Amazon offers to consult on setting up your smart home. In Retailwire.
" ... Amazon.com has rolled out a new service on the West Coast, which offers free in-home consultations for customers interested in smart home technology.
Customers can book appointments with Smart Home Consultation advisers on Amazon’s website. The visits, during which advisors demonstrate Amazon’s popular Echo voice-activated digital assistants as well as other smart home devices, typically last 45-minutes. The service is currently available in various local metro markets in California as well as Portland and Seattle. ... "
Saturday, February 11, 2017
Friday, February 10, 2017
How an AI Won at Poker
In Engadget: How the AI won in a game with very high uncertainty. Intriguing with lots of detail. How might this be carried over to the business operations world? How is risk linked to that uncertainty? How is it similar and different? Out of Carnegie Mellon.
( I am reminded that Alan Turing wrote a simple minimax strategy rule driven poker player around 1947, written about in Alan Turing: The Enigma)
( I am reminded that Alan Turing wrote a simple minimax strategy rule driven poker player around 1947, written about in Alan Turing: The Enigma)
Target Cuts Back on Innovation
Target shelves robot store and secret e-commerce start-up by George Anderson, In Retailwire:
Target is cutting back on its innovation project plans to concentrate more on its core business operations after coming off a holiday selling season when same-store sales declined 1.3 percent.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that among the projects being shelved are Goldfish, a secret e-commerce start-up that got the go-ahead a year back, as well as a store of the future concept using robots that was slated for construction soon. Other projects, while not scrapped, are being cut back as the chain seeks to get its business turned around. ... "
Target is cutting back on its innovation project plans to concentrate more on its core business operations after coming off a holiday selling season when same-store sales declined 1.3 percent.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that among the projects being shelved are Goldfish, a secret e-commerce start-up that got the go-ahead a year back, as well as a store of the future concept using robots that was slated for construction soon. Other projects, while not scrapped, are being cut back as the chain seeks to get its business turned around. ... "
AI's Cooperating
Perhaps the most important question of all, both in the relatively simplistic sense of assistants cooperating with us, and the much deeper sense of working together. Both considerable challenges. Recall our look at approaches like swarms.
Google Just Found the One Question It Can’t Yet Answer by Jeremy Kahn
DeepMind explores emergence of competition, cooperation
Finds environment plays big role in fostering AI cooperation ... "
Google Just Found the One Question It Can’t Yet Answer by Jeremy Kahn
DeepMind explores emergence of competition, cooperation
Finds environment plays big role in fostering AI cooperation ... "
Thursday, February 09, 2017
War Gaming for Training
Like the idea, we never made it formal, but tested the concept driven by competition.
Is your team’s new engineer ready to take on-call? Use wargames for training By Jeffrey Starr
At Qualtrics, our engineering organization is expanding rapidly. For my team, Text Analytics, we’ve gone from four to eight members in less than six months and there are more coming. As team members come in, part of the on-boarding process is preparing them to take on-call. The on-call engineer is the first responder for incidents — responsible for either resolving the issue or escalating the issue if they need help. Culturally, we’ve decided that teams are responsible for the systems they build to promote ownership and solving of maintainability issues.
To be ready for on-call rotation, a team member must:
- be familiar with our processes,
- have certain accounts, permissions, and tools, and
- be competent to diagnose and correct problems in our tech stack. .... "
Is your team’s new engineer ready to take on-call? Use wargames for training By Jeffrey Starr
At Qualtrics, our engineering organization is expanding rapidly. For my team, Text Analytics, we’ve gone from four to eight members in less than six months and there are more coming. As team members come in, part of the on-boarding process is preparing them to take on-call. The on-call engineer is the first responder for incidents — responsible for either resolving the issue or escalating the issue if they need help. Culturally, we’ve decided that teams are responsible for the systems they build to promote ownership and solving of maintainability issues.
To be ready for on-call rotation, a team member must:
- be familiar with our processes,
- have certain accounts, permissions, and tools, and
- be competent to diagnose and correct problems in our tech stack. .... "
New Marketing Models
Marketing, Mr Clean and Shifting Models (Excerpt, read the whole thing)
P&G Super Bowl Ads Point to a Shift in the Marketing Model by Bob Gilbreath
Co-Founder & CEO at Ahalogy
Many of my friends who are current or former Procter & Gamble employees shot me notes over the past week to ask my opinion on the company's massive investment in Super Bowl advertising. They remember that I worked on the brand long ago and even tried (but failed) to get our own ad onto the Big Game. LinkedIn is as good a place as any to save myself some time and reply to everyone at once. And I think there just might be a bigger idea behind what might seem like heresy in the halls of the world's largest marketer.
