programming

Education must transform to make people ready for AI — from ft.com by Jo Owen
Schools will need to teach know-how, not know-what

Excerpts:

A recent study by Oxford university estimates that nearly half of all jobs in the US are at risk from automation and computers in the next 20 years. While advancing technologies have been endangering jobs since the start of the Industrial Revolution, this time it is not just manual posts: artificial intelligence — the so-called fourth industrial revolution — promises to change the shape of professional work as well.

For instance, lawtech is already proving adept at sorting and analysing legal documents far faster and more cheaply than junior lawyers can. Similarly, routine tasks in accounting are succumbing to AI at the expense of more junior staff.

The next generation will need a new set of skills to survive, let alone thrive, in an AI world. Literacy, numeracy, science and languages are all important, but they share one thing in common: computers are going to be far better than humans at processing these forms of explicit knowledge. The risk is that the education system will be churning out humans who are no more than second-rate computers, so if the focus of education continues to be on transferring explicit knowledge across the generations, we will be in trouble.

…

The AI challenge is not just about educating more AI and computer experts, although that is important. It is also about building skills that AI cannot emulate. These are essential human skills such as teamwork, leadership, listening, staying positive, dealing with people and managing crises and conflict.

Evaluation and league tables are a barrier to success — you get what you measure in education as much as you do in business.

From DSC:
“Teamwork, leadership, listening, staying positive, dealing with people and managing crises and conflict.” Do our standardized tests measure these types of things? No, I agree with you. They don’t. They measure “know-what skills.”

“We are doubling down on the idea that if we get children to know things and regurgitate them in a certain way in an exam, then we are setting them up for success in life.”

Tom Ravenscroft

Also see:

Capitalism that Works for Everyone — from gettingsmart.com by Tom Vander Ark

Excerpts:

Inequality Gets Worse From Here
Our new report on the future of work and learning illustrated how the combination of artificial intelligence, big data and enabling technologies like robotics are changing the employment landscape fast.

…

Our new paper on the future of work and learning suggests a couple solutions…

LinkedIn’s 2017 U.S. Emerging Jobs Report

LinkedIn’s 2017 U.S. Emerging Jobs Report — from economicgraph.linkedin.com

Excerpt:

Here’s what we found:

Tech is king: Jobs with the top growth potential are tech-focused, with demand coming from tech and non-tech companies alike. Machine learning engineer, data scientist, and big data engineers rank among the top emerging jobs — with companies in a wide range of industries seeking those skills.
Soft skills matter: Not all of the emerging tech jobs require technical skills. Sales development representative, customer success manager, and brand partner rank among the top emerging jobs at companies where a technical background is not a necessity. Traditional soft skills like communication and management underpin all of these emerging jobs.
Jobs with high mobility on the rise: Several top emerging jobs reflect broader societal trends, such as wellness, flexibility and location mobility. More people are getting healthy which could explain why barre instructor featured among our emerging jobs. Not quite as surprising, licensed realtors ranked highly as the post-Great Recession recovery of the real estate market rolls forward. Just in the past year, the number of licensed realtors has surged 40 percent. These type of roles tend to be more widely distributed across U.S. regions.
Low supply of talent for top jobs: Data scientist roles have grown over 650 percent since 2012, but currently 35,000 people in the US have data science skills, while hundreds of companies are hiring for those roles – even those you may not expect in sectors like retail and finance – supply of candidates for these roles cannot keep up with demand.
Future-proofing skills is critical: Some of these emerging skills didn’t even exist five years ago, and many professionals are not confident their current skill set will be relevant within the next 1-2 years.

top 20 fastest growing jobs in the united states

Software engineers are feeding into nearly all of these emerging jobs.

Even further, it’s estimated that 65% of children entering primary school today will ultimately hold jobs that don’t yet exist.

Future-proofing skills is critical: Some of these emerging skills didn’t even exist five years ago, and many professionals are not confident their current skill set will be relevant within the next 1-2 years.

Also see:

The Fastest-Growing Jobs in the U.S. Based on LinkedIn Data — from blog.linkedin.com by Rachel Bowley

Reflections on “How AI-powered enterprise chatbot platforms are transforming the future of work” [Shaw]

On 12/05/2017, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, assistive technologies, bots, business, career development, change, computer science, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, platforms, programming, tools, training / L&D, trends, workplace, by Daniel Christian

How AI-powered enterprise chatbot platforms are transforming the future of work — from chatbotsmagazine.com by Gina Shaw

Excerpts:

WHAT IS AN ENTERPRISE CHATBOT PLATFORM?
To sum it up in a few words, a chatbot platform is a toolset which is used to build and deploy chatbots. Every organization has its own set of unique challenges that can be overcome by convenient automation provided by chatbots. After establishing a clear-cut chatbot strategy, enterprises can use a bot builder platform to build, train and manage customized bots. Before the advent of chatbot platforms, building a bot was a strenuous task and required sophisticated toolsets and advanced coding knowledge. However with time, several bot building platforms flooded the chatbot market and led to the creation of safe AI bots which need minimum deployment time and almost zero coding knowledge. Enterprise chatbot platforms also allow IT departments to have complete control and access to monitoring bots.

From DSC:
It is with some hesitation that I post this article. Why? Because:

I started out my career in a customer service related position at Baxter Healthcare, and it was one of the most important jobs that I’ve had because it taught me the value of a customer. Ever since then, I have treated everyone as my customer — whether they be internal or external to the organization that I was working for.
Then, there’s the idea of calling a Voice Response Unit (VRU) — which sometimes works well and sometimes I can’t stand it. There are times when I/we simply want to speak to a fellow human being.

So it is with some hesitation that I post this article. But I do so because it is yet another example of:

The increased usage of algorithms, software, bots, personal assistants, AI, etc. to obtain answers and information
The changing skillset employees will need and job seekers may want to develop (if such things are interesting to them)
The massive changes heading our way

Ask About AI: The Future of Learning and Work — from gettingsmart.com by Tom Vander Ark

Excerpts:

Code that learns may prove to be the most important invention in human history. But in 2016, there was almost no discussion of the implications of artificial intelligence (AI) in K-12 education—either the immense implications for the employment landscape or the exciting potential to improve learning.

We spent two years studying the implications of AI and concluded that machine intelligence turbocharged by big data and enabling technologies like robotics is the most significant change force facing humanity. Given enormous benefits and challenges we’re just beginning to understand, we believe it is an important time to Ask About AI (#AskAboutAI).

…

After interviewing experts, hosting a dozen community conversations, and posting more than 50 articles we’re summarizing what we’ve learned in a new paper Ask About AI: The Future of Learning and Work.

The paper explores what’s happening in the automation economy, the civic and social implications, and how to prepare ourselves and our children for exponential change.

With this launch we’re also launching a new microsite on Future of Work.

To initiate lifelong learning, secondary schools should encourage students to be reflect on how they learn, and build habits of success. There are an increasing number of organizations interested in being lifelong learning partners for students—college alumni associations, professional schools and private marketplaces among them.

Self-directed learning is most powerfully driven by a sense of purpose. In our study of Millennial employment, Generation Do It Yourself, we learned that it is critical for young people to develop a sense of purpose before attending college to avoid the new worst-case scenario—racking up college debt and dropping out. A sense of purpose can be developed around a talent or issue, or their intersection; both can be cultivated by a robust guidance system.

We’ve been teaching digital literacy for two decades, but what’s new is that we all need to appreciate that algorithms curate every screen we see. As smart machines augment our capabilities, they will increasingly influence our perceptions, opportunities and decisions. That means that to self- and social awareness, we’ll soon need to add AI awareness.

Taken together, these skills and dispositions create a sense of agency—the ability to take ownership of learning, grow through effort and work with other people in order to do the learning you need to do.

Computer Science Education Week: December 4-10, 2017

On 11/29/2017, in career development, computer science, engineering, K-12 related, programming, student-related, teachers, tools, universities, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Audrey Willis, with Circa Interactive, reminded me that next week is Computer Science Education Week. She wrote to me with the following additional resources:

As you may know, Computer Science Education Week starts next week on December 4. This week aims to raise awareness of the need to bolster computer science education around the world by encouraging teachers and students to host computer science events throughout the week. These events can include teacher-guided lesson plans, participating in the Hour of Code, watching computer science videos, or using your own resources to help inspire interest among students. It is for this reason that I wanted to share a few computer science resources with you that were just published by renowned universities. I believe these resources can provide K-12 students with valuable information about different career fields that an interest in computer science can lead to, from education and health information management, to electrical engineering.

Guide to K-12 STEM Resources for Teachers by Norwich University: https://graduate.norwich.edu/executive-leadership/guide-to-k-12-stem-resources-for-teachers/
The Classroom of 2050 by University of Cincinnati: https://mastersed.uc.edu/news-resources/infographics/the-classroom-of-2050/
How Secure is Your Data? by University of Illinois at Chicago: https://healthinformatics.uic.edu/resources/infographics/how-secure-is-your-data-assessing-and-mitigating-risks-for-electronic-health-records/
The Future of Computing and Microchips by New Jersey Institute of Technology: https://graduatedegrees.online.njit.edu/resources/mscs/mscs-infographics/the-future-of-computing-and-microchips/
How Electrical Engineering Has Shaped the Modern World by Ohio University: https://onlinemasters.ohio.edu/how-electrical-engineering-has-shaped-the-modern-world/?g=infographics&t=msee

…

Thanks in advance,
Audrey Willis
Circa Interactive

AI: Embracing the promises and realities — from the Allegis Group

Excerpts:

What will that future be? When it comes to jobs, the tea leaves are indecipherable as analysts grapple with emerging technologies, new fields of work, and skills that have yet to be conceived. The only certainty is
that jobs will change. Consider the conflicting predictions put forth by the analyst community:

According to the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, only 5-10% of labor would be displaced by intelligent automation, and new job creation will offset losses. (Inserted comment from DSC: Hmmm. ONLY 5-10%!? What?! That’s huge! And don’t count on the majority of those people becoming experts in robotics, algorithms, big data, AI, etc.)
The World Economic Forum27 said in 2016 that 60% of children entering school today will work in jobs that do not yet exist.
47% of all American job functions could be automated within 20 years, according to the Oxford Martin School on Economics in a 2013 report.
In 2016, a KPMG study estimated that 100 million global knowledge workers could be affected by robotic process automation by 2025.

Despite the conflicting views, most analysts agree on one thing: big change is coming. Venture Capitalist David Vandergrift has some words of advice: “Anyone not planning to retire in the next 20 years should be paying pretty close attention to what’s going on in the realm of AI. The supplanting (of jobs) will not happen overnight: the trend over the next couple of decades is going to be towards more and more automation.”30

While analysts may not agree on the timing of AI’s development in the economy, many companies are already seeing its impact on key areas of talent and business strategy. AI is replacing jobs, changing traditional roles, applying pressure on knowledge workers, creating new fields of work, and raising the demand for certain skills.

The emphasis on learning is a key change from previous decades and rounds of automation. Advanced AI is, or will soon be, capable of displacing a very wide range of labor, far beyond the repetitive, low-skill functions traditionally thought to be at risk from automation. In many cases, the pressure on knowledge workers has already begun.

Regardless of industry, however, AI is a real challenge to today’s way of thinking about work, value, and talent scarcity. AI will expand and eventually force many human knowledge workers to reinvent their roles to address issues that machines cannot process. At the same time, AI will create a new demand for skills to guide its growth and development. These emerging areas of expertise will likely be technical or knowledge-intensive fields. In the near term, the competition for workers in these areas may change how companies focus their talent strategies.

The Ivory Tower Can’t Keep Ignoring Tech [O’Neil]

On 11/16/2017, in analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business, colleges, community colleges, corporate / business world, curriculum, ethics, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, morals/values, programming, research, society, staying relevant, the downsides of how people use tech, universities, by Daniel Christian

The Ivory Tower Can’t Keep Ignoring Tech — from nytimes.com by Cathy O’Neil

Excerpt:

We need academia to step up to fill in the gaps in our collective understanding about the new role of technology in shaping our lives. We need robust research on hiring algorithms that seem to filter out people with mental health disorders, sentencing algorithms that fail twice as often for black defendants as for white defendants, statistically flawed public teacher assessments or oppressive scheduling algorithms. And we need research to ensure that the same mistakes aren’t made again and again. It’s absolutely within the abilities of academic research to study such examples and to push against the most obvious statistical, ethical or constitutional failures and dedicate serious intellectual energy to finding solutions. And whereas professional technologists working at private companies are not in a position to critique their own work, academics theoretically enjoy much more freedom of inquiry.

There is essentially no distinct field of academic study that takes seriously the responsibility of understanding and critiquing the role of technology — and specifically, the algorithms that are responsible for so many decisions — in our lives.

There’s one solution for the short term. We urgently need an academic institute focused on algorithmic accountability. First, it should provide a comprehensive ethical training for future engineers and data scientists at the undergraduate and graduate levels, with case studies taken from real-world algorithms that are choosing the winners from the losers. Lecturers from humanities, social sciences and philosophy departments should weigh in.

Somewhat related:

More than 50 experts just told DHS that using AI for “extreme vetting” is dangerously misguided — from qz.com by Dave Gershgorn
Excerpt:
A group of experts from Google, Microsoft, MIT, NYU, Stanford, Spotify, and AI Now are urging (pdf) the Department of Homeland Security to reconsider using automated software powered by machine learning to vet immigrants and visitors trying to enter the United States.

Amazon and Microsoft announce Gluon, making deep learning accessible to all developers

On 10/13/2017, in Amazon, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, business, career development, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, computer science, Google, human-computer interaction (HCI), Microsoft, platforms, programming, by Daniel Christian

AWS and Microsoft announce Gluon, making deep learning accessible to all developers — from news.microsoft.com
New open source deep learning interface allows developers to more easily and quickly build machine learning models without compromising training performance. Jointly developed reference specification makes it possible for Gluon to work with any deep learning engine; support for Apache MXNet available today and support for Microsoft Cognitive Toolkit coming soon.

Excerpt:

SEATTLE and REDMOND, Wash. — Oct. 12, 2017 — On Thursday, Amazon Web Services Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com company (NASDAQ: AMZN), and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) announced a new deep learning library, called Gluon, that allows developers of all skill levels to prototype, build, train and deploy sophisticated machine learning models for the cloud, devices at the edge and mobile apps. The Gluon interface currently works with Apache MXNet and will support Microsoft Cognitive Toolkit (CNTK) in an upcoming release. With the Gluon interface, developers can build machine learning models using a simple Python API and a range of prebuilt, optimized neural network components. This makes it easier for developers of all skill levels to build neural networks using simple, concise code, without sacrificing performance. AWS and Microsoft published Gluon’s reference specification so other deep learning engines can be integrated with the interface. To get started with the Gluon interface, visit https://github.com/gluon-api/gluon-api/.

Microsoft and Amazon struck a brilliant partnership to take on Google in the next big thing for cloud computing — from finance.yahoo.com Business Insider by Julie Bort

Excerpt:

Microsoft and Amazon announced a surprise partnership on Thursday in which they were jointly releasing for free a new software tool for developers called Gluon.
Gluon makes it easier for developers to build AI/machine learning systems, aka apps that can learn.
But there’s another, more important reason this partnership is interesting: it challenges Google in its one big area of dominance.

Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2018 — from Gartner Research

Summary

The intelligent digital mesh is a foundation for future digital business and its ecosystems. To create competitive advantage, enterprise architecture and technology innovation leaders must evaluate these top trends to identify opportunities that their organizations can exploit.

Key Findings

Artificial intelligence (AI) delivers value to every industry, enabling new business models. It does so by supporting key initiatives such as customer engagement, digital production, smart cities, self-driving cars, risk management, computer vision and speech recognition.
As people, places, processes and “things” become increasingly digitalized, they will be represented by digital twins. This will provide fertile ground for new event-driven business processes and digitally enabled business models and ecosystems.
The way we interact with technology will undergo a radical transformation over the next five to 10 years. Conversational platforms, augmented reality, virtual reality and mixed reality will provide more natural and immersive interactions with the digital world.
A digital business is event-centric, which means it must be continuously sensing and adapting. The same applies to the security and risk infrastructure that supports it, which must focus on deceiving potential intruders and predicting security events.

Table of Contents

Analysis

Trend No. 1: AI Foundation
Today’s AI Is Narrow AI

Trend No. 2: Intelligent Apps and Analytics
Augmented Analytics Will Enable Users to Spend More Time Acting on Insights

Trend No. 3: Intelligent Things
Swarms of Intelligent Things Will Work Together

Trend No. 4: Digital Twins
Digital Twins Will Be Linked to Other Digital Entities

Trend No. 5: Cloud to the Edge
Edge Computing Brings Distributed Computing Into the Cloud Style

Trend No. 6: Conversational Platforms
Integration With Third-Party Services Will Further Increase Usefulness

Trend No. 7: Immersive Experience
VR and AR Can Help Increase Productivity

Trend No. 8: Blockchain
Blockchain Offers Significant Potential Long-Term Benefits Despite Its Challenges

Trend No. 9: Event-Driven Model
Events Will Become More Important in the Intelligent Digital Mesh

Trend No. 10: Continuous Adaptive Risk and Trust
Barriers Must Come Down Between Security and Application Teams

Gartner Recommended Reading

Also see:

AI, Merging of Digital and Physical Worlds Among Top 10 Tech Trends for 2018 — from campustechnology.com by Joshua Bolkan
Excerpt:
Gartner has released its list of top 10 strategic technology trends for 2018 with a focus for the coming year on technologies related to artificial intelligence and machine learning and those that blend the physical and digital worlds.

Amazon and Codecademy team up for free Alexa skills training [Khari Johnson]; 20,000+ “skills” now exist in Alexa Skills Store

On 09/26/2017, in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, Amazon, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, business, change, computer science, game-changing environment, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, Natural Language Processing (NLP), platforms, programming, usability, user experience (UX), vendors, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, by Daniel Christian

Amazon and Codecademy team up for free Alexa skills training — from venturebeat.com by Khari Johnson

Excerpt:

Amazon and tech training app Codecademy have collaborated to create a series of free courses. Available today, the courses are meant to train developers as well as beginners how to create skills, the voice apps that interact with Alexa.

Since opening Alexa to third-party developers in 2015, more than 20,000 skills have been made available in the Alexa Skills Store.

Ginni Rometty on the End of Programming — from bloomberg.com by Megan Murphy
The IBM chief dares to imagine what Watson will be when it grows up, and reaffirms her pledge to hire 25,000 people over the next four years.

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Do you feel we’re going to get to a point where AI will displace more jobs than it creates and we’re not doing enough to push forward with the jobs of the future?

I do believe that when it comes to complete job replacement, it will be a very small percentage. When it comes to changing a job and what you do, it will be 100 percent. “Whoa, different skills. Everybody is going to have to have a different skill because it’s going to be a threat in all our jobs.” Let me just park that thought. I want to come back to something I think that’s far more important and is related. The issue of skills is front and center in this country and many countries in the world right now without AI. We already have a world that’s bifurcating between haves and have-nots, and a lot of that is based on education and skills. This country has 5 million to 6 million jobs open. That’s about skill. This is not being caused by AI. We’ve got to revamp education for this era of man and machine. And that means you cannot insist that every person needs to be a university or a Ph.D. graduate to be productive in society. You cannot. It’s not true by the way. We’ve proven that.

You started a six-year high school program. This is a program where they take people through four years of high school, two years of a college equivalent, and then hopefully give them preference in getting into the workforce, again to work with IBM.

In the U.S., in 2015, half of our young people didn’t have an associate’s degree or a college degree. That’s the problem today: the number of people that need to be retrained. I’m far more optimistic that public-private partnerships can solve this dilemma. There will be a hundred pathways to technology becoming viral, driven by governors and states. I always remember when President Obama came to the first one, he goes, “Where are all the computers?” We’re like, “That’s not what we teach these kids.” We’re teaching them a skill about math and problem-solving that’s going to transcend any technology they deal with. The first part is a very simple formula: a curriculum of math, science. The second, give the kids a mentor and then you give them a chance at a job. We will be up to 50,000 kids, and 300 other companies have volunteered. I have a whole bunch of these kids over in Silicon Alley where we have our Watson headquarters.

I do believe that when it comes to complete job replacement, it will be a very small percentage. When it comes to changing a job and what you do, it will be 100 percent.

The new Autonomous SmartDesk 3 has a built-in touchscreen and AI software — from imore.com by Tory Foulk

Excerpt:

Can your desk encourage you to stand, remind you to drink water and order you a pizza? No? Well SmartDesk 3 can.

Autonomous announced the launch of the newest iteration of its SmartDesk in a press release today, and is claiming it’s “the world’s most powerful AI-powered standing desk.”
…
The embedded tablet has a 7″ display and is powered by Autonomous’ own OS platform, and has both Bluetooth and WiFi capabilities so it can interact with the apps on your phone. It features many of its own shortcuts, too – you can make coffee, order food, check the weather, play Spotify playlists, and even request a ride from Uber. Because the tablet syncs with Google Calendar, it will remind you of any meetings you might have throughout the day. And in addition to all of that, SmartDesk 3 monitors how long you sit or stand and reminds you to either stretch your legs or take a break to relax when it feels you need it. After using the AI for a week or so, it will learn your habits – say, when you usually start getting hungry – and begin to anticipate your needs.

