Big Tech Ignores Pigeons: Solution? Eliminate Nature?
August 30, 2021
I read an amusing post called “Starlink Dishes Apparently No Match for … Pigeons, But There May Be Hope.” The write up states:
… apparently the Starlink terminals or the dishes at users’ places are seemingly vulnerable to pigeons, perhaps among other animals, as the birds’ interference with the dishes apparently could disrupt the connectivity.
My first thought is that massive solar arrays, super-sized windmills, and power generation for electric vehicles and always-on devices will solve the problem.
Elon Musk-infused Starlink has another approach to try. I learned:
According to a recent license filing in the FCC, the company seems to be working on a more “high-performance (HP)” “rugged” version of the dishes that are being built for “use in harsh environments”. These new “rugged” terminals may be able to handle such nuisances from animals like pigeons, if they are deployed for households too.
My thought is that the big-tech entities which are largely unregulated should take offensive action. Birds, squirrels, and possibly agile chipmunks could be bioidentified and terminated via EMP pulses launched from an Amazon or Google drone. What do you think?
On the other hand, maybe the whiz kids should think about antenna design and orientation before learning about blights on high school science club infused ideas for the real world.
Stephen E Arnold, August 30, 2021
Deteching: Not Possible, Muchachos
August 6, 2021
“Don’t become an Enterprise/IT Architect…” contains a small truth and a Brobdingnagian baby.
The small truth is, according to the article:
…there are two speeds in IT: change is slow, growth is fast(-ish). Even if upper management (and many others, but the focus of this post is directed at the gap between ‘top’ and ‘bottom’) thinks they understand the complexity and effects, in reality, most of the time they have no clue as to the actual scale of the problem…
The idea is that there is a permanent break in the cable linking the suits with the people who have desks littered with usb keys, scraps of paper, and technical flotsam and jetsam.
Now for the Big Boy truth:
The frustration is that it will become harder to explain the ‘top’ what is going on and it will be particularly difficult to convince. This is especially true if that top has no interest in actually paying attention, because then it will be even harder as the first difficult step is to get them to hear you out.
What’s this mean for little problems like the SolarWinds’ misstep? What’s this mean for making informed decisions about cloud versus on premises or hybrid versus cloud, etc.? What’s this mean for making deteriorating systems actually work; for example, monopoly provided services which experience continuous and apparently unfixable flaws?
Big and small appear to be forcing a shift to a detech world; that is, one in which users (people or entities) have no choice but to go back to the methods which can be understood and which work. A good example is a paper calendar, not a zippy do, automated kitchen sink solution which is useless when one of the niggling issues causes problems.
As I said, SolarWinds: A misstep. Cyber security solutions that don’t secure anything. Printing modules which don’t print.
Detech. No choice, muchachos.
Stephen E Arnold, August 6, 2021
Tit for Tat, Not TikTok, Spurs Chinese Innovation
August 5, 2021
I don’t think of Foreign Affairs magazine as a hot technology read. Its articles conjure memories of political science. Yeah, that’s right “science” in politics.
However, I did read an interesting essay called “China’s Sputnik Moment?” (Get your credit card, gentle reader, the information may be behind a paywall.)
The main point is that the humiliation of a Chinese Go expert sounded the alert to Chinese technologists. The result is that the Middle Kingdom shifted gears and started “innovating.” The idea that China was losing to a group of Westerners was unpalatable.
You may want to check out the original essay. I want to highlight one passage from the write up as characteristic of the article:
China’s industrial policy has failed.
Well, there you have it. And what’s China beavering away at?
Beijing is pushing hard for technological self-sufficiency.
And how is that working out? The article asserts:
The combined efforts of China’s state drive and its innovative industry will accelerate the country’s technological advancement.
What’s the outlook for China with regard to US policies?
The author concludes:At this point, no effort on behalf of the U.S. government can deter China’s state from its end goal of industrial self-sufficiency.
Those US teens’ clicks of TikTok are count downs it seems.
Stephen E Arnold, August 5, 2021
Cheaper Lodgings Correlated with Violence: Stats 101 at Work
July 20, 2021
I don’t have a dog in this fight, but AirBnB- and VRBO-type disruptors do. ”AirBnB Listings Lead to Increased Neighborhood Violence, Study Finds” reports:
AirBnB removes social capital from the neighborhood in the form of stable households, weakening the associated community dynamics…
The write up explains:
Researchers at Northeastern University in Boston conducted a statistical analysis of AirBnB listings and data on different types of crime in their city. Covering a period from 2011 to 2017, the team found that the more AirBnB listings were in any given neighborhood, the higher the rates of violence in that neighborhood – but not public social disorder or private conflict.
