Capitalogix

I Wonder Whether He Has Any Playmates - Weekly Links - September 29th, 2017

Hugh Hefner died at 91 years old on Wednesday.

Here is a peek at what I 've been reading lately. These are the links I saved this week. Hope you find some interesting and enjoyable tidbits. Let me know if you read something I'd like ... Or if there are other sources I should add to my weekly reading. Thanks.

Lighter Links:

Artificial Intelligence and Big Data: Good for Innovation? (Forbes) Birds Beware: The Praying Mantis Wants Your Brain. (NYT) This Week In Sports Wasn’t About Sports. (WSJ) A Week on the Wrist the Apple Watch Series 3 Edition. (Hodinkee) Military Command as Moral Prudence. (TheStrategyBridge) How to Make a Drawing Float on Water. (Neatorama) Undiscovered Plants and Animals May Reside in Warm Caves under Antarctic Glaciers. (Newatlas) Animated Map of How Earth Will Look in 250 Million Years. (BI) The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve: Exploring the Myth of the Original Sinners. (NewStatesman) 43 Bulletpoints on Personal Productivity. (BetterHumans) Want to Get in Better Shape? The Best Way to Get Stronger. (Inc) 13 Paradigm-Shattering Books to Open Your Mind. (Medium) Deep Learning is Not the AI Future. (KDNuggets) 9 Factors that Influence Testosterone Levels. (MDA) Should We Be Scared of Artificial Intelligence? (The Atlantic) How Apple Finally Made Siri Sound More Human. (Wired) Cyber Warfare - Reasons Why Israel Leads the Charge. (Forbes) 'Pen' Identifies Cancer in 10 Seconds. (BBC) What Makes Relationships Last, According to 1100 Studies. (Motto) Machine Learning: 10 Facts Everyone Needs to Understand. (HuffPo)

Market-Related Links

China's Plan for World Domination in AI Isn't So Crazy after All.(Bloomberg)  Economists At The Fed are Worried about Its Ability to Respond to Future Crises. (CNBC) So You Think You Can Be an Ex-Pat? Check Out This Report. (Forbes) This Tech IPO Has Everyone Talking. (CNBC) What's Wrong with the Thrive/Survive Theory of Left and Right.(EconLog) Hong Kong is Becoming Too Expensive for Bankers. (BusinessInsider) Vancouver Bankruptcies are Soaring. (BusinessInsider) Street's Trading Woes Continue as Citi Warns of 15 Percent Slide in Revenue. (CNBC) The World is Facing a Global Sand Crisis Because We're Mining Way Too Much of It. (ScienceAlert) Amazon May Get a Multi-Billion-Dollar Tax Break. (Axios) Stanley Fischer's Surprise Exit Will Leave Federal Reserve with a Big Problem. (TheStreet) China Plans to Ban Sales of Fossil Fuel Cars Entirely. (TechCrunch) America's Newest Stock Exchange is Gunning for NYSE and Nasdaq's Marquee Business. (BusinessInsider) Hackers Lie In Wait After Penetrating US and Europe Power Grid Networks. (ArsTechnica) How Does Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Work and How Can Entrepreneurs Capitalize on It? (Forbes) This Tiny Country Feeds the World. (NationalGeographic) Xi Calls for BRICS to Play a Bigger Role in World Governance. (AP News) China's Bad Banks Show It Still Has a Big Bad Loan Problem. (Wall Street Journal) Investors Have Forgotten about the Financial Meltdown and That's a Big Danger. (TheStreet) IBM Invests $240 Million into AI Research Lab with MIT as It Struggles in AI Battle. (Forbes)

Let me know what you think. Thanks. - Howard

What Is Machine Learning?

Machine Learning is a broad term ... Essentially, it's a method of data analysis that automates the process of building models.

That means instead of having a programmer figure out how to solve a problem, you have the program figure out how to solve the problem. 

While you probably know the basics, wisdom comes from making finer distinctions. 