This Journey Started 13 Years Ago
Back in 2003 I was a brand manager at Procter, getting ready to launch a new product, Mr. Clean AutoDry Car Wash. That fall our CMO, Jim Stengel, announced a contest to select a brand to star in the company's first-ever Super Bowl ad. The effort was part of Stengel's push to improve the quality of advertising creative at the world's biggest advertiser, which included a now-annual trip to the Cannes Lions ad fest, new standards for measurement, and the introduction of more cutting edge agency partners. ....
What's Happening Now?
All of these memories came flooding back when I saw the Mr. Clean ad a few days before the Super Bowl. Of course as a life-long marketer I cannot watch any advertising without analyzing the strategy and execution; and I could recall endless discussions of what people thought Mr. Clean could and could not be allowed to do in order to maintain the magic (literally) of his character. ..... "
P&G Super Bowl Ads Point to a Shift in the Marketing Model by Bob Gilbreath
Co-Founder & CEO at Ahalogy
Many of my friends who are current or former Procter & Gamble employees shot me notes over the past week to ask my opinion on the company's massive investment in Super Bowl advertising. They remember that I worked on the brand long ago and even tried (but failed) to get our own ad onto the Big Game. LinkedIn is as good a place as any to save myself some time and reply to everyone at once. And I think there just might be a bigger idea behind what might seem like heresy in the halls of the world's largest marketer.
This Journey Started 13 Years Ago
Back in 2003 I was a brand manager at Procter, getting ready to launch a new product, Mr. Clean AutoDry Car Wash. That fall our CMO, Jim Stengel, announced a contest to select a brand to star in the company's first-ever Super Bowl ad. The effort was part of Stengel's push to improve the quality of advertising creative at the world's biggest advertiser, which included a now-annual trip to the Cannes Lions ad fest, new standards for measurement, and the introduction of more cutting edge agency partners. ....
What's Happening Now?
All of these memories came flooding back when I saw the Mr. Clean ad a few days before the Super Bowl. Of course as a life-long marketer I cannot watch any advertising without analyzing the strategy and execution; and I could recall endless discussions of what people thought Mr. Clean could and could not be allowed to do in order to maintain the magic (literally) of his character. ..... "
IBM Launches Cognitive Computing Hardware
Ultimately faster and tailored hardware will be required for machine learning.
In ZDNet:
IBM launches cognitive computing hardware unit: Enter the Watson, Power 9 stack
Here's the upshot: IBM is looking to speed up training for Watson, neural networks and machine learning. It's going to use its research and hardware know how as well as the OpenPower ecosystem to do it. By Larry Dignan .... "
In ZDNet:
IBM launches cognitive computing hardware unit: Enter the Watson, Power 9 stack
Here's the upshot: IBM is looking to speed up training for Watson, neural networks and machine learning. It's going to use its research and hardware know how as well as the OpenPower ecosystem to do it. By Larry Dignan .... "
Wednesday, February 08, 2017
Gaussian Processes for Modeling with Uncertainty
Gaussian Processes, like Bayesian methods introduce natural uncertainty to modeling. And provide more transparency than deep learning neural nets to the models being built and used. Already being used by many practitioners. Article provides a good, largely non-technical introduction and examples of their current use.
In Wired: AI is About to Learn more like Humans, with a little Uncertainty by Cade Metz
A broader view of artificial intelligence (AI) seeks to equip deep-learning neural networks to better deal with uncertainty via a Bayesian approach that feeds new evidence into existing models, performing functions at which neural networks do not excel. "There are problems in the domain of language and in driverless cars where you're never going to have enough data to use brute force the way that deep learning does," says Geometric Intelligence founder Gary Marcus. Startups are designing neural networks along a Gaussian process (GP) of statistical modeling to identify uncertainty. "Knowing that you don't know is a very good thing," says University of Edinburgh researcher Chris Williams. "Making a confident error is the worst thing you can do." One company is applying GPs toward building AI systems that can learn to navigate massively multiplayer games and other digital environments, with a long-term goal of eventual real-world navigation capability. ... "
Gaussian Process in WP.
