Interesting
Reads – 2019-02-21
Contents
Articles
- How to quit your tech: a beginner's guide to divorcing your phone
- How AI Will Go Out Of Control According To 52 Experts
- How to build soft skills: 10 must-read books
- 'Smiling depression': it's possible to be depressed while appearing happy – here's why that's particularly dangerous
- 24 startup winners across sectors, insightful panels, and an engaging VC mixer. Check out highlights from a successful Maharashtra Startup Week 2019
- Disinformation and ‘fake news’: Final Report published
- Smart Farming: The Future of Agriculture
- How to Make a 3-D Model of Your Home Renovation Vision
- Leaders in Diversity and Inclusion: 5 Lessons From Top Global Companies
- The Tiny Swiss Company That Thinks It Can Help Stop Climate Change
- Bonus: Design thinking: 5 must-watch TED Talks
Events /
Announcements
- CSI, IEEE CS, ACM: Presentation on “Opportunities in Open Source” on Saturday, 2nd Mar 2019 at Chennai
- ORSI, Chennai: Prof.TR Natesan Endowment Lecture on 8th March 2019 at IIT Madras
- RSAT 2019 offers entrance for Pan Indian colleges
- IITM Summer Fellowship Programme – 2019
- ACM Summer School: HPC architectures for AI and dedicated applications. 17-24 Jul 2019 at Barcelona
- Half day livestream technical training event: Cloud OnBoard OnAir
- Call For Papers: IEEE TENCON 2019 at Kochi during 17-19 Oct 2019
Feedback
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will be pleased to have your feedback on the “Interesting Reads” posts being
sent once in five days.
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share the links of any interesting things you come across so that we can
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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
========================================================
Articles
How to
quit your tech: a beginner's guide to divorcing your phone
Stuck
on your screen? We asked six very busy people to attempt a digital detox –
here’s how you can, too
Related
Story: Our minds can be hijacked':
the tech insiders who fear a smartphone dystopia
How AI Will Go Out Of
Control According To 52 Experts
'Summoning the demon.' 'The new tools
of our oppression.' 'Children playing with a bomb.' These are just a few ways
the world's top researchers and industry leaders have described the threat that
artificial intelligence poses to mankind. Will AI enhance our lives or
completely upend them?
There’s no way around it — artificial
intelligence is changing human civilization, from how we work to how we travel
to how we enforce laws.
As AI technology advances and seeps
deeper into our daily lives, its potential to create dangerous situations is
becoming more apparent. A Tesla Model 3 owner in California died while using
the car’s Autopilot feature. In Arizona, a self-driving Uber vehicle hit and
killed a pedestrian (though there was a driver behind the wheel).
Other instances have been more
insidious. For example, when IBM’s Watson was tasked with helping physicians
diagnose cancer patients, it gave numerous “unsafe and incorrect treatment
recommendations.”
Some of the world’s top researchers and
industry leaders believe these issues are just the tip of the iceberg. What if
AI advances to the point where its creators can no longer control it? How might
that redefine humanity’s place in the world?
Below, 52 experts weigh in on the
threat that AI poses to the future of humanity, and what we can do to ensure
that AI is an aid to the human race rather than a destructive force.
How to
build soft skills: 10 must-read books
Want
to communicate more effectively? Resolve conflicts wisely? Keep your cool with
difficult people? Improve your soft skills with these books
'Smiling
depression': it's possible to be depressed while appearing happy – here's why
that's particularly dangerous
The
term “smiling depression” – appearing happy to others while internally
suffering depressive symptoms – has become increasingly popular. Articles on
the topic have crept up in the popular literature, and the number of Google
searches for the condition has increased dramatically this year. Some may
question, however, whether this is actually a real, pathological condition.
While
smiling depression is not a technical term that psychologists use, it is
certainly possible to be depressed and manage to successfully mask the
symptoms.
Related
Story: People with depression use language differently – here’s how to spot
it
24 startup winners across sectors, insightful panels, and an
engaging VC mixer. Check out highlights from a successful Maharashtra Startup
Week 2019
The
second edition of the Maharashtra Startup Week, organised by the Maharashtra
State Innovation Society (MSInS), focused on agriculture, healthcare,
sustainability (water management, waste management and clean tech), smart infra
and mobility, skilling and other miscellaneous sectors, with 100 startups
making pitches to an eminent jury panel.
