Twitter: Embracing Management Maturity?
January 20, 2020
Twitter has a new initiative in 2020 to keep academic researchers honest, although it is not advertised in that manner. TechCrunch shares the details in the article, “Twitter Offers More Support To Researchers-To ‘Keep Us Accountable.’” Twitter’s new support for academic researchers is a new hub called “Twitter Data for Academic Researchers” and it has easier access to Twitter’s information and support about its APIs. Within the hub, one can apply for a developer account, links for researcher tools, and information about the APIs Twitter offers.
Twitter apparently added the Twitter Data for Academic Researchers hub this year based off researchers’ demands. The social media platform states they want to encourage communication and offer more support between developers. One reason Twitter wants more transparency and easier communication with its developers is due to the United States’s 2020 presidential election. Twitter, like most social media platforms, wants to cut down the number of bots and/or false news reports that effected the 2016 election. There is also the need to tamper down these accounts on a regular basis:
“Tracking conversation flow on Twitter also still means playing a game of ‘bot or not’ — one that has major implications for the health of democracies. And in Europe Twitter is one of a number of platform giants which, in 2018, signed up to a voluntary Code of Practice on disinformation that commits it to addressing fake accounts and online bots, as well as to empowering the research community to monitor online disinformation via “privacy-compliant” access to platform data.”
Twitter wants to support its developer community, but the transparency also makes it easier for Twitter to hold people responsible for their actions. They are keeping tabs on how their technology is used, while also assisting developers with their work. It is a great idea and if trouble arises, it might make it easier to track down the bad actors who started the mess. It is also another score for Twitter, because Facebook does not support academics well. Facebook has altered its APIs for researchers and Facebook does not want to stop false information spreading.
Whitney Grace, January 20, 2020
New Chinese Facial Recognition Camera Reduces False Positives
January 19, 2020
In a move that should surprise nobody, China has created the ultimate facial recognition hardware. The Telegraph reports, “China Unveils 500 Megapixel Camera that Can Identify Every Face in a Crowd of Tens of Thousands.” Researchers revealed the “super camera,” which can see four times more detail than the human eye, at China’s International Industry Fair. Of course, no surveillance tech is complete without an AI; writer Freddie Hayward tells us:
“The camera’s artificial intelligence will be able to scan a crowd and identify an individual within seconds. Samantha Hoffman, an analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, told the ABC that the government has massive databases of people’s images and that data generated from surveillance video can be ‘fed into a pool of data that, combined with AI processing, can generate tools for social control, including tools linked to the Social Credit System’.”
Yes, the Social Credit System. China is no stranger to spying on its people, and this development will only make their current practices more effective. We learn:
“China currently has an estimated 200 million CCTV cameras watching over its citizens. For the past few years the country has been building a social credit system that will generate a score for each citizen based upon data about their lives, such as their credit score, whether they donate to charity, and their parenting ability. Punishments and rewards that citizens will receive based upon their score include access to better schools and universities and restricted travel. The current CCTV network is a central tool in gathering data about its citizens, but the cameras aren’t always powerful enough to take a clear picture of someone’s face in a crowd. The new 500 megapixel, or 500 million pixel, camera will help to remedy this.”
Indeed it will. I suppose if you are going to build a social system around snooping on the people, it should be as accurate as possible. You wouldn’t want to keep one citizen out of a good school because someone who looked like them was caught littering.
Cynthia Murrell, January 19, 2020
Google Allegedly Ostracized
January 18, 2020
I worked in the San Francisco area once affectionately known as Plastic Fantastic. My recollection is that most of the people with whom I worked and socialized were flexible. There was the occassional throwback who longed for the rigidity of the Midwestern farm life. But overall, chill was the word. The outfit who paid me to do whatever it was they thought I was my skill was an easy going money machine. Most of the high technology outfits were just starting to get a sense of the power and impact afforded those who were comfortable with online technologies, nifty must have gadgets, and a realization that members of the high school science club could call the shots.
Imagine my surprise when I read the allegedly accurate “San Francisco Pride Members Pass Resolution to Ban Google, YouTube from Future Parades.” The write up states:
Members of the LGBTQ+ organization say they passed an amendment to ban Google, YouTube and Alphabet, as well as the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, from future celebrations after a vote at their monthly membership meeting Wednesday night. In a statement released to SFGATE on Thursday, SF Pride members and former Google engineers Laurence Berland and Tyler Breisacher said they are now urging the board of directors to formally approve the motion at their upcoming meeting on Feb. 5.
Remarkable if true. The Google HR and marketing departments will have to step up their efforts. Recruitment may become more difficult. The PR vibes are doing the Hopf fibration thing. (This is a nice way of saying, “Difficult to understand.”)
