Category: IO Technologies

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Patrick Meier: Forthcoming Possibilities in Humanitarian Technology Leveraging Big Data and Computing Research Institutes

Advanced Cyber/IO, IO Deeds of Peace, IO Technologies
Patrick Meier
Patrick Meier

Computing Research Institutes as an Innovation Pathway for Humanitarian Technology

The World Humanitarian Summit (WHS) is an initiative by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to improve humanitarian action. The Summit, which is to be held in 2016, stands to be one of the most important humanitarian conferences in a decade. One key pillar of WHS is humanitarian innovation. “Transformation through Innovation” is the WHS Working Group dedicated to transforming humanitarian action by focusing explicitly on innovation. I have the pleasure of being a member of this working group where my contribution focuses on the role of new technologies, data science and advanced computing. As such, I’m working on an applied study to explore the role of computing research institutes as an innovation pathway for humanitarian technology. The purpose of this blog post is to invite feedback on the ideas presented below.

Learn more.

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Hal Bergel: Cloud Insecurity — Companies Cut Corners on Taxes, Regulations, AND Security…

Commerce, Corruption, IO Technologies
Hal Berghel
Hal Berghel

Why Clouds Give Me a Case of the Vapors

IEEE Computer, 1 November 2014

EXTRACT

In my personal life I build trusted relationships one tax-avoiding, jurisdiction-shopping multinational corporation at a time. Show me a company that engages in labor arbitraging and offshore production in third-world countries paying starvation wages3 and that avoids taxes through shadow companies in Ireland (Apple Operations International) so it can reap real profits in the US only to pay virtual taxes in invisible jurisdictions4—what The New York Times calls the “Double Irish with a Dutch Sandwich”5—and I’ll show you a company that deserves my full faith and confidence. Passwords? Crypto keys? Security
questions? Not needed. Oh, corporate giants, have your digital way with me!

PDF (4 Pages): Hal on Cloud Insecurity 11-14

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SchwartzReport: Municipalities versus Telecomms on Internet Speed

Civil Society, Commerce, Corruption, Ethics, Government, Ineptitude, IO Impotency, IO Technologies
Stephan A. Schwartz
Stephan A. Schwartz

This is why the U.S. has second rate internet. Third rate compared to countries like Korea. This is a classic monopolist move to block competition and keep prices high and service poor. Only citizen action is going to stop this. You need to get involved. It's just that simple, we all need to get involved. Only 57,1% of Americans voted in the last Presidential and that was one of the largest percentages in ! years. That means in our best years over 42% of those eligible don't vote.

How Big Telecom Smothers City-run Broadband
ALLAN HOLMES – The Center for Public Integrity

Janice Bowling, a 67-year-old grandmother and Republican state senator from rural Tennessee, thought it only made sense that the city of Tullahoma be able to offer its local high-speed Internet service to areas beyond the city limits.

. . . . . . .

She viewed the network, which offers speeds about 80 times faster than AT&T and 10 times faster than Charter in Tullahoma according to advertised services, as a utility, like electricity, that all Tennesseans need.

Continue reading “SchwartzReport: Municipalities versus Telecomms on Internet Speed”

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Berto Jongman: RoboEarth, RoboBrain — ZERO True Cost Economics Included

IO Impotency, IO Technologies
Berto Jongman
Berto Jongman

Robotic brain ‘learns' skills from the internet

A super-intelligent robotic “brain” that can learn new skills by browsing millions of web pages has been developed by US researchers. Robo Brain is designed to acquire a vast range of skills and knowledge from publicly available information sources such as YouTube. The information it learns can then be accessed by robots around the world, helping them to perform everyday tasks. A similar project is already being developed in Europe.

RoboEarth, described as a world wide web for robots, was demonstrated by researchers at Eindhoven University in the Netherlands in January. Like Robo Brain, it aims to become a global repository for information that can be accessed by other robots. But unlike RoboEarth, Robo Brain is able to build up its own understanding from the information it gets from the internet, rather than being programmed by humans.

Continue reading “Berto Jongman: RoboEarth, RoboBrain — ZERO True Cost Economics Included”

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Steven Aftergood: Army Views Emerging Intelligence Technologies – Killer Quotes!

IO Technologies, IO Tools
Steven Aftergood
Steven Aftergood

ARMY VIEWS EMERGING INTELLIGENCE TECHNOLOGIES

“Emerging Intelligence Technologies” is the theme of the latest issue of the U.S. Army's Military Intelligence Professional Bulletin (MIPB), January-March 2014.

“Rapid technology developments in response to urgent wartime requirements have brought the intelligence community (IC) some tremendous new capabilities. Advancement in the areas of biometrics, battlefield forensics, miniaturization, SIGINT terminal guidance, DCGS-A, and distributed processing have been vital to the success of Military Intelligence (MI) and the Army,” wrote Maj. Gen. Robert P. Ashley.

“This issue of MIPB looks at several of these capabilities and their integration into our formations.”

The new Bulletin was obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

Continue reading “Steven Aftergood: Army Views Emerging Intelligence Technologies – Killer Quotes!”

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Stephen E. Arnold: Baidu Chinese Search Engine Company Moves Against Google

IO Technologies
Stephen E. Arnold
Stephen E. Arnold

Baidu, Chinese Search Engine Company Expands Into New Markets

The article on ITWorld titled China’s Baidu Testing Search Engines for Brazil, Egypt, Thailand explores the ambition of China’s premier search engine. For some years the company has contemplated moving beyond China, and in 2008 began targeting Japan. Now they are readying to move into Egpyt, Thailand and Brazil, although the search sites are still currently in the internal testing phase according to Baidu spokesman Kaiser Kuo. The article explains,

“The three sites can be found at www.baidu.com.eg, www.baidu.co.th, www.baidu.net.br and are designed in the local language of each market. In addition to a search bar, the landing pages to the sites offer direct links to popular services such as Facebook, YouTube, as well as Hao123, Baidu’s own local Web directory. Besides Web search, the sites also contain different features such as image and video search, along with language translation.”

The expansion into international waters means contending with Google, the giant that claims just under 70% of all searches as of December 2013. In the same month Baidu accounted for just under 20% of searches on desktop PCs. Spokesman Kuo made it clear that Baidu is not content to stop at Egypt, Thailand and Brazil, but plans to develop search engines for other nations too, and is currently building an office in Shenzhen solely for international operations.

Chelsea Kerwin, February 16, 2014

Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext