Facebook Says Privacy. Tim Cook Explains Privacy
May 5, 2019
Apple continues to build out its privacy platform. “Apple CEO Tim Cook Slams Peeping Tom Websites for Intruding onto Users’ Privacy, Insists He Doesn’t Want Customers Looking at Their iPhones Too Much and Addresses Concerns That Kids Are Addicted to Devices” presents some of the suggestions and observations likely to find their way into Apple’s marketing of its products and services. (There was no mention of the nagging to sign into Apple’s messaging service or the annoyance of pleading with customers to use the Apple cloud storage service. Intrusive. You betcha.)
In an interview with a US television “real news” reporter, Mr. Cook offered one quite interesting observations; to wit:
Companies that collection people’s data know a lot more about you than someone looking in the window of your home. (Peeping Toms are bad, very bad.)
The article in the Daily Mail linked Mr. Cook’s comments about privacy to one of his previous statements:
Cook previously denounced Facebook and other tech companies for hoarding ‘industrial’ amounts of users’ private data during a privacy conference at the European Parliament in Brussels in October [2018].
How does Mr. Cook some companies’ “hoarding” of data? The answer:
Industrial scale.
One may want to recall that Facebook’s privacy woes have not had a significant impact on the firm’s financial performance. Mr. Cook may be talking privacy, but the reality is that in America, financial performance may be more important in some circles.
Oracle once asserted that in search and retrieval security matters. Oracle’s bet on enterprise search security did not cause competitors much, if any, friction. Apple’s “bet” on privacy will be interesting to observe.
Stephen E Arnold, May 5, 2019
Google Goes Adulting with Internet Explorer and Some High School Science Club Magic
May 4, 2019
Ah, the high school science club. The motto, “We do what we want because we’re smarter and can” is alive and well. If you want some insight into how business processes, tactics, and smart people work, you don’t have far to seek.
The most recent example, which I assume is true because everything on the Internet is accurate, may be explained in “A Conspiracy to Kill IE6.” The main idea is that the GOOG wanted to make sure that it would have a clear path to browser fame. One hurdle was the fact that Windows contained a browser. The problem? How to make this “advantage” go away. The fix? Take steps to create FUD, the old IBM standby.
According to the write up:
IE6 had been the bane of our [Google’s] web development team’s existence.
The fix:
We would put a small banner above the video player that would only show up for IE6 users. It would read “We will be phasing out support for your browser soon. Please upgrade to one of these more modern browsers.” Next to the text would be links to the current versions of the major browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, IE8 and eventually, Opera. The text was intentionally vague and the timeline left completely undefined.
The result:
And the lesson:
We somehow got away with our plan to kill IE6 without facing any meaningful corrective action. Few people even knew we were involved at all and those that did, did not want to bring attention to it or risk encouraging similar behavior. At a beer garden in San Francisco, our boss, winking his hardest, made us swear to never do anything like this again. We agreed, toasted IE6 falling into single digit percentages, and never snuck anything into production again.
I believe everything I read on the Internet. Toasted that. And why not set your moral compass the high school science club management way?
Stephen E Arnold, May 4, 2019
Cognos: Now Transforming Business After Only 50 Years
May 3, 2019
It is 1969, and Cognos officially opened for business. That was a half century ago. Over the years, Cognos in its 50 years of “transformation” has absorbed a number of other technologies. Anyone remember Databeacon, the mid market analytics outfit. Cognos strikes me as an umbrella brand. According to CIO’s article “5 Ways IBM Cognos Analytics Is Transforming Business,” IBM’s Cognos Analytics has integrated the artificial intelligence capabilities of IBM Watson Analytics.
Okay, 50 years, much thrashing, and IBM is not on a part with the zippier outfits like DataRobot’s Eureqa. The idea of transforming is interesting, but I am not sure I buy into what looks to me like an example IBM marketing and PR. Sorry, CIO. I am just as suspicious as my neighbors here in Harrod’s Creek.
Here are the transforming things:
- Maximizing charitable donations (No, I am not kidding.)
- Optimizing retail operations with purchasing analytics. (What about Amazon’s data for merchants?)
- Leveraging data to maximize fan engagement. (No, I am not making this up.)
- Predicting audience viewing preferences.
- Deploying data science to keep salmon healthy. (Watson may not be a winner in the cancer thing, but it appears to work on fish.)
After 50 years, the write up points to these examples or use cases as transformational. Amazing.
Eureka may not capture what Cognos with Watson can deliver. The experience, however, could cause DataRobot’s phone to ring.
PS. What’s even more amazing, one of the DarkCyber team had to register to read what is marketing collateral. Interesting.
Stephen E Arnold, May 3, 2019
Data Accuracy: The Soft Underbelly of Smart Software
May 3, 2019
Whatever the popular trend is in technology, there are always guides on how to strategize the best implementation plans. Most of these articles beat down to the same rules of keeping it simple and learning from past mistakes. Healthcare IT News has another guide in relation to AI, “Implementation Best Practices: Dealing With The Complexity Of AI.”
