[LIS-Forum] Interesting Reads – 2018-09-21

Mohan Hr hrmohan at gmail.com
Fri Sep 21 01:10:05 IST 2018


*Interesting Reads – 2018-09-21*



*Contents*



*Articles*



   - The world's most prolific writer is a Chinese algorithm
   - Data Localisation: A matter of rule of law and economic development
   - Should India Stay Away from the Fourth Revolution?
   - Science Daily Email Newsletters
   - Not the apple of his eye: Steve Jobs' daughter recalls a complicated
   man
   - The right trousers: robotic pants could help disabled walk again
   - Antarctic glacier gets new name in wake of sexual harassment finding
   - How Roblox Is Training The Next Generation Of Gaming Entrepreneurs
   - The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation says there's opportunity in
   these 13 areas to make the world better
   - The ABCs of Detecting and Preventing Phishing



*Events / Announcements*



   - SETS - National Workshop on “Blockchain Technology, Platforms and
   Security”
   - CONNECT-2018: Conference and Exposition on Information and
   Communication Technology (ICT)
   - ISDA-18: The 18th International Conference on Intelligent Systems
   Design and Applications
   - Webinar – Exploring the ROI of Blockchain Technology
   - USAID Grant Funding for Development Innovation Ventures
   - ICDCN-2019: The 20th International Conference on Distributed Computing
   and Networking
   - Mobile app and 2.7 lakh computers for free practice for JEE, UGC tests



Read at http://infoforuse.blogspot.com/2018/09/interesting-reads-201
8-09-21.html



Archives at http://infoforuse.blogspot.com/2018/05/interesting-reads-arc
hives.html



*======================================================== *

*Articles*



*The world's most prolific writer is a Chinese algorithm*



“Inflatable duck baby pool with canopy.” “Hot selling colourful temporary
full arm tattoo for men.” “Splendid reusable dog pee pad (minimum order:
500).”



Load up the homepage for e-commerce giant, Alibaba – a wholesale shopping
site that’s more or less China’s answer to eBay – and you’ll find images
and descriptions of anything you could wish to buy, from kitchen sinks to
luxury yachts. Every item has a short headline, but most are little more
than lists of keywords: hand-picked search terms to ensure this USB phone
charger or that pair of flame-resistant overalls float to the top in a sea
of thousands upon thousands of similar items.



It sounds simple, but there’s an art to this copywriting. Yet Alibaba
recently revealed that it is training an artificial intelligence to
generate these item descriptions automatically – and they’re not the only
ones. Over the last few decades AIs have been taught to compose music,
paint pictures and write (bad) poems. Now they’re writing advertising copy,
20,000 lines of it a second.



Full post
<http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20180829-the-worlds-most-prolific-writer-is-a-chinese-algorithm>



*Data Localisation: A matter of rule of law and economic development*



A global Internet with unrestrained global flow of data has been held up as
the ideal. However, while there is great value in it, there are also other,
often competing, imperatives of ensuring rule of law over the internet and
data, and using local and national data for encouraging domestic digital
industry and for policy making and governance. It is no longer possible to
speak of 'free flow of data' in any absolute sense, neither can 'data
localisation' be instinctively condemned. Different data need different
treatments, which can lie on a spectrum between these two ends. This policy
brief by IT for Change examines how 'data localisation' is often necessary
for ensuring the rule of law and for digital industrialisation of
developing countries. Going forward we need more nuanced views on the
issues of global free flow of data and data localisation.



Policy Brief
<https://itforchange.net/sites/default/files/1584/Data_localisation.pdf>

Related story
<https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/bringing-data-under-the-rule-of-law/article24988755.ece>:
Bringing data under the rule of law





*Should India Stay Away from the Fourth Revolution?*



Critics of the Fourth Industrial Revolution raise many concerns against it
mainly alleging job losses and rise in inequality. This article debunks
these concerns by emphasizing how the same concerns would have been raised
at the time of the First Industrial Revolution as well. We then see what
happened subsequently benefitting from our knowledge of history. We then go
on to examine why things unfolded that way tracing the reasons to the very
roots of human behavior. These factors still remain the same, therefore
there is every reason to expect that like the previous three, the Fourth
Revolution too would be a productivity enhancing one and make lives better
for all of us. Any job losses would at best be transitory. We then finally
argue that whether she wants the Fourth or not, it will impact India and
her economy carried by global trade and capital flows. Thus the only option
in reality for her is to prepare herself and not shun it. India is already
uniquely poised to reap the benefits. All she needs to do to minimize the
temporary pain is to ease out its business regulations – make it less
costly for entrepreneurs to hire labor because it is basic economic logic
that if hiring labor is more expensive than hiring machines, an
entrepreneur will hire a machine and vice versa. Another critical thing she
must do is to develop her human resource development and incentivize
innovations.



For full paper <https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3084256>



*Science Daily Email Newsletters*



Science Daily offers free access to the latest news via email newsletters
that you can subscribe to at no charge,  Each item contained in a
newsletter includes the story's headline, summary, and link back to the
full-text version on the Science Daily web site. Newsletters will be
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like to use to receive the newsletters.



It also offers more than 400 specific email newsletters in a variety of
topics. Click on the headings below to jump to the full list of topics
within each of Science Daily's main sections. The link to the sign-up form
for each topical email newsletter is marked by an email letter icon.



To subscribe visit <https://www.sciencedaily.com/newsletters.htm>



*Not the apple of his eye: Steve Jobs' daughter recalls a complicated man*



Lisa Brennan-Jobs didn’t escape her father's dark side – he could be
controlling and neglectful, she reveals in a telling yet tender memoir that
seeks to set the record straight.



When Apple co-founder Steve Jobs told his daughter Lisa Brennan-Jobs that
the Apple Lisa computer was not named after her, it was not a cruel lie to
a little girl, she insists – he was teaching her "not to ride on his
coat-tails".



When Jobs refused to install heat in her bedroom, he was not being callous,
she says – he was instilling in her a "value system". When a dying Jobs
told Brennan-Jobs that she smelled "like a toilet", it was not a hateful
snipe, she maintains – he was merely showing her "honesty".



It's a strange thing to write a devastating memoir with damning details but
demand that these things are not, in fact, damning at all. Yet that's
exactly what Brennan-Jobs has done in a new memoir, Small Fry. Thanks to a
dozen other biographies and films, Apple obsessives already know the broad
outlines of Brennan-Jobs' early life: Jobs fathered her at 23, then denied
paternity despite a DNA match, and gave little in financial or emotional
support even as he became a god of the early computing era. Small Fry is
Brennan-Jobs' effort to reclaim her story for herself.



Full story
<https://www.smh.com.au/technology/not-the-apple-of-his-eye-steve-jobs-daughter-recalls-a-complicated-man-20180903-p501gj.html>



*The right trousers: robotic pants could help disabled walk again*



Robo-trousers that help people stand up, walk upstairs and get out and
about are being designed by British scientists in a government-funded
scheme to help the elderly and disabled stay mobile. The University of
Bristol is developing "smart trousers" with artificial muscles which give
frail people bionic strength so they can live independently for longer.

Full story
<https://www.smh.com.au/technology/the-right-trousers-robotic-pants-could-help-disabled-walk-again-20180917-p5046c.html>



*Antarctic glacier gets new name in wake of sexual harassment finding*


The changes sparked by the #MeToo movement have now reached Antarctic
glaciers.



Last week, the Marchant Glacier was renamed the Matataua Glacier in the
wake of a finding of sexual harassment against its namesake, geologist
David Marchant. The change was made by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names
(BGN) in Reston, Virginia, an interdepartment agency of the U.S. government.



“Boston University determined David Marchant violated Title IX regulations,
and U.S. policy says geographic features are to be named for people who
have made extraordinary or outstanding contributions to the advancement of
polar science,” says Kelly Falkner, director of the Office of Polar
Programs at the National Science Foundation in Alexandria, Virginia, the
lead agency for the U.S. Antarctic program. “Boston University found
Marchant created an environment that was hostile and harmful to fellow
researchers, particularly women. That behavior is unacceptable and impedes
scientific progress,” Falkner adds.



Full story
<http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/09/antarctica-glacier-gets-new-name-wake-sexual-harassment-finding>

Related story
<http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/10/disturbing-allegations-sexual-harassment-antarctica-leveled-noted-scientist>:
Disturbing allegations of sexual harassment in Antarctica leveled at noted
scientist

Related story
<http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/11/boston-university-concludes-geologist-sexually-harassed-student>:
Boston University concludes geologist sexually harassed student

Related story
<http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/09/world-s-largest-general-science-society-oks-stripping-honors-scientists-found-be-sexual>:
World’s largest general science society OKs stripping honors from
scientists found to be sexual harassers

Related story
<http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/09/nih-director-expresses-concern-offers-no-new-policy-sexual-harassment-grantees>:
NIH director expresses concern but offers no new policy on sexual
harassment for grantees

Related story
<http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/09/former-head-climate-change-panel-stand-trial-harassment>:
Former head of climate change panel to stand trial for harassment (in India)



*How Roblox Is Training The Next Generation Of Gaming Entrepreneurs*



Roblox, based in San Mateo, California, is a combination gaming and social
media platform. There are millions of games that players—mostly young
people—can explore with their friends, chatting and interacting all the
way. But what’s unique about Roblox is that the gaming company isn’t in the
business of making games—it just provides the tools and the platform for
kids to make their own unique creations. Most impressively, Roblox has
turned its tween audience into an army of fresh-faced entrepreneurs.



Full story
<https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2018/09/17/how-roblox-is-training-the-next-generation-of-gaming-entrepreneurs/>



*The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation says there's opportunity in these 13
areas to make the world better*



In 2017, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation published its first annual
"Goalkeepers" report, highlighting global data to show that humanity is
headed in the right direction.



The second annual report, released recently, focuses on the "formidable
challenge" of improving the lives of people in low-income countries, from
reducing poverty to increasing access to safe sanitation, with a particular
emphasis on African countries.



Full story
<https://www.businessinsider.in/The-Bill-and-Melinda-Gates-Foundation-says-theres-opportunity-in-these-13-areas-to-make-the-world-better/articleshow/65851350.cms>



*The ABCs of Detecting and Preventing Phishing*


Have you ever considered that you could be a target for phishing attacks?



It’s not a new issue, but it’s a rising threat. Phishing attackers have
been constantly growing and improving their techniques. Let’s see how you
can actually start preventing phishing, since cybercriminal strategies
became so convincing that you can barely distinguish them from harmless
communications.



And all it takes to fall into their trap is a fraction of a second.



Full post
<https://heimdalsecurity.com/blog/abcs-detecting-preventing-phishing/>



*Events / Announcements*



*SETS - National Workshop on “Blockchain Technology, Platforms and
Security”*



Society for Electronic Transactions and Security (SETS) is organising a
National Workshop on “Blockchain Technology, Platforms and Security” on
12th October 2018 at Chennai.



Brochure
<http://www.setsindia.in/PdfDocs/Blockchain_Technology_Platforms_and_Security.pdf>

Contact: Dr. P. Nageswara Rao, Workshop Coordinator. Email:
workshop at setsindia.net  Mobile: 9884143131, Landline: 044-66632506



*CONNECT-2018: Conference and Exposition on Information and Communication
Technology (ICT)*


CONNECT – the flagship event on Information and Communication Technology
has been focusing on the Tamil Nadu’s leadership position in the ICT
sector. The IT corridor in Chennai was conceptualized under CONNECT 2001
giving job opportunities to lakhs of people.



