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With the growing popularity of Clubhouse and Houseparty, is it possible for new contenders to enter the space and thrive? For this story I interviewed former Everipedia CPO and Topia CEO Daniel Liebeskind, Billboard-charting Artist Kosha Dillz, and Clubhouse Journalist, Nicole Behnam. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve seen the dramatic rise of new social platforms such as Houseparty, Clubhouse, Spaces, and now Facebook’s competitor feature, Live Audio Rooms, which will be available this summer, according to . newly announced The Verge A $4 BIllion Playing Field... Facebook intends to first roll out the new feature to groups and public figures, similar to how Twitter introduced Spaces to its community, as a beta test, eventually making its way into a Messenger integration. As a verified public figure on Twitter, I too, been granted access to Spaces, and am still seeing difficulties with Twitter’s newest feature in competition with Clubhouse, recently , according to a recent Entrepreneur article. valued at $4 billion “ ,” Nicole Behnam, founder of Beyond Media and the premiere journalist on Clubhouse told me via email. I know people will debate this valuation, but $4 billion seems like a cheap price to pay for a priceless community Behnam regularly conducts interviews with authors, researchers, celebrities, and experts on various motivational topics, previously hosting rooms exclusively interviewing figures like Jesse Itzler, Shark Tank’s Barbara Corcoran, Julian Edelman, Angela Duckworth, Maz Jobrani, Brendon Burchard, and Molly Bloom. Her most recent room, " took place Thursday night, with over 600 people in it. Moderating the room, Behnam brought in New York Times bestselling author and transformational journalist, Neil Strauss, where speakers such as myself, comedian Leah Lamarr, technology attorney Matt Bilinsky, among others were part of the two-hour conversation. Addressing Childhood Trauma" Recently, Behnam began regularly hosting FBI Negotiation Tactics with Chris Voss, while simultaneously helping launch the first comedy show on the Clubhouse platform, alongside Lamarr. She has since partnered with OverheardLA to continue producing comedy shows on the platform. Behnam officially became a household name on Clubhouse following the success of the first-ever Clubhouse Passover Seder back in March. The all-inclusive, diverse “ ” was sponsored by Buzzfeed’s Tasty, and produced by Randi Zuckerberg, with Behnam and  Lamarr hosting it.  The event benefited the non-profit organization, Value Culture, founded by Adam Swig. Night of 1,000 Jewish Stars Special guests included actress (The Big Bang Theory), , Billboard charting artist and rapper, , Holocaust survivor , , , among many others. Dillz, recently interviewed by , Worldstar, and Variety went viral for his content that started in Value Culture on Clubhouse. Dillz is most known for bringing the first Holocaust survivors to the platform (and into Value Culture), along with a larger Jewish community to the platform and into Value Culture, which has since grown to 3,700 members. Mayim Bialik Rabbi David Wolpe Kosha Dillz Sami Steigmann Michael Rapaport Jeff Garlin TMZ The result of Behnam and Dillz' efforts, with the help of those supporting their respective clubs, is Clubhouse seeing a larger increase of the Jewish community signing up. “ ,” Dillz told me in an email, adding that it’s time to “ .” The rapper recently shared an older video of him rap-battling the late DMX, also via Twitter from a special event celebrating DMX's life. I hope we can continue to bring on stories that impact tens of thousands, yet also shed light on Anti-Semitism and bigotry bring together marginalized communities all across the board sharing a photo In Facebook’s recent announcement, the Clubhouse competitor will allow users to record their conversations and distribute them (privacy trigger, cough), and eventually charge individuals for access to these rooms, either through a subscription or one-time fee. Education and Live Events For example, event planners, like VSummits, highlighted in , are creating worlds for corporate events and music festivals, while educators, schools, and universities are creating worlds to host their classrooms, virtual field trips, job fairs, and study groups. Forbes RedRex, a platform that allows companies and/or individuals to create digital buildings, floors, rooms, and walls in a way that reimagines remote collaboration, is one such platform, which I recently took part in last month for the Quest Academy event, where I found myself in a classroom speaking alongside founder and CEO, , and Global Minnesota President and former Minnesota Secretary of State, . Pop Culture Hero Coalition Chase Masterson Mark Ritchie Theater companies and ticketing platforms, such as are creating immersive, ticketed, interactive experiences for consumers. I reached out to its CEO, Ritesh Patel,  via email, who intends to provide his feedback in the coming days. The Ticket Fairy Regardless of which platform you support and the reasons behind it, it’s certainly refreshing to see these types of innovations come to light, as each seems to offer users their own “unique benefit.” But for social platforms that existed