In Wired: AI is About to Learn more like Humans, with a little Uncertainty by Cade Metz
A broader view of artificial intelligence (AI) seeks to equip deep-learning neural networks to better deal with uncertainty via a Bayesian approach that feeds new evidence into existing models, performing functions at which neural networks do not excel. "There are problems in the domain of language and in driverless cars where you're never going to have enough data to use brute force the way that deep learning does," says Geometric Intelligence founder Gary Marcus. Startups are designing neural networks along a Gaussian process (GP) of statistical modeling to identify uncertainty. "Knowing that you don't know is a very good thing," says University of Edinburgh researcher Chris Williams. "Making a confident error is the worst thing you can do." One company is applying GPs toward building AI systems that can learn to navigate massively multiplayer games and other digital environments, with a long-term goal of eventual real-world navigation capability. ... "
Gaussian Process in WP.
Algorithm vs Data
On the use of data and algorithms to predict crime in the US data. Extensive, largely non technical article.
It's Not the Algorithm, It's the Data By Keith Kirkpatrick
Communications of the ACM, Vol. 60 No. 2, Pages 21-23
" ... the debate continues over how to maintain these lower crime rates while addressing issues of fairness in the way communities are policed, as well as how to effectively and fairly use risk-assessment tools that can be relied upon by sentencing courts or parole boards.
There are two primary issues at stake: risk-assessment algorithms, which weigh a variety of factors related to recidivism, or the likelihood an individual will commit another crime and wind up back behind bars; and predictive policing, which has been described as using data analytics and algorithms to better pinpoint where and when a crime might occur, so police resources can be more efficiently deployed. Both issues are fraught with challenges—moral, logistical, and political—and opinions on whether they can be fairly and ethically utilized largely depend on how one views the nature of policing and the criminal justice system. .... "
It's Not the Algorithm, It's the Data By Keith Kirkpatrick
Communications of the ACM, Vol. 60 No. 2, Pages 21-23
" ... the debate continues over how to maintain these lower crime rates while addressing issues of fairness in the way communities are policed, as well as how to effectively and fairly use risk-assessment tools that can be relied upon by sentencing courts or parole boards.
There are two primary issues at stake: risk-assessment algorithms, which weigh a variety of factors related to recidivism, or the likelihood an individual will commit another crime and wind up back behind bars; and predictive policing, which has been described as using data analytics and algorithms to better pinpoint where and when a crime might occur, so police resources can be more efficiently deployed. Both issues are fraught with challenges—moral, logistical, and political—and opinions on whether they can be fairly and ethically utilized largely depend on how one views the nature of policing and the criminal justice system. .... "
Outlier Detection in Time Data
Outlier detection and analysis is an important topic for any kind of data. Outliers, depending on their context, can be useful, or dangerous in the development of models. New edited: Book: Outlier Detection for Temporal Data by Manish Gupta, Jing Gao, Charu Aggarwal, Jiawei Hao. Review posted by Vincent Granville
On Accuracy of In-Store Inventory
Have been involved in the analyses based on physical inventory taking. Estimation from Tlog tapes and RFID tags. Have taken laborious physical counts as well. So this question is always interesting.
In RetailWire: How good is ‘close enough’ when it comes to in-store inventory? Discussion.
In RetailWire: How good is ‘close enough’ when it comes to in-store inventory? Discussion.
Supporting Team Cognition
( Update - I was reminded that this is what the Zakta system does)
Ultimately quite an important topic. How do groups think? How do we make them better?
" ... our Cognitive Systems Institute Speaker Series on Thursday, February 9, 2016 at 10:30 am ET US (7:30 am PT). Our speaker is Steve Fiore from the University of Central Florida, who will be presenting “Developing Cognitive Systems to Support Team Cognition.”
Please point your web browser to https://apps.na.collabserv.com/meetings/join?id=2894-8491 password=cognitive. Use audio on computer or dial 855-233-7153 PIN Code: 43179788 Non-IBMers please use the "guest" option instead of entering your email.
Please find the schedule of presenters herefor the next several calls. A link to slides and a recording of each call should be available on the CSIG website (http://cognitive-science.info/community/weekly-update/). We encourage those who join the calls to add questions and comments to the LinkedIn Discussion Group https://www.linkedin.com/groups/Cognitive-Systems-Institute-6729452 please ask questions at the end of the call.
Thank you and please let me know if you would like to be a presenter on an upcoming call!
Dianne Fodell
IBM Global University Programs
fodell@us.ibm.com .... "
Ultimately quite an important topic. How do groups think? How do we make them better?
