A Pattern of Tech We Need to Know - DTNS WEEKLY TECH UPDATE 03/23/2017
Added 2017-03-23 16:44:49 +0000 UTCHey all, thanks for reading! This is the weekly newsletter companion to Daily Tech News Show at http://dailytechnewsshow.com/
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Thanks again for popping in to read my thoughts and catch up on the news. This week I've identified a pattern in tech development I think is important and I'd like your thoughts. So post 'em in the comments!
CLOSER LOOK -
When LinkedIn announced its news feed this week it emphasized that feeds would be personalized by an algorithm but that human editors would also play a part.
http://www.recode.net/2017/3/22/15017202/linkedin-trending-topics-section-facebook
This of course is because of all the concern over fake news. You also see Facebook out there bending over backwards to alert people to things that might be wrong without appearing to have bias.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/mar/22/facebook-fact-checking-tool-fake-news
It made me remember how algorithmically generated lists of trending topics used to be just a side show. On Yahoo, or even early Twitter, these sorts of things were just a nifty feature. "Here's what our algorithm says is getting most of the traffic!" The attraction was that it was not human-curated so you got an impartial glimpse. In fact that's what Google News was built on.
Of course people like they do with search engines, tried to learn ho to game the results which led to humans intervening to correct the gaming which leads to the current state of confusion over feeds and trending topics.
There's a cycle of tech in play here, and it affects us at a higher level than ever since the most valuable companies in the world are tech companies.
The cycle goes something like this and we've seen it play out for decades in multiple forms.
1. Engineers and developers add a nifty feature that's sort of to the side of the main features.
2. That nifty feature turns out to be unexpectedly useful or popular, or both.
3. The attention to the feature causes others to try to game it or use it to their advantage producing unexpected results.
4. This leads to demands for someone to crackdown on the abuse and accusations of irresponsibility.
5. And that ends up irrevocably changing how the tech works sometimes hobbling it or even eliminating the cool feature.
You can see the above happening right now when you think of Facebook's trending topics of course. But there are plenty of older examples.
1. Usenet allows you to post to multiple groups at once. Handy!
2. People develop a culture and ethics of cross-posting.
3. SPAM is invented!
4. The crusade against spam is never-ending
5. Moderation tools and flamewars follow
Usenet was decentralized, which meant it never fully solved the spam issue, but it also never fundamentally changed its nature.
Other examples would be search algorithms, Digg, music sharing, bittorrent and more recently, Reddit.
What used to be a tempest in a teapot when the Internet was a thing some people used, has become a cultural crisis now that the internet is the platform on which the most valuable companies in the world run.
And we don't have a good solution yet to the cycle. Each crisis has a different outcome and not all are good. But I think recognizing that this is the cycle could help us plan for better outcomes. Or at least not get caught surprised when new features get turned in unexpected ways.
Most of the examples I can think of that were open and decentralized survived well. Look at email, also a victim of the spam problem. Maybe there's a potential solution there as well.
NEWS RECAP
AT&T, Verizon and Johnson and Johnson have halted non-search ad spending on Google’s ad networks due to concerns over ads appearing next to offensive content. After a Times report last week of ads next to extremist content several European ad agencies and media companies including Havas, the world’s sixth-largest ad agency, pulled their ads as well. Google announced new tools and policies Monday but advertisers say they want more details. https://arstechnica.com/business/2017/03/big-us-companies-pull-youtube-ads-after-extremist-content-sparks-uncertainty/
Uber President Jeff Jones confirmed a report by Recode that he is leaving the company. Jones came over from Target in September 2016. He told Reuters, “…the beliefs and approach to leadership that have guided my career are inconsistent with what I saw and experienced at Uber, and I can no longer continue as president of the ride sharing business." Uber’s Vice president of maps and business platform Brian McClendon also announced he is leaving the company at the end of March to pursue politics, but will stay on as an advisor. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-uber-jeffjones-idUSKBN16Q0X3
--- http://www.recode.net/2017/3/19/14976110/uber-president-jeff-jones-quits
Google released a developer preview version of Android O at developer.android.com. Android O will clamp down on background processes, particularly, implicit broadcasts, background services, and location updates, in an effort to improve battery life. In addition apps can now group notifications into categories called channels. Notifications will also get new visuals and grouping as well as a snooze option. There are also improvements to Bluetooth sound, , adaptive icons designs, picture-in-picture for video, multi-display support, keyboard navigation, and an autofill api for password managers. Android O works on the Nexus 5X, 6P and Player, the Pixel, Pixel XL and Pixel C. Google I/O is coming May 17-19. http://www.theverge.com/2017/3/21/14990876/google-android-o-8-update-developer-preview-release-battery-life-notifications-api