So, here is a chart that sheds some light on the current state of Machine Learning.

 

via techleer

Also, if you are interested, here is a list of some other good visual summaries and articles about AI and Machine Learning:

• Understanding Machine Learning (Futurism)
• Machine Learning Cheat Sheet (DataScienceCentral)
• The Periodic Table Of AI (XPrize)
• Difference between Machine Learning, Data Science, AI, Deep Learning, and Statistics (DSC)
• A Visual Introduction to Machine Learning (r2d3)

 

How Amazon's AI Is Changing How You Stock A 'Pantry'

Normally, we see stores and warehouses organized by section - Cereals, Cheese, Fruit. This makes sense because as humans, it's easier to find everything if it's organized logically for us. 

Amazon is changing that. 

Their new service, "Prime Now," promises thousands of items delivered to you in around an hour.

That level of immediacy and activity creates an interesting set of logistical problems.  For example, how would you organize the warehouse to enable that level of service?  The answer might surprise you.

 

Tech Insider via Yahoo

The answer is you don't.  If you walked into one of Amazon's PrimeNow warehouses, you'd see a bunch of pods with random items next to each other.  You might find cleaning supplies next to a children's toy, or maybe even an adult toy. 

While this may seem weird or counter-intuitive ... with numerous "shoppers" all going through the warehouse at the same time, if the warehouse was organized by category or popularity,  the result would be traffic jam bottlenecks and less throughput. 

By organizing items randomly, and having the list of items ready ahead of time, Amazon's computers can create an optimum path for each "shopper" that takes into account the position of the items, where the checkout is, and where other shoppers are grabbing items.  

That optimum path is critical in getting your order on time.   This is another example of organized chaos – where human logic (or common sense) is not the most efficient or effective path to an optimal solution.

Pretty Cool!

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - September 25th, 2017

Interesting week in the Twit-o-Sphere as Steph Curry and Donald Trump feud, and Ted Cruz is "caught" liking porn on Twitter. 

Who would have guessed Twitter would play such a strong a role in today's political climate?

I believe that everyone deserves the right to my opinion (as much as anyone) ... Still, sometimes silence is the best policy.

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye recently. Hope you find something interesting.

Lighter Links:

• This Company Wants to Grow A.I. by Using Blockchain. (CNBC)
• New Neuroscience Reveals 4 Rituals that Will Make You Happy. (TheLadders)
• Google Wants You to Know What Data It Has on You. (Fortune)
• Marriage vs. the Single Life: Who Has It Better? (PsychologyToday)
• Hackers Could Program Sex Robots to Kill. (NYPost)

Trading Links:

• One-Tenth of Global GDP is Now Held in Offshore Tax Havens. (ZeroHedge)
• Goldman Sachs Thinks Fintech Has As Much Potential as Trading. (Quartz)
• Cowboys Are World's Most Valuable Team at $4.8 Billion. (AP News)
• Social Finance: Where Wealth and Values Meet. (Forbes)
• Obama Goes from White House to Wall Street in Less Than One Year. (Bloomberg)

The A.I. Revolution: Humans Need Not Apply?

We're in the midst of a revolution, and no, I don't mean a political one. 

Artificial Intelligence has been around since the 1950's.  But, we are at an inflection point.  It is no longer an "if" ... it is a "when".  And the answer is probably "Now!"

AI technologies are expanding into broad and diverse markets.

Artificial Intelligence is no longer seen as a massive R&D effort – it is becoming a core competency.

Here is a chart showing  AI adoption in various industries. (replace image with non-blurry one)

 

McKinsey Global Institute via Vox

While AI is promising on many fronts, this "revolution" elicits fear from many.

For example, Elon Musk told the National Governors Association that the risks posed by A.I. are so great that it needs to be proactively regulated before it's too late. 

What about you?  Are you afraid of Skynet turning on, becoming self-aware and setting out to destroy the human race.? Or, are you looking to benefit from the new capabilities and possibilities AI creates for us?

