tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71383185455088040772024-01-12T23:27:25.526-08:00TecnologíaInformaciones sobre Tecnología Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger510125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7138318545508804077.post-61349705634566834252016-08-02T10:21:00.003-07:002016-08-02T10:21:25.644-07:00Those free Windows 10 upgrades are over. Now what?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">We've reached the end of Microsoft's unprecedented free upgrade offer for Windows 10. If you choose to upgrade an old Windows PC, you'll now have to pay. But good news: Those annoying GWX notifications are finally gone. </span></div>
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The Get Windows 10 upgrade nags have officially ended</div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Microsoft's ambitious plan to get Windows 10 running on a billion devices within the next few years falls into the "Close, but no cigar" category, with the announcement that Windows 10 will need more time to hit that magic round number.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">That big goal was predicated on the success of an unprecedented free upgrade offer. When the company first announced the terms of that offer in May 2015, it literally included an asterisk and fine print. Those terms changed slightly over the intervening months, but one element remained constant: The offer was good for one year after the availability of Windows 10.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When they said "Offer ends July 29, 2016," they weren't kidding, either.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you click the Get Windows 10 icon today, you see a stark message: "Sorry, the free upgrade offer has ended."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Here's the tl;dr version of this post if you don't want to keep reading:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">1. The free upgrade offer for the general public ended on July 29 and will not be extended.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">2. Any upgrades completed before that date will be valid for as long as the device lasts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">3. There is a possibility that Microsoft will introduce some new upgrade offers this fall, but don't count on it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Anyone who has taken Microsoft up on its free Windows 10 upgrade offer before the expiration date has a "digital entitlement" (or "digital license" as it's called beginning with version 1607) tied to that hardware. That upgrade doesn't expire.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you haven't completed the upgrade and activated the installation, you're out of luck, unless you qualify for the one exception. Individuals who use "assistive technologies" get an automatic extension of the free upgrade offer. Details of that upgrade extension are here. This Microsoft Accessibility page defines assistive technology products (they're intended for people with "significant vision, hearing, dexterity, language or learning needs") and includes a list of third-party products.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I've tested the Windows 10 Upgrade Advisor, available from that page, and I can confirm it works as expected, providing a digital license on a Windows 7 device that had not previously been upgraded. It does not include any requirement for proof that you are using assistive technology.</span></div>
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<em><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><strong>Update 31-July </strong>Asked for comment, a Microsoft spokesperson replies:</span></em></div>
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<em><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As we shared earlier, we've extended the free upgrade offer for those who use assistive technology as we continue to make accessibility improvements to Windows 10, including many coming in the Anniversary Update, which is available after the free upgrade offer ends. See the Microsoft Accessibility blog here for more details. We are not restricting the free upgrade offer to specific assistive technologies. If you use assistive technology on Windows, you are eligible for the free upgrade offer. That said, it is not intended to be a workaround for people who don't use assistive technology and who missed the deadline for the free offer.</span></em></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">For procrastinators who think they might have waited too long, my testing this morning uncovered one surprise: Product keys from earlier Windows versions still work on Windows 10. I created a new virtual machine and installed Windows 10 version 1607 Pro using an ISO image. I entered a never-used Windows 7 Ultimate product key, and my copy of Windows 10 was automatically activated with a digital entitlement.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Earlier this week, Microsoft <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-more-details-on-the-end-of-get-windows-10-and-whats-next/" style="color: #1174c7; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">told my colleague Mary Jo Foley</a> that the Get Windows 10 (GWX) notifications will end. They added, "In time, we will remove the application."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">My morning-after testing confirms those details. If you decided to pass on the free Windows 10 upgrade, the GWX app remains installed, but based on my experience and the above statements it should no longer appear in the taskbar and its notifications appear to have been silenced.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Windows 10 download page, which is useful for anyone who needs the Windows 10 installation files to do a recovery or a clean install on a machine that already has a Windows 10 license, is still up. But the Upgrade Now button is gone, replaced by a notice that the free upgrade offer has ended.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In fact, Microsoft's real goal with this upgrade offer isn't just to get its installed Windows 10 base to a billion. The long-term goal is to help close the books on Windows 7 in an orderly fashion before its 10-year <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/article/when-will-microsoft-pull-the-plug-on-your-version-of-windows-or-office/" style="color: #1174c7; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">extended support commitment ends on January 14, 2020</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Some of those Windows 7 PCs will simply be retired, of course. But what about those that are only a few years old and have more than three years of usable life ahead of them? For Microsoft executives, the prospect that hundreds of millions of PCs will still be running Windows 7 on New Year's Day 2020 has to bring back unpleasant flashbacks of Windows XP's messy end.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After 11 months, <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsofts-windows-10-anniversary-update-to-hit-august-2-350-million-devices-and-counting/#!" style="color: #1174c7; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Microsoft said</a> a total of 350 million monthly active devices were running Windows 10. (In its most recent earnings release, CEO Satya Nadella committed to "regularly reporting the growth of Windows 10 monthly active devices.")</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The shift to using monthly active devices as a metric is a big change for Microsoft, which previously reported on the number of licenses sold. In the first 18 months after releasing Windows 7, for example, <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-350-million-licenses-of-windows-7-sold-in-18-months/" style="color: #1174c7; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Microsoft officials reported</a> that they had sold 350 million Windows 7 licenses.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Windows 10 hit the same milestone in less than a year, thanks in no small measure to that free upgrade offer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Many of those 350 million devices, perhaps one-third or more, represent new PCs. Another big chunk represents newer devices (less than three years old) originally sold with Windows 8 or 8.1. Windows 10 has succeeded in cutting the share of devices running those versions by more than half over the past year, and the share of PCs running Windows 8.1 should be in the low single digits by the end of 2017.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But what about Windows 7? The most recent figures measured by the US Government's Digital Analytics Program show that the percentage of Windows PCs running that version has dropped significantly in the past year, going from<a href="http://www.zdnet.com/article/us-government-data-shows-windows-10-usage-climbing-as-windows-7-share-drops-sharply/" style="color: #1174c7; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"> 71.1 percent in the first quarter of 2015</a>, before the release of Windows 10, to roughly 56 percent at the end of July 2016.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">That's still a lot of Windows 7 PCs, And even the carrot of a free upgrade was not enough to move that number more than another few percent in the final months of that offer, which explains why the offer wasn't extended.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">There's plenty of precedent for this, based on past behavior. For Windows 7 and 8, Microsoft offered significant introductory discounts and then ended them on schedule after a few months, with no extensions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Financially, this decision is unlikely to have much of an impact. Retail upgrades have historically represented a microscopic share of Microsoft's revenue (see the chart in <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsofts-transition-to-the-cloud-picks-up-steam/#!" style="color: #1174c7; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">this article</a>), and most customers who might have been willing to pay for an upgrade will have taken advantage of the free offer by the time the Anniversary Update rolls around.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Asking existing Windows 7 users to pay $99 or more after they've spent a year avoiding the free upgrade seems like a surefire way to guarantee that they never upgrade. That significantly increases the risk of an XP-style mess come 2020.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">On the other hand, the free upgrade offer never really applied to large businesses that run Windows Enterprise editions. For those customers who also have purchased Software Assurance for those volume licenses, the Windows 10 upgrade offer is, if not free, at least already paid for. The decision of whether and when to upgrade is driven by business needs, not by the cost of an upgrade license.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In the new "Windows as a Service" model, Microsoft said it plans to deliver two or three new releases each year. The Anniversary Update, which is rolling out to Windows 10 users now, is the first release in the Redstone update series. It's no coincidence that it arrived a few days after the original upgrade offer ended. Another Redstone feature update is scheduled to arrive in the first half of 2017.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Of course, the end of this upgrade offer doesn't eliminate the possibility of a new offer. If not free, then perhaps a discounted in-place upgrade. But an extension of the current offer is not going to happen.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">One important date to watch is October 31, 2016. That's when <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/article/what-the-windows-7-pro-sales-lifecycle-changes-mean-to-consumers-and-business-buyers/" style="color: #1174c7; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">OEM sales of new PCs with Windows 7 Professional officially end</a>. That date marks the beginning of a three-year period in which the population of Windows 7 PCs will presumably shrink quickly as old PCs die and are replaced by newer models running Windows 10 (or aren't replaced at all).</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7138318545508804077.post-70387746190704950092016-07-29T06:16:00.000-07:002016-07-29T06:16:16.969-07:00How to avoid ransomware attacks: 10 tips<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As ransomware increasingly targets healthcare organizations, schools and government agencies, security experts offer advice to help IT leaders prepare and protect.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Nigerian princes are no longer the only menaces lurking in an employee's inbox. For healthcare organizations, schools, government agencies and many businesses, ransomware attacks—an especially sinister type of malware delivered through spear phishing emails that locks up valuable data assets and demands a ransom to release them—are a rapidly-growing security threat.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"We're currently seeing a massive explosion in innovation in the types of ransomware and the ways it's getting into organizations," says Rick McElroy, security strategist for cyber security company Carbon Black Enterprise Response. "It's a big business, and the return on investment to attackers is there—it's going to get worse."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">While ransomware has existed for years, 2015 saw a spike in activity. The FBI received 2,453 complaints, with losses of over $1.6 million, up from 1,402 complaints the year before, according to annual reports from the bureau's Internet Crime Complaint Center. And the numbers are only growing in 2016, the FBI reports.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"The Dark Web and Bitcoin allow almost anyone to sell stolen data without identification—cyber criminals understand they can make easy cash without the risk of being jailed," says Ilia Kolochenko, CEO of web security company High-Tech Bridge. And hackers—most of which are located in developing countries—are growing more sophisticated, even developing downloadable ransomware toolkits for less-experienced hackers to deploy, according to the 2016 Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology Ransomware Report.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"The days of grammatically incorrect, mass spam phishing attacks are pretty much over," says James Scott, senior fellow and co-founder of the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology, and co-author of the report. Hackers can now check a victim's social media accounts, and create a fake email address pretending to be a friend or contact in order to get them to click on an infected link or attachment. "It's much more targeted, and will exploit a particular vulnerability in a device, application, server or software," Scott adds.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A typical ransom demand is $300, according to a report from security firm Symantec.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Health threats</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The healthcare sector is highly targeted by hacker attacks, due to antiquated or misconfigured computer security systems and the amount of sensitive data they hold, says David DeSanto, director of projects and threat researcher at Spirent Communications.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The large number of employees at most hospitals also makes cyber security safety training difficult, DeSanto says. Experts commonly see attacks occur through spear phishing—targeted emails with attachments with names such as "updated patient list," "billing codes" or other typical hospital communications that employees may click on if not warned.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In 2015, over 230 healthcare breaches impacted the records of 500-plus individuals, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A February ransomware attack launched against Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in southern California locked access to certain computer systems and left staff unable to communicate electronically for 10 days. The hospital paid a $17,000 ransom in bitcoin to the cybercriminals, says CEO Alan Stefanek.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Following security best practices can help healthcare organizations protect themselves. "The best way is to make regular backups of all systems and critical data so that you can restore back to a known good state prior to the ransomware being on the system," DeSanto says.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Without security best practices, healthcare organizations may be left with few options to retrieve information. In these cases, healthcare organizations may choose to pay the ransomware fee. Some make enough money that paying the ransom for a few infected computers is low compared to the cost of maintaining the infrastructure to protect these attacks, DeSanto adds.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Schools and businesses</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Hackers are gaining traction and using new methods across other industry verticals as well. In 2014, a large European financial services company (whose name was not disclosed) discovered with the help of High-Tech Bridge that a hacker placed a back door between a web application and a data set.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">For six months, the hacker encrypted all information before it was stored in a database, undetected by company staffers. Then, they removed the encryption key, crashing the application, and demanded $50,000 to restore access to the database.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">However, the company did not end up paying, thanks to mistakes made by the hackers, Kolochenko says.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Other victims are not as lucky, says Engin Kirda, professor of computer science at Northeastern University. "If the ransomware hacker does the encryption well, once the data is encrypted it's nearly impossible to decrypt," he adds.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Such was the case for South Carolina's Horry County School District this February, when hackers froze networks for 42,000 students and thousands of staff. District technology director Charles Hucks tried to shut down the system, but within minutes, the attackers immobilized 60 percent of Horry County's computers. The district paid $8,500 in Bitcoin to unlock their systems.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Tips for IT leaders</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">To prevent a ransomware attack, experts say IT and information security leaders should do the following:</span></div>
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<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Keep clear inventories of all of your digital assets and their locations, so cyber criminals do not attack a system you are unaware of.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Keep all software up to date, including operating systems and applications.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Back up all information every day, including information on employee devices, so you can restore encrypted data if attacked.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Back up all information to a secure, offsite location.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Segment your network: Don't place all data on one file share accessed by everyone in the company.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Train staff on cyber security practices, emphasizing not opening attachments or links from unknown sources.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Develop a communication strategy to inform employees if a virus reaches the company network.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Before an attack happens, work with your board to determine if your company will plan to pay a ransom or launch an investigation.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Perform a threat analysis in communication with vendors to go over the cyber security throughout the lifecycle of a particular device or application.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Instruct information security teams to perform penetration testing to find any vulnerabilities.</span></li>
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<span style="text-align: left;"><b>Mitigating an attack</b></span></div>
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If your company is hacked with ransomware, you can explore the free ransomware response kit for a suite of tools that can help. Experts also recommend the following to moderate an attack:</div>
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Research if similar malware has been investigated by other IT teams, and if it is possible to decrypt it on your own. About 30 percent of encrypted data can be decrypted without paying a ransom, Kolochenko of High-Tech Bridge says.</div>
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Remove the infected machines from the network, so the ransomware does not use the machine to spread throughout your network.</div>
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Decide whether or not to make an official investigation, or pay the ransom and take it as a lesson learned.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"There is always going to be a new, more hyper-evolved variant of ransomware delivered along a new vector that exploits a newly-found vulnerability within a common-use application," Scott of ICIT says. "But there are so many technologies out there that offer security—you just have to use them."</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7138318545508804077.post-5961563365494106422016-07-28T06:34:00.003-07:002016-07-28T06:34:32.658-07:00How to Recover Your Files From a BitLocker-Encrypted Drive <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When you are hit by need to recover a drive from a BitLocker encryption, you need a key. Time to use Microsoft:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Microsoft’s BitLocker encryption always forces you to create a recovery key when you set it up. You may have printed that recovery key, written it down, saved it to a file, or stored it online with a Microsoft account. If your BitLocker drive isn’t unlocking normally, the recovery key is your only option.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">There are many reasons you may get locked out of your hard drive–maybe your computer’s TPM is no longer unlocking your drive automatically, or you forget a password or PIN. This will also be necessary if you want to remove a BitLocker-encrypted drive from a computer and unlock it on another computer. If the first computer’s TPM isn’t present, you’ll need the recovery key.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>First, Find Your Recovery Key</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you can’t find your recovery key, try to think back to when you set up BitLocker. You were asked to either write the key down, print it out to a piece of paper, or save it to a file on an external drive, such as a USB drive. You were also given the option to upload the BitLocker recovery key to your Microsoft account online.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">That key should hopefully be stored somewhere safe if you printed it to a piece of paper or saved it to an external drive.</span></div>
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<img height="471" src="http://www.howtogeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/ximg_578ecb2013a82.png.pagespeed.gp+jp+jw+pj+js+rj+rp+rw+ri+cp+md.ic.yvae--YJWS.png" width="640" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">To retrieve a recovery key you uploaded to Microsoft’s servers, visit the OneDrive Recovery Key page and sign in with the same Microsoft account you uploaded the recovery key with. You’ll see the key here if you uploaded it. If you don’t see the key, try signing in with another Microsoft account you might have used.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If there are multiple accounts, you can use the “Key ID” displayed on the BitLocker screen on the computer and match it to the Key ID that appears on the web page. That will help you find the correct key.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If your computer is connected to a domain–often the case on computers owned by an organization and provided to employees or students–there’s a good chance the network administrator has the recovery key. Contact the domain administrator to get the recovery key.</span></div>
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<img height="201" src="http://www.howtogeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/ximg_578ec8236d792.png.pagespeed.gp+jp+jw+pj+js+rj+rp+rw+ri+cp+md.ic.oRWjPSpkZN.png" width="640" /></div>
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I<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">f you don’t have your recovery key, you may be out of luck–hopefully you have a backup of all your data! And next time, be sure to write down that recovery key and keep it in a safe place (or save it with your Microsoft Account).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Situation One: If Your Computer Isn’t Unlocking the Drive at Boot</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Drives encrypted with BitLocker normally unlocked automatically with your computer’s built-in TPM every time you boot it. If the TPM unlock method fails, you’ll see a “BitLocker Recovery” error screen that asks you to “Enter the recovery key for this drive”. (If If you’ve set up your computer to require a password, PIN, USB drive, or smart card each time it boots, you’ll see the same unlock screen you normally use before getting the BitLocker Recovery screen–if you don’t know that password, press Esc to enter BitLocker Recovery.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Type your recovery key to continue. This will unlock the drive and your computer will boot normally.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The ID displayed here will help you identify the correct recovery key if you have multiple recovery keys printed, saved, or uploaded online.</span></div>
