Items I happen to view each day. Science, Technology, Management, Culture, and Writing

    This is my day book for this week. It is a log of things I see on the Internet.

This week: 23-29 January, 2023

Summary of this week:

• The Russians are still in Ukraine
• Everyone wants the US and Germany to send tanks to Ukraine for a spring offensive
• ...and the US and Germany announce that they are sending tanks
• America is about to sue Google
• The North Korean army continues to do what it does best---steal money
• Google's layoffs are unprecedented for them. Grievous vexation among the employees.

Monday 23 January 2023

Can big tech make the Internet safe, i.e., less harmful content posted by persons who wish harm? Yes it can, but no it won't. That costs too much money.

Amazon opens its air freight service in the world's largest market---India.

Thoughts on when Apple is releasing new products. The theory is it is all about financial quarters and reports.

A new economics study postulates that income inequality over the past 40 years is due mostly to automation or replacing people with machines in lesser-skilled jobs.

Yet more tips on using ChatGPT as a writer.

Thoughts on evergreen (timeless) content for blogs.

And yet more tips on using software to write stories as a writer.

Thoughts on using personal idioms in fiction. Remember "dingbat" and "meat head?" They worked in context.

Thoughts on the many different ways that writers just stop writing.

Tuesday 24 January 2023

Thoughts on why artificial intelligence hype will not lead to the same economic collapse that happened to crypto currencies.

ChatGPT has become so widely used that we now have articles on how to use it better.

Here is the concept of the "gravity battery" and how abandoned mines could be used to build them. The principle is simple. When there is excess energy, don't charge a traditional battery. Use the electricity to lift a weight. When needed, drop the weight to generate energy. Of course there are problems, but it makes sense.

Coming back to reality: ChatGPT and such are not that revolutionary. At least one person has a grasp of the obvious.

Here is a review of the newest MacBook Pro laptop of 2023. It is all about a more powerful processor.

This look at the new Mac Mini, however, shows many changes from a couple of years ago.

Deeper considerations on the newer M2 Max processor from Apple.

Stronger rumors about Apple's mixed reality headset that will be here real soon now.

CNET used software to write many of its articles. The publication is now under great scrutiny. How about examining the Washington Post with such scrutiny?

Thoughts on how Microsoft was "slow" to put AI into its products.

Our Dept of Justice is about to sue Google for succeeding too much in the advertising market. This is what we do in America, punish those who succeed to the point of bringing envy from government employees.

Our FBI asserts again that the North Korean military is doing what it does best: steal money.

Amazon starts its RxPass. $5 a month pays for lots of prescription drugs. This is a good deal and it brings the question, "Who was making all that extra profit before?"

It appears that there is a $42-a-month tier of ChatGPT that gives better service and more availability.

It appears that students at Stanford are using software to "cheat" on their final exams. This is probably happening everywhere else. Then we have to question the goal of the final exams.

Meanwhile in Japan, the nation has defeated itself by not having children. This is amazing.

Basic, sound business practice has enabled Apple to avoid the big layoffs that are plaguing other companies.

Wednesday 25 January 2023

I'll quote this, "There is no substitute for good decisions at the top---and no remedy for stupid ones. It's really that simple. When the CEO makes foolish blunders, all the wisdom and hard work of everyone else in the company is insufficient to compensate."

How one person uses the more-powerful iPads with better operating systems as a home computer. It now works.

A few experts discuss the future and not-so-bright future of artificial general intelligence.

Reviewing the history of Netflix and Blockbuster and all that.

The trials and tribulations of augmented reality and virtual reality. I consider it a loss of focus. There is great good that can come from augmenting reality. We have done that for centuries and have the technology to do amazing things now. Folks, in my opinion, lose their way playing games with avatars and virtual stuff.

Our Nuclear Regulatory Commission certifies the design of a smaller, modular system. This is a long-overdue first.

Another post on how to use ChatGPT better than the average user.

Foxconn, who manufactures lots of things for Apple among others, is moving plants to Mexico.

Microsoft, who is cutting 10,000 jobs, had a mixed financial quarter with large growth in cloud services.

China and America are exporting facial recognition technology worldwide. We wish that few ne'er-do-wells are buying, but ...

Sorry to say, but those electric cars (and their batteries) are NOT good for the environment.

Real news that isn't news: of course employees at Twitter can post fake tweets on anyone's account. Same goes for all other sites.

I like Seth Godin's post today, "What do you do around here?"

In Ukraine, here come German and American tanks. The spring offensive is on. Many worry about the stability of Mr. Putin's emotions and the nuclear option.

Apple surplus resellers are stuck with computers that cannot be reset and resold.

