Amazon Will Morph Whole Foods into Amazon. What Else?
October 31, 2018
File this one under “Duh,” as articulated by Captain Obvious. People are starting to get concerned about the ways in which Whole Foods will change under Amazon’s ownership. While it’s surprising that folks didn’t see the writing on the wall from day one, we can understand why they are so upset after reading the recent Guardian piece, “‘They Want Us to Be Robots’: Whole Foods Workers Fear Amazon Change.”
According to the article:
“The employee explained that under Amazon, Whole Foods workers are expected to do more with restricted labor budgets and often perform duties above their rank without being properly compensated. In addition, his region’s capital expenditure budget has been frozen.”
While it might seem surprising to see a grocery store being run this way, and it certainly doesn’t sound like a fun working environment, this is Amazon’s modus operandi. Look at how they took online shoe seller Zappos and cut it down to a lean, mean machine. This is the tradeoff for efficiency and low prices. The question is: will consumers put up with it. It’s a tricky tightrope, because we all want character and fulfilling jobs, but we also have to look at our family’s bottom line, as well. Amazon is betting that the latter wins out.
Patrick Roland, October 31, 2018
You May Not Need Artificial Intelligence
October 31, 2018
While it’s easy to get swept up in the excitement of artificial intelligence and machine learning, and imagining all the ways in which it could streamline our worlds, we’re often overlooking a simple fact. We don’t ask if our business actually needs this service. An enlightening Venture Beat story opened our eyes, entitled “Why You Should Think Twice About AI Solutions.”
According to the story:
“An artificial intelligence algorithm might be more accurate than less advanced software, but less advanced software might still be a better value because it is accurate enough — and at a much lower cost.
We also highlighted:
Keyword search is an area where a simpler approach can work better. That’s because, when people search a keyword, they expect to find something that matches the exact word…”
This is some common sense thinking and something we need more of before spending a fortune on AI and machine learning. The author of this story is not alone. Some of the brightest minds in the business declaring that the honeymoon with AI is over. But hype is hype.
Patrick Roland, October 31, 2018
Factualities for October 31, 2018
October 31, 2018
Believe ‘em or not. More satisfying, symmetric numbers from assorted data mavens:
- 50 percent. The volume of government censor requests for censoring YouTube content.
Source: Inquisitr - 800. Number of spam accounts Facebook purged. Source: SFGate
- Zero. The number of times Google mentioned its Android operating system during its Made by Google 2018 keynote. Source: 9to5Google
- 40,000. Number of facial recognition cameras monitoring 11 million uighurs in China. Source: Business Insider
- 30 million. Number of DuckDuckGo searches delivered on one day in October 2018. By comparison, Google delivered only 3.5 billion daily searches. Source: Slashgear
- 111 million active profiles on Google Plus in 2015. (This number will soon be zero because consumer Google Plus has been killed off by lax security and possibly interesting management methods.) For a point of reference, Facebook has two billion active profiles or 18 times the traction of Google Plus. Source: CNet
Stephen E Arnold, October 31, 2018
We Are from Google. We Are Here to Help You
October 30, 2018
Using Google for business has become an unavoidable part of the workday, no matter what industry you are in. However, this runs the risk of your research becoming too sterile and similar to competitors. Or so we are told. We learned more about how this obstacle is being overcome in a recent Maria Johnsen piece, “AI Search Engine in the Age of Intelligent Web 3.0.”
According to the story:
“The introduction of Google Rankbrain has empowered businesses to leave the realm of following Google’s lead while being able to dictate their personal moves. Google applied machine learning AI to empower their algorithm with heightened efficiency and to propel it in line with its goal. the secret of a fantastic search engine is having a mapped out mission that one will be able to advance towards while avoiding confusing information that causes deviation from the mission.”
This is no small news bite. Outlets around the Web are praising the oft-criticized Google for this move. In fact, some are calling it the best thing to happen to SEO in a long time. By helping rank pages that show up, the feel of a personally tailored search has the high potential to make all businesses take notice.
But there is more.
You can get verified by Google. Navigate to this link and start the process.