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<img height="473" src="http://www.howtogeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/ximg_578ec963adb04.png.pagespeed.gp+jp+jw+pj+js+rj+rp+rw+ri+cp+md.ic.kOQfaC6bDZ.png" width="640" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Situation Two: If You Need to Unlock the Drive From Within Windows</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The above method will help you unlock your system drive and any other drives that are normally unlocked during the boot-up process.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">However, you may need to unlock a BitLocker-encrypted drive from within Windows. Perhaps you have an external drive or USB stick with BitLocker encryption and it’s not unlocking normally, or perhaps you’ve taken a BitLocker-encrypted drive from another computer and connected it to your current computer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">To do this, first connect the drive to your computer. Open the Control Panel and head to System and Security > BitLocker Drive Encryption. You can only do this on Professional editions of Windows, as only they provide access to the BitLocker software.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Locate the drive in the BitLocker window and click the “Unlock Drive” option next to it.</span></div>
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<img height="466" src="http://www.howtogeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/ximg_578ecf8e6fc4d.png.pagespeed.gp+jp+jw+pj+js+rj+rp+rw+ri+cp+md.ic.KQXO7C6k3_.png" width="640" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">You’ll be asked to enter the password, PIN, or whatever other details you need to provide to unlock the drive. If you don’t have the information, select More Options > Enter Recovery Key.</span></div>
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<img height="393" src="http://www.howtogeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/ximg_578ecfd2acfcf.png.pagespeed.gp+jp+jw+pj+js+rj+rp+rw+ri+cp+md.ic.FgWlbXB0zQ.png" width="640" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Enter the recovery key to unlock the drive. Once you enter the recovery key, the drive will unlock and you can access the files on it. The ID displayed here will help you find the correct recovery key if you have multiple saved keys to choose from.</span></div>
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<img height="267" src="http://www.howtogeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/ximg_578ecfabc96d3.png.pagespeed.gp+jp+jw+pj+js+rj+rp+rw+ri+cp+md.ic.cNrDbV70KR.png" width="640" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If your computer is displaying a BitLocker error screen each time it boots and you don’t have any way of getting the recovery key, you can always use the “reset this PC” troubleshooting option to fully wipe your computer. You’ll be able to use the computer again, but you’ll lose all the files stored on it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you have an external drive that’s encrypted with BitLocker and you don’t have the recovery key or any other way to unlock it, you may have to do the same thing. Format the drive and you’ll erase its contents, but at least you’ll be able to use the drive again.</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7138318545508804077.post-86944679897428290442016-07-27T08:50:00.001-07:002016-07-27T08:50:06.634-07:00Flaws in wireless keyboards let hackers snoop on everything you type<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Many popular, low-cost wireless keyboards don't encrypt keystrokes.</span></div>
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<img alt="usb-dongle.jpg" height="426" src="http://zdnet4.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2016/07/26/a56160ef-54a8-4fbb-9bbf-87c587c6813d/resize/770xauto/1297e9d9de48232de908bfd8f48ebd7a/usb-dongle.jpg" width="640" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This nondescript USB dongle can be used to spy on wireless keyboards from hundreds of feet away. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Your wireless keyboard is giving up your secrets -- literally.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">With an antenna and wireless dongle worth a few bucks, and a few lines of Python code, a hacker can passively and covertly record everything you type on your wireless keyboard from hundreds of feet away. Usernames, passwords, credit card data, your manuscript or company's balance sheet -- whatever you're working on at the time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It's an attack that can't be easily prevented, and one that almost nobody thought of -- except the security researchers who found it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Security firm Bastille calls it "KeySniffer," a set of vulnerabilities in common, low-cost wireless keyboards that can allow a hacker to eavesdrop from a distance.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Here's how it works: a number of wireless keyboards use proprietary and largely unsecured and untested radio protocols to connect to a computer -- unlike Bluetooth, a known wireless standard that's been tried and tested over the years. These keyboards are always transmitting, making it easy to find and listen in from afar with the right equipment. But because these keystrokes aren't encrypted, a hacker can read anything on a person's display, and directly type on a victim's computer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The attack is so easy to carry out that almost anyone can do it -- from petty thieves to state-actors.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Marc Newlin, a researcher at the company who was credited with finding the flaw said it was "pretty alarming" to discover.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"A hacker can 'sniff' all of the keystrokes, as well as inject their own keystrokes on the computer," he explained on the phone this week.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The researchers found that eight out of 12 keyboards from well-known vendors -- including HP, Kensington, and Toshiba -- are at risk of eavesdropping, but the list is far from exhaustive.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The scope of the problem is so large that the researchers fully expect that "millions" of devices are vulnerable to this new attack.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Worst of all? There's no fix.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"I think a lot of consumers reasonably expect that the wireless keyboard they're using won't put them at risk, but consumers might not have a high awareness of this risk," he said.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Ivan O'Sullivan, the company's chief research officer, admitted that the ease of this attack had him unsettled. "As a consumer, I expect that the keyboard that I buy won't transmit my keystrokes in plain-text."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"We were shocked. And consumers should be, too," he said.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This isn't the first time wireless devices have put their users at risk. Bastille was the company behind the now-infamous MouseJack flaw, which let hackers compromise a person's computer through their wireless mouse. Even as far back as 2010, it was known that some keyboards with weak encryption could be easily hacked.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Over half a decade later, Newlin said he was hopeful that his research will make more people aware, but he doesn't think this problem "will be resolved."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Most of the vendors have not responded to our disclosure information," he said. "Many of the vendors haven't responded past an acknowledgement, or they haven't responded at all to our inquiries."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Though not all wireless keyboards are created equal and many are not vulnerable to the eavesdropping vulnerability, there is an easy fix to a simple problem.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Get a wired keyboard," the researchers said.</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7138318545508804077.post-45813186848493052982016-07-26T10:36:00.002-07:002016-07-26T10:36:34.142-07:00Halliburton Report: Company Loses $148 Million From Operations With Venezuela<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<img alt="File photo of the company logo of Halliburton oilfield services corporate offices in Houston" height="430" src="http://i0.wp.com/houstonenergyinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/halliburton.jpg?resize=777%2C523" width="640" /><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Oil services giant Halliburton reported losses totaling $148 million in connection with operations in Venezuela. The company agreed to take a promissory note in exchange for unpaid invoices tied to Venezuela.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">PDVSA, a state oil company out Venezuela, has accrued over $19 billion in debts to providers like Halliburton. The debt grows as PDVSA takes on low oil prices and a dying socialist economy which in turn have caused some leading service companies to reduce operations.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Eulogio del Pino, president of PDVSA, said that his company had been in talks about financial agreements with Halliburton, Schlumberger NV, and Weatherford International PLC to securitize debts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In a quarterly report, Halliburton claimed to have swapped $200 million in trade receivables for a promissory note with its “primary customer in Venezuela.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Later, the company stated to have “recorded the note at its fair market value at the date of exchange, resulting in a $148 million pre-tax loss.” The only firms legally permitted to work in Venezuelan oil fields are PDVSA and its affiliates.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In the company’s 2015 earnings report, PDVSA said that it had distributed $831 million in promissory notes to pay off debt to providers. The notes pay 6.5 percent interest and are set to mature in 2019.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Analysts say that issues with payment to providers are attached to reports of waning production at PDVSA. However, del Pino has renounced these reports and maintains that all debts are currently reaching resolution.</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7138318545508804077.post-85345784157485449042016-07-22T08:08:00.001-07:002016-07-22T08:08:19.928-07:00Master Plan, Part Deux (Elon Musk)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #666666; line-height: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 25px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The first <a href="https://www.tesla.com/blog/secret-tesla-motors-master-plan-just-between-you-and-me" style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #cc0000; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">master plan</a> that I wrote 10 years ago is now in the final stages of completion. It wasn't all that complicated and basically consisted of:</span></div>
<ol class="numbered-list" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; line-height: 17.5px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 35px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<li style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #666666; line-height: 1.25rem; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem 1.25rem; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Create a low volume car, which would necessarily be expensive</span></li>
<li style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #666666; line-height: 1.25rem; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem 1.25rem; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Use that money to develop a medium volume car at a lower price</span></li>
<li class="margin-bottom:0;" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #666666; line-height: 1.25rem; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem 1.25rem; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large; line-height: 1.25rem;">Use</span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large; line-height: 1.25rem;"> </span><i style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large; line-height: 1.25rem; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">that</i><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large; line-height: 1.25rem;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large; line-height: 1.25rem;">money to create an affordable, high volume car</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 12px 0px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">And...</span></div>
</li>
<li style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #666666; line-height: 1.25rem; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem 1.25rem; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Provide solar power. No kidding, this has literally been on our website for 10 years.</span></li>
</ol>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #666666; line-height: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 25px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The reason we had to start off with step 1 was that it was all I could afford to do with what I made from PayPal. I thought our chances of success were so low that I didn't want to risk anyone's funds in the beginning but my own. The list of successful car company startups is short. As of 2016, the number of American car companies that haven't gone bankrupt is a grand total of two: Ford and Tesla. Starting a car company is idiotic and an electric car company is idiocy squared.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #666666; line-height: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 25px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Also, a low volume car means a much smaller, simpler factory, albeit with most things done by hand. Without economies of scale, anything we built would be expensive, whether it was an economy sedan or a sports car. While at least some people would be prepared to pay a high price for a sports car, no one was going to pay $100k for an electric Honda Civic, no matter how cool it looked.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #666666; line-height: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 25px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Part of the reason I wrote the first master plan was to defend against the inevitable attacks Tesla would face accusing us of just caring about making cars for rich people, implying that we felt there was a shortage of sports car companies or some other bizarre rationale. Unfortunately, the blog didn't stop countless attack articles on exactly these grounds, so it pretty much completely failed that objective.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #666666; line-height: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 25px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">However, the main reason was to explain how our actions fit into a larger picture, so that they would seem less random. The point of all this was, and remains, accelerating the advent of sustainable energy, so that we can imagine far into the future and life is still good. That's what "sustainable" means. It's not some silly, hippy thing -- it matters for everyone.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">By definition, we must at some point achieve a sustainable energy economy or we will run out of fossil fuels to burn and civilization will collapse. Given that we must get off fossil fuels anyway and that virtually all scientists agree that dramatically increasing atmospheric and oceanic carbon levels is insane, the faster we achieve sustainability, the better.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Here is what we plan to do to make that day come sooner:</span></div>
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</div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large; line-height: 1.5rem;">Integrate Energy Generation and Storage</strong></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large; line-height: 1.5rem;"><br /></strong></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 1.5rem;">Create a smoothly integrated and beautiful solar-roof-with-battery product that just works, empowering the individual as their own utility, and then scale that throughout the world. One ordering experience, one installation, one service contact, one phone app.</span></div>
</span><br />
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #666666; line-height: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 25px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">We can't do this well if Tesla and SolarCity are different companies, which is why we need to combine and break down the barriers inherent to being separate companies. That they are separate at all, despite similar origins and pursuit of the same overarching goal of sustainable energy, is largely an accident of history. Now that Tesla is ready to scale Powerwall and SolarCity is ready to provide highly differentiated solar, the time has come to bring them together.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large; line-height: 1.5rem;">Expand to Cover the Major Forms of Terrestrial Transport</strong></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large; line-height: 1.5rem;"><br /></strong></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 1.5rem;">Today, Tesla addresses two relatively small segments of premium sedans and SUVs. With the Model 3, a future compact SUV and a new kind of pickup truck, we plan to address most of the consumer market. A lower cost vehicle than the Model 3 is unlikely to be necessary, because of the third part of the plan described below.</span></div>
</span><br />
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #666666; line-height: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 25px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">What really matters to accelerate a sustainable future is being able to scale up production volume as quickly as possible. That is why Tesla engineering has transitioned to focus heavily on designing the machine that makes the machine -- turning the factory <em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">itself</em> into a product. A first principles physics analysis of automotive production suggests that somewhere between a 5 to 10 fold improvement is achievable by version 3 on a roughly 2 year iteration cycle. The first Model 3 factory machine should be thought of as version 0.5, with version 1.0 probably in 2018.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #666666; line-height: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 25px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">In addition to consumer vehicles, there are two other types of electric vehicle needed: heavy-duty trucks and high passenger-density urban transport. Both are in the early stages of development at Tesla and should be ready for unveiling next year. We believe the Tesla Semi will deliver a substantial reduction in the cost of cargo transport, while increasing safety and making it really fun to operate.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">With the advent of autonomy, it will probably make sense to shrink the size of buses and transition the role of bus driver to that of fleet manager. Traffic congestion would improve due to increased passenger areal density by eliminating the center aisle and putting seats where there are currently entryways, and matching acceleration and braking to other vehicles, thus avoiding the inertial impedance to smooth traffic flow of traditional heavy buses. It would also take people all the way to their destination. Fixed summon buttons at existing bus stops would serve those who don't have a phone. Design accommodates wheelchairs, strollers and bikes.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large; line-height: 1.5rem;">Autonomy</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large; line-height: 1.5rem;"><br /></strong></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 1.5rem;">As the technology matures, all Tesla vehicles will have the hardware necessary to be fully self-driving with fail-operational capability, meaning that any given system in the car could break and your car will still drive itself safely. It is important to emphasize that refinement and validation of the software will take much longer than putting in place the cameras, radar, sonar and computing hardware.</span></div>
</span><br />
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #666666; line-height: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 25px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Even once the software is highly refined and far better than the average human driver, there will still be a significant time gap, varying widely by jurisdiction, before true self-driving is approved by regulators. We expect that worldwide regulatory approval will require something on the order of 6 billion miles (10 billion km). Current fleet learning is happening at just over 3 million miles (5 million km) per day.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #666666; line-height: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 25px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I should add a note here to explain why Tesla is deploying partial autonomy now, rather than waiting until some point in the future. The most important reason is that, when used correctly, it is already significantly safer than a person driving by themselves and it would therefore be morally reprehensible to delay release simply for fear of bad press or some mercantile calculation of legal liability.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #666666; line-height: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 25px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">According to the recently released 2015 NHTSA report, automotive fatalities increased by 8% to one death every 89 million miles. Autopilot miles will soon exceed twice that number and the system gets better every day. It would no more make sense to disable Tesla's Autopilot, as some have called for, than it would to disable autopilot in aircraft, after which our system is named.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #666666; line-height: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 25px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">It is also important to explain why we refer to Autopilot as "beta". This is not beta software in any normal sense of the word. Every release goes through extensive internal validation before it reaches any customers. It is called beta in order to decrease complacency and indicate that it will continue to improve (Autopilot is always off by default). Once we get to the point where Autopilot is approximately 10 times safer than the US vehicle average, the beta label will be removed.</span></div>
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</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large; line-height: 1.5rem;">Sharing</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large; line-height: 1.5rem;"><br /></strong></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 1.5rem;">When true self-driving is approved by regulators, it will mean that you will be able to summon your Tesla from pretty much anywhere. Once it picks you up, you will be able to sleep, read or do anything else enroute to your destination.</span></div>
</span><br />
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #666666; line-height: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 25px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">You will also be able to add your car to the Tesla shared fleet just by tapping a button on the Tesla phone app and have it generate income for you while you're at work or on vacation, significantly offsetting and at times potentially exceeding the monthly loan or lease cost. This dramatically lowers the true cost of ownership to the point where almost anyone could own a Tesla. Since most cars are only in use by their owner for 5% to 10% of the day, the fundamental economic utility of a true self-driving car is likely to be several times that of a car which is not.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #666666; line-height: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 25px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">In cities where demand exceeds the supply of customer-owned cars, Tesla will operate its own fleet, ensuring you can always hail a ride from us no matter where you are.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #666666; line-height: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 25px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<b style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">So, in short, Master Plan, Part Deux is:</span></b></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5rem;"><i>Create stunning solar roofs with seamlessly integrated battery storage</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large; line-height: 1.5rem;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 1.5rem;">Expand the electric vehicle product line to address all major segments</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 1.5rem;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 1.5rem;">Develop a self-driving capability that is 10X safer than manual via massive fleet learning</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 1.5rem;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 1.5rem;">Enable your car to make money for you when you aren't using it</span></div>
