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Category Archives: Future Developments?
Doctorow challenges us to recognize that we are products of technology ourselves
We cannot oppose progress through technology without irony, because we are products of medical science, information technology and the industrial revolution. (In some sense, I think Doctorow seems to be saying that we are already trans-human.)
According to Doctorow, to use technology to preserve the status quo is to deny something about what we are as human beings and this powerful observation is the thread which ties the novella to the other essays in the book and to the rest of Doctorow’s work. It explains his distaste for DRM technologies — the subject of the address in the book — and guides all his fiction — the subject of the interview which closes the book.
What makes Doctorow’s story so unique is that in almost every science fiction story meat-space is privileged over cyber-space. The hero wins when they successfully resist technology and establish their humanity as an opposing force against the tyranny of the machine. Doctorow and other techno-positive thinkers like him argue forcefully that such thinking can only lead to dystopia and suffering.
Much more:
http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2012/05/cory-doctorow-great-big-beautiful-tomorrow/
Club of Rome: Short-term Thinking of Businesses and Politicians Will Result in the End of Mankind
Dutch language news article:
http://www.telegraaf.nl/buitenland/12076252/___We_overleven_zo_niet_als_soort___.html
See also:
May 7: Launch of major new Report to the Club of Rome : 2052: A Global Forecast for the Next Forty Years. by Jorgen Randers
Rotterdam, the Netherlands: 2052: A Global Forecast for the Next Forty Years, by Jorgen Randers, launched by the Club of Rome on May 7, raises the possibility that humankind might not survive on the planet if it continues on its path of over-consumption and short-termism.
In the Report author Jorgen Randers raises essential questions: How many people will the planet be able to support? Will the belief in endless growth crumble? Will runaway climate change take hold? Where will quality of life improve, and where will it decline? Using painstaking research, and drawing on contributions from more than 30 thinkers in the field, he concludes that:
- While the process of adapting humanity to the planet’s limitations has started, the human response could be too slow.
- The current dominant global economies, particularly the United States, will stagnate. Brazil, Russia, India, South Africa and ten leading emerging economies (referred to as ‘BRISE’ in the Report) will progress.
- But there will still be 3 billion poor in 2052.
- China will be a success story, because of its ability to act.
- Global population will peak in 2042, because of falling fertility in urban areas
- Global GDP will grow much slower than expected, because of slower productivity growth in mature economies.
- CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere will continue to grow and cause +2°C in 2052; temperatures will reach +2.8°C in 2080, which may well trigger self-reinforcing climate change.
The Report says the main cause of future problems is the excessively short-term predominant political and economic model. “We need a system of governance that takes a more long-term view”, said Professor Randers, speaking in Rotterdam. “It is unlikely that governments will pass necessary regulation to force the markets to allocate more money into climate friendly solutions, and must not assume that markets will work for the benefit of humankind”.
“We already live in a manner that cannot be continued for generations without major change. Humanity has overshot the earth’s resources, and in some cases we will see local collapse before 2052 – we are emitting twice as much greenhouse gas every year as can be absorbed by the world’s forests and oceans.”
The launch was organised by the Club of Rome, the international think-tank that focuses on stimulating debate on achieving a sustainable future. The Club is continuing its tradition of supporting work that raises fundamental questions and promotes far-sighted solutions. The launch takes place on the eve of an international meeting of WWF, the international environmental organisation.
Published in the run-up to the Rio Summit, this Report to the Club of Rome: 2052: A Global Forecast for the Next Forty Years(published by US publishers Chelsea Green) looks at issues first raised in The Limits to Growth, 40 years ago. This earlier Report, also to the Club of Rome, of which Randers was a co-author, created shock waves by questioning the ideal of permanent growth.
Commenting on the findings of 2052, Ian Johnson, Club of Rome Secretary General said: “Professor Randers’ analysis of where the world could be in 40 years has demonstrated that ‘Business as usual’ is not an option if we want our grand-children to live in a sustainable and equitable planet. It took 40 years before the full message of The Limits to Growth was properly understood. We cannot afford any more lost decades.”
Senator: Fukushima Fuel Pool Is a National Security Issue for America
After visiting Fukushima, Senator Ron Wyden warned that the situation was worse than reported … and urged Japan to accept international help to stabilize dangerous spent fuel pools.
Anti-nuclear physician Dr. Helen Caldicott says that if fuel pool 4 collapses, she will evacuate her family from Boston and move them to the Southern Hemisphere. This is an especially dramatic statement given that the West Coast is much more directly in the path of Fukushima radiation than the East Coast.
And nuclear expert Arnie Gundersen recently said (at 25:00):
There’s more cesium in that [Unit 4] fuel pool than in all 800 nuclear bombs exploded above ground…
But of course it would happen all at once.
