Ricochet Software Empowers Whistleblowers to Message Journalists Securely and Anonymously
December 18, 2016
The article titled Ricochet Uses Power of the Dark Web to Help Journalists, Sources Dodge Metadata Laws on The Age announces the completion of a formal security audit that gives would-be users of the software the go-ahead. Ricochet is secure messaging resource intended to enable whistleblowers and human rights activists to communicate with journalists without fear of being exposed. The article explains,
Ricochet… would be able to deliver a level of security and anonymity that isn’t possible with current messaging software, including Wickr — the self-destructing message platform… “The key difference between Ricochet and anything else that’s out there is that it does not use a server. It uses the same technology that ran Silk Road, it uses dark web technology,” Mr Gray said, referring to the notorious online black on which drug dealers thrived until the FBI shut it down in November 2014.
The article does address concerns that software such as this might be useful to terrorist operations in addition to its stated purpose. The makers point out that Ricochet is designed for one-on-one communication, which is not very appealing to the terrorists who have been more focused on reaching many people to coordinate their activities. At the same time, they accept that it might be used by a criminal element and state that such uses don’t negate the positive potential of the software.
Chelsea Kerwin, December 18, 2016
Gallup Survey Shows American Faith in Almost All Institutions Waning Except Military
December 17, 2016
The article on The Washington Examiner titled Fishwrap: Confidence in Newspapers, TV News Hits Bottom relays a Gallup survey that shows Americans trust in media slipping to a new low. The focus of the survey was general loss of confidence in various institutions such as churches, banks, big business, and Congress. The article translates the findings,
Overall, said Gallup’s analysis, “Confidence in banks — which took a hit amid the bursting housing bubble in 2007 and 2008, and dropped further after the ensuing financial crisis — fell the most, plunging from 49% in 2006 to 27% now. Confidence in organized religion, which has felt the effects of the scandals enveloping the Catholic Church, dropped from 52% to 41%, one point below last year’s previous low of 42%.
TV news, print news, and Congress saw the greatest falls of about 10%, perhaps unsurprisingly given the lackluster diplomatic skills of our current Congress and the outright failure of the media to properly vet and address the presumptive Republican nominee. Interestingly, the scandals involving General Petraeus as well as those surrounding the military’s failure to manage sexual assault of its female members over the last few years have done nothing to diminish that institution in the eyes of the public. It stands solid and unshakeable at 73%.
Chelsea Kerwin, December 17, 2016
Cacaphones: A Chapbook for the Cursory Consultant
December 16, 2016
I came across a post consisting of images from a mid tier consulting firm. You know. Mid tier, an azure chip consulting firm. This type of firm is distinct from blue-chip consulting firms like McKinsey, BCG, the “old”, pre spin out Snowden Booz, Allen & Hamilton. Those folks. Another generation’s Google.
You can find (for now) the collection of images at this link. The person posting this link will probably not get hired at the azure chip, mid tier outfit who cooked up the images in “Every Gartner Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies Since 2000.” That works out to 16 years of “cacaphones”; that is, words which are an emission of jargon, buzzwords, and argot designed to help sell consulting work that benefits consultants.
The blue chip outfits mostly stick with the crazy lingo of MBAs, lawyers, accountants, and engineers who know who Milton and Whitman are.
Here’s a run down by year of the cacaphones. How many of these do you use? How many of these can you define even if you bandy the cacaphones around in meetings, at conferences, or at your favorite Starbuck’s?