</i></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7138318545508804077.post-72442896409669621132016-07-21T08:03:00.000-07:002016-07-21T08:03:22.872-07:00Online shopping: Tips to keep close to your wallet<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: large;">Online shopping: Tips to keep close to your wallet</span></h1>
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July 20, 2016<div class="author" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
by <div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden" style="display: inline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
Mia Smutny</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-name-field-author-title field-type-text field-label-hidden" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
Consumer Education Intern, FTC</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Online shopping makes it easy and convenient to search for — and buy — the must-have items on your wish list. Before you buy, check out this video for tips on avoiding hassles, getting the right product at the right price, and protecting your financial information:</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; max-width: 420px; padding: 0px; position: relative;">
<div style="margin: 0px; padding: 236.25px 0px 0px;">
<div aria-label="video player" class="video-js vjs-mouse vjs-paused vjs-controls-enabled vjs-workinghover bc-player-Vy0NWmo9x_default vjs-dock vjs-plugins-ready vjs-errors not-hover vjs-user-inactive" data-account="1087587715001" data-embed="default" data-player="Vy0NWmo9x" data-video-id="2163043994001" id="vjs_video_3" role="region" style="-webkit-user-select: none; background-color: #151b17; bottom: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; height: 236.25px; left: 0px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 0px; top: 0px; vertical-align: top; width: 420px;">
<video aria-describedby="vjs-dock-description-2" aria-labelledby="vjs-dock-title-1" class="vjs-tech" data-account="1087587715001" data-embed="default" data-player="Vy0NWmo9x" data-video-id="2163043994001" id="vjs_video_3_html5_api" poster="https://bcsecure01-a.akamaihd.net/6/1305620551001/201302/1114/1305620551001_2163009518001_video-0082-online-shopping-640x360.jpg?pubId=1087587715001&videoId=2163043994001" src="http://brightcove05.brightcove.com/1305620551001/201301/2735/1305620551001_2132786568001_video-0082-online-shopping-720p.mp4?pubId=1087587715001&videoId=2163043994001" style="bottom: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; font-size: inherit; height: 236.25px; left: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 0px; top: 0px; width: 420px;"></video><div style="box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
</div>
<div class="vjs-poster" style="background-color: black; background-image: url("https://bcsecure01-a.akamaihd.net/6/1305620551001/201302/1114/1305620551001_2163009518001_video-0082-online-shopping-640x360.jpg?pubId=1087587715001&videoId=2163043994001"); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: contain; bottom: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-size: inherit; height: 236.25px; left: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 0px; top: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" tabindex="-1">
</div>
<div aria-atomic="true" aria-live="assertive" class="vjs-text-track-display" style="bottom: 3em; box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; font-size: inherit; left: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; right: 0px; top: 0px;">
<div style="bottom: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; font-size: inherit; left: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 6.29688px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 0px; top: 0px;">
</div>
</div>
<button aria-live="polite" class="vjs-big-play-button" style="-webkit-appearance: none; background: none rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.45098); border-radius: 50%; border: none; box-sizing: inherit; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: block; font-family: VideoJS; font-size: 3.5em; height: 2em; left: 210px; line-height: 2em; margin: -1em 0px 0px -1em; opacity: 1; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: absolute; top: 118.125px; transition: border-color 0.4s, outline 0.4s, background-color 0.4s; width: 2em;" type="button"><span class="vjs-control-text" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; clip: rect(0px 0px 0px 0px); color: inherit; font-size: inherit; height: 1px; line-height: inherit; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 1px;">Play Video</span></button><div class="vjs-dock-text" style="background: linear-gradient(rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8) 0px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961) 30%, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961) 70%, transparent 100%); box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; left: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 1em 105px 2em 1em; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: opacity 0.1s; width: 420px;">
<div class="vjs-dock-title" id="vjs-dock-title-1" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: 1px; line-height: 1.333; margin: 0px 0px 0.333em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;" title="">
Online Shopping Tips</div>
<div class="vjs-dock-description" id="vjs-dock-description-2" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;" title="">
Looking for a great product at a great price? These tips can help.</div>
</div>
<div class="vjs-dock-shelf" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 1em; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; right: 0px; text-align: right; top: 0px; transition: opacity 0.1s; width: 105px;">
<button aria-live="polite" class="vjs-share-control vjs-icon-share vjs-button" style="-webkit-appearance: none; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: none; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; font-family: VideoJS; font-size: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; pointer-events: auto; position: relative; transition: none;" type="button"><span class="" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2px; padding: 0px; pointer-events: auto; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: top;">Share</span></button></div>
</div>
</div>
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Here’s a quick cheat sheet:</div>
<ul style="font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2em;">
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<li style="margin: 5px 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Pay by credit card to ensure <a href="https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0020-shopping-online" style="color: #2b93d9; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">added protections</a>, and <strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">never mail cash or wire money to online sellers</strong>.</span></li>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7138318545508804077.post-27337175797113899002016-07-20T10:41:00.002-07:002016-07-20T10:41:33.803-07:00This Guy Trains Computers to Find Future Criminals (BW)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Richard Berk says his algorithms take the bias out of criminal justice. But could they make it worse?</span> </div>
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by Joshua Brustein July 18, 2016</div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">When historians look back at the turmoil over prejudice and policing in the U.S. over the past few years, they’re unlikely to dwell on the case of Eric Loomis. Police in La Crosse, Wis., arrested Loomis in February 2013 for driving a car that was used in a drive-by shooting. He had been arrested a dozen times before. Loomis took a plea, and was sentenced to six years in prison plus five years of probation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The episode was unremarkable compared with the deaths of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling at the hands of police, which were captured on camera and distributed widely online. But Loomis’s story marks an important point in a quieter debate over the role of fairness and technology in policing. Before his sentence, the judge in the case received an automatically generated risk score that determined Loomis was likely to commit violent crimes in the future.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Risk scores, generated by algorithms, are an increasingly common factor in sentencing. Computers crunch data—arrests, type of crime committed, and demographic information—and a risk rating is generated. The idea is to create a guide that’s less likely to be subject to unconscious biases, the mood of a judge, or other human shortcomings. Similar tools are used to decide which blocks police officers should patrol, where to put inmates in prison, and who to let out on parole. Supporters of these tools claim they’ll help solve historical inequities, but their critics say they have the potential to aggravate them, by hiding old prejudices under the veneer of computerized precision. Some people see them as a sterilized version of what brought protesters into the streets at Black Lives Matter rallies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Loomis is a surprising fulcrum in this controversy: He’s a white man. But when Loomis challenged the state’s use of a risk score in his sentence, he cited many of the fundamental criticisms of the tools: that they’re too mysterious to be used in court, that they punish people for the crimes of others, and that they hold your demographics against you. Last week the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled against Loomis, but the decision validated some of his core claims. The case, say legal experts, could serve as a jumping-off point for legal challenges questioning the constitutionality of these kinds of techniques.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">To understand the algorithms being used all over the country, it’s good to talk to Richard Berk. He’s been writing them for decades (though he didn’t write the tool that created Loomis’s risk score). Berk, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, is a shortish, bald guy, whose solid stature and I-dare-you-to-disagree-with-me demeanor might lead people to mistake him for an ex-cop. In fact, he’s a career statistician.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">His tools have been used by prisons to determine which inmates to place in restrictive settings; parole departments to choose how closely to supervise people being released from prison; and police officers to predict whether people arrested for domestic violence will re-offend. He once created an algorithm that would tell the Occupational Safety and Health Administration which workplaces were likely to commit safety violations, but says the agency never used it for anything. Starting this fall, the state of Pennsylvania plans to run a pilot program using Berk’s system in sentencing decisions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">As his work has been put into use across the country, Berk’s academic pursuits have become progressively fantastical. He’s currently working on an algorithm that he says will be able to predict at the time of someone’s birth how likely she is to commit a crime by the time she turns 18. The only limit to applications like this, in Berk’s mind, is the data he can find to feed into them.</span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>“The policy position that is taken is that it’s much more dangerous to release Darth Vader than it is to incarcerate Luke Skywalker”</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">This kind of talk makes people uncomfortable, something Berk was clearly aware of on a sunny Thursday morning in May as he headed into a conference in the basement of a campus building at Penn to play the role of least popular man in the room. He was scheduled to participate in the first panel of the day, which was essentially a referendum on his work. Berk settled into his chair and prepared for a spirited debate about whether what he does all day is good for society.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The moderator, a researcher named Sandra Mayson, took the podium. “This panel is the Minority Report panel,” she said, referring to the Tom Cruise movie where the government employs a trio of psychic mutants to identify future murderers, then arrests these “pre-criminals” before their offenses occur. The comparison is so common it’s become a kind of joke. “I use it too, occasionally, because there’s no way to avoid it," Berk said later.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">For the next hour, the other members of the panel took turns questioning the scientific integrity, utility, and basic fairness of predictive techniques such as Berk’s. As it went on, he began to fidget in frustration. Berk leaned all the way back in his chair and crossed his hands over his stomach. He leaned all the way forward and flexed his fingers. He scribbled a few notes. He rested his chin in one hand like a bored teenager and stared off into space.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Eventually, the debate was too much for him: “Here’s what I, maybe hyperbolically, get out of this,” Berk said. “No data are any good, the criminal justice system sucks, and all the actors in the criminal justice system are biased by race and gender. If that’s the takeaway message, we might as well all go home. There’s nothing more to do.” The room tittered with awkward laughter.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Berk’s work on crime started in the late 1960s, when he was splitting his time between grad school and a social work job in Baltimore. The city exploded in violence following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Berk’s graduate school thesis examined the looting patterns during the riots. “You couldn’t really be alive and sentient at that moment in time and not be concerned about what was going on in crime and justice,” he said. “Very much like today with the Ferguson stuff.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">In the mid-1990s, Berk began focusing on machine learning, where computers look for patterns in data sets too large for humans to sift through manually. To make a model, Berk inputs tens of thousands of profiles into a computer. Each one includes the data of someone who has been arrested, including how old they were when first arrested, what neighborhood they’re from, how long they’ve spent in jail, and so on. The data also contain information about who was re-arrested. The computer finds patterns, and those serve as the basis for predictions about which arrestees will re-offend.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">To Berk, a big advantage of machine learning is that it eliminates the need to understand what causes someone to be violent. “For these problems, we don’t have good theory,” he said. Feed the computer enough data and it can figure it out on its own, without deciding on a philosophy of the origins of criminal proclivity. This is a seductive idea. But it’s also one that comes under criticism each time a supposedly neutral algorithm in any field produces worryingly non-neutral results. In one widely cited study, researchers showed that Google’s automated ad-serving software was more likely to show ads for high-paying jobs to men than to women. Another found that ads for arrest records show up more often when searching the web for distinctly black names than for white ones.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Computer scientists have a maxim, “Garbage in, garbage out.” In this case, the garbage would be decades of racial and socioeconomic disparities in the criminal justice system. Predictions about future crimes based on data about historical crime statistics have the potential to equate past patterns of policing with the predisposition of people in certain groups—mostly poor and nonwhite—to commit crimes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Berk readily acknowledges this as a concern, then quickly dismisses it. Race isn’t an input in any of his systems, and he says his own research has shown his algorithms produce similar risk scores regardless of race. He also argues that the tools he creates aren’t used for punishment—more often they’re used, he said, to reverse long-running patterns of overly harsh sentencing, by identifying people whom judges and probation officers shouldn’t worry about.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Berk began working with Philadelphia’s Adult Probation and Parole Department in 2006. At the time, the city had a big murder problem and a small budget. There were a lot of people in the city’s probation and parole programs. City Hall wanted to know which people it truly needed to watch. Berk and a small team of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania wrote a model to identify which people were most likely to commit murder or attempted murder while on probation or parole. Berk generally works for free, and was never on Philadelphia’s payroll.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">A common question, of course, is how accurate risk scores are. Berk says that in his own work, between 29 percent and 38 percent of predictions about whether someone is low-risk end up being wrong. But focusing on accuracy misses the point, he says. When it comes to crime, sometimes the best answers aren’t the most statistically precise ones. Just like weathermen err on the side of predicting rain because no one wants to get caught without an umbrella, court systems want technology that intentionally overpredicts the risk that any individual is a crime risk. The same person could end up being described as either high-risk or not depending on where the government decides to set that line. “The policy position that is taken is that it’s much more dangerous to release Darth Vader than it is to incarcerate Luke Skywalker,” Berk said.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i><b>“Every mark of poverty serves as a risk factor”</b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Philadelphia’s plan was to offer cognitive behavioral therapy to the highest-risk people, and offset the costs by spending less money supervising everyone else. When Berk posed the Darth Vader question, the parole department initially determined it’d be 10 times worse, according to Geoffrey Barnes, who worked on the project. Berk figured that at that threshold the algorithm would name 8,000 to 9,000 people as potential pre-murderers. Officials realized they couldn’t afford to pay for that much therapy, and asked for a model that was less harsh. Berk’s team twisted the dials accordingly. “We’re intentionally making the model less accurate, but trying to make sure it produces the right kind of error when it does,” Barnes said.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The program later expanded to group everyone into high-, medium-, and low-risk populations, and the city significantly reduced how closely it watched parolees Berk’s system identified as low-risk. In a 2010 study, Berk and city officials reported that people who were given more lenient treatment were less likely to be arrested for violent crimes than people with similar risk scores who stayed with traditional parole or probation. People classified as high-risk were almost four times more likely to be charged with violent crimes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Since then, Berk has created similar programs in Maryland’s and Pennsylvania’s statewide parole systems. In Pennsylvania, an internal analysis showed that between 2011 and 2014 about 15 percent of people who came up for parole received different decisions because of their risk scores. Those who were released during that period were significantly less likely to be re-arrested than those who had been released in years past. The conclusion: Berk’s software was helping the state make smarter decisions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Laura Treaster, a spokeswoman for the state’s Board of Probation and Parole, says Pennsylvania isn’t sure how its risk scores are impacted by race. “This has not been analyzed yet,” she said. “However, it needs to be noted that parole is very different than sentencing. The board is not determining guilt or innocence. We are looking at risk.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Sentencing, though, is the next frontier for Berk’s risk scores. And using algorithms to decide how long someone goes to jail is proving more controversial than using them to decide when to let people out early.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Wisconsin courts use Compas, a popular commercial tool made by a Michigan-based company called Northpointe. By the company’s account, the people it deems high-risk are re-arrested within two years in about 70 percent of cases. Part of Loomis’s challenge was specific to Northpointe’s practice of declining to share specific information about how its tool generates scores, citing competitive reasons. Not allowing a defendant to assess the evidence against him violated due process, he argued. (Berk shares the code for his systems, and criticizes commercial products such as Northpointe’s for not doing the same.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">As the court was considering Loomis’s appeal, the journalism website ProPublica published an investigation looking at 7,000 Compas risk scores in a single county in Florida over the course of 2013 and 2014. It found that black people were almost twice as likely as white people to be labeled high-risk, then not commit a crime, while it was much more common for white people who were labeled low-risk to re-offend than black people who received a low-risk score. Northpointe challenged the findings, saying ProPublica had miscategorized many risk scores and ignored results that didn’t support its thesis. Its analysis of the same data found no racial disparities.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Even as it upheld Loomis’s sentence, the Wisconsin Supreme Court cited the research on race to raise concerns about the use of tools like Compas. Going forward, it requires risk scores to be accompanied by disclaimers about their nontransparent nature and various caveats about their conclusions. It also says they can’t be used as the determining factor in a sentencing decision. The decision was the first time that such a high court had signaled ambivalence about the use of risk scores in sentencing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Sonja Starr, a professor at the University of Michigan’s law school and a prominent critic of risk assessment, thinks that Loomis’s case foreshadows stronger legal arguments to come. Loomis made a demographic argument, saying that Compas rated him as riskier because of his gender, reflecting the historical patterns of men being arrested at higher rates than women. But he didn’t frame it as an argument that Compas violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, which allowed the court to sidestep the core issue.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Loomis also didn’t argue that the risk scores serve to discriminate against poor people. “That’s the part that seems to concern judges, that every mark of poverty serves as a risk factor,” Starr said. “We should very easily see more successful challenges in other cases.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Officials in Pennsylvania, which has been slowly preparing to use risk assessment in sentencing for the past six years, are sensitive to these potential pitfalls. The state’s experience shows how tricky it is to create an algorithm through the public policy process. To come up with a politically palatable risk tool, Pennsylvania established a sentencing commission. It quickly rejected commercial products like Compas, saying they were too expensive and too mysterious, so the commission began creating its own system.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>“If you want me to do a totally race-neutral forecast, you’ve got to tell me what variables you’re going to allow me to use, and nobody can, because everything is confounded with race and gender”</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Race was discarded immediately as an input. But every other factor became a matter of debate. When the state initially wanted to include location, which it determined to be statistically useful in predicting who would re-offend, the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers argued that it was a proxy for race, given patterns of housing segregation. The commission eventually dropped the use of location. Also in question: the system’s use of arrests, instead of convictions, since it seems to punish people who live in communities that are policed more aggressively.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Berk argues that eliminating sensitive factors weakens the predictive power of the algorithms. “If you want me to do a totally race-neutral forecast, you’ve got to tell me what variables you’re going to allow me to use, and nobody can, because everything is confounded with race and gender,” he said.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Starr says this argument confuses the differing standards in academic research and the legal system. In social science, it can be useful to calculate the relative likelihood that members of certain groups will do certain things. But that doesn’t mean a specific person’s future should be calculated based on an analysis of populationwide crime stats, especially when the data set being used reflects decades of racial and socioeconomic disparities. It amounts to a computerized version of racial profiling, Starr argued. “If the variables aren’t appropriate, you shouldn’t be relying on them," she said.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Late this spring, Berk traveled to Norway to meet with a group of researchers from the University of Oslo. The Norwegian government gathers an immense amount of information about the country’s citizens and connects each of them to a single identification file, presenting a tantalizing set of potential inputs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Torbjørn Skardhamar, a professor at the university, was interested in exploring how he could use machine learning to make long-term predictions. He helped set up Berk’s visit. Norway has lagged behind the U.S. in using predictive analytics in criminal justice, and the men threw around a few ideas.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Berk wants to predict at the moment of birth whether people will commit a crime by their 18th birthday, based on factors such as environment and the history of a new child’s parents. This would be almost impossible in the U.S., given that much of a person’s biographical information is spread out across many agencies and subject to many restrictions. He’s not sure if it’s possible in Norway, either, and he acknowledges he also hasn’t completely thought through how best to use such information.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Caveats aside, this has the potential to be a capstone project of Berk’s career. It also takes all of the ethical and political questions and extends them to their logical conclusion. Even in the movie Minority Report, the government peered only hours into the future—not years. Skardhamar, who is new to these techniques, said he’s not afraid of making mistakes: They’re talking about them now, he said, so they can avoid future errors. “These are tricky questions,” he said, mulling all the ways the project could go wrong. “Making them explicit—that’s a good thing.”</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7138318545508804077.post-17657043722209244672016-07-19T09:56:00.001-07:002016-07-19T09:56:04.792-07:00ARM's $31 billion takeover shows that information is king<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Adelle, Georgia, serif; font-size: 28.5px; font-style: italic; line-height: 35.625px;">SoftBank is getting a bargain</span></div>