It would certainly destroy Japan as a functioning country…
Move south of the equator if that ever happened, I think that’s probably the lesson there.
Previously:
Japanese Diplomat Akio Matsumura: If reactor 4 in Fukushima goes down, the world will go down with it
http://vrritti.com/2012/04/27/japanese-diplomat-akio-matsumura-if-reactor-4-in-fukushima-goes-down-the-world-will-go-down-with-it/
We’re not actually living in an era of great innovation
More prosaically, the 15 years since the internet became a major part of our lives has been marked here in the U.S. — birthplace of the internet — by mostly disappointing economic growth. The only exception was in the late 1990s, when excitement over how much the internet was going to change everything spurred an investment bubble that briefly drove real growth. (And yes, the story has been different outside the U.S., but the emerging markets boom has generally been more about catching up than exploiting cutting-edge technology.)
Electricity is still electricity, and still generated mostly with fossil fuels; cars are better but not all that much better, and still propelled almost entirely by fossil fuels. Only communication has been truly transformed, but is the transformation really as profound as the advent of telegraphs, radio, and TV? (For much more on this, consult economist Robert J. Gordon’s productivity research.)
We have no colonies on Mars, we still can’t get by without prehistoric fuel, the dishwasher still doesn’t get all the dishes clean, and very few of us have personal jetpacks. You call this progress?
More:
http://www.wired.com/opinion/2012/04/opinion-fox-net-innovation/
How governments and utilities are blindly merging the power grid with the Internet, and effectively without any protection, is insanity at its finest
There is not a power meter or device on the grid that is protected from hacking, if not already infected with some sort of Trojan horse than can cause it to be shut down, damaged or completely annihilated.
“Unless we wake up and realize what we’re doing, there is 100% certainty of total catastrophic failure of the entire power infrastructure within 3 years,” said Chalk.
“This could actually be worse than a nuclear war, because it would happen everywhere.”
Neelie Kroes: “Openness on the internet does not mean anarchy” – Content vs. Infrastructure
It means “MONEY”, and “democracy”, and “inequality” at most… Is Kroes longing for business innovation such as Amazon’s, Apple’s, Facebook’s and Google’s upcoming individual and sometimes non-interoperable ecosystems? ;-)
True openness comes from having the freedom to choose between different ways of communication and different business models, according to Kroes. “Sometimes, creators give their work out for free and get their reward in other ways. Other times, the best way for creators to profit is to charge for access to their work.” she says. By acknowledging and allowing different business models, creators can choose what works best for them.
Neelie Kroes doesn’t believe the complicated licensing systems for copyrighted material in Europe contribute to an open internet in which innovation and discovery flourish. “These guarantee that Europeans miss out on great content, they discourage business innovation and they fail to serve the creative people in whose name they were estabished.” A clear appeal for advancing the reform of licensing in the EU.
‘Perfect storm’ drives electronics stores to extinction
By 2020 most people will have embraced and fully adopted the use of smart-device swiping for purchases they make, nearly eliminating the need for cash or credit cards
It’s The Algorithm Stupid! Part IV – Humanity becomes redundant
Intel man thinks Humans to be out-evolved by an algorithm – Humanity becomes redundant
http://news.techeye.net/science/intel-man-thinks-humans-to-be-out-evolved-by-an-algorithm
It’s not just Jon Ronson whose life is being manipulated by internet algorithms – it’s all of us. And their power is growing
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/mar/30/how-bots-are-taking-over-the-world
The Mind’s Eye program aims to develop breakthrough algorithms for automatically recognizing and describing human activities
http://www.embedded.com/electronics-news/4370129/DARPA-foresees-breakthroughs-in-computer-vision
Financial institutions will benefit from Visa’s cutting-edge, patent-pending algorithms, which help detect fraud patterns. Using this algorithm, Visa Strategy Manager allows financial institutions to target the riskiest transactions with customized fraud strategies and determine whether a transaction should be approved, declined or flagged for review.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/visa-strategy-manager-boosts-issuer-fraud-detection-2012-04-11
News personalization inherently creates an echo chamber for bad ideas, reinforces preconceived beliefs, and may actually lead people to believe they’re making informed decisions because ‘everyone’ agrees. It will also tend to radicalize and become even more limited over time, because it naturally funnels down to the news you really like.
