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Artificial Intelligence, progress and happiness

#artificialintelligence

I had the pleasure of participating in Milan's FI-WARE VIP Bootcamp (4โ€“6th May, 2016), under invitation by EBAN. There, along with several other investors and entrepreneurs, we assisted 15 startups from all across Europe to improve the structure and the presentation of their VC pitches. One of the people who actively participated, giving their full support to the event (and as a volunteer, nonetheless) was Federico Travella, founder and CEO of NoviCap, an extremely interesting venture in the "fintech" sector that came up with an innovative way of providing working capital for every kind of business. In discussion with Federico and other participants, the topic of AI was brought up, seen as a contributing factor to increasing unemployment, and through that, to social discontent and political instability. It's surely an interesting subject and is connected to the broader issue of technological progress and its social impact.


iPhone bug: How the most dramatic iOS spyware ever found was revealed

The Independent - Tech

Nasa has announced that it has found evidence of flowing water on Mars. Scientists have long speculated that Recurring Slope Lineae -- or dark patches -- on Mars were made up of briny water but the new findings prove that those patches are caused by liquid water, which it has established by finding hydrated salts. Several hundred camped outside the London store in Covent Garden. The 6s will have new features like a vastly improved camera and a pressure-sensitive "3D Touch" display


How Machine Learning is Making for Better IT Security - insideBIGDATA

#artificialintelligence

In this special guest feature, Cecilia Pizzurro, Senior Director, Strategic Data Projects at LOGICnow, discusses the convergence of data/machine learning and cybersecurity, and the idea that these two are playing off of each other in a more meaningful way than ever before. Cecilia leads a team of data scientists and software engineers in Cambridge (US) and Newcastle (UK). These teams use machine learning and big data analytics to find business value in the vast amount of customer data gathered from LOGICnow's products. She was also the co-founder and CTO of the The Dolomite Group, a South American mining consortium, pioneering machine learning and big data analyses to improve mining efficiency and reduce environmental impact in Peru. This company is currently finalizing its acquisition by a Chilean mining company.


Don't count on technology to save you in a disaster; planning is better: researchers

The Japan Times

BARCELONA, SPAIN โ€“ Newfound enthusiasm for the latest technologies, such as drones and smartphones, to improve the way aid is provided to people in disasters may be overblown, experts warn. The annual World Risk Report from the United Nations University (UNU) highlights the growing interest in new technologies to improve emergency response -- from drones that can survey crisis-hit areas to social media networks that allow survivors to communicate with the wider world. These can provide important information to the logisticians who organize aid delivery or health workers trying to track deadly diseases like Ebola in no-go areas, the report said. But Matthiasฦ’ Garschagen, a risk management expert with the UNU Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS), said it could not substitute for the basic infrastructure some countries have lacked for decades. "Too many people see technology as the main panacea for solving all the problems you have after disasters strike," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.


Artificial intelligence and the future of cyber-security

#artificialintelligence

As more cyber-security threats arise every day, extensive research into prevention and detection schemes is being conducted globally. One of the issues faced is keeping up with the sheer mass of new emerging threats online. Traditional detection schemes are rule or signature based. The creation of a rule or signature relies on prior knowledge of the threats structure, source and operation, making it impossible to stop new threats without prior knowledge. Manually identifying all new and disguised threats is too time-consuming to be humanly possible.


Inside the killer robot 'arms race' where the world's five leading superpowers are secretly preparing for an all-out futuristic war

#artificialintelligence

WORLD superpowers are engaged in a feverish "arms race" to develop the first killer robots completely removed from human control, the Sun Online can reveal. These machines will mark a dramatic escalation in computer AI from the drones and robots currently in use, all of which still require a human to press the "kill button". In a series of exclusive interviews, leading experts told The Sun Online machines making life or death decisions will likely be developed within the next 10 years. Fears are now growing about the implications of creating such smart machines, as are concerns they will fall into the hands of terrorist groups such as ISIS. Locked in this new race for military supremacy is Britain, the US, China, Russia and Israel โ€“ all of which have robot programmes of varying advancement.


iPhone bug could let hackers into any Apple iOS device with just one tap

The Independent - Tech

Nasa has announced that it has found evidence of flowing water on Mars. Scientists have long speculated that Recurring Slope Lineae -- or dark patches -- on Mars were made up of briny water but the new findings prove that those patches are caused by liquid water, which it has established by finding hydrated salts. Several hundred camped outside the London store in Covent Garden. The 6s will have new features like a vastly improved camera and a pressure-sensitive "3D Touch" display


California wildfire updates: Dramatic drone video shows devastation from Lake County firestorm

Los Angeles Times

A rash of fires this summer has destroyed homes, subjected residents to evacuation orders and disrupted activities at Hearst Castle. Here are some of the fires now burning in California (numbers updated Tuesday, Aug. 23): The Clayton fire in Lake County destroyed scores of home and carved a path of destruction through Lower Lake's downtown area. New drone footage shows the aftermath of the fire. KRON-TV said it used the drone after air restrictions were lifted by firefighters. A Lake County man has been charged with intentionally setting the fire.


The pairing of human and machine intelligence - I-CIO

#artificialintelligence

As machine-learning becomes increasingly embedded into our everyday lives, Dr David Bray, a 2015 Eisenhower Fellow, Visiting Executive In-Residence at the Harvard Kennedy School and CIO at the US Federal Communications Commission, explores both the possible positive opportunities and potential cyber-security challenges. "The exponential changes being driven by digital technology are typically painted in a highly positive light. Just look at the average Internet minute during 2013: more than 204 million emails were sent, more than 4 million Google search results were conducted, more than 2.4 million items of Facebook content were uploaded and more than 72 hours of video were uploaded to YouTube. But it's worth remembering that technology itself is amoral: it's how we humans choose to use it that decides whether it's good or bad. The more challenging side of the exponential era is evident elsewhere: in 2013, cyber-security technology company McAfee identified 200 new threat vectors ...


Self-driving cars reach a fork in the road, and automakers take different routes

Washington Post - Technology News

Cars capable of driving themselves may be on the showroom floor sooner than you think, but whether they should come with all the current essentials -- including a steering wheel and pedals on the floor -- has the auto industry at a fork in the road. Ford sided with the pioneering engineers at Google last week in announcing plans to introduce limited-use vehicles without traditional controls within five years. Some other major automakers -- and virtually all of them are well along in their work on self-driving vehicles -- say they will introduce automated elements one step at a time, until drivers accept that they no longer need to control their cars. The different approaches are rooted in conflicting views of safety and what the public is willing to accept. "It's almost like asking people before they even really knew what an iPhone was, how the iPhone might change their lives," said Johanna Zmud, senior research scientist at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute.