23 Wednesday Sep 2020
Posted in Legal/Political Columns
≈ Comments Off on Reason to Avoid Online Dating Number 5,441
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Murder: there’s an app for that! Another computer matchmaking success story from Indonesia!
The steps are really easy: Go on Tinder. Meet the girl of your dreams. Go see her. Get beaten and stabbed to death by her real-life boyfriend. Get cut into 11 pieces. Find your dismembered self in luggage, cleverly stashed away somewhere. Get a lecture from Saint Peter.
The digital age isn’t exactly what we were led to believe it would be.
23 Saturday Nov 2019
Posted in News and Notes
≈ Comments Off on Google’s 1.2 Billion Record Oops
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Quite the breach there, Google.
For well over a decade, identity thieves, phishers, and other online scammers have created a black market of stolen and aggregated consumer data that they used to break into people’s accounts, steal their money, or impersonate them. In October, dark web researcher Vinny Troia found one such trove sitting exposed and easily accessible on an unsecured server, comprising 4 terabytes of personal information—about 1.2 billion records in all.
While the collection is impressive for its sheer volume, the data doesn’t include sensitive information like passwords, credit card numbers, or Social Security numbers. It does, though, contain profiles of hundreds of millions of people that include home and cell phone numbers, associated social media profiles like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Github, work histories seemingly scraped from LinkedIn, almost 50 million unique phone numbers, and 622 million unique email addresses.
“It’s bad that someone had this whole thing wide open,” Troia says. “This is the first time I’ve seen all these social media profiles collected and merged with user profile information into a single database on this scale. From the perspective of an attacker, if the goal is to impersonate people or hijack their accounts, you have names, phone numbers, and associated account URLs. That’s a lot of information in one place to get you started.”
Maybe linking al those accounts wasn’t a good idea. Of course, it made logging in so easy. Faster access to the cat videos and such.
17 Tuesday Sep 2019
Posted in Books For Sale, Other Columns
≈ Comments Off on Going to Need a Bigger Computer
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There’s much more to novel writing than I had imagined. Well, the writing is fine. The editing, formatting, etc. is a bear, especially with my (new) low-power computer. 400+pages makes for some awkwardness. I’ll make do for now. But! After The Substitute sells 10,000 or so copies, I’m upgrading to the fastest, most powerful thing I can find. Y’all can help with that. Thank$. – P
24 Wednesday Apr 2019
Posted in Other Columns
≈ Comments Off on The Irony: Scheduled This While Seated, with Computer
Which is bad for my health. I’ll say three “Hail Coffees” and take a walk in a bit.
Despite the growing alarm about the harmful effects of sitting too much, Americans are sitting more than in the past — in part because people are spending more leisure time in front of the computers.
The association between lots of sitting and bad health is now well-established, but there hasn’t been a lot of data on how sedentary Americans actually are, says Yin Cao, a cancer epidemiologist at Washington University in St. Louis and co-author of a study published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association. By analyzing data from the National Health Nutrition Examination Survey, Cao and her team found that, for both adults and teens, the total time sitting increased by about an hour per day from 2007 to 2016 (from about 6.4 hours to 8.2 hours a day).
The amount of time spent sitting and watching television or videos was generally stable between 2001 and 2016 — at least two hours a day — but as time went on, people in all age groups reported spending more of their leisure time sitting while using the computer. By 2016, half of adults reported doing this for at least an hour a day, up from 29 percent in 2003. This was true for 57 percent of teens, up from 53 percent. “[People] work indoors more than ever before and this may also change their leisure time activity as well,” explains Cao. Though using computers is now a common leisure activity, that may not have been the case in the past when computers were less ubiquitous. Cao adds that people may not be aware that sitting too much can be dangerous, especially since “there’s no clear intervention” to address this issue in most schools and workplaces.
Okay, so I don’t have to worry about the TeeVee troubles. Ditch that habit, if you haven’t. Maybe reconsider the school and work too. More reservations about modernity. Just get up and move.
11 Sunday Feb 2018
Posted in Legal/Political Columns
≈ Comments Off on Crimes that Ring a Bell
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An enterprising student-employee at my alma mater faces the state’s wrath. His crime? Dissatisfied with his grade, he merely hacked the professor’s computer and changed it. Forced out of UGA, he now faces EIGHTY! charges – of computer trespass and computer forgery.
These are actual crimes and, if the victim is the government or its agents, then they will be prosecuted.
As with that young Brit who hacked the CIA, there has to be a better “punishment” for this man. How about making him head of the University IT department. Obviously knows what he’s doing.
A far worse pattern of crime is committed daily, hourly by some who have little to no idea what they’re doing. That, or they just don’t give a rat’s behind.
Alarm Bells are Ringing on the Federal Debt
You don’t say? Heck, I’ve tried to ring that one myself a time or two. It’s a little hard since they removed the hammer. Anyway, at least The Hill noticed:
Well, it’s true. Congress is bankrupting the country and robbing future generations of Americans to pay for it. It’s dangerous. A debt crisis, and all the terrible economic effects of that, are looming. Both parties are guilty. Every single congressional leader is to blame.
Okay, so it’s true. But how did it happen, and how are they getting away with it? The events of this week perfectly illustrate how the one-way spending ratchet works, why Congress votes to pass it, and how they’re getting away with it.
The Bipartisan Budget Act is 652 pages long. The bill increases spending by $386 billion over two years and nearly $1.5 trillion over 10 years. It also suspends the debt ceiling until after the next election.
Ah! That cool bipartisanship everyone loves. “Gettin’ the people’s business done!”
My (on books) debt projection of $40 Trillion by 2024 may be a little low.
How did this happen? Well, someone elected these cretins. How do they get away with it? Well, I predict most will be re-elected. It’s kind of like the frozen snake: invite a robber into your home and odds are you’ll be robbed. The people’s business must have something to do with naivete and stupidity. Go ring that bell.
So it goes in America: the grade fixer will go to jail; the monsters who deep-sixed the country will escape with perks and pensions.
Horme.com.
26 Thursday Oct 2017
Posted in News and Notes
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AI, computers, future, IQ, Perrin hates robots, robots, Saudi Arabia
Coming like a freight train. You’ve been warned.
Of all countries, Saudi Arabia has granted the first citizenship to a robot, a “female” robot.
LONDON: A humanoid robot took the stage at the Future Investment Initiative yesterday and had an amusing exchange with the host to the delight of hundreds of delegates.
Smartphones were held aloft as Sophia, a robot designed by Hong Kong company Hanson Robotics, gave a presentation that demonstrated her capacity for human expression.
Sophia made global headlines when she was granted Saudi citizenship, making the kingdom the first country in the world to offer its citizenship to a robot.
“I want to live and work with humans so I need to express the emotions to understand humans and build trust with people,” she said in an exchange with moderator Andrew Ross Sorkin.
Now she needs to veil up.
Gaining the trust. Plotting the demise. Arab News.
Fools salute their doom with raised smartphones. A robot “citizen” lies about building trust. The people sleep. The machines get smarter.
Super artificial intelligence is coming, and sooner than you might expect.
That’s according to SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son. The Japanese billionaire spoke from the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. In about 30 years, artificial intelligence will have an IQ of 10,000, Son says. By comparison, the average human IQ is 100 and genius is 200, according to Son. Mensa, “the High IQ society,” starts accepting members with an IQ score of 130.
The idea of machine learning becoming smarter than the human brain is often referred to as the “singularity.” When exactly this will happen is oft-debated among the tech community.
“Singularity is the concept that [mankind’s] brain will be surpassed, this is the tipping point, crossing point, that artificial intelligence, computer intelligence surpass [mankind’s] brain and that is happening in this century for sure. I would say there is no more debate, no more doubt,” Son says.
Son is particularly aggressive in his prediction of how soon the singularity will happen — in the “next 30 years or so,” he says.
…
“Thirty years from now, they are going to learn by themselves, they are maybe going to laugh at you and us,” Son says. “Today they look cute, they will stay cute, but they will be super smart.”
Currently, some robots are smarter than humans in some areas, says Son. “But 30 years from now, most of the subjects, they will be so much smarter than us. Because they are going to be a million times smarter than today, million times,” says Son.
“We mankind created tools, the premise was mankind were always smarter than the tool we invented so we control,” he says. “This is the first time … the tool becomes smarter than ourselves.”
Probably the last time too. The terminator will not look “cute” when it comes to your door.
The average human IQ (S.B. or Wechsler) is roughly 100; 200 is nearly unmeasurable hyper-genius. It’s a little harsh, but a “regular” genius looks (intellectually) upon a normal, 100-IQ individual the same way the average normie looks upon a retarded person. Something with an IQ 100 times the average (which sounds ridiculous, I’ll grant) will look upon all of us the way we look at ants or viruses.
We’ll be pests in their eyes; they’ll have Raid!
Cute, huh?
12 Saturday Aug 2017
Posted in News and Notes
≈ Comments Off on Ads, 100X Faster!
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A lot more ads. Maybe 3D or holographic or something. The ads of today have overcome the tech advances, essentially rendering the net less efficient than it was 15 years ago. This new development may send us back to the 19th century.
Ultrafast wi-fi, which is 100 times quicker than today’s mobile networks is on the horizon, after scientists proved they could send complex data using high-frequency radiation.
The researchers sent video signals using terahertz, rather than traditional microwaves, at speeds of 50 gigabytes per second. Most wireless networks only operate at top speeds of 500 megabytes a second.
The breakthrough could lead to high-speed streaming on the go.
Or more ads. Maybe cancer.
07 Monday Aug 2017
Posted in Other Columns
≈ Comments Off on Inspiration … Maybe Jealousy…
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I run a few websites now and update a related daily App. Sometimes this involves a wee bit of what might be called “coding.” That’s a lot for a guy who might be best described as a “luddite…”
Anyway, it’s always refreshing to learn your skills are shamed by a octogenerian:
When 82-year-old Masako Wakamiya first began working she still used an abacus for maths — today she is one of the world’s oldest iPhone app developers, a trailblazer in making smartphones accessible for the elderly.
Frustrated by the lack of interest from the tech industry in engaging older people, she taught herself to code and set about doing it herself.
The over 60s, she insists, need to actively search out new skills to stay nimble.
“As you age, you lose many things: your husband, your job, your hair, your eyesight. The minuses are quite numerous. But when you learn something new, whether it be programming or the piano, it is a plus, it’s motivating,” she says.
“Once you’ve achieved your professional life, you should return to school. In the era of the internet, if you stop learning, it has consequences for your daily life,” Wakamiya explains during an AFP interview at her home near Tokyo.
She became interested in computers in the 1990s when she retired from her job as a bank clerk. It took her months to set up her first system, beginning with BBS messaging, a precursor to the internet, before building her skills on a Microsoft PC, and then Apple’s Mac and iPhones.
She asked software developers to come up with more for the elderly, but a repeated lack of response led her to take matters into her own hands.
Wakamiya learned the basics of coding and developed ‘Hinadan’ one of Japan’s first dedicated app games for the over-60s — she is now in such demand that this year Apple invited her to participate at their prestigious Worldwide Developers Conference, where she was the oldest app creator to take part.
Congratulations, lady. It’s never too late. Or too early. Or something.
Vastly more advanced than Perrin. Yahoo News.
31 Monday Jul 2017
Posted in News and Notes
≈ Comments Off on Containing Skynet
The other day and out of the blue my daughter rattled off some stats about how soon the robots and AI will rise to power. I was impressed someone other than me was interested. Then again, she’s my daughter. (It’s soon, by the way).
And it could always happen even sooner. The machines are evolving.
Cameron/Orion.
A Facebook AI experiment almost got away from the experimenters.
Facebook has recently developed a new artificial intelligence (AI), and it has since created its own language using code words to communicate more efficiently. Researchers promptly shut the system down over concerns that they might lose control over the A.I.
This isn’t the first time AIs have diverged from their training in the English language to develop their own, more efficient language. While the resulting phrases from this condensed method of communication sound like gibberish to the human ear, they do in fact make semantic sense when interpreted by AI agents.
…
If AI continue to create their own languages, developers may have problems creating and adopting new neural networks, but it’s unclear whether this would allow machines to actually overrule their operators.
These new developments, however, allow AI to work more efficiently, and can benefit research teams in the long run if they put in the work to learn the new AI-created shorthand and stay up to date with this new method of communication.
Conclusion
What are your thoughts on this? Have we gone too far? Is a Terminator scenario just around the corner? Or is the advancement of technology in this manner just a natural part of our evolution as humans on this planet?
Around the corner? No. It seems the scenario is already in the lab waiting on us to fall asleep. And considering what Facebook and the other tech giants are up to, they may make the least competent defenders in this war.
14 Sunday May 2017
Posted in News and Notes
≈ Comments Off on Cyberattack May Get Worse Tomorrow
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Don’t get caught in the next wave.
Security experts are warning that the global cyberattack that began on Friday is likely to be magnified in the new workweek as users return to their offices and turn on their computers.
Many workers, particularly in Asia, had logged off on Friday before the malicious software, stolen from the United States government, began proliferating across computer systems around the world. So the true effect of the attack may emerge on Monday as employees return and log in.
Moreover, copycat variants of the malicious software behind the attacks have begun to spread, according to experts. “We are in the second wave,” said Matthieu Suiche of Comae Technologies, a cybersecurity company based in the United Arab Emirates. “As expected, the attackers have released new variants of the malware. We can surely expect more.”
This monster seems to be mainly aimed at Microsoft products. For God’s sake, update everything and protect yourselves. Yesterday, a former NSA hacker friend told me where to find a video lecture on this system (also by a former NSA hacker) and how to beat it – that I totally forgot…. Another friend, a brewery consultant, had copious amounts of his latest creation on hand… Umm….
Anyway, the hunt is on (even as I suggested Friday) for the attackers.
International investigators are hunting for those behind an unprecedented cyber-attack that affected systems in dozens of countries, including at banks, hospitals and government agencies, as security experts sought to contain the fallout.
The assault, which began Friday and was being described as the biggest-ever cyber ransom attack, struck state agencies and major companies around the world — from Russian banks and British hospitals to FedEx and European car factories.
“The recent attack is at an unprecedented level and will require a complex international investigation to identify the culprits,” said Europol, Europe’s police agency.
Europol said a special task force at its European Cybercrime Centre was “specially designed to assist in such investigations and will play an important role in supporting the investigation”.
Be careful when you open emails. Except from me. My email list is ready for a beta-test and I may (after this crap settles) soon send out a salvo. It’ll be fun. Promise.
Brain Pop.
PERRIN LOVETT 
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