http://scattergather.razorfish.com/1136/2012/04/14/the-pleasures-and-perils-of-personalized-news/
Research by a market data firm has traced the crash of BATS’ IPO to a single algorithm that executed over 500 times on Nasdaq, driving its price from $15.25 to about two cents in less than a second
http://www.advancedtrading.com/algorithms/232800284
Chinese App Store rankings see major shifts following algorithm tweaks
http://www.pocketgamer.biz/r/PG.Biz/App+Store/news.asp?c=39316
An influential group of UK lawmakers has called on Google to introduce an algorithm to remove search links found to be in breach of privacy – or face legislation to force it to do so
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17523020
Best X, an Equity Algorithm Using Advanced and Time Tested Intelligence Focused on Finding the Optimal Price
Best X removes dependence on user-defined parameters and settings, eliminating the need for time-consuming configurations and inputs. Best X automatically adjusts the aggressiveness of execution according to various indicators and market trends. It is designed to deliver optimal trade execution through real-time evaluations of all relevant market centers and numerous market indicators. By evaluating liquidity in real-time, Best X seeks to find the best execution opportunity for orders of any size.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/wolverine-execution-services-launches-best-x-an-equity-algorithm-using-advanced-and-time-tested-intelligence-focused-on-finding-the-optimal-price-2012-03-28
Most pieces of content people end up watching on Netflix are found with the help of a computer equation that thinks it know what you want to watch
http://whatsnext.blogs.cnn.com/2012/04/09/inside-netflixs-popular-recommendation-algorithm/
Algorithm may unsnarl Beijing traffic
http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2012/03/27/Algorithm-may-unsnarl-Beijing-traffic/UPI-38771332894214/
Aoun, a 29-year old entrepreneur in Seattle, unveiled on Wednesday an automated, algorithm-driven news aggregator called Wavii that strips articles down to its bare essentials — who did what — and presents them in a customized, Twitter-like feed…of five or six words
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/04/12/oukin-uk-aggregator-startup-idUKBRE83B00020120412
Algorithm captures what sounds most pleasing to the ear – and it could put human instrument tuners out of the job
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2122578/Algorithm-captures-sounds-pleasing-ear–human-instrument-tuners-job.html
Google Algorithm Changes For March Finally Released. And it’s a big list…
http://www.webpronews.com/google-algorithm-changes-for-march-finally-released-2012-04
FutureAdvisor debuts algorithm-based financial advice website
http://www.computerworlduk.com/news/it-business/3345994/futureadvisor-debuts-algorithm-based-financial-advice-website/
Self-sculpting smart sand could assemble itself into solid replicas of objects
http://www.gizmag.com/smart-sand-mit/22130/
While algorithms can crawl the entire web to find relevant information, could the things that we share on Facebook become a better and more reliable data-set?
http://thenextweb.com/insider/2012/03/30/man-vs-machine-could-facebooks-people-sourced-search-beat-googles-algorithm/
Do we really want someone overlooking our habits with “automated reasoning?” Is this a good thing or not? I suspect that depends on who gets the information, especially since the junk emails I get seem to be based on the queries I make on Google
http://savannahnow.com/accent/2012-04-01/jane-fishman-automated-reasoning-new-world-order
Don’t get me wrong, the math is fun, but we’re excited because we can begin to distill patterns that were previously invisible to us due to a lack of information
http://radar.oreilly.com/2012/03/data-science-deep-data-information-paradox.html
Wall Street is no more efficient at “transferring funds from savings to borrowers” than it was in 1910
This finding is particularly astonishing given the huge impact that computers have had on the economy in general and on financial industries in particular. What Philippon found was that “technological improvements in finance have mostly been used to increase secondary market activities, i.e., trading.”
http://www.tnr.com/blog/timothy-noah/102680/wall-streets-inefficiency
SAP Goes After Predictive Analytics Software Market
http://www.destinationcrm.com/Articles/CRM-News/Daily-News/SAP-Goes-After-Predictive-Analytics-Software-Market-81819.aspx
A library of software algorithms and middleware that combines and processes data from sensors in smartphones and tablets, to interpret users’ movements, context, and intent, was announced today by Sensor Platforms
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sensor-platforms-introduces-freemotion-library-and-software-development-kit-2012-03-26
New computer algorithms will allow the Navy to more accurately identify pirate vessels hiding among innocent shipping on the sea lanes with much greater speed and much less manpower
http://www.gizmag.com/firescout-mmss-pirates/22099/
The SafeNet Sentinel® portfolio of software licensing and protection solutions now includes new functionality that protects security algorithms from attacks in “white box” environments, where attackers traditionally have been able to freely observe and alter dynamic code execution and internal algorithm details at will
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/safenet-thinks-outside-the-black-box-with-industrys-first-white-box-cryptography-software-protection-solution-2012-04-03
Here is the truth: despite the fact that the specific technical functioning of data mining algorithms is quite complex — they are a black box unless you are a professional statistician or computer scientist — the uses and capabilities of these approaches are, in fact, quite comprehensible and intuitive
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/04/everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-data-mining-but-were-afraid-to-ask/255388/
Nine Algorithms That Changed the Future by John MacCormick
One of the best things about Nine Algorithms That Changed the Future is that it is of interest to computer professionals and innocent bystanders (non-professionals) alike. Should I happen to fall through a time warp and appear in the 1950s, all I have to do is remember these database tricks and techniques to ensure that I become rich beyond my wildest dreams
http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-blogs/other/4370374/Book-Review–Nine-Algorithms-That-Changed-the-Future-by-John-MacCormick
See also:
It’s The Algorithm Stupid! Part III
http://vrritti.com/2012/01/01/its-the-algorithm-stupid-part-iii/
It’s the algorithm stupid! Part II
http://vrritti.com/2011/11/23/its-the-algorithm-stupid-part-ii/
It’s the algorithm, stupid! Do algorithms offer the ultimate grounds for exoneration? Can they fail, or only the people writing them?