Autonomous' SmartDesk 3 in white

Unity Technologies unveils AI toolkit for training machine learning ‘agents’ — from therobotreport.com by Alex Beall

Excerpt:

Unity Technologies released the open beta version of its Unity Machine Learning Agents, an artificial intelligence toolkit developers and researchers can use to virtually train agents —whether video game characters, autonomous vehicles or robots.

“Machine learning is a disruptive technology that is important to all types of developers and researchers to make their games or systems smarter, but complexities and technical barriers make it out of reach for most,” vice president of AI and machine learning Danny Lange said in a press release. “This is an exciting new chapter in AI’s history as we are making an end-to-end machine learning environment widely accessible, and providing the critical tools needed to make more intelligent, beautiful games and applications. Complete with Unity’s physics engine and a 3D photorealistic rendering environment, our AI toolkit also offers a game-changing AI research platform to a rapidly growing community of AI enthusiasts exploring the frontiers of Deep Learning.”

How Chatbot Tech Takes Customer Service to the Next Level — from nojitter.com by Yaniv Reznik
A chatbot’s combination of personalized service and quick, efficient answers perfectly fits the needs of today’s digital consumers.

Excerpts:

Rather, today’s connected consumers want a seamless online experience that immediately allows them to self-serve when they have a quick question or choose a hybrid approach when they need that personal touch from a live representative.

Chatbots empower consumers to take charge of their own brand experience and efficiently get the answers they need. Consumers demand accuracy and convenience, and chatbots provide the perfect balance of speed, personalization, and human touch necessary for improved customer experiences.
…
The key to implementing chatbots that go beyond scripted responses is Natural Language Processing (NLP). Chatbots equipped with this advanced technology can understand situational context and can therefore get to the root of customer questions without putting customers on hold or redirecting them.

Addendum on 9/25/17:

One year later, Microsoft AI and Research grows to 8k people in massive bet on artificial intelligence — from geekwire.com by Todd Bishop

Excerpt:

One way to measure Microsoft’s AI bet: In its first year of operation, the AI and Research group has grown by 60 percent — from 5,000 people originally to nearly 8,000 people today — through hiring and acquisitions, and by bringing aboard additional teams from other parts of the company.

The creation of Microsoft AI and Research also underscores the intense competition in artificial intelligence. Microsoft is gearing up to compete against the likes of Google, Amazon, Salesforce, Apple, and countless AI startups and research groups, all of them looking to lead the tech industry in this new era of artificial intelligence.

This week’s announcements/coverage from Apple’s 9/12/17 Special Event.

On 09/14/2017, in Apple, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Augmented Reality (AR), computer science, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, Natural Language Processing (NLP), platforms, programming, technologies for your home, television, tools, TVs, user experience (UX), vendors, by Daniel Christian

Also see:

Everything Apple Announced — from wired.comby Arielle Pardes

Excerpt:

To much fanfare, Apple CEO Tim Cook unveiled the next crop of iPhones [on 9/12/17] at the new Steve Jobs Theater on Apple’s new headquarters in Cupertino. With the introduction of three new phones, Cook made clear that Apple’s premiere product is very much still evolving. The iPhone X, he said, represents “the future of smartphones”: a platform for augmented reality, a tool for powerful computing, screen for everything. But it’s not all about the iPhones. The event also brought with it a brand new Apple Watch, upgrades to Apple TV, and a host of other features coming to the Apple ecosystem this fall. Missed the big show? Check out our archived live coverage of Apple’s big bash, and read all the highlights below.

iPhone Event 2017 — from techcrunch.com

From DSC:
A nice listing of articles that cover all of the announcements.

Apple Bets on Augmented Reality to Sell Its Most Expensive Phone — from bloomberg.com by Alex Webb and Mark Gurman

Excerpt:

Apple Inc. packed its $1,000 iPhone with augmented reality features, betting the nascent technology will persuade consumers to pay premium prices for its products even as cheaper alternatives abound.

