A Peek at the DeepMind Research Process
April 14, 2017
Here we have an example of Alphabet Google’s organizational prowess. Business Insider describes how “DeepMind Organises Its AO Researchers Into ‘Strike Teams’ and ‘Frontiers’.” Writer Sam Shead cites a report by Madhumita Murgia as described in the Financial Times. He writes:
Exactly how DeepMind’s researchers work together has been something of a mystery but the FT story sheds new light on the matter. Researchers at DeepMind are divided into four main groups, including a ‘neuroscience’ group and a ‘frontiers’ group, according to the report. The frontiers group is said to be full of physicists and mathematicians who are tasked with testing some of the most futuristic AI theories. ‘We’ve hired 250 of the world’s best scientists, so obviously they’re here to let their creativity run riot, and we try and create an environment that’s perfect for that,’ DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis told the FT. […]
DeepMind, which was acquired by Google in 2014 for £400 million, also has a number of ‘strike teams’ that are set up for a limited time period to work on particular tasks. Hassabis explained that this is what DeepMind did with the AlphaGo team, who developed an algorithm that was able to learn how to play Chinese board game Go and defeat the best human player in the world, Lee Se-dol.
Here’s a write-up we did about that significant AlphaGo project, in case you are curious. The creative-riot approach Shead describes is in keeping with Google’s standard philosophy on product development—throw every new idea at the wall and see what sticks. We learn that researchers report on their progress every two months, and team leaders allocate resources based on those reports. Current DeepMind projects include algorithms for healthcare and energy scenarios.
Hassabis launched DeepMind in London in 2010, where offices remain after Google’s 2014 acquisition of the company.
Cynthia Murrell, April 14, 2017
Motivations for Microsoft LinkedIn Purchase
April 13, 2017
We thought the purchase was related to Microsoft’s in-context, real-time search within an Office application. However, according to BackChannel’s article, “Now We Know Why Microsoft Bought LinkedIn,” it’s all about boosting the company’s reputation. Writer Jessi Hempel takes us back to 2014, when CEO Satya Nadella was elevated to his current position. She reminds of the fiscal trouble Microsoft was having at the time, then continues:
It also had a lousy reputation, particularly in Silicon Valley, where camaraderie and collaboration are hallmarks of tech’s evolution and every major player enjoys frenemy status with its adversaries. Microsoft wasn’t a company that partnered with outsiders. It scorned the open-source community and looked down its nose at tech upstarts. In a public conversation with Marc Andreessen in October 2014, investor Peter Thiel called Microsoft a bet ‘against technological innovation.’
The write-up goes on to detail ways Nadella has turned the company around financially. According to Hempel, the LinkedIn purchase, and the installation of its founder Reid Hoffman on the board, are in an effort to boost Microsoft’s reputation. Hembel observes:
As a board member, Hoffman will be Microsoft’s ambassador in the Valley. Among a core group of constituents for whom Microsoft may not factor into conversation, Hoffman will work to raise its profile. The trickle-down effect has the potential to be tremendous as Microsoft competes for partners and talent.
See the article for more information on the relationship between the Nietzsche-quoting Nadella and the charismatic tech genius Hoffman, as well as changes Microsoft has been making to boost both its reputation and its bottom line.
Cynthia Murrell, April 13, 2017
Battle in the Clouds
April 10, 2017
The giants of the tech world are battling fiercely to dominate the Cloud services industry. Amazon, however is still at the pole position being the first entrant, followed by Microsoft, Google and IBM.
The Street in an in-depth report titled How Amazon, Microsoft, Google and IBM Battle for Dominance in the Cloud says:
Amazon Web Services, or AWS, is the indisputable leader, with a breadth of services and clients ranging from blue chips such as Coca Cola (KO) and General Electric (GE) to app-economy stalwarts like Netflix (NFLX), Tinder and Lyft. Microsoft and Google are closing the features gap, even if they are far behind on market share.