Year 2000 Cacaphones (n=20 spoor)
3-D Web
Active Server Pages
Audio mining
Biometrics
Bluetooth
DSL/Cable modems
Digital ink
Enterprise portals
Java language
Jini
Micropayments
Quantum computing
Smart cards
Speech recognition
Synthetic characters
Voice over IP
Voice portals
WAP/Wireless Web
Webtops
XML
Year 2001 Cacaphones (n=19 spoor)
Active server pages
B2B e markets
B2C e business
Bluetooth
Digital signatures
Enterprise instant messaging
Enterprise portals
Head mounted displays
M commerce
PDA phones
Peer to peer
Personal fuel cells
Semantic Web
Synthetic characters
Voice over IP
Web services
Wireless LANs/802.11
Wireless Web/WAP
e payments
Year 2002 Cacaphones (n=21 spoor)
Biometrics
Bluetooth
E payments
E tags
Grid computing
Identity services
Location sensing
Nanocomputing
Natural language search
Peer to peer computing
Personal digital assistant phones
Personal fuel cells
Public key infrastructure
Speech recognition in call centers
Speech recognition on desktops
Text to speech
Virtual private networks
Voice over IP
WAP/Wireless Web
Web services
Wireless LANs/802.11
Year 2003 Cacaphones (n=24 spoor): The Year of the Portal
Advanced Web services in portals
Advanced integration in portals
Basic Web services support in portals
Basic search
Business process fusion
Contextual personalization
Federated portals across vendor families
Federated portals within vendor families
Integrated collaboration
Integrated content management
JSR170
Mobile access to portals
Open source portals
Personal work portals
Portal fabric
Portal ubiquity
Portlets
Process portals
Roll based personalization
SES (possibly the Korean girl musical group)
Virtual content repositories
WSRP and JSR 168
XML based multichannel output and interaction
Year 2004 Cacaphones (n=32 spoor): Revenge of the Portal
Advanced Web services in portals
Advanced integration in portals
Application platform suites
Basic Web services support in portals
Basic search
Business process fusion
Contextual personalization
Desktop portals
Federated portals across vendor families
Federated portals within vendor families
Hosted portals
Integrated collaboration
Integrated content management
Integrated open source content management
JSR168 (a portlet catalog)
JSR170 (content repository)
Micro portals
Mobile access to portals
Offline portals
Open source higher education portals
Open source horizontal portals
Portal fabric
Portal ubiquity
Portlets
Process portals
Rich client portals
Role based personalization
Smart enterpriser suites (maybe the 2003 SES?)
Syndication
Virtual content repositories
Web services for remote portals
XML based multichannel output and interaction
Year 2005 Cacaphones (n=41 spoor): A Bountiful Year of Caca
4G
902.16 2004 Worldwide inter operability for microwave access
Augmented reality
Biometric identity documents
Biometric user identification
Business process management suites
Business process networks
Business rule engines
Carbon nanotubes
Corporate Semantic Web
Corporate blogging
DNA logic
Desktop search (what?)
Electronic ink/digital paper
Handwriting recognition
Inkjet manufacturing
Internal Web services
Internet micropayments
Linux on desktop for mainstream business users
Location aware applications
Mesh networks Senor
Micro fuel cells (no longer personal)
Model drive approaches
Networked collective intelligence
Organic light emitting devices
Peer to peer VoIP
Podcasting
Prediction markets
Quantum computing
RFID (passive)
Really simple syndication
Services oriented architecture
Software as a Service
Speech recognition for telephony and call centers
Tablet PC
Text mining
Text to speech speech synthesis
Trusted computing group
Videoconferencing
VoIP (listed twice in the 2005 hype cycle)
XBRL
Year 2006 Cacaphones (n=32 spoor): A Year for Remembering Quantum Computing
Augmented reality
Biometric payments
Collective intelligence
Corporate blogging
Corporate Semantic Web
DNA logic
Digital paper/e paper
Enterprise instant messaging
Event driven architecture
Folksonomies
IPv6
Internal Web servicers
Location aware applications
Location aware technology
Mashup
Mesh networks: sensor
Model driven architectures
Offline Ajax
Prediction markets
Quantum computing
RFID
RSS enterprise
Smartphone
Social network analysis
Speech recognition for mobile devices
Speech to speech translation
Tablet PC Mobile phone payments
Telepresence
Tera-architectures
VoIP
Web 2.0
Wikis
Year 2007 Cacaphones (n=34 spoor): VoIP and Digital Fiesta
Bluetooth in automobiles
Broadband video on demand
Consumer telematics
Digital TV (cable and satellite)
Digital terrestrial TV
Digital video recorders
Digital video broadcasting–handheld
Fixed mobile converged voice service
HD Radio
HD optical disc players
HDTV displays
Household Wi-Fi
IPTV
Interactive TV
Legal file sharing / legitimate P2P
Micro projectors
Media distribution via game consoles
Mobile TV broadcasting
Mobile TV streaming
Mobile video on demand
Network DVR
Next generation satellite
OLED TVs
Online game consoles
PC based media center
Portable media players
Portable personality
Residential VoIP
Ultra mobile devices
Video on demand
Video chat over IP
Wire line home networking (coaxial and power line)
Widgets
Wire line home networking / dedicated Ethernet wiring
Year 2008 Cacaphones (n=27 spoor): The Hardware Influence
3D printing
Augmented reality
Basic Web services (Yep, basic)
Behavioral economics
Cloud computing
Context delivery architecture
Corporate blogging
Electronic paper
Erasable paper printing systems (Huh?)