The iPhone X, Apple’s most expensive phone ever, was one of three new models Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook showed off during an event at the company’s new $5 billion headquarters in Cupertino, California, on Tuesday. It also rolled out an updated Apple Watch with a cellular connection and an Apple TV set-top box that supports higher-definition video.
…

Augmented Reality
Apple executives spent much of Tuesday’s event describing how AR is at the core of the new flagship iPhone X. Its new screen, 3-D sensors, and dual cameras are designed for AR video games and other more-practical uses such as measuring digital objects in real world spaces. Months before the launch, Apple released a tool called ARKit that made it easier for developers to add AR capabilities to their apps.

These technologies have never been available in consumer devices and “solidify the platform on which Apple will retain and grow its user base for the next decade,” Gene Munster of Loup Ventures wrote in a note following Apple’s event.

The company is also working on smart glasses that may be AR-enabled, people familiar with the plan told Bloomberg earlier this year.

Meet the iPhone X, Apple’s New High-End Handset — from wired.com by David Pierce

Excerpt:

First of all, the X looks like no other phone. It doesn’t even look like an iPhone. On the front, it’s screen head to foot, save for a small trapezoidal notch taken out of the top where Apple put selfie cameras and sensors. Otherwise, the bezel around the edge of the phone has been whittled to near-nonexistence and the home button disappeared—all screen and nothing else. The case is made of glass and stainless steel, like the much-loved iPhone 4. The notched screen might take some getting used to, but the phone’s a stunner. It goes on sale starting at $999 on October 27, and it ships November 3.
…
If you can’t get your hands on an iPhone X in the near future, Apple still has two new models for you. The iPhone 8 and 8 Plus both look like the iPhone 7—with home buttons!—but offer a few big upgrades to match the iPhone X. Both new models support wireless charging, run the latest A11 Bionic processor, and have 2 gigs of RAM. They also have glass backs, which gives them a glossy new look. They don’t have OLED screens, but they’re getting the same TrueTone tech as the X, and they can shoot video in 4K.

Apple Debuts the Series 3 Apple Watch, Now With Cellular — from wired.com by David Pierce

Ikea and Apple team up on augmented reality home design app — from curbed.com by Asad Syrkett
The ‘Ikea Place’ app lets shoppers virtually test drive furniture

The New Apple iPhone 8 Is Built for Photography and Augmented Reality — from time.com by Alex Fitzpatrick

Excerpt:

Apple says the new iPhones are also optimized for augmented reality, or AR, which is software that makes it appear that digital images exist in the user’s real-world environment. Apple SVP Phil Schiller demonstrated several apps making use of AR technology, from a baseball app that shows users player statistics when pointing their phone at the field to a stargazing app that displays the location of constellations and other celestial objects in the night sky. Gaming will be a major use case for AR as well.

Apple’s new iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 plus will have wireless charging as well. Users will be able to charge the device by laying it down on a specially-designed power mat on their desk, bedside table or inside their car, similar to how the Apple Watch charges. (Competing Android devices have long had a similar feature.) Apple is using the Qi wireless charging standard for the iPhones.

Why you shouldn’t unlock your phone with your face — from medium.com by Quincy Larson

Excerpt:

Today Apple announced its new FaceID technology. It’s a new way to unlock your phone through facial recognition. All you have to do is look at your phone and it will recognize you and unlock itself. At time of writing, nobody outside of Apple has tested the security of FaceID. So this article is about the security of facial recognition, and other forms of biometric identification in general.

Historically, biometric identification has been insecure. Cameras can be tricked. Voices can be recorded. Fingerprints can be lifted. And in many countries?—?including the US?—?the police can legally force you to use your fingerprint to unlock your phone. So they can most certainly point your phone at your face and unlock it against your will. If you value the security of your data?—?your email, social media accounts, family photos, the history of every place you’ve ever been with your phone?—?then I recommend against using biometric identification.

Instead, use a passcode to unlock your phone.

The iPhone lineup just got really compleX — from techcrunch.com by Josh Constine

Apple’s ‘Neural Engine’ Infuses the iPhone With AI Smarts — from wired.com by Tom Simonite

Excerpt:

When Apple CEO Tim Cook introduced the iPhone X Tuesday he claimed it would “set the path for technology for the next decade.” Some new features are superficial: a near-borderless OLED screen and the elimination of the traditional home button. Deep inside the phone, however, is an innovation likely to become standard in future smartphones, and crucial to the long-term dreams of Apple and its competitors.