" ... our Cognitive Systems Institute Speaker Series on Thursday, February 9, 2016 at 10:30 am ET US (7:30 am PT). Our speaker is Steve Fiore from the University of Central Florida, who will be presenting “Developing Cognitive Systems to Support Team Cognition.”
Please point your web browser to https://apps.na.collabserv.com/meetings/join?id=2894-8491 password=cognitive. Use audio on computer or dial 855-233-7153 PIN Code: 43179788 Non-IBMers please use the "guest" option instead of entering your email.
Please find the schedule of presenters herefor the next several calls. A link to slides and a recording of each call should be available on the CSIG website (http://cognitive-science.info/community/weekly-update/). We encourage those who join the calls to add questions and comments to the LinkedIn Discussion Group https://www.linkedin.com/groups/Cognitive-Systems-Institute-6729452 please ask questions at the end of the call.
Thank you and please let me know if you would like to be a presenter on an upcoming call!
Dianne Fodell
IBM Global University Programs
fodell@us.ibm.com .... "
Video Pattern Magnification
Quite interesting, technical.
Eulerian Video Magnification and Analysis
By Neal Wadhwa, Hao-Yu Wu, Abe Davis, Michael Rubinstein, Eugene Shih, Gautham J. Mysore, Justin G. Chen, Oral Buyukozturk, John V. Guttag, William T. Freeman, Frédo Durand
Communications of the ACM, Vol. 60 No. 1, Pages 87-95
The world is filled with important, but visually subtle signals. A person's pulse, the breathing of an infant, the sag and sway of a bridge—these all create visual patterns, which are too difficult to see with the naked eye. We present Eulerian Video Magnification, a computational technique for visualizing subtle color and motion variations in ordinary videos by making the variations larger. It is a microscope for small changes that are hard or impossible for us to see by ourselves. In addition, these small changes can be quantitatively analyzed and used to recover sounds from vibrations in distant objects, characterize material properties, and remotely measure a person's pulse. .... "
Eulerian Video Magnification and Analysis
By Neal Wadhwa, Hao-Yu Wu, Abe Davis, Michael Rubinstein, Eugene Shih, Gautham J. Mysore, Justin G. Chen, Oral Buyukozturk, John V. Guttag, William T. Freeman, Frédo Durand
Communications of the ACM, Vol. 60 No. 1, Pages 87-95
The world is filled with important, but visually subtle signals. A person's pulse, the breathing of an infant, the sag and sway of a bridge—these all create visual patterns, which are too difficult to see with the naked eye. We present Eulerian Video Magnification, a computational technique for visualizing subtle color and motion variations in ordinary videos by making the variations larger. It is a microscope for small changes that are hard or impossible for us to see by ourselves. In addition, these small changes can be quantitatively analyzed and used to recover sounds from vibrations in distant objects, characterize material properties, and remotely measure a person's pulse. .... "
Game Theory in Practice
A apace we worked in, especially to understand and react to models of competitive activity. In practice usually means getting good understanding of how these models work with available data.
In the Economist (May require subscription)
Game theory in practice
Computing: Software that models human behaviour can make forecasts, outfox rivals and transform negotiations .... "
In the Economist (May require subscription)
Game theory in practice
Computing: Software that models human behaviour can make forecasts, outfox rivals and transform negotiations .... "
Mining Brain Activity
A machine driven look at brain activity.
Brain Activity Is Too Complicated for Humans to Decipher. Machines Can Decode It for Us
By Vox
University of California, Berkeley professor Jack Gallant and others are using machine learning to mine neuroscientific data and gain revolutionary insights into how the human brain functions.
Scientists are using artificial intelligence to analyze the data to find complex activity patterns that predict human perception, with a wealth of potential applications such as treating brain diseases. ... "
Brain Activity Is Too Complicated for Humans to Decipher. Machines Can Decode It for Us
By Vox
University of California, Berkeley professor Jack Gallant and others are using machine learning to mine neuroscientific data and gain revolutionary insights into how the human brain functions.
Scientists are using artificial intelligence to analyze the data to find complex activity patterns that predict human perception, with a wealth of potential applications such as treating brain diseases. ... "
Tuesday, February 07, 2017
Bots are Coming
Fun history and thoughts of our attempts as bot, past and presesent. I agree, things will be very different. How much will they be models of ourselves? How soon is unclear. In the Atlantic:
Our Bots, Ourselves
How the descendants of Siri and Alexa could change our daily lives, thoughts, and relationships ... "
Our Bots, Ourselves
How the descendants of Siri and Alexa could change our daily lives, thoughts, and relationships ... "
Mr Clean's New Backstory
My colleague Larry Paul points me to a new backstory of Mr Clean brand equity character published for the Superbowl ad. This is amusingly far different from the backstory we used when we worked on the brand (See below for more variants on this equity bending theme) . And of course, you adjust the character to the times.