Who causes the crime? The tourists? Nah, here’s what’s allegedly happening:
the transient population diminishes how communities prevent crime.
Interesting assertion. I have a small sample: One. One home in our neighborhood became an AirBnB-type outfit. No one stayed. The house was sold to a family.
No change in the crime rate, but that may be a result of the police patrols, the work from home people who walk dogs, jog, post to Nextdoor.com, and clean the lenses on their Amazon Ring doorbells.
Insightful.
Stephen E Arnold, July 20, 2021
China Chipping Away at Chips: Progress Evident
July 7, 2021
Intel is paying a third party to fab some super duper chips using the same teeny weeny traces rumored to be used in Apple’s next gen, does-everything chip. But Intel itself is not making the chips. China, however, seems to be plugging along with its chip fabbing efforts. It seems that China is moving forward in fabrication and technology for embedding AI in silicon. Global Times reports, “Chinese Tech Giant Baidu Spins Off $2 Billion AI Chip Unit, Gears Up for Homegrown Production Amid Fierce Competition.” Does this mean the bias will now be hardwired in? Who will know until it is too late.
The chip unit Kunlun will soon become an independent company, with the Baidu chip’s chief architect as its CEO. It is hoped the move will bring Kunlun more funding and more flexibility. Shares of Baidu climbed since the announcement. The brief write-up reports:
“Kunlun chips are designed to optimize AI workload and improve cloud cost structure. The project was first announced by Baidu CEO Robin Li at Baidu AI Developer Conference in 2018. It can be widely applied in scenarios such as computer vision and natural language processing. The first generation of Kunlun chips has seen the mass production in early 2020. The second generation with the performance of three times higher than that of the first generation, will be mass produced in the second half of 2021, according to media reports. Chips, which play a crucial role in the Internet of Things era, have become a new focus of competition for China’s technology giants. The competition has intensified amid the recent global shortage of chips and the US restriction on chip supplies to Chinese companies, according to industry experts.”
We are reminded AI chips are crucial to growing fields like unmanned vehicles and cloud servers, so there is much money to be made for companies that act quickly. Will China consider such issues as the unintentional harm biased AI can wreak on individuals and society. Nope. I think in the next six to nine months, there will be harm, and it may affect outfits like Intel which are working overtime to regain some of their former glory in the Great Chip Derby.
News releases are much easier to churn out than advanced semiconductors in our opinion. Maybe Wingtech via Nexperia will buy Newport Wafer Fab. This Newport outfit is the largest chip maker in the UK? Could this be a signal that China wants to make sure it can be a player in the chip game? The answer is, “Looks like it.”
Cynthia Murrell, July 7, 2021
IBM: Watson, What Email Service Should Big Blue Use?
July 6, 2021
Watson, yes, you, IBM Watson. What mail system should IBM use? I am waiting… in the meantime:
This is a one liner offered at lunch by one of my DarkCyber researchers. This individual finds IBM amusing. I, on the other hand, feel for the company.
“IBM’s 18 Month Company Wide Email System Migration Has Been a Disaster, Sources Say” may not be 100 percent spot on. However, I believe it is indeed possible that the former Big Dog of computing may have itself swimming in an Olympic sized pool filled with Schwartzs Kosher Dill Pickles.
The write up reports:
“Outlook won’t work with the new system, IBM Notes won’t work and the online email called Verse has now gone down,” a tipster told us. “Everyone has been affected and no fix is in sight.”
The write up adds:
a blog post to IBM’s internal network w3 said the migration had been planned for 18 months and that everything should go fine provided everyone follows the instructions emailed to them. Evidently, this did not happen.
Now back to my question: Watson, what email service should Big Blue user?
Answer: Proton Mail. Are you sure?
Stephen E Arnold, July 6, 2021
Intel and Its Horse Code
June 29, 2021
Do your remember the absolutely marvelous technical breakthrough of the quantum junction transformer magic technology called Horse Ridge? No, I am trying to forget too. The idea was that Intel’s cryogenic quantum chip would enable commercially viable quantum computing. The key words in these marketing announcements are “cryogenic” and “commercial.” Get out your wallet. Cryogenics can be more expensive than a $25 Arctic Freezer 7.
The new “horsey” metaphor is Horse Creek. I can’t use the phrase horse feathers again; otherwise, I risk the wrath of my seventh grade English teacher. Maybe hair, doody, drool, or blanket? I will have to give this some thought.
“Intel to Create RISC-V Development Platform with SiFive P550 Cores on 7nm in 2022” is a very objective type of write up. I would like to point out that Intel has not been the leader in the tiny nanometer chip derby. In fact, I learned that a Chinese outfit named Biren Technology is getting in the 7nm graphics chip business. I remember when Chinese chip foundries were creating chips about as wide as a city sidewalk. Intel? How is that small trace stuff working out? Will there be enough water in Arizona to make the AMD Ryzen wannabes a reality?