Patrick Roland, October 30, 2018
Human ResourcesGoes Better with IBM Watson
October 30, 2018
HR at Uber. Great. HR at Google. Even greater. Wonderful field for the Sherms of the professional world.
While it might seem like every industry has been touch in some way by AI and big data, not all are completely onboard. Even an industry like human resources—a world that thrives on data. However, that is rapidly evolving, as we discovered in a recent Tech Republic story, “How IBM’s Watson is Revolutionizing 10 Industries.”
Here’s what the write up said about HR:
“Reviewing hundreds of resumes a day is a herculean task for anyone—crucial facts can be missed due to the amount of information that needs to be processed for each resume. But with IBM Watson Recruitment, current hiring processes may become more streamlined.
We learned:
“Not only does the Watson Recruitment tool analyze resumes and create a score for candidates, it also factors in the company’s top-performing employees.”
How, exactly, does this work? Take this study that found that recruiting software that utilizes AI reduced the time it took to find a suitable candidate from an average of 34 days to only 9. That saves money on the front end and the back. And that’s just the tip of the HR iceberg. Expect more innovative developments as this becomes more of a routine part of business.
Well, here’s a question. “Watson, what’s up with those age discrimination legal allegations?” Right, HR. Even better.
Patrick Roland, October 30, 2018
DarkCyber for October 30, 2018, Is Now Available: Part One, Amazon Policeware
October 30, 2018
DarkCyber for October 30, 2018, is now available at www.arnoldit.com/wordpress and on Vimeo at https://vimeo.com/297839909
Stephen E Arnold’s DarkCyber is a weekly video news and analysis program about the Dark Web and lesser known Internet services.
This week’s program is Part One of our four part series which examines Amazon’s new platform for law enforcement, intelligence, and warfighting software and solutions.
Amazon has developed and successfully deployed its GovCloud platform (classified and unclassified versions). For more than four years, Amazon has provided its machine learning platform and specialized capabilities to one of the largest covert organizations in the United States. The success of that program has encouraged Amazon to compete for the $5 billion JEDI program to provide cloud services to the US Department of Defense.
In this first of four videos about Amazon’s policeware capabilities, Stephen E Arnold discusses Amazon’s coordinated, organized approach to this new service area.
Since 2007, Amazon has systematically put developed and deployed administrative tools, advanced analytic functions like cross correlation, and the technology required to allow point and click access to a wide range of data. Stephen E Arnold, author of CyberOSINT, said: “Amazon’s investment in policeware, its GovCloud technology, and the specialized services for law enforcement, regulatory agencies, and intelligence professionals is important. Amazon’s initiative has the potential to revolutionize how government agencies process open source and classified information.”
The JEDI contract, however, is not the end game for Amazon. The larger objective is for Amazon to provide a range of services which will allow the company to provide regulatory and enforcement services to allies of the United States and meet the needs of local, county, and state agencies. Plus, Amazon has landed a law enforcement contract in the UK which suggests that the company will pursue similar engagements in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, the so-called Five Eyes initiative.
Amazon, if it wins the JEDI deal, could change the way in which government agencies procure advanced technology and process test, image, numeric, and video data. One immediate impact will be to force additional changes in how US government procurements for policeware, war fighting, and intelligence systems are handled. Furthermore, the traditional Federal supply chain for policeware and sense making systems will be disrupted.
Watch for the second part of this four part series next week on November 6, 2018
Kenny Toth, October 30, 2018
IBM. We Bought a Big Time Player.
October 29, 2018
I read “IBM to Acquire Cloud Computing Firm Red Hat for $34 Billion.” Note that CNN Web page plays truly annoying and unrelated media when one attempts to figure out the article.
I noted
The companies called the deal, which still needs approval from shareholders and regulators, the “most significant tech acquisition of 2018.” The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2019.
Three observations:
- Watson is obviously not doing much for IBM other than roviding marketers with a flow of funds to create spectacular ads.
- IBM appears to know that it is going to be breating Amazon and Microsoft exhaust fumes in the cloud sector unless it does something that sort of makes sense.