Apple, IBM and AI for the Enterprise
Following, the details will be interesting, especially for enterprise applications. Have seen relatively few AI driven applications in the enterprise. As part of a team that looked at well focused and valued applications for an enterprise, they numbered few. Now we need to see goal specific AI that not only provides measurable value, but also demonstrates the use of Watson driven AI for future work. Show it at work. In CWorld:
Expect more A.I. in Apple's iOS enterprise future
The IBM/Apple deal is opening new possibilities in AI
Expect smarter enterprises following IBM’s recent deal with United Airlines. The deal means the airline will be making more use of Apple’s mobile solutions, with numerous new apps for different purposes. I caught up with Heidi Fillmore, Executive Partners, Travel & Transportation Apple + IBM Product Lead.
How does IBM characterize its work with Apple?
“More than two years ago, Apple and IBM set out to change how people work and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” said Fillmore.
“Both Apple and IBM are uniquely positioned to create mobile apps that go deeper than basic employee tasks. It’s a complete mobile platform for business transformation.”
IBM and Apple announced plans to work together to develop sophisticated apps for enterprise users in 2015. The partners have moved forward rapidly since then. There are already over 100 industry apps for iOS and these are in use across hundreds of enterprises. Together, Apple and IBM are building a strong bridge into the lucrative enterprise IT market. .... "
Expect more A.I. in Apple's iOS enterprise future
The IBM/Apple deal is opening new possibilities in AI
Expect smarter enterprises following IBM’s recent deal with United Airlines. The deal means the airline will be making more use of Apple’s mobile solutions, with numerous new apps for different purposes. I caught up with Heidi Fillmore, Executive Partners, Travel & Transportation Apple + IBM Product Lead.
How does IBM characterize its work with Apple?
“More than two years ago, Apple and IBM set out to change how people work and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” said Fillmore.
“Both Apple and IBM are uniquely positioned to create mobile apps that go deeper than basic employee tasks. It’s a complete mobile platform for business transformation.”
IBM and Apple announced plans to work together to develop sophisticated apps for enterprise users in 2015. The partners have moved forward rapidly since then. There are already over 100 industry apps for iOS and these are in use across hundreds of enterprises. Together, Apple and IBM are building a strong bridge into the lucrative enterprise IT market. .... "
Gamification and Sales Effectiveness
From Bunchball, who we talked to, of interest, requires registration:
Using Gamification to Optimize Sales Effectiveness
Every company's survival depends on the effectiveness of its sales force, whether those teams are direct, indirect, on the phone, in the field or all of the above. But regardless of its profile, optimizing the performance of a sales department has never been easy – and the challenges are only growing more intense. ... "
Using Gamification to Optimize Sales Effectiveness
Every company's survival depends on the effectiveness of its sales force, whether those teams are direct, indirect, on the phone, in the field or all of the above. But regardless of its profile, optimizing the performance of a sales department has never been easy – and the challenges are only growing more intense. ... "
Signing on for Alexa Data
In AdAge:
Epsilon and Others Scramble for Alexa Data from Amazon By Kate Kaye
Amazon, not unlike other retail giants or the web's walled gardens, is notoriously stingy with its data. However, Amazon has opened up some high-level information derived from consumer interactions with Alexa, it's voice-activated home IoT platform. The data is limited, but developers, digital consultancies and analytics startups are clamoring for it.
There's a lot of Alexa data that Amazon is keeping under wraps. For now, developers and brands can track usage patterns such as the number of unique customers accessing the games or content streams they develop, or the total number of "utterances" related to their applications -- which in Amazon parlance are known as "skills." .... "
Epsilon and Others Scramble for Alexa Data from Amazon By Kate Kaye
Amazon, not unlike other retail giants or the web's walled gardens, is notoriously stingy with its data. However, Amazon has opened up some high-level information derived from consumer interactions with Alexa, it's voice-activated home IoT platform. The data is limited, but developers, digital consultancies and analytics startups are clamoring for it.
There's a lot of Alexa data that Amazon is keeping under wraps. For now, developers and brands can track usage patterns such as the number of unique customers accessing the games or content streams they develop, or the total number of "utterances" related to their applications -- which in Amazon parlance are known as "skills." .... "
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