May 2019 - nexa - server-nexa.polito.it

Google pulls Huawei’s Android license - The Verge

by Alberto Cammozzo

<https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/19/18631558/google-huawei-android-suspension> Following the US crackdown on Chinese technology companies, Google has cut off Huawei’s Android license, dealing a huge blow to the besieged phonemaker. Reuters first reported the news, and The Verge subsequently confirmed Google’s suspension of business with Huawei with a source familiar with the matter. Reached for comment, a Google spokesperson said only “We are complying with the order and reviewing the implications.” The order, in this case, appears to be the US Commerce Department’s recent decision to place Huawei on the “Entity List,” which as Reuters reports is a list of companies that are unable to buy technology from US companies without government approval. [...]

May 20, 2019

Bar e negozi di vicinato, il nuovo servizio Amazon Counter

by Luigi Scorca

https://milano.corriere.it/19_maggio_19/bar-negozi-vicinato-nuovo-piano-ama…

May 19, 2019

Ragazzi e digitale, cervelli in tilt

by don Luca Peyron

Questioni educative ancora alla ribalta, questioni di cui dobbiamo farci carico in qualche modo. Buona lettura e buona domenica dl Sullo sfondo ci sono tre macro-fattori su cui non si riflette abbastanza: accelerazione dei mutamenti sociali, dei ritmi di vita e delle trasformazioni tecnologiche. [...] Il vortice tecnologico scava baratri tra le generazioni. Oggi tra un bambino di tre anni e il fratellino di otto c’è un divario più ampio, sul piano della 'comprensione tecnologica', rispetto a quello che ci separa dai nostri nonni https://www.avvenire.it/attualita/pagine/ragazzi-e-digitale-cervelli-in-til… _________________________ www.universitari.to.it via XX settembre 83, Torino tel. 011 5156239

May 19, 2019

Re: [nexa] The Long and Lucrative Mirage of the Driverless Car

by Giacomo Tesio

On 18/05/2019, Giuseppe Attardi <attardi(a)di.unipi.it> wrote: > Il vecchio adagio: > > "Chi sa fa, chi non sa insegna" > > va aggiornato in: > > "Chi sa fa, chi non sa, filosofeggia per impedire a chi sa di fare". Collega! :-D E' noto che gli hacker, mossi da un insaziabile Curiosità, amino il sapere. Un hacker è un filosofo molto prima di diventare ingegnere. E che il filosofo debba insegnare pur sapendo di non sapere, è un imperativo morale molto antico. In fondo, chi ama la conoscenza la diffonde. E non teme l'ignoranza ma la considera un inevitabile punto di partenza, una precondizione fondamentale della curiosità. Ma devo ammettere che è la prima volta che sento dire ad un insegnante, che chiunque insegna, in realtà, fa filosofia. Bravo! Non è affatto scontato! Bene, dunque: fra filosofi ci si intende! :-D Temo tuttavia che il tuo eccessivo ottimismo sul nostro potere sia mal riposto. La Conoscenza non ha mai impedito a nessuno di fare alcunché. Tanto meno a chi crede, superbamente, di sapere. L'umile buon senso di hacker, insegnanti e filosofi non è particolarmente diffuso. > Rodney Brooks è un pioniere della robotica e dice questo: > > https://rodneybrooks.com/agi-has-been-delayed Bell'articolo. Non ho potuto resistere dal partecipare anche io alla scommessa: https://twitter.com/giacomotesio/status/1129848463162847233 :-D > E in particolare ai soloni che ritengono che l'Europa deve concentrarsi > sui temi dell'etica nell'AI, dice questo: > > So what does that say about predictions that AGI is just around the > corner? And what does it say about it being an existential threat to > humanity any time soon. We have plenty of existential threats to > humanity lining up to bash us in the short term, including climate > change, plastics in the oceans, and a demographic inversion. If AGI is a > long way off then we can not say anything sensible today about what > promises or threats it might provide as we need to completely > re-engineer our world long before it shows up, and it when it does show > up it will be in a world that we can not yet predict. Beh, la tua interpretazione fa diventare queste parole un po' uno strawman. Lui dice che l'AGI non è da considerarsi un problema urgente per l'umanità. Sono perfettamente d'accordo. Ma non nega i problemi della "Intelligenza Artificiale". Al contrario ne evidenzia due molto interessanti: > Here is a press report on a conference on “Human Level AI” > that was held in 2018. It reports that 37\% of respondents to > a survey at that conference said they expected human level > AI to be around in 5 to 10 years. Now, I must say that looking > through the conference site I see more large hats than cattle, > but these are mostly people with paying corporate or academic > jobs, and 37\% of them think this. Primo problema: il 37% dei ricercatori non sa di cosa parla. E naturalmente, non sa di non sapere. > And if normal human beings can’t simply use these services > [...] and go anywhere that they can go in a current day taxi, > then really the things deployed will not be autonomous taxis. > They will be something else. > Calling them taxis would be redefining what a taxi is. > And if you can just redefine words on a whim there is really > not much value to your words. Secondo problema: l'abitudine del settore a ridefinire il significato delle parole per ragioni commerciali. Altri esempi noti sono "Intelligenza Artificiale", "Machine Learning", "Learning Rate", "Training", "Neural Networks" etc... Ne abbiamo parlato diverse volte in lista: http://server-nexa.polito.it/pipermail/nexa/2019-March/014715.html E' bello che anche gli esperti internazionali inizino a rendersi conto che si tratta di una pratica poco... scientifica. Peccato l'abbiano presa così alla lontana, partendo dal termine "taxi", ma con un po' di pazienza... ci arriveranno anche loro. :-D > Purtroppo la gran parte dei finanziamenti europei sembra che andranno a > chi vuol fare chiacchiere e non a chi l'AI vuol farla per davvero. Purtroppo non credo che questo sia un problema specifico dell'Informatica. Ma concordo che in Informatica l'UE segue spesso mode eterodirette. Giacomo