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<img alt="Image result for ARM Holdings" height="370" 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" 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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">ARM Holdings, a chip design firm that doesn’t manufacture or sell any chips, has just been bought by SoftBank for a cool $31.4 billion. That’s four times as much as Microsoft paid for Nokia, close to three times Google’s expenditure on Motorola, and an order of magnitude more than Palm cost HP. We think of these other companies as the authors of the mobile world we’re living in, but it’s ARM’s invisible contribution that has proven more influential — and now a lot more valuable — than all of them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The smartphone revolution of this century might as well be called the ARM takeover. Practically every single phone, tablet, and smartwatch out in the world today runs on a processor using the ARM architecture — which means licensing ARM’s designs and paying royalties for every chip sold. Yes, that includes iPhones, Galaxys, BlackBerrys, Droids, and Lumias: all but the most loyal of Intel acolytes are manufacturing ARM-powered mobile devices. ARM’s portfolio extends beyond mobile processors to include graphics, wireless, and server chips along with physical design blueprints and software development tools. Simply put, if you want to build a mobile device of any kind, you’ll have to deal with ARM.</span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">ARM IS AN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY POWERHOUSE</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">ARM’s product is information. The company spends its time and money on R&D, which it converts into successive generations of new mobile processor core and system designs. Its hardware partners would love to be able to build everything themselves, but ARM’s depth and breadth of expertise is such that it’s more efficient to license rather than compete with its technology. With more than 4,500 granted or pending patents, ARM is an intellectual property powerhouse — like a patent troll that isn’t actually trolling, it just develops smart production methods and designs and sells them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">An oft-cited aphorism from Tom Goodwin last year identified one of the prevailing trends of modern tech:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>"Uber, the world’s largest taxi company, owns no vehicles. Facebook, the world’s most popular media owner, creates no content. Alibaba, the most valuable retailer, has no inventory. And Airbnb, the world’s largest accommodation provider, owns no real estate. Something interesting is happening."</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The "something interesting" is happening behind the scenes of the tech world too. ARM is another of these prospering companies whose profits keep improving even in the absence of any tangible, physical assets. It isn’t chasing consumers directly, but it’s just as much a trader in information as Facebook, Uber, and Airbnb are. Consumers recompense ARM via the intermediary of a hardware-manufacturing partner, but the core mechanics are still the same: obtain valuable information, secure your control over it, sell it to a willing purchaser, and profit.</span></div>
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<img alt=" " height="279" src="https://cdn3.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/YXlJ4r00Wa6vQvfXLDxFZQ78ycc=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/6804787/arm-fun.jpg" width="640" /></div>
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ARM's Holdings</div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 17.6px; line-height: 29.92px;">It’s a simple formula that should be extremely familiar by now. Data and software might have high initial acquisition or production costs, but once you have them, the marginal cost of producing another unit to sell or license is zero. ARM has carved out its niche by continuously being ahead of the competition, nullifying Intel’s Sisyphean efforts to break through into mobile, and developing a wide network of satisfied licensees.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 17.6px; line-height: 29.92px;">The headline reason for SoftBank’s acquisition of ARM today is the latter company’s instrumental role in developing the future Internet of Things. The pair have even set up a website dedicated to the deal, where they explain their rationale and talk up plans for world domination that’s even greater than the 90 billion ARM chips already out there. But the IoT future isn’t here yet, and a seasoned investor like SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son doesn’t spend $31 billion purely on potential. He sees that ARM is an already profitable company with comparatively negligible expenses, he recognizes the massive discountthat Brexit’s impact on the British pound has created, and he knows ARM’s influence is far greater than its size. It just makes good business sense, especially at a time when debt is cheap to sustain and cash is more of a burden than an asset.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 17.6px; line-height: 29.92px;"><i>THE INFORMATION AGE IS DEFINED BY COMPANIES LIKE ARM, WHOSE ASSETS ARE INTANGIBLE</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; line-height: 29.92px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">To casual observers, the idea of a company with no brand recognition — anonymous to all but the geeky spec sheet explorers — meriting an 11-figure price will seem absurd. But just like the more consumer-facing acquisitions of WhatsApp by Facebook and LinkedIn by Microsoft, this is a big investment into the information economy.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; line-height: 29.92px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>As much as hardware companies like Apple and Samsung might dominate news coverage and people’s wish lists, it’s the software and service providers that load those devices up and make them truly desirable. In ARM’s case, its information provides the blueprint and architecture atop which everything is built. Hardware manufacturers may come and go, but the one essential and irreplaceable aspect of modern mobile computing is ARM’s portfolio of intellectual property. That’s where the value is.</i></span></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7138318545508804077.post-79370103913628174312016-07-18T06:02:00.003-07:002016-07-18T06:02:59.660-07:00Is Facebook Ready to Be the World’s Live News Network? (BW)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>The social network has yet to figure out how to moderate the potentially explosive content its 1.65 billion users could live-stream.</i></span></div>
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Until recently, the big news in the world of news was that Facebook was retreating from journalism. After an unexpected dip in the personal sharing that is its core business, plus a mini-scandal involving allegations of political bias in how it displayed content from conservative websites, Facebook said it was updating its algorithm to prioritize wedding announcements and baby photos over postings by media companies. “Friends and family come first,” the company said in a June 29 blog post.</div>
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And when Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg announced the Facebook Live video function, he presented it as a platform for life’s small trials and triumphs. “You can feel like you’re really there with your friends,” he said on April 6, when the service launched. Among the videos he praised: a young man’s haircut as it happened, a woman skiing downhill with her kids, and a zoo camera trained on some baby birds. “Everyone is tuned in, watching these cute bald eagles, wondering what’s going to happen,” he said, with a wide grin. “It’s kind of a new thing.”</div>
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<img alt="Reynolds’s video of the shooting drew more than 5 million views on Facebook within a day." data-attachment-key="300217590" src="https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/imrFKelLPKkI/v0/488x-1.jpg" srcset="https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/imrFKelLPKkI/v0/488x-1.jpg 488w, https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/imrFKelLPKkI/v0/628x-1.jpg 628w, https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/imrFKelLPKkI/v0/750x-1.jpg 750w, https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/imrFKelLPKkI/v0/1200x-1.jpg 1200w, https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/imrFKelLPKkI/v0/-1x-1.jpg 1440w" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 1440px; position: relative; width: 360px; z-index: 1;" /></div>
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Reynolds’s video of the shooting drew more than 5 million views on Facebook within a day.</div>
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Source: YouTube</div>
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The sentiment suddenly feels quaint. On July 6, during what should have been a routine traffic stop, a police officer in suburban Minneapolis fired multiple shots at Philando Castile, a 32-year-old black man. Seconds later, as he slumped, bloody and gasping for air next to her in the car, Diamond Reynolds, his girlfriend, opened the Facebook app on her smartphone and pressed the Go Live button. She narrated calmly, panning from the gun pointed in her direction to her dying companion, and even kept the broadcast going as she was thrown to the ground, cuffed, and taken into custody. “It’s OK, Mommy,” her 4-year-old daughter could be heard saying in the back seat. “I’m right here with you.”</div>
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The next day, Facebook was used by witnesses in Dallas to broadcast live footage of the attack that left five police officers dead and seven others wounded at a Black Lives Matter protest organized in response to the shootings of Castile and Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, La. In the aftermath of the violence, Facebook Live was inescapable, as public figures took to the platform to process in real time what had happened. “If you are a normal white American, the truth is you don’t understand being black in America, and you instinctively underestimate the level of discrimination and the level of additional risk,” Newt Gingrich told CNN commentator Van Jones in a Facebook Live interview.</div>
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Broadcasting video in real time on smartphones isn’t new. Twitter’s Periscope made headlines last year when it enabled users to stream parties from the South by Southwest festival in Austin and unauthorized coverage of the Oscars. But none of the companies that have rolled out live video have Facebook’s scale or technological know-how. With 1.65 billion users—more than half of whom log in every day—footage can quickly command an enormous audience. And live videos are archived, adding even more viewers. Reynolds’s video of Castile’s death drew more than 5 million views on Facebook within a day of the incident and was rebroadcast on several news channels.</div>
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The push for live video accelerated in February at an all-hands meeting at Facebook’s campus in Menlo Park, Calif., when Zuckerberg said the format would be central to the company’s future. The new feature represents a technical challenge, taxing cell phone networks and Facebook’s own servers—even Zuckerberg’s own videos have cut out at times. Converting the video right away to work on hundreds of different devices at once is anything but simple. When a user goes live, Facebook must ensure it can process the footage, regardless of the source, and transmit it instantly. “The infrastructure for live-streaming is hard,” Chief Product Officer Chris Cox said in a 2015 interview. “It’s something we’ve been working on for a long time.” Facebook’s custom-manufactured servers, set up around the world to handle any sudden demand for data streaming, helped Reynolds’s stream from the passenger seat of a car go viral almost instantly.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; line-height: 3.0625rem; text-align: center;">“Facebook is in a position of power. At some point [it] will be asked to shut down a live feed to make sure something doesn’t go viral.” </span><span style="font-family: TiemposHeadlineWeb-Bold, Georgia, serif; font-size: 2.5rem; line-height: 3.0625rem; text-align: center;">— </span><em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: TiemposTextWeb-RegularItalic, Georgia, serif; line-height: 3.0625rem; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Jonathan Zittrain, Harvard University</span></em></div>
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Live-streaming at such a speed and on such a scale raises legal and ethical questions. At least five people this year have been shot while broadcasting with Facebook Live. One, a man in Chicago, was killed. Another man, an apparent sympathizer with Islamic State in Paris, streamed threats after he allegedly murdered a French police commander and his partner. In Milwaukee, two 14-year-olds and a 15-year-old filmed themselves having sex. (Facebook deleted the Paris and Milwaukee videos; the Chicago murder film is still available.)</div>
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Videos are routed through a content-moderation system that’s still a work in progress. If any widely viewed live-stream or footage is flagged as inappropriate by a single Facebook user, it’s sent to one of four content-moderating call-center-like operations, in Menlo Park, Austin, Dublin, and Hyderabad, India. Moderators are instructed to interrupt any live-stream that violates Facebook’s community standards, which include bans on threats, self-harm, “dangerous organizations,” bullying, criminal activity, “regulated goods,” nudity, hate speech, and glorified violence. The gatekeepers weigh the public-interest value of a given video against these standards.</div>
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“Facebook is in a position of power,” says Jonathan Zittrain, the director of Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for the Internet and Society. “At some point Facebook will be asked to shut down a live feed to make sure something doesn’t go viral,” he says. The company “needs to be upfront about the decisions it’s making and the pressures under which it’s making them.” The events of the past week have sparked more discussion at Facebook about the company’s role in such situations.</div>
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Facebook has said it hopes to use artificial intelligence to help make such split-second judgments, but the technology is a long way off. “You can have filters for certain words, but AI isn’t going to solve what happened in Minnesota,” says Blagica Bottigliero, a vice president at ModSquad, which uses a network of 10,000 contractors worldwide to moderate online content for the NFL and Warner Bros., among others. “You need the judgment of someone looking at the content and bringing in context, and even in those situations they can get it wrong,” Bottigliero says.</div>
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The aftermath of the Reynolds video is a case in point in the difficulty of curating newsworthy but violent content. Early on July 7, Facebook took down the video without explanation, then restored it an hour later with an apology and a disclaimer noting its explicit content. This led to news reports citing anonymous sources who claimed the police had deleted the video while Reynolds was in custody. Facebook spokeswoman Andrea Saul sticks with the company’s statement on the issue, that it was a “technical glitch.” A company statement described the incident as “one of the most sensitive situations,” saying: “We’ve learned a lot over the past few months and will continue to make improvements to this experience wherever we can.”</div>
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The same day, Zuckerberg addressed the shooting in a Facebook wall post. “The images we’ve seen this week are graphic and heartbreaking,” he wrote. “I hope we never have to see another video like Diamond’s.” In all likelihood, more such video will come, however, and Facebook will again be a news site, whether it wants to be or not.</div>
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<em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: TiemposTextWeb-RegularItalic, Georgia, serif;"><strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: TiemposHeadlineWeb-Bold, Georgia, serif;">The bottom line:</strong> Facebook has yet to figure out how to moderate the potentially explosive content its 1.65 billion users could live-stream.</em></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7138318545508804077.post-25767140612797759942016-07-14T05:47:00.000-07:002016-07-14T05:47:00.123-07:00Microsoft's Satya Nadella thinks these four technologies will reshape IT<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The Microsoft boss on how firms will automate their IT using Azure and other cloud services, the power of machine learning, and how HoloLens and augmented reality will transform training.</span></div>
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<img alt="Image result for Microsoft boss" height="425" 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" 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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has spelled out the technologies the company believes will reshape enterprise.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Chatbots, machine learning, augmented reality and cloud-based automation will be commonplace within businesses in the near future, Nadella told the company's Worldwide Partner Conference in Toronto today.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">During his keynote, Nadella talked about Microsoft's efforts to help businesses incorporate each of these technologies and satisfy what he said was a desire among CEOs "to use digital technology to change their business outcomes".</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>Augmented reality and Hololens</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Microsoft HoloLens is an untethered headset that overlays digital information and images on top of the real world around you.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Nadella described the "mixed reality" offered by HoloLens as a sea-change in personal computing, which would transform training within business.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">To demonstrate he brought out Microsoft's general manager for HoloLens Lorraine Bardeen, who showed the audience a demonstration of how Japan Airlines is using the HoloLens to train engineers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">During the demonstration a Japan Airlines engineer showed how HoloLens augmented her vision, placing windows for her email, calendar, web browser, Skype and Power BI dashboard around her, as seen below.</span></div>
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<img alt="hololens1.png" height="332" src="http://tr4.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2016/07/11/ff2dab7f-579c-4280-ae91-b1f2cb08da1e/resize/620x/14381bd6a25d5185cb8aae0da09cce82/hololens1.png" width="640" /></div>
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A Microsoft mock-up of what the Japan Airlines engineer could see using HoloLens.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">She then demonstrated how HoloLens could show her a 3D model of a jet engine. She interacted with the model, using gestures and voice commands to resize it, to highlight different components and to trigger animated demonstrations and spoken descriptions detailing what each engine part does.</span></div>
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<img alt="hololens2.png" height="334" src="http://tr1.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2016/07/11/e478065b-56c1-4595-8d5f-6025c5335bd7/resize/620x/27a3d5c90db811f3375ca640c550420a/hololens2.png" width="640" /></div>
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The mock-up of how HoloLens displays the 3D model of the jet engine.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Bardeen said the headset is available now to developers and enterprises.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">"I would encourage everyone to look at the applicability of this new medium in the context of everyday business applications, because it will really be the most transformative thing," said Nadella.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">It should be noted that early versions of the headset had a more limited field of view than is suggested by the images from today's demonstration.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Cloud-based automation</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Microsoft wants businesses to use its Azure cloud platform to connect the various collaboration and communications apps, line of business software and professional social networks like LinkedIn, which Microsoft is acquiring.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">"What if the software was built in ways that we could connect those disparate worlds," said Nadella, adding he believes Microsoft is "on the cusp" of being able to do so.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">By linking cloud data and services, he said Microsoft wants to allow companies to build highly automated business systems.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The keynote saw a demonstration of how a company called Ecolab is using Microsoft's technology to automate its business.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The utilities company uses a Power BI dashboard to view real-time data and analysis covering its site management, retail and operational performance. In the example, Ecolab used the Power BI dashboard to see that a customer called City Power had an issue with a cooling tower.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Using a mix of Azure Insights, Cortana Intelligence and Dynamics 365, an alert was generated and a field technician assigned to fix the problem — based on that engineer's expertise, location and parts available. Each step in the process happened automatically, eliminating the need for manual calls and data entry. That technician could then be tracked using Dynamics 365.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Microsoft also demoed how Dynamics 365 can be configured to automatically perform certain tasks using the automation tool Microsoft Flow, which can link different online services together to trigger actions in response to events. In this instance, Flow was used to trigger a critical email alert and push notification message to certain users, as well as to update a City Power SharePoint list, when a record detailing a critical event was created in Dynamics 365. Ecolab also used the drag and drop app creation tool Microsoft PowerApps to more easily create custom apps for viewing customer information.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">"It's no longer about one monolithic suite and its deployment. It's this continuous wiring and rewiring of the digital feedback loop, that's where the power of cloud and the graph of the data in the cloud — underneath all of our applications and tools like Power BI, PowerApps and Flow — come to bear, " said Nadella.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">During the keynote, General Electric also announced that its Predix platform for industrial IoT would now be running on Microsoft Azure.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Machine learning</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Artificial intelligence is increasingly appealing to businesses, according to Nadella, with firms finding many uses for the 22 "cognitive service" APIs that Microsoft offers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">These APIs allow developers access to various AI-related, Microsoft services — including speech and language recognition and computer vision.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">"Every business process application you can conceive of can be transformed," he said.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Nadella gave the example of the fast-food retailer McDonalds, which has been working with Microsoft on an automated speech recognition system that transcribes people's orders at drive-thrus.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">In a pre-recorded demonstration the system appeared to be accurately transcribing the speech of a person placing an order. However, the system was not shown in a live demo.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<img alt="microsoft-cognitive-services.png" height="358" src="http://tr4.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2016/07/11/7289a7e2-cb87-485a-a00b-5d007a08f9e4/resize/620x/acddba1b580f0a7793cce3bf953ca4da/microsoft-cognitive-services.png" width="640" /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
