Don't you just hate it when you have to take an important phone call and you're surrounded by potential eavesdroppers(潜在偷听者)? You either have to whisper or go outside to keep the conversation private, which is not good. Now Hushme aims to fix this problem by muffling your voice and making you look like Bane in the film Batman.

    Hushme is a strange high-tech mask(口罩)that blocks the sound of the wearer's voice so that people nearby can't hear what is being said. It connects to your phone via Blucetooth and comes with a pair of earphones. When you get a private call, all you have to do is put the mask on and it will do the rest. The pair of thick pads over your mouth does a good job of muffling your voice, but to ensure nothing gets through. Hushme also has speakers that play a variety of sounds when you speak.

    The Hushme mask, which comes in a variety of colors, can be worn around the neck, like a regular pair of earphones, and attaches in front of your mouth thanks to a couple of very powerful magnets(磁铁). It's not yet clear how comfortable speaking with this Bane-like mask over your mouth really is, or how effective its speech muffling ability is, so we know so far is that it makes you look strange. The sound choices for covering your voice currently include wind, ocean, rain, birds, monkey, but new ones could be added in the future.

    Advertised as the “world's first voice mask for mobile phones'. Hushme was showed at CES. At the becoming of this year. Its makers plan to sell it by the end of this year. It will cost about $200.

    Reading can be a social activity. Think of the people who belong to book groups. They choose books to read and then meet to discuss them. Now the website BookCrossing.com turns the page on the traditional idea of a book group.

    Members go on the site and register the books they own and would like to share. BookCrossing provides an identification number to stick inside the book. Then the person leaves it in a public place, hoping that the book will have an adventure, traveling far and wide with each new reader who finds it.

    Bruce Pederson, the managing director of BookCrossing, says, “The two things that change your life are the people you meet and books you read. BookCrossing combines both.”

    Members leave books on park benches and buses, in train stations and coffee shops. Whoever finds their book will go to the site and record where they found it.

    People who find a book can also leave a journal entry describing what they thought of it. E-mails are then sent to the BookCrossers to keep them updated about where their books have been found. Bruce Peterson says the idea is for people not to be selfish by keeping a book to gather dust on a shelf at home.

BookCrossing is part of a trend among people who want to get back to the “real” and not the virtual(虚拟). The site now has more than one million members in more than one hundred thirty-five countries.

    Submitting Assignment Online

    In order to upload an assignment to the system properly, you must save the assignment using one of the following applications: Microsoft Word, Corel WordPerfect, or Microsoft Excel.

    After you complete an assignment, it is important to save your work. This ensures that assignment being uploaded to the system is the most updated version. Your word processing program may attempt to save the assignment to a default folder on your computer. We recommend creating a new folder, named after your course, in a location that is easy to remember, such as “My Documents.”

    File Name Requirements

Select a file name for the assignment that is easy to remember. The file name must NOT contain spaces. Any spaces used in the file name will prevent the file from uploading to the system. File names using the extensions .rtf, .html, .zip, .jpg, or .exe are NOT allowed.

    Assignment Upload Procedure

    Make sure you save the assignment using one of the applications previously identified and ensure that it meets the file name requirements described above. When the file is ready to upload, follow these steps:

    1). Sign in the system

    2). Enter your address information and click the CONTINUE button. You will be routed to the “Directions” screen.

    3). Review the directions and click the CONTINUE button. You will be routed to the “Special Assignment Upload” screen.

    4). Click the BROWSE button. The “Choose File” window pops up.

    5). Find the location on your computer where you saved your assignment, and select the file.

    After you have selected the file, click the UPLOAD button to upload your assignment to the system.

    Assignment Submission Dates

    Assignments must be submitted by midnight on the specified due date. Submit your assignment on time so that it reaches the system on or before the due date. No late assignment will be accepted or marked. Assignments delivered after the due date will not be assessed and will be failed. Please manage your time carefully as family and work demands will not be accepted as excuses for late or non-submissions. Tutors and administrator do not have the authority to grant extensions.