May 18, 2019

Capitalismo immateriale: le tecnologie digitali e il nuovo conflitto sociale

by Giulio De Petra

Ai nexiani romani segnalo il prossimo appuntamento della Scuola Critica del Digitale del Crs, il 28 maggio alle 17, a Roma, in via della Dogana Vecchia 5. L’incontro sarà dedicato al libro di Stefano Quintarelli “Capitalismo immateriale: le tecnologie digitali e il nuovo conflitto sociale”. Un testo che non solo fornisce una chiave di lettura originale ed efficace delle trasformazione digitale in corso nei più diversi settori produttivi, ma che pone anche con forza la questione politica ineludibile che accompagna questa trasformazione e si conclude con una inedita esortazione: “Intermediati di tutto il mondo unitevi!” https://www.centroriformastato.it/capitalismo-immateriale-le-tecnologie-dig…

May 18, 2019

Re: [nexa] The Long and Lucrative Mirage of the Driverless Car

by Giuseppe Attardi

Rodney Brooks è un pioniere della robotica e dice questo: https://rodneybrooks.com/agi-has-been-delayed E in particolare ai soloni che ritengono che l'Europa deve concentrarsi sui temi dell'etica nell'AI, dice questo: So what does that say about predictions that AGI is just around the corner? And what does it say about it being an existential threat to humanity any time soon. We have plenty of existential threats to humanity lining up to bash us in the short term, including climate change, plastics in the oceans, and a demographic inversion. If AGI is a long way off then we can not say anything sensible today about what promises or threats it might provide as we need to completely re-engineer our world long before it shows up, and it when it does show up it will be in a world that we can not yet predict. Purtroppo la gran parte dei finianziamenti europei sembra che andranno a chi vuol fare chiacchiere e non a chi l'AI vuol farla per davvero. Il vecchio adagio: "Chi sa fa, chi non sa insegna" va aggiornato in: "Chi sa fa, chi non sa, filosofeggia per impedire a chi sa di fare". -- Beppe On 18/05/19 08:14, nexa-request(a)server-nexa.polito.it wrote: > On 17/05/2019 01:21, Giacomo Tesio wrote: >> Se lo dicono gli Executives... sarà vero. >> >> Con tutto il software che scrivono! >> Con tutto l'hardware che progettano! >> Sapranno di cosa parlano! O no? :-D >> >> >> https://www.theringer.com/tech/2019/5/16/18625127/driverless-cars-mirage-ub… >> >> For years, Silicon Valley giants and Detroit automakers alike have >> sold the public visions of a utopia featuring autonomous vehicles. >> That reality is still far off, but that hasn’t stopped companies from >> cashing in on repeated promises that suggest otherwise. [...] >> >> People have less patience for PR campaigns masquerading as engineering >> timelines. “That’s bullshit,” says Sam Abuelsamid, a research analyst >> for Navigant, a consulting firm that ranks companies on the viability >> of their autonomous vehicle plans. “At best, they may be able to >> create a system that functions under certain limited scenarios. It >> will not be fully autonomous in 2020 or anytime in the next several >> years.” >> >> What’s changed? Self-driving cars—and their associated building blocks >> such as machine learning, computer vision, and LIDAR—continue to >> improve, but executives other than Musk have been admitting that >> reports of their impending deployment were greatly exaggerated. [...] >> >> Yet the precise business models these companies will use on driverless >> cars remain murky. What’s more, this lack of clarity comes partially >> by design; for now, there’s more money to be made on the idea of >> driverless cars than on the vehicles themselves. [...]

