TikTok Measures Mark a Sharp Turn for U.S. Policy
October 5, 2020
In a severe departure from our previous course, the United States seems to be embracing data localization laws. Nextgov declares, “On TikTok, the Trump Administration is Adopting China’s Own Vision for the Internet.” Though the Administration’s opening demands on the issue have not come to pass, the compromise does mean the data of U.S. TikTok users must be stored in this country on Oracle’s servers. Writer, and GMF Digital director, Sam duPont observes that the administration’s claim it acted out of security concerns does not hold water—the privacy risks of using TikTok, though considerable, are present with many apps. Targeting one company makes little sense. It looks more like a move to assert digital sovereignty and block the free flow of data. DuPont writes:
“On the other hand, requiring domestic data storage as a solution to the risks presented by TikTok is right out of China’s own playbook for the internet, which it has been advocating around the world. Governments in Russia, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Vietnam and elsewhere have imposed or considered replicating data localization requirements akin to China’s own. Until recently, the United States has been a staunch opponent of these laws. And for good reason. Data localization requirements do little to improve the privacy or security of data, but they come with significant economic costs. Data storage and processing is a scale business. When a small Korean company can take advantage of cloud computing services provided by a U.S. company with servers located in Singapore, everybody wins. But where data localization laws require redundant data storage and processing facilities in every market, the economic advantages of digitalization diminish rapidly. Like all wars, the U.S.-China digital trade war has come with casualties, and chief among them is the U.S. commitment to an open, global internet.”
We’re reminded of the administration’s “Clean Network” program, an effort to sever all cyber connections between China and the U.S. This digital isolationist posture is similar to that of China itself and, if enough countries follow suit, will endanger the free-flowing internet that connects people around the world both personally and professionally.
Cynthia Murrell, October 5, 2020
The Quantum Thing
October 2, 2020
Everywhere I look I see “quantum.” For example, consider this confection: “Can Quantum Physics Explain Consciousness? One Scientist Thinks It Might.” And what about “Google Confirms ‘Quantum Supremacy’ Breakthrough.” Or “Intel and QuTech Demonstrate High-Fidelity ‘Hot’ Qubits for Practical Quantum Systems”.
The most recent quantum news to catch my attention appears in “D-Wave Launches its 5,000+ Qubit Advantage System.” The write up explains:
These new systems, with over 5,000 qubits and 15-way qubit connectivity, are now available in the company’s Leap cloud computing platform. That’s up from about 2,000 qubits in the previous system, which featured six-way connectivity. Using Leap’s hybrid solver, which combines classic CPUs and GPUs with the company’s quantum system, users can now solve significantly more complex problems, thanks to both the higher qubit and connection count.
Exciting. I have a few questions:
- When will this technology be available in a mobile phone?
- How much does the cooling component cost to operate per month?
- How does one extract “accurate” data from the system?
Progress in marketing is being made. In practical applications, the charge to the future may be moving more slowly.
Stephen E Arnold, October 2, 2020
Drones: In the Sky for Sure
October 2, 2020
The US Federal Aviation Authority has decided the concept of drone deliveries is safe enough to grant Amazon Prime Air permission to fly beyond visual line of sight. But did the agency consider everything? Diginomica discusses some concerns in the article, “More Drones in the Sky in One Day than Planes in a Year—Amazonian Number-Crunching.”
The drones in question will carry small packages, up to 5 lbs. Reporter Chris Middleton estimates drone deliveries would mean about 4,500 drones in each city, constantly buzzing and swooping about our streets just to deliver things one could get by going down to the corner store (if such a thing continues to exist.) Sure, the project makes sense for the disabled or folks out in the country, but not for everyone else, Middleton maintains.
