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GDPR gone wrong
It’s early days, but some companies and organisations have already been spectacularly caught on the wrong side of the new GDPR regulations. As the EU’s reworking of data protection laws came into force, social media was soon buzzing with users counting the ways on day one that some companies and organisations were already falling foul of the changes. Numerous examples of companies struggling to get a handle on the new General Data Protection Regulation have been posted online. The chaos surrounding the roll out of new Europe-wide data laws has even reached into people’s homes, with various Internet-connected light bulbs and other devices failing to function. Customers have reported companies contacting them with updated terms of use, which need to be agreed before they are able to use smart thermostats, smart doors and smart appliances. In recent weeks, a deluge of last-minute emails from companies detailing their privacy policy changes in response to GDPR have clogged up inboxes, with many venting their frustrations on Twitter over the bombardment. Somewhat ironically, as noted in several press reports, GDPR has “almost certainly unleashed the biggest torrent of spam in the history of the Internet”, with some desperate companies resorting to creative and persuasive measures to keep people signed up to mailing lists. But some businesses were slow to react to the changes, despite a two-year transition period before the law was enforced, and several American Web sites were taken offline for British and European audiences after failing to comply with GDPR. Web users in the UK and Europe were left unable to access a number of major US-based news sites, including The Los Angeles Times, The New York Daily News, Chicago Times, Chicago Tribune, Orlando Sentinel and Baltimore Sun.
Winning fantasy football with artificial intelligence
Can AI pick the perfect fantasy football team? Fantasy Premier League is a popular platform for football fans to compete during the season and this summer’s World Cup. But what if artificial intelligence could find a way of beating the human competition? Dr Gopal Ramchurn and Dr Tim Matthews, from the University of Southampton, created Squadguru, an AI football manager, to see how well its algorithms could help a team reach the top of the leaderboard. As millions of fans tinker with their fantasy teams every week – some relying on advice from ‘Dave down the pub’ for their insights – a new AI powered manager has been studying form. Squadguru taps into Bayesian Machine Learning techniques and a combinatorial optimisation algorithm to select the best available players to boost its team’s performance. And it turns out this is more effective than even Dave’s encyclopaedic knowledge of the beautiful game, with Squadguru beating over five million fantasy managers in its first season, finishing in the top one per cent of the Fantasy Football League. “Fantasy Football is still serious research”, says Associate Professor Dr Sarvapali Gopal Ramchurn, “even if it doesn’t sound like it, and taking the algorithm out from the labs into the real world to play against humans actually shows us how much there is left to be done. Taking on all-comers with Squadguru doesn’t mean AI can beat all humans at everything… not yet.”
https://futureworlds.com/news-bbc-squadguru/
World’s biggest additive metal maker
Australian company Titomic has unveiled what it claims is the world’s largest metal 3D printer. Utilising a patented process co-developed with the country’s federal scientific research agency, the 3D metal printer boasts a build area nine metres long and three metres wide at its Melbourne facility. The printing process isn’t restricted to this size of installation and could be used to print even larger objects. The unit prints layer by layer like existing 3D printers, but rather than relying on metal powders that are fused using extreme heat, the Titomic Kinetic Fusion process involves a robot arm spraying titanium powder particles onto a scaffold at supersonic speeds – so fast that when they collide they mechanically fuse solid. Because it uses kinetic energy rather than thermal energy, there is no risk of heat deformation in the items it produces. It is basically the same technique used to cold-spray existing metal components with anti-corrosion coatings. The company has been using the technology to produce seamless titanium bicycle frames on a smaller machine at the rate of one every 30 minutes. Its bigger brother, which has an overall footprint of 40 x 20 metres and can deposit 45 kg (99 lb) of material per hour, is much faster than other metal 3D printers that generally have build speeds of around 1 kg (2.2 lb) per 24 hours, according to Titomic CEO Jeff Lang. Despite using powdered titanium, Lang says the printer can produce parts close in strength to parts made using conventional techniques. The printer also enables usually multi-part components to be made as single units that are lighter and stronger because they don’t need bending, joining or welding. The machine is able to fuse metals other than titanium, but has been focused on that material due to its strength, lightness and low cost. Titomic is initially targeting the aerospace, military, marine and sporting goods markets, with an eye on automotive, medical equipment, construction and mining applications in future. “We’re at the birth of a whole new industry for metal manufacturing” the CEO told reporters.
Microsoft Surface Hub 2
A few years ago, Microsoft revealed the Surface Hub, an interactive electronic whiteboard with video conferencing capabilities targeted at businesses. The expensive device didn’t exactly fly off the shelves last time, but the company is hoping to find greater success with the second-generation model – the Surface Hub 2 – and reviews have been favourable, with most seeing the new product as a stylish and sophisticated update. The Surface Hub 2 is essentially a 50inch (128cm) 4K touchscreen with a built-in 4K camera, far field microphone arrays and integrated speakers.
The smaller scaling of the new model allows for the ability to link up multiple screens to make larger displays. Microsoft calls this technique “tiling” and up to four separate displays can be connected to make large portrait or landscaped presentations. A rotating mount allows it to switch smoothly between portrait and landscape modes. This also means the device is easily pivoted into a taller portrait mode for video conferencing with participants appearing virtually life-size. The system is portable, although the complete hardware specs of the device aren’t clear, and collaboration seems a key priority, with the Surface Hub 2 allowing multiple users to sign in simultaneously to create a versatile digital workspace. One of the reasons for the low uptake of previous Surface Hub models was their high price tag. Microsoft says the new iteration has been developed to be “more affordable”. Similar, albeit less stylish, products already on the market come in below the $5,000 mark.
https://blogs.windows.com/devices/2018/05/15/meet-surface-hub-2/
Search engine of the month
Most users looking for a satisfactory search engine alternative to the omnipresent – some might say omniscient – Google turn to Microsoft’s Bing or the privacy-focused DuckDuckGo to find what they’re looking for. But there are other choices worth trying and the best of these is Qwant.com, which describes itself as “the only European search engine that doesn’t use cookies or trackers, or collect data about your searches”. (DuckDuckGo is based in Pennsylvania). Some Google alternatives offer very plain fare and barely competitive results, but Qwant.com has an attractive interface that optionally features news, photos, videos and social media tags as well as offering a choice of searches including Web, Social, Images, Videos and Music. Default search results appear in three columns under the headings Web, News and Social. There is advertising, but not always, and what does appear is unobtrusive. Qwant mobile apps and browser extensions are available.
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