The write up states:
Despite Intel recently committed to bringing its 7nm to market in 2023 with the compute tile for its Meteor Lake processor as its first 7nm product, we’re being told that Horse Creek silicon will be ready in 2022, which would make Horse Creek its first 7nm product. For what it is worth, it’s unlikely that the Intel RISC-V solution is tile-based, but it might be easy enough to bring a small RISC-V chip development platform to market around then. The chip is likely to be small, so that might work in favor of its costs as well. A question does remain as to whether Intel’s involvement here is purely in the hardware, or whether there will be an Intel-based software stack to go along with it.
Is this doubt? Nope. Marketing. How about horse cutlets from your local hippophagie. Better yet. Step away from an undifferentiated “horse” and hire Megan Thee Stallion and license her music and name to brand the Intel horses.l
Stephen E Arnold, June 29, 2021
Founders Forum: A Conference Report for Social Climbers, Foodies, and Auto Fans
June 21, 2021
This is a suggestion. Read “Inside the Elite UK Tech Event Attended by the Rich and Famous.” Gushing does not do justice to this news report. Here’s an example of the rock solid info you will ingest:
Branded as “something like the Davos of tech” by The Guardian newspaper, Founders Forum is put on by serial entrepreneur and investor Brent Hoberman. The former Eton and Oxford student, who co-founded Lastminute.com and the recently listed Made.com, is well-known for having one of the most impressive networks in the European tech scene. Many of his friends and investors are invited to Founders Forum each year.
What about a summary or the introductory remarks? Who gave presentations? What did the speakers say? What questions did the presenters dodge?
Zilch info.
I did learn that foods served included lobster and strawberries. Autos visible were Range Rovers (would they start?) and Teslas. Plus there was an error and a correction.
Outstanding, hard hitting, thumbtyper information. Personalities are what makes the world go round it seems. Yep, another Davos without the podcasts.
Stephen E Arnold, June 21, 2021
First, a Cabinet, Then a Laptop? Quantum Computing Hype Escalates
June 21, 2021
I read “Compact Quantum Computer for Server Centers.” The write up explains:
“Our quantum computing experiments usually fill 30- to 50-square-meter laboratories,” says Thomas Monz of the University of Innsbruck. “We were now looking to fit the technologies developed here in Innsbruck into the smallest possible space while meeting standards commonly used in industry.” The new device aims to show that quantum computers will soon be ready for use in data centers. “We were able to show that compactness does not have to come at the expense of functionality,” adds Christian Marciniak from the Innsbruck team.
I think this is an interesting idea. The big radio in homes in the 1920s became the micro circuits in a mobile phone. Tiny is better. Quantum computers are going to become smaller too. A desktop device? Maybe a laptop? How about a mobile phone?
Is it important to skip over issues like software and applications, error rates, and figuring out how to know exactly what the constantly vibrating tiny things are doing?
Trivial issues obviously.
The write up explains that the ion trap in the vacuum chamber has been made smaller. That’s good. What happens if someone gives the device a hard knock? Heat? No problema. Commercial use cases? Certainly. How about word processing or calculating whether it will rain this weekend? Absolutely.
What this write up said to me was, “We are doing good stuff and we need more funding.” How many other EU quantum wizards will cite this work and generate non reproducible and non verifiable results? What? Academics fudging stuff? Never.
Stephen E Arnold, June 21, 2021
Specialized Technology: Why Processing Talk Can Be Helpful to Anyone
May 7, 2021
Some specialized services companies have provided cheat sheets for audio and video intercepts. I heard that this technology was under wraps and available only to those with certain privileges. Not any longer.
An outfit at Wordcab.com can perform what once was an intelligence function for anyone with Internet access, content, and a way to pay. Navigate to Wordcab.com and sign up. The company says:
Automagically summarize all your internal meetings. Wordcab creates detailed, natural-language summaries of all your meetings and sales calls. So you can focus on people, not paper.
Thumbtypers will thrill with the use of the word “automagically.” The service can ingest a Zoom recording and generate a summary. The outputs can be tweaked, but keep in mind, this is smart software, not Maxwell Perkins reincarnated as your blue pencil toting digital servant. There’s an API so the service can be connected to whizzy distributed services and, if you have a copy of Palantir Gotham-type software, you can do some creative analysis.
The idea is that the smart software can make an iPhone toting bro or bro-ette more efficient.
The key point is that once was a secret capability is now available to anyone with an Internet connection. And to those who don’t think there is useful information in TikTok-type services. Maybe think again?
Stephen E Arnold, May 7, 2021
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