Microsoft Wants More Humans to Build Bots
August 22, 2020
Journalists have feared for their jobs since digital media consumed the field in the late 1990s. While this is not the robot apocalypse, Microsoft decided to downsize its human news staff in favor of AI bots says ABC News in: “Microsoft Cuts MSN News Staffers In Move Towards AI Editors.”
In July, Microsoft laid off an undisclosed amount of MSN news editors. This layoff comes during the COVID-19, when unemployment is at an all time high, Microsoft’s layoffs are not surprising. The company has shrunk its news editors since 2014. To flesh out its news, MSN has partnered with other news sites to redistribute content. These other news sites are, of course, paid.
There are multiple problems with AI software, the biggest being its racial and gender biases. There are many documented cases of dark skinned people being misidentified, such as the most recent case:
“The Guardian reported that the company’s AI software in early June confused two mixed-race singers from the British band Little Mix. MSN mistakenly used a photograph of Leigh-Anne Pinnock for a story about fellow band-member Jade Thirlwall and her personal reflections on racism.
Thirlwall quickly voiced her displeasure on Instagram. ‘@MSN If you’re going to copy and paste articles from other accurate media outlets, you might want to make sure you’re using an image of the correct mixed race member of the group,’ she wrote, adding: “It offends me that you couldn’t differentiate the two women of color out of four members of a group … DO BETTER!’”
It is a really embarrassing mistake for a company like Microsoft to make. How hard is it to collect diverse data sets, not to mention keep some editors on staff to fact check the AI bots? Humans are not perfect and so are their AI bots!
Whitney Grace, August 22, 2020
TikTok: Our Way or the Huawei
August 4, 2020
Excitement ahead. There’s nothing like the Rona and a financial crisis to catch attention. But these may be also ran topics if the trade tension between China and the US is cranked up.
“China Accuses US of Outright Bullying over TikTok” reports that Wang Wenbin (Chinese official) allegedly said:
“The US, without providing any evidence, has been using an abused concept of national security… unjustifiably suppressing certain non-US companies.”
To add some zest, President Trump wants Microsoft to know that its okay to buy TikTok comes with a price tag? The figures are not available. Whatever the amount, a piece of the action goes to the US government.
That angle is likely to put some on edge. Yep, it seems that the US wants one way or its the Huawei for the only app in several years which may have a chance to generate traction in the wonderlands of Facebook and YouTube.
Stephen E Arnold, August 4, 2020
Funding Open Source: Saddle Up, Don Quixotes
July 30, 2020
I read “A New Funding Model for Open Source Software.” The main idea is that the current approach to financial “support” of open source software is broken. I agree, particularly if one looks at the problem from the developer or developers in the “community.”
The fix, according to the write up, is “sponsor pools.” Here are the details:
Every month, you donate some amount into a “wallet”. Your funds are then distributed to the projects in your “sponsor pool”. Your sponsor pool is just the set of open-source projects you want to support. Adding new projects to your pool should require one click — as easy as starring the repo on GitHub. That’s it. It’s hardly ingenious, which is why it’s surprising that no major player in OSS has implemented it for facilitating open source donations.
The comments to the post at this link are interesting and raise a number of points, both pro and con.
I noticed that none of the comments pointed out that open source has become the hunting ground for certain large technology companies. Github is owned by Microsoft; Amazon is ferrying open source code into its proprietary AWS walled garden; Google is “contributing to the community” and then using the community as a recruiting supply line. Other techniques are in play as well.
Also, open source is more attractive to large established companies. These firms have the staff and financial resources to make chunks of open source play nicely together. The goal is to eliminate dependence on proprietary solutions, restrictive license agreements, and those necessary maintenance and engineering services deals. Smaller outfits often find Microsoft a convenient way to solve a database problem. Why? It’s available and semi-reliable. Keep in mind that Microsoft bought Github for control and revenue opportunities.
Finally, a number of the comments suggest, “Let Github do it.” Yeah, I really think Microsoft has open source software love as a business motivation. But that’s just my view.
My view is that open source, like other nifty things associated with the “old days” of the Internet may be facing some challenges and not just from Rona.
Stephen E Arnold, July 30, 2020
Softies and SASers Team to Deliver Bigly Solutions
July 24, 2020
Microsoft and SAS are two of the biggest names in technology. They have decided to combine their powers to form a strategic, technological partnership. IT-Online shares the news in the report, “SAS, Microsoft Partner On Analytics And AI.”
SAS specializes in analytics software, while Microsoft popularized the personal computer. With this new partnership, their customers can expand SAS business solutions across Microsoft’s veritable product array. This specifically means:
“As part of the partnership, the companies will migrate SAS’ analytical products and industry solutions on to Microsoft Azure as the preferred cloud provider for the SAS Cloud. SAS’ industry solutions and expertise will also bring added value to Microsoft’s customers across health care, financial services and many other industries.”
The ultimate goal for Microsoft and SAS is to bolster their bottom dollar, but both clientele sets will gain many advantages. SAS will have easier access to the cloud and Microsoft gains access to powerful analytics software. The analytics software is of particular interest for Microsoft, because they want to integrate SAS technology into Azure and Dynamics 365 for new solutions.
Is this Cloud babble? You know: Blah, blah, flexibility. Blah, blah, scalability. It is a fancier way for both companies to enrich their product offerings for large organizations with inertia and a desire to move to the future of computing. Too bad Amazon.
Whitney Grace, July 24, 2020
Microsoft Policeware in the Line Up of Vendors of Interest
July 20, 2020
The Intercept published “The Microsoft Police State: Mass Surveillance, Facial Recognition, and the Azure Cloud.” Better late than never, “real” news about Microsoft’s race to catch up to Amazon and other specialist vendors is helpful.
The article uses the NYPD and other departments as examples of enforcement entities interested in Microsoft technology.
- And the write up explains these as evidence of a “police state” operated by the Softies in Redmond:
- A Domain Awareness System run from the Azure cloud. Not a Banjo duplicate, but close enough for horseshoes.
- An Internet of Things MAPP patrol car and a connected officer
- Robots like the Jack Russell and the LT2-F Bloodhound
- Smart software which seems similar to the ZTE installations in Quito, Ecuador
- Facial recognition technology, which has become the poster child for questionable technology.
Several observations:
- Other vendors are in the game as well, and several are providing more sophisticated solutions. Intercept’s focus seems, how shall I put it, narrow
- In my talks at the National Cyber Crime conference this week I put one theme in each of my three lectures: “Smart software is the best bet for restoring parity between bad actors and law enforcement.” Maybe the NYPD and other departments should abandon technology trials, experiments, and acquisitions to make the social fabric so much better
- The purpose of the Intercept write up seems bifurcated. On one hand, the Microsoft capabilities struck me as a check list from a marketing sales presentation. On the other hand, law enforcement is not behaving the way the Intercept believes the police, regulators, and investigators should. Mixed message? Cognitive dissonance? Bias?
Net net: Technology and smart software are essential tools for the foreseeable future.
Stephen E Arnold, July 20, 2020
And Microsoft Wants Its Partners to Support Government Entities?
July 16, 2020
The article “Hack of 251 Law Enforcement Web Sites Exposes Personal Data of 700,000 Cops” troubles me for two reasons.
First, the loss of the data increases risk for the professionals listed in the data files. Not good.
Second, the write up asserts as “real” news:
All of the hacked websites were hosted and built by the Texas web development firm Netsential on Windows servers located in Houston. They were all running the same custom (and insecure) content management system, developed using Microsoft’s ASP.NET framework in the programming language VBScript, using Microsoft Access databases. Because they all run the same software, if a hacker could find a vulnerability in one of the websites that allowed them to download all the data from it, they could use that vulnerability to hack the rest of the websites without much additional effort.