Any environmental boons from fewer delivery vehicles on the road must be weighed against the impact of building and disposing of drones and drone batteries. Then there are safety concerns—there are many creatures and things drones could crash into out there. Also, humans being what they are, drones will inevitably be targets for theft and sabotage. Furthermore, current aviation rules are designed for traditional air traffic; fleets of cloud-connected drones and, down the line, flying taxies will complicate matters in ways we have yet to imagine. The author summarizes:
“Small, lightweight drones are a harbinger of larger ones that will carry more items, heavier goods, or people – pilotless air taxis are being tested in several parts of the world. So it’s common sense to ask whether most people would tolerate the skies over their towns and cities being full of even small rotorcraft, each carrying a bottle of soda or some bananas…. “Is this a world that we really want to live in? Isn’t the idea itself just a bunch of bananas, lacking in any semblance of common sense? At this point it’s worth remembering that Amazon – like Google, UPS, and FedEx – is a US company designing things for a world that looks like America: a huge land mass, open spaces, grid-like cities with hundreds of miles between them, long straight roads, and thousands of rural communities. In that world, drone deliveries make perfect sense, and the same applies to China. But in densely-populated European countries, with their ageing cities and creaking infrastructures, the concept is a less easy fit. Taken together, the constant risk, noise nuisance, and intrusion into people’s lives seem extreme – all to deliver items that you could pick up from a local shop.”
Middleton concludes with a hope—that it does not take a disaster before regulatory agencies carefully consider the potential ramifications of giving the likes of Amazon, UPS, FedEx free rein throughout our skies.
Cynthia Murrell, October 1, 2020
Cyber Threat Intelligence Report
September 24, 2020
DarkCyber finds cyber-centric research interesting. We spotted a new report, current through June 30, 2020. The report costs about $1,600. The publisher / creator identifies 62 vendors, includes contact information, and details about each firm. For the $1,600, the information hungry buyer receives a 34 page report and — hang on to your hats — an Excel spreadsheet. One enthusiastic reviewer reports that vendors included in the report are:
Anomali
DarkOwl
Intsights
LookingGlass Cyber Solutions
Recorded Future acquired by Insight Partners in 2019
Sixgill (named after a type of fish)
SpyCloud
ZeroFOX
Factoids from the report include:
Funded companies had healthy growth despite the headwinds; for example, Sixgill almost doubled in size.
Headcount among the sample grew at an astounding three percent.
And revenue across the 62 companies, more than $500 million by December 31, 2020.
Want more information? Navigate to IT Harvest.
One minor point, DarkCyber could not rely on the firm’s blog posts through September 21, 2020. Here’s what was available in that service:
Yep, nothing. What’s that say about the firm’s attention to detail?
Stephen E Arnold, September 24, 2020
Microsoft and Search: Here We Go Again
September 23, 2020
Microsoft cannot create reliable software. Example: The Surface Duo, née Andromeda. Example: Windows 10 updates. Example: Windows Mobile. Example: Bob (remember Bob?) The company has good ideas, but it cannot move beyond imitating Amazon for the cloud, piggybacking on Google for a Windows 10X vehicle, and buying Fast Search & Transfer for the jargon-charged enterprise search system the company acquired in 2008.
“Microsoft Gets Exclusive License for OpenAI’s GPT-3 Language Model” makes clear that the smart software efforts of Microsoft Research, acquisitions like Powerset and XOXCO, plus the numerous application specific search and NLP functions are not doing the job. The fix is to license the next big thing. Perhaps the challenge is an organization and work process within Microsoft? Maybe technology is not the problem? Maybe execution is?
The write up in the Silicon Valley real news article states:
Microsoft today announced that it will exclusively license GPT-3, one of the most powerful language understanding models in the world, from AI startup OpenAI. In a blog post, Microsoft EVP Kevin Scott said that the new deal will allow Microsoft to leverage OpenAI’s technical innovations to develop and deliver AI solutions for customers, as well as create new solutions that harness the power of natural language generation.
Here we go again. Will the result be a blend Bing, Windows ME, Vista, and MSN?
Stephen E Arnold, September 23, 2020
Cybersecurity: A Booming Business
September 23, 2020
The United Kingdom has seen record growth for cyber security startups. The record growth in the cybersecurity field is due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the heavy demand on Internet and digital services. Internet and digital services must be protected from potential bad actors stealing individuals’ information or be mischievous during Zoom meetings. Tech Round explains more about cybersecurity’s growth in: “Cybersecurity: The Fastest Growing UK Startup Sector During COVID-19.”
