Showing 1 - 10 of 25
Don't call AI bigoted
Life, James Hein, Published on 06/11/2019
» Despite what some claim, Artificial Intelligence is not racist. Google built a system to detect hate speech or speech that exhibited questionable content. Following the rules given, it picked out a range of people with what some try to claim was a bias toward black people. Wrong. The AI simply followed the rules and a larger number of black people and some other minorities, as defined in the US, were found to be breaking those rules. It didn't matter to the machines that when one group says it, it isn't defined as hate speech by some; it simply followed the rules. People can ignore or pretend not to see rules, but machines don't work that way. What the exercise actually found was that speech by some groups is ignored while the same thing said by others isn't. As the saying goes, don't ask the question if you're not prepared to hear the answer.
Surprisingly, your personal data isn't safe with Facebook
Life, James Hein, Published on 10/10/2018
» Facebook has been in the news recently having large numbers of public profiles harvested by marketing conglomerates. Estimates from this incident alone range from 50 to 90 million users and there may be a lot more. The "more" part comes from the user search and account recovery features that may have been abused to scrape up to 2 billion or more accounts. In other words, if you are on Facebook and have any kind of public profile someone has more info on you than you might like. The feature has since been turned off but not before a lot of information went to the marketers.
Beware of TikTok snooping on your phone's data
Life, James Hein, Published on 02/03/2022
» If you didn't already know, TikTok is potentially dangerous. The app bypasses both Apple and Google protections and is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. According to reports, the app passes all your data back to servers in China, including unposted information and the contents of your phone. The app also has many security vulnerabilities allowing hackers to take over your phone. This is in addition to the expansion of your digital footprint across the planet. In China, people are rewarded for posting serious videos like those showing them using a chemistry set. Those outside China are rewarded for the dumbest presentations. I'll let the readers work this last one out for themselves.
YouTube ramps up ads, moderation
Life, James Hein, Published on 01/03/2023
» If this was a YouTube video you would have to sit through up to 30 seconds of ads before you could even start. YouTube seems to be stepping up its advertising while at the same time providing less service. I still use it because it has things I'm interested in, like Chinese martial arts series and info on music products I like. If I'd written this using ChatGPT you would not see some of the material because the trust and safety filters on the AI product have repeatedly been found to be biased towards the US political left in the content it will return. Some people associated with ChatGPT have acknowledged this but it remains to be seen if anything will change.
Letter to Santa for Thais
Guru, Pornchai Sereemongkonpol, Published on 20/12/2019
» Your year-end schedule is probably pretty hectic, trying to get everything done so you can have a worry-free break during Christmas and New Year. You may be so busy that you may forget to write the annual letter to Santa Claus (indulge me, readers). To make it easy for you, I have created a template that you can fill in to secure your gift at the last minute, despite having being naughty or nice. Don't forget to send it to SantaClaus@NorthPoleMail.com when you're done. Merry Xmas, everyone!
Connected communicator
Asia focus, Erich Parpart, Published on 16/12/2019
» Anyone meeting Baxter Jolly for the first time might be surprised to learn that he used to be an equities trader. A people person full of smiles, he doesn't seem like the type who would be sitting in front of five computer screens all day. But the experience in the high-pressure world of the stock market, he says, served him well when he switched gears and entered public relations.
EU demands Apple play fair
Life, James Hein, Published on 22/06/2022
» It looks like the Apple-specific charging cable may be a thing of the past with the European Union demanding that all smartphone makers use a universal USB-C port for wired charging by 2024. The same rule will be applied to many other electronic devices like tablets, cameras, headphones, handheld video game consoles and e-readers. In the future, laptops will need to follow the same rule.
The Note reincarnated
Life, Komsan John Jandamit, Published on 16/03/2022
» In 2021, the best versatile phone for photography and video was the Samsung S21 Ultra. The S22 Ultra builds on that foundation and gives near identical performance, and provides a variety of photo and video taking modes while adding much better low-light photo capabilities while also making photos brighter and sharper than what your eyes can physically see.
More Ways to Help
Guru, Pornchai Sereemongkonpol, Published on 23/07/2021
» There are many ways to help people who've been affected by the current surge of Covid-19. While providing free meals and donating to hospitals and organisations are among the firsts that come to mind, there are other ways that you may not be aware of. Here are a few.
Intel Could Find a New World of Complications with GlobalFoundries
Business, Published on 19/07/2021
» Pat Gelsinger is wasting no time putting his money where his mouth is.