sjbcfh - Slashdot User

The White House Has Set Up a Task Force To Help Further the Country's AI Development (theverge.com) 43

Posted by msmash on Thursday May 10, 2018 @03:23PM from the next-up dept.

The White House has set up a new task force dedicated to US artificial intelligence efforts, the Trump administration announced today during an event with technology executives, government leaders, and AI experts. From a report: The news and the event, which was organized by the federal government, are both moves to further the country's AI development, as other regions like Europe and Asia ramp up AI investment and R&D as well. The administration will be further investing in AI, deputy CTO of the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy Michael Kratsios said at the event.

"To realize the full potential of AI for the American people, it will require the combined efforts of industry, academia, and government," Kratsios said, according to FedScoop. According to the Trump administration, the federal government has increased its investment in unclassified R&D for AI by 40 percent since 2015. In his speech, Kratsios highlighted ways the US could improve AI advancement, such as robotics startups in Pittsburgh that are models for how to spur job growth in areas hurt by workplace automation. Startups like those now hire engineers, scientists, bookkeepers, and administrators, he said, and are evidence that AI does not necessarily mean massive unemployment is on the horizon. Further reading: The White House says a new AI task force will protect workers and keep America first (MIT Tech Review).

Submission + - North Korea Warned Of Possible Prosecution For 'Crimes Against Humanity' (telegraph.co.uk)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 18, 2014 @11:45AM

An anonymous reader writes: The Telegraph reports, "North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, has been warned that he could face prosecution for crimes against humanity after a United Nations inquiry accused him of some of the worst human rights abuses since the Second World War. In some of the harshest criticism ever unleashed by the international community against the Pyongyang regime, a UN panel branded it “a shock to the conscience of humanity”. Michael Kirby, a retired Australian judge who has spent nearly a year taking testimony from victims of the regime, said much of it reminded him of atrocities perpetrated by Nazi Germany and Pol Pot’s Cambodia. Yesterday his team published a 374-page report detailing allegations of murder, torture, rape, abductions, enslavement, and starvation, describing North Korea as a dictatorship “that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world”. In a bid to put pressure on Kim Jong-un, 31, Mr Kirby has taken the unusual step of writing to the North Korean leader to warn him that both he and hundreds of his henchmen could one day face prosecution. " — More at BBC, including a cache of report.

Submission + - Hard Silicon Wafers Yield Flexible Electronics (acs.org)

Submitted by MTorrice on Tuesday February 18, 2014 @11:43AM

MTorrice writes: By shaving off an ultrathin layer from the top of a silicon wafer, researchers have transformed rigid electronic devices into flexible ones. The shaving process could be used to fabricate parts for wearable electronics or displays that can roll up. Compared to similar techniques to make bendable silicon electronics, the new method is more cost-effective and produces more flexible devices, its developers say.

Submission + - Darker Arctic boosting global warming (www.cbc.ca)

Submitted by The Grim Reefer on Tuesday February 18, 2014 @10:49AM

The Grim Reefer writes: The Arctic isn't nearly as bright and white as it used to be because of more ice melting in the ocean, and that's turning out to be a global problem, a new study says.

With more dark, open water in the summer, less of the sun's heat is reflected back into space. So the entire Earth is absorbing more heat than expected, according to a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

That extra absorbed energy is so big that it measures about one-quarter of the entire heat-trapping effect of carbon dioxide, said the study's lead author, Ian Eisenman, a climate scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California.

The Arctic grew 8 per cent darker between 1979 and 2011, Eisenman found, measuring how much sunlight is reflected back into space.

"Basically, it means more warming," Eisenman said in an interview.

Submission + - NVIDIA Launches GTX 750 Ti with New Maxwell Architecture (pcper.com)

Submitted by Vigile on Tuesday February 18, 2014 @10:12AM

Vigile writes: NVIDIA is launching the GeForce GTX 750 Ti today which would normally just be a passing mention for a new $150 mainstream graphics card. But the fact that the company is using this as the starting point for its Maxwell architecture is actually pretty interesting. With a new GPU design that reorganizes the compute structure into smaller blocks, Maxwell is able to provide 66% more CUDA cores with a die size that is just 25% bigger than the previous generation all while continuing to use the same 28nm process technology we have today. Power and area efficiency were the target design points for Maxwell as it will eventually be integrated into NVIDIA's Tegra line too. As a result the GeForce GTX 750 Ti is able to outperform AMD's Radeon R7 260X by 5-10% while using 35 watts less power at the same time.

Submission + - French, German Leaders: Keep European Email Off US Severs (itworld.com)

Submitted by jfruh on Tuesday February 18, 2014 @09:07AM

jfruh writes: In her weekly podcast, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she'd be discussing European email security with French President Francois Hollande. Specifically, in the wake of the NSA spying revelations, the two leaders will try to keep European email off of American servers altogether to avoid snooping. This comes as Merkel's government faces criminal complaints for assisting aspects of the NSA's programs.

Journal Journal: NYT Shill, or anti-Tesla Shill? 5

Journal by drinkypoo on Friday February 15, 2013 @07:03PM

http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3464373&cid=42911081
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3464373&cid=42911043
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3464373&cid=42910999
http://sl

Submission + - Yet another costly government software upgrade failure (latimes.com)

Submitted by g01d4 on Friday February 15, 2013 @02:44PM

g01d4 writes: "California's computer problems, which have already cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, have mounted as state officials cut short work on a $208-million DMV technology overhaul that is only half done. Last week, the controller's office fired the contractor responsible for a $371-million upgrade to the state's payroll system, citing a trial run filled with mishaps. More than $254 million has already been spent." It's hard not to feel like the Tokyo man in the street watching the latest round of Godzilla the state vs. Rodan the big contractor.

Comment Re:openSUSE members (Score 1) 210

by sjbcfh on Wednesday January 06, 2010 @01:52PM (#30672240) Attached to: Ubuntu "Memberships" Questioned

Members get to vote on the board

Yes.

and get a free boxed/retail copy of each openSUSE release.

No. I've been a member since the first day applications for membership were accepted and have never received a free box. Those normally go to people who make contributions to the distribution or community (consistently good bug reports, heavy involvement in the development cycle via bug reports and feedback, quality packaging, translations, advocacy, community involvement, etc.) above and beyond the usual, and not just to members but to non-members, as well.

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