by Robert Whitcomb | Jun 29, 2016 | AI World Society Summit
Robot with some social skills.
A fascinating display of the Japanese artificial-intelligence sector is now open at Tokyo Big Sight.
At the three-day AI World exhibition, 15 companies exhibited cutting-edge AI technology to try to build a society in which AI will make entertainment and business more interactive and efficient.
To read the article and see pictures from the show, please hit this link.
by Robert Whitcomb | Jun 29, 2016 | News
This Bloomberg video looks at why Brexit might not happen. Please hit this link.
by Robert Whitcomb | Jun 29, 2016 | News
Leaders of the European Union seem united in their disinclination to make concessions that would enable the post-Brexit United Kingdom to have many of the benefits of E.U. membership without having to accede to such requirements as free movement in and out of Britain of people with E.U. passports.
And after Brexit won in Britain’s June 23 referendum, the leaders are trying to discourage more disruptive votes in nations such as France and Spain with large numbers of voters who don’t want their nations to stay in the E.U.
To read a Washington Post story in this, please hit this link.
by Robert Whitcomb | Jun 29, 2016 | News
Chinese President Xi Jinping has named Xu Lin to become the government’s new head Internet regulator, succeeding Lu Wei.
Mr. Xu has vowed to maintain the ruling Communist Party’s tight grip over cyberspace, which is overseen by the Cyberspace Administration of China.
The Chinese government has long imposed controls over the Internet, in part to stifle political dissent, and is codifying that policy in law. Officials assert that such restrictions are needed to ensure security in the face of such rising threats as terrorism. However, most of China’s crackdown seems directed against speech that, however carefully, criticizes the Communist dictatorship.
For the Reuters article on this, please hit this link.
by Robert Whitcomb | Jun 28, 2016 | News
The U.S. government wants to make social-media accounts part of the visa-screening process for entry into America.
The proposed change would add a line on both the online and paper forms of the visa application form that foreign visitors must fill out if they do not have a visa and plan to stay for up to 90 days.
The following question would be added to both the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (Esta) and I-94W forms: “Please enter information associated with your online presence—Provider/Platform—Social media identifier.”
To read The Guardian’s story on this, please hit this link.
by Robert Whitcomb | Jun 27, 2016 | News
We doubt if this sort of law would ever happen in the U.S.:
South Korea‘s parliament is considering a bill to ban bosses from bothering their staff electronically at home after the company’s regular business hours, afterwhat The Guardian calls “growing complaints about the country’s already onerous work-life imbalance.”
“As more firms use social media or mobile messengers to send work orders, regardless of time, the stress inflicted on workers has reached a serious level,” backers of the bill said.
The proposed law would ban employers from sending employees work-related messages by telephone, text, social media or via mobile messaging apps after companies’ official working hours.
To read The Guardian’s story on this, please hit this link.
by Robert Whitcomb | Jun 27, 2016 | News
The Washington Post reports that Israel and Turkey have agreed to repair ties “after six years of strained relations over a deadly Israeli raid on a Turkish ship delivering aid to Gaza in 2010, officials said Monday. Ten Turkish activists were killed in the assault.”
The Post noted: “The rapprochement has potential wide-reaching security and economic ramifications in the region. Turkey and Israel once shared close military cooperation, and they have common worries over the Islamic State and other war-driven instability in Syria, which borders Turkey and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.”
The Post did not speculate on the effects on Russia but it must be noted that NATO-member Turkey, while in the past few days trying to repair ties with Russia after it shot down a Russian jet last year, remains very suspicious of Russian intentions in the Mideast, even as Israel remains a close of ally of the U.S.
To read The Post article, please hit this link.
by Robert Whitcomb | Jun 27, 2016 | News
The Chinese government continues to tighten its control of the Internet in the country as part of its effort to suppress dissent. The government of President Xi Jinping will enact a law that will force social-network operators to comply with “public morals” and accept stringent controls by Communist Party dictatorship.
Reuters reported that the government emphasized that Chinese citizens’ personal data, as well as “important business data,” must be stored domestically, “adding that those wishing to provide that information overseas faced a government security evaluation.”
The government’s move are likely to discourage some foreign companies from doing business in China.
Reuters noted that “Cybersecurity has been a particularly irksome area in China’s relations with economic partners such as the United States and the European Union, which see many recently proposed rules as unfair to foreign firms.” But the Xi regime has made it clear that its political control will trump everything else.
F0r the Reuters article on this, please hit this link.
by Robert Whitcomb | Jun 27, 2016 | News
You would think that with all the cybersecurity threats these days that a company like Intel would want to hang on to its cybersecurity unit. But in fact, Intel is considering selling Intel Security, including perhaps McAfee, the anti-virus company, Bloomberg reports.
The reason for the potential sale:
The slowing of the personal-computer sector is pushing Intel to move more into such higher-growth areas as chips for data-center machines and Internet-connected devices.
