Weekend Thoughts - 1.6.18

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Happy Saturday y'all! Below, I have rounded up some things for you to think about this weekend:

1. Two flaws in modern CPUs, dubbed "Meltdown" and "Spectre", may cause billions of computers and smartphones to be vulnerable to security concerns. That's because modern processors use a technique called "speculative execution", which allows them to look ahead at the code they will execute in the future to predict and execute the tasks they will need to perform ahead of time, leaving a trace of that activity in multiple areas of memory. That data is supposed to be protected, but these flaws have shown that in some cases it can be accessed when the processor queues it up. Many device manufacturers have already begun to patch this issue, but it will be worth your while to keep an eye on this story for any future updates.

That's all for this week's edition of Weekend Thoughts. Until next week, keep thinking wilder.

Weekend Thoughts - 12.30.17

Image by Pexels, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Happy Saturday y'all! Below, I have rounded up some things for you to think about this weekend:

1. The UK has been attempting to significantly reduce its carbon emissions, and it had a series of successes in 2017. In April, the country went without coal-generated power for an entire day, which was the first time that had been accomplished in 135 years. By June, more than half of the UK's energy was being generated by renewable sources like solar, wind, hydropower, and biomass. And when looking back on the entire year, renewable energy sources outperformed coal plants on 315 days of the year (as of December 12th). Even with those successes, the country could still stand to use less natural gas, which was still used quite heavily throughout the year. Ultimately, the country is aiming to close down all of its coal plants by 2025, and it's doing a great job so far at getting there!

That's all for this week's edition of Weekend Thoughts. Until next week, keep thinking wilder.

Weekend Thoughts - 12.23.17

Image by nyochi, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Happy Saturday y'all! Below, I have rounded up some things for you to think about this weekend:

1. Using some new facial recognition technology, Facebook has begun to automatically identify users in newly-uploaded photos and send them a notification each time a picture of them has been added to the service. This will now happen even if your Facebook friend hasn't tagged you in the photo. It will allow users to know about pictures of themselves that have been added without their knowledge, although they will only be notified if the image's privacy settings are configured to allow them to see the picture in the first place. And of course, it'll increase ad impressions for Facebook, which will in turn generate more ad revenue for the company.

That's all for this week's edition of Weekend Thoughts. Until next week, keep thinking wilder.

Weekend Thoughts - 12.16.17

Image by brenkee, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Happy Saturday y'all! Below, I have rounded up some things for you to think about this weekend:

1. If you've ever gotten stuck on a train or bus after your intended stop, you may find Google Map's new feature that will tell you when it's time to get off to be helpful. Essentially, the app will be able to guide you through every step of your ride, including alerting you when you need to get off at your stop. It's unlikely that you would need this level of detail in your daily commute, but it may be helpful when you are traveling to new places.

2. Net Neutrality has been a huge topic for the past several months (and years), at least in the technological and political circles that I run around in. An article describing the FCC's decision in the Carterfone case from more than 50 years ago makes for an interesting read. I also learned that the word "modem" comes from the words "modulate" and "demodulate", something I didn't know prior to reading the article. Although the current heads of the FCC voted to repeal Net Neutrality this week, it's still nice to take a look back on our history and see how the FCC sided with the American people instead of the corporations—at least back in the day.

3. And finally, some more cryptocurrency news—an armed robber allegedly stole $1.8 million of ether. Ether is the name of the cryptocurrency of the ethereum network. It turns out that the suspect knew the victim and also knew that he owned a lot of this cryptocurrency. Apparently he was held up at gunpoint and told to turn over his cell phone, wallet, and keys. The suspect then allegedly went to the victim's apartment where he stole the ethers. Although this is certainly a tragedy for the victim, it is a good time to remind owners of cryptocurrency that it is imperative to keep private keys securely locked away and to never tell others how much money you are holding onto.

That's all for this week's edition of Weekend Thoughts. Until next week, keep thinking wilder.

Weekend Thoughts - 12.9.17

Image by Vitamin, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Happy Saturday y'all! Below, I have rounded up some things for you to think about this weekend:

1. The concept of a speaker that listens to and interacts with its users is still fairly new, but they are becoming more common with each passing day. However, there are still reasons why you should not buy a smart speaker. It seems odd to me that we as a society are reaching a point where, just like in Orwell's 1984, being constantly surveilled by technology is becoming commonplace. Even if you trust companies like Apple, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft to not intentionally spy on you via smart speakers, smart cameras, and the like, these devices are certainly hackable and susceptible to bugs, which means that the data they obtain may eventually get into the wrong hands. Maybe I'm alone here, but I don't want every snippet of the private conversations I have in my home to be shared with others just because of vulnerabilities in these "smart" devices (and yes, that includes smartphones!). I'd suggest reading through this article carefully because it's worth considering whether you are willing to put your privacy (and the privacy of others in your home) on the line for the sake of convenience.

2. Although I went to a Chess Club meeting or two in middle school, I wouldn't consider myself to be a very strong chess player. However, I do enjoy playing the game from time to time and find it to be an interesting—albeit endlessly intimidating—game of skill. Now it turns out that a new artificial intelligence known as AlphaZero has handily beaten the previously highest-rated Chess engine known as Stockfish. Perhaps most impressively, AlphaZero taught itself how to play in just four hours. At the end of the day, the final tally (out of 100 matches) was 28 wins, 72 draws, and zero losses. In other words, the chess engine that human chess players have been using to train has been bested so badly by this new AI that it didn't even win a single game—against an opponent that didn't even know how to play chess four hour prior to the first match.

3. Modern burials (at least in the Western world) typically involve toxic chemicals that are used to preserve the human body as well as coffin materials that do not break down quickly, harming the Earth and causing trouble for the surrounding environment and wildlife. A new burial technique involves a mushroom spore death suit that detoxifies the corpse and turns them into nutrients for plants. It's an innovative concept and one that may help preserve future life on Earth.

That's all for this week's edition of Weekend Thoughts. Until next week, keep thinking wilder.