Thursday 26 January 2023

Real news that isn't news: elected representatives in the Federal government (and their staff members) take classified documents home. Working Federal employees would be fired, lose their retirement, and maybe go to jail for these things. Elected persons are exempt from prosecution and they know it.

And now we have the ChatGPT cheat sheet that shows how to pull the most from the tool.

For the first time in its history, Google layoffs over 10,000 persons. Like most "first times," it is quite traumatic.

The fountain of youth is real as researchers find an anti-aging gene. We hope they know what they are doing.

Forward to the past: NASA and DARPA return to a 60-year-old project to build a nuclear-powered rocket engine to take folks to Mars.

Here are some well-informed thoughts on augmented and virtual reality and why these things are going to be here in a couple of years (so the experts have said for 30 years).

The University of Texas is starting an online Master's program in AI. The price tag is $10,000 which is about a fourth of what other colleges are charging for similar programs.

Strong rumors that Microsoft is updating File Explorer for Windows 11.

Friday 27 January 2023

New technology and magic. They are often confused.

And how do you train those large language model? By hiring people at $2 an hour. Actually, that is high, high pay in some counties.

And more about how colleges, high schools, and other teachers are adapting to the hyperventilating over AI writing tools.

Glowing predictions of how AI will everyone super productive and rich in 2023. We shall see.

Meanwhile in China, an autonomous, drone-carrying research vessels takes to the oceans. I autonomously release airborne, surface, and subsurface drones.

AI21 Labs, an Israeli startup, has a new tools called Wordtune Spices that gives suggestions for improving writing and also gives its sources.

Now that AI is writing essays for everyone (not really, but let's go with that), folks have discovered the topic of bias in data sets and results.

DeepFakes are becoming serious. No longer just to embarrass someone, they carry intent to fool where the consequences are real and high.

Law enforcement agencies in the United States and Europe grab assets of a major ransomware player called Hive.

Intel has a bad financial quarter. This is more indication of a bad economy in general under the current Administration.

Medium dot com updates its policies to address the new software that mimics writing.

Chainalysis, the expert in the field, reports on crytp-money laundering.

More bad economic indicators: worldwide smartphone sales dropped...badly.

A new study on dementia prevention yields the same results: be healthier. Do things mentally and physically. The only new twist is to stop alcohol consumption.

Saturday 28 January 2023

Here is an attempt to explain attention in AI and other areas. It quickly bogs down in math despite the author's best efforts at a general discussion.

This is a good paper on the use of color in communicating science to people.

Here is a GitHub repository with data-wrangling functions.

Great article on how Chick-fil-A runs computing at its restaurants, monitors everything, and constantly improves. Lots of technology humming behind those great chicken biscuits.

Here is an article (written as a Twitter thread of tweets) explaining word embeddings in simple terms. This is a major part of natural language processing.

Type text and this produces a hand-written copy. I guess there is some value in this.

This man spends $2million a year to reverse aging. Perhaps the doctors will learn something useful.

oooops, an airline put our Transportation Safety folks' "no fly list" on the wrong computer. Now everyone can see the list. Whooopeeee!!

An excellent on falling and falling rates of birth and the outcomes. We need more ideas! More people, more ideas. Simple.

ChatGPT is one of those things that comes along and kicks everybody into thinking more than they had been. Good.

OpenAI appears to be on the leading edge of (1) hire a few super-smart programmers then (2) hire a bunch of other people to label data and do simple programming.

Self-driving cars take a big step forward as Mercedes is the first certified at Level 3 (let the car drive itself a while if you are paying attention).

There is a correlation between black bears in an area and reports of big foot. Many conclusions are available.

American corporations are helping the Communist Party of China surveil and censor the folks living in Hong Kong.

Sunday 29 January 2023

A call to managers to bring AI into the business in little steps instead of one big leap.

McKinsey and Company buys Iguazio which is an Israel-based company specializing in MLOps. McKinsey wants to improve its use of machine learning.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released an AI Risk Management Framework (RMF). Government contractors will probably be required to abide by this document in future government contracts.

Meanwhile in Sweden, the National Library has collected 500 years of writings. A lab is using that to create machine learning models.

From the writer of AI Snake Oil, an interview about ChatGPT and how it produces essays meant #1 to sound plausible and then #2 to be true.

Engadget takes a look at the upgraded Mac mini. Apple has turned this into a little powerhouse of computing power. Price is pretty good, as long as you already have a monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Pat racks out there do.

And now we have software that turns text into music. What will they think of next? (we hope something useful)

What is coming in spinning disk drives from Seagate: 30 TeraByte models in 2023.