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Showing posts from July, 2018

Report: Julian Assange's Thin Ice at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London Could Be About to Break

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, whose status as an unwanted guest at the Ecuadorian embassy in London has been growing ever more tenuous for months, could reportedly be booted out at any time. from gizmodo http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2018/07/report-julian-assanges-thin-ice-at-the-ecuadorean-embassy-in-london-could-be-about-to-break/

Turns Out That Football Putin Gave Trump Has an NFC Chip in It, But It's Probably Harmless

Per a report in Bloomberg, said football carries markings identifying it as part of a line with a built-in “chip with a tiny antenna,” albeit one ostensibly designed by Adidas. from gizmodo http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2018/07/turns-out-that-football-putin-gave-trump-has-an-nfc-chip-in-it-but-its-probably-harmless/

Five questions for… the Thinaire platform

Ever since I was involved in developing a mobile application myself , I have gained an undue fascination of mobile application platforms – also known as, “why bother building all the component pieces, when they should be a solved problem?” The retail space is no exception, as stores feel they need to get onto the mobile bandwagon but can to easily end up reinventing the wheel without feeling the potential benefits. Solving this is not as simple as it seems – retailers want to be customer focused without becoming creepy; they want to optimise their interactions and grow loyalty without unnecessary intrusion; as they look to become more effective and efficient, they want to learn by doing, but their well-meant efforts can become expensive dead-ends. It’s too easy to blow the budget before achieving the goals, even if these are known at the outset. Faced with such dilemmas, the availability of a platform of components for ‘smarter’ retail would appear to be a boon. So, what gives? I had

5 Common Misconceptions about AI

In recent years I have ran into a number of misconceptions regarding AI, and sometimes when discussing AI with people from outside the field, I feel like we are talking about two different topics. This article is an attempt at clarifying what AI practitioners mean by AI, and where it is in its current state. The first misconception has to do with Artificial General Intelligence, or AGI: Applied AI systems are just limited versions of AGI Despite what many think,the state of the art in AI is still far behind human intelligence. Artificial General Intelligence, i.e. AGI , has been the motivating fuel for all AI scientists from Turing to today. Somewhat analogous to Alchemy, the eternal quest for AGI that replicates and exceeds human intelligence has resulted in the creation of many techniques and scientific breakthroughs. AGI has helped us understand facets of human and natural intelligence, and as a result, we’ve built  effective algorithms inspired by our understanding and models

The First Pictures From Iron Fist Season 2 Include a Badass-Looking Daughters of the Dragon Teamup

The footage shown at Comic-Con this year teased a Misty/Colleen beatdown that had fans gasping in delight—and we can only hope we’ll get to do that ourselves. from gizmodo http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2018/07/the-first-pictures-from-iron-fist-season-2-include-a-badass-looking-daughters-of-the-dragon-teamup/

Who Will Police Police Drones?

While technology and policy can be extremely helpful, they are not foolproof in regards to officer misuse, a point that some critics feel is being overlooked. from gizmodo http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2018/07/who-will-police-police-drones/

We Need Help Naming Our Mars Rover, and Yes, The Space Agency Has Already Thought of That One

Airbus, which is actually building the rover, has set up a page on its website for entries, but don’t bother trying to be clever with Marsy McMarsface or Spacey McSpaceface. from gizmodo http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2018/07/we-need-help-naming-our-mars-rover-and-yes-the-space-agency-has-already-thought-of-that-one/

How The Hell Do You Make A Blockbuster As Insane As Mission Impossible: Fallout? We Spoke To Director Christopher McQuarrie To Find Out

With Fallout , returning director Christopher McQuarrie, has achieved something rather special. from gizmodo http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2018/07/how-the-hell-do-you-make-a-blockbuster-as-insane-as-mission-impossible-fallout-we-spoke-to-director-christopher-mcquarrie-to-find-out/

James Gunn Will No Longer Direct Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in the Wake of Appalling Tweets

Walt Disney has announced that it has severed ties with James Gunn following the discovery of multiple old tweets from the director joking about rape and pedophilia. from gizmodo http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2018/07/james-gunn-will-no-longer-direct-guardians-of-the-galaxy-vol-3-in-the-wake-of-appalling-tweets/

10 reasons why Broadcom is buying CA

I wouldn’t normally comment on acquisition stories, but in this case, well. Back in the day, CA Inc. (the company formerly known as Computer Associates) was acquisition maestro, first knocking several enterprise management competitors off the board, then building out its portfolio to obfuscate its mainframe-centric business models (and, perhaps, its dodgy business practices). And now, the company is being bought by Broadcom , the “diversified global semiconductor leader” (a.k.a. chip manufacturer), this hot on the heels of its attempted, and blocked, acquisition of the more eligible and compatible Qualcomm. Many are asking why, and not in a good way: ten billion dollars have been wiped off Broadcom’s stock price, which is over half of the acquisition cost. Few are seeing this as a good idea, though some are seeing an upside . Given that nobody has a crystal ball, I thought it might be worth summarising some of the reasons why a chip company and an enterprise software company might