Before the pandemic struck, cybersecurity focused on financial and regulatory risks. Cyber risk management is now a hot ticket for investors. COVID-19 also points to a future where more people will be working remotely, organizations will host their data offsite, and more services will be online:
“Ajay Hayre, Senior Consultant Technology at Robert Walters comments: “Historically IT security has represented only 5% of a company’s IT budget but due to remote working and transition to online or cloud-based solutions, cybersecurity has been thrust to the centre of business continuity plans, having proved its worth in enabling business objectives during lockdown. Not only will every company see the benefit of having this expertise in-house, but they will be looking externally for tools, services and advisors to help guarantee the future-proofing of their business by way of solid and robust cybersecurity provisions.”
What is even more interesting are the venture capitalists behind the investing. The PHA Group breaks down who the “5 Key VCs Backing Cybersecurity Startups” are. According to the LORCA Report 2020, a half billion pounds were fundraised in the first half of 2020 for cybersecurity startups. This is a 940% increase compared to 2019. Venture capitalists also want to invest their money in newer technologies, such as AI, encryption, secure containers, and cloud security. The five companies that invested the most in UK cybersecurity are Ten Eleven Ventures, Energy Impact Partners, Index Ventures, and Crosslink Capital.
Whitney Grace, September 23, 2020
Like Life, Chatbots Are Semi Perfect
September 22, 2020
Chatbots are notoriously dumb pieces of AI that parrot information coded into their programs. They are also annoying, because they never have the correct information. Chatbots, however, are useful tools and developers are improving them to actually be useful. Medium runs down the differences between chatbots: “Updated: A Comparison Of Eight Chatbot Environments.”
Most chatbot environments have the same approach for a conversational interface, but there are four distinct development groups: avant-garde, NLU/NLP tools, use-the-cloud-you’re-in, and leading commercial cloud offerings. There are cross-industry trends across these groups:
“ The merging of intents and entities
• Contextual entities. Hence entities sans a finite list and which is detected by their context within a user utterance.
• Deprecation of the State Machine. Or at least, towards a more conversational like interface.
• Complex entities; introducing entities with properties, groups, roles etc.”
Beyond the industry trends, chatbots are transitioning from the stupid instant messaging programs to interactive, natural language driven, digital employee that “thinks and acts” like a real human. Companies want to use chatbots to grow by being able to comprehend past and current conversations, from multiple sources, and from CRM sources.
Chatbots cannot be compared because their frameworks are so different, but there are five consideration points. The NLU features, ecosystem maturity, licensing/usage costs, graphic call flow front-end developing and editing, and scalability and enterprise readiness are the important consideration points.
Chatbots are becoming smarter and already handle many customer service jobs. If they can actually resolve the problems customers contact companies for, then science fiction truly has become reality.
Whitney Grace, September 22, 2020
Amazon and Its Next Leader According to Bezos Owned AMZ Paper
September 14, 2020
Modern “real news.” Definitely interesting most of the time. I read “Bezos’s Likely Amazon Successor Is an Executive Made in Bezos’s Image.” (I know the story is objective because the page displayed “Support journalism you can trust when it matters most.” Thomson Reuters uses the trust thing too. Okay, trust. The write up is notable because one syllable words ending in “s” require an apostrophe s when used in a possessive structure; for example, Bezos’s newspaper or Bezos’s billions.)
The main point is that the head of Amazon Web Services could take over when Mr. Bezos drives the Bezos bulldozer (no apostrophe because the noun is used as an adjective) into / over another challenge.
I learned:
the company still values high-risk, high-reward bets and is less defined by online shopping than some might think.
Plus, there’s a rare pothole in the Amazon autobahn:
Even in the cloud business, Amazon has had to confront a newly vigorous rival, Microsoft, which has won contracts — including a massive one from the Defense Department — that Amazon might have handily taken just a few years ago.
Are there key points about the possible Bezos replacement? Perhaps:
- Harvard
- Ideas, not operations
- Onliney, not retaily.