CONNECT-2018 on the theme “Accelerating Progress: Inclusive Digital Growth”
is being organised  during 9-10 October 2018 at Hotel Feathers, Chennai



Website: https://ciiconnect.org

Contact: contact Ms P Diwya at p.diwya at cii.in  / 044-42444555 (541)



*The 18th International Conference on Intelligent Systems Design and
Applications*



ISDA 2018 is co-organized by Machine Intelligence Research Labs (MIR Labs),
and will take place December 6-8, 2018 at VIT Vellore.



Last date for paper  submission: 30th Sep 2018



Website <http://www.mirlabs.org/isda18/>



*Webinar – Exploring the ROI of Blockchain Technology*



The World Economic Forum is forecasting blockchain to account for up to 10%
of global GDP by 2027, and Innovators like you are hungry to know: will
blockchain live up to its hype? Find out in our next Now Being Served
webinar – Exploring the ROI of Blockchain Technology.   You’ll hear from
top Forrester analysts and IBM Blockchain clients, learning how companies
in in various industries are creating blockchain-based business models to
transform the way they work. The webinar is scheduled on 27th Sep 2018  at
Noon EST



To regiter
<http://content.emm.ibmmail.com/emessageIRS/servlet/IRSL?v=5&a=10245&r=1186507&m=72&l=4&e=2&x=2458471.0>



*USAID Grant Funding for Development Innovation Ventures*



USAID has relaunched its open innovation program, Development Innovation
Ventures (DIV), and is now accepting grant applications for products,
technologies, services, or applications that can scale breakthrough
solutions to critical global development challenges to improve millions of
lives.



Proposals for funding are accepted year-round across three stages, from any
type of organization, in any country in which USAID operates. Development
Innovation Ventures offers three tiers of startup financing:



Stage 1: Proof of Concept ideas can receive up to $200,000 in seed funding
over 3 years

Stage 2: Testing and Positioning for Scale applicants can get $200,000 to
$1,500,000 in supporting grants for 3 years

Stage 3: Scaling solutions can ask for $1,500,000 to $5,000,000 in
investments over 5 years



In addition to the donor funding listed above, DIV provides $1,500,000 for
research reports and evaluations that generate rigorous evidence of an
innovation’s impact and potential for expansion.



More details <http://www.ictworks.org/usaid-div-grant-funding>



*ICDCN-2019: The 20th International Conference on Distributed Computing and
Networking*



The 20th International Conference on Distributed Computing and Networking
(ICDCN 2019), to be held between Jan 4-7, 2019 at Indian Institute of
Sciences, Bangalore, India will have a workshop on security privacy and
dependability in Smart and Connected Communities titled PerSeC3.



Deadline for workshop paper submission: 30th Sep 2018



Website: https://events.csa.iisc.ac.in/icdcn2019/workshops.htm



*Mobile app and 2.7 lakh computers for free practice for JEE, UGC tests*



The National Testing Agency (NTA) has launched a mobile application to
enable the JEE aspirants and the UGC-NET candidates prepare for their tests
Engineering aspirants can prepare for the upcoming Joint Entrance
Examination-Main (JEE-Main) by taking mock tests on their smartphones.
Higher Education students gearing up for the University Grants
Commission-National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) can also take mock tests
ahead of their examinations to be held in December this year. The National
Testing Agency (NTA) has launched a mobile application to enable the JEE
aspirants and the UGC-NET candidates prepare for their tests using their
mobile phones. The mobile application can be downloaded from the play
store. Students, who do not have any smartphone or computer at home, can
also practice for the two competitive examinations at the test practice
centre, set up by the NTA in a total of 622 districts across the country.



For registration and more details visit https://www.nta.ac.in



For mobile app visit https://play.google.com/store/
apps/details?id=com.nationaltestingagency



*Archives of Interesting Reads  *



To access the past posts of Interesting Reads, pl. visit

http://infoforuse.blogspot.in/2018/05/interesting-reads-archives.html



*Feedback*



We will be pleased to have your feedback on the “Interesting Reads” posts
being sent once in five days.



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With regards

HR Mohan
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