24
winning startups (listed in the story) across the aforementioned sectors
emerged as winners and will be awarded work orders of up to Rs 15 lakh each by
Government of Maharashtra. Over 1500 applicants applied to the Maharashtra
Startup Week from across India.
Disinformation and ‘fake news’: Final Report
published
The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee has
published its final report on Disinformation and ‘fake news’.
Smart Farming: The Future of Agriculture
"Smart farming" is an emerging concept
that refers to managing farms using technologies like IoT, robotics, drones and
AI to increase the quantity and quality of products while optimizing the human
labor required by production.
How to
Make a 3-D Model of Your Home Renovation Vision
Before
you get out the hardware, use software like free floor-plan apps and
augmented-reality tools to sketch out the ideas for your remodeling projects.
Leaders
in Diversity and Inclusion: 5 Lessons From Top Global Companies
Managing
diversity and inclusion in the global workplace is, in many ways, an unmapped
territory. As such, we share five lessons from the following top global
companies:
- BASF. Earning a spot on DiversityInc’s Top 50 in 2015, 2014 and 2013, BASF is a global force properly leveraging D&I.
- Ford Motor Company. Ford made DiversityInc’s Top 50 an impressive 11 times.
- Sodexo. Sodexo was the recipient of the Catalyst Award in 2012 and earned a spot on DiversityInc’s Top 50 on eight different occasions.
- AIG. In 2015, AIG earned a spot on DiversityInc’s 25 Noteworthy Companies list for the second year in a row. The company’s talent pipeline, equitable talent development, CEO and senior leadership commitment and supplier diversity were assessed.
- L’Oréal. In 2006, the World Diversity Leadership Council presented L’Oréal USA with the Corporate Diversity Innovation Award, as well as the DANDI Award in 2012.
- Deutsche Bank. Named as one of the Top 50 Employers for Women, Deutsche Bank also won an award for its global sponsorship program ATLAS, which helps women progress to senior positions.
- Bayer. Known for years for its effective eLearning modules and other non-traditional strategies for D&I, Bayer was named a Top 10 Company for Asian Americans, as well as a Top Global Company by DiversityInc.
- Johnson & Johnson. The global healthcare company was listed on DiversityInc’s Top 50 eleven times.
These
leading organizations are paving the way for the future of diversity and
inclusion. Between fostering innovation and learning to properly monitor — and
model — their efforts, we have gleaned from these leading global companies five
important lessons for organizations to successfully implement diversity and
inclusion efforts that will have global relevance.
Related
Post: Diversity And Inclusion: A Beginner’s Guide For HR Professionals
The Tiny Swiss Company That Thinks It Can Help Stop Climate Change
Two European entrepreneurs want to remove carbon
from the air at prices cheap enough to matter.
Carbon dioxide (CO₂) can be removed from the
air for commercial purposes, and that its removal could have a profound effect
on the future of humanity. But it’s almost certainly too
soon to say for sure. One sunny morning last October, several engineers from a
Swiss firm called Climeworks ambled onto the roof of a power-generating
waste-incineration plant in Hinwil, a village about 30 minutes outside Zurich.
The technicians had in front of them 12 large devices, stacked in two rows of
six, that resembled oversize front-loading clothes dryers. These were “direct
air capture” machines, which soon would begin collecting carbon dioxide from
air drawn in through their central ducts. Once trapped, the CO₂ would then be
siphoned into large tanks and trucked to a local Coca-Cola bottler, where it
would become the fizz in a soft drink.
Related
Story: Losing Earth: The Decade We almost stopped the climate change
Bonus: Design thinking: 5 must-watch TED Talks
Design thinking helps organizations start product
development with user-focused practices and prototyping. Learn more about the
nuances – and potential.
Design thinking is not a codified process or a
step-by-step framework for innovation. More than anything, it’s a mindset for
approaching new product and service development based on user-focused practices
and prototyping. As a result, the concept can be difficult for IT leaders and
team members to understand fully - or explain to other people. Discussions of
design thinking often come tightly coupled with DevOps and innovation
strategies – but while all three go together, each has its own principles.