That feature is the “neural engine,” part of the new A11 processor that Apple developed to power the iPhone X. The engine has circuits tuned to accelerate certain kinds of artificial-intelligence software, called artificial neural networks, that are good at processing images and speech.

Apple said the neural engine would power the algorithms that recognize your face to unlock the phone and transfer your facial expressions onto animated emoji. It also said the new silicon could enable unspecified “other features.”

Chip experts say the neural engine could become central to the future of the iPhone as Apple moves more deeply into areas such as augmented reality and image recognition, which rely on machine-learning algorithms. They predict that Google, Samsung, and other leading mobile-tech companies will soon create neural engines of their own. Earlier this month, China’s Huawei announced a new mobile chip with a dedicated “neural processing unit” to accelerate machine learning.

Google and Udacity offer scholarships for 75,000 aspiring developers [thenextweb.com]

On 09/06/2017, in career development, computer science, funding / grants, higher education, MBA, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, online learning, platforms, programming, student-related, vendors, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Google and Udacity offer scholarships for 75,000 aspiring developers — from thenextweb.com

Excerpt:

Google has announced its plans to extend its partnership with Udacity to offer 75,000 Android scholarships for aspiring developers and data scientists seeking to pursue careers in the digital field.

The initiative builds on the company’s two-year long collaboration with Udacity, which granted 1,000 and 10,000 scholarships for passionate newbie coders in 2015 and 2016, respectively. German media giant Bertelsmann will also be contributing to this effort.

Also see:

Coursera’s Online MBAs Could Be Big Business — from fortune.com by Adam Lashinsky

Google’s new ARCore is Google’s answer to Apple’s ARKit

On 08/29/2017, in A/V -- audio/visual, Apple, Augmented Reality (AR), computer science, emerging technologies, experimentation, Google, innovation, platforms, play, programming, tools, trends, usability, user experience (UX), vendors, by Daniel Christian

ARCore: Augmented reality at Android scale — from blog.google by Dave Burke

Excerpt:

With more than two billion active devices, Android is the largest mobile platform in the world. And for the past nine years, we’ve worked to create a rich set of tools, frameworks and APIs that deliver developers’ creations to people everywhere. Today, we’re releasing a preview of a new software development kit (SDK) called ARCore. It brings augmented reality capabilities to existing and future Android phones. Developers can start experimenting with it right now.

Google just announced its plan to match the coolest new feature coming to the iPhone –from cnbc.com by Todd Haselton

Google just announced its answer to Apple’s augmented reality platform
New tools called ARCore will let developers enable AR on millions of Android devices

AR Experiments

Description:

AR Experiments is a site that features work by coders who are experimenting with augmented reality in exciting ways. These experiments use various tools like ARCore, an SDK that lets Android developers create awesome AR experiences. We’re featuring some of our favorite projects here to help inspire more coders to imagine what could be made with AR.

Google’s ARCore hopes to introduce augmented reality to the Android masses — from androidauthority.com by Williams Pelegrin

Excerpt:

Available as a preview, ARCore is an Android software development kit (SDK) that lets developers introduce AR capabilities to, you guessed it, Android devices. Because of how ARCore works, there is no need for folks to purchase additional sensors or hardware – it will work on existing and future Android phones.

Top Trends in the Gartner Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2017 — from gartner.com by Kasey Panetta
Enterprises should explain the business potential of blockchain, artificial intelligence and augmented reality.

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

…emerging technologies such as machine learning, blockchain, drones (commercial UAVs), software-defined security and brain-computer interfaces have moved significantly along the Hype Cycle since 2016.
…

The Gartner Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2017 focuses on three emerging technology mega-trends: Artificial intelligence (AI) everywhere, transparently immersive experiences and digital platforms. Enterprise architects and technology innovation leaders should explore and ideate these three mega-trends to understand the future impacts to their business.

“Organizations will continue to be faced with rapidly accelerating technology innovation that will profoundly impact the way they deal with their workforces, customers and partners,” says Mike J. Walker, research director. “Our 2017 Hype Cycle reveals three distinct technology trends that profoundly create new experiences with unrivaled intelligence, and offer platforms that propel organizations to connect with new business ecosystems in order to become competitive over the next five to 10 years.”

Learning Ecosystems

Google’s new ARCore is Google’s answer to Apple’s ARKit

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