 

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - September 17th, 2017

Hillary is now on a book tour for her new book "What Happened" ... I haven't read it, but Politifact has. 

 

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye recently. Hope you find something interesting.

Lighter Links:

• Hackers Have Already Started to Weaponize Artificial Intelligence. (Gizmodo)
• Your Future Sex Robot Could Be Hacked and Programmed to Murder You. (BGR)
• You Can Actually Be Allergic to Exercise. (Popular Science)
• Multivitamins a Waste of Money and Just Create 'Very Expensive Urine'. (TheGuardian)
• iPhone X Impressions: 'Striking' Display and 'Sensational-Looking' Design Make High Price Worth It. (MacRumors)

Trading Links:

• In China's Hinterlands, Workers Mine Bitcoin for a Digital Fortune. (New York Times)
• Janet Yellen Has Reached Breakfast-With-The-President's-Daughter Levels of Job Insecurity. (DealBreaker)
• Finance: How It Made Civilization Possible. (CFAInstitute)
• The Blockchain Will Do to Banks and Law Firms What the Internet Did to Media. (HBR)
• 16 Quotes from Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett's Right-Hand Man. (BInsider)

An Elegant Use of Brute Force in Photography

Photographers do some crazy things to get the perfect shot.   

Nevertheless, this photographer's approach to getting water droplets behind his model was innovative (and pretty funny).

I call it "an elegant use of brute force."

 

via PetaPixel

It's hard to argue with results ... and sometimes the answer doesn't have to be creative (it just has to work).

It's the same with modern computing.  We can perform better and faster than ever before, and a lot of it is because of prettier code, and smarter tools, and more skilled employees.  But, sometimes, what it takes is an elegant use of brute force!

Onwards.

Actions Have Consequences - Weekly Reading List - September 15th, 2017

I've always enjoyed the aphorism: "Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid." Last week, I saw a different version of that ... and thought it was worth sharing.

Here is a peek at what I've been reading lately. These are the links I saved this week. Hope you find some interesting and enjoyable tidbits. Let me know if you read something I'd like ... Or if there are other sources I should add to my weekly reading. Thanks.

Lighter Links:

Mind-Reading AI is the Newest Defense against Cyber Attacks. (TNW) New Apple Watch May Be a Bigger Upgrade Than the iPhone. (NYPost) How to Explore a City like a Local Using Your Smartphone. (New York Times) Humans Obtain 80% of Info through Vision, and Computers are Following the Trend. (ValueWalk) The Drive for Perfect Children Gets a Little Scary. (Bloomberg) We are Nowhere Close to the Limits of Athletic Performance. (Nautilus) Fear and Loathing at Effective Altruism Global 2017. (SlateStarCodex) Transforming to Win Future Wars. (TheStrategyBridge) Siri vs Google Assistant vs Cortana vs Alexa: Battle of the AI Assistants.(T3) Scientists Make Step Towards Humans Guiding Robots by Telepathy. (FT) Kick Ass like a Russian Spy. (OZY) What Does the Future of Democracy Look Like? (Scout) What Science Fiction like 'Westworld' and 'Black Mirror' Tells Us about Our Near Future. (Business Insider) Edge Computing Will Blow Away the Cloud. (CIO) See a Haunting Vision of the War Machines of the Future. (Futurism) Meet the Startup That's Boot-Strapping Robot Learning with Human BrainPower. (TechReview) Scientists Find Out How Much Pee is Really in the Swimming Pool. (HuffPo) The Next-Generation Operating Model for the Digital World. (McKinsey) Microsoft's Azure Stack' for On-premises Servers Will Use Pay-as-you-go Cloud Pricing Model. (GeekWire) AI and the End of Truth. (Medium)

