Interesting
Reads – 2019-01-21
Contents
Articles
- 50 Beginner AI Terms You Should Know
- Why Smart Phone Addiction is Bad & How You Can Fix It
- World's biggest toilet-building project empowers India's women
- Fundamentals of Data Visualization
- How Kerala’s dams failed to prevent catastrophe
- 10 Creators On When They Knew They Had to Make a Change in Their Careers
- Sony Pictures: Inside the Hack of the Century
- It’s been 14 years since the first Dutch police drone — why are they still barely used?
- UN General Assembly adopts record number of resolutions on internet governance and policy: Mixed outcomes for human rights online
- The Global Risks Report 2019
- Bonus: IEEE Computer Society predicts top ten tech trends for 2019
Events /
Announcements
- APrIGF Fellowship Program 2019 . Last date 30th Jan 2019
- $100,000 for Digital Identification Systems from World Bank
- CySI, SPIN & ISC2 : "Data Privacy Day on 28th Jan 2019
- SETS, IEEE CS, CSI, ISACA: "National Workshop on Hardware Security" at Chennai 26th Feb 2019
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========================================================
Articles
50
Beginner AI Terms You Should Know
AI
is a field filled with technical terms. It can be difficult to pin down exactly
what they mean, particularly if you don’t work directly with data every day. That’s
why we’ve created a glossary of 50 AI terms that frequently come up in
discussions about AI. If you can lock down these basics, you should be able to
hold your own in any discussion about machine learning. Let’s run through them
in alphabetical order.
Why Smart Phone
Addiction is Bad & How You Can Fix It
Smartphones are incredibly powerful
devices that have changed the way we interact with the world. Whether it is
staying connected, organising things or doing anything else, smartphones are
always handy. Smartphones are mini computers that help us get things done from
booking a taxi, ordering food, shopping, traveling, day to day tasks etc. The
list is endless.
However, not all is well with smartphone
usage. Excessive smartphone usage is causing stress, lapses of concentration,
sleeplessness, eye disorders and many other hazards. Excessive cellphone usage
has become an addiction and one that most of us are are blissfully unaware of. There
are several harmful and disturbing effects of smartphone addiction.
Smartphone addiction could be affecting
your health adversely. Studies conducted in Radiological Society of North
America have shown that Smartphone addiction creates imbalance in brain.
Excessive internet & cell phone use affects daily routines, social life,
productivity, sleeping patterns and feelings.
World's
biggest toilet-building project empowers India's women
Modi's
plan to build 100 million toilets is lauded, but critics question data
Fundamentals
of Data Visualization
Data
visualization is part art and part science. The challenge is to get the art
right without getting the science wrong and vice versa. A data visualization
first and foremost has to accurately convey the data. It must not mislead or
distort. If one number is twice as large as another, but in the visualization
they look to be about the same, then the visualization is wrong. At the same
time, a data visualization should be aesthetically pleasing. Good visual
presentations tend to enhance the message of the visualization. If a figure
contains jarring colors, imbalanced visual elements, or other features that
distract, then the viewer will find it harder to inspect the figure and
interpret it correctly.
This
is an online preview of the book “Fundamentals of Data Visualization” to be
published with O’Reilly Media, Inc.
The
book is meant as a guide to making visualizations that accurately reflect the
data, tell a story, and look professional. The entire book is written in R
Markdown, using RStudio as text editor and the bookdown package to turn a
collection of markdown documents into a coherent whole. The book’s source code
is hosted on GitHub, at https://github.com/clauswilke/dataviz
How Kerala’s dams failed to prevent catastrophe
More
than 5 million people in Kerala were affected and over 200 were killed amid
torrential rain and floods in August. The flooding, dubbed the worst to hit the
southern state in nearly a century, caused billions of dollars of damage to
fields, homes and infrastructure.
As
the rain intensified in mid-August state authorities were forced to release
water from 35 dams to manage rising waters in reservoirs, many of which are
used to generate hydroelectricity.
Those
living near the banks of Kerala's biggest river, the 244 km (152
mile) Periyar, say the sudden opening of dam gates without proper warnings to
those living downstream was a big factor in the devastation.