A demo of the McDonalds system for automatically transcribing food orders.</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Nadella said that the accuracy of the system stemmed from how tunable Microsoft's cognitive services are. For instance, in the case of McDonalds, the accuracy of the transcription had been improved by tuning the system to screen out the typical ambient noise at drive-thrus and by teaching it common phrases used when placing food orders.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">McDonalds is looking to use the system to push orders directly into its point-of-sale systems, he said, transforming the spoken order into a JSON object the system can parse.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">"That type of integration, of cognitive capability into business process, is what we are enabling today," he said.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Bots</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Microsoft is also betting that most of us will interact with computers using chatbots in future.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">These bots will be able to understand simple typed or spoken questions and commands and respond appropriately, at least that's the ambition.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Rather than manually launching applications, Nadella talks of information and services being intelligent triggered by these bots, based on our conversations.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Banks and other businesses are already using the Microsoft Bot Framework to build bots for Skype, Facebook, Slack and "anywhere where people are communicating", he said.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">He believes that Microsoft's virtual assistant Cortana will take on this role of managing services and information for computer users.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Nadella showed an example where Cortana highlighted an upcoming meeting and the people in the meeting, pulling information from their LinkedIn profiles. Follow up questions to Cortana saw the assistant pull in the sales pipeline for the company from the CRM system and make recommendations on certain actions to take during the meeting, for example who to add to which projects based on their skills and experience.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">"That's a new way of how computing is accessed," said Nadella, adding "over time [it] will fundamentally revolutionize how computing is experienced by everybody."</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7138318545508804077.post-82679493933366536112016-07-13T06:41:00.005-07:002016-07-13T06:41:58.356-07:00Cool Desks and Workspaces...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<img height="480" src="http://tr1.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2016/07/05/9674c94c-ffe9-487a-8097-4e6281365d5e/resize/770x577/490366c3531dbe443acd7c448b98404c/benddesk1.png" width="640" /><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The BendDesk has a multi-touch screen that lets you use vertical and horizontal surfaces to virtually organize your work.</span></div>
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<img height="480" src="http://tr1.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2016/07/05/ef880aba-6435-46d9-b14e-0520bea96e5e/resize/770x577/6ae60b1259c3e1c88712a8e33578b1f3/desksemperor1510lxworkstation.png" width="640" /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">With a reclinable chair, a Bose sound system, and the ability to add up to five monitors, the Emperor 151 LX creates an immersive work or gaming experience. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<img height="480" src="http://tr3.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2016/07/05/c5be2293-5839-47a3-9d5c-3dfa869df241/resize/770x577/2be748c291703ac672a64eff479422f3/desksaquarium.jpg" width="640" /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Why not work on a 600-gallon fish tank?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<img height="480" src="http://tr2.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2016/07/05/5fd8ab7a-95df-41f4-a9a6-7a64aa1d4fb4/resize/770x577/dfce9fa24ed79ada6d56881dad84d2ac/desksiclubby.png" width="640" /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Gravitonous is one of the most ergonomic desks in the world, which means you can comfortably work or game as long as you want.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<img height="480" src="http://tr4.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2016/07/05/abe850ca-38fe-41b4-bb81-6a6a0d2adf9b/resize/770x577/2bf40a82f66d40c77e4d9f9109aff6a7/desksttd3sk.png" width="640" /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Imagination and talent ... to have a cool environment</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<img height="480" src="http://tr2.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2016/07/05/050c1502-887d-4632-ac33-fbc13be1ee6b/resize/770x577/1cc79658bfefd8b701f28135b7039746/desksl3pd3sk2015.png" width="640" /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> A liquid-cooled computer desk</span></div>
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<img height="480" src="http://tr2.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2016/07/05/e60f5c53-a2ba-406f-8593-a951a049f12f/resize/770x577/0ec503ceecdad11b4bf32b68c62297c5/deskslamborghini1.jpg" width="640" /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">If you love cars...</span></div>
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<img height="480" src="http://tr1.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2016/07/05/a6febf49-065b-458d-9791-2b86179678d4/resize/770x577/4cc4121dfa275dd28803dd955575c978/deskslamborghini2.jpg" width="640" /></div>
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<br /></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7138318545508804077.post-53497333392565854682016-07-12T09:14:00.004-07:002016-07-12T09:20:20.255-07:00Facebook Accused in $1 Billion Suit of Being Hamas Tool<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><i style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">Why the $1B Lawsuit Against Facebook Doesn't Have Merit</i></li>
<li><i style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">Damages sought for families of 5 American victims of attacks</i></li>
<li><i style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">Facebook says it doesn’t comment to press on legal proceedings</i></li>
</ul>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Lawyers filed a $1 billion lawsuit against Facebook Inc., alleging it allowed the Palestinian militant Hamas group to use the platform to plot attacks that killed four Americans and wounded one in Israel, the West Bank and Jerusalem.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“Facebook has knowingly provided material support and resources to Hamas in the form of Facebook’s online social network platform and communication services,” making it liable for the violence against the five Americans, according to the lawsuit sent to Bloomberg by the office of the Israeli lawyer on the case, Nitsana Darshan-Leitner.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“Simply put, Hamas uses Facebook as a tool for engaging in terrorism,” it said.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><img alt="Image result for Facebook Accused in $1 Billion Suit of Being Hamas Tool" height="359" 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" 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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S., European Union and Israel. The suit said the group used Facebook to share operational and tactical information with members and followers, posting notices of upcoming demonstrations, road closures, Israeli military actions and instructions to operatives to carry out the attacks.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Mushir al-Masri, a senior Hamas leader, said by phone that “suing Facebook clearly shows the American policy of fighting freedom of the press and expression” and is evidence of U.S. prejudice against the group and “its just cause.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Facebook wants “people to feel safe when using Facebook. There is no place for content encouraging violence, direct threats, terrorism or hate speech on Facebook,” the company said in a response to a request for comment on the case. “We have a set of Community Standards to help people understand what is allowed on Facebook, and we urge people to use our reporting tools if they find content that they believe violates our standards so we can investigate and take swift action.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">In March Facebook took down a page promoting a new Palestinian uprising against Israel because it made “direct calls for violence,” in violation of company polices.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Gabriel Weimann, an expert on terrorism on the internet at Haifa University, said technology would be more effective than litigation in discouraging the use of social media for violent purposes. The focus should be on developing faster ways to detect problematic messages so they can be blocked immediately before they go viral, he said.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“Facebook isn’t the only platform,” he said. “There are plenty of others. What will you do? Sue them all?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The suit was submitted to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on July 10. Plaintiffs include the families of Yaakov Naftali Fraenkel, a 16-year-old abducted and murdered in June 2014 after hitching a ride in the West Bank, and 3-year-old Chaya Braun, whose stroller was struck intentionally by a Palestinian driver in October 2014 at a train station in Jerusalem.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">In February 2015, a jury at the same court concluded that the Palestinian Authority and Palestine Liberation Organization aided in six attacks on Americans in Israel more than a decade ago, and ordered them to pay $218.5 million to the victims and their families. The damages were tripled under a U.S. anti-terrorism law.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The Palestinian bodies claimed they weren’t responsible for the unapproved acts of low-level employees who participated in the attacks.</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7138318545508804077.post-2178251765317845632016-07-11T07:56:00.001-07:002016-07-11T07:56:45.059-07:00Use of police robot to kill...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>Dallas shooting suspect believed to be first in US history</i></span></div>
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<img alt="Bomb-disposal robots such as the one seen here have been used by the military as a weapon, according to Peter Singer of the New America Foundation, but never before by police." height="384" src="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/8d535f2c1bf83e7c021a45737e075be7075d8b64/855_639_3221_1933/master/3221.jpg?w=300&q=55&auto=format&usm=12&fit=max&s=921056742e0d5e5cae99fbe9cf82c798" width="640" /></div>
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<i>Police’s lethal use of bomb-disposal robot in Thursday’s ambush worries legal experts who say it creates gray area in use of deadly force by law enforcement</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">For what experts are calling the first time in history, US police have used a robot in a show of lethal force. Early Friday morning, Dallas police used a bomb-disposal robot with an explosive device on its manipulator arm to kill a suspect after five police officers were murdered and seven others wounded.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“We saw no other option but to use our bomb robot and place a device on its extension for it to detonate where the suspect was,” Dallas police chief David Brown told reporters.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Peter Singer, a strategist and senior fellow at the New America Foundation who writes about the technology of warfare, said he believed this was a first. “There may be some story that comes along, but I’d think I’d have heard of it,” he said.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Others concurred. “As far as I know, it appears to be the first intentional use of a lethally armed robot by the police in the United States,” said Elizabeth Joh, law professor at the University of California at Davis.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">This is not the first time a robot designed with other functions in mind has been used as a weapon, but this kind of repurposing has until now been limited to the military. Singer said that in the early 2000s, a solider he interviewed repurposed a surveillance robot called a Marcbot with a bomb. These robots aren’t autonomous, Singer emphasized – the Marcbot “is like a toy truck with a sensor and camera mount they’d use to drive up to a checkpoint”. But this soldier had improvised: “They duct-taped an explosive and you can figure out the rest. You can see the parallels here.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Singer also said that he was “in no way, shape or form condemning” the DPD’s decision. Brown said the decision protected police officers on a night when their lives were at greater risk than usual. “Other options would have exposed our officers in grave danger,” Singer said.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Joh said she was worried that the decision by police to use robots to end lives had been arrived at far too casually. “Lethally armed police robots raise all sorts of new legal, ethical, and technical questions we haven’t decided upon in any systematic way,” she said. “Under federal constitutional law, excessive-force claims against the police are governed by the fourth amendment. But we typically examine deadly force by the police in terms of an immediate threat to the officer or others. It’s not clear how we should apply that if the threat is to a robot – and the police may be far away.” That, Joh added, is only one condition for the use of lethal force. “In other words, I don’t think we have a framework for deciding objectively reasonable robotic force. And we need to develop regulations and policies now, because this surely won’t be the last instance we see police robots.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The “bomb robot” used is assumed to be the DPD’s bomb-disposal unit, a wheeled, remote-controlled (as opposed to autonomous) robot with a manipulator arm on top. “When there’s a suspected explosive device, a suspected IED, you have this device with a robotic arm and a gripper on it,” Singer explained. “You might use the device to open up a bag and see if there’s a bomb in it. You might use the gripper to disassemble the device in the classic Hollywood movie cut-the-wire way; you might shoot high-pressure water into it, and you might do a controlled detonation.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">That, Singer said, is why the department had explosives handy – sometimes the preferred way to deal with a bomb is to evacuate the area around it and use another bomb to blow it up.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Similar robots were used in the DPD’s showdown with a gunman who assaulted the department’s headquarters with guns and bombs almost exactly a year ago.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">On the military side, such improvisations are both the solution and, increasingly, the problem. “We’ve seen insurgents improvise,” Singer said. “Literally this week, the Joint Improvised-Threat Defeat Agency [an agency within the Department of Defense whose purpose is to develop better ways for the military to respond to IEDs] got a $20m grant to defeat drone IEDs, not for missiles but for small commercial drones that you and I could buy, which are used by Isis for both surveillance and for explosive delivery.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“Technology is a tool,” Singer said. “Tools are used the way they’re designed, and then people improvise and find new uses for them.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7138318545508804077.post-66430384863782744102016-07-07T07:51:00.001-07:002016-07-07T07:51:21.002-07:00Public Knowledge: “unlock the box”<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://publicknowledge.nationbuilder.com/?e=29c6e2e4d3db2f854e709ceb568e3a8f&utm_source=publicknowledge&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=stbrider&n=1"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><img alt="Public Knowledge" border="0" id="_x0000_i1025" src="http://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/publicknowledge/mailings/7/attachments/original/PK_Logo_with_text.png?1409065251" /></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<h4 style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #333333;">The FCC’s proposal
to “</span><a href="https://publicknowledge.nationbuilder.com/r?u=http%3A%2F%2Funlockthebox.com%2F&e=29c6e2e4d3db2f854e709ceb568e3a8f&utm_source=publicknowledge&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=stbrider&n=2">unlock
the box</a><span style="color: #333333;">” would stop cable companies from forcing their customers to pay
rental fees for set-top boxes, which average $231 per household per year.
Instead, cable companies would be required to also support third-party
devices, such as TiVo and Roku. The proposal has received ample support
from </span><a href="https://publicknowledge.nationbuilder.com/r?u=http%3A%2F%2Fconsumervideochoice.org%2F&e=29c6e2e4d3db2f854e709ceb568e3a8f&utm_source=publicknowledge&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=stbrider&n=3">the
public</a><span style="color: #333333;">, </span><a href="https://publicknowledge.nationbuilder.com/r?u=http%3A%2F%2Fapps.fcc.gov%2Fecfs%2Fcomment%2Fview%3Fid%3D60001910265&e=29c6e2e4d3db2f854e709ceb568e3a8f&utm_source=publicknowledge&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=stbrider&n=4">device
makers</a><span style="color: #333333;">, </span><a href="https://publicknowledge.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.publicknowledge.org%2Fdocuments%2Funlockthebox-congressional-black-caucus-open-letter-on-fcc-set-top-box-proposal&e=29c6e2e4d3db2f854e709ceb568e3a8f&utm_source=publicknowledge&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=stbrider&n=5">independent
and minority programmers</a><span style="color: #333333;">, </span><a href="https://publicknowledge.nationbuilder.com/r?u=http%3A%2F%2Fnulwb.iamempowered.com%2Fsites%2Fnulwb.iamempowered.com%2Ffiles%2FCivil%2520Rights%2520Orgs%2520SetTop%2520Box%2520Diversity%2520Concerns%2520Final%252003212016.pdf&e=29c6e2e4d3db2f854e709ceb568e3a8f&utm_source=publicknowledge&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=stbrider&n=6">civil
rights groups</a><span style="color: #333333;">, </span><a href="https://publicknowledge.nationbuilder.com/r?u=http%3A%2F%2Fapps.fcc.gov%2Fecfs%2Fcomment%2Fview%3Fid%3D60001909899&e=29c6e2e4d3db2f854e709ceb568e3a8f&utm_source=publicknowledge&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=stbrider&n=7">copyright
experts</a><span style="color: #333333;">, </span><a href="https://publicknowledge.nationbuilder.com/r?u=http%3A%2F%2Fapps.fcc.gov%2Fecfs%2Fcomment%2Fview%3Fid%3D60001657427&e=29c6e2e4d3db2f854e709ceb568e3a8f&utm_source=publicknowledge&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=stbrider&n=8">content
creators</a><span style="color: #333333;">, </span><a href="https://publicknowledge.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Feshoo.house.gov%2Fnews-stories%2Fpress-releases%2Feshoo-markey-hold-press-conference-to-reform-set-top-box-industry-2%2F&e=29c6e2e4d3db2f854e709ceb568e3a8f&utm_source=publicknowledge&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=stbrider&n=9">members
of Congress</a><span style="color: #333333;">, and </span><a href="https://publicknowledge.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.publicknowledge.org%2Fpress-release%2Fpresident-obama-announces-support-for-fcc-set-top-box-proposal&e=29c6e2e4d3db2f854e709ceb568e3a8f&utm_source=publicknowledge&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=stbrider&n=10">President
Obama</a><span style="color: #333333;">.</span></span></h4>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">But members of
Congress supported by the cable industry </span><a href="https://publicknowledge.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.publicknowledge.org%2Fnews-blog%2Fblogs%2Ffcc-must-proceed-dont-let-congress-stop-the-clock-on-unlocking-the-box&e=29c6e2e4d3db2f854e709ceb568e3a8f&utm_source=publicknowledge&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=stbrider&n=11" style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">snuck
in an unnecessary rider</a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"> to a </span><a href="https://publicknowledge.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.publicknowledge.org%2Fnews-blog%2Fblogs%2Fwhite-house-takes-a-stand-against-bill-riders-targeting-the-fcc&e=29c6e2e4d3db2f854e709ceb568e3a8f&utm_source=publicknowledge&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=stbrider&n=12" style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">must-pass
government funding bill</a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"> that will require the FCC to </span><a href="https://publicknowledge.nationbuilder.com/r?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.appropriations.senate.gov%2Fimo%2Fmedia%2Fdoc%2F061516-FY17-FSGG-Subcommittee-Markup-Summary-Web.pdf&e=29c6e2e4d3db2f854e709ceb568e3a8f&utm_source=publicknowledge&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=stbrider&n=13" style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">conduct
additional studies on the proposal</a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">.</span></div>
<span style="color: #333333;">
<br />
<a href="https://publicknowledge.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.publicknowledge.org%2Fconsumers-pay-every-second-congress-delays-unlockthebox%2F&e=29c6e2e4d3db2f854e709ceb568e3a8f&utm_source=publicknowledge&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=stbrider&n=14" style="font-family: Times, serif;" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><img alt="remoteemail.jpg" border="0" height="424" id="_x0000_i1026" src="http://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/publicknowledge/mailings/113/attachments/original/remoteemail.jpg?1467835405" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="remoteemail.jpg" width="640" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Times, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<strong><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times","serif";"><br /></span></strong>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><strong><span style="color: #333333;">This is
simply a delay tactic from incumbents who want to maintain their stranglehold
on the market. </span></strong><span style="color: #333333;">Congress instructed the FCC to reform the video
marketplace <span style="background-color: yellow;"><a href="https://publicknowledge.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fcc.gov%2Fgeneral%2Ftelecommunications-act-1996&e=29c6e2e4d3db2f854e709ceb568e3a8f&utm_source=publicknowledge&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=stbrider&n=15">20
years ago</a>,</span> and the FCC has been working hard to do so. After