The following TED talks, however, do a great job of
illustrating some of the major tenets of design thinking – observation,
empathy, human need, ongoing engagement. These videos are valuable viewing for
people interested in exploring or furthering their organization’s adoption of
design thinking approaches.
Events /
Announcements
CSI, IEEE CS, ACM: Presentation on “Opportunities in Open Source”
on Saturday, 2nd Mar 2019 at Chennai
CSI,
IEEE CS & ACM cordially invite you for a presentation on “Opportunities in
Open Source” by Mr. Shakthi Kannan, Senior DevOps Engineer, Aerospike Inc,
Bangalore on Saturday, 2nd March 2019 at 6.00 p.m. at The Seminar Hall, CSI
Education Directorate, Taramani, Chennai – 600113
The
formal pdf invite is at at
and
also shared at
To
facilitate logistics, please pre-register at https://goo.gl/TZASB1
ORSI, Chennai:
Prof.TR Natesan Endowment Lecture on 8th March 2019 at IIT Madras
ORSI,
Chennai Chapter is organizing Prof.TR Natesan Endowment Lecture on "A
Short Survey on Game Theory" on 8th March 2019 from 4.30 p.m. to 5.30 p.m.
at Department of Management Studies, IITM.
More
details at http://orsichennai.com/reg.jpg
RSAT 2019 offers
entrance for Pan Indian colleges
In
a bid to provide students a common platform to get admission in PAN India
colleges as per their eligibility, ‘Rankers’ an e-learning organization with
technical support from TCSiON announced its first ever online test– Ranker
Scholarship Aptitude Test 2019 (RSAT) to be held on 24th March 2019 in nearly 100
examination centers covering Pan India.
More
at http://www.rankerslearning.com/
IITM Summer Fellowship Programme - 2019
The
IITM - Summer Fellowship Programme of two months with stipend (Rs. 6000/- per
month) is designed to enhance awareness and interest in high quality academic
research among young Engineering, Management, Sciences and Humanities students
through a goal oriented summer mini-project undertaken at the Indian Institute
of Technology Madras.
Last
date to apply 28th Feb 2019
More
at https://sfp.iitm.ac.in
ACM Summer School:
HPC architectures for AI and dedicated applications. 17-24 Jul 2019 at Barcelona
The
2019 ACM Europe Summer School on “HPC Computer Architectures for AI and
Dedicated Applications” will take place in Barcelona 17 - 24 July 2019, and is
hosted by the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC-CNS) and the Universitat
Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC-BarcelonaTECH). ACM's Special Interst Group on
High Performance Computing (SIGHPC), devoted exclusively to the needs of
students, faculty, researchers, and practitioners in high performance
computing, is the primary sponsor of the school. Other industry sponsors
support the school.
Last
date to apply 15th Mar 2019
Online
application at https://services.acm.org/hpc_summer_school/summer_school.cfm
Half day livestream technical training event: Cloud
OnBoard OnAir
This half-day livestream training scheduled
on 28th Mar 2019 from 2.00 p.m. to 6.00 p.m, will cover Google Cloud
Platform (GCP) fundamentals. You will learn how to get started with Compute
Engine, Storage, Datastore, Container Engine, Kubernetes Engine, and App
Engine.
More and registration at http://go.google-mkto.com/t2Cr1g1pTD0Cm0aAP3000Ag
Call For Papers: IEEE TENCON 2019 at Kochi during 17-19 Oct 2019
TENCON is the flagship premier international
technical conference of IEEE Region 10. The Theme for TENCON 2019 is
"Technology, Knowledge, and Society", and it will be held during 17th
to 20th October, 2019 at Hotel Grand Hyatt, Bolgatty, Kochi, Kerala.
Paper submission deadline: 29th
Apr 2019
More at http://www.tencon2019.org
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Feedback
We
will be pleased to have your feedback on the “Interesting Reads” posts being
sent once in five days.
Pl.
share the links of any interesting things you come across so that we can
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