More
than half a dozen experts who Reuters consulted were divided on the extent to
which dam water spills contributed to the flooding, but almost all, including
India's Central Water Commission (CWC), say reservoirs levels were too high
ahead of the disaster.
This
is an excellent and detailed graphic presentation by Reuters News Services
10 Creators On When They Knew They Had to Make a
Change in Their Careers
Change is inevitable. Without it, we would cease to
exist. It is happening every day, in imperceptible ways and major milestones
that alter the course of everything, like getting married, switching careers,
and having children.
But sometimes you need to seek out change. You are
in a slump, feeling uninspired, unhappy, or stuck. It is during these times
that the changes we make – subtle or large – often have the biggest impact on
our lives. So we asked 10 creatives, from creative directors to photographers,
what change they made in their life and what impact it has had on their work.
Sony Pictures: Inside the Hack of the Century
A cyber-invasion brought Sony Pictures to its knees
and terrified corporate America. The story of what really happened—and why Sony
should have seen it coming. A special three-part investigation.
Before Sony’s IT staff could pull the plug, the
hackers’ malware had leaped from machine to machine throughout the lot and
across continents, wiping out half of Sony’s global network. It erased
everything stored on 3,262 of the company’s 6,797 personal computers and 837 of
its 1,555 servers. To make sure nothing could be recovered, the attackers had
even added a little extra poison: a special deleting algorithm that overwrote
the data seven different ways. When that was done, the code zapped each
computer’s startup software, rendering the machines brain-dead.
It’s
been 14 years since the first Dutch police drone — why are they still barely
used?
During
one of the first test flights in the Netherlands back in 2006, police drone
“AirRobot” got lost. It was programmed to return to a certain location, but it
didn’t.
The
drone had cost about €30,000 and a few years to develop, so needless to say the
team responsible didn’t sleep well that night. But after they reached out to
Dutch press for coverage on the missing case, a good citizen came forward to
return the device.
“The
guy found the UAV walking his dog,” says Hans Schönfeld who was part of the drone
team. And, then, proudly: “It had landed perfectly on its own.”
Looking
back now, the Dutch police was certainly ahead of its time. In 2006, the word
“drone” hardly existed in the Dutch lexicon and most people didn’t really get
the concept of autonomous aircraft.
This
was 12 years ago. Today, drones are considered mainstream technology and truly
available at every toy store. Yet police drones still haven’t made it past the
pilot phase. What’s taking so long?
UN
General Assembly adopts record number of resolutions on internet governance and
policy: Mixed outcomes for human rights online
Last month (in Dec 2018), the UN General Assembly (UNGA) wrapped up its main session, passing a record number of resolutions relevant for internet policy. This two-part article outlines major developments in UNGA’s First Committee, which are significant for the development of international norms in cyberspace, and in the Third Committee, which covers a range of internet-related human rights issues.
While internet-related issues have been increasingly
on UNGA’s agenda, the 73rd session was significant for a few reasons. First,
the sheer number of resolutions that substantively addressed internet issues
was high (at least 10) on a broad range of issues including security (two),
sustainable development (two), human rights (four), and crime (one). Second,
this session created three forward-looking processes which promise to keep
cybersecurity and cybercrime on UNGA’s agenda; and third, geopolitical dynamics
at UNGA meant that for some issues, compromise was out of reach and votes were
called on issues where delicate consensus was previously achieved.
The Global Risks Report 2019
The 14th edition of the Global Risks Report
identifies and discusses the many challenges and key risks presented in the year
ahead.