May 18, 2019

Come insegnare Intelligenza artificiale in terza media

by don Luca Peyron

Un tema che ritorna e che so nel cuore di numerosi nexiani. Un buongiorno? Vedremo. Buona domenica Dl https://www.milanofinanza.it/amp/news/come-insegnare-intelligenza-artificia…

May 18, 2019

Re: [nexa] Device non-neutrality

by Stefano Quintarelli

"ma lo fanno per noi"... On 18/05/2019 06:35, Antonio Casilli wrote: > > Italy opens antitrust probe into Google because of a rejected Android Auto app > 4 comments > > Enel Group says Google refused to allow a mapping app for finding charging stations > https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/17/18629912/google-android-auto-italy-antit… > > "Google allows third-party developers to develop Android Auto-compatible versions of their apps, but only if they offer media or messaging services. Enel X Recharge is mostly dedicated to helping drivers find charging stations for electric cars." > -- reserve your meeting with me at http://cal.quintarelli.it

May 18, 2019

Boeing 737 Max Simulators Are in High Demand. They Are Flawed. - The New York Times

by Alberto Cammozzo

<https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/17/business/boeing-737-max-simulators.html> [...] In recent weeks, Boeing has been developing a fix to the system, known as MCAS. As part of that work, the company tried to test on a simulator how the updated system would perform, including by replicating the problems with the doomed Ethiopian Airlines flight. It recreated the actions of the pilots on that flight, including taking manual control of the plane as outlined by Boeing’s recommended procedures. When MCAS activates erroneously, pilots are supposed to turn off the electricity to a motor that allows the system to push the plane toward the ground. Then, pilots need to crank a wheel to right the plane. They have limited time to act. Editors’ Picks The Best Green Salad in the World The Last Five Glamour Shots Locations in the United States >From ‘Smallville’ to a Sex Cult: The Fall of the Actress Allison Mack On the Ethiopian flight, the pilots struggled to turn the wheel while the plane was moving at a high speed, when there is immense pressure on the tail. The simulators did not properly match those conditions, and Boeing pilots found that the wheel was far easier to turn than it should have been. Regulators are now trying to determine what training will be required. When the Max was introduced, Boeing believed that pilots did not need experience on the flight simulators, and the Federal Aviation Administration agreed. Many pilots learned about the plane on iPads. And they were not informed about the anti-stall system. The limited training was a selling point of the plane. It can cost airlines tens of millions of dollars to maintain and operate flight simulators over the life of an aircraft. After the first crash, Boeing gave airlines and pilots a full rundown of MCAS. But the company and regulators said that additional training was not necessary. Simply knowing about the system would be sufficient. In a tense meeting with the American Airlines pilots union after the crash, a Boeing vice president, Mike Sinnett, said he was confident that pilots were equipped to deal with problems, according to an audio recording review by The New York Times. A top Boeing test pilot, Craig Bomben, agreed, saying, “I don’t know that understanding the system would have changed the outcome of this.” [Before Ethiopian crash, Boeing resisted pilots’ calls for aggressive steps on 737 Max.] Since the Ethiopian Airlines disaster in March, lawmakers and regulators are taking a closer look at the training procedures for the 737 Max, and whether they should be more robust. At a congressional hearing this week, the acting head of the F.A.A., Daniel Elwell, testified that MCAS should “have been more adequately explained.” Boeing said on Thursday that it had completed its fix to the 737 Max. Along with changes to the anti-stall system, the fix will include additional education for pilots. Subscribe to With Interest Catch up and prep for the week ahead with this newsletter of the most important business insights, delivered Sundays. The company still has to submit the changes to regulators, who will need to approve them before the plane can start flying again. The updates are not expected to include training on simulators, but the F.A.A. and other global regulators could push to require it. “The F.A.A. is aware that Boeing Company is working with the manufacturers of Boeing 737 Max flight simulators,” a spokesman for the agency said in an emailed statement. “The F.A.A. will review any proposed adjustments as part of its ongoing oversight of the company’s efforts to address safety concerns.” Airlines have already been pushing to get more simulators and develop their own training. Pilots at American Airlines, which began asking for simulators when they started flying the planes, ratcheted up their requests after the Lion Air crash. Regardless of what the F.A.A. requires, the union believes pilots should get the experience. A spokesman for the airline said it had ordered a simulator that would be up and running by December. “We value simulators in this situation,” said Mr. Tajer. “It’s not a condition of the Max flying again, but it is something we want.”

May 18, 2019

Device non-neutrality

by Antonio Casilli

Italy opens antitrust probe into Google because of a rejected Android Auto app 4 comments Enel Group says Google refused to allow a mapping app for finding charging stations https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/17/18629912/google-android-auto-italy-antit… "Google allows third-party developers to develop Android Auto-compatible versions of their apps, but only if they offer media or messaging services. Enel X Recharge is mostly dedicated to helping drivers find charging stations for electric cars. " -- Antonio A. Casilli Associate Professor (HDR), Telecom ParisTech Member, Interdisciplinary Institute for Innovation (i3 UMR 9217 CNRS) Associate Member, LACI-IIAC (EHESS) Faculty Fellow, Nexa Center for Internet & Society

May 18, 2019