So far, these technology giants are fighting it out in cornering the IaaS market. Amazon with AWS clearly dominates this space. Microsoft, because of its inherent advantage of B2B software already running across major corporations has it easy, but not easy enough to topple Amazon. Google and IBM are vying for the remaining market share.
Apart from IaaS, PaaS is going to be the next frontier on which the Cloud battles will be fought, the report states. Consolidation is a distant possibility considering the fact that the warriors involved are too big to be acquired. With most services at par, innovation will be the key to gain and sustain in this business.
Vishal Ingole, April 10, 2017
Creative Commons Eludes Copyright With Free Image Search
April 7, 2017
One scandal that plagues the Internet is improper usage and citation of digital images. Photographs, art, memes, and GIFs are stolen on a daily basis and original owners are often denied compensation or credit. Most of the time, usage is completely innocent; other times it is blatant theft. If you need images for your Web site or project, but do not want to be sent a cease and desist letter or slammed with a lawsuit check out the Creative Commons, a community where users post photos, art, videos, and more free of copyright control as long as you give credit to the original purveyor. Forbes wrote that, “Creative Commons’ New Search Engine Makes It Easy To Find Free-To-Use Images.”
The brand new Creative Commons search engine is something the Internet has waited for:
The Creative Commons search engine gives you access to over nine million images drawn from 500px, Flickr, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New York Public Library and the Rijksmuseum. You can search through all or any combination of these collections. You can also constrain your search to titles, creators, tags or any combination of the three. Finally, you can limit your search to images that you can modify, adapt or build upon as you see fit, or that are free to use for commercial purposes.
Creative Commons is a wonderful organization and copyright tool that allows people to share their work with others while receiving proper credit. It is also a boon for others who need photos and video to augment their own work. My only question is: why did it take so long for the Creative Commons to make this search engine?
Whitney Grace, April 7, 2017
The Design Is Old School, but the Info Is Verified
April 5, 2017
For a moment, let us go back to the 1990s. The Internet was still new, flash animation was “da bomb” (to quote the vernacular of the day), and Web site design was plain HTML. While you could see prime examples of early Web site design visiting the Internet Archive, but why hit the time machine search button when you can simply visit RefDesk.com.
RefDesk is reminiscent of an old AOL landing page, except it lacks the cheesy graphics and provides higher quality information. RefDesk is an all-inclusive reference and fact checking Web site that pools links of various sources with quality information into one complete resource. It keeps things simple with the plain HTML format, then it groups sources together based on content and relevance, such as search engines, news outlets, weather, dictionaries, games, white pages, yellow pages, and specialized topics that change daily. RefDesk’s mission is to take the guesswork out of the Internet:
The Internet is the world’s largest library containing millions of books, artifacts, images, documents, maps, etc. There is but one small problem in this library: everything is scattered about on the floor, with growing hordes of confused and bewildered users frantically shifting through the maze, occasionally crying out, Great Scott, look at what I just found!’ Enter refdesk.
Refdesk has three goals: (1) fast access, (2) intuitive and easy navigation and (3) comprehensive content, rationally indexed. The prevailing philosophy here is: simplicity. “Simplicity is the natural result of profound thought.” And, very difficult to achieve.
Refdesk is the one stop source to find verified, credible resources because a team dedicated to fishing out the facts from the filth that runs amuck on other sites runs it. It set up shop in 1995 and the only thing that has changed is the information. It might be basic, it might be a tad bland, but the content is curated to ensure credibility.
Elementary school kids take note; you can use this on your history report.
Whitney Grace, April 5, 2017
Dataminr Presented to Foreign Buyers Through Illegal Means
April 4, 2017
One thing that any company wants is more profit. Companies generate more profit by selling their products and services to more clients. Dataminr wanted to add more clients to their roster and a former Hillary Clinton wanted to use his political connections to get more clients for Dataminr of the foreign variety. The Verge has the scoop on how this happened in, “Leaked Emails Reveal How Dataminr Was Pitched To Foreign Governments.”