http://vrritti.com/2011/09/30/its-the-algorithm-stupid-do-algorithms-offer-the-ultimate-grounds-for-exoneration-can-they-fail-or-only-the-people-writing-them/
#OccupyWallStreet demonstrates that there are many ways to intentionally, accidentally or unconsciously but automatically disrupt the free flow of information
http://vrritti.com/2011/10/03/occupywallstreet-demonstrates-that-there-are-many-ways-to-intentionally-accidentally-or-unconsciously-but-automatically-disrupt-the-free-flow-of-information/
Researchers from the University of Toronto and the University of Vigo believe quantum cryptography is the solution to the hacker problem
Quantum cryptography ensures that any attempt by an eavesdropper to read encoded communication data will lead to disturbances that can be detected by the legitimate user. As a result, quantum cryptography allows the transmission of an unconditionally secure encryption key between user1 and user2, even in the presence of a potential hacker, user3. The encryption key is communicated using light signals and is received using photon detectors.
More:
Young people without a future will one day take up arms and hang the traitors upside down in Syntagma Square, as the Italians did to Mussolini in 1945
Pensioner shoots himself at Greek Parliament, refuses to ‘search for food in garbage’. A suicide note has been been found on the old man.
Russian Mogul Plans to Plant Our Brains in Robots and Keep Them Alive Forever
Amazing, yes. Scientifically feasible? Certainly not right now, and maybe not ever. “I understand these are some very big challenges for scientists,” Itskov acknowledges. “But I believe in something you call ‘The American Dream.’ If you put all your energy and time into something, you can make it a reality.”
Is tech taking a jackhammer to Hollywood’s middle class?
Hilary De Vries, a screenwriter and book author, writes about how Hollywood’s middle class is hurting. We’re not talking Brad and Angelina or Martin Scorsese. We’re talking about the guy you might remember from a soap opera or the writing team for a lesser-known sitcom. De Vries offered anecdotes about how her neighbors–several cash-strapped actors and screenwriters–have lost homes to foreclosure. She described how popular eateries are deserted. Work is drying up. One of her neighbors laments becoming a statistic, just one of the millions across the country losing their home.
De Vries offers several reasons for Hollywood’s troubles, including the ailing California economy. She also mentions falling DVD sales and the rise of Internet streaming services. That’s probably closer to the nut. The California economy booms and busts, but new technology can have a lasting and (unfortunately for some) financially ruinous impact.
That’s why I don’t believe this is a lull that the film business will pull out of soon.
Much more:
Why the Internet of the near future will be radically different
All golden ages (if that is indeed what we are living through) have their dark sides. In the internet’s case, that dark side meant spam, phishing scams, child pornography, and more. But those are not driving the big change in internet.
The big change is this: the internet as a place where one could say, read and download anything, even if none of it is shockingly bad, will not be with us forever. Those freedoms are unlikely to remain unrestricted. Controls and curbs on what users can do, and the content users have access to, will only increase.
The tech-savvy among us will always find ways to get around such curbs. But it will get progressively more difficult, or even illegal, to do so. There are two forces driving this change. First, there are the shifts in the way we use the internet now, as compared to how we did a decade ago.
Second, regulators who wanted to close the arbitrage gap between online and offline worlds, ripping off content, or posting objectionable content is easier online, are getting more determined. So is Big Content (the entertainment industry, media), which has bled from the explosion in illegal downloading. Their attempt to gain control over online content may finally be succeeding, at least to an extent.
The copyright industry’s fight isn’t against copying, but against general-purpose computers
As more and more devices we buy are general-purpose hardware devices with custom software designed to make that hardware do certain things out of the box, that custom software that drives the device is also custom-izable software that lets the hardware be recoded and repurposed to do completely different things.
Shortly, we’ll see basically every industry trying to crack down on the freedom to tinker, to keep the products they sold us in the same state as they were before we owned them. This is exactly where we’re headed if the current trends continue.
The problem is that many people don’t understand what a general-purpose computer is. Legislators still think in terms of hardware: A cassette player can only play a cassette. Therefore, a music player today must only play music.