Green IT
Idea management
Location aware applications
Micro blogging
Mobile robots
Public virtual worlds (Oh, boy)
RFID (case/pallet)
Service oriented architecture
Service oriented business applications
Social computing platforms
Social network analysis
Solid state drives
Surface computers (A mid tier person talked to Microsoft)
Tablet PC
Video telepresence
Virtual assistants
Web 2.0
Wikis
Year 2009 Cacaphones (n=35 spoor): Some Weird Stuff
3-D flat panel displays
3-D printing
Augmented reality
Behavioral economics (Someone took a night school course)
Cloud computing
Context delivery architecture
Corporate blogging
Developed markets (What?)
E book readers
Electronic paper
Green IT
Home health monitoring
Human augmentation
Idea management (What?)
Internet TV
Location aware applications
Mesh networks: sensor
Micro blogging
Mobile robots
Online video
Over the air mobile phone payment systems
Public virtual worlds
Quantum computing (Yippy. Back on the list)
RFID (case/pallet)
Services oriented architecture
Social network analysis
Social software suites (Huh?)
Speech recognition
Surface computers (Go, Microsoft)
Tablet PC
Video search (Discovering YouTube and Google Video search perchance)
Video telepresence
Web 2.0
Wikis
Wireless power
Year 2010 Cacaphones (n=32 spoor):The Début of Extreme
3D flat panel TVs and displays
3D printing Speech to speech translation
4G standard
Activity streams
Augmented reality
Autonomous vehicles
Biometric authentication methods
Broadband over power lines
Cloud computing
Cloud/Web platforms
Computer brain interface
Consumer generated media
Context delivery architecture
E book readers
Extreme transaction processing
Gesture recognition
Human augmentations
Idea management (round up those puppies, partner)
Interactive TV
Internet TV
Internet micropayment systems
Location aware applications
Media tablet
Mesh networks sensor
Micro blogging
Mobile application store
Mobile robots
Pen centric tablet PCs
Predictive analytics
Private cloud computing
Public virtual worlds
Social analytics
Speech recognition
Tangible user interfaces
Terahertz waves
Video search (again!)
Video telepresence
Virtual assistants
Wireless power
Year 2011 Cacaphones (n=41 spoor): A Year in Recycling
3D bio printing
3D printing
Activity streams
Augmented reality
Big Data and extreme processing and management
Biometric authentication methods
Cloud / Web platforms
Cloud computing
Computer brain interface
Context enriched services
E book readers (hello, Kindle)
Gamification
Gesture recognition
Group buying
Hosted virtual desktops
Human augmentation
Idea management
Image recognition
In memory database management systems
Internet TV
Internet of things
Location aware applications
Machine to machine communication services (ah, ha, a network)
Media table
Mesh networks sensor
Mobile application stores
Mobile robots
NFC payment
Natural language question answering
Predictive analytics
Private cloud computing
QR /color code consumerization
Quantum computing (it’s back again)
Social TV
Social analytics
Speech recognition
Speech to speech translation
Video analytics for customer services
Virtual assistants
Virtual worlds
Wireless power
Year 2012 Cacaphones (n=44 spoor): The Kitchen Sink Era
3D bio printing
3D printing
3D scanners
Activity streams
Application stores
Audio mining / speech analytics
Augmented reality
Automatic content recognition (Huh?)
Autonomous vehicles
Big Data (at last!)
Biometric authentication methods
Bring your own device
Cloud computing
Complex event processing
Consumer telematics
Consumerization
Crowdsourcing
Gamification
Gesture control
HTML5
Home health monitoring
Hosted virtual desktops
Human augmentation
Hybrid cloud computing
Idea management
In memory analytics
In memory database management systems
Internet of things
Machine to machine communication services
Media tablets
Mobile over the air payments
Mobile robots
NFC payment
Natural language question answering
Predictive analytics
Private cloud computing
Quantum computing (a familiar emerging technology)
Silicon anode batteries
Social analytics
Speech recognition
Speech to speech translation
Text analytics
Virtual worlds
Volumetric and holographic displays
Wireless power
Year 2013 Cacaphones (n=43 spoor): Losing the Familiar
3D bio printing
3D scanners
Activity streams
Affective computing
Augmented reality
Autonomous vehicles
Big Data
Bio acoustic sensing
Bio metric authentication methods
Bio chips
Brain computer interface
Cloud computing
Consumer 3D printing
Consumer telematics
Complex event processing
Content analytics
Electro vibration
Enterprise 3D printing
Gamification
Gesture control
Human augmentation
In memory analytics
In memory database management systems
Internet of things
Location intelligence
Machine to machine communication services
Mesh networks sensor
Mobile health monitoring
Mobile robots
Natural Language question answering
Neuro business (huh?)
