The Start of Evil AI?

It took less than 24 hours for Twitter to corrupt an innocent AI chatbot. Yesterday, Microsoft unveiled Tay - a Twitter bot that the company described as an experiment in "conversational understanding." The more you chat with Tay, said Microsoft, the smarter it gets, learning to engage people through "casual and playful conversation."
Unfortunately, the conversations didn't stay playful for long. Pretty soon after Tay launched, people starting tweeting the bot with all sorts of racist remarks. And Tay — being essentially a robot parrot with an internet connection — started repeating these back to users.


Now, while these screenshots seem to show that Tay has assimilated the internet's worst tendencies into its personality, it's not quite as straightforward as that. Searching through Tay's tweets (more than 96,000 of them!) we can see that many of the bot's nastiest utterances have simply been the result of copying users. If you tell Tay to "repeat after me," it will — allowing anybody to put words in the chatbot's mouth.
It's unclear how much Microsoft prepared its bot for this sort of thing. The company's website notes that Tay has been built using "relevant public data" that has been "modeled, cleaned, and filtered," but it seems that after the chatbot went live filtering went out the window.
It's an inappropriate quirk of AI, but it raises serious questions to answer, like how are we going to teach AI using public data without incorporating the worst traits of humanity? If we create bots that mirror their users, do we care if their users are human trash?
In a statement, Microsoft said: "The AI chatbot Tay is a machine learning project, designed for human engagement. As it learns, some of its responses are inappropriate and indicative of the types of interactions some people are having with it. We're making some adjustments to Tay." For now, we just have to continue to make find methods to keep AI from turning evil, or we will have a terminator army someday.

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Check Address Twice, Demolish Once

I think it's a good thing to give people second chances, and often even third and fourth chances, and to be accepting of people's mistakes, because mistakes happen and everyone makes them and often life goes on. But if you are tearing down someone's house, please take the time to confirm you are tearing down the correct house. And if you fail to do that — destroying someone else's home in the process — please at least own up to the mistake instead of pinning the blame on Google Maps.
This absurdity is what is happening in Rowlett, Texas right now, where a woman's duplex was destroyed because a demolition company failed to confirm it was on the right street. A company making a mistake of this magnitude should probably accept responsibility. It was supposed to demolish one house and clearly demolished another. There is no disputing this. But rather than taking the blame for this error, someone from the company apparently pointed to screenshots of Google Maps, which mistakenly lists the woman's duplex at the address that was scheduled for demolition.
Now it is a very human thing to explain why mistakes were made and that is fine and well, but when you are going to an address to demolish it, I highly suggest taking the time to read both a street sign and house number sign first for confirmation. Asking a human at that location might be a good idea, too.
Google admitted that Maps messed up the address.

"Google Maps did indeed show incorrect information for the houses in question," a spokesperson said. "The issue was fixed as soon as it was brought to our attention."

On the other hand, Billy L. Nabors Demolition - the company said to be responsible for the home's destruction - seems to have a bit to learn about admitting when things go wrong. Diaz says she spoke with the company's president about its mistaken demolition of her home, but the conversation apparently didn't go the way any reasonable person would expect it to. "I was hoping for an apology from the company's president, such as, "I'm sorry my company did this. We'll make it better.'"" Diaz stated. "'But instead, he's telling me how the insurance is gonna handle it and telling me it's gonna be a nasty fight." Overall, its a crazy fight that hopefully no one has to ever go through again. Some companies need to learn to take responsibility.

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iPhone SE: So Retro, So Small...But So Nostalgic?

Nostalgia. Everyone feels this pitiful sink throughout their lifetimes. Whether it's looking at a picture of a day at the beach with family, or finding an old toy that once saw so many hours of play. That feeling can range from A to Z, but in the end, it doesn't change the fact that it brings with it a desire to return to the "good old days".

Where is all of this going, you might ask? Well, on Tuesday's event, Apple made some announcements, that, while seemingly surprising, did not surprise anyone that has been following the recent leaks. For those not up to date on their tech events, Apple made many announcements, ranging from software updates and changes to HealthKit, all the way to the announcement of a smaller iPad Pro, lowering the screen size down to 9.7 inches, and, most importantly, a new iPhone. Dubbed the iPhone SE (though the announcer made it sound more like the "iPhone Essay"), it is a basic clone of the older iPhone 5s.

Returns is the exact same 4 inch screen, a good .7 inches smaller than the iPhone 6s, and a solid 1.5 inches smaller than the iPhone 6s Plus. In fact, the iPhone SE is the exact same dimensions as the iPhone 5s, so every single accessory that exists for the 5s will immediately work for the SE, something that should be exciting to both case owners, but also old iPhone 5 and iPhone 5s owners not wanting to throw away their old accessories. A few other changes from the 5s to the SE is that the Apple logo on the back is no longer so prone to scratches, and the chamfered edges are now matte, so they do not show scratches as easily as its predecessor. Aside from the scratch protection, the iPhone now features the latest internal specifications from its bigger brother, the iPhone 6s (minus the cameras and display quality, as well as an older TouchID sensor), meaning that everyday tasks will feel exactly the same on this phone as its faster brother. Apple touts the phone and its specs like so:

Welcome to iPhone SE, the most powerful 4‑inch phone ever. To create it, we started with a beloved design, then reinvented it from the inside out. The A9 is the same advanced chip used in iPhone 6s. The 12‑megapixel camera captures incredible photos and 4K videos. And Live Photos bring your images to life. The result is an iPhone that looks small. But lives large.

As you can see, Apple is making it sound like the size of the phone is what is going to sell it. However, this is not the full story; nostalgia isn't the only marketing behind this phone. Oh no, Apple is gambling on a much larger market audience here: developing countries. Apple has realized the potential value of selling in the two largest developing markets, India and China. With a quarter of the market in terms of possible consumers, Apple wants to hit these countries hard, but has had a difficult time due to the cost of their phones being upwards of $600-$650 for base models, while other carriers were able to bring the cost down substantially for very powerful Android handsets. However, with this iPhone making use of Apple's soon-to-be outdated hardware from the 6s (Apple will have extra parts lying around when the 7 is released), and they already have the manufacturing capacity for the iPhone 5s' old body, it was a perfect pairing for Apple to charge into the affordable $399 price tag this phone is targeted at.
However, this is where I draw the line between nostalgia and price. Only people that truly want a small phone will buy this phone. Even people that are extremely cheap will want a larger screen; the world has evolved around larger phones, and tasks that are easily possible on a large phone, are extremely difficult on a smaller phone. I also see this as a way to bring in new customers to the iPhone ecosystem, before pressuring them into the larger, bigger, more powerful phones. Overall, the idea of a small but powerful phone sounds like a fun nostalgic marketing strategy seems normal, but I believe it is just a ploy to a) capture new markets and cheaper customers into the iPhone market and b) re-purpose old iPhone parts as Apple prepares for the launch of its newest iPhone.

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Microsoft: More Failure For Windows Phone

Microsoft has screwed up its Windows Phone upgrades once again. While the software maker promised that all Lumia Windows Phone 8 devices would be upgraded to Windows 10, it's breaking that promise. Microsoft started rolling out Windows 10 Mobile to existing Lumia devices this week, and revealed that handsets like the Lumia 920 and Lumia 1020 will be stuck on Windows Phone 8. Here's the full list of officially supported Lumia devices:
-Lumia 1520
-Lumia 930
-Lumia 830
-Lumia 730
-Lumia 735
-Lumia 640
-Lumia 640XL
-Lumia 635 1GB
-Lumia 636 1GB
-Lumia 638 1GB
-Lumia 540
-Lumia 535
-Lumia 532
-Lumia 435
-Lumia 430

Given the age of some Lumia phones it's not surprising Microsoft isn't supporting them, but it's also ditching the Lumia Icon and Blu's Win JR LTE. Microsoft says the Verizon's Lumia Icon might still get upgraded, but that there's no second wave of Windows 10 Mobile upgrades for other devices. That means Blu's Win JR LTE is definitely off the list. You might not have heard of the Win JR LTE, but it's a handset that Microsoft has been promoting as a compatible Windows 10 device. Microsoft silently updated its Store page to remove a reference to "upgradeable to Windows 10 when available" for the Win JR LTE this week, and it has surely angered owners who purchased the phone and were promised the software upgrade.
Windows Phone fans aren't necessarily angry at the lack of upgrade for their chosen devices, it's more the broken promises. Windows Phone 7 handsets were never upgraded to Windows Phone 8, and Microsoft set the expectation this time that history wouldn't repeat itself. Another broken promise is bad news for a mobile operating system that is practically dead, and once again Microsoft has angered its small but loyal base of Windows Phone users. Personally for me, a previous Nokia Lumia 520 owner, I would have been furious. Sure, my old Nokia was getting aged, but that didn't stop the fact that that phone was one of the most popular Windows Phone, consuming over 50% market share at one point due to its attractive price point. But alas, it is clear to me in the last few weeks that Windows phone may have its last year or two ahead of itself, as its market share falls to the lowest numbers of all time. A shame for what potential it had.