That’s wrong of course. A music player today can be recoded to play, stream, receive, remix, or do other things with music. Or, for that matter, it could probably be recoded to become a networked earthquake early-warning sensor instead, if its microphone was sensitive enough to sense the low-frequency sounds that forebode earthquakes.
This idea — that an off-the-shelf entertainment device can be repurposed to become an earthquake early-warning sensor with just the copying of a file — is mind-boggling to today’s legislators. It is just so far out it doesn’t reflect sunlight any more. And it is with this mindset that they legislate that breaking any DRM — repurposing devices that you own — should be punishable with jail time.
More:
http://torrentfreak.com/doctorows-omen-shows-why-we-need-to-ban-drm-120108/
The Future According To Trendwatcher Adjiedj Bakas: The End Of Privacy (video)
Main trends:
- The internet has become one of life’s vital necessities
- Online shopping will become more popular than offline shopping
- Algorithms and business analytics will tell the shop owner exactly what his customers want
- Electronic patient records will be called ‘medical dossiers’ and will be introduced whether governments want it or not
- Your digital identity will be kept in The Cloud
- The citizen will determine who will be able to access and use that identity
- Only the government and law enforcement will be able to access your DNA passport
- That DNA passport will be crucial in determining ‘good citizenship’
- The formerly ‘parallel’ internet will now become an ‘integral’ part of our lives
- Businesses will merge for them to be able to merge the databases they own
- Nobody knows what will happen to their digital legacy after they’ve passed away
- A GreenPeace activist will get to see a different internet than the manager of Shell whenever they search for ‘durable energy’ (without them realizing it). The response to information requests will become personalized and will ‘fit their profile’. The internet as such will become personalized
- The introduction of a free and a paid internet is inevitable. People may pay to receive information that does NOT fit their profile. Or to see different products than service providers believe the consumers may like
- Some will move away from the digital world
- As technology has gone beyond ‘what’s good for us’, there will be a reintroduction of concepts such as ‘moral‘, ‘ethics‘ and ‘discrete‘
- We will reassess (the use of) algorithms, datamining and business analytics
- There will be a new hybrid digital future. It will also lead to ‘The End Of Privacy‘
Dutch video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXOnxCCSR1I
Dutch language press release:
http://www.bakas.nl/einde-van-de-privacy/
It’s The Algorithm Stupid! Part III
The other day, my twin 15-year-old daughters came home from school hunched over, each engrossed in a Rubik’s Cube. Solving the Rubik’s Cube, they said, was a way to learn algorithms. They then explained that algorithms were “sequences of moves that have a desired effect” and were a very, very important concept in learning higher forms of math.
http://www.thesunnews.com/2011/12/31/2572619/peter-mckay-kids-surging-ahead.html
High Frequency Trading
Jürgen Schmidhuber is director of the Swiss Artificial Intelligence Lab and professor of artificial intelligence at the University of Lugano, Switzerland. He is an expert on machine learning, financial data prediction, and mathematically optimal universal Artificial Intelligence (AI) among other topics. ”Currently we see a strong tendency to minimize the length of time and connection between the computers at the exchanges and those that do the trading. This of course creates an incentive to build ever closer and ever faster computers. This incentive is both hilarious and stupid because it helps the traders but it doesn’t help the market at large.” Instead, Schmidhuber advocates an auction scheme that doesn’t incentivize high frequency trading.
“Right now [high frequency trading] is just a loophole that allows a few smart guys to make a profit at the expense of others and the broader market.”
High frequency trading (HFT), accounts for around 53% of all transactions in the U.S. stock market, up from just 26% in 2006, and it has reaped $12.9bn in profits over the last two years. It is a controversial topic for many traders and governments.
On Friday, the CME Group fined a trader $50,000 for using a high frequency trading strategy that malfunctioned and sent thousands of erroneous orders to the New York Mercantile Exchange and caused a $1 change in price to the price of oil. Currently, several governments are involved with assigning a concrete definition to the practice to determine what it is, how it should be monitored and what rules should govern its use.
http://www.opalesque.com/640034/Schmidhuber_simplicity_drives_algorithm_performance003.html
CME Group Fines Trader $50,000 Over Rogue Algorithm
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20111223-710257.html
Facebook has two algorithms that are important to marketers and developers but are largely misunderstood by people across industries.
http://www.insidefacebook.com/2011/12/27/edgerank-and-graph-rank-defined/
3 Reasons People Love Google
http://www.business2community.com/tech-gadgets/3-reasons-people-love-google-0111166
Google has a problem in being both poacher and gamekeeper. It has to police its search results to make sure that evil, but otherwise hardworking publishers, don’t find a way to “spam” the search results that are placed in front of the innocent user, i.e. Google plays the good guy. However, at the same time most of the advertising on the web is sourced from Google and of course this isn’t spam – no really it isn’t, it’s helpful extra results in your search that you asked for, well you might have asked for given the option to opt in or out. This strange situation puts Google in a position where one part of it has to”fight spam” at the same time as Google’s business development team has to push to “make spam.”
