#the only ai i want is the one used in the sciences to accurately review insane amounts of data

[coffeeismyaddictionnowsmile]

Googled something and found even the drop down questions have AI responses. Weirdly enough, typing "no AI" into the search engine removed that annoyance.

what a world we live in

[mostlymovieswithmax]

Movies I watched in September

I skipped a month again. But not to worry. This is a wrap-up of all the movies I watched in the month of September (2021). I think I maintained a steady ratio throughout but perhaps there’s not as much on the list this time because I wanted to get on with other things, be that work-wise or just trying to get out to the beach as much as possible and make the most of the last dregs of summertime. I went swimming in the sea a lot! But I also got to catch the new James Wan movie, Malignant (twice!) as well as the new James Bond, No Time To Die. Not to mention a couple of classics! My hope again with this list is to introduce people to new movies that they may otherwise not have seen or perhaps have never have heard of. These short reviews are my own subjective opinions on each individual movie. I’m thinking maybe a more informal approach to movie criticism can help include others who are just passing through. So here is every film I watched from the 1st to the 30th of September.

Fanny and Alexander (1982) - 8/10

Coming from Ingmar Bergman, I was surprised to see just how warm this was. I’m a big fan of the Swedish director and while this isn’t my favourite from him (perhaps due to it needing a second watch, or the fact I watched it in three chunks because it’s about three hours long and I overestimated how much time I had in the day) it’s still an interesting departure from what I’ve come to expect from him. Fanny and Alexander is a dreamy Christmassy movie that presents an overarching theme of love, spending a large portion of its runtime just hanging out with this big family on Christmas and showing how close they are. I would love to watch this again at some point in December and see how my opinion shifts but for now, while it could meandre in places, I can’t deny how unique a movie it is.

Another Round (2021) - 10/10

I had seen Thomas Vinterberg’s latest film before this point but this was the first time I got to see it in a cinema. Luckily for me my local independent cinema was showing it one night and while they had a few technical hiccups with setting everything up, the movie itself was still fantastic. Following a handful of school teachers who experiment with whether they can maintain a certain level of blood alcohol throughout the day, Another Round demonstrates a sense of unease and sadness throughout an otherwise comedic tone. These emotions are balanced perfectly, boosting an already intriguing concept that examines our relationship with alcohol from every angle.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) - 4/10

Straight after Another Round, I made my way to the chain cinema to meet up with friends to see the new Marvel movie. At this point, having had my second dose of the Covid vaccine that morning, I was starting to feel the effects and I was not doing well. But I watched the movie anyway, all the while wanting to be in bed. Shang-Chi was massively underwhelming and I’d go as far as to say it was even incompetent. Truth be told,  I like the Marvel Cinematic Universe but from the get-go I already wasn’t hyped for this movie and I was expecting it to be about mediocre but what I got was something a lot worse. I won’t rehash what I’ve already said on this film so if you want to hear me rant about it a bit then I would recommend checking out episode 47 of my podcast, The Sunday Movie Marathon.

Your Name. (2016) - 6/10

Ultimately this was a fun little romance movie but I can’t say I understand why people adore it, nor do I understand why it needed to be animated. For what it’s worth, I found it cute and entertaining but nothing much jumped out to me.

Phil Wang: Philly Philly Wang Wang (2021) - 7/10

I’m always stumped on what to say about stand-up shows. It was good! I enjoyed Phil Wang talking about different things in a funny way and it got some laughs out of me. Admittedly I’m writing this a couple of weeks after watching it but it’s certainly a decent way to spend an hour if you’re looking for something light and fun.

The Lego Batman Movie (2017) - 6/10

I remember seeing this in the cinema with two of my friends and the theatre wasn’t exactly packed but those that were there were either children or parents. But I like The Lego Batman Movie! Clearly this was made by fans of the character as it’s packed with a lot of details and references from old comic runs but as someone who has never read the comics or seen those older movies, it still managed to be entertaining and while I won’t say it’s quite as good as The Lego Movie, the animation is still top notch and the voice actors are certainly giving it their all, especially Will Arnett as the titular character. It’s just a bit of fun!

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) - 10/10

A friend of mine told me to go to the screening of Terminator 2 at my local because they themselves weren’t able to attend. The first Terminator movie is a real gem and one of the most 80’s-type movies I’ve ever seen. I was excited to watch T2, remembering next to nothing about what I watched of it when I was a child. So it was just me in this screening, with one person in a row in front of me, and one other person behind me. If I had it my way, I would have been the only person there because this is honestly one of the best movies I’ve ever seen and it was very hard not to yell out every time something incredible happened, especially when it’s so action-packed and basically goes all out at every opportunity to deliver some of the most jaw-dropping effects or choreography. Truly there is never a dull moment and I was grinning like a lunatic the entire time. This film rocks!

Mirror (1975) - 7/10

Andrei Tarkovsky is one of my favourite directors and the new Criterion release of his film, Mirror, had been on my shelf for a while. My friend and fellow podcast co-host, Chris, was also interested in watching this movie so we decided we’d give it a watch and review it on the podcast. But this is such a weirdly structured film that the entire way through, neither of us knew what on earth was happening. What we got from the experience is reflected in the episode we made and I would love to watch this again at some point, hopefully with more context and a better understanding of what I’m in for. But in the meantime, you can hear the discussion on episode 46 of the podcast.

The Night House (2021) - 6/10

The Night House is David Bruckner’s follow-up to his previous movie, The Ritual and while I’ll say I prefer The Ritual, this is still a decent watch, just don’t go in expecting horror. More of my thoughts can be found in episode 46 of the podcast.

The Ritual (2017) - 7/10

After watching The Night House, I decided to go back to the director’s previous film, The Ritual and I got a lot more out of it this time around. Themes of guilt and grief permeate the movie and the result is this weird and unnerving film about a group of guys who go hiking in Sweden after the death of one of their friends and encounter dark forces beyond their comprehension. It can be drawn out at times and probably could have been boosted with a better script but there are so many interesting and strange ideas presented that culminate in a haunting third act that it’s worth watching just to see what on earth they’re being hunted by.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) - 10/10

Straight after recording an episode about our favourite movies on the podcast, I returned to one of my all-time favourites. Holy Grail is such a fantastically funny movie with so many memorable lines and moments that it’s become a staple in the comedy genre. Setting it in Arthurian England is a surefire way to make sure it stands the test of time, making use of the budget in a way that heightens the comedy, for example: not being able to get horses and so resorting to having a man banging two coconut halves together as they skip through the grassy terrain. It’s the writing that really takes centre stage here; the guys from Monty Python were/are geniuses. A couple more points were made on my podcast so please do listen to that to hear more: Episode 46 of The Sunday Movie Marathon

Malignant (2021) - 7/10

The new James Wan movie was bonkers! I saw this one twice in quick succession without hesitation. To find out why I love it so much, listen to episode 47 of the podcast.

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) - 8/10

We got a marathon of the first three Nightmare on Elm Street movies on the podcast so we watched them in quick succession within a day. This first movie is a true masterpiece of its time. For more insight, listen to episode 47 of the podcast.

A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985) - 2/10

Quite an embarrassing departure from the genius and fun of the original. Elm Street 2 is not only technically unfulfilling but a wholly unentertaining movie to boot. More thoughts in episode 47 of the podcast.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987) - 3/10

While only a few hairs better than its predecessor, Elm Street 3 is still a mere shadow of the original. All in all, these second and third instalments in the franchise have put me off watching any of the others. More thoughts in episode 47 of the podcast.

Her (2013) - 10/10

Her is at once a beautiful love story between a man and an AI, and a scarily accurate look at how technology is expanding and moving forward. It uses warm colours and smooth camera work to create something that feels homely and safe, juxtaposing the often cold and dark feeling of science-fiction films to tell an intrinsically human story. What would it be like to go through this and what are the hurdles that need to be overcome? Her is a masterpiece of filmmaking and it left me emotionally exhausted in all the right ways.

Alien (1979) - 10/10

First time I’ve seen Alien in the cinema (as I was too busy not being born yet to see it on an initial release) and it was amazing! This is cosmic horror at its best. With all the eerie sound design, slow and deliberate camera movement, and outstanding effects, there’s no wonder as to why this is considered one of the greats and seeing it on the big screen was enthralling.

Aliens (1986) - 8/10

I had never seen Aliens before so the opportunity to see it for the first time in a cinema was one I could not pass up, especially since I was able to see it straight after the first. This is more of an action movie than the first one and as that, it was really something to see. While I don’t think it quite measures up to the original, James Cameron does bring a style to it that makes it something completely different while still feeling in line with its predecessor. A problem I’ve found as time goes on is that I don’t find myself thinking much about Aliens whatsoever and that’s probably down to its characters who generally I found quite weak. I’m already not big on standard action flicks and this is a clear cut above those but it does still fall victim to the trappings. That being said, I would in no way call this bad or even mediocre because it was a lot fun and being able to see it in the cinema is an experience I’m very grateful for.

Gunpowder Milkshake (2021) - 6/10

Gunpowder Milkshake is trying very hard to be John Wick and although it never really manages it, there is still fun to be had with its action (because really that’s all this movie has to offer). There’s a very creative scene in which Karen Gillan has to fight some goons in a hospital with a gun taped to one hand and a scalpel taped to the other, with the caveat being that her arms don’t work. Despite that and a good enough performance from Gillan, the rest is very goofy, with a villain about as intriguing as an advert for life insurance and a story that to say the least, leaves much to be desired.

I Lost My Body (2019) - 10/10

Another one for the podcast, I Lost My Body is a glorious cerebral animated piece that hits every nerve in my body. Listen to episode 48 for more.

Alice In Wonderland (1951) - 10/10

Perhaps the best early Disney movie in my humble opinion. Alice In Wonderland is complete insanity, doing things simply for the sake of it in a beguiling dreamlike take on Lewis Carroll’s classic book. Listen to episode 48 of The Sunday Movie Marathon for more.

WALL-E (2008) - 9/10

WALL-E is one of Pixar’s best. It is a cautionary tale of where the world is headed wrapped in a sweet story about going to the ends of the solar system in order to help those you love. I do however have one big problem with this movie and you can find out more in episode 48 of the podcast.

Killing Them Softly (2012) - 6/10

A lot about America’s economy at the time, Killing Them Softly goes about showing the lengths people will go to for money and yes it is generally solid with a fantastic speech by Brad Pitt to cap it off, but it cannot avoid meandering scenes of listless dialogue that neither engage me nor make me care about the characters it presents.

The Dirties (2013) - 6/10

Funny! The Dirties is a mockumentary about two guys making a movie about bullies in their school. While often it was generally chugging along and making me laugh, it tended to err on the side of plain as regards its presentation. A lot of scenes happen for the sake of it and in a movie that’s around an hour and twenty, it’s amazing I still managed to dip out in the latter half. More thoughts in episode 49 of the podcast.

Telstar: The Joe Meek Story (2009) - 3/10

Ah, I really hated this. I don’t even want to talk about it anymore. Just listen to episode 49 of the podcast to hear what I had to say.

Blade Runner 2049 (2017) - 10/10

This is my favourite movie! I got to talk about it on my podcast! Listen to episode 49 of The Sunday Movie Marathon to hear what I have to say!

No Time To Die (2021) - 8/10

Best Bond movie? Perhaps. I’ve not seen every Bond movie but of the ones I have seen (which does include all of Daniel Craig’s run), this is as good as it gets. Despite a near three hour runtime, No Time To Die felt as though it wasted very little. I’ve always complained that I could never follow the plot to these movies because often I simply didn’t care about it; for me it’s more about the action and seeing Daniel Craig be James Bond. No Time To Die does not escape some of the general tropes that often don’t leave me thinking I’ve watched something masterful but what I will say in its favour is that it’s fucking fun! Don’t expect to love it if you already dislike these movies because generally it stays in the same vein as the others before it, but for Bond fans it’s something totally enjoyable. Captivating cinematography, biting fight choreography and action set-pieces, a core struggle for James who actually goes through relatable hardships his time round, coping with being part of a family and trying to keep them safe.

I was happy to see a bit more attention paid to female characters this go round; in a franchise that often glamorizes Bond’s sexual promiscuity and ability to woo any woman he likes, it was much more refreshing to see that he often did need help from a lot of badass, well written female characters.