Dataminr is a company specializing in analyzing Twitter data and turning it into actionable data sets in real-time. The Clinton aide’s personal company, Beacon Global Strategies, arranged to meet with at least six embassies and pitch Dataminr’s services. All of this came to light when classified emails were leaked to the public on DCLeaks.com:
The leaked emails shed light on the largely unregulated world of international lobbying in Washington, where “strategic advisors,” “consultants,” and lawyers use their US government experience to benefit clients and themselves, while avoiding public scrutiny both at home and overseas.
Beacon isn’t registered to lobby in Washington. The firm reportedly works for defense contractors and cybersecurity companies, but it hasn’t made its client list public, citing non-disclosure agreements. Beacon’s relationship with Dataminr has not been previously reported.
The aide sold Dataminr’s services in a way that suggest they could be used for surveillance. Beacon even described Dataminr as a way to find an individual’s digital footprint. Twitter’s development agreement forbids third parties from selling user data if it will be used for surveillance. But Twitter owns a 5% stake in Dataminr and allows them direct access to their data firehose.
It sounds like some back alley dealing took place. The ultimate goal for the Clinton aide was to make money and possibly funnel that back into his company or get a kickback from Dataminr. It is illegal for a company to act in this manner, says the US Lobbying Disclosure Act, but there are loopholes to skirt around it.
This is once again more proof that while a tool can be used for good, it can also be used in a harmful manner. It begs the question, though, that if people leave their personal information all over the Internet, is it not free for the taking?
Whitney Grace, April 4, 2017
The Golden Age of Radio as Compared to the Internet
April 3, 2017
Here is an article going out to all those old fogies who remember when radio was the main source of news, entertainment, and communication. Me Shed Society compares the Golden Age of Radio to the continuous information stream known as the Internet and they discuss more in the article, “The Internet Does To The World What Radio Did To The World.”
The author focuses on Marshal McLuhan’s book Understanding Media and its basic idea, “The medium is the message.” There are three paragraphs that the author found provoking and still relevant, especially in today’s media craze times. The author suggests that if one were to replace the Hitler references with the Internet or any other influential person or medium, it would be interchangeable. The first paragraph states that Hitler’s rise to power is due in part to the new radio invention and mass media. The most profound paragraph is the second:
The power of radio to retribalize mankind, its almost instant reversal of individualism into collectivism, Fascist or Marxist, has gone unnoticed. So extraordinary is this unawareness that it is what needs to be explained. The transforming power of media is easy to explain, but the ignoring of this power is not at all easy to explain. It goes without saying that the universal ignoring of the psychic action of technology bespeaks some inherent function, some essential numbing of consciousness such as occurs under stress and shock conditions.
The third paragraph concludes that there should be some way to defend against media fallout, such as education and its foundations in dead tree formats, i.e. print.
Print, however, is falling out of favor, at least when it comes to the mass media, and education is built more on tests and meeting standards than fighting hysteria. Let us add another “-ism” to this list with the “extreme-ism” that runs rampant on the TV and the Internet.
Whitney Grace, April 3, 2017
Seventeen Visions of the Future From Microsoft Researchers
March 31, 2017
Here’s a bit of PR from Microsoft that could pay off in many ways, should the company be wise enough to listen to these women. Microsoft’s blog posts, “17 for ’17: Microsoft Researchers on What to Expect in 2017 and in 2027.” As part of their Computer Science Education Week, the company shares 17 well-informed perspectives on the future of tech, presented by 17 talented researchers. On the way to introducing these insights, the post reminds us:
In this ‘age of acceleration,’ in which advances in technology and the globalization of business are transforming entire industries and society itself, it’s more critical than ever for everyone to be digitally literate, especially our kids. This is particularly true for women and girls who, while representing roughly 50 percent of the world’s population, account for less than 20 percent of computer science graduates in 34 OECD countries, according to this report. This has far-reaching societal and economic consequences.
Consequences like a worldwide shortage of qualified computer scientists, which could be eased by a surge of women entering the field. That’s why they call personnel management ”human resources,” after all.