The combination of these two actions, plus the changes to the fundamental search algorithm, have virtually made the value of a simple link equivalent to zero – or so says SEO Book.
http://www.i-programmer.info/news/81-web-general/3526-how-google-made-linking-irrelevant.html
Google rolled out the new, unannounced News algorithm last week which drops “duplicate” content from the original articles. Google’s new algorithm favors large websites only, and here’s one tiny proof.
http://popherald.com/news/googles-new-tricky-algorithm/14016/
Vision Algorithm To Automatically Parse Addresses in Google Street View
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-12/google-wants-computer-vision-algorithms-can-read-addresses-street-view
We’ve always known content is king, even before all the 2011 algorithm enhancements, Google has always regarded highly websites with substantial amounts of content. With all these recent changes, Google is trying to put more emphasis on good content; not just a lot of content– but a lot of well written, unique content. 2012 will see a decent percentage of Google’s updates refining the Panda update, putting more and more significance on brands, with bigger brands getting more favourable results.
http://www.living-streams.co.uk/news_article_name/search_engine_optimisation-403922-internet_business_ideas.aspx
Based on the last year of algorithm changes, it’s reasonable to conclude that Google will not put much effort into natural language search developments until one of its competitors successfully implements it. Then, we can probably expect Google to swoop in, develop a $1 billion product, and leave everyone speechless. But for now, it seems as though they’d rather not.
http://www.business2community.com/online-marketing/natural-language-the-google-algorithm-and-understanding-the-difference-between-speaking-and-searching-0112656
Mobile Advertising
A force for innovation and progress in the mobile advertising industry, LeadBolt today announced the latest advance in its exclusive suite of mobile advertising solutions. Designed to boost eCPMs and increase revenues for mobile app developers and advertisers, the frequency optimization component works with LeadBolt’s proprietary ad serving algorithm to deliver more relevant ads at ideal occurrences to consumers who install mobile applications. This increases revenues to LeadBolt clients and improves the overall experience for the end user of the application.
http://www.benzinga.com/pressreleases/11/12/p2186514/leadbolts-new-advertising-algorithm-delivers-200-increase-in-ecpms-for-
Bing
Bing Algorithm May Have Cost Businesses and Students
http://www.webpronews.com/bing-algorithm-may-have-cost-businesses-and-students-2011-12
eBay
For me, the only reason I’ve been selling on eBay for years was their traffic. I always chalked up their huge fees, hostile seller policies, and the out of control buyer behavior (and the continual escalation of all of these things) as the costs of accessing that traffic to make a living. I am so grateful for your site’s coverage of their new Cassini Project algorithm implementation 3 months ago. If it wasn’t for that information I would never have been able to figure out what happened and what to do about it.
http://letters.auctionbytes.com/cgi-bin/blog/blog.pl?/comments/2011/12/1323747185.html
Spotify
Spotify Radio, the Pandora-like Internet radio service, launches today, but to make it work, the Stockholm online music service reached out to Somerville’s The Echo Nest. “They had 15 million songs, but no way to do music discovery. And music discovery is what we do at The Echo Nest,” said Brian Whitman, chief technology officer of the Davis Square-based MIT Media Lab spinout, which maintains an algorithm that can listen to and read about music online.
http://www.bostonherald.com/jobfind/news/technology/view.bg?articleid=1388985
Crime
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have begun developing an algorithm that predicts which cars were most likely to run red lights. The algorithm detects the car’s deceleration rate and its distance from a light. Using this data, it determines which cars are most likely to obey traffic laws and which cars are most likely to disregard them.
http://www.independentcollegian.com/algorithm-detects-fast-and-furious-1.2681565#.TwBtwrzKefE
How Twitter’s Trending Algorithm Picks Its Topics
http://www.npr.org/2011/12/07/143013503/how-twitters-trending-algorithm-picks-its-topics
Meeting people
Tagged CEO Greg Tseng said “we are a site about meeting new people. We use the same expertise [as Topicmarks], but look at user profiles and comments to extract meaning and match people together.” Tagged plans to incorporate the machine learning technology into its algorithm. “Facebook’s algorithm is about surfacing the best content from your friends. Facebook is a content-matching algorithm,” Tseng said. “Google is for web pages, Netflix is for movies, ours is for people. We call it internally a Pandora for people.”