No Time To Die has been waiting to be released for a long time now and now it’s actually out, I’m pleased it’s not hot garbage. In fact, quite the opposite is true. The final swan song for Craig’s fifteen-year tenure as one of cinema’s most recognisable heroes outdoes all that came before it. Bravo.

[kdramaxoxo]

Are You Human Too? - A K-drama Review

About This Show: ‘Are You Human Too?’ is about a soft robot boy named Nam Shin III who due to melodramatic rich people problems, is asked to secretly replace his human counterpart until the original Nam Shin recovers.

[This review has spoilers.]

The Good Stuff:

Nam Shin III   Nam Shin III    Nam Shin III   Nam Shin III    Nam Shin III   Nam Shin III    Nam Shin III   Nam Shin III    Nam Shin III   Nam Shin III    Nam Shin III   Nam Shin III    Nam Shin III   Nam Shin III    Nam Shin III   Nam Shin III....

No seriously, let’s get down to the good parts:

Nam Shin III: This very beta male robot makes the entire show. I don’t think anyone would disagree that the parts that he is in are the highlights of ‘Are You Human Too?’ His character type shows that if you turn the sexy-android-lady trope on it’s head, you get a non problematic and adorable puppy-like lead that’s made for romance and heroics. 

Seo Kang Joon Impresses: Along with Nam Shin III, Seo Kang Joon plays the more sinister human version of himself with perfection. He is able to be so nuanced in his role that he can play the AI, the human, the human pretending to be the AI and the AI pretending to be the human and even the AI pretending to be the human pretending to be the AI!! It’s a flawless performance that will make me follow his career from this point forward.

Complicated Characters: While there were some very straightforward “villains,” there were also more complicated characters, making some of them very interesting to watch. Dr. Oh was one of the grey areas and does redeem herself toward the end which I loved. People aren’t generally 100% bad and 100% good. It takes a while to figure out where everyone stands and what drives them. Only Nam Shin III is perfect while the rest in stark opposition are flawed making the contrast notable.

The Romance: Who wants to watch a hot beta robot bypass his programming to fall in love with a human? That’s a rhetorical question because the answer is obviously EVERYONE! There are so many moments where Nam Shin III and So Bong trust trust one another implicitly or have really intimate emotional moments making for a super lovely, very emotional and heart fluttery love story.

The Bad Stuff:

Just a heads up that I do have a lot of criticisms while at the same time really enjoyed this K-Drama so pls forgive me! ;-)

Playing Fast and Loose With Science: The main problem with this show is two things: Frustrating people that do frustrating things, and it’s total lack of scientific understanding or imagination. Now, I don’t need a k-drama to be scientifically accurate, but with any show that has a premise where we have to use our imaginations, we need to be able to trust the setup.

I need to believe that Dr. Oh is in a world where with financial support from PK group, she can build a flawless AI with learning capabilities, BUT the very company that is paying for the robot to be built’s largest achievement is a clunky self-driving car. And at first I was like, well they didn’t know about the AI, but it turns out that they are storing Nam Shin III’s brains in the basement so they clearly have tons of data they could be using all of these years to create something more interesting? Who would care about this silly car as the main vision of PK group, when they have this amazing robot and tons of data to go with it?

The kill switch doesn’t make sense. Dr. Laura Oh creates this clunky briefcase with a shiny red button to destroy Nam Shin III (she says it will make him explode). They say there’s NO WAY to turn it off. But when it’s pressed he doesn’t explode, AND Laura was able to create a hack but it just stalls the timer? That’s not how science works unless her hack only had to do with the timer but then....why? And also WHY IS THERE A TIMER?...Maybe that’s why he dies but doesn’t explode? Who knows cause I don’t believe the validity of her science anymore anyways at this point.

When Nam Shin III returns alive (yay!!!) he says he now is more human because of the kill switch damage (I assume) and has normal abilities. Ok, what? Why? The kill switch makes him unrecoverable so the human Nam Shin uses his money (that he’s so angry about having) to bring him back, but for some reason the abilities parts were unrecoverable but his tear ducts and walking patterns aren’t affected? Like in real life (if we can pretend for a second), he’d have some abilities while missing other abilities (physical, mental, technological, across the board). Whatever, I’m just glad he didn’t die ok?

Characters who deserved better, villains who win: The writing of ‘Are You Human Too?’ has been mediocre at best by constantly changing the rules while failing to redeem the good(ish) characters while rewarding the bad ones.

Nam Shin would have been better written as a kind person who was initially hurt. Human Nam Shin had the possibility of becoming an interestingly flawed character with all of the support in the world, to a man who only hurts others around him while being supported by lots of caring people. The drama writers didn’t feel like being creative about him and just made him a total ass who in the end, they casually give a hero edit to that he does not deserve.

Dr. Oh’s death is written as merely a sad story line for both Nam Shins but she deserved a much better ending as she contributed so much to the storyline (both good and bad)! They should have redeemed human Nam Shin and she could get her son back and they could have their own happy ending far away (or really anything than randomly killing her off)

Ye Nah finally gets agency and helps bring down the baddies and is just given a one line finale of “oh she never leaves the house these days.” She deserved better and at least one on air conversation and apology from human Nam Shin who did nothing but use her. Anyone noting a sexist theme here?

The 2nd most evil character, Ye Nah’s dad does go to prison but his punishment seems super light and his assistant doesn’t get in trouble at all.

The show forgot that the lead villain was the grandfather!! He does full agency evil, keeps baddies in place at his company and home to cause damage, and is verbally abusive. The last episode barely mentions him (he’s taken care of in a comfy assisted care place), keeps his money,  and he never has to atone for all of the horrible disfunction he has caused in his family.

And that leads me to the last episode where the writers are super lazy and just jump forward in time so they can skip resolving anything. Young Hoon takes over the company (but after all of this why would he want to?) Nam Shin is magically redeemed for no reason at all, and our favorite Tin Can Couple get to have their final tear-filled kiss. I’m glad they got a happy ending but the rushed and poorly written finale had an empty feel to it especially with the quick explanation of “oh we spend lots of money and got him fixed.” ...okay... good kiss though ;-)

In Conclusion: I know my review was tough, but the idea of the show was such an interesting one! I wish the writers had thought a little harder about the motivations of each character and well...a little science would help too? I will say that I’d watch robot Nam Shin scenes for the rest of my life, and was on the edge of my seat wanting to protect him and So Bong--that counts for something! Watch for just the romance plot line and nothing else (unless you really love soapy-style rich people shenanigans).

Rating:

Nam Shin III: 15/10 would watch again

Drama: 6.5/10

[teenageread]

Review: Loveboat Reunion

Synopsis:

It’s a classic tale of girl-meets-boy, boy-meets-other-girl, heart-gets-broken, revenge-is-plotted, everything-blows-up. Spectacularly.

At least they’re friends now. They’ve left the drama behind them back in Taipei—at their summer program, Loveboat—forever.

Now fall is here, and it’s time to focus on what really matters. Sophie is determined to be the best student Dartmouth’s ever had. Forget finding the right guy to make her dreams come true—Sophie is going to make her future happen for herself. Xavier, on the other hand, just wants to stay under his overbearing father’s radar, collect his trust fund when he turns eighteen, and concentrate on what makes him happy, for the first time ever.

But the world doesn’t seem to want Sophie and Xavier to succeed. Sophie’s college professor thinks her first major project is “too feminine.” Xavier’s father gives him an ultimatum: finish high school or be cut off from his inheritance.

Then Sophie and Xavier find themselves on a wild, nonstop Loveboat reunion, each trying to resist the chemistry that originally led to them to combust. As they grow closer, they hatch a plan to take control of their own futures. Step one? Break all the rules.

Plot:

Sophie Ha has sworn off boys. After her summer of trying to find a rich husband at Loveboat in Taipei, Sophie threw herself at Xavier, who immediately threw her away. Sophie heads off to Dartmouth into a competitive computer science program, calling her and Xavier friends. She is determined to be part of an AI class that everyone wants to be a part of. Xavier, who is not going to college, is repeating high school against his will. His over-controlling father holds his trust fund from him until he receives a high school diploma. High school should be easy, yet artistic Xavier would rather draw than study, especially as the English words do not make sense to his dyslexic brain. Only talking to Sophie helps, but Sophie, on the other coast, sends mixed signals by answering one ring or leaving him on read for hours. When Sophie’s AI project hinges on a connection Xavier has in Taipei, the two of them organize a Loveboat reunion in Taipei in the middle of the semester. Their feelings spark between Xavier and Sophie again as they work together to save Xavier’s family company, find a way to combine AI and fashion and make two people fall in love again.   

Thoughts:

*okay, so I did not read the first book, so, therefore, this review is based on this book only and not the series* 

Abigail Wen continues her Loveboat story, this time focusing from the point of view of Sophie and Xavier. With Loveboat over, the two of them return to their regular lives, which means they were separated for the majority of the story, Sophie on the east coast and Xavier on the west. Xavier was fantastic, with his rank-like reputation; he also had a big heart and was willing to use his influence to help out his friends. Sophie was ambitious, almost obnoxiously, and while reading the mean comments she received on her post about just using her friends were a bit accurate, but still mean as Sophie also did have a big heart. Sophie just expected too much from her friends, Xavier, and herself. Throughout the novel, her goal was lacking, contrasting Xavier, who had a clear plan. There was so much Sophie was trying to do in this novel that it often felt rushed and underdeveloped. This comparison could be made because Xavier had apparent goals, and thus, his story felt richer. As a university student myself, the whole struggle to get into the AI class was a weird concept. No matter how brilliant Sophie is, no freshmen should be in a senior class. Thus I lack sympathy for Sophie about how hard the class is because I, like her peers, also thought she did not belong. Wen really focused on the struggle of these two characters and how together they made each other better and worked through their issues. The ending was fantastic, leaving you feeling love for this contemporary novel and knowing that all is well for another set of Loveboat couples.

Read more reviews: Goodreads

Buy the book: Amazon

[technochlids]

Researchers in robotics have a responsibility to keep autonomous weapons from being developed.

Artificial intelligence advancements are fast transforming robotics. And the advantages are numerous: we are seeing safer vehicles with the ability to automatically brake in an emergency, robotic arms transforming previously offshored factory lines, and new robots that can do everything from grocery shopping to delivering prescription drugs to people who are unable to do so themselves.

However, our insatiable need for clever, self-driving devices raises a slew of ethical issues.

Rapid advancements have resulted in ethical quandaries.

These and other thoughts swirled when my colleagues and I convened in early November at the IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, one of the world's largest autonomous robotics-focused academic conferences. Academics, industrial researchers, and government scientists presented new algorithms that allow robots to make their own judgments during the conference.

The spectrum of potential uses for our study, like any technology, is difficult to imagine. Given how frequently this industry changes, forecasting is even more difficult. Consider the capacity of a computer to recognize items in an image: in 2010, the state of the art was only effective about half of the time, and it stayed that way for years. The top algorithms, as revealed in published publications, presently have an accuracy of 86 percent. That breakthrough alone enables autonomous robots to comprehend what they view through camera lenses. It also demonstrates the high speed of improvement over the last decade as a result of AI advancements.

From a technological standpoint, this type of advancement is a truly watershed moment. Previously, manually examining troves of video footage would take an inordinate amount of time, but today such material can be analyzed quickly and precisely by a computer program.

However, it raises an ethical quandary. The assumptions that support decisions relating to privacy and security have been substantially changed by eliminating people from the process. For example, although the usage of cameras in public places may have created privacy problems 15 or 20 years ago, the addition of accurate face recognition technology changes the privacy implications substantially.

Systems that are simple to change

The ethical issues that occur with designing robots that can make their own judgments – commonly referred to as autonomous systems – are probably more troubling than those that arise in object recognition. AI-assisted autonomy is progressing at such a quick pace that features that were previously only available to highly developed systems are now accessible to everyone with a home toolbox and some computer skills.

Even if you don't have a computer science background, you can master some of the most cutting-edge artificial intelligence technologies, and robots are more than ready to let you use your newly learned machine learning techniques on them. There are several internet forums where individuals are happy to assist anyone who wants to learn how to accomplish this.

It was simple enough to train your minimally modified drone to recognize and track a red bag with prior tools. The capacity to monitor a variety of items that mimic more than 9,000 different object kinds has been unlocked by more contemporary object identification technologies. When combined with newer, more nimble drones, it's easy to see how weapons might be simply installed. What's to stop someone from attaching a bomb or similar weapon to a drone with this technology?