multiple <a href="https://publicknowledge.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.publicknowledge.org%2Fpress-release%2Fpublic-knowledge-files-reply-comments-to-fccs-nprm-to-unlock-the-box&e=29c6e2e4d3db2f854e709ceb568e3a8f&utm_source=publicknowledge&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=stbrider&n=16">rounds</a> <a href="https://publicknowledge.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.publicknowledge.org%2Fpress-release%2Fpublic-knowledge-fights-for-video-choice-in-fcc-comments-to-unlock-the-box&e=29c6e2e4d3db2f854e709ceb568e3a8f&utm_source=publicknowledge&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=stbrider&n=17">of</a> <a href="https://publicknowledge.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.publicknowledge.org%2Fdocuments%2Fofficial-comments-to-the-fcc-from-public-knowledge-on-dstac&e=29c6e2e4d3db2f854e709ceb568e3a8f&utm_source=publicknowledge&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=stbrider&n=18">public</a> <a href="https://publicknowledge.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fapps.fcc.gov%2Fedocs_public%2Fattachmatch%2FDA-15-982A1.pdf&e=29c6e2e4d3db2f854e709ceb568e3a8f&utm_source=publicknowledge&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=stbrider&n=19">comments</a> on
the proposal, the Commissioners are thoroughly examining and addressing the
concerns of all stakeholders, and are preparing to move forward with a
solution.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #333333;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><strong><span style="color: #333333;">Consumers
will pay at least $1.6 billion per month while we wait on unnecessary delays
by Congress--and we've been <a href="https://publicknowledge.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.publicknowledge.org%2Fconsumers-pay-every-second-congress-delays-unlockthebox&e=29c6e2e4d3db2f854e709ceb568e3a8f&utm_source=publicknowledge&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=stbrider&n=20">keeping
track</a> of every second we wait. </span></strong><span style="color: #333333;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><strong><span style="color: #333333;"><br /></span></strong></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><em><b><span style="color: #333333;">Click <a href="https://publicknowledge.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.publicknowledge.org%2Fwhos-behind-the-unlockthebox-delay%2F%23contact&e=29c6e2e4d3db2f854e709ceb568e3a8f&utm_source=publicknowledge&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=stbrider&n=21">here</a>
to contact key Senators and your representatives in Congress </span></b></em><span style="color: #333333;">to tell them to put a stop
to this rider and eliminate the language in the Appropriations bill that will
delay #UnlockTheBox. Let them know you are ready for choice and competition
in the video marketplace, <em><b>without
delay</b></em>. The necessary processes have been completed, and it’s
time for the FCC to <a href="https://publicknowledge.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fsearch%3Fsrc%3Dtypd%26q%3D%2523UnlockTheBox&e=29c6e2e4d3db2f854e709ceb568e3a8f&utm_source=publicknowledge&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=stbrider&n=22">#UnlockTheBox</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #333333;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://publicknowledge.nationbuilder.com/r?u=http%3A%2F%2Fctt.ec%2F_bDUx&e=29c6e2e4d3db2f854e709ceb568e3a8f&utm_source=publicknowledge&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=stbrider&n=23" style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;" target="_blank"><strong>Tweet this</strong></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">: Tell
Congress it's time to let the #FCC do its job and #UnlockTheBox, *without
delay*: </span><a href="https://goo.gl/sb9Tmn" style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">https://goo.gl/sb9Tmn</a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
Thanks,</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Public Knowledge</div>
<em><div style="text-align: justify;">
<em><a href="https://publicknowledge.nationbuilder.com/r?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.publicknowledge.org&e=29c6e2e4d3db2f854e709ceb568e3a8f&utm_source=publicknowledge&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=stbrider&n=24" target="_blank">www.publicknowledge.org</a></em></div>
</em></span>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7138318545508804077.post-61266276883916190312016-07-06T09:27:00.001-07:002016-07-06T09:27:19.862-07:00Tesla's fatal Autopilot accident: Why the New York Times got it wrong<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #778596; font-family: Proxima Nova, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 24px; line-height: 33.6px;">In Saturday's New York Times, coverage of Tesla's Autopilot crash was framed as a failure of technology on the part of Tesla. But leaving out the context is misleading.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #778596; font-family: Proxima Nova, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 24px; line-height: 33.6px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="480" src="http://tr2.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2016/07/06/a8643eae-771f-4dbe-823e-3737d9eac9e4/resize/620x/475a7ae12af68b28fe9a16eb9d5fee5b/screen-shot-2016-07-05-at-4-16-17-pm.jpg" width="640" /></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">On the front page of Saturday's New York Times, the fatal accident that occurred when Joshua Brown's Tesla Model S, in Autopilot mode, failed to brake was featured in two articles examining the circumstances of the crash: the limits of Autopilot, and what it means for Tesla.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The problem is that, in this case, the reporting in the Times was incomplete and ignored the full context of the situation.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">But the New York Times articles on Saturday, which were highly critical of Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk, failed to fully capture the context of the accident. Here's what the coverage got wrong:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Conflation of Autopilot with a self-driving car. The headline of the front page piece, "A Fatality in a Self-driving Car Forces Tesla to Confront its Limits" is misleading. While the car was in Autopilot mode—akin to an advanced cruise-control—it is not accurate to say that the car was self-driving. Tesla does not make a self-driving car, a fully-autonomous car, or a driverless car. The title sensationalizes the incident, and plays into the fear factor involved when new technology is released.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Not enough information on the caveats of driving with Autopilot. Autopilot is a new technology—and one that, Tesla acknowledges, is imperfect. It is optional, meant only for highway driving. Drivers using Autopilot are required to keep both hands on the wheel—there is an alert, similar to what happens if you don't wear a seatbelt, that goes off if a driver fails to do so. Autopilot drivers are instructed to be alert at all times while the system is enabled. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Drivers are expected to re-engage by shaking on the wheel or pressing the brake when needed. In this case, Brown did not re-engage or apply the brake himself. It is also likely that he was not paying attention—a Florida Highway Patrol sergeant found a portable DVD player loaded with a Harry Potter DVD in Brown's Tesla. According to the AP, "Frank Baressi, 62, the driver of the truck and owner of Okemah Express LLC, said the Tesla driver was 'playing Harry Potter on the TV screen' at the time of the crash ... He acknowledged he couldn't see the movie, only heard it."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Prematurely insinuating that Tesla is to blame for the accident. One of the Times' pieces calls Brown "a victim of an innovation geared precisely to people like him." But the fact is, while we know that the accident happened during Autopilot, we still don't know what, exactly, went wrong. Until the US Department of Transportation's investigation is complete, it is inaccurate to blame the technology.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Few sources from the tech world. The Times quoted analysts from Autotrends and Edmunds, but no one from the AI or self-driving car world. This is a mistake. Since technology is so central to the story, to have no one from inside the tech industry leaves out the most important perspective on the issue.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Few real-world Autopilot drivers sourced. The Times' piece quoted one Autopilot driver who expressed concern for safety after the accident—and he had only used Autopilot in a loaner, not regularly. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">But over the last few weeks, I've spoken to half a dozen Autopilot drivers, all of whom have expressed a feeling of safety with the technology—even post-accident. When I talked to a few more directly after the fatal crash, they were unchanged in their opinion, and reinforced the fact that they keep their hands on the wheel while using the technology, as intended. Daniel Nasserian said the accident "doesn't concern me at all. The Autopilot feature is still in its infancy, and I think the media ran with the story because of how new the concept is. The amount of miles driven without a fatality on Autopilot still remains impressive compared to the human error factor."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Why does this matter? When a new technology is released, and malfunctions, there is often an overreaction and a rush to judgment. Cruise control, for example, is not perfect. Nor are air bags, which can kill a driver. Nor are seat belts, which can also be a cause of death. But each of these innovations are designed to protect drivers, and have been shown to save more lives than they take. Likewise, Autopilot is intended as a safety feature, and has a high success rate. This is the first known accident in 130 million miles driven, while, according to a 2015 report by the US National Safety Council, the estimated annual mileage death rate is 1.3 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Bryant Walker Smith, professor at the University of South Carolina, and an expert on the legal aspects of self-driving vehicles, makes the following point. "The article depicted Tesla/Musk as indifferent to safety rather than struggling with, and perhaps reaching a different conclusion about, the same issues that are bedeviling the rest of the industry."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">"In my experience," said Smith, "the company is attuned to safety. Perfection is not possible, and every company is in some ways learning from its customers' experiences. Tesla's 'beta' labeling is candid about this—and may even reflect an effort to emphasize the need for caution to its users."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Smith said that the piece "seems to treat Autopilot as nothing more than a convenience feature with no safety benefits—and, indeed, safety detriments."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">This is not to let Tesla off the hook. The company's blog post about the accident left much to be desired. It was slightly robotic and tone-deaf, attempting to address the tragedy while simultaneously celebrating and defending Autopilot's achievements. And TechRepublic is not a cheerleader of Tesla: we hold the company accountable to answer several critical questions regarding the timeline of the incident and what can be learned from the accident.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Smith poses the following questions, which we plan to cover as answers emerge:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Should Tesla have monitored its users more?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Should Tesla have more strongly communicated the limitations?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Should Tesla have designed and marketed these technologies much more as safety than convenience features?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Should the systems have been limited to a backup rather than primary role in directing steering and braking? Should the system have been named something more modest?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Why did Tesla wait to announce this crash?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Has it already updated its software to account for this scenario (and others)? If so, how?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Why was there a lag between the fatal accident and the public announcement?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">What has Tesla learned from the accident?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Will the accident do anything to change Tesla's approach?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Still, it is important to keep the big picture in mind.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">"What if Autopilot ultimately prevents more deaths than it causes? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">What if the lessons learned through this early deployment helps to advance the state of safety technologies much more quickly than they would otherwise develop?" said Smith.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">"In these cases, introducing Autopilot may make sense," said Smith, "and may, indeed, save lives."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The New York Times has since published several more pieces on the Tesla accident, some of which include more details about how the crash occurred. But when such a prestigious publication prints something on the front page that leaves out key points that would tell the full story, we are at risk of misleading the public on a very important issue.</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7138318545508804077.post-11039846566176764752016-07-05T11:38:00.002-07:002016-07-05T11:38:22.026-07:00Achievement unlocked: NASA’s Juno spaceship is now in Jupiter’s orbit<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Nearly five years after it was first launched in August 2011, NASA’s Juno spaceship has finally entered Jupiter’s orbit. At 11:53PM ET/8:53PM PT, the space agency received confirmation that the spacecraft had turned on its main engine, which burned for 35 minutes to slow down and allow Juno to be drawn in by Jupiter’s gravitationa</span>l <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">pull.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">It’s a monumental achievement for NASA: the feat saw Juno cover 445 million miles in space to get closer to Jupiter than any other spaceship in the history of mankind. It is now in a highly elliptical 53-day orbit around the giant planet.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Broadcast live streaming video on Ustream</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The goal of this mission is to determine how much water is in Jupiter’s atmosphere, in an effort to learn about which planet formation theory is correct. NASA also wants to measure the composition and temperature of Jupiter’s atmosphere, and how its magnetic force field affects the atmosphere there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Jupiter emits massive amounts of radiation and flings debris with great force; Juno will avoid these belts for most of its time in the planet’s orbit. But at the end of the 53-day cycle, it will be within close proximity of the planet’s equator – close enough to study the atmosphere and magnetic field.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">At 12:30AM ET, the spaceship is scheduled to re-orient itself toward the sun to recharge its batteries. If the maneuver is successful, it’s in the clear. You can follow along by tuning into the livestream above.</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7138318545508804077.post-43946701578416893452016-07-05T08:01:00.003-07:002016-07-05T08:01:46.098-07:00What to expect from the Windows 10 ...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>Anniversary Update</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The unconventional evolution of Windows 10 continues with the upcoming release of the Anniversary Update, version 1607. It's not just a service pack. Here's what's new</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Microsoft wants you to think of Windows 10 as a service, where new features arrive as they're ready, and where regular updates are themselves a feature.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">That's true in a sense, but Windows 10 is still Windows, a big and sprawling tangle of code that carries an implicit promise of backward compatibility. The "as a feature" part just means more frequent upgrades, which are now called "feature updates" to distinguish themselves from the cumulative monthly "quality updates."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">On July 29, Windows 10 celebrates the first anniversary of its release. Four days later, on August 2, a new upgrade -- sorry, I mean feature update -- will begin rolling out to the 350 million or so devices already running Windows 10.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The Anniversary Update is, technically, version 1607, and it is far more than a service pack. In this post and the accompanying gallery, I offer a preview of what you can expect from this major update, based on near-final preview releases.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>UPGRADING</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Part of the unpleasant reality of Windows as a Service is the necessity for frequent installations of these large feature updates. Over the past few weeks, I've installed near-final Windows Insider preview releases on a dozen PCs, new and old. On newer hardware, with solid-state drives and modern CPUs, the upgrade process typically takes between 20 and 25 minutes (not counting download times).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">On a three-year-old HP Stream 11, powered by an Atom processor, with minimal storage, and with only 2 GB of RAM, the entire upgrade process took about an hour. That's nearly a worst-case scenario, although it's certainly possible that some pre-2009 PC designs with slow conventional hard drives could take longer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">A bigger change is the way that Windows 10 version 1607 handles those monthly cumulative updates. This release still offers no way to defer those updates automatically (short of using Windows Update for Business Group Policy settings), but you can at least define an Active Hours period of up to 12 hours per day during which you normally use the PC.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">During the Active Hours period, you should in theory be assured that Windows 10 won't automatically interrupt your work to install an update. If an update has been downloaded but not installed, you can manually set an alternative update time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>THE STEADILY EVOLVING USER EXPERIENCE</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The signature elements of the initial release of Windows 10 were a direct repudiation of the radical changes introduced in Windows 8. Version 1607 retains the same basic design of Start, which mashes the Windows 7 Start menu with the Windows 8 Start screen.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">That's not to say the Start experience hasn't been tweaked for this release, however. The new design incorporates a scrolling All Apps list that is permanently available, while the power button and shortcuts to frequently used folders shrink to a slim column of icons on the left.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">That change echoes the design of the built-in Windows 10 apps, including Groove Music, Photos, and Mail & Calendar. Spoiler alert: If you dislike the hamburger button, prepare to grit your teeth as you use Windows 10 version 1607, because that interface element is omnipresent.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Since the release of Windows 8 nearly four years ago, Microsoft has been methodically moving user controls from the old Control Panel to the new Settings app. With version 1607, that work takes a major step forward. Several major groups of options, including networking, have now moved almost entirely to the new Settings app, and the new iconography, replacing the generic gear icons used in previous versions, adds to the sense that this version of Settings is a major update.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Another signature piece of Windows 10 is the notifications pane along the right side. This Action Center was frankly a bit of a mess in previous builds. But a few subtle changes in the Anniversary Update make it far more usable.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">First, the Action Center icon moves to the right of the system clock, and a badge over the icon lets you know how many new notifications are available. In addition, you can now tweak notification settings on an app-by-app basis, with more intelligent grouping options.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>CORTANA</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I originally thought of Cortana as a novelty, but with the changes in version 1607 I find myself calling on her services more often, as a calculator, a translator, a bringer of sports scores and search results, and a package tracker. This is definitely not Siri, but it's also not exactly Google Now. Microsoft has created something unique with Cortana.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">And if you don't like the idea of an intelligent personal assistant sitting on the Start menu, you can just say no. Cortana is still an opt-in feature, one that can be completely disabled (so that it works as a search box only) and even hidden from the taskbar completely.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>EDGE AND EXTENSIONS</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The new default browser for Windows 10, Microsoft Edge, arrived late in the original preview cycle, and it has been playing catch-up ever since.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The big news for version 1607, of course, is the arrival, at long last, of extensions. After a rocky start, the limited selection of preview releases seems to be working well. The LastPass password manager, which was the number-one request from many of my correspondents, does its job as expected, and the two Adblock extensions have the same strengths and weaknesses as on other platforms.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">In current builds, Edge has been fast and smooth. In fact, it appears that Microsoft's goal with Edge is to make a browser that is essentially a clone of Google's Chrome. Even the extension format is Chrome-like.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The big question for Edge is whether these changes will be enough to spur developers into actively developing extensions and to convince end users that it's a "good enough" alternative to Chrome.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>WINDOWS INK</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Microsoft has been delivering support for digital pens and the ink datatype since the dawn of the Tablet PC in 2002. Those designs never took off. Version 1607 tries to reboot that feature with the introduction of the Windows Ink platform.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The Windows Ink Workspace, which appears when you click the pen icon in the notification area, feels very much like version 1.0, offering quick access to pen-enabled apps that are fun to play with but don't exactly feel sticky.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">With its Surface Pro and Surface Book lines, both equipped with pens as standard equipment, Microsoft remains firmly committed to the idea of the pen as a first-class input device. Whether that vision becomes a reality is still very much an open question</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">There's much more in this release, of course, including a few surprise features that I call out in the accompanying gallery, and an updated suite of apps that I'll cover in more detail in a follow-up post..</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The good news, based on my testing on multiple hardware platforms, is that this appears to be a solid, stable release.</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7138318545508804077.post-35928837494421284502016-07-01T06:19:00.000-07:002016-07-01T06:19:59.133-07:00 GENE EDITING TECHNIQUE WILL CHANGE THE WORLD (BW)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Using Crispr and the Cas9 protein, this scientist made the discovery of the century...</span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">which one?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">In the very best invention stories, the tinkerer spends years toiling in obscurity before the big breakthrough. Jennifer Doudna’s story is like that. The 52-year-old biochemist grew up in Hawaii, studied at Pomona College and Harvard, and later joined the faculty at the University of California at Berkeley. While the rest of the scientific world seemed fixated on DNA, the blueprint of all biology, Doudna built detailed maps of RNA, which had long been thought of as the loyal foot soldier following DNA’s orders. Doudna was trying to figure out more precisely what role RNA plays in human genetics—the various ways it can actually control genes. For years, DNA remained the focus of most everyone else’s research. “I definitely had some sleepless nights,” she says, “just wondering, Is this the right decision, should I be doing this?