This statement seems important:
While retail drives Amazon’s revenue, the cloud business fuels Amazon’s bottom line. AWS generated $3.4 billion in net income in the most recent quarter, about 64 percent of Amazon’s total profit, even though the business accounted for just 12 percent of Amazon’s sales.
Several questions:
- Why the profile now?
- Why emphasize the anti-administration angle?
- What’s the plan for AWS?
I know that the Bezos newspaper is objective. And trust. Yep, the trust thing.
Stephen E Arnold, September 14, 2020
Amazon and Halliburton: A Tie Up to Watch? Yep
September 11, 2020
DarkCyber noted “Explor, Halliburton, AWS Collaborate to Achieve Breakthrough with Seismic Data Processing in the Cloud.” The write up explains that crunching massive seismic data sets works. Among the benchmarks reported by the online bookstore and the environmentally-aware engineering and services companies are:
- An 85% decrease in CDP sort order times: Tested by sorting 308 million traces comprising of 1.72 TB from shot domain to CDP domain, completing the flow in an hour.
- An 88% decrease in CDP FK Filtering times: Tested with a 57 million-trace subset of the data comprising 318 GB, completing the flow in less than 6 minutes.
- An 82% decrease in pre-stack time migration times: Tested on the full 165 million-trace dataset comprising of 922GB, completing the flow in 54 minutes.
What do these data suggest? Better, faster, and cheaper processing?
We noted this paragraph in the write up:
“The collaboration with AWS and Explor demonstrates the power of digital investments that Halliburton is making, in this instance to bring high-density surveys to market faster and more economically than ever before. By working with industry thought leaders like Explor and AWS, we have been able to demonstrate that digital transformation can deliver step-change improvements in the seismic processing market.” – Philip Norlund, Geophysics Domain Manager, Halliburton, Landmark
Keep in mind that these data are slightly more difficult to manipulate than a couple hundred thousand tweets.
Stephen E Arnold, September 11, 2020
IBM, Canned Noise, but No Moan from the Injured Line Judge: IBM Watson, What Is Happening?
September 10, 2020
As it has done since 2015, IBM has shared details about the AI tech it is using to support the US Open tennis championship. This year’s tournament, though, is different from most due to the pandemic. VentureBeat reports, “IBM Will Use AI to Pipe in Simulated Crowd Noise During the U.S. Open.” We think IBM is making the project more complicated than necessary. A sound bed can be accomplished with sound snips on a laptop. Need sound, click a link. IBM’s solution? Bring an F 35, its support team, and a truck filled with spares. Writer Kyle Wiggers reports:
“The first [addition] is AI Sounds, which aims to recreate the ambient noise normally emanating from the stadium. IBM says it leveraged its AI Highlights platform to digest video from last year’s U.S. Open and rank the ‘excitement level’ of various clips, which it compiled into a reel and classified to give each a crowd reaction score. IBM used hundreds of hours of footage to extract crowd sounds, which it plans to make available to ESPN production teams that will serve it dynamically based on play. How natural these AI-generated sounds will be remains a question. Some fans have taken issue with the artificiality of noises produced by platforms like Electronic Arts’ Sounds of the Stands, which simulates crowd sounds using technology borrowed from the publishers’ FIFA game series. The NBA has reportedly considered mixing in audio from NBA 2K during its broadcasts, and the NFL is expected to use artificial fan noise for its live games this year if they’re played in empty stadiums.”
Whether fake crowd noise sounds authentic, do viewers really want to pretend there is a live crowd when there is not? Perhaps; the pandemic is affecting people in strange ways. There has even been a call to bring back canned laughter while it is too risky to gather live studio audiences for sit coms.
The other technology IBM hopes will garner attention at the Open is Watson Discovery, which we’re told will facilitate tennis debates between online viewers by feeding them questions and researching the validity of resulting arguments. The same platform will supply factoids about upcoming matches through the smartphone app. It seems Watson is auditioning for the job of sport commentator.
Ouch! Was that Watson or the line judge? Watson? Watson?
Cynthia Murrell, September 10, 2020
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