Autonomous drones are already a menace, using a number of ways. They've been discovered planting bombs on American troops, closing down airports, and attempting to assassinate Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Self-driving systems, which are currently being researched, may make staging such assaults easier and more lethal.

Do you prefer regulation or review boards?

A group of artificial intelligence and autonomous robotics experts made a promise about a year ago to refrain from building lethal autonomous weapons. Lethal autonomous weapons are characterized as platforms that can "identify and engage targets without human interaction." I believed that the commitment, as a robotics researcher who isn't interested in creating autonomous targeting systems, missed the point of the threat. It brushed off crucial ethical issues that need to be addressed, particularly those that arise from the vast confluence of drone uses that might be benign or violent.

For starters, the academics, firms, and developers that published the articles and developed the software and gadgets aren't usually doing it to make weapons. They may, however, unintentionally enable others with just rudimentary knowledge to build such weapons.

What can we do to mitigate this danger?

One possibility is regulation, which has previously been used to prohibit airborne drones near airports and national parks. While these are beneficial, they do not preclude the development of armed drones. Traditional firearms rules are also insufficient as a model. They usually strengthen the source material or manufacturing process regulations. With autonomous systems, where the source materials are publicly available computer code and the manufacturing process may take place at home using off-the-shelf components, this would be almost impossible.

Following in the footsteps of biologists is another possibility. They conducted a meeting on the dangers of recombinant DNA in 1975 at Asilomar in California. Experts came to an agreement on voluntary guidelines that would guide future work. At present time, it appears that such a result is implausible for autonomous systems. Many research efforts that may be exploited to generate weapons also provide benign and extremely valuable results.

A third option is to create self-governance committees at the organizational level, similar to the institutional review boards that now monitor human subject research at firms, universities, and government laboratories. These boards weigh the advantages to the study's participants and devise strategies to reduce any possible risks. However, they can only regulate research conducted within their institutions, limiting their authority.

Nonetheless, these boards would have jurisdiction over a significant number of researchers: practically every presenter at technical conferences in the autonomous robotics community is a member of an institution. Research review boards would be a first step toward self-regulation, and they may alert researchers to programs that could be weaponized.

Living in the midst of danger and opportunity

Many of my coworkers and I are eager to work on the next generation of self-driving vehicles. I believe that the potential for good is just too great to be overlooked. However, I am concerned about the dangers that new technologies represent, particularly if they are misused by evil individuals. However, I think that with some careful planning and educated discussions today, we can move toward obtaining those advantages while minimizing the risk of damage.

[bookishbloggerreviews]

Prometheus vs Alien: Covenant --An Honest Review

Hey guys! So today I decided that I would do my first movie(s) review and the reason why I’m posting this is because I was binge-watching the Alien series again and I wanted to do compare and contrast of the newer Alien movies. So before I review, I’m not here to glorify these movies. Many people clearly already like these movies and they have a lot of good to them obviously. But I will point things out and compliment them when done well, so having said that, lets get started!

(Also, to briefly add in, this is all just speculation and opinion so if I'm totally wrong please feel free to correct me.)

[WARNING: SPOILERS]

If you haven’t watched the movies then I suggest you do so because from this point on, everything I say will be spoilers.

Prometheus vs. Alien: Covenant. 

Which was the better movie and which one stayed closer to the true Alien origin? 

The first person I would like to talk about in these movies is our “villain”, David. 

As we all know David is a “working Joe”, or basically a robot/AI that is meant to serve and assist human beings. And when I say “villain”, I say it as strictly as broken ruler, and here’s why. 

In Prometheus, or what would be the “beginning” of the Alien series, we meet David. In this movie David is assisting his creator attempt to reach HIS creator so that his life may be spared. And during this movie, we have what I would like to define as a “true neutral”. David’s intentions are not full of malice, hate, joy, or happiness. David, if anything, is more like a three year old childish immortal and he is simply.... curious. 

His definitions of life, the world, morality and emotions are so limited and basic that he truly can’t understand them and in this movie, for the majority of the movie, all we see David doing is attempting to interact and understand the world he sees around him. As humans, would we define David’s interactions as wrong, and perhaps maybe even hostile? Sure. Because we relate with the humans. 

In the prologue to Alien: Covenant we are made aware that David fully understands how short-lived and futile human life is, and that he doesn’t understand why he is serving it. Yet all throughout Prometheus, he does not take one violent action against the crew members. 

Now we have a debatable scene where he infects one of the crew members with the pathogen but even then I would not consider that to be a violent action against the crew. He asks Charlie, one of the original scientists how far he would go to achieve his goals and find what he came to find, and in a sense, was asking for permission to infect Charlie with the pathogen. When Charlie said, “Anything”, David took this as permission. But David, although it may have been somewhat sly, still asked for permission and consent, meaning that David, who believes humans are underneath him, still values morality. 

Now if we were to compare this to the David we see in Alien: Covenant, we have an entirely different character. 

In Alien: Covenant, David lies, he deceives, he’s violent, he doesn’t ask for permission or consent, he attacks, and he’s full of malicious intent. Now comparing that to the AI who just wanted to learn more about space, this character threw me for a curve ball. The actor, Michael Fassbender, certainly brings around those same character attributes that make David who he is, but the characters personalities in these movies are two entirely different beings. 

In Prometheus, you can choose to make David the villain, but in Covenant, he IS, undeniably, the villain. 

Now I love talking about character arcs and how characters evolve, however, I believe that this change was too abrupt to accurately say that they should be even labeled as the same character, which is pretty detrimental for David being the main character of a prologue series.

Moving onto the atmosphere Alien brings, anyone who has watched the movie recognizes that old, 1970′s science-fiction/horror atmosphere that is filled with both wonder and fear. And I believe that Prometheus, although not as accurate, managed to retain that original atmosphere. For the majority of the movie, our main characters are simply exploring, using medical and scientific equipment to discover who/what they are and it is only until two thirds through the movie that the “Alien” appears. And even then, it’s not all about the alien at that point. There is still more to the story to be discovered and it’s not just the crew running for their lives. 

But if we compare Alien: Covenant to this, the atmosphere is not only entirely different, but we spend almost half of the movie watching an alien-based action/horror film. The characters in the movie are not “scientists”, as we could describe in Prometheus, in fact, outside of the first half an hour of the movie, the only characters who seem remotely engaged in anything scientific is David, Walter, and Daniels. 

And, of course, we could bring up how hilariously dumb the characters are and how poorly protected they are as scientists (who should probably know better), but in the end, I think we can all safely come to the conclusion that Alien: Covenant, was not made to be a sci-fi/horror, it was made to be an action movie. 

So which movie, overall, was better and stuck with the Alien universe better? I’d have to say it would be Prometheus.

However, did I enjoy Alien:Covenant regardless? 

Yes. Because while I love sci-fi more than action, I still love action. 

Thanks for reading this review. I hope you enjoyed it and if you agreed or disagreed please let me know. I’m always happy to fangirl over stuff together and I’m always up for a debate. (Plus I’m more than happy to talk about how attracted I am to original David and Walter, because those well-written, well-portrayed characters always have me screaming). But until next time, your bookish blogger is out! 

[ukimmigrationmatters]

Exclusive free training for my Money Tips Podcast followers!

 Welcome To The Course, Mastering Money The S.M.A.R.T Way Without Working Any Harder!

 Lesson #6

 TRACK YOUR INCOME AND EXPENDITURE

Welcome to the final module and congratulations on sticking with it. Winners are finishers!

If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.

Peter Drucker

 In this module, we are going to put it all together starting with monitoring your income and outgoings.

Tracking your income and expenditure is the foundation of gaining control of your finances and accumulating wealth. Unless you know where your money is going you cannot make savings or accumulate cash, which is why I keep repeating this.

Keep a spreadsheet, or an app and you’ll be amazed at the results.

 Good businesses and governments keep accurate records, and produce monthly management accounts. They use cashflow forecasts to project forward to anticipate peaks and troughs and nasty surprises.

 When working as a financial adviser, I found that the average person had no idea. A regular annual spike in expenditure, such as Christmas or a service on the car, seemed to come as a big surprise to them.

 People in this position were invariably broke or living close to the edge. They constantly worried and argued about money because money controlled them rather than the other way around.

 Any large bill would send them deeper into debt.

 Things always seemed to go wrong for them, or that’s how they perceived a car breakdown or the boiler packing up over the Christmas holidays.

 One family I met actually felt that the whole world was against them. The husband, despite being a skilled and intelligent design engineer, was the main problem. He was at odds with everyone and always going to court to dispute late payment fines or parking tickets. He would say things like, “it’s just our luck” or “the system’s a con”.

 The wife said to me, “we just want to be normal”. I could see that the negativity and poverty mindset of the parents was being passed on to their six children who all looked slightly downtrodden and worried.

 In reality, their “disasters” were no different to the things that happened to everyone else. Things go wrong and break down, especially when they are old or not serviced.  

 When you are in control of your finances you will still have problems. However, the difference is that you will be able to deal with them quickly without borrowing. You will have a contingency fund and insurance cover for breakdown and repairs or things that happen unexpectedly in our lives, like the death or injury to a breadwinner. That’s what wealthy people have!

 You will know you exactly where your money goes and where you can make savings.

 Additional income when economising is not enough.

 Mastering money is not just about saving money or cutting back. You obviously need to earn well and keep earning, learning and improving.

 You can only reduce your expenditure so far. If you want to improve your lifestyle you will have to increase your income. Struggling businesses cannot just cut costs and staff in order to survive. They need sales and revenue.

 You can increase your revenue in a number of ways. For instance:

 ·        Change your job or business

 ·        Upskill to become more valuable to the marketplace

 ·        Take a part-time job or start a part-time home-based business.

 How many hours do you work each week?

 The majority of people in developed countries work between 35 and 40 hours a week, unless you live in France where some work closer to 30 hours! This is not the case in Asian tiger economies.

 Take the example of immigrants who usually progress rapidly in a country like the UK or US. Migrants I know don’t just work a 40-hour week. They take all the overtime offered or have part-time jobs in the evenings and weekends. While others are watching all the ‘bad news’ about the economy on TV, they are out earning money for their own u’conomy!

 I know many migrants who came to the UK with “nothing to declare” and no contacts, but quickly prospered.

 I meet migrants at seminars. Some have learned how to make money in property using none of their own money, which is handy, because they didn’t have much to start with!

 Others have started online businesses in their spare time or leaned how to trade stocks and FOREX.

 If you don’t think you have the time, take a look at how much time you spend watching TV or on social media. Instead of wasting time on social media, I now make money on social media.

 The future is HERE NOW, watch out!

 AI, automation and self-driving vehicles are no longer science fiction. Millions of jobs in the west will disappear over the next ten to twenty years, and some predict even sooner. There has never been a more pressing time to learn new skills and upgrade your knowledge.

 Jobs no longer last for 40 years and governments around the world have already talked about how to reskill millions of workers who will become redundant when the machines take over, or someone in The Philippines or India can do the job faster and cheaper.

 Only 10% of people keep learning after leaving school or college and many never read another book. Where do you think they are in the earnings league?

 You don’t need to go back to years of formal education to reskill. There are thousands of inexpensive vocational courses available at evening colleges and increasingly online. Universities offer part-time courses, from short diploma to master’s degree, specifically aimed at mature and working students. I know, because in 2017 I gained a degree in leadership and management from my local university. All the lectures and tutorials were held at the weekend to suit working students who wanted to improve their prospects and expand their mind.

 Summary Lesson 6

 Tracking your income and expenditure is the foundation of gaining control of your finances and accumulating wealth.  Wealthy people know exactly what’s coming in and where their money is going.

Action Steps

·        Start your money tracker spreadsheet now

·        Record all money coming in and going out of your household

·        Look ahead and anticipate peaks and troughs in income or expenditure

·        Look for ways to earn extra money

·        Think about your job in the future

·        Never stop learning and upskilling.

 Congratulations on reaching the end of this course!

You have learned how to Master Your Money and become a S.M.A.R.T Money Manager. Using this simple management system will help you to:

 ·        Spend wisely and avoid debt

·        Manage and respect your money

·        Accumulate wealth over time

·        Review your finances on a regular basis

·        Track your income and expenditure

 Finally, take responsibility for where you are today. Your current bank balance reflects your lifetime decisions, habits and actions. Don’t blame the government, the taxman or your parents.

 As one of my mentors, Jim Rohn once said, “If you’re forty, in good health, living in America and broke, something is wrong”.