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Then one day in 2011, Doudna was approached at a conference by a French microbiologist named Emmanuelle Charpentier, who wanted to talk about a phenomenon called Crispr. Until then, most biologists understood Crispr, assuming they’d heard of it at all, to be an antiviral system found in bacteria. The bacteria used it to identify invading viruses and activate special proteins that would bind to the viral DNA and snip it out. No one had successfully found a plausible way to adapt and re-create that bacterial process in a more complex biological system—like a human being. Whoever could pull that off might be able to cure diseases, alter the genetic code, and even change the human species. It all sounded like science fiction, of course, until Charpentier told Doudna that Crispr seemed to interact with a protein called Cas9 in an extraordinary way.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The two decided to join forces, and one year later published a study detailing how they’d adapted the Crispr-Cas9 editing technique to not just cut but paste genes into any bacteria—that is, customize a bacterium’s DNA makeup along whichever lines they chose, with little fuss. The technique was enormously promising. Editing the human genome had been possible for a few years, but slowly, imprecisely, and with great difficulty. Crispr-Cas9 might eventually make it almost as straightforward as the search-and-replace feature of a word processor. What if one day, using Crispr, we could edit out Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia, or cancer? Soon, the two scientists were onstage with Cameron Diaz, accepting the Silicon Valley-funded $3 million Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences. They were on everybody’s shortlist for the Nobel prize, their work hailed as the great biotech advancement of the century. “I couldn’t have predicted it,” Doudna says.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">That’s a nice story, but there’s another. It’s about Feng Zhang, a 34-year-old molecular biologist at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. Zhang was born in China and raised in Iowa, and he quickly became a star at Harvard and Stanford, where he was obsessed with finding the perfect way to reprogram human cells. “I’ve always been focused on genome editing,” he says. In 2011, the same year Doudna met Charpentier, Zhang attended a conference at the Broad Institute, in the same building as his lab, and heard a speaker offhandedly mention the Crispr immune system in bacteria. Zhang read everything he could find on the subject. He fixated particularly on a Canadian biologist’s 2010 paper noting the exceptional utility of the Cas9 protein.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Zhang spent months testing Cas9 enzymes, and was preparing to publish his findings in 2012, when Doudna and Charpentier’s paper came out. In Zhang’s paper, published a few months later, he showed how he’d successfully harnessed Crispr with Cas9 to edit a gene in a eukaryotic cell—that is, a cell with a nucleus. In the eyes of some, that distinction vaulted him ahead of Doudna and Charpentier. To edit a bacterial gene, the way Doudna had, was one thing; to actually monkey with the building blocks of humanity was another.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Every decade or so, a fundamentally new genetic technology comes along that could change everything. In the 1970s it was restriction enzymes, the tools for recombinant DNA, which turbocharged the development of new medicines and the tools of basic biological research. In the ’80s, the polymerase chain reaction revolutionized day-to-day molecular biology by making it much easier to quickly copy a piece of DNA thousands of millions of times, speeding the pace of medical research even further. In the ’90s, next-generation DNA sequencing pushed forward the study of the genome to a level once thought impossible. Now there’s Crispr, which could trounce them all.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The name, coined in 2002 by Spanish researcher Francisco Mojica, is short for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (you can tell somebody really wanted to spell “Crispr”). Today it’s understood to be, potentially, a cheap and quick way to fix anything about a genetic code. “It’s almost as fundamental as the transistor,” says Andrew May, the chief scientific officer at Caribou Biosciences, a Crispr startup co-founded by Doudna in 2011. “If you think of DNA as the fundamental sort of software code that underpins the computer that cells are, you’re essentially programming those cells. You can target any piece of DNA and change it.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">In the popular imagination, Crispr has prompted alarmed speculation about eugenics, designer babies, and hubris worthy of Jurassic Park. The results may be able to change inheritable traits that could forever alter the nature of any species—not just mosquitoes, which a British company named Oxitec plans to tinker with in the Florida Keys using a gene-modifying technique that predates Crispr. Researchers in China have already tried out Crispr-Cas9 on human embryos. They never intended to implant the embryos in mothers and reported mixed success at best. Yet the attempt shook many in the scientific community. In June, a federal biosafety and ethics panel approved human trials of Crispr-Cas9 by a University of Pennsylvania team that has the backing of Napster co-founder and itinerant entrepreneur Sean Parker. Home hobbyists, meanwhile, are using Crispr to fiddle with yeast in petri dishes, splicing together who-knows-what. Harvard researcher George Church appears serious about a plan to use Crispr to bring back the woolly mammoth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Nearer-term advances could change our lives in more welcome ways. Researchers around the world see Crispr’s precision as a perfect tool for curing single-gene illnesses like Duchenne muscular dystrophy, cystic fibrosis, and an inherited form of blindness called LCA 10. “There are 6,000 or so genetic diseases, and 95 percent of them don’t have any proved therapies,” says Katrine Bosley, chief executive officer of Editas Medicine, a Cambridge, Mass., Crispr startup. “In this day and age, we have a deep knowledge of the human genome and how to make genetic medicines that we didn’t have 5, 10 years ago.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">AstraZeneca and Novartis have teamed up with Crispr startups to develop and bring drugs to market. Beyond cures, Crispr is being viewed as a way to make cancer drugs more effective, to build a better class of antivirals to fight HIV, and to modify pig organs to make them more suitable as transplants for humans. In just a few years, the technique could make its way into everything from medicine to agriculture to biofuels—anything involving a gene. Imagine genetically modified crops that, with Crispr’s assistance, don’t use any genes other than their own, sidestepping the GMO controversy. DuPont is already working with Caribou on mushrooms that stay white after being cut, and told Doudna it has 25 Crispr-related products in the pipeline, including corn, soybeans, wheat, and rice.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">For a time, Zhang and Doudna were cordial. Along with a few other molecular biologists, they joined the board of Editas. Then, in 2014, the federal government granted Zhang the first patent on Crispr-Cas9. Although Doudna and Charpentier enjoyed a wave of glowing press, Zhang stood to get the money and, maybe, the spot in the history books. Doudna left Editas a month later; though she says the reason was too many cross-country commutes for board meetings, she helped found a new startup, Intellia Therapeutics, that would be directly competing for venture capital. The race for funding was on. Bill Gates and Google Ventures were among the contributors to Editas’s $120 million Series B investment round—Gates is particularly enthusiastic about altering entire mosquito populations to stop malaria—and the company netted an additional $94.4 million in a February initial public offering. Intellia, in turn, raised $112.9 million when it went public in May. Charpentier’s Crispr Therapeutics has yet to go public but has raised $198 million in venture funding and has contracts with Bayer and Vertex Pharmaceuticals worth a combined $440 million. “All I can say is that we did it in my lab with Jennifer Doudna,” she told one reporter in 2014. “I am very confident that the future will clarify the situation.” All told, Crispr companies have attracted more than $1 billion of venture capital and other funding, even as credit for the technology and its relevant patent remain a matter of dispute.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Next came the litigation. In 2015, UC Berkeley’s lawyers filed a claim on behalf of Doudna with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, seeking to strip Zhang and the Broad Institute’s hold on Crispr-Cas9. Proceedings began this spring, but the most dramatic part is still to come. In November, Doudna and Zhang may have to take the stand, each asserting under oath that she or he deserves the patent for what may well be the biological advancement of our age. The stakes are sky-high. Billions of dollars in revenue. Control over entire industries yet to be born. And, perhaps, the future of human evolution.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“I’m really an outsider to the genome-editing field,” Doudna says. “Other folks, they’ve been in this field, whereas we’re coming at this from a very different point of view.” It’s late on a Friday afternoon at UC Berkeley, and Doudna, tall and thin and cheerfully focused, is seated in her office with a sweeping view of the campus, fiddling with a 3D-printed model of the Cas9 protein—a plastic toy, really, a bit larger than a football—that she keeps nearby to explain the Crispr technique to visitors. She still marvels at Crispr’s utility as “a democratizing technology. It just opens the door to anybody who has basic skills in molecular biology and wants to do some genome editing.” That includes those who might want to customize a newborn’s genes. Doudna has helped lead the effort to encourage ethical uses of Crispr, but she’s not for a complete moratorium on human experimentation. “On one hand, you can say maybe it’s not right to do that ever, but you can also say in vitro fertilization clinics already do that every day.” Her lab is working on curing the neurodegenerative disorder known as Huntington’s disease.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The only part of her Crispr story Doudna hesitates to comment on is the battle for credit. For two years, UC Berkeley and the Broad Institute have engaged in a simmering public-relations war over who invented the Crispr-Cas9 method, each spinning its version in press releases and video primers. For her part, Doudna says her work with RNA molecules made her research distinctive. Everyone else, she says, was looking at DNA. That would include Zhang. “What I’ve always found interesting in science,” she says, “is making connections between things that are not necessarily connected or don’t appear to be connected.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>“On one hand, you can say maybe it’s not right to do that ever, but you can also say in vitro fertilization clinics already do that every day"</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Across the country, Zhang’s lab in Cambridge is at the Broad Institute in Kendall Square, the world nexus of biotech investment and research, a five-minute walk from Editas’s offices. When I visit a week after meeting with Doudna, Zhang greets me with a warm, confident smile. Boyish and upbeat, he’s eager to discuss his lab’s latest advances in Crispr techniques: the methods he’s found to make the editing more precise; his ambition to map out complex brain diseases like Alzheimer’s; the protein he found that works as well as Cas9 and which he owns the patent to, free and clear. If Doudna is an outsider to the gene-editing world, Zhang is a native, an Intel Science Talent Search finalist who’s been devoted to the idea of reprogramming DNA since 1993, when an after-school program in Des Moines took him to see Jurassic Park.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Unlike Doudna, who badly wants to shape the way the public thinks about Crispr, Zhang isn’t interested in ethical conversations about designer babies, which he says are a long way off. “The thing everybody should focus on is how we can push this technology forward, so we can actually treat a disease,” he says.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Zhang is as quietly focused as Doudna in asserting his ownership of Crispr. Without ever saying her name, he argues that her big Crispr paper with Charpentier didn’t actually scoop him, because they stuck with bacteria and used the Cas9 protein in a different way. “You have to test it in the actual system that you want to get it to work in,” he says. “Nothing else is going to be able to fully predict what will happen.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The entire Harvard and MIT apparatus appears to have lined up behind Zhang’s version. In January, Eric Lander, president of the Broad Institute, published an elaborate history of Crispr in the journal Cell that spread credit around to a host of researchers over years. The effect, more than one Doudna supporter protested, was to vastly downplay her contribution. Amid the tempest that followed, Doudna called Lander’s article “factually incorrect.” Still, Lander’s broader point—that today’s discoveries are often an ensemble effort—does resonate with Doudna. “I wouldn’t disagree with that, yeah,” she says.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Does it follow, then, that the patent system should allow people to share credit? Doudna takes a moment before answering. “It’ll probably be a while,” she says, “before I have enough perspective that I can really answer that question.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Many were surprised that Zhang received the Crispr-Cas9 patent, given that Doudna published first and filed for her patent seven months ahead of him. The reason: Zhang had paid $70 to have his application expedited. Some have interpreted that as a slimy move; the patent lawyers and experts I spoke with say that may have been his only option to avoid his application being deemed in conflict with Doudna’s. In any case, almost immediately after Zhang got his first patent on April 15, 2014, UC Berkeley amended Doudna’s application to counter his claim. Then a few third parties, their identities still not made public, filed briefs to block Doudna. The patent war had begun.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Broad Institute produced lab notebooks and private e-mails to bolster its case that Zhang’s idea was original and that Doudna’s predictions that Crispr-Cas9 would work in humans was “mere conjecture.” UC Berkeley claimed Zhang’s notebooks were missing key information, going so far as to say the Broad Institute “withheld or misrepresented material information with the intent to deceive” the patent office. Preliminary meetings with a judge this spring generated more heat than light, and UC Berkeley’s objections failed to get any traction. Next, in what’s called the interlocutory phase, a panel of three patent judges will be handed the task of determining who invented Crispr-Cas9.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“The Berkeley lab is going to say they had the building blocks,” says Sarah Chapin Columbia, an intellectual-property litigator with McDermott Will & Emery in Boston. “The MIT-Harvard lab is going to say, ‘We put the building blocks in the right orientation.’ To a patent geek, that’s going to be a very interesting thing to watch.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">There’s one more major quirk. The entire dispute, called an “interference” case because the patent claims are said to interfere with one another, is moving forward based on a set of rules that have been changed since it was filed. Under the old rules, the scientist deemed the “first to invent” wins. Under the new rules, the patent goes to the “first to file,” matching the system in many other countries. The new system operates under the assumption that the early filer will be the best able to build an industry around the invention, says Kevin Noonan, a biotech patent expert and partner with law firm McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff in Chicago. “So these days we don’t care so much if the right person gets the patent,” he says. “It may not be more fair, but it’s simpler.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Even if the current patent system encourages innovation, the rules hardly seem fair to the inventors—or true to the reality of invention itself. Does this process accurately reflect the way people from Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla on down have tended to invent things in parallel? Science thrives when scientists share data and ideas, but the winner-take-all patent system almost forces scientists to guard their best stuff. And when patents are contested, the proceedings can be brutal. “Every piece of evidence has to be independently corroborated by somebody who swears under oath that it’s true,” Noonan says. “Too often, things can get shaded, because your recollections are not consistent with reality. Especially when having those recollections means you make a lot of money.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The best thing you can say about the process, perhaps, is that it can motivate people to settle for some sort of cross-licensing arrangement. “That’s really the smart thing to do,” Noonan says. “If they settle, then they both win.” If one party wins, appeals could last years. There’s always the possibility the panel of judges will award the patent to neither party. And the longer they battle over the patent, the more risk to its licensing value. Zhang isn’t the only researcher trying to invent a way around this patent, finding proteins besides Cas9 that work with Crispr. The search is moving quickly: In June, the journal Science published a study showing how the technique could be used to manipulate not just DNA but RNA, too. And the patented version may well fail human clinical trials or face years of delays like gene therapy did after 1999, when one of the volunteers in a human trial died.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Yet an April filing in the case showed the parties have discussed settling and held off. For now, the various Crispr companies’ investors are holding tight. “We knew it was high-risk,” says Kevin Bitterman of Polaris Partners, the venture firm that helped form Editas with Flagship Ventures and Third Rock Ventures. “We did a lot of due diligence on the intellectual property and feel very confident in the company’s position.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It’s not possible with any degree of certainty to pick the eventual winners. “Every investor in the Crispr space thus far is essentially betting on a horse race,” says Jacob Sherkow, a New York Law School professor who is following the dispute. “If you’re paying Caribou Biosciences for a license on their technology”—that is, the technology Caribou licensed from Doudna—“you’re essentially gambling on them winning. And if Caribou loses, then you never had to pay that money. But you know, it’s a transformational piece of technology. So it’s better to get in on it now than to wait. There’s that Warren Buffett quote—‘If you wait for the robins, spring will be over.’ ”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Patents might not be the most important front in the Crispr war. They’re good for only 20 years, after all; history is forever. The Nobel committee typically honors no more than three people per discovery, no matter how many actually worked on it. Doudna, Charpentier, and Zhang aren’t the only contenders: Media reports have also lauded Harvard’s Church, DuPont’s Philippe Horvath, and Rodolphe Barrangou of North Carolina State University for their work on Crispr.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“There’s a lot of competition,” Doudna says. “It’s true in any human endeavor. People get excited about an idea, and then a lot of people go after it.” She’s flattered but a little worried about the flurry of attention. “It would be so easy to get so distracted by all this stuff going on that I would never really do any real science again,” she says. “That’s actually my worst nightmare.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Still, she knows the real advancements require money. “Is a cure for Huntington’s going to come from an academic lab?” she asks. “I mean, it’s just not going to. Do we have the resources to do clinical trials and all of the work to figure out really how to deliver this as a drug? No. That has to be done in a commercial setting.” So she’s embracing the commercial aspects of Crispr. “I want to see this used. I want to see it really solve real problems. I don’t care who does it, but if somebody has a cure for an eye disease or for a sickle-cell trait or for something like that, it’s going to be fantastic. That’s what I would love to see happen.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Zhang is similarly fixated on perfecting the invention. “There’s so much hype around this, and there are so many things we have to work out,” he says. “How safe is the system in the body? How do we put it in the right organ? We have to work on resolving those questions. And all these other issues, they are really beside the point.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">How uncomfortable is it to be caught in the middle of a highly visible struggle over a major scientific legacy? “I didn’t start to work on this because I wanted to get a patent,” Zhang says. “If we can treat a disease, I mean, that’s what moves the world forward. It’s not patents or credit or anything like that.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">When I tell him Doudna says almost the same thing, he takes a long pause. Finally, he answers. “For me, I think the primary goal is to do something useful,” he says. “I think if you actually do something useful, you’ll get rewarded. The world will recognize the value you created, and the world will be a fair place.”</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7138318545508804077.post-66550662215907225722016-06-30T06:55:00.001-07:002016-06-30T06:55:37.420-07:00Facebook explains the ‘core values’<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: large;"> behind the News Feed algorithm for the first time ever</span></div>