DarkCyber believes that much of the 21st century cyber software jabber is marketing speak.
If the statement about Microsoft’s infrastructure and software is accurate, there are some questions to answer:
- How did the Microsoft partner program allow “experts” certified by Microsoft to create a system with some interesting security issues?
- Where did the Netsential Web site go? Why did its content disappear?
- What does this incident mean in the context of the Department of Defense JEDI contract?
DarkCyber is concerned when a giant corporation cannot update its own Windows 10 operating system and fail to ensure that its partners are qualified to perform sensitive work in a careful manner.
Is there some useful code on Microsoft Github? Snap. Github fell over again just as I was looking.
Another troubling US technology lapse it seems for a company wanting to provide cloud services to the US government and law enforcement.
Stephen E Arnold, July 16, 2020
Muffing the Bunny: The Skype Animal
July 15, 2020
Sad news. One of the founding Skype engineers has died. We crossed paths at a conference in 2009. The news appeared in “Estonian Engineer Who Helped Develop Skype Passes Away at 48.”
The write up contained this summary of the trajectory of Skype:
eBay acquired Skype in 2005 for $2.6 billion…Skype became a part of Microsoft in 2012. Microsoft has said it would continue to invest in Skype that has crossed 40 million daily active users. Purchased for $8.5 billion, Skype communication tool has failed to keep up with other messaging rivals to date, while Microsoft Teams has seen a meteoric rise as millions of people work from home.
eBay had the service and accidentally ran over the Skype bunny with a riding mower. The three legged Skype was acquired by Microsoft, a company which has managed to make the interface particularly interesting. Someone like a day laborer for the Spanish Inquisition would add it to a collection in which an Iron Maiden plays a prominent part.
Now in 2020 it is teams.
Any thoughts about the trajectory of Skype and eBay’s and Microsoft’s strategic vision regarding video chat via the Internet?
How much longer will the bunny live? Beyond 15 years?
Stephen E Arnold, July 15, 2020
A Moment of Irony: Microsoft and Facebook Ads
June 30, 2020
I recall reading a story about Microsoft’s purchasing a chunk of Facebook. Recode wrote about the deal in “It’s Been 10 Years Since Microsoft Invested in Facebook. Now Facebook Is Worth Almost As Much as Microsoft.”
I thought about this investment when I read “Microsoft Has Been Pausing Spending on Facebook, Instagram.”
The way I understand this is that Microsoft owns some Facebook shares. Facebook holds meetings for those who own stock. The meetings permit submission of questions from shareholders.
Some questions:
- Has Microsoft asked questions about Facebook’s ad practices at these meetings?
- Has Microsoft contacted Facebook management about its ad-related concerns?
- Has Microsoft management determined that selling its Facebook shares is a good or bad idea?
- Is the “pausing” virtue signaling or something more significant?
Hopefully one of the “real” news outfits will provide some information to help me answer these questions. If I were not so disinterested in Facebook, I could have one of the DarkCyber team jump in. And what about Microsoft’s financial thinking? Did Enron executives actually think about “energy”?
I do like the idea of a company which owns part of another company not liking the company’s policies. The action? Pausing. Yeah, maybe just another word for virtue signaling?
Stephen E Arnold, June 30, 2020
When You Were a Young Millionaire, Did You Write This Way?
June 29, 2020
I read “Mixer Co-Founder on Microsoft Pulling the Plug, Twitch’s Market Power, and His Startup Journey.” DarkCyber looks at the universes of live streaming services from our observation post in rural Kentucky.
Games are not an all-encompassing world. The travails of Dr. Disrespect, the odd-ball world of ManyVids, or individuals who haunt NoAgendaStream.com.
These services create an opportunity for bad actors, malefactors, and Dr. Jekylls to sell contraband, engage in questionable transactions, and pass messages mostly off the radar of the local country sheriff in Tennessee.