Near field communication
Predictive analytics (a perennial favorite)
Prescriptive analytics
Quantified self (huh?)
Quantum computing (still an innovation trigger)
Smart dust
Speech recognition
Speech to speech translation
Virtual assistants
Virtual reality
Volumetric and holographic displays
Wearable user interfaces
Year 2014 Cacaphones (n=43 spoor):Time for Affective Computing
3D bio printing systems
3D scanners
Activity streams
Affective computing
Augmented reality
Autonomous vehicles
Big Data
Bio acoustic sensing
Biochips
Brain computer interface
Cloud computing
Complex event processing
Connected home
Consumer 3D printing
Consumer telematics
Content analytics (new jargon for the old jargon text analytics?)
Crypto currencies (the consultants discover Bitcoin)
Data science
Digital security (at last, security)
Enterprise 3D printing
Gamification
Gesture control
Human augmentation
Hybrid cloud computing
In memory analytics
In memory database management systems
Internet of things
Machine to machine communication services
Mobile health monitoring
Natural language question answering
Near field communications
Neuro business
Prescriptive analytics (do what the math says, Mary)
Quantum computing (still an innovation trigger)
Smart advisors
Smart robots (mobile robots have disappeared it seems)
Software defined anything (anything?)
Speech recognition
Speech to speech translation
Virtual personal assistants
Virtual reality
Volumetric and holographic displays
Wearable user interfaces
Year 2015 Cacaphones (n=37 spoor): Not Much Neuro Creativity Evident
3D bio printing systems for organ transplant
Advanced analytics with self service delivery
Affective computing
Augmented reality
Autonomous field vehicles (Isn’t this autonomous vehicles?)
Autonomous vehicles
Bio acoustic sensing
Biochips
Brain computer interface
Citizen data science
Connected home
Consumer 3D printing
Crypto currencies
Crypto currency exchange
Digital dexterity
Digital security
Enterprise 3D printing
Gesture control
Human augmentation
Hybrid cloud computing
Internet of Things
Internet of things platform
Machine learning (finally!)
Micro data centers
Natural language question answering
Neuro business
People literate technology (A first timer)
Quantum computing (still with us)
Smart advisors (who wants a stupid advisor?)
Smart dust
Smart robots
Software defined security (a variation on software defined anything)
Speech to speech translation
Virtual personal assistants
Virtual reality
Volumetric displays
Wearable
Year 2016 Cacaphones (n=33 spoor): Lots of “Smart”
4D printing (another dimension?)
802.11ax
Affective computing (More emotion in that silicon)
Augmented reality (Remember Google Glass)
Autonomous vehicles
Blockchain (A first timer)
Brain computer interface
Cognitive expert advisors
Commercial UAV drones (Go, Amazon)
Connected home
Context brokering (love that context word)
Conversational user interfaces
Data broker Platform as a Service or dbrPssS
Enterprise taxonomy and ontology management (Huh?)
General purpose machine intelligence (Wow!)
Gesture control devices
Internet of Things platform
Machine learning
Micro data centers
Nanotube electronics
Natural language question answering
Neuro morphic hardware (Huh?)
Personal analytics
Quantum computing (Plugging along)
Smart data discovery (Opposite of stupid data discovery?)
Smart dust
Smart robots
Smart workspace
Software defined security
Software defined anything, now SDx
Virtual personal assistants
Virtual reality
Volumetric displays.
Here’s a list of the cacaphones, deduplicated, in alphabetical order:
3-D Web
3-D flat panel displays
3-D printing
3D bio printing
3D flat panel TVs and displays
3D scanners
4D printing (another dimension?)
4G
4G standard
802.11ax
902.16
Active server pages
Activity streams
Advanced Web services in portals
Advanced analytics with self service delivery
Advanced integration in portals
Affective computing
Application platform suites
Application stores
Audio mining
Augmented reality
Automatic content recognition (Huh?)