This particular AI implementation acts the same by stating several experts were consulted for their advice. The big difference is this information is not printed as an actual list. The first piece of advice tells people to read use cases of other AI implementation projects to learn about how it is used in their particular industries. The first piece of advice also urges people to work with their end users to guarantee that an AI system will work to serve their needs. It is not uncommon for many organizations to implement a new technology without consulting those who end up using it everyday.
Elaboration on the first piece and the second piece of advice are basically the same thing: know what your goals and end results need to be. The third piece of advice is about focusing on outcomes:
“When implementing AI technology, the focus should be on outcomes, said Lois Krotz, research strategy director at KLAS Research, a healthcare IT research and consulting firm. “From numerous conversations with provider CIOs and vice presidents of technology: They like the idea of using AI but are unsure how to, and what results could be driven from the solution,’ she said. ‘Set goals and make sure you have ways to benchmark the success of the AI solution – know how long it will take to see an outcome.’”
How is that smartware doing with the hate speech and extremist vides? Tweet storms of questionable factoids?
Whitney Grace, May 3, 2019
To Get Along, Go Along: Google and China
May 3, 2019
Just whose side are they on? The one which promises some revenue and a hedge against the Bezos bulldozer.
It looks like Google is caving to Chinese regulators, who have insisted internet platforms operating within China cooperate with efforts to control what information citizens can access. The Financial Times reports, “Google Blocks China Adverts for Sites that Help Bypass Censorship.” Though Google had sold advertisements for anti-censorship software within that country for over two years, we’re told it suddenly stopped accepting such business after China’s market regulator made its recent demand. Reporter Yuan Yang writes:
“Foreign businesses and visitors to China, as well as local citizens, rely on VPNs to access the global internet, including platforms such as Google and Facebook, which are blocked by China’s ‘Great Firewall’ of internet controls. Google runs adverts on third-party websites in China. … “Charlie Smith of GreatFire, a censorship monitoring organization, criticized Google’s blunt action in relation to VPNMentor and Top10VPN as being too broad. He said: ‘There are legally registered VPNs operating in China, so either Google has not kept up to date with local regulations or they are overstepping their boundaries.’ David Kaye, the UN special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, said that Google’s move ‘deprived [Chinese users] of the choice to find uncensored material’. ‘If Google is in the business of expanding access to information, why do they not conceive of their business in those terms in China?’ he asked.”
Readers may recall that, in 2010, Google shuttered its China search engine, stating it would not comply with the country’s censorship demands. Some suggest this recent move means the company is trying to get back into China’s good graces. For its part, Google insists it has no plans to re-launch Search in China, but is simply complying with local laws. However, we’re told, the laws are not so simple, and if these advertisements do run afoul of them, then Google has been out of compliance for years. Why is it so cooperative now? That’s a question a Department of Defense professional may want to ask.
Cynthia Murrell, May 3, 2019
A Disconnect: Department of Defense and the Silicon Valley Scooter Riders
May 2, 2019
I have a short conversation with a real reporter about why Silicon Valley top dogs cannot keep their puppies in line. There are walk outs, sit ins, and dust ups about what senior managers expect and what their code monkeys do.
Defense One published an interesting summary of this jar of pickled pigs feet, the ghastly green and pale pink delights once popular in rural Kentucky.
“The Pentagon Is Flubbing Its Pitch to Silicon Valley” runs down the gap between the Silicon Valley jefes and the Department of Defense. The summary is quite useful, and it includes hot links to several high-value books.
But the highlight of the article was this observation:
Surveys have shown us for decades that tech executives are quite politically liberal, albeit rather libertarian on regulatory issues. But it’s becoming clearer how much more progressive their workers are than the bosses.
One key point is tucked behind this statement. The leaders of Silicon Valley companies are used to getting their own way. People used to getting their own way expect those whom they pay to do what they are told. Entitlement? Arrogance? Upbringing?
Probably a pinch of each stirred into an ego centric soup.
The chasm is widening and there is no easy way to cross it. The split within the large firms has been identified by Defense One. Now what will the newly privacy infused Facebook, the online ad giant Google, and the Amazon bulldozer do?
No answers from Harrod’s Creek, of course, because scooters versus smart weapons is a tough call for some to make.
Stephen E Arnold, May 2, 2019
Background Music: Working Well
May 2, 2019
Crank up the death metal. Chill.
Classical music composed by Bach, Beethoven, Strauss, and, especially, Mozart is supposed to stimulate the creative and cognitive centers of the brain. Supposedly listening to this music while studying or working also facilitates better retention of information and skills. That information has been slung around schools and daycare centers for decades, but according to Neuro Science News it is false: “How Listening To Music ‘Significantly Impairs’ Creativity.”
