I'm looking forward to the research paper to address key questions. What resources (training, inference) did Google use and how do they compare to the competition? Was this mostly a machine learning problem with big data, or a big data problem with some machine learning? Is there a GitHub yet?

I can't bear to part with my S100 computers; Vector Graphics and Alpha Micro. I'll take them to my grave. My Alpha Micro colleagues feel the same way. IIRC, at the Atlantic City Computer Festival (August 1976?), I rode the elevator up with Carl Helmers, editor of Byte Magazine. He was excited by a meeting where the various hardware manufactures agreed on a moniker of S100. I also had a conversation with Steve Jobs at his cardtable booth. He claimed to have advanced orders for 600 Apple 1 boards. I thought that was bullshit because no one had that kind of volume. He confided that Apple would soon release an improved model, called Apple 2, that offered color, a completely unique offering. I asked if people really cared about color. Wasn't monochrome just as useful? He assured me people would snatch up there completed-system color computer. I often told this story to illustrate how Steve was so much more attuned to peoples wants than I was. But in 1984, he rolled out the first Macintosh, a monochrome computer -- so much for must-have color computers.

Contact is the gold standard despite its Hollywood ending.

A BAD or a NEGATIVE review? Personally I don't have an issue with anyone (seller/buyer/competitor) who leaves a negative review provided it's accurate.

Amazon can stop fake reviews by putting real fear into the minds of sellers. If a seller is caught in a fake review scam, Amazon should force the seller to accept returns. Until then, I give Amazon two stars in their efforts to control fake reviews. I'm looking forward to Amazon rolling over the perps and exposing their cheating clients. Fake reviews are against the law in some jurisdictions.

All this means that Apple has committed a pricing blunder by under estimating competitor's pricing. They are unlikely to repeat this next time. Don't expect any pricing reductions any time soon.

Expose and block cheating by randomly delaying the announcements by milliseconds. Good news is they'll find the perps by threatening RICO.

Bad at explaining the issue? Are you sure you really know the issue yourself? Your explanation shows you do not.

He believed there was no issue in assigning an int to an unsigned in C. Not a quibble, right?

When I was interviewed for an elite job at an elite company, I was dumbfounded to discover that their "elite" engineers didn't understand fundamental flaws in their solutions. When their top programmer tried to optimize my solution, I told him he just added a syntax error, not an optimization. The conversation got out of hand and was finally settled by referencing the ISO standard. Apparently, this guy had been giving a thumbs up to people who couldn't spot syntax error. My advice, take time to know the algorithm and the language really, really well.

... but you get USB 2.0.

In Mauritainia, where I did Peace Corps duty 10 years ago, people self identified themselves as slaves even though slavery was abolished twenty years before. Why? Because it was their culture and job. Being a slave gave them steady meals. The alternative was worse.

Looking forward to seeing the gun camera videos filmed during the Mirage's strike on the convoy.

How come you never hear about successful traders getting arrested?

This software unblocks my use of Kinect. Microsoft has not released a gesture library. Looks like this will enable it's creation.