from NYTs For more than 1,000 years, the sprawling castle complex perched high above Prague has been the seat of power for Holy Roman emperors, the kings of Bohemia and, now, the Czech president, Milos Zeman. And for the last four years, the Chinese technology giant Huawei has had a contract to fulfill the communication […]
The Next Model of Student Loans
from Medium The inflation levels of student loans can be crippling to social mobility, just ask young people who graduate with $50,000 or more in student loan debt. While job uncertainty increases with rising automation, what about students staring down the barrel of six-digit loan obligations yet to come? The student debt crisis could have long-term […]
The Real Reason Tech Struggles With Algorithmic Bias
from Wired Are machines racist? Are algorithms and artificial intelligence inherently prejudiced? Do Facebook, Google, and Twitter have political biases? Those answers are complicated. But if the question is whether the tech industry doing enough to address these biases, the straightforward response is no. Warnings that AI and machine learning systems are being trained using “bad […]
Germany Is Wary of a Digital World (but Loves Its E-Toothbrushes)
from NYTs How do New York Times journalists use technology in their jobs and in their personal lives? Melissa Eddy, a Berlin correspondent for The Times, discussed the tech she’s using. What are the most important tech tools for doing your job, and how do you use them? My iPhone X has become my multipurpose […]
4 Ways to Prepare for the Next Wave of Digital Transformation
from readwrite The next wave of digital transformation is on the horizon — and it’ll be a veritable tsunami. A 2017 SAP report showed that 84 percent of organizations think digital transformation is vital to their success but that only 3 percent have completed their transformation initiatives. This wave will consist of applications built by citizen developers. Soon, these […]
The Battle For Silicon Valley’s Soul
from The New Republic Last year, as Big Tech drew comparisons to Big Tobacco, and the industry’s CEOs were hauled before Congress to explain why government propaganda and harassment had been allowed to continue unchecked on their platforms, Silicon Valley searched its conscience. At Google, employees urged the company to stop facilitating Chinese censorship and providing artificial intelligence for […]
Apple To Developers: Disclose Screen Recording Or Get Booted From App Store
from ars technica Apple has begun notifying developers who use screen-recording code in their apps to either properly disclose it to users or remove it entirely if they want to keep their apps in the App Store. The move comes after a TechCrunch report showed that many apps do not disclose such activity to users at all, and […]
Germany Has Ordered Facebook To Rein In Its Data Collection
From recode German regulators are trying to clamp down on Facebook’s data collection practices — a move that could force Facebook to make technical changes to its app in order to continue operating in the country. The Bundeskartellamt, Germany’s Federal Cartel Office in charge of antitrust laws, restricted Facebook from “[merging] user data from various […]
Digital Peer Pressure
From Seth’s Blog “You’re using it wrong.” That’s how culture develops, of course. That’s why no one uses ALL CAPS IN THEIR EMAIL ANY MORE. Culture develops online at the speed of light. Every interaction tool comes with peers to interact with, and quickly, those tools establish the norms of interaction. As a result, there […]
Apple, The iPhone, And The Innovator’s Dilemma
From Wired If you re-read the first few chapters of The Innovator’s Dilemma and you insert “Apple” every time Clayton Christensen mentions “a company,” a certain picture emerges: Apple is a company on the verge of being disrupted, and the next great idea in tech and consumer electronics will not materialize from within the walls of its Cupertino […]
How to Stop Facebook’s Dangerous App Integration Ploy
From NYTs In response to calls that Facebook be forced to divest itself of WhatsApp and Instagram, Mark Zuckerberg has instead made a strategic power grab: He intends to put Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger onto a unified technical infrastructure. The integrated apps are to be encrypted to protect users from hackers. But who’s going to protect users from […]
Dear Mr Zuckerberg: The Problem Isn’t The Internet, It’s Facebook
From The Guardian Dear Mr Zuckerberg:I read with great interest your post Monday on Facebook celebrating 15 years of helping people connect with others through a series of frames on a blue background. Let me add my name to the list of those who are impressed with what you have built. Driven by a set of ideals […]
Locast, a Free App Streaming Network TV, Would Love to Get Sued
From NYTs On the roof of a luxury building at the edge of Central Park, 585 feet above the concrete, a lawyer named David Goodfriend has attached a modest four-foot antenna that is a threat to the entire TV-industrial complex. The device is there to soak up TV signals coursing through the air — content […]
The Robot Revolution Will Be Worse For Men
from recode The robots will someday take our jobs. But not all our jobs, and we don’t really know how many. Nor do we understand which jobs will be eliminated and which will be transitioned into what some say will be better, less tedious work. What we do know is that automation and artificial intelligence will […]
Where Are You In Your Innovation Journey?
from Forbes Digital transformation has gone from trendy best practice to survival prerequisite. Every business worth its salt has a hand in the game. But “getting it” is one thing, and getting it done is another. Adapting to new technologies, developing new skill sets, and keeping up with customers poses a set of pretty complex […]