Market-Related Links

Ultra High Net Worth Families Are Moving Towards Riskier Asset Classes as Investment Performance Bounced-Back Last Year. (CityAM) Apple Unveils IPhone X and 8 Models as It Upgrades TV Set-Top Box.(NYT) America's Fiscal Doomsday Machine. (DailyReckoning) Swarm Fund Launches ICO for Alternative Platform. (Wealthadviser) JAMIE DIMON: Bitcoin is a Fraud That's 'Worse Than Tulip Bulbs'. (BI) Catching up on the Chinese Economy. (BaldingsWorld) The Rise and Fall of Historical World Economies. (BizInsider) A Sentimental Warning for Bulls and Bears. (HumbleStudentOfTheMarkets) Google is Acquiring Data Science Community Kaggle. (TechCrunch) Congress Just Passed a Bill that Tells NASA to Send People to Mars by 2033. (BI) Clean Disruption - Why Energy & Transportation Will Be Obsolete by 2030.(YouTube) JPM: "We See Increasing Risk of Sell-Off in the near Term". (ZeroHedge) VIX: the Truth about a Very Misunderstood Index. (Barrons) IBM, Salesforce Join AI Forces with Watson, Einstein. (USAToday) Silicon Valley and Venture Capital Firms Bet on Ag Start-Ups. (Agriculture) Global Reflation Need Not Mean Higher Inflation in 2017. (FT) Warren Buffett Shares How to Get Rich During Turbulent Times. (Mic) The World's Biggest Gamblers. (Economist) S&P 500 Records 3rd Most Overbought Reading in 10 Years. (SeeItMarket) Why Markets are Inefficient: a Gambling Theory' of Financial Markets for Practitioners and Theorists. (SSRN)

 

Let me know what you think. Thanks. - Howard

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - September 10th, 2017

via The New Yorker

 

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.

Lighter Links:

• The Habits of Highly Successful Entrepreneurs. (VisualCapitalist)
• Ideas Were Not Enough. (Aeon)
• Going Bulletproof for Beginners. (Bulletproof)
• How North Korea Shocked the Nuclear Experts. (Politico)
• What's the Difference between a Hydrogen Bomb and a Regular Atomic Bomb? (NYT)

Trading Links:

• Apple Will Debut New IPhone at Its New Spaceship' Campus. (Apple)
• Why a Chinese Bid to Buy Chicago Stock Exchange Stirs Security Fears. (Apple)
• What We Get Wrong about Technology. (TimHarford)
• Artificial Intelligence: Removing the Human from Fintech. (Forbes)
• Americans are Richer Than Ever, but They Don't Feel that Way. (Wall Street Journal)

Cyber Security: A Human Weakness

Last year, I shared an e-mail my son sent me about security.

With the Equifax breach, I was reminded of something else he told me. 

"It's not whether or not you've been hacked ... because you have ... it's whether you've been targeted."

As data becomes more valuable, and IP more coveted, security concerns grow, but the biggest security concern isn't where you would expect it to be. 

When people think of hacking they often think of a Distributed Denial Of Service (DDOS) attack or the media representation of people breaking into your system in a heist.

In reality, the greatest weakness is people, it's you ... the user.  It's the user that turns off automatic patch updating.  It's the user that uses thumb drives.  It's the user that reuses the same passwords.

 

via xkcd

Whether it's malicious or unintentional, humans are often the biggest security weakness. 

As proof, watch the first few minutes of the video below to watch a social engineer find out this man's email and gain access to his cell phone account. She locks him out of his account at the same time.

I started the video at the interesting part so you don't have to search for it.

 

 

As for passwords ... I recommend not knowing them.  You can't disclose what you don't know.  Consequently, I recommend a password manager like LastPass or 1Password.

How many cyber security measures you take comes down to two simple questions ... First, how much pain and hassle are you willing to deal with to protect your data? And, second, how much pain is a hacker willing to go through to get to your data?

It doesn't make sense to put all your data in a lockbox computer that never connects to a network ... nevertheless, it might be worth it to go to that extreme for pieces of your data.

Think about what the data is worth to you, or someone else, and protect it accordingly.