 We all have the opportunity to educate ourselves, learn from leaders in our field, get a better job or start a business, save and invest and build a better life.

 Yes, some lucky people born into wealth have a leg up in life, but that doesn’t exclude you from the millionaire’s club. Membership to the club is still open and every year millions more join it!

 Someone else becoming rich doesn’t deprive you or mean there’s not enough to go around – that’s a ‘scarcity’ mentality. Quite the opposite in fact. Wealth is expanding, wealthy people employ more people, successful business people employ people and help make others rich too.

 I repeat. There are more opportunities today to become financially free than there has ever been in 7000 years of recorded history.

 Thank you for joining me on your journey to becoming a S.M.A.R.T Money Manager. Remember to follow the action steps. TAKE ACTION!

There are more examples and practical steps to getting rich and being happy in my book, Yes, money can buy happiness, which you can find on Amazon.

 Thank you for listening to this course! I hope you enjoyed it and are following the action steps.

 Would you like to take the next step towards becoming financially free?

 Bonus Lesson

 You have now learned how to manage you money the S.M.A.R.T way. I have created a special bonus lesson to take you to the next level by showing you how you can create more income!

 I will send you the bonus lesson if you follow the steps below and watch my free video training. Just email once you have registered.

 Millionaires and millionaire habits have been studied and documented at academic levels for the last hundred years. We know exactly what the millionaire habits and traits are, as success leaves tracks. All you have to do is follow their tracks to become wealthy and financially free!

 If you would like to learn more about investing and managing your money, become a professional property investor, or would like to be financially free without working any harder, watch this free on demand training.

 I will give a special free gift which can help you to immediately transform your finances when you attend the online training.

Click on this link to watch the free training now https://bit.ly/3wLWqx2

[vinayv224]

AI poses risks, but the White House says regulators shouldn’t “needlessly hamper” innovation

President Donald Trump speaks while touring a computer manufacturing facility that produces Apple computers in Austin, Texas, on November 20, 2019. | Mandel Ngan/Getty Images

So far, artificial intelligence’s development has outpaced regulation. Now regulation has to catch up.

Artificial intelligence is here, and it’s impacting our lives in real ways — whether it’s the Alexa smart speaker on our nightstand, online customer service chatbots, or the smart replies Google drafts for our emails.

But so far, the tech’s development has outpaced regulation. Now, government agencies are increasingly encountering AI-based tools, and they must figure out how to evaluate them. Take the Food and Drug Administration, which greenlights new medical products: It needs to review and approve new health care products that boast AI-capabilities — like this one that promises to detect eye problems related to diabetes — before they’re sold to us. Or consider the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which investigates employment discrimination. Today, the agency must also make decisions about AI-based hiring algorithms, like those that screen job candidates’ resumes and decide whether or not you deserve an interview.

On Wednesday at CES, the prominent Las Vegas-based technology trade show, White House officials formally announced how the Office of Science and Technology wants federal agencies to approach regulating new artificial intelligence-based tools and the industries that develop the tech.

The White House’s proposed AI guidance discusses some of the biggest concerns technologists, AI ethicists, and even some government officials have about the technology, but the guidelines are centered most on encouraging innovation in artificial intelligence and making sure regulations don’t “needlessly” get in the way.

That reflects an ongoing problem for AI, one that’s already played out in other tech sectors, where a rush to innovate without much oversight has only come to back haunt us.

While encouraging innovation in AI is certainly a consideration, critics of the technology have said that regulators must scrutinize artificial intelligence more closely as it continues to be rolled out in the real world. They argue that artificial intelligence can replicate, and even amplify, human biases. These tools often function in black boxes — meaning that they’re proprietary and operated by the companies that sell them — which makes it difficult for us to know when or how they might be harming real people (or if they even work as intended). And new AI-based tools can also raise concerns about privacy and surveillance.

For now, these new guidelines are just that — guidelines — which means that today’s memo won’t have an immediate effect on the artificial intelligence tech you might encounter in your daily life. But the memo shows how the government is thinking about AI and its potential impact on Americans. “People should care that the White House is trying to bring a framework for assessing and justifying the deployment of AI tools, because what we’re finding as these tools develop and emerge is that there are some applications that have deeper consequences than others,” said Nicol Turner-Lee, a fellow at the Brookings Institution who researches technology and equity.

The Trump administration wants a national AI effort

Trump and his administration want the US to dominate the AI industry — and they definitely want the US to be better at AI than China. Early last year, President Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing the “American A.I. Initiative,” which is meant to jumpstart AI research and help build an AI-competent US workforce, among other goals (though he didn’t give the effort any new funding).

“Federal agencies must avoid ... needlessly hamper[ing] AI innovation and growth”

Outlining 10 primary principles, today’s memo to federal departments and agencies echoes the goals of that executive order. It urges regulators to be mindful of innovation and to “consider ways to reduce barriers to the development and adoption” of AI when weighing how existing laws and potential new rules apply to the emerging technology.

“Federal agencies must avoid regulatory or non-regulatory actions that needlessly hamper AI innovation and growth,” says the memo. “Agencies must avoid a precautionary approach that holds AI systems to such an impossibly high standard that society cannot enjoy their benefits.” At the same time, the guidance also urges regulators to be conscientious of values like transparency, risk management, fairness, and nondiscrimination.

These are all fair points. By encouraging these federal departments and agencies to take action, the Trump administration also hopes to avoid a future in which American AI companies might face a patchwork of local and state regulation, or possibly overreaching federal regulation, that could impede the technology’s expansion.

AI experts told Recode that the AI guidelines are a starting point. “It will take time to assess how effective these principles are in practice, and we will be watching closely,” said Rashida Richardson, the director of policy research at the AI Now Institute. “Establishing boundaries for the federal government and the private sector around AI technology will offer greater insight to those of us working in the accountability space.”

Aaron Rieke, the managing director of the technology rights nonprofit Upturn, said in an email to Recode that, for now, he doesn’t think the memo will have much influence: “I do not think these principles will have much of an impact on the average person, especially in the short term. I think regulators will be able to justify their decisions, good or bad, without much effort.”

Importantly, the memo doesn’t actually apply to artificial intelligence that the US government itself uses (of which there’s plenty). For instance, a search of a US federal contracts database shows that the Centers for Disease Control has purchased facial recognition products (an AI-based technology), while the Department of Commerce appears to be using AI to improve its patent search system.

One of the reasons AI needs regulations: It comes with risks

AI systems are not inherently objective. Humans build these tools, and AI is often developed using flawed or biased data, which means the technology can inherit or even magnify human biases like sexism and racism. For instance, when in 2017 scientists taught a computer program to learn the English language by mining the internet, it ultimately became prejudiced against women and black people.

Critics say that risk means the government should aggressively regulate, and even ban, certain applications of artificial intelligence. And some AI tools, like facial recognition, that rely on collecting sensitive information, have also spurred concerns about how this tech could potentially create privacy and surveillance nightmares.

“AI systems have a potential to discriminate against the American public on the basis of race, sex, gender — every sort of criteria imaginable”

This all matters because AI already has the potential to have a real impact on your life, even if you haven’t realized it yet. Some landlords have floated requiring tenants to use facial recognition to enter their homes, even though the technology is known to be less accurate on people of color and women (and especially women with dark skin), among other groups. Another example: Though never used, a resume-screening algorithm produced by Amazon inadvertently discriminated against female applicants because it was trained on resumes the company had previously collected, which mostly came from men. Imagine losing out on your dream job because of a biased algorithm.

“AI systems have a potential to discriminate against the American public on the basis of race, sex, gender — every sort of criteria imaginable,” Albert Fox Cahn, an attorney who leads the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project at New York University, told Recode. “This could impact everything from whether you get a job offer, whether you get approved for an apartment or a mortgage, whether you get the good interest rate or the bad interest rate. It could impact college admissions and school placement.”

That’s left him disappointed with the new proposed guidelines. “Rather than provide a framework for regulators to actually address discrimination head-on, instead the White House is urging a hands-off approach which will allow AI to simply target historically marginalized communities without the interventions we need,” said Cahn. He said the memo’s references to values of nondiscrimination and transparency don’t have much force behind them.

“When you think of where most consumers are more AI-vulnerable, it’s in those areas like housing, health care, and employment — the areas that primarily make the front page of the newspaper,” said Turner-Lee. She said it’s not clear what the memo will mean for agencies like the Department of Labor and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as compared to, say, the Department of Agriculture.

She adds that it’s also not clear whether agencies are actually prepared to identify the risks AI tech poses, or if they’re up to the job of ensuring their regulations keep pace with innovation. “There’s a lot more of the devil in the details that I’d like to see, but I think they’re just trying to give us a general framework for some kind of ethical and fair deployment.”

Now the White House wants feedback, including yours

The draft guidance isn’t set in stone. For the next several months, it will be subject to public feedback, including yours (we’ll update this piece with how to do that as soon as the information becomes available). Once the guidance is formally approved, the White House expects that agencies will report back on how they plan to meet its new AI expectations.

Open Sourced is made possible by Omidyar Network. All Open Sourced content is editorially independent and produced by our journalists.

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[jbaquerot]

Admit it: Your big data is just a big waste of money and server storage space.

No matter how much of it you collect, no matter how many analytics programs you run, no matter how many data scientists you have pouring over the bits and bytes -- big data is not boosting the bottom line or making your business smarter.

You’re not the only one facing this problem, according to recent articles in the Harvard Business Review and McKinsey. But don’t blame big data for that. It’s all your fault.

You’ve been focused on analyzing the data rather than extracting intelligence from it and taking quick action on that information. Big data would be more than happy to help you achieve these goals, but only if you use it correctly.

It's possible to transform your big data into an amazingly accurate soothsayer using process-centric and process-embedded AI and machine learning. In order to do so, you have to overcome the three biggest challenges in the quest to monetize big data: complexity, consumerization and continuity.

I'll dig deeper into each of the three challenges in future articles, but first, here's an overview of the aforementioned challenges.

Challenge No. 1: Confronting Complexity

A recent article in Forbes reported that data scientists devote up to 80% of their time collecting and massaging data before even trying to extract anything useful from it. Some even termed these tasks as “data janitor work” and “data wrangling.”

Trying to get value out of vast amounts of complex data is a serious challenge facing businesses. A recent big data survey by NewVantage Partners cited “ability to develop greater insights into their business and customers” as the primary driver behind their big data initiatives as well as “faster time-to-answer, faster time-to-decision and faster speed-to-market.” We know that organizations that manage to do this benefit greatly.

Challenge No. 2: Creating Consumerization

Organizations want to extract intelligence from their big data as quickly and easily as consumers get the information they need from the apps on their smartphones. In other words, businesses want “consumerized” data. The resounding success of the IBM-Apple partnership is a significant harbinger of the increasing need for AI-powered corporate apps that can institutionalize analytics-driven decision making.

Think about that for a moment. Our phones can sift through mountains of data, select the most applicable information and display it in a usable, appealing fashion along with personalized suggestions for further action. This is AI at work. And they accomplish this in real time.

How can businesses work with their big data in the same fashion? Analytics firms need to consumerize the data, providing businesses with the information they need right now, in a consumable format for effective decision making.

Challenge No. 3: Constructing Continuity

Until now, organizations mainly relied on analytics to understand the drivers of past performance or the root cause of a problem, but organizations are increasingly demanding insights from analytics that enable them to predict their future. Predictive and prescriptive insights are big data’s real value.

But as anyone who has seen a time travel movie or studied quantum physics knows, the predictable future is not set in stone. If something shifts, the whole scenario changes. A new product is released, a clever business maneuver is made, the global economy coughs, and suddenly, you are in uncharted territory. All the predictions around product demand, consumer perceptions or consumer sensitivity to pricing are no longer optimal because there’s suddenly a new kid on the block and the picture has changed -- again.

Creating continuity between the present and the rapidly changing future is the third challenge that faces organizations today. While meeting all three challenges is critical to extracting the most value from your big data, continuity is in many ways the most important, as it underpins the self-learning architecture of the analytics that are ushering in the era of sophisticated AI, machine learning and deep learning.

Welcome To Tomorrowland

Every business today is functioning in a complex, dynamic environment. Nothing is static anymore. Some businesses may move faster, and some slower, but no matter what the industry is, business is in a constant state of motion, always trying to compete. This has consequences for big data.

