Jesse Hirsh talks to Stephen Quinn about Gitchain, i.e. what you get when you give Git a blockchain a la Bitcoin.
Monthly Archives: May 2014
Why Facebook Spent a Year Learning to Listen in on Your TV Shows | Business | WIRED
Why Facebook Spent a Year Learning to Listen in on Your TV Shows | Business | WIRED
According to the company, the accuracy is high enough that Facebook will sometimes make suggestions even before you’ve told it what kind of media you’re looking for. “What we ended up doing is providing this flow where it works from the top level,” says Facebook software engineer Ryan Case. “You could be just typing about what you’re watching and we give an indication we have a suggestion for you, and you can step into the suggestion.”
The system also grabs more detailed information about what you’re doing. When people were inputing TV shows manually, Facebook didn’t ask them which season and episode they were viewing. That would be too much of a burden. Now, that data is included automatically. Previously, music data was limited to a particular band. Now, Facebook shows the specific track and album and includes a 30-second clip.
Gitchain
Decentralized, peer-to-peer Git repositories aka “Git meets Bitcoin”
Blinding light: The US crackdown on not-so-harmless laser strikes
Blinding light: The US crackdown on not-so-harmless laser strikes
Federal criminal charges were brought against both of them in March 2013, with a three-day trial concluding in December 2013. Despite his lawyer’s best efforts, in March 2014, Rodriguez was sentenced to 14 years in prison. His punishment is believed to be the harshest such sentence for firing a laser at an aircraft anywhere in the United States, possibly even the world.
Curbing Online Abuse Isn’t Impossible. Here’s Where We Start | Game|Life | WIRED
Curbing Online Abuse Isn’t Impossible. Here’s Where We Start | Game|Life | WIRED
Think about how social networks might improve if—as on the gaming sites and in real life—users had more power to reject abusive behavior. Of course, different online spaces will require different solutions, but the outlines are roughly the same: Involve users in the moderation process, set defaults that create hurdles to abuse, give clearer feedback for people who misbehave, and—above all—create a norm in which harassment simply isn’t tolerated.
Ultimately, online abuse isn’t a technological problem; it’s a social problem that just happens to be powered by technology. The best solutions are going to be those that not only defuse the Internet’s power to amplify abuse but also encourage crucial shifts in social norms, placing bad behavior beyond the pale. When people speak up about online harassment, one of the most common responses is “Well, what did you expect from the Internet?” If we truly want to change our online spaces, the answer from all of us has got to be: more.
One of my radio columns this week talked about research by Deloitte that looks at the rapid rise of the use of digital resources and mobile devices while shopping. I mentioned the Amazon effect, where the online retailer’s massive digital presence gives it a place inside of other stores when it comes to consumer options. Imagine if the new Amazon Dash were used in stores by rogue shoppers using the bricks and mortar infrastructure to shop at Amazon.