What caught our attention in the GeekWire article was this passage:
“Ultimately, the success of Partners and streamers on Mixer is dependent on our ability to scale the service for them as quickly and broadly as possible. It became clear that the time needed to grow our own livestreaming community to scale was out of measure with the vision and experiences we want to deliver to gamers now, so we’ve decided to close the operations side of Mixer and help the community transition to a new platform.”
The young millionaire and digital nabob may want to consider a job in public relations if he is snubbed by an interesting government agency.
Notable phrases:
- Ultimately
- success is dependent
- vision and experiences
- we’ve decided
- operations side
- help the community
- transition
- a new platform.
Yeah, typical 20 something blog speak.
The conclusions we have reached in the DarkCyber intelligence and forecasting center are:
First, Azure couldn’t deliver. If the Softie’s cloud thing can do JEDI, should Azure deliver streaming games? Sure, but it does not.
Second, Microsoft has been friends sort of with Facebook. Does Facebook have a more resilient, agile, responsive, and efficient video service? Facebook may aspire to be social YouTube, but it has a bit of distance to travel.
Third, Microsoft’s mix up with Mixer makes clear that the me to approach to innovation and the blenderized approach to management at Microsoft cannot tap a hot new sector any better than it can update Windows 10.
Net net: DarkCyber is thinking that on our list of soon-to-be-cold technical dinosaurs, Microsoft may find itself making big plans with Hewlett Packard, IBM, and Oracle, among others.
As for the young millionaire, after the election there may be a need for a person with wordsmithing skills, the vocabulary of a millennial lawyer, and the sentence structure of Cicero without the flair unfortunately.
Stephen E Arnold, June 29, 2020
xx
Google: The Me Too Innovation Juggernaut
June 28, 2020
Like Microsoft, Google will have an opportunity to explain its business practices. Perhaps the company will explain how its magical black box interacts with the layers of software wrapped around the smart software too? Maybe, maybe not.
Turning to more practical matters, Microsoft’s decision to kill off the empty spaces called Microsoft Stores illustrates that me too innovation does not work reliably. Hey, Microsoft tried. Also, Microsoft’s interesting attempt to clone Amazon Twitch has ended by creeping to Facebook on little cat’s feet. Hasta la vista, Sr. Mixer. The hope is that Facebook’s magic returns and converts Mixer into a Zucking winner. Hope is useful for some.
The real news, however, concerns Google’s embrace of me too innovation. “Group Video Calls Now Arrive on Google Nest Hub Max.” I don’t know what a Nest Hub is. I don’t know what a Nest Max is. I don’t know what a Hub Max is. What I do know is that Google wants to be JLZ. That’s an acronym for “just like Zoom.” News flash: Zoom has a one word product name, “Zoom.” Google is four times more creative because the GOOG uses four words. Efficient, clear, and memorable: Google Nest Hub Max. Who will be the first Stadia addict to have the letters GNHM tattooed on his or her mouse hand?
The second Google item concerns Google’s acquisition of a me too company which developed some glasses like Google Glass. That was a product that sparked one wit to coin the term “glasshole”.
Google’s Parent Alphabet Is Reportedly in Final Stages to Buy Smart Glasses Maker North, As the Augmented Reality Race with Apple Heats up” reveals that Google is acquiring a company which practices the me too approach to product innovation. What happens when two me two innovation teams collaborate? That sounds like one of those discussion questions bandied about in Dr. Francis Chivers’ phenomenological existentialism classes at Duquesne University. Exciting, eh.
Although not on the scale of virtue signaling practiced by other high technology companies, Google wants to be more diverse. Okay, that’s original.
“Google Execs Say We Need a Plan to Stop A.I. Algorithms from Amplifying Racism” reports:
Two Google executives said Friday that bias in artificial intelligence is hurting already marginalized communities in America, and that more needs to be done to ensure that this does not happen.
Haven’t I read this sentiment before? You?
See. Me too works!
Stephen E Arnold, June 28, 2020
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