The ethical questions raised by Google's (small) contract with the US military to develop AI are difficult and controversial, but they have to be asked, and i'd much rather they're asked in a form open to public debate than behind closed doors.
https://rob.al/2kFnBqk
Where will Google draw the line on weaponized AI?
In further evidence of the "automation increases jobs" argument, Amazon has recently released footage showing how robots in their warehouses make it quicker and easier for "associates" (=people) to pick and pack your order. This increased productivity means that the warehouses with the most robots are the most profitable, and hence employ the most people. The article does not mention whether Amazon's staff are profiting from this increased productivity the way UPS' did (https://rob.al/2kEQbbH) when they massively increased instrumentation on their trucks to achieve a similar level of improved efficiency.
https://rob.al/2IZ3GRP
If you’re like us, you probably spend a little too much time on Amazon buying stuff you may or may not need. But what happens after you click the “buy” button? How does Amazon get you your stuff so…
In further evidence of the way the reducing cost of technology is saving lives, USGS posted a video showing unmaned drones sent to map and monitor lava flows following the eruption of Kīlauea in Hawaii. Analysis of the drone footage picked up a previously unknown but fast moving flow heading towards an as-yet unevacuated residential area. After notifying the Emergency Operations Centre, it became clear that a resident was stranded in the danger area, and he was instructed to "follow the drone" to safety. In addition to this sort of direct assistance, the drone allowed teams to track lava advancement rates to prioritise further rescue efforts.
https://rob.al/2H7UKEe
A USGS UAS mission in Kīlauea volcano’s lower East Rift Zone on May 27, 2018, helps prompt and guide evacuations and leads to the successful rescue of a resident after a lava pond outbreak sent a…
In his (very, very long) book 'The Rise and Fall of American Growth' (https://rob.al/2sBaEBR), Robert Gordon lays out an argument that not only is growth slower than than people think, but that the growth spurt from 1870 to 1970 was, by all accounts, a one-off, and growth today is reverting back to the long term mean. Xi Jinping doesn't buy that, arguing that IOT, blockchain, AI, quantum and mobile computing are poised to drive a new spurt of growth which will exceed even that triggered by the industrial revolution. Only time will tell who's right.
https://rob.al/2H7Njg8
Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a speech this week that blockchain — the technology underlying bitcoin — has “breakthrough” applications.
Using technology for good – in this case to reduce the amount of pesticide and the cost of seed-stock (you no longer need to buy the special seed which is only available, at a premium, from the manufacturer of the herbicide or pesticide you plan to use) – is what many of us enter the technology industry for. https://rob.al/2sapMWD
https://rob.al/2sapMWD
AI-powered weed hunters could soon reduce the need for herbicides and genetically modified crops.
What happens when the network for your IOT or connected devices suddenly announces it's going to make a change which affects millions of devices at your end customers? How do you convince them to upgrade to a product which is essentially the same as the one they currently have without seeming like you're trying to scam them? An interesting parallel will happen in 2025 as BT Openreach switches off the UK's analogue phone network, and millions of alarms, traffic lights, and social care devices suddenly lose connection.
https://rob.al/2x1MkOF
Plan to retire voice network in 2025 has far-reaching consequences
Probabilistic models of natural language processing don’t seem that revolutionary – after all, humans implicitly work this way – but building a practical but generic framework has been a challenge for engineers and researchers for years (we only have to look at the Alexa Prize (https://rob.al/2rUsJLu) to see how hard this issue is). Gamalon’s new product claims to solve this issue. It’ll be interesting to see how it turns out.
https://rob.al/2IxXaSb
AI startup Gamalon developed a clever new way for chatbots and virtual assistants to converse with us.
Technology can help or hinder. There's a growing evidence base indicating that overprotective parenting is leading to decreased ability for young adults to manage risk or respond to uncertainty in an inherently chaotic and increasingly fast paced world (and as a result, the pushback against protective playgrounds which sanitise risk is also growing e.g. https://rob.al/2GxVYIF), so I'm interested when I see vendors offer technology which panders to what many consider to be moral panic; overall, I worry that applying technology in this way elevates fears, rather than reducing them.
https://rob.al/2kbP4jg
South Korean telco KT has launched a child monitoring service that uses its national NB-IoT network.
I find my Amazon Echo devices useful in a range of situations – getting travel and weather information quickly while i'm trying to get the kids out the door, converting units or setting timers while i'm cooking, playing music while i get on with tasks, even controlling the lights and heating – but i've also never ordered anything from it. I'm not sure why – this report asserts that users "don't trust" the devices with payment info, but Amazon already has all that, so it must be something else. I guess it just feels unusual to order something without even seeing it?
https://rob.al/2ItslxN
When Amazon released the first smart speaker in 2014 and Google released its own two years later, we assumed it was to facilitate purchases through their…
I've always found IntelliSense to be amazingly useful, and i miss it when i have to use an IDE or language which doesn't include it, so these AI-based improvements look like they'll only improve things.
https://rob.al/2k6T9oQ
The official source of product insight from the Visual Studio Engineering Team