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Submission + - How to deliver a technical presentation to a non-technical audience

Esther Schindler writes: At some point in your career, you are bound to find yourself in a position where you have to explain very technical details to someone who doesn’t understand the subject – you need them to pay attention. It's easy for geeky folks to blurt out all the details, but that means your audience's eyes will just glaze over.

So you might find this article useful, with tips about how to reach an audience ..who might space out before you reach the third slide. Such as figuring how technical you actually need to, choosing examples they understand, and when to ask for questions.

Submission + - Using machine learning to better understand black holes (hpe.com)

Esther Schindler writes: Lia Medeiros, a physicist, astrophysicist, and National Science Foundation fellow, is working to put together a movie of sorts of a black hole, using data from the Event Horizon Telescope, a global telescope array that gave scientists the data needed to capture that first black hole image. And she’s going to do it using machine learning.

...and a movie. "Having a black hole movie could be a scientific game changer because they are one of the only types of objects in the universe that scientists need both theories to explain. Black holes, simply put, live at the intersection of quantum and gravity. Movies of a black hole could give scientists the information they need to see if they behave the way we expect them to, helping them figure out the complicated intersection of two major scientific theories."

Submission + - GNU GPLv3 At The Heart Of The Black Hole Image (www.tfir.io)

arnieswap writes: Free and Open Source software was at the heart of this image. The team used three different imaging software libraries to achieve the feat. Out of the three, two were fully open source libraries. The source code of the software is publicly available on GitHub. Richard M Stallman, the founder of the GNU Project will be glad to see that both libraries (Sparselab and ehtim) are released under GNU GPL v3. Yes, you read it right – GNU GPL v3.

Submission + - 8 ways sci-fi imagines data storage (hpe.com)

Esther Schindler writes: "Storage is a staple of both science and science fiction," writes Carol Pinchefsky. "It forms the basis, or a crucial component, of many a piece of speculative fiction. Looking back to look forward is always educational, or at least entertaining, so here are eight past visions of the storage future that either passed their error checks or succumbed to bit rot."

Why store vast quantities of data on a device when you can just slap it into someone's head?

Submission + - California Reintroduces 'Right To Repair' Bill After Previous Effort Failed (appleinsider.com)

An anonymous reader writes: California State Assembly member Susan Talamantes Eggman on Monday announced the introduction of Assembly Bill 1163, which will require manufacturers like Apple to "make service literature and equipment or parts available to product owners and to regulated, independent repair shops." "For nearly 30 years California has required that manufacturers provide access to replacement parts and service materials for electronics and appliances to authorized repairers in the state. In that time, manufacturers have captured the market, controlling where and when we repair our property, and inflating the electronic waste stream," Eggman said. "The Right to Repair will provide consumers with the freedom to have their electronic products and appliances fixed by a repair shop or service provider of their choice, creating a competitive market that will be cheaper for consumers and reduce the number of devices thrown in the trash."

The bill, officially filed as legislation relating to electronic waste, is Eggman's second try at right to repair legislation. Her first attempt, 2018's Bill 2110, was introduced last March and subsequently died in assembly that November. Like the pending Bill 1163, last year's tendered legislation was crafted as a play to reduce e-waste. Eggman's announcement includes a word-for-word reproduction of an explainer included in 2018's press release for the now-dead Bill 2110. In it the lawmaker argues that customers who are unable to pay for manufacturer repairs are forced to replace broken equipment like smartphones, TVs and home appliances. Beyond financial benefits, Eggman also says that the repair and reuse of electronics is more efficient than purchasing a new device, noting that such measures can "stimulate local economies instead of unsustainable overseas factories."

Submission + - The songs of distant mirth: When technology is something to sing about

Esther Schindler writes: Carol Pinchefsky examined the relationship between music and technology in When technology is something to sing about, and "I realized the songs tend to be about the technology itself. Not 'My baby she wrote me a letter' but 'My baby she wrote me a letter with bitmapped fonts.' Most of these songs express angst and loneliness. They don’t make you reach for your tissues—just your benzodiazepines."

Ultimately she categorized technology-related songs in seven whole categories of depression, self-loathing, and yes, even humor. You think there should be more?

Submission + - 5 things we need to conquer to accelerate space exploration (hpe.com) 1

Esther Schindler writes: Sure, we all want to get humanity out into space. But there are practical barriers to doing so, at least for the long term, and many of them were discussed at at the Economist Space Summit, held Nov. 1 in New York. Several panelists shared their insights about space exploration, NASA’s strategies, and what we need to get to the final frontier.

Among them, for example, is space medicine:

Dava Newman, Apollo Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT, warned that radiation is one of the biggest challenges to surviving and thriving in space. Once spacefarers pierce the atmosphere, they're subject to radiation from solar particles and cosmic rays, which increases the risk of cancer in the long term—and acute radiation sickness mid-mission.

Another is quick and reliable data transmission, given the lag time between, say, Mars and Earth. Not to mention computers that can cope with radiation.

Submission + - The Internet Apologizes (nymag.com)

Esther Schindler writes: Even those who designed our digital world are aghast at what they created. A breakdown of what went wrong — from the architects who built it.

Excerpts:
  • Ellen Pao: The combination of this belief that the internet was a bright, positive place and the very similar people who all shared that view ended up creating platforms that were designed and oriented around free speech.
  • Harris: We cannot afford the advertising business model. The price of free is actually too high. It is literally destroying our society, because it incentivizes automated systems that have these inherent flaws.
  • García: The real issue is that people don’t assign moral agency to algorithms. When shit goes sideways, you want someone to fucking shake a finger at and scream at.

And a lot more food for thought.

Comment Can't they just be ultra agressive? (Score 1) 50

Like we are!

It's a shame that these emerging markets don't know how to spend trillions on an espionage agency, like we do, so that we can come and go without being noticed. They keep using this "lowest hanging fruits" style of espionage on a budget that isn't as transparent. It makes our professionals so embarrassed for them.

Submission + - I'm from the government and I'm here to protect you

Esther Schindler writes: Top cybersecurity experts from the Department of Homeland Security, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and private industry came together at a recent event held at the Washington Post to discuss the cyberwar being waged with foreign adversaries as well as the overall threat landscape. Here are some of the insights shared on current and future threats, and what’s being done to combat them. This wasn't vague arm-waving. Preston Gralla wrote a summary.

For instance:

A major challenge in keeping elections safe from cyberattacks, said Homeland Security's Christopher Krebs, has less to do with technology than with the way in which elections are held in the United States. Elections, even those held for the office of the president and Congress, are run by state and local governments, not by the federal government. That means each state and, frequently, individual localities have their own way to hold elections, implementing different technologies—from paper ballots to multiple kinds of voting machines, including direct-recording electronic (DRE) voting machines, some of which do not produce a paper trail and therefore are vulnerable to being hacked.

Krebs put the conundrum this way: “It is the responsibility of the states to administer elections. It is the responsibility of the Department of Homeland Security and the federal government to provide for the national security and national defense of this country. There is a discussion that needs to happen between those two things.”

Submission + - How blockchain may change the music business

Esther Schindler writes: Musicians get a lot of revenue from their live performances, but they lose income due to too many middlemen. So musician Jason Robert is creating a blockchain-based event ticketing platform to cut down on fraud, reduce price gouging, and help maintain the health of the live entertainment industry. As he says:

A lot of people are taking money, almost literally, out of the pockets of musicians. These days, artists get a lot of their revenue from live performances, but middlemen are getting money that should go to them. And that's a major, major problem.

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