As new data flows into the ecosystem, insights need to be continually recalibrated. Big data analytics must continuously update the insights so that stakeholders are served with predictions that are based on the latest and greatest data.

There’s a saying that dates back to the early days of computer science: “Garbage in, garbage out.” It's a phrase coined in 1963 by George Fuechsel, an IBM technician and programming instructor. Fuechsel was referring to a computer’s remarkable ability to grind out vast amounts of utterly incorrect information when fed erroneous data. As sociologist William Bruce Cameron once said, “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.” (Cameron’s quote is now widely, and wrongly, attributed to Einstein.)

Any big data initiative that doesn’t reduce complexity, enable consumerization, provide users a peek into the future and rapidly recalibrate as the future unfolds is simply not optimal. The bottom line is this: You must be smarter than your data. The purpose of your data is to keep you way ahead of the curve. If your data is moving faster than your predictions, your insights about the future will prove no more realistic than a ride through Disney World's “Tomorrowland,” now also known as the "Future That Never Was."

[fakesam]

Stopped Procrastinating just in time for “Games of 2017” List

The worst year most of us could’ve imagined wouldn’t have been much worse than 2017. This year gave us the following: dystopian nightmares brought into reality by sycophants and cowards. Capitalistic greed reaching its inevitable, destructive conclusion. A bigoted baby as a president and given free reign by people who chose money and power over morals. Despair is constant. Hope is scarce. Next year might be worse. But at least we had good video games?

Referring to this year’s crop of games as simply “good” is like describing Ajit Pai’s face as “slightly punchable”. This was an all-time year for the medium, with a full catalog of memorable games that will be talking about for years to come. Every type of gamer was satiated. You could explore open worlds with diverse environments and secrets to discover. You could play tiny, affecting indie games that helped the expand the notion of what games are capable of. You could play games that leave you exasperated and angry at the depths publishers will steep to in order to extract maximum profits. There were more games than anyone could ever keep up with. At this time, I’ve only played seven games released in 2017, so rather than scoop the diamonds out of the muck, I decided to just rank the games I had the chance to play over the course of the year. Overall, these games are a good mix of brilliance and profound disappointment, which is a pretty good description for 2017 as a whole. If your favorite game isn’t on my list, It’s simply because that game sucks and you have bad taste. Here's to 2018!

8. Danger Zone

I wiped this game from my memory until I wrote most of this list. I reviewed the game when it was released over the summer. Go read that if you want more detailed exploration of my disappointment. There was a rumor floating around a couple weeks back about a remastered version of Burnout: Paradise. I will pray to whatever deity makes that happen.

7. Battlefront 2

Star Wars was the first thing I chose to love. My earliest childhood memory is watching the remastered original trilogy tapes. I convinced my mom to fake a doctor’s appointment to see Episode three on release day. My first viewing of The Force Awakens is the best theater experience I’ve ever had. Star Wars means a lot to me. This backstory is why I feel Battlefront 2’s total failure so heavily. It’s almost impressive how thoroughly EA managed to poison the well for three giant franchises (Mass Effect, Need For Speed, and Star Wars). But Battlefront 2 is the Mount Everest of completely preventable fuck-ups. Enough’s been written about the predatory design of the multiplayer and the various ways that segment of the game is awful. But the single-player is even more of a letdown.

Viewing the end of Return of the Jedi from the Empire’s perspective should be fascinating, the writing ruins the plot before it has a chance. The premise collapses under the simplest questioning. It’s taken as a given that Iden Versio’s reversal is inherently meaningful, but Battlefront 2 does little to justify this. Why does the destruction of her home planet upset her to the point of defection? What was her life like there? How is this the first time Iden has seen evidence of the Empire engaging in nefarious tactics? She goes from diehard Empire defender to joining their sworn enemy in the span of about ninety minutes. The gameplay is just as dull. Sometimes a space battle gets thrown in and those are enjoyable, but those sequences aren’t prevalent enough to elevate the dreck that surrounds them.

Rather than tell an original story that earns its own space in the canon, the campaign becomes an edition of Star Wars Madlibs. Heroes from the original trilogy show up constantly, for little rhyme or reason other than EA wanted to give players the chance to demo each character before, in an ideal world, you move on to the multiplayer you don’t want to play. This overwrought deference to the past is put into even more stark relief by what Rian Johnson did with The Last Jedi. The thing that makes that movie so great is the number of chances it takes to add to the universe in surprising ways, such as the casino planet full of war profiteers, or the quad-boobed slug seal monster that provides Luke Skywalker with delicious space milk (These points are equally important in my mind). Battlefront 2 had the opportunity to really show what it’s like to be indoctrinated in the ways of the Empire from the moment a person is born, and it chooses to do the exact opposite. Bummer.

6. Nier Automata

There’s a chasm of quality between Nier and Battlefront 2, but many people might be surprised to see Nier this low on my list. I really wanted to like Nier more than I currently do. Let me explain: I loved the way the game’s experiments with form and storytelling, treating each playthrough like a season of television. The commitment to world building all the way down to the mechanics of how you save the game is impressive. The list of side characters I’ve ever met who have affected me as much as Pascal is short. Every encounter with him left me wanting more. He’s the robot stepdad of your dreams.

But after playing through the game three times, the idea of roaming through the world destroying generic machine enemies for the 800th time fills me with dread. Nier Automata needs to be open world to get its ideas across. But the environments are very drab and crossing this overly vast expanse became very tiresome very quickly. You should’ve seen my face when I unlocked the ability to fast travel. Christmas presents don’t give me that much joy. The combat would’ve been described as uninspired ten years ago. My completionist streak is urging me to see the two endings I have yet to see, but the dozens of enemy mobs I have to shoot and slash to see it through actively impede me from doing so.

And it’s all in service of a story that, while filled with cool images and presented incredibly well, isn’t really tailored to my tastes. The way the machines and androids reckon with their autonomy is fascinating at times - some of the context given to boss battles in later playthroughs is heartbreaking, but Nier is ultimately another “robots discovering they have feelings” tale. The future horror stories that interest me the most - Black Mirror, Twilight Zone, The Fallout series - are more focused on how humanity reacts to such calamities. When you remove humans from the picture altogether, it becomes more of a science experiment, and I struggle to invest in that. Sorry!

5. Portal Quest

If you’ve never heard of this game, it’s a free-to-play mobile action-RPG. Its art style could accurately be described as ‘Tearaway on a lesser budget’. There are a lot of modes, most of which use timers and daily limits to control how you play them. One of these modes comes attached with a story, but it never calls attention to itself. The gameplay mostly resembles strategy games, in the sense that the player has very little control once combat actually starts. Portal Quest is deceptively simple enough to worm its way into the slivers of boredom that accent everyday life, where mobile games are at their most seductive. I play it in line at the grocery store. I played it while waiting for my screening of The Last Jedi to start. I play it when I’m avoiding hard/meaningful work during my small time on Earth. There are guilds you can join which add a substantial multiplayer component that plays on my deep-seated displeasure at letting other people down. I’m currently in a guild named after the devil. My old guild kicked me for reasons unknown and I was sincerely annoyed when I found out. I’m not making this game sound very good, am I?It’s probably because I’m so confused by it. Mobile games tend to be non-starters for me (I actually tried to look at my phone way less this year), and the only reason I downloaded this game at the suggestion of an app that claimed that credits I earned for using certain apps could eventually be used as currency for many online marketplaces. I didn’t stick with that very long. And now we’re here. Is Portal Quest’s standing on this list a mediocre joke from an unfunny man? It might be. Did I place this above Nier Automata just to mess with that game’s passionate fanbase? Possibly. Do I feel good about placing a mobile game this high on a game of the year list? Not especially. I dunno man. It’s the one app that keeps me checking my phone more than any other. It’s free on the Android store (I assume it’s playable on iPhones, but I also don’t feel like checking?). Go check it out.

4. Fifa 18

When it comes to sports games, I don’t ask for much. The FIFA franchise has reached a baseline level of good that means that EA would have to seismically screw up to keep me from playing the newest rendition for forty hours at the minimum. Career mode dominates my time in this genre, and FIFA 18 was the year that this mode finally got the overhaul that’s been needed for years.The AI tactics still aren’t where I want them to be, and their version of Jordan Henderson continues to look more “Vegas wax figure” than man. But these details are small in the grand scheme. It’s the only reality where I can see Liverpool not shoot themselves in the feet, hands, and superfluous third nipple to win the Premier League. The Journey is also the best story in a sports game, and it’s not even close. That’s worth something.

3. Persona 5

Following Persona 4 is basically an impossible job. That game was a comet across the sky that dropped from the heavens and into my heart. I’ve watched the endurance run multiple times, played through the game twice on my PS2, and played through most of the game again on my Vita (Rest in peace.). Whatever Atlus followed that with would be a comedown. It’s definitely colored how some of the characters and the story affected me. The crew in Persona 4 was a much cooler hang than the Phantom Thieves were, and I missed some of the small-town intimacy of Inaba. But when taken on its own merits, Persona 5 is a spectacular RPG. It just plays so well. Every annoying quirk from Persona 4 was dealt with in a way that kept dungeon crawling from feeling too stale. Coercing enemies to become your persona was a surprisingly engrossing tactic. Being able to switch out team members on the fly is a game changer. I was able to capture hearts in a couple in-game days and focus on the social interactions that make this series so special. I eventually grew to love this version of Tokyo, and realized its sense of big city culture shock was a feature, not a bug. And no discussion of Persona 5 would be complete without commending the game for its impeccable style. It’s not quite Persona 4, but it never could be.

2. Horizon: Zero Dawn

Robot Dinosaurs! Is there a more attractive combination of words in the English language? No one expected Guerrilla Games, a developer who had previously been such purveyors of sludgy monochrome shooters with the Killzone franchise, to suddenly discover the entirety of the color spectrum and create a universe that pulls from the earliest parts of human civilization and far-flung science fiction pontifications. Fewer expected that such a fusion would be so successful. It’s been a while since I fell for an open world this hard. I had to see everything this world had to offer, and document it via Horizon’s photo mode. Watching these machines go through the motions of real animal behaviors became a regular past time (Although it still frustrates me that I couldn’t make the machines fight each other more easily).

Horizon is iterative more than innovative, but I enjoyed playing it much more than the recent Far Cry or Assassin’s Creed. I usually hate bow and arrows, but I loved how the weapons felt in this game. The moment to moment story about the three tribes was just okay, but uncovering the mysteries of the world and how it became this way kept me going until the end. They even made audio logs a powerful storytelling device again. One of 2017’s few pleasant surprises.

1.Super Mario Odyssey

Nintendo is a company defined by reinvention. Their consoles and games refuse to follow market trends and exist in their own world, for better or worse. The last couple years had skewed towards the worse end of that dichotomy.  I’ll die on “The Wii U wasn’t actually that bad” island, but the system was still a commercial disaster. Nintendo’s genius is singular and vital to the industry, but, outside of Splatoon, there had been few examples of their creativity delivering on its potential. It was fair to question whether the company could make their increasingly fleeting moments of brilliance slightly less fleeting. But Nintendo tends to show out when their backs are against the wall, and this year proved that axiom true yet again. The Switch is the great console the Wii U should’ve been, and the games released for it are good and interesting in surprising ways. I was excited for Super Mario Odyssey by the time I heard the phrase “New Donk City”, but by the time I started playing it, I was feeling full up on open-ended sandbox games with dozens of hours of side content and an overarching story that only unfolds at my pace. Over 200 hours of Persona 5, Nier, and Horizon will change a man. Nintendo showed why that sentiment was false. It wasn’t the genre. It was the imagination.

Each kingdom is an intricately designed diorama that constantly throws new things at you while continuing to be a peerless platformer we’ve come to know and love an indulging fan nostalgia along the way. There doesn’t seem to be any idea that wasn’t met with anything less than an affirmative “hell yes!” The childish exuberance that courses through most of Nintendo’s best work somehow becomes more surreal and gleefully discordant as Mario explores more and more worlds that are completely alien to him. Super Mario Odyssey has so many moments that make me smile involuntarily, from the hundreds of moons I’ve found due to blind faith in Nintendo’s design process to the NES-style levels that somehow exist in the world without a loading screen, to the objectively perfect festival scene in New Donk City. How many other games would reward you for sitting with a lonely man on a bench? This game is so damn weird, I love it. I’m not usually inclined to obsessively mine every bit of minutiae out of a game, but I definitely plan on finding every moon and purple coin that’s evaded me so far. I’m 600 moons in, and I’m still nowhere close to being sick of Super Mario Odyssey. This game is special.