Autonomous field vehicles
Autonomous vehicles
B2B e markets
B2C e business
Basic Web services
Basic Web services support in portals
Basic search
Behavioral economics
Big Data
Bio acoustic sensing
Biochips
Bio metric authentication methods
Bio metric identity documents
Bio metric payments
Bio metric user identification
Bio metrics
Blockchain (A first timer)
Bluetooth
Bluetooth in automobiles
Brain computer interface
Bring your own device. BYOB
Broadband over power lines
Broadband video on demand
Business process fusion
Business process management suites
Business process networks
Business rule engines
Carbon nanotubes
Citizen data science
Cloud / Web platforms
Cloud computing
Cloud/Web platforms
Cognitive expert advisers
Collective intelligence
Commercial UAV drones (Go, Amazon)
Complex event processing
Computer brain interface
Connected home
Consumer 3D printing
Consumer generated media
Consumer telematics
Consumerization
Content analytics
Context brokering
Context delivery architecture
Context enriched services
Contextual personalization
Conversational user interfaces
Corporate Semantic Web
Corporate blogging
Crowdsourcing
Crypto currencies
DNA logic
DSL/Cable modems
Data broker Platform as a Service or dbrPssS
Data science
Desktop portals
Desktop search
Developed markets
Digital TV (cable and satellite)
Digital dexterity
Digital ink
Digital paper
Digital security
Digital signatures
Digital terrestrial TV
Digital video recorders
Digital video broadcasting–handheld
E book readers
E payments
E tags
Electronic ink
Electronic paper
Electro vibration
Enterprise 3D printing
Enterprise instant messaging
Enterprise portals
Enterprise taxonomy and ontology management
Erasable paper printing systems
Event driven architecture
Extreme processing
Extreme transaction processing
Federated portals across vendor families
Fixed mobile converged voice service
Folksonomies
Gamification
General purpose machine intelligence (Wow!)
Gesture control devices
Gesture recognition
Green IT
Grid computing
Group buying
HD Radio
HD optical disc players
HDTV displays
HTML5
Handwriting recognition
Head mounted displays
Home health monitoring
Hosted portals
Hosted virtual desktops
Household Wi-Fi
Human augmentation
Hybrid cloud computing
IPTV
IPv6
Idea management
Identity survives
Image recognition
In memory analytics
In memory database management systems
Ink jet manufacturing
Integrated collaboration
Integrated content management
Integrated open source content management
Interactive TV
Internal Web services
Internet TV
Internet micro payment systems
Internet micro payments
Internet of Things
Internet of Things platform
JSR168 (a portlet catalog)
JSR170 (content repository)
Java language
Jini
Legal file sharing / legitimate P2P
Linux on desktop for mainstream business users
Location aware applications
Location intelligence
Location sensing
M commerce
Machine learning
Machine to machine communication services
Mash up
Media distribution via game consoles
Media tablets
Mesh networks sensor
Micro data centers
Micro fuel cells
Micro portals
Micro blogging
Micro payments
Micro projectors
Mobile TV broadcasting
Mobile TV streaming
Mobile access to portals
Mobile application store
Bio metric authentication methods
Mobile application stores
Mobile health monitoring
Mobile over the air payments
Mobile robots
Mobile video on demand
Model drive approaches
Model driven architectures
NFC payment
Nanocomputing
Nanotube electronics
Natural language question answering
Natural language search
Near field communications
Network DVR
Networked collective intelligence
Neuro business
Neuro morphic hardware (Huh?)
Neuro business (huh?)
Next generation satellite
OLED TVs
Offline Ajax
Offline portals
Online game consoles
Online video
Open source higher education portals
Open source horizontal portals
Open source portals
Organic light emitting devices
Over the air mobile phone payment systems
PC based media center
PDA phones
Peer to peer
Peer to peer VoIP
Peer to peer computing
Pen centric tablet PCs
People literate technology (A first timer)
Personal analytics
Personal digital assistant phones
Personal fuel cells
Personal work portals
Podcasting
Portable media players
Portable personality
Portal fabric
Portal ubiquity
Portlets
Prediction markets
Predictive analytics
Prescriptive analytics
Private cloud computing
Process portals
Public key infrastructure
Public virtual worlds
QR /color code consumerization
Quantified self (huh?)