Swedish and British psychologists, respectively from the University of Gävle and University of Central Lancashire conducted tests on how music impacts people’s performance when they worked on creative verbal insight problems. Contrary to the popular belief, the psychologists discovered that background music “significantly impaired,” but performed well with regular library background noise. The experiment was described as follows with the following conditions:
“For example, a participant was shown three words (e.g., dress, dial, flower), with the requirement being to find a single associated word (in this case “sun”) that can be combined to make a common word or phrase (i.e., sundress, sundial and sunflower). The researchers used three experiments involving verbal tasks in either a quiet environment or while exposed to:
Background music with foreign (unfamiliar) lyrics
Instrumental music without lyrics
Music with familiar lyrics”
When exposed to music, the participants’ struggled, but did much better when they had regular quiet or library background noises. The regular quiet or library background noises were not disruptive, because it created a steady state environment that is not disruptive. It does not matter what type of music people listen to during creative activities, because apparently it is inhibits ideal function.
Bummer. Music is bad for creativity. What are all the iGens and millennials supposed to do when they concentrate. Maybe check their mobile phones?
Whitney Grace, May 2, 2019
Google: Management First, Then AI?
May 2, 2019
Uh-oh, these outside boards are not working for the Google. We learn another has fallen from Engadget’s piece, “Google Reportedly Disbands Review Panel Monitoring DeepMind Health AI.” This move follows news that, earlier in April, Google scrapped its Advanced Technology External Advisory Council. Apparently, certain members of that council were problematic choices. Writer Christine Fisher tells us:
“Now, Google is disbanding a UK-based panel that’s been reviewing some of its AI work in healthcare, reports The Wall Street Journal. This board came together in 2016, when DeepMind — a British AI company acquired by Google in 2014 — launched a healthcare unit called DeepMind Health. The board was meant to review the company’s work with the UK’s publicly funded health service. But panel members reportedly questioned their access to information, the power of their recommendations and whether DeepMind could remain independent from Google. Last year, Google talked about restructuring the group, but instead it appears it will do away with it altogether.”
As Fisher notes, these failures are poorly timed for Google, as the whole industry faces consternation around the ethical use of AI technologies like DeepMind’s. At least something will come of this—on its way out, the disbanded panel will publish a report about what it had learned so far.
Perhaps Google should ask IBM Watson what to do? The Google developed AI seems to be unable to deal with ethics, staff management, and financial management.
Cynthia Murrell, May 2, 2019
IBM Revenue by Country
May 1, 2019
DarkCyber spotted an interesting graph generated by DazeInfo. “IBM Revenue by Country” illustrates some of the economic consequences of IBM’s billion dollar bets. First, the US accounted for 37 percent of IBM’s revenue. Surprisingly, Japan generated about 11 percent of the company’s 2018 revenue. In 2004 IBM’s revenue from Japan amount to $12.3 billion. At the end of 2018, revenue from Japan was about $8.5 billion. International revenue in the last three years is also stagnant or declining. Watson, what can be done to remediate these declines? Watson, Watson, are you there? Can you hear me? Are you in a meeting with James Holzhauer, the professional sports gambler, who is winning on Jeopardy. You won once too. Do you remember Charles Van Doren?
Stephen E Arnold, May 1, 2019
Cognitive Engine: What Powers the USAF Platform?
May 1, 2019
Last week I met with a university professor who does cutting edge data and text mining and also shepherds PhD candidates. In the course of our 90 minute conversation, I noticed some reference books which had SPSS on the cover. The procedures implemented at this particular university worked well.
After the meeting, I was thinking about the newer approaches which are becoming publicly available. The USAF has started talking about its “cognitive engine.” I thought I heard at a conference that some technology developed developed by Nutonian, now part of a data and text mining roll up, had influenced the project.
The Nutonian system is predictive with a twist. The person using the system can rely on the smart software to perform the numerous intermediary steps required when using more traditional systems.
The article “The US Air Force Will Showcase Its Many Technological Advances in the USAF Lab Day.” The original is in Chinese but Freetranslate.com can help out if don’t read Chinese or have a close by contact who does.
The USAF wants to deploy a cognitive platform into which vendors can “plug in” their systems. The Chinese write up reported:
AFRL’s Autonomy Capability Team 3 (ACT3) is developing artificial intelligence on a large scale through the development and application of the Air Force Cognitive Engine (ACE), an artificial intelligence software platform. Put into application. The software platform architecture reduces the barriers to entry for artificial intelligence applications and provides end-user applications with the ability to cover a range of artificial intelligence problem types. In the application, the software platform connects educated end users, developers, and algorithms implemented in software, task data, and computing hardware to the process of creating an artificial intelligence solution.
The article also provides some interesting details which were not included in some of the English language reports about this session; for example:
- Smart rockets
- An agile pod
- Pathogen identification.
A couple of observations:
First, obviously the Chinese writer had access to information about the Lab Day demonstrations.
Second, the cognitive platform does not mention foundation vendors, which I understand.
Third, it would be delightful to visit a university and see documentation and information about the next-generation predictive analytics systems available.
Stephen E Arnold, May 1, 2019
Here’s what the Chinese writer reported about the
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