[kickstarter-promotion]

Another Amazing Kickstarter (Chronicles of a Wererabbit by Michelle Zeman —Kickstarter) has been published on http://crowdmonsters.com/new-kickstarters/chronicles-of-a-wererabbit-by-michelle-zeman-kickstarter/

A NEW KICKSTARTER IS LAUNCHED:

Welcome to the Kickstarter for SNOW ISLAND, the third book of Chronicles of Wererabbit—a hopeful young adult paranormal/fantasy series about a girl who can shift into a rabbit and her journey to become a hero. The book contains themes of self-empowerment, environmentalism and finding the hero inside each of us.

A mysterious island with a dark secret…

Vampires, werewolves, unicorns, pterodactyls, and other creatures from myth or brought back from extinction

A deadly monorail with an insanely cheery AI that really doesn’t like anyone who does not have a ticket…

A vampire queen with an evil plan

A fortune teller’s frighteningly accurate prediction of death

And Snow the only rabbit shifter in the world, is about to face it all… 

YA Fans

Science Fiction and Fantasy fans

Animal lovers

Nature lovers

People who love Star Wars, Star Trek and Disney movies 

People who love rooting for an underdog.

Set in the modern world where vampires and werewolves live side by side among humans, Chronicles of a Wererabbit is set to be a seven book YA Science Fiction/Fantasy series about a girl rabbit shifter and her journey to become a hero. Each book is another step on that journey. There is also an overarching story involving her father’s evil vampire sister that spans the series. 

The first two Snowball and Snow Bunny were published last year to great reviews. Snowball reached number one in the “Coming of age” category on Amazon on its debut. You can read the first chapters free on Amazon’s “Look Inside” feature.

Snowball on Amazon

Snow Bunny on Amazon

This campaign is for the third book, Snow Island. It is finished and at the copy editor’s now. Jason Moser, my wonderful illustrator, has already created the cover and four B&W illustrations for the inside. You can see his beautiful artwork for Snow Island in the book trailer. He colorized them for the trailer! 

Snowball lives with James Lima

  I always wanted to create a new female superhero. Snow is a true underdog. She has an ability that is not powerful: she shifts into a rabbit. She was not born with a great destiny but a very bad one: to live and die as a laboratory experiment.

She has to forge a new destiny for herself. She is also still grappling with the question: who am I? Why am I here?

Most heroes’ journeys begin when they are given a task or when they obtain super powers. I want to explore what makes them who they are to begin with—the kind of people (or animals) they are. Where do their values come from? 

That’s why the first book begins with Snow’s childhood when she learns about the world and develops her values. When Snow does get her strength at the end— it comes from inside herself rather than the result of a power or event. 

She finds out that everyone has a hero inside them.

Like George Lucas, I am a fan of the Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell which describes the portrayal of the hero’s journey throughout time and used it as one of my references. 

The series does touch on many serious themes and issues but is overall hopeful. It has more in common with Star Wars, Star Trek, Narnia and superhero movies like Superman and The Avengers. 

Other influences range from James Bond and Raiders of the Lost Ark to the books of H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, Michael Crighton, Rick Riordan, Kurt Vonnegut, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, J. K. Rowling, James Dashner, Tolkein and C.S. Lewis.

My favorite comparison is to the movie Guardians of the Galaxy “because it has humor, action and heart.” 

  Ilustrations by Jason Moser from Snow Island

I love illustrations in books like The Dark Tower series by Stephen King and Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan. I believe with the advent of ebooks they are, sadly, becoming a lost art form.

Jason Moser, who designs my covers creates five beautiful b & w illustrations for each book. Four are included in the ebook and a bonus one in the paperback version.

Something I’ve always been very passionate about is the way we are all connected (humans-nature-animals) and dependent on one another. An ongoing theme is the need to protect our environment and care for animals. Many species are endangered and on the verge of extinction. Scientists estimate that a quarter of the world’s plant and vertebrate animal species will face extinction by 2050 if something is not done about it. Snow’s father has made it his life’s work to catalog and preserve the DNA of all species so that this does not happen. Book four and future books will also deal with topics such as climate change.

Delta from Wonderland Rabbit Rescue

   Real science facts are woven in with the science fiction for a few reasons. It grounds the story in reality. Since girls are not often encouraged in math and science, it is important to me to have a female heroine who is interested and excels in science. Finally, some science facts are just plain cool! Like the fact that rats do laugh. They just do it at a higher frequency than humans can hear!

Snow has two dads. Even though there have been great advances in LGBT rights over the past decade, there are very few gay characters and even fewer gay parents in YA and middle school literature. I believe it is very important for books to reflect the modern family and one of the only ways that children will grow up knowing that it is perfectly normal is to include it our literature. In the series, her father being gay is not dealt with as an issue. It is simply a fact.

Matthias from the Bun Hatter

    What seems to be a fun Jurassic Park type island holds a dark secret that will place Snow in more danger than she has ever faced before. This trailer includes color versions of the illustrations from Snow Island. 

The first book, Snowball sets up the world and follows Snow as she grows from a baby to a fourteen year old and the moment when she first discovers her inner strength and ability to fight as she saves a werewolf. 

Theme: is learning to love and accept yourself.

Snow Bunny back tracks for a few chapters to let readers get to know Josh (the werewolf she saved) and learn about werewolf society. It was important to keep all information about him out of the first book so that when Snow decides to save him she is all the braver for saving a stranger. The rest of the book follows their budding romance and winds up in giant action finale.

Theme: the importance of family and the fact that it is not necessarily made of those people you are related but those you choose to be with.

Snow Island begins five months later with Snow, now 15, receiving an ominous prediction from a fortune teller. She travels to a mysterious island with Josh, her dads, her friend David (a werewolf who can not shift) and Charlene (a mouse) to find out what happened to the creatures and werewolves that have been disappearing. 

Theme: Snow is looking outside of herself wondering about the big questions like does fate exist? Is destiny set or something that can be changed?

Signed Paperbacks; ecopies of all three books; signed postcards and refrigerator magnets are all available. And as an extra special treat: a crochet mouse, bunny and unicorn handmade by my Mom!

Also you have the chance to include a photo of your pet at the end of Snow Island in a section called ‘Snow’s Friends’.

If that isn’t enough you have the chance to a name a character. In Snow Road Snow and Josh travel across country and receive help from people along the way. One of those people could be you or someone you love! 

If you don’t see a reward combination that you are interested in – let me know and I’ll be happy to work with you to create a custom reward!

    It will be used for beautiful illustrated cover and inside sketches; professional copy-editing and proofread.

Any money above the goal will be very gratefully used for ISBN and Library of Congress number; printing and formatting cost for paperbacks; paperbacks to bring to Northeast Bunfest and other fairs. Marketing and advertising the book. It will also enable me to have time to continue writing book four and the series.

STRETCH GOALS to be Announced

Here is your chance to join this adventure with me and help to bring Snow and her friends to life! 

Every backer will also receive emails during the campaign to keep you updated. I will also share some trivia, anecdotes and a sneak peek at Snow Island.

I hope we can go on this amazing journey together as Snow learns that one person can make a difference because we are all connected. We are the hope for the world. 

And every single one of us, no matter how small or furry has a hero inside.

BIG THANKS to all of the fabulous bunnies who modeled in the photos above! 

Snowball lives with James Lima. She is one brave bunny as a survivor of both kidney stones and cancer!

Dusty is available for adoption at Wonderland Rabbit Rescue along with her twin sister Delta. The two bunnies traveled all the way to Michigan from Louisiana when their rescue flooded. If you can give them a forever home contact Wonderland Rabbit Rescue.

And thanks again to everyone for taking the time to visit.

  INFORMATION PROVIDED BY Kickstarter.com and Kicktraq.com VISIT PAGE SOURCE

[your-dietician]

Is the One Drop Glucose Meter Right for You?

New Post has been published on https://tattlepress.com/health/diabetes/is-the-one-drop-glucose-meter-right-for-you/

Is the One Drop Glucose Meter Right for You?

In the history of blood glucose meters, there’s never been one as sleek and consumer-tech cool-looking as the One Drop meter made by a New York startup by the same name. No wonder it’s the only glucose meter to be sold in Apple stores around the country.

With its sexy chrome finish on the meter, test strip vial and lancing device, along with a molded Vegan leather case, this kit looks like it could have been designed by Apple itself.

But One Drop offers more than a good look. Their easy-to-use smartphone app offers artificial intelligence (AI)-powered predictive health forecasts, and 1-on-1 coaching from diabetes educators directly via the app. Also, the system easily connects to many other digital platforms and devices, including the Apple Watch.

And what’s especially convenient is their sales model, in which you get all the supplies you need shipped directly to your door regularly, with no need to visit a pharmacy or interact with any medical supplier.

For a company using the tagline “Reimagine possible,” One Drop is certainly making a worthy effort to offer more in a different way that fits into our lives with diabetes, rather than making us readjust our worlds to use the product.

DiabetesMine has been watching One Drop since its start in 2016. We’ve shared the story of founder Jeff Dachis, whose own adult-onset type 1 diabetes diagnosis paved the way for him to envision this startup. Former CEO of leading digital marketing solutions company Razorfish, Dachis is a serial entrepreneur who’s advised investors on a number of disruptive tech launches through the years.

After his own diagnosis, Dachis began his journey to remake the glucose meter into something “cool and badass,” while offering a simple, affordable subscription service for diabetes supplies as well as a mobile management platform to make our data more meaningful for us and allow for shared learnings from the community.

Here is what One Drop offers for people with diabetes:

One Drop Chrome meter. This stylistic glucometer resembles a computer thumb drive. As the name implies, it’s a thin, light, and handy plastic meter with the signature chrome finish. Clearly, a lot of effort went into designing this product to make it feel Apple-esque. It has an automatic backlight so you can see the white-on-black screen in darker rooms, but there isn’t a test strip port light, so it remains difficult to use if there isn’t enough light when testing. The meter is Bluetooth-enabled and automatically sends data to the One Drop mobile app for both iOS and Android. Its storage holds 300 readings.

Test strips. These come in counts of 25, 50, and 100 strip vials (depending on where you buy them). Staying on-brand, the strip container is made of shiny chrome with a color accent line. The all-black test strips use 0.5 microliters of blood, which is roughly a small droplet the size of a pinhead. After applying the blood to the middle edge of the strip, the strip sucks in the droplet and counts down from five before providing a blood sugar reading.

Lancing device and lancets. The lancing device is also in shiny chrome. It measures 3.75 inches long by 0.75 wide, and is a marker-style upright handheld finger-poker. It uses short round 33G lancets, which you can buy directly from One Drop or other lancet manufacturers.

Innovative carrying case. While you’re not required to use the carrying case provided (even though One Drop claims it’s the best one to prevent from damaging the meter), it is worth a shout-out. Because this case is totally unlike anything you’ve seen before in the medical world. Forget the worthless black zippered nylon bag with mysterious elastic loops that most meter makers provide. One Drop has created a wallet-like open-topped carrying case that keeps all the components snugly together and makes rapid access a breeze. While best suited to purses, sport coat pockets, or cargo pants, the case can actually be carried in the back pocket of a pair of jeans more comfortably than you’d imagine by looking at it. It comes in both black and brown Vegan leather. This is a great choice unless you also want to carry backup insulin and other supplies all in one place.

Powered by the highly-accurate AgaMatrix technology found in other common strips and meters like the CVS Advanced meter, the One Drop meter meets the FDA’s fingerstick glucose measurement standards. Clinical trial data show that 99 percent of BG readings on the One Drop Chrome are within 20 percent of lab results and 95 percent are within 15 percent of lab results.

Comparative studies by the Diabetes Technology Society show that AgaMatrix-powered meters are among the top 5 most accurate meters on the market.

The One Drop mobile app is a free cloud-based app available for iOS and Android devices, compatible with iPhones, Android smartphones as well as iPad, iPod Touch. It’s available in six languages including English, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, French, and Russian.

It offers direct connectivity to the Apple Watch, and also connects to Apple Health for data-sharing, plus it offers integration with many other health and diabetes apps like Dexcom (continuous glucose monitor app), Fitbit, Garmin, One Touch, Weight Watchers, and MyFitnessPal.