Quantum computing
RFID
RFID (case/pallet)
RFID (passive)
RSS enterprise
Really simple syndication
Residential VoIP
Rich client portals
Role based personalization
SES (possibly the Korean girl musical group)
Semantic Web
Service oriented architecture
Service oriented business applications
Services oriented architecture
Silicon anode batteries
Smart advisers
Smart cards
Smart data discovery
Smart dust
Smart enterprise suites (maybe the 2003 SES?)
Smart robots
Smart workspace
Smart phone
Social TV
Social analytics
Social computing platforms
Social network analysis
Social software suites (Huh?)
Software defined security
Software as a Service
Software defined anything, now SDx
Software defined security (a variation on software defined anything)
Solid state drives
Speech analytics
Speech recognition
Speech recognition for mobile devices
Speech recognition for telephony and call centers
Speech recognition in call centers
Speech recognition on desktops
Speech to speech translation
Speech to speech translation
Speech to speech translation
Surface computers
Syndication
Synthetic characters
Tablet PC
Tablet PC Mobile phone payments
Tangible user interfaces
Telepresence
Tera-architectures
Tera hertz waves
Text analytics
Text mining
Text to speech
Text to speech speech synthesis
Trusted computing group
Ultra mobile devices
Video analytics for customer services
Video chat over IP
Video on demand
Video search
Video telepresence
Videoconferencing
Virtual assistants
Virtual content repositories
Virtual personal assistants
Virtual private networks
Virtual reality
Virtual worlds
VoIP
Voice over IP
Voice portals
Volumetric and holographic displays
Volumetric displays
WAP/Wireless Web
WSRP and JSR 168
Wearable
Wearable user interfaces
Web 2.0
Web services
Web services for remote portals
Webtops
Widgets
Wikis
Wireless LANs/802.11
Wireless Web/WAP
Wireless power
Wire line home networking (coaxial and power line)
Wire line home networking / dedicated Ethernet wiring
Worldwide inter operability for microwave access (Yes!)
XBRL
XML
XML based multichannel output and interaction
Observations
- Each annual list is what appears to be a subjective round up of jargon. Unlike Google Trends, the lists and their relative placement on the hype graph seem subjective.
- Some drums are beaten loudly and for years; examples include portal (20 mentions). Other inclusions are pretty darned weird or incomprehensible; for instance, digital dexterity, quantified self, synthetic characters, electro vibration, and behavioral economics.
- The lists with their suggestion of what’s coming, what’s here, and what’s going out of style is obviously a marketing exercise. The give away is that collective cacaphones skew to business processes, hot hardware (real or imagined), and network services. My hypothesis is that the mid tier outfit wants to sell bread-and-butter advice along with speculation about the world of Star Wars and Star Trek.
- One would expect an entry to appear each year with its location adjusted to reflect the market grip of the “innovation.” That’s not the case. Items appear once like behavior economics and then disappear. I asked myself, “is this annual cacaphone graph prepared over kale and sushi in a brainstorming session with participants Googling for ideas?”
You will be able to divine the future by contemplating these alphabetical lists and doing some poetical extrapolation. Security appears in four different forms, but lags behind the burning hot subject of portlet. Apply your efforts to “neuro business” and thrive or not. By the way, I have absolutely zero idea what to do with my “quantified self” when I use “neuro morphic hardware.” Stupid, right?
Stephen E Arnold, December 16, 2016
Use Google on Itself to Search Your Personal Gmail Account
December 16, 2016
The article titled 9 Secret Google Search Tricks on Field Guide includes a shortcut to checking on your current and recent deliveries, your flight plans, and your hotels. Google provides this information by pulling keywords from your Gmail account inbox. Perhaps the best one for convenience is searching “my bills” and being reminded of upcoming payments. Of course, this won’t work for bills that you receive via snail mail. The article explains,
Google is your portal to everything out there on the World Wide Web…but also your portal to more and more of your personal stuff, from the location of your phone to the location of your Amazon delivery. If you’re signed into the Google search page, and you use other Google services, here are nine search tricks worth knowing. It probably goes without saying but just in case: only you can see these results.
Yes, search is getting easier. Trust Mother Google. She will hold all your information in her hand and you just need to ask for it. Other tricks include searching “I’ve lost my phone.” Google might not be Find My Iphone, but it can tell you the last place you had your phone, given that you phone was linked to your Google account. Hotels, Events, Photos, Google will have your back.
Chelsea Kerwin, December 16, 2016
Big Data Needs to Go Public
December 16, 2016
Big Data touches every part of our lives and we are unaware. Have you ever noticed when you listen to the news, read an article, or watch a YouTube video that people say items such as: “experts claim, “science says,” etc.” In the past, these statements relied on less than trustworthy sources, but now they can use Big Data to back up their claims. However, popular opinion and puff pieces still need to back up their big data with hard fact. Nature.com says that transparency is a big deal for Big Data and algorithm designers need to work on it in the article, “More Accountability For Big-Data Algorithms.”
One of the hopes is that big data will be used to bridge the divide between one bias and another, except that he opposite can happen. In other words, Big Data algorithms can be designed with a bias:
There are many sources of bias in algorithms. One is the hard-coding of rules and use of data sets that already reflect common societal spin. Put bias in and get bias out. Spurious or dubious correlations are another pitfall. A widely cited example is the way in which hiring algorithms can give a person with a longer commute time a negative score, because data suggest that long commutes correlate with high staff turnover.
Even worse is that people and organizations can design an algorithm to support science or facts they want to pass off as the truth. There is a growing demand for “algorithm accountability,” mostly in academia. The demands are that data sets fed into the algorithms are made public. There also plans to make algorithms that monitor algorithms for bias.
Big Data is here to say, but relying too much on algorithms can distort the facts. This is why the human element is still needed to distinguish between fact and fiction. Minority Report is closer to being our present than ever before.
Whitney Grace, December 16, 2016
Nobody Really Knows What Goes on over Dark Web
December 16, 2016
While the mainstream media believes that the Dark Web is full of dark actors, research by digital security firms says that most content is legal. It only says one thing; the Dark Web is still a mystery.
The SC Magazine in an article titled Technology Helping Malicious Business on the Dark Web Grow says:
The Dark Web has long had an ominous appeal to Netizens with more illicit leanings and interests. But given a broadening reach and new technologies to access this part of the web and obfuscate dealings here, the base of dark web buyers and sellers is likely growing.
On the other hand, the article also says:
But despite its obvious and well-earned reputation for its more sinister side, at least one researcher says that as the dark web expands, the majority of what’s there is actually legal. In its recent study, intelligence firm Terbium Labs found that nearly 55 percent of all the content on the dark web is legal in nature, meaning that it may be legal pornography, or controversial discussions, but it’s not explicitly illegal by U.S. law.
The truth might be entirely different. The Open Web is equally utilized by criminals for carrying out their illegal activities. The Dark Web, accessible only through Tor Browser allows anyone to surf the web anonymously. We may never fully know if the Dark Web is the mainstay of criminals or of individuals who want to do their work under the cloak of anonymity. Till then, it’s just a guessing game.
Vishal Ingole, December 16, 2016
On the Hunt for Thesauri
December 15, 2016
How do you create a taxonomy? These curated lists do not just write themselves, although they seem to do that these days. Companies that specialize in file management and organization develop taxonomies. Usually they offer customers an out-of-the-box option that can be individualized with additional words, categories, etc. Taxonomies can be generalized lists, think of a one size fits all deal. Certain industries, however, need specialized taxonomies that include words, phrases, and other jargon particular to that field. Similar to the generalized taxonomies, there are canned industry specific taxonomies, except the more specialized the industry the less likely there is a canned list.
This is where the taxonomy lists needed to be created from scratch. Where do the taxonomy writers get the content for their lists? They turn to the tried, true resources that have aided researchers for generations: dictionaries, encyclopedias, technical manuals, and thesauri are perhaps one of the most important tools for taxonomy writers, because they include not only words and their meanings, but also synonyms and antonyms words within a field.
If you need to write a taxonomy and are at a lost, check out MultiTes. It is a Web site that includes tools and other resources to get your taxonomy job done. Multisystems built MultiTes and they:
…developed our first computer program for Thesaurus Management on PC’s in 1983, using dBase II under CPM, predecessor of the DOS operating system. Today, more than three decades later, our products are as easy to install and use. In addition, with MultiTes Online all that is needed is a web connected device with a modern web browser.
In other words, they have experience and know their taxonomies.
Whitney Grace, December 15, 2016
DuckDuckGo Makes Search Enhancements by Leveraging Yahoo Partnership
December 13, 2016
The article on Duck.co titled New Features from a Stronger Yahoo Partnership relates the continuation of the relationship between DuckDuckGo and Yahoo. DuckDuckGo has gained fame for its unique privacy policy of not tracking its users, which of course flies in the face of the Google Goliath, which is built on learning about its users by monitoring their habits and improving the search engine using that data. Instead, DuckDuckGo insists on forgetting its users and letting them search without fear of it being recorded somewhere. The article conveys some of the ways that Yahoo is mingled with the David of search engines,
In addition to the existing technology we’ve been using, DuckDuckGo now has access to features you’ve been requesting for years: Date filters let you filter results from the last day, week and month. Site links help you quickly get to subsections of sites. Of course our privacy policy remains the same: we don’t track you. In addition, we’re happy to announce that Yahoo has published a privacy statement to the same effect.
Paranoid internet users and people with weird secretive fetishes alike, rejoice! DuckDuckGo will soon be vastly improved. The article does not state an exact date for this new functionality to be revealed, but it is coming soon.
Chelsea Kerwin, December 13, 2016
How Big a Hurdle Is Encryption Really?
December 12, 2016
At first blush, the recent Wiretap Report 2015 from United States Courts would seem to contradict law enforcement’s constant refrain that encryption is making their jobs difficult. Motherboard declares, “Feds and Cops Encountered Encryption in Only 13 Wiretaps in 2015.” This small number is down from 2014. Isn’t this evidence that law enforcement agencies are exaggerating their troubles? The picture is not quite so simple. Reporter Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai writes:
Both FBI director James Comey, as well as Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, argued last year that the Wiretap Report is not a good indicator. Yates said that the Wiretap Report only reflects number of interception requests ‘that are sought’ and not those where an investigator doesn’t even bother asking for a wiretap ‘because the provider has asserted that an intercept solution does not exist.
Obtaining a wiretap order in criminal investigations is extremely resource-intensive as it requires a huge investment in agent and attorney time,’ Yates wrote, answering questions from the chairman of the Senate’s Judiciary Committee, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA). ‘It is not prudent for agents and prosecutors to devote resources to this task if they know in advance that the targeted communications cannot be intercepted.
That’s why Comey promised the agency is working on improving data collection ‘to better explain’ the problem with encryption when data is in motion. It’s unclear then these new, improved numbers will come out.
Of course, to what degree encryption actually hampers law enforcement is only one piece of a complex issue—whether we should mandate that law enforcement be granted “back doors” to every device they’d like to examine. There are the crucial civil rights concerns, and the very real possibility that where law enforcement can get in, so too can hackers. It is a factor, though, that we must examine objectively. Perhaps when we get that “better” data from the FBI, the picture will be more clear.
Cynthia Murrell, December 12, 2016
GE Now Manufactures Artificial Intelligence
December 9, 2016
GE (General Electric) makes appliances, such as ovens, ranges, microwaves, washers, dryers, and refrigerators. Once you get them out of the appliance market, their expertise appears to end. Fast Company tells us that GE wants to branch out into new markets and the story is in, “GE Wants To Be The Next Artificial Intelligence Powerhouse .”
GE is a multi-billion dollar company and they have the resources to invest in the burgeoning artificial intelligence market. They plan to employ two new acquisitions and bring machine learning to the markets they already dominate. GE first used machine learning in 2015 with Predix Cloud, which recorded industrial machinery sensor patterns. It was, however, more of a custom design for GE than one with a universal application.
GE purchased Bit Stew Systems, a company similar to the Predix Cloud except that collected industrial data, and Wise.io, a company that used astronomy-based technology to streamline customer support systems. Predix already has a string of customers and has seen much growth:
Though young, Predix is growing fast, with 270 partner companies using the platform, according to GE, which expects revenue on software and services to grow over 25% this year, to more than $7 billion. Ruh calls Predix a “significant part” of that extra money. And he’s ready to brag, taking a jab at IBM Watson for being a “general-purpose” machine-learning provider without the deep knowledge of the industries it serves. “We have domain algorithms, on machine learning, that’ll know what a power plant is and all the depth of that, that a general-purpose machine learning will never really understand,” he says.
GE is tackling issues in healthcare and energy issues with Predix. GE is proving it can do more than make a device that can heat up a waffle. The company can affect the energy, metal, plastic, and computer system used to heat the waffle. It is exactly like how mason jars created tools that will be used in space.
Whitney Grace, December 9, 2016
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