I Like Big Brains and I Cannot Lie

From DCTVpedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search
I Like Big Brains and I Cannot Lie
Number 2672
Broadcast Date JANUARY 22, 2016
Episode Length 39:47
Hosts Tom Merritt
Guests Darren Kitchen, Len Peralta

Everyone’s excited and/or scared about artificial intelligence but should we be excited and/or scared about Intelligence Amplification instead? Tom Merritt and Darren Kitchen discuss while Len Peralta illustrates.

Guest

Headlines

Bloomberg reports a transcript of court proceedings from Oracle’s java copyright lawsuit against Google stated Apple received $1 billion from Google to be the default search engine on iOS. Oracle also claimed Google generated $31 billion in revenue and $22 billion in profit from Android. The magistrate judge presiding over the testimony initially declined to block the transcript from public view, So Google and Apple asked US District Judge William Alsup to seal and redact the transcript. The transcript disappeared from electronic court records at 3 PM yesterday without explanation.
Submitted by habichuelacondulce
The Financial Times reports Apple has hired Doug Bowman, who has been the Director of the Center for Human-Computer Interaction at Virginia Tech. Bowman focuses on ““three-dimensional user interface design and the benefits of immersion in virtual environments." His hiring follows recent acquisitions of augmented and VR outfits Faceshift, Metaio and Emotient.
Microsoft has begun shipping Surface Book and Surface Pro 4s with 1TB of storage, Core i7 processor, and 16GB of RAM in the US and Canada. The Surface Book runs $3199 and the Surface Pro 4, $2699. Microsoft also released a $60 gold version of the Surface Pen that ships with the Surface Pen Tip Kit available in the US, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.
Australian stock exchange operator ASX announced it has purchased a five percent stake in blockchain developer Digital Asset Holdings. ASX Managing Director and CEO Elmer Funke Kupper believes blockchain tech from the company will reduce cost time and complexity for post-trade equity market. The United States’s Nasdaq is testing blockhain tech on its private market. Deutsche Boerse and London Stock Exchange are also building applications using blockchain or distributed ledger technology.
Melbourne-based VPN provider uFlix says some of its users have reported an error when trying to access non-Australian content on Netflix while using their VPN. The message reads “You seem to be using an unblocker or proxy. Please turn off any of these services and try again.” UFlix says it has a fix in place already.
Submitted by supey777
The first installation of Google’s high-speed public WiFi for India goes live in a Mumbai train station today. The next cities on the list for the partnership with Indian Railways and Railtel are Ilahabad, Patna and Ranchi. 100 stations are expected to be hooked up by the end of the year on the way to a total of 400.
State-backed Japan Display announced it will begin mass production of OLED panels in 2018. Japan Display was formed in 2012 by combining the display units of Sony, Toshiba and Hitachi. The Innovation Network Corporation of Japan, the majority shareholder in Japan Display is attempting to purchase Sharp as well. And of course rumors are rampant that Apple will need to buy a bunch of OLED screens sometime around 2018.
Six US Senators wrote a letter today objecting to the US FCC’d definition of broadband as 25 Mbps or higher. The Senators point out Netflix recommends only 5 Mbps for HD video and Amazon only 3.5 Mbps. The Senators believe "the use of this benchmark discourages broadband providers from offering speeds at or above the benchmark." The six senators who signed the letter were Roger Wicker of MS top donor Cox Communications $34,500, Comcast $12,500. Roy Blunt of MO $6 donor Comcast $30,700, Cory Gardner of Colorado, #19 donor American Cable Association $17,000. And Steve Daines (MT) Deb Fischer (NE), and Ron Johnson (WI), who did not have major ISPS in their top 20 donors according to opensecrets.org.
Submitted by jnamadan
LeTV, the Chinese company that is invested in a lot of things including Faraday Motors electric cars, has rebranded as LeEco. It also announced Thursday it will bring two of its devices to India. The Le 1s comes February 2nd for 10,999 rupees (US$165) and the 6.33-inch Le Max Pro February 16 for 32,999 rupees (US$500). The company will also open a research and development centre in Bangalore.

Discussion

Pick of the Day

I wanted to suggest Careem as a pick that I've used several times here in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In a nutshell, it's Uber tailored for the specific needs of the Middle East.

Without getting political, women not being able to drive here in Saudi Arabia is a reality that we have to live with. Many families will hire drivers to transport women and children around, but this can be a financial burden, and drivers are universally expats from East Asia, and there are a lot of complicated and costly regulations to bring them into the Kingdom and hire them.

Careem is a phone app that, like Uber, summons cars to take you around. Unlike Uber, you can keep the car and driver as long as you like. They'll wait for you while you go shopping, have dinner, etc., and you won't have to wait for another car when you're ready to leave.

This is very convenient for women or families over here, since they don't have to stand out in the streets (which can be quite hectic), and wait for another car to show up. They can go straight to the car they had before.

The rates are based on distance driven and time spent waiting. They are quite reasonable, and are not significantly more expensive than Uber (which is also becoming popular here). The cars are about equivalent to the Uber Black Car service, with clean SUV's and uniformed drivers.

I think this is a great service, and it's part of an interesting trend of tailoring popular Western services to the Middle Eastern needs, and becoming quite successful with it.

Careem is on iOS and Android, and more info is at https://www.careem.com.
Submitted by Bassam from Dusty Riyadh

Messages

Hi Tom, Jennie, and the contributors,

This is a Planet Money episode from last summer but I think it's relevant to the self driving car discussion this week.

http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/07/29/427467598/episode-642-the-big-red-button

In summary, they say there are two possible ways self driving cars can be introduced to people:
the elevator way -- keep reassuring people that it's safe until they feel comfortable
and
the airplane auto pilot way -- allow humans to take control when they need to.

The elevator way refers to the time when the elevator companies replaced human operators with the automated system. Operators were driving the elevator without any safety mechanism, and there were very bad accidents. People hated the automated system at first but eventually realized it was safer. Now we take it for granted.

In contrast, auto pilot allows humans to override the control. There was an incident where a pilot took over the control incorrectly and caused the plane to crash (Air France Flight 447).

As we know, Google's design was the elevator way, and didn't even include the steering wheel at first. But they are being forced by regulations to allow human to drive in an emergency.

(I believe some of these stories were mentioned on DTNS before, at least implicitly.)

Cheers,
Sent by Komei


hey Tom you asked if there were other apple development centers, so here's what I could find:

http://venturebeat.com/2016/01/21/apple-opens-its-first-european-ios-app-development-center-second-globally-in-naples-italy/

from the article:
An Apple spokesperson confirmed to VentureBeat that the company has one other iOS App Development center — in Brazil — though there is little information to suggest where exactly that center is located or when it opened.


love the show..
Sent by Anas from Syria


Since Wednesday this week my google now has started taking in an Australian accent!

When I ask the temperature for example, I now get the forecast for "Mel-bun" not "Mel-born"
I'm sure "Bris-bun" no longer has to put up with being called "Bris-bane".. Still no news on the weather for "Bris-vegas" or "Brisney Land" though :)
Sent by Marty Dolan

YouTube

Links



Preceded by:
"Botline Bling"
I Like Big Brains and I Cannot Lie
Followed by:
"Twitter Executives Migrate"