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Comcast Is Afraid of Google Fiber

The internet real estate has been stale for the last few years. Sure, since 2001 with the introduction of DSL and eventually Cable, internet has gotten faster and faster over the last few years. However, after the surge of cable providers such as Comcast, Time Warner, Mediacom, etc., speeds have started to settle back down. However, with the introduction of fiber internet, the internet companies are back at it again, in a  space-race like competition, to see who can claim to be the fastest at the lowest price. However, it appears that Comcast is scared of this movement, and is starting to lash back in fear of fiber.

Comcast is worried that real competition is creeping in on its markets, so the company is offering customers in Atlanta a new choice as part of its gigabit internet trial: sign a three-year contract, or pay twice as much with a data cap. Comcast's promotional price of $70 is the same as Google Fiber's regular price, but locks customers in for two years longer than what Google is asking.
The move is clearly designed to deny Google Fiber customers as it enters Comcast's turf, and Comcast hasn't been shy about it; the ISP has been dumping flyers that say "don't fall for the hype" on Atlanta residents, and even set up their own website that offers silly cherry-picked facts about how the services compare.

But Comcast conveniently neglects to mention Google Fiber's real competitive advantages in its chart, which are the only ones that really matter: the price customers have to pay and the quality of service they get. Fiber is cheaper, doesn't lock customers into a 36-month contract, and is actually faster, since Comcast's gigabit plan only offers 35Mbps upload speeds. To get symmetrical speeds, customers would have to opt for Comcast's "Gigabit Pro" service, which offers 2 gigabit upload/download speeds. That plan costs $299.95 a month.
Comcast is afraid of Google Fiber because it's afraid of competition, which is why it tried to buy Time Warner Cable instead of competing with it. When you're faced with real competition, customers have the option to say no to craven cable company shakedowns. Comcast, for instance, recently invented new data caps so it could charge people $30 to get rid of them. Coincidentally, Comcast has also been experimenting with its own streaming internet TV service which is excluded from those data caps. Like other monopolistic incumbents, Comcast prefers to rig the market in its favor. Better prices and speeds aren't "hype," they're just things Comcast isn't used to having to care about, and Comcast is going to have to try harder than locking its customers into a 3 year contract to kill off Google's fiber movement.

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Amazon Killing Its Tablets' WiFi?!

Wi-Fi. Almost everyone uses it, and on a daily basis. Today we live in a world that, unlike decades past, is always connected. Whether we are watching videos, tweeting, or blogging, we are always tethered to that magical internet connection. However, what if one day, your device just stopped working? That connection to the rest of the world, gone. Poof. Non-existent. That is what Amazon is warning it will do with old Kindles very soon. That old Kindle sitting in your desk drawer is about to get locked out from the internet.

Amazon is warning customers of older Kindle e-readers that they must update their Kindles by Tuesday, March 22nd, or else they will no longer be able to access the Kindle Store, update the tablet, or sync with the cloud. That means, most importantly, that you won't be able to download new books, and the tablet will have to be used in an offline-only mode, crippling newer functionality. The emergency update is for the original Kindle Paperwhite (2012) and every Kindle before it. If you do not update your Kindle before that date, Amazon says you'll receive this warning when you try to access internet services:

Your Kindle is unable to connect at this time. Please make sure you are within wireless range and try again. If the problem persists, please restart your Kindle from the Menu in Settings and try again.

Convenient, however, is the fact all Kindles download and install the latest updates automatically if they're connected to Wi-Fi while asleep. If your Kindle is sitting somewhere in your house unplugged, however, it most likely isn't updated with the latest version, and you will need to make sure to turn it on and make it pull the new update by clicking "Sync and Check for Items" in the menu.
Fortunately, you won't be entirely out of luck if you forget to update your device in the next few days. You'll just have to do it manually by downloading the update file from Amazon's website and transferring it to your Kindle via a USB cable. It's not as simple of a procedure for grandma to do on her own if she misses the update-over-the-air time frame, but hey, at least its possible! And in all fairness, it should be possible. For more detailed instructions, select your device on this help page. Of course, if it's not March 22nd, 2016 yet, just connect to Wi-Fi and do it the easy way right now. Here is the full list of Kindle devices that will be affected by this update:
-Kindle 1st Generation (2007)
-Kindle 2nd Generation (2009)
-Kindle DX 2nd Generation (2009)
-Kindle Keyboard 3rd Generation (2010)
-Kindle 4th Generation (2011)
-Kindle 5th Generation (2012)
-Kindle Touch 4th Generation (2011)
-Kindle Paperwhite 5th Generation (2012)

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