- Is the world sleepwalking into a crisis? Global risks are intensifying but the collective will to tackle them appears to be lacking. Instead, divisions are hardening. The world’s move into a new phase of strongly state-centred politics, noted in last year’s Global Risks Report, continued
- Rising geopolitical and geo-economic tensions are the most urgent risk in 2019, with 90% of experts saying they expect further economic confrontation between major powers in 2019
- Environmental degradation is the long-term risk that defines our age, with four of the top five most impactful global risks in 2019 related to climate
- Rapidly evolving cyber and technological threats are the most significant potential blind spots; we still do not fully appreciate the vulnerability of networked societies
- The importance of the geopolitical and geo-economic changes that are under way should not distract us from the human side of global risks. For many people, this is an increasingly anxious, unhappy and lonely world, with rising anger and empathy declining
- In today’s complex and tightly coupled systems the importance of building resilience and doing a much better job of learning lessons from the small failures before they become catastrophic is vital
Bonus: IEEE Computer Society predicts top ten tech trends for 2019
IEEE Computer Society (IEEE-CS) released its annual
tech future predictions, earlier this week, unveiling the top ten most likely
to be adopted technology trends in 2019. “The Computer Society’s predictions
are based on an in-depth analysis by a team of leading technology experts,
identify top technologies that have substantial potential to disrupt the market
in the year 2019,” mentions Hironori Kasahara, IEEE Computer Society President.
Let’s have a look at their top 10 technology trends predicted to reach wide
adoption in 2019.
Events /
Announcements
APrIGF
Fellowship Program 2019
Hosted
by the Coordination Center of TLD RU, APrIGF 2019 will take place at Far Eastern
Federal University on Russky Island in Vladivostok during 16-19 July 2019. The
theme is “Enabling a Safe, Secure and Universal Internet for All in Asia
Pacific”
The
aim of an APrIGF Fellowship is to encourage active participation in the APrIGF
Program among Asia-Pacific communities. The last date to apply is 30th
Jan 2019
For
more information about the eligibility and engagement requirement, please
visit:
$100,000 for
Digital Identification Systems from World Bank
ID4D
Digital Identification Challenge
The
World Bank’s Identification for Development (ID4D) initiative has launched a
Challenge Fund to answer a simple question:
How
can digital identification systems in developing countries be better designed
or adapted to protect people’s privacy and empower them with greater control
over their personal data?
ID4D
seeks creative ideas and innovative solutions to promote “privacy by design”
and provide people with greater control over their personal data through
digital identity systems. Such ideas and solutions should be practical, cost
effective and be relevant for developing country contexts in which some
segments of the population may have low literacy and numeracy levels, as well
as limited digital literacy.
The
Challenge offers US$100,000 in cash prizes, with the top prize of US$50,000 for
the most promising solutions that are practical and relevant for developing
countries
Apply
Now! They are looking for creative ideas, components, the innovative use of
existing technologies or complete solutions from academics, entrepreneurs,
scientists, technologists, and engaged citizens to be submitted by February 24,
2019.
For
details visit: https://www.ictworks.org/digital-identification-systems/
CySI, SPIN &
ISC2 : "Data Privacy Day on 28th Jan 2019
Cyber Society of
India in association with SPIN & ISC2
will be observing "Data Privacy Day on 28th Jan 2019
from 4.30 p.m. onwards at Hotel Raj Palace Sunder followed by Dinner.
Regn Fee: Rs.500/-
for members of ISC 2 / SPIN / CSI / IEEE / ISACA / TNICOA / CySI / VoV / FoPs76Chennai
/ CIO Klub and for others Rs. 600/-
Brochure and
Schedule at: https://goo.gl/DtCpMq
Online registration
at: https://goo.gl/EYnnaN
SETS, IEEE CS, CSI, ISACA: "National Workshop
on Hardware Security" at Chennai 26th Feb 2019
SETS (Society for Electronic
Transactions and Security) is organizing
"National Workshop on Hardware Security" in association with IEEE
Computer Society, Madras Chapter, Computer Society of India, Chennai Chapter
& ISACA, Chennai Chapter on 26th February 2019.
For
assistance pl. contact: Dr. P. Nageswara Rao, Workshop Coordinator
Mobile:
9884143131 -- Landline: 044-66632506
Email:
workshop@setsindia.net
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sent once in five days.
Pl.
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include them in these email posts.
Also,
pl. share the email ids of your colleagues, friends, peers and contacts, if you
want them to be included in the google group to get regular posts.
Pl.
send all your communications to hrmohan.ieee@gmail.com
With
regards
HR
Mohan