- The management decision comes too late for some major procurement wins.
Remarkable. Watson, what’s up? Oh, right.
Stephen E Arnold, October 29, 2018
Making Sense of Big Data: What Is Needed Now
October 29, 2018
Picture, images, and visualization will chop Big Data down to size. SaveDelete explained this idea in depth in its recent story: “The Next Big Phase of Big Data: Simplification.”
According to the article:
“Data visualization is a growing trend, and that momentum isn’t likely to decline anytime soon. Visuals make everything simpler; complex relationships between data points can be seen at a glance, reporting is reduced to a handful of pages, and the esoteric mathematics and statistics behind variable relationships disappear when you’re communicating with someone inexperienced.”
Other ways to deal with making sense of Big Data include:
- “Approachable” software. I think this means easy to use, maybe?
- Gathering the right data. Yep, if one wants to understand terrorist attacks one does not need too much data about hamburger sales in downtown Louisville.
- Reducing insights. This is a tough one. I think the idea is similar to Admiral Craig Hosmer’s statement to me in 1973: “If you can’t get it on a 4×6 note card, I don’t want to see it.”
- Make everything simple. Homer Simpson would be proud.
Useful for math and statistics majors.
Stephen E Arnold, October 29, 2018
Google and India: A Bit of Tension
October 29, 2018
India is not happy with Google and you can be sure that everyone’s auntie knows about it. It is never good to anger one of the most populous countries in the world, but Google has certainly upset China and now India. India is angry, because of user privacy issues. Trak shares the story, “Paytm Declares War Against Google; Accuses Them Of Sharing Users’ Payment Data.”
Paytm is India’s largest digital wallet. India is currently in a technological and economic war as Paytm and Google Pay for to be the country’s most popular digital wallet. Paytm now has a surefire weapon against Google. What is it? Google is sharing user data with third parties and it discredits Google Pay’s secure payment claims.
“In an interesting move, Paytm has contact NPCI, the nodal agency which foresees all digital payments in India, and have complained that Google Pay is sharing users’ payment related data with other entities…In a letter addressed to NPCI chief executive Dilip Asbe, Paytm said, ‘Google Pay, which is an unregulated platform, has the scope of using their customers’ data for their monetary gains with complete disregard for the users’ need for privacy,’ Google had recently changed the name of Google Tez to Google Pay, as they plan a major expansion in India. Thus, Google Pay is directly pitched against Paytm in the niche.”
India is not the only country where Google is going to face repercussions of selling user data. Europe is going to team up and probably slap the company with a heavy lawsuit. Perhaps Google with curry favor with this fast growing market?
Whitney Grace, October 29, 2018
Wikipedia Gets A Female Update
October 29, 2018
Wikipedia is one of the best parts of the Internet. It is an official unofficial resource and includes information that print encyclopedias do not include. What is even better about Wikipedia is that it covers pop and entertainment culture and it used to be very hard to find authoritative information about it. Very difficult. Another fantastic Wikipedia accomplishment is that it documents important historical unknowns aka people who made a contribution to history, but there is little information about them. BoingBoing shares how, “A Machine Learning System Trained On Scholarly Journals Could Correct Wikipedia’s Under-Representation Problem” and is adding female scientific unknowns to the online encyclopedia.
Quicksilver is a machine learning AI that used 30000 Wikipedia articles to create a model article to identify what makes a scientist worthy enough to be included in the online knowledge tome. Quicksilver then mined Semantic Scholar to identify 200,000 scholars and is composing Wikipedia entries for them if they are missing. In an even cooler move:
“In addition to correcting omissions in Wikipedia, Quicksilver (which is named for the Neil Stephenson novel) is particularly useful in improving the representation of women in the project. On 18% of Wikipedia’s biographic entries are about women and the vast majority of Wikipedians are men. In addition to creating new Wikipedia entries, Quicksilver can suggest new material for existing entries.”
Even if Wikipedia is low on female scientists and scholars, it is still a better resource to learn about them than so-called authoritative resources. Perhaps a fresh look at Wikipedia is needed?
Whitney Grace, October 29, 2018
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