Stephen E Arnold, January 18, 2020
Amazon and Microsoft: Different Ways to Leverage $1 Billion
January 17, 2020
Author and big gun Brad Smith, president of Microsoft, allegedly wrote “Microsoft Will Be Carbon Negative by 2030.” To achieve this goal, the company will spend $1 billion dollars. Okay, that appears to work out to $8.3 million per month for 10 years. That’s about 11 Azure Cognitive S4 transactions. Impressive. I suppose it depends on one’s point of view. From the PR perspective, this is probably a decent billion. From other points of view, one’s mileage may vary.
Now contrast this Microsoft $1 billion with Amazon’s. Dark Cyber noted “During Bezos Visit, India minister Says Amazon’s $1 Billion Investment Is No Big Favour.” The write up states something that is a PR downer:
Amazon and Walmart’s Flipkart are facing mounting criticism from India’s brick-and-mortar retailers, which accuse the U.S. giants of violating Indian law by racking up billions of dollars of losses to fund deep discounts and discriminating against small sellers. The companies deny the allegations.
Amazon’s reaction? Read on:
Bezos said on Wednesday [January 15, 2020] Amazon would invest $1 billion to bring small businesses online in the country, adding to the $5.5 billion the company had committed since 2014.
Stepping back, Microsoft is going for good ink. Amazon seems to be going after what may be the second or third largest market in the world for Amazon services and battery powered Ring doorbells.
Interesting uses of $1 billion.
Stephen E Arnold, January 17, 2020
The New Doing Gooder Google
January 17, 2020
Google’s cheerleading unit likes to remind us, amid the constant criticisms, that the company makes some positive contributions to society. For example, it seems their AI has gotten good at detecting cancer. We learn from AndoridCentral that “Google’s AI Is Better at Detecting Cancer than Doctors, Says Study.” About the same research, Ausdroid reports, “Google Publish their Impressive Breast Cancer Screening Using AI Results.” The capabilities are courtesy of technology developed by Google acquisition DeepMind. The study was performed by Google Health in conjunction with Cancer Research UK Imperial Centre, Northwestern University, and Royal Surrey County Hospital. Researchers used deep-learning tools to create AI detection models and applied them to almost 30,000 patients for whom results were already known. Muhammad Jarir Kanji of AndroidCentral writes:
“The system was trained using a large dataset of mammograms from women in the two countries. Even more telling than its better accuracy than doctors was the fact that it did so with far less information than the radiologists it was competing with, who also had access to the patients’ medical history and previous mammograms in their deliberations. … While the paper noted that ‘AI may be uniquely poised to help with’ the challenge of detecting breast cancer, Darzi said the system was not yet at a stage where it could replace a human reader.”
Emphasis on “yet.” Meanwhile, Ausdroid’s Scott Plowman emphasizes:
“The data sets were also NOT used to train the AI system and thus we totally unknown to the system.
Comparing the positive results from the AI to those patients who ended up having biopsy-confirmed breast cancer the AI demonstrated a ‘statistically significant’ improvement in ‘absolute specificity’ of 1.2% (UK – double read), and 5.7% (USA – single read) and an improvement in absolute sensitivity of 2.7% (UK) and 9.4% (USA). For reference, sensitivity is the ability to correctly identify lesions and specificity is how accurate it is at identifying those without lesions. This means that it has a reduction in both false positives and false negatives.”
If Google’s PR team spins more stories like this one, they just might be able to burnish the company’s reputation.
Cynthia Murrell, January 08, 2020
US China Deal: The Honeymoon Will Not Last Long
January 17, 2020
DarkCyber spotted a write up called “China Bracing for US Tech War with Plan to Cut Reliance on Imports of Key Components to Just 25 Per Cent.” If the information in the write up is accurate, the implications for certain countries and companies selling to China could be interesting. We noted this statement in the article:
China is aiming to increase its reliance on domestic production for key components, including chips and controlling systems, to 75 per cent by 2025, according to a former minister.
So a dollar spent by China to shore up its Great Firewall will allegedly become $0.25 in 60 months or less.
This statement seemed to more of a warning and less of an olive branch extended to the US:
The move, which includes a series of plans to improve weak links in the areas of hi-tech research and crucial component development “one by one”, is seen as part of China’s preparation for a intensifying technology war with the United States.
(“China Must Rein in SOEs to Gain Upper Hand in Tech War, Help Private Firms like Huawei to Innovate” provides some color on China’s desire to become the dominant technology player in the future.)
To support the knowledge sector, the write up reveals:
China will also increase the number of “national manufacturing innovation centers” to 40 by 2025 from 11 at the end of 2019 “to cover all major industries”. China’s first national manufacturing innovation centre was launched in 2016, focusing on making and researching electric vehicle batteries.