(Q = Question; A = Answer)

    Situation I

    Q: If someone sits right next to me in an empty movie theater, is it rude to move?

    A: Maybe, but nobody will fault you for it. Chances are that close sitter doesn't realize he disturbs you, so he may miss your annoyance. You undoubtedly aren't the first person he's met who needs enough room. Forgive his bad judgment, move quietly and enjoy the show.

    Situation II

    Q: If I use the bathroom at a store, do I need to buy something?

    A: Consider frequency and urgency. Is this a one-time or an emergency? If so, you don't have to buy anything, but it would be kind if you did. However, if you regularly use the bathroom at this place, then you are a customer, and you should act like one.

    Situation III

    Q: If someone is talking loudly on the bus, is there a nice way to ask him to keep it down?

    A: No. Try other means.1) Stare at him until he gets aware of it and quiets down. 2) Lift your finger in a silence motion(动作)and smile. 3) Put on earphones and ignore him.

    Situation IV

    Q: If I remember my friend's birthday a day late, should I apologize or just wish her a happy birthday like nothing happened?

    A: This is the reason why the word belated was invented. "Happy belated birthday!" is short for: "Well, I know I forgot, but then I remembered. Forgive me and happy birthday."

    Situation V

    Q: Can I lie about seeing a text because I was too busy or lazy to respond(回复) to it?

    A: Don't lie. Receiving a text does not mean you need to respond to it. Why waste a perfectly good lie when the truth will serve? "Yes," you can say if ever asked, "I saw it." No explanation is needed as to why you don't respond.

    Stress is a major problem in the modern world. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} It is common among office workers. Managing it is necessary for people in order to create a work-life balance. So, how can you go about removing stress through the ancient art of gardening?

    Surround yourself with nature. Trees, birds and scent of the outdoors are great ways to help relax. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} So, in order to remove stress through gardening, you need to grow lots of plants.

    Make it comfortable. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} After all, what's the point of making it beautiful if you can't sit or watch your flowers grow afterwards? A good-quality set of garden furniture is the only way to make sure your garden is as comfortable as possible in order to remove your stress.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} To really appreciate garden space for what it is, you need to leave all of the stresses of modern life behind, which means keeping your phone indoors. Yes, it may be hard at first. But, after a while, it will begin to feel normal and even good. Sometimes not knowing what is happening in the outside world is the only way to enjoy the tranquility (宁静) of your garden.

    Invite family and friends. Do you want to get the best way to truly remove stress through your gardening efforts? Share it with your family and friends. A good barbecue as we move into the warmer months is the best port of call. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} After a while, your garden space should become a relaxation and stress-free zone.

Advances in generative artificial intelligence (AI) have enabled authentic-sounding speech synthesis (语音合成) to the point that a person can no longer distinguish whether they are talking to another human or a deepfake (深度伪造). If a person's own voice is "cloned" by a third party without their agreement, bad guys can use it to send any message they want.

Computer scientist and engineer Ning Zhang has developed a new method to prevent unauthorized speech synthesis before it takes place: a tool called AntiFake.

Traditional deepfake detection methods only work after the damage is done. However, AntiFake prevents voice data from being synthesized into an audio deepfake beforehand. This tool turns the tables on cybercriminals (网络罪犯) by using similar voice cloning techniques they employ, but for voice protection. The software complicates voice data extraction and feature identification crucial for voice synthesis. "We're using an opposite AI technique originally used by cybercriminals, but now we're using it against them," Zhang explained. "We slightly change the recorded audio, just enough to make it unusable for voice clone training while still sounding natural to humans."

Ben Zhao, a professor of computer science at University of Chicago, says that the software, like all digital security systems, will never provide complete protection. But, he adds that it can raise the bar and limit the attack to a smaller group of individuals with significant resources.

AntiFake can already protect shorter voice recordings against cloning. The creators of the tool believe that it could be extended to protect larger audio documents or music from misuse. But the methods and tools that are developed must be continuously adapted because cybercriminals will learn and grow with them.