Fear sells What would be really, really useful, if you lived in a dangerous area, and wanted to keep an eye on your house when you are not there? A doorbell with a camera, perhaps?! Maybe, a doorbell with a camera powered by a facial recognition system?! Or even a doorbell with a camera … Continue reading [Miscellany] Fear sells, Facial recognition banned in San Francisco, and RIP Grumpy Cat
Category: Personal
[Miscellany] Poorly placed advert, Guardian on Google Home, and reads
Poorly placed advert I spotted this advert on an in-flight magazine, aboard a plane. It was from Turkey's tourist board: Sounds like a great use of old and new technology: the company grabs the customer’s attention with a high impact photo on glossy paper; then, the customer uses their phone to scan the QR … Continue reading [Miscellany] Poorly placed advert, Guardian on Google Home, and reads
Monday Miscellany 6 May 19
The not-so-smart speaker Artificial intelligence is as biased as the data used to train it, and the coders programming it. Last week, I came across a simple exam of the latter: It turns out that, if you are in England and ask Google Home to “play the national anthem”, you get the US version. If … Continue reading Monday Miscellany 6 May 19
Day in the Life of an Academic #8: fragmented vs focused work days
While I was reading the book ‘Deep Work’ by Cal Newport, about the value and challenges of doing focused work, I started paying more attention to the instances of deep vs shallow work in my life and, in particular, how it impacted on how I felt. I kept a diary for a couple of weeks. … Continue reading Day in the Life of an Academic #8: fragmented vs focused work days
Monday Miscellany 29 April 19
What AI is not Given my research interests on the use of AI in customer interfaces, I have been reading several definitions of what AI is and what it can do. So, it was somehow refreshing to read this definition of what AI is not and can’t do. It is from the book The Inevitable, … Continue reading Monday Miscellany 29 April 19
Monday Miscellany 15 Apr 19
Ship work Last week, Seth Godin shared the video from one of his talks and Q&A sessions. It is almost two hours long but super interesting - well worth grabbing a coffee and sitting down to enjoy this talk, available at: https://seths.blog/2019/04/new-video-new-workshop-and-other-launches-too/ One of the questions that resonated the most with me, came at around … Continue reading Monday Miscellany 15 Apr 19
Thank u 2018, next
The thing with time in general, and years in particular, is that you can’t go back. So, for me, the year’s end is a time for a brief reflection and some learning, but, most of all, moving on. Going back through my monthly reports from 2018, it looks like I had a rough start of … Continue reading Thank u 2018, next