The concluding section of the write up states the obvious:
is increasingly clear that a technology rivalry between China and US is set to deepen…with competition in next generation communication, 5G and artificial intelligence key areas of contention.
Net net: A calm before the storm.
Stephen E Arnold, January 17, 2020
Library Software Soutron Version 4.1.4 Now Available
January 17, 2020
Library automation and cataloging firm Soutron introduces its “Latest Software Update—Soutron Version 4.1.4.” The announcement describes the updates and features, complete with screenshots. The introduction reveals:
“This update provides an eagerly awaited new ‘Collections’ feature, refinements to both the Search Portal, updates to the new Admin pages and further language support. Details can be found below. These latest updates are the results of our agile development process and by working closely with, and listening to, our clients’ needs. The results are an industry leading world class library, archive and information management solution.”
Regarding that shiny new Collections feature, part of the Search Portal, we learn:
“This feature empowers users to select records from within Search Results and to assign them to a ‘Collection’. A user who is logged in may create their own Collection, adding and removing items as needed. A Collection can be easily managed, shared and organized in a tree view as shown below. This makes it easy for users, researchers or lawyers to quickly reference items of use that have been found, creating their own ‘Bento Box’ of records and materials, avoiding the need to keep performing searches or looking through saved searches for multiple relevant records.”
That does sound helpful. Other upgrades include enhanced organization for saved searches, improved viewing on mobile devices, easier search-template management, and the addition of a Default Availability status configuration option. See the write-up for more details.
Based in Derby, United Kingdom, Soutron has been creating library management systems for corporations and other organizations since 1989. The company continues to flourish by proudly embracing technological advances like automation and cloud-based systems.
Cynthia Murrell, January 16, 2020
Software: Duct Tape Is the Fabric of Solutions
January 16, 2020
Polygon published “The Truth Is That Many Games Are Held Together by Duct Tape.” The write up explains that software is messy. Here’s one statement from the write up:
Time and time again, development stories of video games reveal that, because video games have so many different moving parts, from game design to sound, that things often don’t come together until the last possible second — if they come together at all.
We noted this passage as well:
Obviously, developers should care about game-breaking bugs, or anything that gets in the way of a player’s enjoyment of the experience, but as they say, perfect is the enemy of good.
DarkCyber has one issue with the article. The focus is narrow when it should be more inclusive. Microsoft Word numbering, Framemaker’s handling of color, iTunes inability to delete items, Android widget disappearance, and similar quirks have been nettlesome for years, and in some cases decades.
Good enough is the name of the game.
And to provide a light at the end of a very long tunnel: smart software and point and click programming will solve these problems. Sure enough.
Stephen E Arnold, February 16, 2020
NSO Does Not Play the Facebook Game
January 16, 2020
We spotted a write up in Techdirt, an interesting publication indeed. The story is “Malware Marketer NSO Group Looks Like It’s Blowing Off Facebook’s Lawsuit.”
The title suggested to some of the DarkCyber team that NSO is a not so good company. It is a malware marketer. Furthermore, the company is “blowing off” Facebook’s lawsuit.
The Facebook case asserts that the NSO Group exploited WhatsApp. The goal? Compromise an actor’s mobile device via software. This approach is known as an attack vector created by Facebook.
NSO, as DarkCyber has noted in this blog and our videos, has been generating media attention. Specialized software companies providing technology to government entities generally prefer to maintain a lower profile.
What’s the status of Facebook’s legal action? Techdirt states:
Facebook’s lawsuit is going nowhere fast. While it’s not uncommon for there to be a delay between the filing of a complaint and the defendant’s response, NSO hasn’t filed anything — not even a notice of appearance from its corporate counsel — since the filing of the suit.
NSO is not a US company. It is owned by a Japanese firm and most of the technical operations are still under the umbrella of Israeli citizens.
DarkCyber thinks that Facebook’s challenge to NSO was an interesting action.
First, NSO responds to its customers’ needs. This means that outfits like Facebook which often drag their running shoe shod feet when it comes to dealing with government requests for data invites attention from specialist firms. Look in the mirror, Facebookers.
Second, Facebook wants to encrypt everything, create its own walled garden, and operate like a country. Okay, Facebookers, that attitude invites some special attention. Look in the mirror, Facebookers.
Third, the challenge to NSO strikes DarkCyber like an New Age slow cooker calling a microwave an unnecessary luxury. Nope. Look in the mirror, Facebooks, or in this case, in the reflection in the slow cooker’s aluminum skin.
Net net: Facebook may want to think a bit harder about the resources available to specialist software firms. Why? Nothing special, of course.
