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Good news probably for the fortunes of LinkedIn since they had been struggling recently. Also of interest to those of us who post in groups and elsewhere on LinkedIn. WIll be interesting to see where Microsoft takes this. Maybe signals a trend to greater presence in social media?
Microsoft to...
There was an earlier post on this topic. This Economist article provide some more detail, not on the tech but on the applications. For example watering for almond crops has been reduced by 20% in one documented case by monitoring soil moisture across orchards. Sensors in soil and on tractors can...
I thought it would be interesting to find out how and where Amazon is pushing the tech envelope, but it's a frustrating exercise. What I get when I search tends to be warped by Amazon's interest in helping other people do research. So I'm left wondering if Amazon is very secretive about their...
We worry a lot about how to make hardware and software invincible against attack - and then it turns out the OEMs leave the front door open by having major security holes in their system software updaters. Reminds me of flash drive issues - it's not the super-sophisticated attacks you need to...
This is a project I can get behind. Superficially it's another in a long line of "here's how we'll be obsoleted by computers". But the project is more interesting than that. Based on deep learning,Magenta aims to pattern human-created music to learn how to create new music. It also has...
These days I'm cautious about what I read in Seeking Alpha, but this blog, if reasonable, points to a serious concern. Oracle is suing Google over use of Java APIs. Java is open-source so in any reasonable interpretation, using the APIs should not seem like a problem. But apparently Oracle got...
Iridium communications, a reboot of the original Motorola operation, is offering satellite based time and locations services as a backup to the GPS system. This is encouraging because there are already known ways to spoof GPS, which might be just annoying in some circumstances but could be...
According to Mark Hibben at Seeking Alpha, the latest version of Android will support windowing and split-screen multitasking. Also a suspicion that Android is being positioned to replace Chrome as part of a Google converged platform strategy. This would put Google in direct competition with...
Quantum computing does have some interesting applications (particularly in modeling quantum problems) but the hype machine now seems to be in overdrive since IBM announced open access to their QC. Emphasis on security applications already looks dated in light of quantum-hardened encryption...
There's an article in Physics Today from a one-time program director at the NSF on what seems to be very predictable behavior in procrastination. In the context of the article, the author's study is based on the rate of grant proposal submissions as a function of closeness to the deadline...
First Google is wracked by internal dissent (in Other Bets). Now it seems Apple is joining in. Uneasy lie the heads that wear the crowns..
Report: Internal fighting slows Apple's efforts to improve cloud services - Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) | Seeking Alpha
We've had various debates back and forth in this forum about how automation is going to create mass unemployment. Perhaps the perspective of age helps me smile at such apocalyptic concerns. Perhaps the history of technology evolution (not just what we think of technology, but all the way back to...
Something like 18k to 25k people to be laid off, and it's rippling around the world. Even some people from the Watson team are being let go. How the mighty are fallen.
IBM Layoff Epidemic Spreads Worldwide - IEEE Spectrum
Microsoft is pushing a hybrid strategy with Azure - private cloud + public cloud. Argument is that you're never going to want everything in the public cloud. The cloud has an edge where for latency, cost-management and security reasons you want to keep some of your compute. Containerization...
Microsoft has filed suit against the US government claiming that the government is violating the Constitution in preventing Microsoft notifying thousands of customers that their emails and other documents have been requested. Specifically, "The government’s actions contravene the Fourth...
The answer may be trending towards Facebook. The head of the Advanced Technologies and Projects group at Google, Regina Dugan (ex Director of DARPA, by the way) just quit Google to join Facebook to lead a team called Building 8 in what sounds like a similar role. Could this in part be motivated...
A thoughtful article in the April issue of the Communications of the ACM with bearing on Apple and the FBI, end-to-end encryption and more. A synopsis of the key point (for me) is that privacy has never been absolute, even before the digital age. For Americans, the Fourth Amendment states that...
A reminder that it's not just about the technology. It's also about offering a reliable, long-term solution. Some suppliers don't seem to get that part: Nest’s Hub Shutdown Proves You’re Crazy to Buy Into the Internet of Things | WIRED
If you don't know about EDPS, it's a great boutique design/EDA conference held every year within walking distance of Monterey. They have high quality speakers, presentations and panels, it's a small group so you get a real chance to talk to speakers, panelists and attendees. And it's held in a...
Researchers at UT Austin have built an antenna that breaks time-reversal symmetry. Part of the device is a conventional antenna, but voltage controlled capacitors embedded in transmission lines on the antenna can be forced into oscillation by a weak oscillating voltage, which apparently breaks...
