocking fills up your own posture bar, but don't stop deflecting even if it fills up.

It might get scary when a boss is right in your face, swinging a giant sword. Blocking these attacks will build up your own posture, and if it fills up all the way and breaks, you'll need to catch your breath, which gives enemies an opening to attack you.

But there's an interesting twist to this: Even if your posture builds up all the way, it will not break as long as you're deflecting attacks on time. And even if you miss the timing on a block and your posture does break, it's usually not as bad as it seems. If you're not attacked right away, your posture bar will start fresh and you can fill it up all over again.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

How to restore your iPad from a backup after resetting it

• If you encounter a problem with your iPad that ordinary troubleshooting can't solve, you can perform a factory reset, which deletes all apps and data from the device.
• Before performing a factory reset, be sure you have a recent backup or all of your data will be lost.
• After the reset, you can easily restore your last backup automatically using the iPad's setup assistant, but you will need your Apple ID and password.
• Visit BusinessInsider.com for more stories.

While the iPhone and iPad suffer far fewer routine problems than traditional computers, sometimes the unexpected happens.

If your iPad is giving you serious problems, one way to get things back to normal is to perform a factory reset. This erases all the data and apps from your iPad and restores it to its original condition when it arrived from the factory.

After resetting your iPad, you can restore all of your apps and data from a recent backup, or — if you suspect that something in the backup is what caused your iPad to have problems to begin with — reinstall all of the apps you want manually from the App Store and ignore your backups.

A word of caution: restoring your iPad is the "nuclear option" when it comes to troubleshooting your device. It's time-consuming and whenever you erase a device, there's always some risk, however small, that restoring from a backup will fail. If possible, see if there's a particular misbehaving app and uninstall it first. You might also try some of the troubleshooting tips found in our article "Can iPads get viruses?"

Backup your iPad first

1. Before you reset your iPad, make sure you have a current backup of your data — especially if you plan to restore the iPad with your apps and data after the reset is complete.

2. Open the Settings app.

3. Tap your Apple ID at the top of the screen and then tap "iCloud."

4. Tap "iCloud Backup."

5. Check when the last successful backup occurred; if it's in the last few hours, that might be good enough. Otherwise, tap "Back Up Now" and wait for the backup to complete.

Reset and restore your iPad

You are about to lose all of your apps and data, so don't proceed past this sentence without making sure you have a recent backup and that you really want to reset the iPad to its factory settings. Also, be sure that you have your Apple ID and password available, since you will need it to sign in and retrieve your backup.

1. Open the Settings app.

2. Tap "General," and then tap "Reset."

3. On the Reset page, tap "Erase all Content and Settings," and choose "Erase Now." If, for some reason, you haven't already backed up your iPad, you can choose "Backup then Erase."

Your iPad will spend a few minutes resetting itself to factory conditions. After a few minutes, you'll be greeted with the iPad's initial welcome screen.

At this point, follow the instructions of the setup assistant to sign in with your Apple ID and restore the iPad from the most recent backup on your iCloud account.

Related coverage from How To Do Everything: Tech:

• How to factory reset your iPad

• How to backup your iPad to iCloud or a computer

• Can iPads get viruses? Here's what you need to know

• How to restart and force-restart any iPad model

SEE ALSO: The best tablets you can buy

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