Showing 1 - 10 of 13
Imagining a world without cash
Life, James Hein, Published on 08/05/2024
» How safe are you in a purely digital economy? If you are carrying cash, someone can of course rob you, or you can lose it or give it to someone. You can also have a stash of it at home for emergencies or for buying something from a garage sale. For the most part, you retain control over any cash you manage. Electronic cash can still be stolen and your ability to spend it can be taken by someone else if your details get into the wrong hands. However, it's convenient, just tap and go, or in some cases, just wave your smartphone over a pad. While you have no idea where your money actually is, a small piece of plastic, your watch or a phone can retrieve it for you for a payment. You can even use it to get cash from a wall.
AI -- what is it good for?
Life, James Hein, Published on 28/08/2019
» Why do we care about machine learning and the kind of Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems I mentioned last time? The amount of data being taken in by systems in modern times is outstripping the ability of humans to keep up. Enter machine learning systems to pre-process the information, highlight patterns and identify the bits and pieces that humans may find interesting. Key areas include fraud detection, whereby a set of rules is applied to data and flagged if those rules are detected. It also includes the age-old problem of the best delivery routes to bring manufactured goods to customers, with the additional benefit of using less fuel. A recent McKinsey report found that AI improved on "traditional analytics techniques" in 400 use cases across 19 industries and nine business functions. As far as the current situation, AI or machine learning is not an end state. Human intervention is still required to make sure the results make sense and also to ensure stuff isn't being missed in the process. There is also continuing training and refinement being regularly applied. It's a growing field and those organisations that are not at least aware of it could be left behind by their competitors. At least, until Skynet takes over.
Connected to the grid for life
Life, James Hein, Published on 03/08/2016
» I had an unsettling experience recently where all of my Yahoo emails seemed to vanish and I mean everything. When I logged into my account it was completely bare. While it was all there a couple of hours later it made me realise just how dependent I was on my email account. Thinking a bit more I realised that I also depend on Skype and to a smaller extent Yahoo. Then I thought about the people who have a much larger online presence. For some who are always sending electronic messages it could be a terrifying experience to be suddenly cut off from all regular communication. This kind of effect is a very modern one and I suspect that it has not been investigated very thoroughly in the journals as yet but I suspect it will be a newly defined psychology condition sometime in the near future.
Connected to the grid for life
Life, James Hein, Published on 03/08/2016
» I had an unsettling experience recently where all of my Yahoo emails seemed to vanish and I mean everything. When I logged into my account it was completely bare. While it was all there a couple of hours later it made me realise just how dependent I was on my email account. Thinking a bit more I realised that I also depend on Skype and to a smaller extent Yahoo. Then I thought about the people who have a much larger online presence. For some who are always sending electronic messages it could be a terrifying experience to be suddenly cut off from all regular communication. This kind of effect is a very modern one and I suspect that it has not been investigated very thoroughly in the journals as yet but I suspect it will be a newly defined psychology condition sometime in the near future.
New year, new iPhone rumours
Life, James Hein, Published on 13/01/2016
» What would the week be without more rumours about an upcoming iPhone? Even though a new Apple phone isn't due out until September, speculation is already flowing rapidly. It will of course be called the iPhone 7, no surprises there. It will come in two sizes, just like the 6 range, allowing those users afraid of the larger screens to remain calm. It will have a better CPU and be a tiny bit thinner. It probably won't have an AMOLED screen but will have a better battery. The most interesting rumour is the removal of the 3.5mm headphone jack to be replaced with a wireless lightening port. This will instantly disconnect a plethora of current devices from the phone and increase revenues for Apple iPhone-only peripheral products, including headphones. So far not even the predictions are encouraging, but it is very early days yet.
Windows 10 to the rescue
Life, James Hein, Published on 12/08/2015
» So it is out and some of you will already have upgraded to the new Windows 10. The first complaint I heard from one of my friends was that all their favourites were lost in the upgrade so the first recommendation is as always to back up all of your data, including favourites, contacts and anything else that is important and not re-installable.
In the right domain
Life, James Hein, Published on 29/07/2015
» How important is picking the right website name or URL? I have been involved in the website selection process a number of times and it is an interesting exercise. If, for example, you have a company name like Dritzz then you are probably not going to have many problems finding a domain like www.dritzz.com, which incidentally currently does not exist.
Condolences and rumours
Life, James Hein, Published on 23/07/2014
» I want to start out this week by offering Microsoft server administrators by heartfelt condolences for their future. I recently remote-logged onto Windows Server 2012 and immediately thought I’d made a mistake when I was presented with a Windows 8-like screen.
Get intellectual about your property rights
Life, James Hein, Published on 23/01/2013
» Some businesses still think they can dominate their customers. A good case in point is the recent Instagram initiative to change the terms of use on the Facebook-owned social network so it could use member's photos and sell them for profit, without any compensation. The response from members was instant, and not a very nice one. Facebook made a fairly quick about face on the issue but they never should have tried it in the first place.
Apple's dominance pegged by Samsung
Life, James Hein, Published on 02/01/2013
» For those that remember I like to use this issue to summarise what happened in 2012. Last year was finally the year of the tablet PC, and at the same time the smartphone wars. Coming into the year Apple was the dominant player in both the smartphone and the tablet arena with the iPad and the iPhone. It looked like Apple was unstoppable and at the end of the year they were still the biggest computer company beating out Microsoft in total sales. Apple also took a bit of a hit with the loss of Steve Jobs, the main driving force and the individual responsible for putting the company in the strong position it was.