Recode: Thousands of Google’s cafeteria workers have unionized. “Around 2,300 cafeteria workers who work at dozens of Google campuses in the Bay Area, including the search giant’s main headquarters in Mountain View, have unionized. The workers — who include dishwashers and food preparers who serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner for Google employees — voted last month to form a union after a campaign that’s been two years in the making, according to a source involved in the campaign.”
Monthly Archives: December 2019
Los Angeles Times: ‘Fake news’ has killed Nigerians. Can a bill stop the violence?
Los Angeles Times: ‘Fake news’ has killed Nigerians. Can a bill stop the violence?. “Authorities say the rapid spread of misleading information has taken lives. But some fear the proposed cure would mostly be a pretext to stifle dissent.”
CX Tech: Baidu Escalates Legal Battle with Bytedance Over Search Results
CX Tech: Baidu Escalates Legal Battle with Bytedance Over Search Results. “The ongoing legal spat between Chinese tech giants Baidu and Bytedance has taken a new turn after the former company filed a fresh lawsuit against the latter for unfair competition.”
CNET: Wyze data leak may have exposed personal data of millions of users
CNET: Wyze data leak may have exposed personal data of millions of users. “Security camera startup Wyze has confirmed it suffered a data leak this month that may have left the personal information of millions of its customers exposed on the internet. No passwords or financial information were exposed, but email addresses, Wi-Fi network IDs and body metrics were left unprotected from Dec. 4 through Dec. 26, the company said Friday.”
Phys .org: Using deep learning to predict disease-associated mutations
Phys .org: Using deep learning to predict disease-associated mutations. “A research team led by Professor Hongzhe Sun from the Department of Chemistry at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), in collaboration with Professor Junwen Wang from Mayo Clinic, Arizona in the United States (a former HKU colleague), implemented a robust deep learning approach to predict disease-associated mutations of the metal-binding sites in a protein.”
Towards Data Science: Mount Mid-Life-Crisis
Towards Data Science: Mount Mid-Life-Crisis. “Using data science to gain new insights from the Himalayan Database. Who is summitting Mount Everest?”
CTech: Breathing Life Into Yesterday’s News
CTech: Breathing Life Into Yesterday’s News. “The digitization of the archive of the Israel Broadcasting Authority, one of the world’s largest digitization projects to date, is currently underway in a former Jerusalem brothel.”
Analytics India: Top Chatbots, Assistants & Facial Recognition Tools Launched In 2019
Analytics India: Top Chatbots, Assistants & Facial Recognition Tools Launched In 2019. “Chatbots have emerged as the preferred interface as more and more searches are shifting from text to voice. While globally, banking bots have moved beyond answering transactional queries to full-service mode, the Indian BFSI sector bound by regulatory norms is still in an evolving stage. They are now moving to full-fledged virtual assistant mode, thanks to artificial intelligence and machine learning.”
Ars Technica: How AI helps unlock the secrets of Old Master and modernist paintings
Ars Technica: How AI helps unlock the secrets of Old Master and modernist paintings . “X-rays are a well-established tool to help analyze and restore valuable paintings because the rays’ higher frequency means they pass right through paintings without harming them. X-ray imaging can reveal anything that has been painted over a canvas or where the artist may have altered his (or her) original vision. But the technique has its limitations, and that’s where machine learning can prove useful. Two papers this fall illustrated the use of AI to solve specific problems in art analysis and conservation: one to reconstruct an underpainting in greater detail, and the other to make it easier to image two-sided painted panels.”
Egypt’s golden age of cinema: hundreds of rare photos come to Abu Dhabi (The National)
The National: Egypt’s golden age of cinema: hundreds of rare photos come to Abu Dhabi . “More than 600 never-before-seen photographs from Egyptian cinema have been released online by Akkasah, the Centre for Photography at NYU Abu Dhabi. The collection of photographs and negatives belonging to Samir Farid, a prominent Egyptian writer, scholar, and leading film critic, was donated to the centre. It features a wide range of negatives taken on sets of various Egyptian films, from publicity shots, to candid pictures of cast and crew, and images captured while filming behind the scenes.”
Harlequins Women v Leinster Women: Linda Djougang’s amazing journey to Twickenham (BBC Sport)
BBC Sport: Harlequins Women v Leinster Women: Linda Djougang’s amazing journey to Twickenham. “Four years ago, Linda Djougang typed the words ‘what is rugby?’ into YouTube. Now, she is preparing to play at Twickenham – one of the sport’s biggest stadiums – for the first time.”
The Verge: The 84 biggest flops, fails, and dead dreams of the decade in tech
The Verge: The 84 biggest flops, fails, and dead dreams of the decade in tech. “The world never changes quite the way you expect. But at The Verge, we’ve had a front-row seat while technology has permeated every aspect of our lives over the past decade. Some of the resulting moments — and gadgets — arguably defined the decade and the world we live in now. But others we ate up with popcorn in hand, marveling at just how incredibly hard they flopped.”
Good E-Reader: KKR is turning into a library juggernaut
Good E-Reader: KKR is turning into a library juggernaut. “KKR purchased Overdrive on Christmas Eve and now own the largest digital distributor for public libraries all over the world. They also own RB Digital, which is otherwise known as Recorded Books, a purchase they made in 2018. It looks like in 2020, KKR is dominating the library space and there are few competitors left.” If you want more details on KKR, Investopedia can help you out.
MIT Technology Review: Baidu has a new trick for teaching AI the meaning of language
MIT Technology Review: Baidu has a new trick for teaching AI the meaning of language. “Earlier this month, a Chinese tech giant quietly dethroned Microsoft and Google in an ongoing competition in AI. The company was Baidu, China’s closest equivalent to Google, and the competition was the General Language Understanding Evaluation, otherwise known as GLUE.”
TechCrunch: Wikimedia Foundation expresses deep concerns about India’s proposed intermediary liability rules
TechCrunch: Wikimedia Foundation expresses deep concerns about India’s proposed intermediary liability rules. “Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit group that operates Wikipedia and a number of other projects, has urged the Indian government to rethink the proposed changes to the nation’s intermediary liability rules that would affect swathes of companies and the way more than half a billion people access information online.”