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/12/08/businessinsiderboonsri-dickinson-ta.DTL
Industry & Coatings
Researchers at UC3M Develop Control Algorithms for Industrial Automation
http://www.azorobotics.com/news.aspx?newsID=2300
Researchers at the Naval Research Laboratory have developed a new system to inspect the exterior coatings of ships. The Topside Corrosion Detection Algorithm (TCDA), one of the AFTCAT algorithms, can automatically assess the extent of corrosion damage and degradation. Other algorithms assess coating color uniformity and the extent of coating failures due to flaking and delamination and blistering.
http://www.vision-systems.com/articles/2011/12/cameras-check-ships-coatings.html
Special Effects
Photoshop gives you much power of editing photos. You might have enjoyed it heartily but it is only limited to 2D art. Harvard University researchers have successfully dealt with 3D aspect. The technology developed at Harvard can easily aid you in transplanting face itself in a video. The algorithm developed will help the low budget films to get special effects as that of any super hero film made in Hollywood.
http://www.crazyengineers.com/digital-face-transplant-to-change-hollywoods-low-budget-films-1410/
Credit Cards
How Credit Card Algorithms Work: The Anatomy of Credit Card Numbers
http://www.businessinsider.com/how-credit-card-algorithms-work-the-anatomy-of-credit-card-numbers-2011-12
Government
NSA officials also define two suites of security algorithms: Suite A and Suite B. Suite A encryption, used for highly sensitive, national-security information, refers to “a specific set of classified cryptographic algorithms used for the protection of some categories of restricted mission-critical information,” according to the National Information Assurance Glossary. Suite B, applied to a majority of data and devices, is “a specific set of cryptographic algorithms suitable for protecting classified and unclassified national-security systems and information throughout the U.S. government and to support interoperability with allies and coalition partners.”
http://www.militaryaerospace.com/articles/print/volume-22/issue-12/technology-focus/in-defense-of-data.html
The US Navy recently tested the autonomous system capabilities of an unmanned undersea glider as the military prepares to deploy squadrons of air, surface and undersea robotic vehicles later this decade. ”Using new algorithms, the vehicle has a greater ability to make its own decisions without requiring a human in the loop,” explained Marc Steinberg of the Office of Naval Research (ONR).
http://www.tgdaily.com/security-features/60077-navy-wants-autonomous-undersea-bots
Gaming
As a bit of background, we’ve been seeing glitches and bugs (or even deliberate changes) in the in-game algorithm that determines how many citizens a players needs to add to their city before being allowed to expand for some time now. After the Halloween Monster event, which saw two separate populations becoming one, it was quickly apparent that something wasn’t quite right as player after player saw their population requirements go from 1,000 – 5,000 all of the way up to 10,000 or more in a single day. With a game as large as CityVille, it would be impossible for Zynga to please everyone, but it does seem like these outrageous numbers (in my own previous experience, I would have needed over 41,000 citizens for a single expansion) have been lowered, but what of those users on the forums that report increased figures?
http://blog.games.com/2011/12/27/cityville-land-expansion-requirements-lower/
User Interfaces
International Business Machines Corp. announced its sixth annual “IBM 5 of 5″ technology report including the predictions our smartphones will be able to read our minds and we’ll no longer need passwords. With Apple’s Siri making waves this year, Big Blue’s predictions don’t seem as much science fiction.
http://wallstcheatsheet.com/stocks/will-computers-read-our-minds-in-five-years.html/
Social Behavior
Algorithm Measures Human Pecking Order - The way people copy each other’s linguistic style reveals their pecking order
http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/27437/
Biometrics
Neurotechnology, a provider of high-precision biometric identification technologies, today announced the availability of VeriLook Surveillance 2.0, a software development kit (SDK) for biometric face identification using live video streams from single or multiple high-resolution digital surveillance cameras. VeriLook Surveillance 2.0 provides real-time identification of faces and can be used in a wide range of surveillance systems for retail and commercial areas, entrance monitoring and counting, automated time-attendance systems, law enforcement applications and transportation security. The new, integrated face tracking algorithm in VeriLook Surveillance 2.0 includes a robust, dynamic face model which can adapt to visual appearance changes as subjects move across the scene. It continues tracking of subjects even when their faces briefly disappear from the frame or when they are partially blocked by other objects or even other faces (a common problem while tracking multiple faces). Because it can now simultaneously process video streams from multiple surveillance cameras, VeriLook Surveillance 2.0 is suitable for use in large surveillance systems.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/verilook-surveillance-20-sdk-advances-face-recognition-for-large-multi-camera-video-surveillance-systems-2011-12-21
‘Hit potential’
Pop Hit Prediction Algorithm Mines 50 Years of Chart-Toppers for Data
http://www.wired.com/underwire/2011/12/hit-potential-equation/
Sorting Algorithms as Dances
http://www.i-programmer.info/programming/theory/3531-sorting-algorithms-as-dances.html
Key algorithm sees first advance in 24 years
Although the new method of matrix multiplication, an essential tool for solving problems in physics, economics and most areas of science, is not practical for use on today’s computers, it is a surprising theoretical leap that could one day have myriad applications. And it’s creating quite a splash on the mathematical blogosphere.