Apple refreshed several products Tuesday morning. The iPad Air 2 has been replaced by a new 9.7-inch tablet simply called iPad.It’s a little thicker and heavier than the Air was, has the 64-bit A9 chip and starts at a cheaper $329 for 32GB. Apple also unveiled matte red versions of the iPhone 7 and 7 plus available in the 128 GB and 256 GB sizes starting March 24. A portion of the sales goes to the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS. And finally the iPhone SE now has 32 GB and 128 GB versions for $399 and $499 replacing the 16 and 64GB versions. http://www.theverge.com/2017/3/21/14998464/apple-replaces-ipad-air-with-cheaper-9-7-inch-ipad
Baidu's chief scientist Andrew Ng announced he is stepping down from the company and will officially leave at the end of April. Ng previously contributed to the Google Brain AI research group and founded the education platform Coursera, joining Baidu in 2014. Ng wrote “The industrial revolution freed humanity from much repetitive physical drudgery; I now want AI to free humanity from repetitive mental drudgery, such as driving in traffic. … In addition to working on AI myself, I will also explore new ways to support all of you in the global AI community, so that we can all work together to bring this AI-powered society to fruition. http://venturebeat.com/2017/03/21/baidu-chief-scientist-andrew-ng-is-stepping-down-haifeng-wang-will-lead-expanded-ai-group/
The US Department of Homeland Security announced that passengers on flights to the US from 8 countries will not be allowed electronic devices larger than a smartphone to be carried in the cabin. Tablet devices and larger must be checked. The ban affects nine airline across 10 airports in Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, Morocco, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey. The UK announced that direct flights from Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Turkey will have similar restrictions on electronics that are 16cm long, 9.3cm wide and 1.5cm deep or larger. http://www.theverge.com/2017/3/21/14991072/us-airlines-ban-tablets-laptops-muslim-majority-countries-trump
Apple acquired the iOS task automation app WorkFlow, including its development team, led by former jailbreaker Ari Weinstein. The app will remain in the App Store, and is now free. Workflow won the Apple Design Award in 2015 in part because of its use of accessibility features. https://techcrunch.com/2017/03/22/apple-has-acquired-workflow-a-powerful-automation-tool-for-ipad-and-iphone/
LinkedIn is rolling out a trending topics feed to US users which collects news stories and user posts personalized based on a user’s interested and profession. Former Fortune managing editor Dan Roth leads a team of 20 human editors who will combine with algorithms to detect important storylines and collect articles to populate the Trending feeds. http://www.recode.net/2017/3/22/15017202/linkedin-trending-topics-section-facebook
Samsung announced its new smartphone voice assistant Bixby. Samsung says Bixby can take complete control of supported apps and be aware of the context when activated while using an app. A few preinstalled apps will work with Bixby at launch and an SDK will be available for developers. A dedicated button on the side of Samsung phones will activate Bixby, which launches on the forthcoming Galaxy S8 and will come to other devices including home appliances later. https://9to5google.com/2017/03/20/samsung-bixby-ai-assistant-official/
Medium launched a subscription service for $5 a month. All revenue in the first few months will go directly to writers and publishers. Eventually, subscribers will gain access to exclusive stories, early access to interface changes, offline reading, and curated reading lists, although none of these feaures are available at launch. In January, the company laid off 50 employees and announced a move away from ad-supported business. http://www.theverge.com/2017/3/22/15028310/medium-membership-subscriptions-launch
Intel announced the first large-capacity product with 3D XPoint memory, the Optane SSD DC P4800. 3D Xpoint is a form of memory that stores data based on the resistance of cells. The 375GB PCI Optane card starts at $1520 with limited availability. An enterprise Optane SSD with 750GB will ship in Q2, and a 1.5TB version will ship in the second half of this year. 3D XPoint features 1/1000th the latency of NAND flash drive, while offering ten times the density of DRAM. This means extremely low latencies while under varying loads, and 3DXPoint writes are nondestructive for higher endurance with a claimed 30 whole drive writes per day. Optane can be used as storage or a slower but more power efficient RAM. Two-socket Xeon systems can hold 24 TB of Optane memory and 4-socket systems can hold 48TB. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/03/intels-first-optane-ssd-375gb-that-you-can-also-use-as-ram/
Google has developed and open-sourced a new JPEG algorithm called Guetzli which can reduce file size by 35% though it is slower. Guetzli, which is Swiss German for cookie, uses a new model of human vision to decide which colors and details to preserve. For instance, deciding when to replace a gradient of color with a solid block because human eyes won’t notice the difference. In a test comparing Guetzli with libjpeg, 75% of ratings preferred Guetzli. You can download Guetzli at github. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/03/google-jpeg-guetzli-encoder-file-size/
A new Microsoft knowledge base article suggests that computers running on the latest processors will not receive Windows Updates if running Windows 7 or 8.1 instead of Windows 10. The article describes an error message when attempting to install Windows updates that says a PC’s processor is not supported. The text of the article says that Windows 10 is the only version supported on Intel 7th-gen processors, AMD Bristol Ridge and Qualcomm 8996 processors. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/03/microsoft-is-getting-ready-to-block-windows-updates-for-old-windows-on-new-chips/
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