Courts, schools and other public agencies that make decisions using artificial intelligence should refrain from using “black box” algorithms that aren’t subject to outside scrutiny, a group of prominent AI researchers says. The concern is that, as algorithms become increasingly responsible for making critical decisions affecting our lives, it has become more difficult to understand and challenge… Read more »
Posts By: David Firth
Your browser could be mining cryptocurrency for a stranger
THERE’S SOMETHING NEW to add to your fun mental list of invisible internet dangers. Joining classic favorites like adware and spyware comes a new, tricky threat called “cryptojacking,” which secretly uses your laptop or mobile device to mine cryptocurrency when you visit an infected site. Malicious miners aren’t new in themselves, but cryptojacking has exploded in popularity… Read more »
Could Estonia be the first “digital country”?
Estonia says it’s the first country in the world to offer “e-residency” – granting anyone in the world a digital government ID and access to online services. Source: BBC Future News Date: October 20th, 2017 Link: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20171019-could-estonia-be-the-first-digital-country Discussion 1) “in 2007, an infamous crisis in which Russia waged what’s considered the first cyberwar on Estonia. Banks had their servers… Read more »
‘Tell me phone, what’s destroying my crops?’
Voruganti Surendra is a farmer who grows paddy rice on an acre of farmland in Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh. He and hundreds of his fellow farmers are using a new app that can recognise a growing number of crop pests and diseases and give advice on how to treat them. “It is very useful,” he says. “Farmers… Read more »
Can we teach robots ethics?
We are not used to the idea of machines making ethical decisions, but the day when they will routinely do this – by themselves – is fast approaching. So how, asks the BBC’s David Edmonds, will we teach them to do the right thing? Source: BBC Technology Date: October 17th, 2017 Link: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-41504285 Discussion 1) “The best way… Read more »
U.S. tech talent may be eyeing Ottawa over Toronto for jobs
American tech workers looking for jobs north of the border find Ottawa, a government town once voted the ‘most boring city’ in Canada, more appealing than Toronto. Source: Toronto Star Date: October 13, 2017 Link: https://www.thestar.com/business/2017/10/03/us-tech-talent-may-be-eyeing-ottawa-over-toronto-for-jobs.html Discussion 1) What does Ottowa have to offer techies? 2) The article suggests immigration reform in the U.S. is driving some of… Read more »
Amazon’s Clever Solution to Stolen Deliveries: Your Trunk
A recent study suggests that nearly eight out of 10 Americans shop online. This is a boon for companies like Amazon that specialize in home delivery, but also for more unsavory enterprises—including the crooks who specialize in swiping people’s packages. Source: Fortune Magazine Date: October 10th, 2017 Link: http://fortune.com/2017/10/10/amazon-phrame/ Discussion 1) “the solution involves Amazon working with a maker of… Read more »
Inside Cuba’s D.I.Y. Internet Revolution
Source: Wired Magazine Date: October 10th. 2017 Link: https://www.wired.com/2017/07/inside-cubas-diy-internet-revolution/ Discussion 1) “Every week, more than a terabyte of data is packaged into external hard drives known as el paquete semanal (“the weekly package”). It is the internet distilled down to its purest, most consumable, and least interactive form: its content. This collection of video, song, photo, and text files from the… Read more »
Data is not the new oil
The Economist, a venerable British weekly newspaper recently said of data: “A new commodity spawns a lucrative, fast-growing industry, prompting anti-trust regulators to step in to restrain those who control its flow.” Never mind that data isn’t particularly new (though the volume may be) – this argument does, at first glance, have much to recommend… Read more »
How may I help you? Virtual Shopping Assistants
Source: BBC Technology News Date: October 10th, 2017 Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/disruptors_how_may_I_help_you Discussion 1) “In the brave new world of retail this won’t necessitate a trek out to the nearest late night supermarket. Instead the shop can come to you. With the touch of an app button, you hail a low-slung electric vehicle, like a glass-sided motorhome, which quietly glides into… Read more »
Leading Titles
Introduction to Information Systems, 3rd Canadian Binder Ready Version Update Edition
R. Kelly Rainer, Casey G. Cegielski, Ingrid Splettstoesser-Hogeterp, Cristobal Sanchez-Rodriguez
ISBN: 978-1-119-13385-8
August 2015, © 2016
CDN $98.95; CDN $114.95