We are pleased to see one particular researcher on the list, Sue Dumais, who happens to be an alum of the historic Bell Labs. Dumais now works as deputy managing director at Microsoft’s Redmond, Washington, lab. Her view for 2017 makes perfect sense—more progress in, and reliance upon, deep learning models. Among other things, she expects these models to continue improving internet search results. What about further down the road? Here’s Dumais’ vision:
What will be the key advance or topic of discussion in search and information retrieval in 2027?
The search box will disappear. It will be replaced by search functionality that is more ubiquitous, embedded and contextually sensitive. We are seeing the beginnings of this transformation with spoken queries, especially in mobile and smart home settings. This trend will accelerate with the ability to issue queries consisting of sound, images, or video, and with the use of context to proactively retrieve information related to the current location, content, entities, or activities without explicit queries.
The post urges readers to share this list, in the hope that it will inspire talented kids of all genders to pursue careers in computer science.
Cynthia Murrell, March 31, 2017
Whither the Tech Industry Under Trump Administration?
March 30, 2017
The Silicon-Valley-based tech industry has done quite well under the Obama administration, we’re reminded in the Hill’s article, “Tech’s Power Shifts as Obama fades to Trump.” Lobbying efforts by internet companies have escalated over the past eight years, catching up to the traditional telecommunications industry. Writers Ali Breland and David McCabe quote a mysterious source:
‘Everybody is amazed by Google’s sort of cozy relationship with the White House,’ said one communications industry insider who asked to remain anonymous. ‘They don’t even try to hide it.’
Ah, dear Google. What now?
The writers cite Noah Theran, of the Internet Association—a group that represents Google, Twitter, and Amazon—as they emphasize the importance of working closely with government. If policy makers don’t understand what is happening in the tech industry, it will be nigh impossible for them to regulate it sensibly.
To complicate matters, apparently, these upstart internet companies have ruffled the feathers of the old-school telecoms, who seem to believe the FCC and Obama administration unfairly favored their new rivals, Google in particular. The article continues:
The tension wasn’t always present. Silicon Valley at one point had famously dismissed Washington, D.C., assessing that it could be the new capital of change in the U.S. That attitude shifted as the tech industry saw a greater need to work with Washington. A touchstone was the Justice Department antitrust suit against Microsoft. After having to appeal an initial order to break into two separate business, Microsoft quickly learned that it needed to have a Washington, D.C. presence if it wanted to preemptively ease regulatory problems later on. …
Trump’s presidency may change how the battles play out for the next four to eight years, however. Trump has had a rockier relationship with some tech companies, including Apple. He at one point during the campaign suggested a boycott of the company’s products over its encrypted phone.
Hoo boy. Hang on to your hats, technology-supporters; this could be a bumpy ride.
Cynthia Murrell, March 30, 2017
Alternative (Aka Fake) News Not Going Anywhere
March 29, 2017
The article titled The Rise of Fake News Amidst the Fall of News Media on Silicon Valley Watcher makes a convincing argument that fake news is the inevitable result of the collective failure to invest in professional media. The author, Tom Foremski, used to write for the Financial Times. He argues that the almost ongoing layoffs among professional media organizations such as the New York Times, Salon, The Guardian, AP, Daily Dot, and IBT illustrate the lack of a sustainable business model for professional news media. The article states,
People won’t pay for the news media they should be reading but special interest groups will gladly pay for the media they want them to read. We have important decisions to make about a large number of issues such as the economy, the environment, energy, education, elder healthcare and those are just the ones that begin with the letter “E” — there’s plenty more issues. With bad information we won’t be able to make good decisions. Software engineers call this GIGO – Garbage In Garbage Out.
This issue affects us all; fake news even got a man elected to the highest office in the land. With Donald Trump demonstrating on a daily basis that he has no interest in the truth, whether, regarding the size of the crowds at his inauguration or the reason he lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton, the news industry is already in a crouch. Educating people to differentiate between true and false news is nearly impossible when it is so much easier and more comfortable for people to read only what reconfirms their worldview. Foremski leaves it up to the experts and the visionaries to solve the problem and find a way to place a monetary value on professional news media.
Chelsea Kerwin, March 29, 2017
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