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<img alt="Image result for Facebook news" height="302" 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" 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<span style="font-size: large;">Facebook lives or dies by its News Feed, so getting it right is crucial.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">As the company announces a small but significant tweak to its algorithm – showing more content from the friends you care about, and potentially less from pages – it’s also explaining the ‘core values’ that have served as guiding principles behind every improvement to your feed for several years.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Facebook says This is the first time these values have been publicly explained. Don’t expect any major plot twists – they’re fairly obvious on the whole – but it’s nice to see the reasoning behind every little tweak the company makes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>“Friends and family come first”</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">First up, Facebook says it prioritizes posts from close friends and family before any other kind of posts. It tries to learn your preferences for the exact type of posts you want to see depending on things such as how often you like photos from specific people, and moves these to the top of your feed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">After friends and family, the company works with two other main expectations. First, that “your feed should inform,” whether with stories from current events, celebrity stories, or recipes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Second, that “your feed should entertain.” Sometimes that means watching viral video or seeing funny photos, but it seems that even when it’s prioritizing posts from close people, Facebook always wants to make sure your feed doesn’t get too boring.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>“A platform for all ideas”</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Facebook says it’s “not in the business of picking which issues the world should read about.” (Some people would disagree, given the recent trending column ordeal, but I digress.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Instead, it tries to connect people with ideas and stories they find most meaningful. That doesn’t mean only showing stories that people will find agreeable, but rather those they find most engaging.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">For example, a Facebook study last year indicated that over a quarter of the links you read on your News Feed are from opposing political views – people are interested in hearing the opposition, no matter how strongly they disagree.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Facebook says that while it doesn’t favor specific types of sources of ideas, showing the stories people most want to see keeps them using the News Feed longer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>“Authentic communication”</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In other words, truthfulness. The company says it works hard to disseminate genuine stories rather than hoaxes or things otherwise “misleading, sensational and spammy.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">If only they could get rid of chain mail posts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>“You control your experience”</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This is basically things like allowing you to unfollow or hide posts, as well as mark them as “see first” to prioritize them. If you hide a post from someone, it indicates you probably want to read less stories from that person, and the News Feed algorithm reacts accordingly.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>“Constant iteration”</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Facebook says it views its work as “1 percent finished,” so it’s constantly iterating on the design and using feedback to improve your News Feed. It says it’s looking to be more transparent about the News Feed moving forward, hence today’s updates.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Pages may see less reach as friends and family get higher priority</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Going back to the first value mentioned, Facebook says that it’s tweaking the News Feed to reflect it’s number one priority – connecting you with friends and family.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The company is making posts by your friends show up higher on your feed, something it says will particularly impact people with many friends. In other words, you’ll have to scroll less to read up on the people you care about.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">As part of the change, Facebook says it anticipates “this update may cause reach and referral traffic to decline for some Pages.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The amount of decline depends on your audience. If your posts tend to be the type of thing people share with their friends and family, they’ll do better. But if you mainly share dry updates, expect your pages to perform a little worse soon.</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7138318545508804077.post-11889004710451727982016-06-29T05:33:00.004-07:002016-06-29T05:33:41.499-07:00Microsoft to make saying no to Windows 10 update easier <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Microsoft is changing the wording of its 'Get Windows 10' update prompt to make cancelling the free update easier and clearer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Microsoft officials said late on June 27 that the new update experience -- with clearer "upgrade now, schedule a time, or decline the free offer" -- will start rolling out this week. Microsoft will also revert to making clicking on the Red X at the corner of the Windows 10 update box dismiss the update, rather than initiate it, as it has done for the past several weeks.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Microsoft officials said they are making the change "in response to customer feedback".</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Update: Here's the full, updated statement from Microsoft about the coming change, attributable to Executive Vice President of Windows and Devices Terry Myerson:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"We started our journey with Windows 10 with a clear goal to move people from needing Windows to choosing Windows to loving Windows. Towards this goal, this week we'll launch a new upgrade experience for millions of PCs around the world. The new experience has clearer options to upgrade now, choose a time, or decline the free offer. If the red-x is selected on this new dialog, it will dismiss the dialog box and we will notify the device again in a few days. We continue to recommend all of our customers upgrade to Windows 10 before the free upgrade offer expires on July 29. Thousands of engineers have been working on making Windows 10 the most secure version of Windows, helping to protect people from viruses, phishing, identity theft and more. We'd like our customers to upgrade and improve their experience with Windows and Microsoft."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Take note: Clicking the Red X will dismiss the box. It won't automatically commence the Windows 10 update (contrary to what's been happening for the past few weeks, when clicking the X started the update). But the dialog box isn't gone permanently; it will come back some number of unspecified times to nag users about moving to Windows 10. Still not ideal, but better.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Microsoft will also provide free tech support to those having problems with their Windows 10 update, according to a Microsoft senior director for Windows, including support in rolling back from Windows 10 to their previous version of Windows.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Microsoft has been criticized by many, including me, for making onerous the process of postponing and/or declining the free update to Windows 10.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It's great that Microsoft has made Windows 10 a free update for many Windows 7 and 8.X users since last July, but it's been anything but great that the company has made opting out of the update so difficult. It should be up to users -- not Microsoft -- if and when they take advantage of the free update. Microsoft should have made opting out a clear and easy choice from the get-go, but better late than never, I guess...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The offer to move to Windows 10 for free from Windows 7 and 8.X will end July 29, a month from now. Microsoft officials said they'll start phasing out the "Get Windows 10" update prompt starting July 29.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The news of the change in the Windows 10 update prompt wording comes days after Microsoft paid a disgruntled Windows 10 updater $10,000 rather than appeal the case in court.</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7138318545508804077.post-38931891129722079742016-06-28T09:13:00.002-07:002016-06-28T09:13:25.362-07:00Windows 10 U-turn: Microsoft admits upgrade push was 'confusing'<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: large;">Following widespread criticism of earlier changes, Microsoft once again revamps its program to get Windows 7 and 8 users to upgrade to Windows 10.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The new user prompt.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Following widespread criticism and allegations that users are being tricked into upgrading to Windows 10, Microsoft has reversed a controversial change to its upgrade program.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In May, Microsoft changed the design of the user prompt shown by the Get Windows 10 app, the software which schedules upgrades from Windows 7 and 8 to Windows 10.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Following the change, clicking X to close the prompt caused the user to effectively agree to the scheduled upgrade to Windows 10, rather than dismiss the scheduled upgrade as had previously been the case. The change put Microsoft in violation of its own user experience guidelines for developers on how to design dialog boxes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Now, following accusations the change had confused users into inadvertently accepting the upgrade, Microsoft has reversed the decision and will change the pop-up so clicking X once again dismisses the upgrade.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Explaining the change of heart, Terry Myerson, executive vice president of the Windows and Devices Group, said: "Since we introduced a new upgrade experience for Windows 10, we've received feedback that some of our valued customers found it confusing."</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Myerson said the new upgrade prompt would show "clear options to upgrade now, schedule a time, or decline the free offer", as can be seen above, and would dismiss the upgrade when the X was clicked to close the prompt. The new prompt will begin rolling out to Windows users later this week.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Microsoft's decision follows a judgement in a small claims court that Microsoft should pay $10,000 to Teri Goldstein, a travel agent based in Sausalitio, California, who said an unwanted Windows 10 upgrade made her PC unstable.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Goldstein claimed the computer, which she uses to run her business, would slow to crawl and crash following the update from Windows 7 to Windows 10. Microsoft first contested the judgement then dropped its appeal, "to avoid the expense of further litigation", according to a spokesperson. Goldstein later urged other Windows users to follow her lead and "fight back" against Windows 10 updates.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Speaking ahead of Microsoft's U-turn, Andrew Dodd, head of the Technology Disputes team at legal firm Fieldfisher, told TechRepublic he expected the payout could push Microsoft to make its Windows 10 upgrade program less forceful.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">"Microsoft is now likely to make its update prompts less aggressive in an attempt to take the heat out of the debate."</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Microsoft has been determined in its attempts to switch users from Windows 7 and 8 to Windows 10. Earlier this year the company made Windows 10 a recommended update for Windows 7 and 8.x users, which resulted in the upgrade process automatically initiating on most home machines.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">However, in spite of a number of complaints from consumers and small businesses about unwanted upgrades, Fieldfisher's Dodd said he didn't believe the case would lead to a flood of similarly successful challenges, as Microsoft hadn't admitted any wrongdoing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">"It's unlikely that this will open the floodgates for further claims. Microsoft is likely to resist similar claims for compensation as the company is sticking to its key proposition that it's done nothing wrong.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">"Microsoft has emphasised that customers can continue to accept or decline the Windows 10 upgrade, and also have a 31 day unwind period afterwards. It will likely hold the line, and dismiss the Goldstein case as a one-off on its particular facts."</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Microsoft has been pushing hard to get Windows 7 and 8 users to switch to Windows 10 before the free upgrade offer ends on July 29th this year.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In May, Microsoft announced that Windows 10 has been activated on 300 million devices - an adoption rate that, if it continues, would put the firm on track to hit its target of getting the OS onto one billion machines by July 2018.</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7138318545508804077.post-24922281572093143922016-06-27T09:27:00.002-07:002016-06-27T09:27:24.206-07:00BREXIT Tech: It’s Complicated<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<img alt="British and EU Flags" height="360" src="http://www.shellypalmer.com/wp-content/images/2016/07/britishandeuflags.jpg" width="640" /><br />
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The impact of BREXIT is so vast that we may never fully understand its effect. I’m not a political pundit, so I’ll leave the politics of BREXIT to others. Technology is the core focus of my advisory practice, and our solutions group builds digital products for some of the world’s leading multinational corporations. Through that lens, I offer some thoughts about the near-term impact BREXIT will have on the tech sector and make a few educated guesses at the outcome.</div>
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Privacy</h2>
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The EU and the United States have been trying to reach an agreement about data transfers and personal information. The EU struck down <a href="http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2015-10/cp150117en.pdf" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0077ee; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">“Safe Harbor”</a> a while back, and there is ongoing negotiation on a replacement called <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/files/factsheets/factsheet_eu-us_privacy_shield_en.pdf" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0077ee; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">“Privacy Shield.”</a>That negotiation has not been going well. The EU wants to exercise very strict regulatory control over the flow of data in, out and around the EU. By itself, this has been bad news for top-tier, US-based, multinational tech firms and all businesses that need to turn data into action in order to compete in the global economy.</div>
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<b>BREXIT will impact privacy regulation in at least three ways:</b></div>
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1. As a lame-duck member of the EU, the UK will not be able to add its weight to the regulatory discussions. As an EU member, the world’s 5th largest economy (now 6th because the British pound got hammered that hard by the BREXIT vote) had a loud voice at the table with Germany and France, which want far stricter controls on EU data flow. The UK’s voice of reason on the subject of EU data flow is now silent.</div>
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2. The UK’s data policies are sure to differ from the EU’s, so now every company that wants to collect data in Europe will have to comply with the data policies of both the EU and the UK. This will add an extra layer of administrative expense that will likely be passed on to consumers.</div>
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3. Even with BREXIT, the UK will have to comply with the EU’s data policies if it wants to move data freely between itself and the EU. To be sure, BREXIT was a victory for digital sovereignty, but now the UK’s sovereign data policies will have to be brought into alignment with the EU’s. Can it be done? Of course. How long will it take and how much will it cost? Unknown. But one thing is for sure: BREXIT is an expensive, time-consuming blow to the globalization of the Internet.</div>
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The Yellow Brick Road to Europe</h2>
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For the start-up community, London was the Yellow Brick Road to the entire EU. As the financial capital of Europe, London was the perfect place to start your start-up. You had easy access to a diverse workforce, and you instantly had the whole EU as a marketplace.</div>
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BREXIT will impact investment, funding and the Yellow Brick Road to Europe in at least three ways:</div>
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1. London will no longer be a clear choice for start-ups. For many, Berlin, which has a thriving tech community and relatively easy access to capital, will now be a much better choice. It has a diverse workforce and access to a much larger market. This will be especially true for financial technology start-ups.</div>
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2) The EU’s <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/priorities/digital-single-market_en" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0077ee; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Digital Single Market</a> initiative will not include the UK, unless the UK negotiates its way back in. This will have direct and significant economic impact across the whole of Europe and will affect the bottom line of every tech company that was hoping to have a single set of rules for all 28 EU countries.</div>
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3. While it is generally true across every aspect of post-BREXIT business, political and economic uncertainty significantly increase the risk of starting and growing a business in the UK.</div>
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Data Roaming and 5G</h2>
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Hopefully, the UK will be able to make a deal with the EU to continue the relatively new legislation that entitles EU citizens to very affordable data plans and cheap (or free) mobile minutes and txts. Data roaming across country boundaries is remarkably expensive and having to navigate additional international phone plans adds friction to the doing of business. Additionally, 5G, the next generation wireless network is on the horizon. Now, two different standards bodies will have to agree on the use of spectrum (the frequencies used to carry its radio signals) and other technical details. This is not fatal by any means, but it will add time and expense, which in turn will slow the progress of high-speed communication in the UK and the EU.</div>
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Direct Economic Impact</h2>
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In 2015, <a href="http://www.techcityuk.com/" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0077ee; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Tech City UK</a> published a report titled <a href="http://www.techcityuk.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Tech%20Nation%202015.pdf" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0077ee; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Tech Nation: Powering the Digital Economy</a>. At the time of the report, over 1.5 million people were employed in the tech sector, and more than 300,000 of them worked in London. Importantly, the report stated that the “digital economy” grew one third faster than the entire UK economy. This should not be news to anyone. The tech sector is growing worldwide, and certain sub-sectors are growing at breathtaking speed.</div>
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Without the free movement of labor, the UK will have to “home grow” the tech talent pool. Great news in the long run, but in practice, HR is the hardest part of the tech business. Foreign-trained, foreign-born, immigrant talent may be controversial, but world-class coders, product designers, engineers and data scientists come from all over the EU. Now, they will need special visas to work in the UK. With so many excellent tech jobs in Berlin, Munich, Madrid and Paris, will it be worth it? Human beings usually take the path of least resistance.</div>
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Time Will Tell</h2>
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I understand that more than 52 percent of the voters firmly believe that BREXIT was the right thing for the UK. Maybe they are right. None of the problems listed here are insurmountable (although the this list is woefully incomplete). They can be solved with time and money. Which is exactly the point. How much more time and money will be spent to fix the parts that were not considered by those who voted leave?</div>
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According to @GoogleTrends, “What is the EU?” was the second top UK question on the EU since the #EURefResults were officially announced. The first was, “What does it mean to leave the EU?” Clearly millions of Britons voted with their hearts and not their heads. I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7138318545508804077.post-74327870007509814072016-06-27T06:00:00.002-07:002016-06-27T06:00:25.967-07:00 Software The end is near: Say goodbye to the Windows 10 free upgrade<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The deadline for a free Windows 10 upgrade is right around the corner. Find out what happens after the offer expires.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Don't look now, but July 29, 2016, is coming up fast. That is the one-year anniversary of the release of Windows 10, which means the ability to upgrade to the new operating system for FREE will soon expire. (If you are interested, you can take a look at the official countdown here.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In a January 21, 2015, Windows Experience blog post titled The next generation of Windows: Windows 10, we learned that Windows 10 would be a free upgrade. Author Terry Myerson said:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Today was a monumental day for us on the Windows team because we shared our desire to redefine the relationship we have with you—our customers. We announced that a free upgrade for Windows 10 will be made available to customers running Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows Phone 8.1 who upgrade in the first year after launch.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A little over six months later, on July 28, 2015, Myerson penned another Windows Experience blog post, titled Windows 10 Free Upgrade Available in 190 Countries Today, in which he reiterated the free upgrade policy:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">From the beginning, Windows 10 has been unique—built with feedback from five million Windows Insiders, delivered as a service with ongoing innovations and security updates, and offered as a free upgrade to genuine Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 customers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you've been reading articles by Woody Leonhard or Paul Thurrott in recent months, you know that Microsoft has been upping its game with the Get Windows 10, or GWX, program it built into Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. It really wants every Windows user everywhere to be running Windows 10.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Any holdouts—Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 users who have been sticking to their guns so far—have only a few more weeks to go before losing their chance to get Windows 10 for free.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In a recent Windows Experience blog post titled Windows 10 Now on 300 Million Active Devices - Free Upgrade Offer to End Soon, Yusuf Mehdi, the corporate vice president of Microsoft's Windows and Devices Group, said:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">...we want to remind you that if you haven't taken advantage of the free upgrade offer, now is the time. The free upgrade offer to Windows 10 was a first for Microsoft, helping people upgrade faster than ever before. And time is running out. The free upgrade offer will end on July 29 and we want to make sure you don't miss out. After July 29th, you'll be able to continue to get Windows 10 on a new device, or purchase a full version of Windows 10 Home for $119.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>What will Windows 10 cost after July 29?</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As Mehdi pointed out in his post, you will be able to purchase a full version of Windows 10 Home for $119.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>But how much will Windows 10 Pro cost?</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Well, if you head over to the Microsoft Store right now, you'll find that you can purchase both Windows 10 Home and Windows 10 Pro as a download or on a USB flash drive. Windows 10 Pro will cost you $199.99. And moving past the July 29 deadline for the free upgrade, it's a pretty safe bet that prices will remain the same—especially since they're the same price points that the full versions of Windows 8.1 Home and Pro sold for when that operating system was new.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Will there be upgrade versions of Windows 10 after July 29?</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Since Microsoft provided free upgrades for a full year, I wonder if there will be upgrade packages for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users who decide to upgrade to Windows 10 after July 29. I suppose that it's possible, but then again, maybe not. When Microsoft introduced Windows 8.1 packages, it offered only the full versions—there were no upgrade versions of Windows 8.1. With that in mind, it's easy to speculate that this may also be the case with Windows 10.</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7138318545508804077.post-4850290395165563792016-06-23T07:52:00.005-07:002016-06-23T07:52:58.186-07:00Making a Steak Without the Cow (BW)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The next meat may not come from an animal at all, as researchers find alternatives to unsustainable industrial farming.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">A lot of people like meat. But the world’s appetite for animals comes with significant costs, both moral and environmental. From animal welfare to greenhouse gases, our history of large-scale, industrial animal farming just isn't sustainable.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">That’s why researchers are working on new meat alternatives. No, not Tofurky. Insects. Deep-fried and eaten whole or ground up into a versatile powder, this protein source eaten in other parts of the world for millennia may find its way onto American menus in the next decade.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Even the next meat may not come from an animal at all. Impossible Foods, a California company, has been developing a hamburger patty that is closer to beef than any other simulation, yet has never come near a cow. They’ve even figured out a way to synthesize blood so as to give burgers their characteristic juiciness.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">If one way to think about cattle and poultry is that they’re really just natural machines that turn plants (feed) into drumsticks and steaks, we may be approaching an era when we can take the animal out of the equation and make that transformation ourselves.</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1