Although today’s computers can’t take advantage of this specific speed advance, Vassilevska-Williams has also created a mathematical framework that could allow for further theoretical improvements that might be practically useful for computing. “You can think of this as a new tool to be added to the toolbox,” she says
Previously:
It’s the algorithm stupid! Part II
http://vrritti.com/2011/11/23/its-the-algorithm-stupid-part-ii/
It’s the algorithm, stupid! Do algorithms offer the ultimate grounds for exoneration? Can they fail, or only the people writing them?
http://vrritti.com/2011/09/30/its-the-algorithm-stupid-do-algorithms-offer-the-ultimate-grounds-for-exoneration-can-they-fail-or-only-the-people-writing-them/
High level event on the future of EU regulation of online world coming up
As the European Commission considers new rules to achieve its digital agenda targets, the European Competitive Telecommunications Authority (ECTA)’s annual conference will explore how different regulatory approaches and business models have shaped European and global telecoms markets. Between 28 and 30 November 2011, ECTA will convene a meeting in Brussels that might shape the EU regulatory framework of the online world for the years to come.
Notable speakers and moderators include Neelie Kroes, Vice President of the European Commission and Commissioner for the Digital Agenda; Ian Livingston, CEO of British Telecom Group; Gunnar Hökmark, MEP and Vice-Chair of the European People’s Party group; Chris Fonteijn, BEREC 2011 Chair and Chairman of Netherlands Competition Authority (NMa), Ed Richards, Chief Executive at Ofcom, Didier Casas of Bouygues Telecom, Marie-Françoise Marais, President of Hadopi and many more high level guests representing government agencies, IT companies and public interest groups.
DHS Begins Testing Controversial Pre-Crime FAST System (On the Willing) – Voluntary citizens are now having their actions tracked by an algorithm for signs of hostility
In the years since the Future Attribute Screening Technology (FAST) was first first revealed by Homeland Security, the department has honed its ability to “collect, process, or retain information” on members of the public, in this case a subgroup of DHS employees. During this test, FAST program manager Robert Middleton, Jr., said “sensors will non-intrusively collect video images, audio recordings, and psychophysiological measurements from the employees.”
http://gizmodo.com/5847937/dhs-begins-testing-controversial-pre+crime-fast-system-on-the-willing
Previously:
Cities could be virtually running themselves with an operating system that looks just like a PC OS but keeps buildings, traffic and services running smoothly
Easier to switch it off when people go to bed
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/emergingtech/an-operating-system-for-smart-cities/2874
Trader on the BBC says Eurozone Market will crash: “The governments don’t rule the world. Goldman Sachs rules the world”
BBC interviewer is visibly shaken when market trader Alessio Rastani predicts that the “Market is Toast.” Apparently there is nothing Euro governments can do.
The BBC featured a version of this clip on their website. It includes a few seconds missing from the beginning, but ends before the newsreader describes the situation as a “Nightmare!” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsDjTbP7TS0
Google Native Client: The web of the future – or the past?
The Future of Light Is the LED
I admire Google for gazing into the future and anticipating how the Internet will disrupt everything–TV, music, books, navigation, news, word processing, telephony, and even computer operating systems. Trying to get ahead of the curve, Google launches projects to disrupt the industries that are slower to embrace the Net
Of course, as Facebook, Twitter, and some others have shown, sometimes it’s Google that gets disrupted, but by and large Google spends more time in the vanguard.
Perhaps too far in the vanguard.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20099275-264/my-vexing-time-outside-googles-net-bubble/
Attorney-General at Dutch Supreme Court: “Taking away someone’s virtual property should be regarded as theft. Virtual goods can represent an economic value”
13-year-old steals virtual Runescape amulet
Dutch language news article: http://www.nu.nl/internet/2551245/diefstal-virtuele-goederen-strafbaar.html
Has Steve Jobs killed the consumer hard disk industry?
Has Apple managed to have deals with all of the Big Four music labels?
Facebook users can already use Spotify’s streaming music service to share playlists and songs, but a new partnership will bring much deeper integration
RIAA Wants To Start Peeking Into Files You Store In The Cloud
Google’s Really Trying to Kill The URL Bar
The Super Clear Displays of the Future
Are Google and Amazon next on RIAA’s docket?
Banks have become intermediaries. Welcome to Google’s playground. What if Google would launch Gbank?
Google or Apple currency a reality? Click on ads in return for a higher interest rate?
Dutch language news article: http://www.geenstijl.nl/mt/archieven/2011/05/google_gaat_geen_happy_meals_v.html
Will digital audio ultimately cause the music business’ demise?
The best digital-era ‘Stones albums look downright pathetic stacked up against their analog efforts