The top of the main data screen shows your average glucose reading and a horizontal line chart displaying your trend line, as well as any insulin on board, daily activity levels, and any carbs you’ve entered.

There’s also a “community” tab where you can connect with other users if you wish, and a “news” tab to see the latest One Drop and health alert notices that might be of interest.

Another popular feature is the world’s largest built-in food database, containing thousands of foods and beverages. The app can also scan product barcodes right from the product labels to provide carb counts and other nutrition information. You can also enter and save your favorite meals for future reference.

If you happen to use the Dexcom CGM, you’re in luck. One Drop can grab that glucose data and display it right in the app (with a 3-hour delay, due to FDA regulations). You’re able to see trends and different analysis, including how often you’re in-range or getting low and high results. All you have to do is sync your Dexcom account to allow One Drop to access that data.

One Drop was the first diabetes device to integrate directly with the Apple Watch. This means you can track blood sugars, medications, meals, exercise and other health information right on the smartwatch. The display shows you daily stats, as well as goal progress and a summary of in-range glucose readings.

Clinical study data show that using the One Drop app helps people many better manage their diabetes. This 2017 analysis, for example, showed that users with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes saw a 1.07- to 1.27-point reduction in A1C during 4 months of using the One Drop app to track their diabetes data.

One Drop is more than a meter and app. The company also offers expert diabetes coaching and advanced data forecasts and insights via their premium services sold in various subscription programs:

1-on-1 coaching. Get matched with a Diabetes Care and Education Specialist (DCES) as your personal health coach, who is available via the mobile app and text messaging to answer questions, provide feedback, and offer encouragement. These experts typically respond within 24 hours, according to One Drop.

Interactive transformation plans. Backed by behavioral science, One Drop’s transformation plans use infographics, prompts, commitment pledges, articles, and quizzes to help motivate users to improve their diabetes and health habits. Personalized plans are available for people with any type of diabetes, pre-diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or any combination thereof.

Glucose forecasts. For those with type 2 diabetes who use insulin, One Drop offers an Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology that helps predict future blood sugars. This also provides personalized recommendations to help improve care.

Blood pressure insights. Beyond diabetes, One Drop premium subscription members worldwide can receive in-app messages with blood pressure trends, behavioral reinforcements, and alerts for hypertensive crises.

On Amazon, the One Drop Chrome meter gets an average of 4.1 out of 5 stars, with 331 current reviews.

One Amazon reviewer says: “The One Drop is love at first sight. This meter lists glucose numbers, meds, meals, physical activity, builds reports, and [does] some other things. To put it mildly, the meter is outstanding. This meter and associated app does an excellent job of interfacing with other tools. Kudos to the One Drop group!”

The meter gets high props for its looks, style, and thin profile. I have to agree with that personally, because I love that I can just pop it in my pocket and carry it around without much effort.

Some reviewers note “minor annoyances” like disappointment that the small plastic meter isn’t actually made of chrome as they expected from the product name. Others report that they experienced accuracy issues, despite the clinical data showing that it is indeed more accurate than most other products of this kind.

On the Google Play store, the app also gets an average of 4.1 out of 5 stars, with 2,871 current reviews. One top reviewer writes: “If you are a diabetic this is the best app for help and staying on the right track. The memberships are good and the health coaches are amazing. There is a news feed for tips and health advice. One Drop has an open invitation for everyone who is trying to reverse the condition of diabetes and pre-diabetes, hypertension. All platforms within this One Drop Application [are] amazing.”

Some users do note having difficulty with the app crashing, and experiencing glitches after product updates.

Still, the enthusiasm for the coaching and premium services is clear. One reviewer writes, “Amazingly helpful. Coach is terrific, and tracking more regularly creates a bit of a self-competitiveness for better numbers.”

Another reviewer adds: “This program offers what my employer-provided one did not. Not only am I getting the tools (meter, strips, coaching, etc.) to manage my diabetes, but I can also log so much more, like my weight, blood pressure, and more. Add on to that the ability to log my meals to see my carb macro-nutrients and it’s a solid program.”

You can find One Drop in Apple stores and on Amazon, as well as in Best Buy and CVS pharmacies. One Drop has its own online store where you can purchase all the supplies and digital subscription plans.

One Drop is not covered by insurance as of 2021, because it’s a direct-to-consumer product with a subscription plan. However, many people are able to use their yearly Health Savings Plan and Flexible Spending Account (FSA) to purchase supplies. One Drop does offer itemized receipts for those needing to submit them for reimbursement.

Additionally, One Drop offers an employer-provided option for those who might want to get their supplies as part of a health benefit through their job. See One Drop’s employer program page for more detail.

There are many different options for those looking for a traditional glucose meter that takes fingerstick readings. Some features vary, and they vary in their connection to smartphone apps and ability to monitor data trends. But most work pretty much the same way overall.

The only other meter that’s paired with health coaching and connected devices in a program similar to One Drop’s is Livongo. They offer a color coded meter, subscription service with unlimited test strips and supplies, and expert advice from certified diabetes educators. That glucose meter itself is not as appealing, however, if the aesthetic is important to you.

Color us impressed.

One Drop can do a lot of good for a lot of people. First, it ups the ante on design of medical products with its modern, sexy meter that’s a joy to look at and use.

Their app is intelligent, easy-to-use, and syncs easily with CGM results, insulin pen and pump information, and a variety of other health devices/data.

The system is affordable, doesn’t place limits on test strips, and has the added benefit of offering quick answers from medical professionals for those willing or able to pay a bit more.

In a world in which getting ahold of your healthcare providers can be difficult, One Drop offers a full package of tools and resources to help people best manage their diabetes on their own.

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[dorcasrempel]

Making health care more personal

The health care system today largely focuses on helping people after they have problems. When they do receive treatment, it’s based on what has worked best on average across a huge, diverse group of patients.

Now the company Health at Scale is making health care more proactive and personalized — and, true to its name, it’s doing so for millions of people.

Health at Scale uses a new approach for making care recommendations based on new classes of machine-learning models that work even when only small amounts of data on individual patients, providers, and treatments are available.

The company is already working with health plans, insurers, and employers to match patients with doctors. It’s also helping to identify people at rising risk of visiting the emergency department or being hospitalized in the future, and to predict the progression of chronic diseases. Recently, Health at Scale showed its models can identify people at risk of severe respiratory infections like influenza or pneumonia, or, potentially, Covid-19.

“From the beginning, we decided all of our predictions would be related to achieving better outcomes for patients,” says John Guttag, chief technology officer of Health at Scale and the Dugald C. Jackson Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at MIT. “We’re trying to predict what treatment or physician or intervention would lead to better outcomes for people.”

A new approach to improving health

Health at Scale co-founder and CEO Zeeshan Syed met Guttag while studying electrical engineering and computer science at MIT. Guttag served as Syed’s advisor for his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. When Syed decided to pursue his PhD, he only applied to one school, and his advisor was easy to choose.

Syed did his PhD through the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology (HST). During that time, he looked at how patients who’d had heart attacks could be better managed. The work was personal for Syed: His father had recently suffered a serious heart attack.

Through the work, Syed met Mohammed Saeed SM ’97, PhD ’07, who was also in the HST program. Syed, Guttag, and Saeed founded Health at Scale in 2015 along with  David Guttag ’05, focusing on using core advances in machine learning to solve some of health care’s hardest problems.

“It started with the burning itch to address real challenges in health care about personalization and prediction,” Syed says.

From the beginning, the founders knew their solutions needed to work with widely available data like health care claims, which include information on diagnoses, tests, prescriptions, and more. They also sought to build tools for cleaning up and processing raw data sets, so that their models would be part of what Guttag refers to as a “full machine-learning stack for health care.”

Finally, to deliver effective, personalized solutions, the founders knew their models needed to work with small numbers of encounters for individual physicians, clinics, and patients, which posed severe challenges for conventional AI and machine learning.

“The large companies getting into [the health care AI] space had it wrong in that they viewed it as a big data problem,” Guttag says. “They thought, ‘We’re the experts. No one’s better at crunching large amounts of data than us.’ We thought if you want to make the right decision for individuals, the problem was a small data problem: Each patient is different, and we didn’t want to recommend to patients what was best on average. We wanted what was best for each individual.”

The company’s first models helped recommend skilled nursing facilities for post-acute care patients. Many such patients experience further health problems and return to the hospital. Health at Scale’s models showed that some facilities were better at helping specific kinds of people with specific health problems. For example, a 64-year-old man with a history of cardiovascular disease may fare better at one facility compared to another.

Today the company’s recommendations help guide patients to the primary care physicians, surgeons, and specialists that are best suited for them. Guttag even used the service when he got his hip replaced last year.

Health at Scale also helps organizations identify people at rising risk of specific adverse health events, like heart attacks, in the future.

“We’ve gone beyond the notion of identifying people who have frequently visited emergency departments or hospitals in the past, to get to the much more actionable problem of finding those people at an inflection point, where they are likely to experience worse outcomes and higher costs,” Syed says.

The company’s other solutions help determine the best treatment options for patients and help reduce health care fraud, waste, and abuse. Each use case is designed to improve patient health outcomes by giving health care organizations decision-support for action.

“Broadly speaking, we are interested in building models that can be used to help avoid problems, rather than simply predict them,” says Guttag. “For example, identifying those individuals at highest risk for serious complications of a respiratory infection [enables care providers] to target them for interventions that reduce their chance of developing such an infection.”

Impact at scale

Earlier this year, as the scope of the Covid-19 pandemic was becoming clear, Health at Scale began considering ways its models could help.

“The lack of data in the beginning of the pandemic motivated us to look at the experiences we have gained from combatting other respiratory infections like influenza and pneumonia,” says Saeed, who serves as Health at Scale’s chief medical officer.

The idea led to a peer-reviewed paper where researchers affiliated with the company, the University of Michigan, and MIT showed Health at Scale’s models could accurately predict hospitalizations and visits to the emergency department related to respiratory infections.

“We did the work on the paper using the tech we’d already built,” Guttag says. “We had interception products deployed for predicting patients at-risk of emergent hospitalizations for a variety of causes, and we saw that we could extend that approach. We had customers that we gave the solution to for free.”

The paper proved out another use case for a technology that is already being used by some of the largest health plans in the U.S. That’s an impressive customer base for a five-year-old company of only 20 people — about half of which have MIT affiliations.

“The culture MIT creates to solve problems that are worth solving, to go after impact, I think that’s been reflected in the way the company got together and has operated,” Syed says. “I’m deeply proud that we’ve maintained that MIT spirit.”

And, Syed believes, there’s much more to come.

“We set out with the goal of driving impact,” Syed says. “We currently run some of the largest production deployments of machine learning at scale, affecting millions, if not tens of millions, of patients, and we  are only just getting started.”

Making health care more personal syndicated from https://osmowaterfilters.blogspot.com/

[aikungfu]

The health care system today largely focuses on helping people after they have problems. When they do receive treatment, it’s based on what has worked best on average across a huge, diverse group of patients.

Now the company Health at Scale is making health care more proactive and personalized — and, true to its name, it’s doing so for millions of people.

Health at Scale uses a new approach for making care recommendations based on new classes of machine-learning models that work even when only small amounts of data on individual patients, providers, and treatments are available.

The company is already working with health plans, insurers, and employers to match patients with doctors. It’s also helping to identify people at rising risk of visiting the emergency department or being hospitalized in the future, and to predict the progression of chronic diseases. Recently, Health at Scale showed its models can identify people at risk of severe respiratory infections like influenza or pneumonia, or, potentially, Covid-19.

“From the beginning, we decided all of our predictions would be related to achieving better outcomes for patients,” says John Guttag, chief technology officer of Health at Scale and the Dugald C. Jackson Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at MIT. “We’re trying to predict what treatment or physician or intervention would lead to better outcomes for people.”

A new approach to improving health

Health at Scale co-founder and CEO Zeeshan Syed met Guttag while studying electrical engineering and computer science at MIT. Guttag served as Syed’s advisor for his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. When Syed decided to pursue his PhD, he only applied to one school, and his advisor was easy to choose.

Syed did his PhD through the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology (HST). During that time, he looked at how patients who’d had heart attacks could be better managed. The work was personal for Syed: His father had recently suffered a serious heart attack.

Through the work, Syed met Mohammed Saeed SM ’97, PhD ’07, who was also in the HST program. Syed, Guttag, and Saeed founded Health at Scale in 2015 along with  David Guttag ’05, focusing on using core advances in machine learning to solve some of health care’s hardest problems.