Stephen E Arnold, February 16, 2020
VideoStudio 19 Ultimate Installation Failure: This Procedure May Help You
January 16, 2020
DarkCyber has never in our previous 16,000 posts provided a fix for a problem with commercial software. We are providing a fix for Corel’s VideoStudio 19 Ultimate for these reasons:
- Corel technical support responded to our trouble ticket but provided zero useful information
- There are problems on the disc with the packaged version of the software to make the resulting installation malfunction
- None of the posts on the Corel user forum provided a fix for what seems to be a common problem—No filters for special effects were installed
- The Corel download page for the program offers two files, but each is different. Careless, coincidence, lack of motivation, indifference, or some other reason? We don’t know.
Context
A local group was unable to install VideoStudeo 19 Ultimate VideoStudio Ultimate 2019 on their Windows 10 computer. The big problem was that the software would appear to install on the boxed version of the software. On the machine used by the group, the install typically took two to three hours. But the software would not provide access the “filters,” which is Corel’s word for “video effects” or “FX.” Annoying. You bet. That’s what triggered a request for DarkCyber to help out this group.
Symptoms
1. Program crashed when started
2. Filters (video effects) were not available
After quite a bit of fooling around, we hit upon a solution for a computer running version 18362.
General Approach: A Bird’s-Eye View
1. Examine the failed installation
2. Install VideoStudio Ultimate 2019 on a different machine
3. Move the needed files to a USB stick
4. Copy the files from the working VideoStudio 2019 Ultimate installation to the installation of the software that did not work.
What You Need
This fix is not perfect, but it was one which worked for this particular volunteer group.
Here are the steps you may want to follow:
1. Install VideoStudio Ultimate 2019 on a Windows 10 computer. We used a spare from our shop which was a clean install; that is, no other software had been installed on the computer. No plug ins, third party anti virus software, nothing. Verify that the program loads and that the components are available; for example, filters (which VideoStudio sometimes calls FX).
2. Get a USB drive or comparable storage method and copy this one file
vfilter.rsf
and these two folders:
vft_plug
vfx_plug
Here’s where you should be able to find these files on your computer:
vfilter.rsf is located at:
[root drive] \Users\ [user name] \AppData\Roaming\Ulead Systems\Corel VideoStudio Pro (x64)\22.0\VFilter.rsf
For the machines we used, the default locations were that the vft_plug folder was at:
[root drive] \Program Files\Corel\Corel VideoStudio 2019\vft_plug
The location of vfx_plug was at:
[root drive] \Program Files\Corel\Corel VideoStudio 2019\Vfx_plug
The Fix Which Worked for Us
We had to do several steps. None was difficult once we determined the names of the files and their location. Corel does not provide this information to its customers. We don’t want to speculate about why the company does not address this problem. A number of VideoStudio 2019 Ultimate owners have this problem. Therefore, we are posting this as a report of what worked for the non profit group. We used a legal copy of the software. We used a “clean” Windows 10 machine. No clean Windows 10 computer? No legal copy of the software? Well, you may be out of luck.
The Steps We Followed
The procedure we followed for vfilter.rsf was:
a. Navigate to the location of vfilter.rsf
b. Rename the file to vfilter old.rsf
c. Copy the version of vifilter.rsf from the USB or storage device.
For clarity, you are substituting the files from an installation of VideoStudio Ultimate 2019 which works.
The procedure we followed for the folder and its files vft_plug was:
a. Navigate to the location of vft_plug
b. Rename the folder to vft_plug old. (There is no need to fiddle with the files in the folder)
c. Copy the version of the vft_plug folder from the USB or storage device.
For clarity, your are replacing the vft_plug folder from the machine with the working installation of VideoStudio Ultimate 2019.
The procedure we followed for the folder and its files vfx_plug was:
a. Navigate to the location of vfx_plug
b. Rename the folder to vfx_plug old (There is no need to fiddle with the files in the folder)
c. Copy the version of the vfx_plug folder from the USB or storage device.
For clarity, your are replacing the vfx_plug folder from the machine with the working installation of VideoStudio Ultimate 2019.
Wrap Up
Corel support was not helpful. Corel documentation was not helpful. Most of the citations returned from Bing, Google, Yandex, and Boardwatch queries were not helpful. Therefore, we had to find a solution because the non profit group lacked the funds to buy a more robust video editor or find staff to learn how to use one of the open source options available.
For us, we rebooted the computer and launched VideoStudio Ultimate 2019. The Filters (FX) were accessible under “My Favorites.” Note: Our fix did display animated icons in the Filters (FX) panel. The user has to click “My Favorites” to see the installed Filters (FX).
The other functions of the VideoStudio Ultimate 2019 software were working when we left the office of the group contacting us.
If you find a quicker or improved way to get this low cost video editing software to work, use the comments section of this blog.
Stephen E Arnold, January 16, 2020
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