“It started with the burning itch to address real challenges in health care about personalization and prediction,” Syed says.

From the beginning, the founders knew their solutions needed to work with widely available data like health care claims, which include information on diagnoses, tests, prescriptions, and more. They also sought to build tools for cleaning up and processing raw data sets, so that their models would be part of what Guttag refers to as a “full machine-learning stack for health care.”

Finally, to deliver effective, personalized solutions, the founders knew their models needed to work with small numbers of encounters for individual physicians, clinics, and patients, which posed severe challenges for conventional AI and machine learning.

“The large companies getting into [the health care AI] space had it wrong in that they viewed it as a big data problem,” Guttag says. “They thought, ‘We’re the experts. No one’s better at crunching large amounts of data than us.’ We thought if you want to make the right decision for individuals, the problem was a small data problem: Each patient is different, and we didn’t want to recommend to patients what was best on average. We wanted what was best for each individual.”

The company’s first models helped recommend skilled nursing facilities for post-acute care patients. Many such patients experience further health problems and return to the hospital. Health at Scale’s models showed that some facilities were better at helping specific kinds of people with specific health problems. For example, a 64-year-old man with a history of cardiovascular disease may fare better at one facility compared to another.

Today the company’s recommendations help guide patients to the primary care physicians, surgeons, and specialists that are best suited for them. Guttag even used the service when he got his hip replaced last year.

Health at Scale also helps organizations identify people at rising risk of specific adverse health events, like heart attacks, in the future.

“We’ve gone beyond the notion of identifying people who have frequently visited emergency departments or hospitals in the past, to get to the much more actionable problem of finding those people at an inflection point, where they are likely to experience worse outcomes and higher costs,” Syed says.

The company’s other solutions help determine the best treatment options for patients and help reduce health care fraud, waste, and abuse. Each use case is designed to improve patient health outcomes by giving health care organizations decision-support for action.

“Broadly speaking, we are interested in building models that can be used to help avoid problems, rather than simply predict them,” says Guttag. “For example, identifying those individuals at highest risk for serious complications of a respiratory infection [enables care providers] to target them for interventions that reduce their chance of developing such an infection.”

Impact at scale

Earlier this year, as the scope of the Covid-19 pandemic was becoming clear, Health at Scale began considering ways its models could help.

“The lack of data in the beginning of the pandemic motivated us to look at the experiences we have gained from combatting other respiratory infections like influenza and pneumonia,” says Saeed, who serves as Health at Scale’s chief medical officer.

The idea led to a peer-reviewed paper where researchers affiliated with the company, the University of Michigan, and MIT showed Health at Scale’s models could accurately predict hospitalizations and visits to the emergency department related to respiratory infections.

“We did the work on the paper using the tech we’d already built,” Guttag says. “We had interception products deployed for predicting patients at-risk of emergent hospitalizations for a variety of causes, and we saw that we could extend that approach. We had customers that we gave the solution to for free.”

The paper proved out another use case for a technology that is already being used by some of the largest health plans in the U.S. That’s an impressive customer base for a five-year-old company of only 20 people — about half of which have MIT affiliations.

“The culture MIT creates to solve problems that are worth solving, to go after impact, I think that’s been reflected in the way the company got together and has operated,” Syed says. “I’m deeply proud that we’ve maintained that MIT spirit.”

And, Syed believes, there’s much more to come.

“We set out with the goal of driving impact,” Syed says. “We currently run some of the largest production deployments of machine learning at scale, affecting millions, if not tens of millions, of patients, and we  are only just getting started.”

from MIT News - Machine learning https://ift.tt/31LWlNC via A.I .Kung Fu

[elizabethrowdenfinalproject475]

Multimodal Redesign

Background

In recent years software has been produced to get rid of the human element of deciding who gets certain health benefits. This was supposed to get rid of any human error and biases involved in this process. However, these biases have made their way into the algorithms made by programmers. According to a study published in the journal Science, there is at least one software program that, “determines who gets access to high-risk health care management programs [and it] routinely lets healthier whites into the programs ahead of blacks who are less healthy (Jemielity).” The study that was published in October of 2019 showed that a small change in the algorithm, “could more than double the number of black patients automatically admitted to these programs (Jemielity).” The current algorithm uses numbers that are skewed because of systemic biases that have yet to be broken, but by changing it to look at costs that could be avoided with preventative care the problem was fixed.

Medical data tends to be centered around European genotypes and we blame the algorithms for this; however, you must think of these as ‘garbage in, garbage out (Cahan).’ Algorithms are built with big data which is,

“defined by ‘4 V’s’: volume, velocity, variety, and veracity. While the latter two promote replicability, the volume and velocity of data have been leveraged more routinely to date. Development of algorithms has focused on the collection of data—and more data. Investigators and inventors clamor for data, focusing on its quantity rather than its quality (Cahan).”

This means that because there is historically more racial and gender biased data out there, that is what algorithms are going to pull in instead of accurate, up to date data.

AI, Artificial Intelligence, software is typically built by men, and white men at that. This leads to the data within the software being male dominated. In certain programs this can be deadly for women. One example of data being deadly when something was only tested on men is seatbelts. Statistically, “women are 47% more likely to be seriously [injured] and 17% more likely to die than a man in a similar accident (Niethammer).” For over 25 years there have been laws requiring that women be included in biomedical research and clinical practices; however, these laws do not apply to privately funded research (Hariharan). For most of history, “well-meaning regulations excluded women of childbearing years from clinical trials to avoid fertility risks and fetal harm (Hariharan).” Doing this reduced cost of research and the time it took to publish data. When health studies are not created to include women data is skewed and can affect how doctors proceed with healthcare measures. When it comes to women of color, they get a double whammy of not only being a woman, but also having a skin color that AI algorithms are not trained to detect. This is especially concerning for AI built to detect diseases like skin cancer (Niethammer).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYYVjT0mQB8

Literature Review

Noble discusses in the text how algorithms are biased specifically when it applies to Google and other sites on the web. Her big example is when looking up “black girls” the first few hits were porn websites when she used no modifiers in her search terms that should have led to such sites, and she was using her work computer which should not have had any previous searches that would lead to such sites. She also talks about how few people of color there are working in Silicon Valley and beyond that the miniscule amount of people of color who own tech businesses. Algorithms seem to be written mostly by white men, some of whom have been openly racist and misogynistic putting most of the world’s population below the “idealistic white male” figure.

Discussion

It is frustrating that in the year 2020, I as a woman and my friends of color are looked down upon, regarded as less than by a large group of people simply for the genetics we received. I am scared. Reading this book and seeing everything going on right now frightens me. It also makes me angry because I do not know what the solution is or if I will ever see change in my lifetime. I want to stand up and fight against this oppression. We have grown up watching heroes fight oppressive powers and yet we sit here complacent watching our freedoms be stripped from us.

Conclusion

Women and people of color need to be taken more seriously. It is estimated that in a few years the majority of the United States will be fully people of color or people of multiple racial and cultural backgrounds. Algorithms need to be built by the newest and most accurate information out there, not the most data out there. We as a population should be more critical of artificial intelligence and new technologies. Do not take the word of one person or a small group of people.

Bibliography

Cahan, E.M., Tina Hernandez-Boussard, Sonoo Thadaney-Israni, and Daniel L. Rubin. “Putting the Data Before the Algorithm in Big Data Addressing Personalized Healthcare.” NPJ, 19 August 2019, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41746-019-0157-2. Accessed 31 July 2020.

“COVID-19 in Racial and Ethnic Minority Groups.” CDC, 25 June 2020, https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/racial-ethnic-minorities.html. Accessed 21 July 2020.

Hariharan, Kavitha. “How Will AI Affect GenderGaps in Healthcare?” Brink, 5 March 2020, https://www.brinknews.com/how-will-ai-affect-gender-gaps-in-health-care/. Accessed 31 July 2020.

Jemielity, Sam. “Significant racial bias in software program affected access to care for millions of Americans.” Uchicago News, 28 October 2019, https://news.uchicago.edu/story/health-care-prediction-algorithm-biased-against-black-patients-study-finds. Accessed 21 July 2020.

Niethammer, Carmen. “AI Bias Could Put Women’s Lives At Risk - A Challenge For Regulators.” Forbes, 2 March 2020, https://www.forbes.com/sites/carmenniethammer/2020/03/02/ai-bias-could-put-womens-lives-at-riska-challenge-for-regulators/#701c864d534f. Accessed 21 July 2020.

Noble, Safiya Umoja. “Algorithms of Oppression.” Narrated by Shayna Small, Audible, 12 June 2018. Audiobook.

Obermeyer, Ziad, Brian Powers, Christine Vogeli, and Sendhil Mullainathan. “Algorithmic Bias In Health Care: A Path Forward.” HealthAffairs, 1 November 2019, https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20191031.373615/full/. Accessed 21 July 2020.

[onlyhitlyrics]

FaceApp Pro Mod APK 

Faceapp :

Version : 3.8.0

Rating. : 4.5

Size : 19 Mb

Category : photography

Latest updates : April 17 , 2020

OS : android / iOS

Download Apk

About Faceapp :

is available within the Apple App Store and on for Android devices. Using AI , the app creates realistic transformations of users' faces using various filters and features. The app has been reviewed almost 200,000 times and carries a 4.7 rating.

FaceApp first went viral in 2017, but with many updates since then, the technology has become even more realistic, causing it to travel viral another time . The free version offers a limited choice of filters, but don't be concerned , the one that ages you're available for free of charge . you furthermore may have options to vary your face, including changing your mouth to a smile, change the colour of your hair, and swap genders.

You're also ready to return in time, albeit the younger filters for a few reason aren't as realistic, and are not the maximum amount fun to use. Maybe because we already know what we seemed like once we were younger, therefore the app's success rate thereupon transformation is lower since users haven't any idea what they go to seem like within the future.

FaceApp was developed by alittle team out of Saint-Petersburg, Russia.

"We developed a replacement technology that uses neural networks to modify a face on any photo while keeping it photorealistic. for instance , it can add a smile, change gender and age, or just cause you to more attractive," founder and CEO Yaroslav Goncharov told .

And Goncharov explains that the actual fact that FaceApp is so realistic is what sets it apart from any of its competition.

"Our main differentiator is photorealism," he said. "After applying a filter, it's still your photo. Other apps intentionally change a picture during how it's entertaining, but not a real photo anymore."

You can either take a photograph through the app's camera functionality or get one from your pre-existing gallery. However, for security reasons, be wary of any app that asks for access into your personal gallery. FaceApp, like most apps, features a privacy page detailing how they use user content. There, the app does admit that they "may share User Content and your information with businesses that are legally a neighborhood of the same group of companies that FaceApp is."

"We also may share your information also as information from tools like cookies, log files, and device identifiers and site data, with third-party organizations that help us provide the Service to you," the privacy policy continues.

This is normal for several apps, but if it's something that deters you, maybe just download it for a touch , then scrap it when you're done.

Download FaceApp Pro APK with everything unlocked?

If you're trying to find free then wait. Because this is often not an app like kinemaster, any screen recorder, or the other offline app which will be hacked easily.

This app works online so, nobody goes to hack it or mod it. If you actually want then just go in-app and buy their subscription. Help to earn their revenue.

Otherwise, i'm also following this app because this is often an excellent app and that i liked it. i feel if you're getting to buy then your money won't be wasted.

Keep visiting my for each news about facepp.

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The faceapp app, together of the highest AIs and image editing apps, also together of the foremost popular apps within the world today, has received 4.5 points out of 5.0 payments within the $ 3.99 network. Now you'll get the newest version of the Premium version without having to pay in-line payments from this site.

Transform your face using AI in only one tap!

Add beautiful smile

Get younger or older

Become more attractive

Change gender

The added feature of FaceApp Pro :

Add two different smile modes to pictures

High-speed analysis of images sent to the server

High security enough to carry user information

Make the face older or younger

Unrivaled ability to vary sex with Amazing AI

Auto retouch and eliminate wrinkles on the face

Accurate Sorting of various Modes to form Changes in Images

Create intriguing and unique collages within the app’s core environment .

FaceApp can change your face with the subsequent filters:

Smile & Smile 2: This filter will add a smile to the face within the photo.

Young: This filter will make the face younger.

Old: This filter will make the face older.

Female: This filter will give the face female features.

Male: This filter will give the face male features.