before this “audio phenomenon,” both Dillz and Behnam are optimistic. “ ,” Behnam told me. I think that social platforms that existed before the audio phenomenon will ultimately survive, because of their other features “However, I think it’s going to be incredibly difficult for a native audio app to rise up and challenge Clubhouse at this point.” Dillz, who continues to remain active on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Clubhouse shared his optimism of wanting to be proactive in trying other apps to “dip into.” “I want to connect with people by all means necessary, so it is my job to make sure I do!” he shared with me when asked about alternative apps that could emerge. As of today, has 10,000 users hosting events every day, with Fortune 500 companies and small businesses using the platform to host daily workspaces that foster camaraderie, creativity, and productivity. Topia In an interview with Topia’s CEO, Daniel Liebeskind, I admittingly asked some pretty tough questions, rightfully so, as Topia seems to be entering a highly competitive, harsh, and fickle arena with some pretty top contenders. In comparison to platforms like Houseparty, Clubhouse, or RedRex, Topia is much more than events, Liebeskind told me. “It’s a much different experience than your typical virtual meeting platform. We provide a more human experience by providing a space for communities to come together, and strengthen the bonds between individuals and small groups.” How It Works Liebeskind went on to describe that the audio and video aspects of the Topia platform are “proximity-based,” so when you are near another person or group of people, the user’s camera and sound fade into your view, and fade away when you leave.” The CEO went on to explain the platform’s ingenuity, by encouraging creativity and exploration in “world-building”: “[The platform] allows [users] to transition from conversation to conversation as we do in real-world social spaces. Additionally, Topia worlds are unique to each user. Anyone can go and create a Topia world for free, and populate it with things that interest them or by using the templates and assets available on our platform.” It’s certainly a much different user experience, than the typical virtual meeting platform we are accustomed to. “ .” We enable a more human experience by providing a space for communities to come together and strengthen the bonds between individuals and small groups. The audio/video aspects of Topia are proximity-based; when you are near another person or group of people, their camera and sound fade into your view and fade away when you leave With today’s virtual meeting and webinar platforms on the market, whether it is Zoom, GoToMeeting, Webex, etc., most of these are considered “one-to-many” and “few-to-many” platforms, where only one person can talk at a time and the ‘meeting’ needs to be facilitated. Topia, according to Libeskind, is a “many-to-many”, where users have the agency to navigate between conversations. “ .” We have found that this provides for a much more dynamic and engaging experience From my observation, the platform seems to encourage creativity and exploration of cyberspace which allows users to transition from conversation to conversation, as we do in real-world social spaces. Libeskind also shared with me that  Topia worlds are unique to each user, where anyone can go and create a Topia World for free, and populate it with things that interest them or by using the templates and assets available on our platform. In August 2020, Topia was selected to co-host Burning Man, hosting over 25,000 people during the course of the festival. “The organizers liked it so much that we were asked to co-host Burning Man again for 2021, and we expect it to be much bigger and even more interactive than last year’s festival.” One of Topia’s first-time hosting an event, also happens to be one of Libeskind's favorites: “One of our favorite, and most endearing events, was also one of our first. The non-profit group Reimagine, an organization dedicated to celebrations of life, provided us the first opportunity to show Topia in action. Attendees of the event were free to walk around and engage other attendees one-on-one or in small groups. Afterwards the organizers told us that it was the most “human” event they had been able to have since the pandemic started. Their feedback told us that we were on the right track and we’ve been growing ever since.” We Stand On the Shoulders of Giants: What Have We Learned From Our Predecessors? When it comes to Topia’s growth, there are certain lessons to be learned from our current social media giants, ranging from Facebook and Twitter, to Houseparty and Clubhouse. Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter Today’s social media landscape, unfortunately, is quite saturated, which is a double-edged sword for platforms like Topia. “ ,” Liebeskind argues. This ‘real’ experience, according to the CEO, is one that “ .” Sadly, most of the platforms we consider ‘social’ media do not enable ‘real’ social experience enables creativity and individuality, while providing an empathic experience where people meet face-to-face and create lasting and meaningful relations “ ,” Liebeskind explains. When Zuckerberg and Dorsey built Facebook and Twitter, respectively, they used iterative product decision-making to optimize for an attention economy “Topia is being built upon the shoulders of the many world-changing platforms that came before it. We have the advantage of being able to take learnings from those companies to create a social platform that truly fosters human connection and optimizes for creators and influencers, who bring people together.” He continued: “They are often about broadcasting information, rather than creating spaces for human connection. The internet is saturated with one-to-many and text-based interaction platforms. Outside of some multiplayer games, the Internet is devoid of opportunities to have shared experiences and create memories together, which are the basis of real friendships and relationships.” Unlike Facebook and Twitter, Liebeskind told me that Topia takes elements of multiplayer games, and replaces all of the gaming content with spatial video chat. “Anyone can customize a space and bring people together inside of interactive experiences,” he continued. “ .” There is no hiding behind a screen name, comment, or share; and most importantly, there is no algorithm that creates an echo chamber of polarization to optimize for attention and engagement The major problem, which Liebeskind points out with today’s platforms, is that they don’t facilitate human experiences or the formation of real relationships, which are based on memories in a virtual world. “I think for what these social media platforms do, they do it well. However, forming meaningful relationships is easier to do if you can do it in a virtual space that provides real-time audio and video capabilities.” Zoom and Other Video-Conferencing Platforms With video-conferencing platforms such as Zoom and Skype, which have become essential to our workforce since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a major difference that Topia brings to the table, according to Liebeskind. “Topia is not video-conferencing. When we think about video conferencing platforms, there are one-to-many, or few-to-many, where only one person at a time can talk and large groups require a facilitator. In Topia, it’s many-to-many where everyone in a Topia World has the agency to explore and meet anyone else in the world, at any time.” Everipedia and Decentralized Knowledge Bases Interestingly enough, Liebeskind was the at Everipedia, who led the development of the Everipedia platform towards its goal of creating a modernized encyclopedia experience and the world’s largest knowledge base. former Chief Product Officer “Everipedia was another stop along my journey of incentivizing creators to participate in a community-driven platform. We built a platform that economically incentivized the crowd to collaboratively build a decentralized knowledge base. With Topia, we’re empowering influencers, artists, and experienced designers with our creator ecosystem.” Privacy, Privacy, Privacy With privacy laws such as California’s Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), today’s social media apps need to take lessons from Facebook about the importance of guarding user privacy. “With Topia, all of our users are in control of their own data,” Libeskind interjected. “We do not collect or sell our user data. In fact, by default, our video streams are peer-2-peer, meaning the video streams never touch a server and, instead, travel directly between browsers through an end-to-end encrypted tunnel.”

Is the Drop In Audio Industry Already Too Crowded for New Contenders? 

Dogecoin: Everything You Wanted To Know About This Memecoin Making A Mockery of 'Serious' Crypto

My name is Matthew E. O'Neil. I have made over 9,000 edits for Everipedia which makes me the #1 ranked editor all time for the company. I graduated with a B.S. from Colorado Christian University in 2001 and a M.B.A from Regis University in 2004. Both universities are located in Colorado. As of May 2020,I am ranked #1 all time in the number of edits at Everipedia under the user name 'ore1pnq21bfu'. I am in contact with boxing promoters Top Rank, Don King Productions and Mayweather Promotions. I have been in contact with TMZ and Mick Magsino of Reuters. I competed for Clark County Commission in 2006 against Rory Reid and lost. Reid was later accused of campaign finance infractions but was never formally charged. I was interviewed by Tony Cooke of the Las Vegas Sun when I ran for Clark County Commission. Everipedia was founded in December 2014 and began as a small project of and in Kazemian's college dormitory room at (UCLA). The encyclopedia launched in January 2015. Travis Moore joined the company as a co-founder in the winter of 2015 and joined as a co-founder in July 2015; he has since resigned his position. Sam Kazemian Theodor Forselius University of California, Los Angeles Mahbod Moghadam As of 2020, the company has 15 full time workers out of its Santa, Monica, California business address. Larry Sanger has been affiliated with the company. Sanger is one of the founders of Wikipedia. The site's name is a of the words "everything" and "encyclopedia". The company was formally headquartered in Westwood, Los Angeles, California near UCLA. The site depicts itself as "the encyclopedia of everything" and formerly as "everyone's encyclopedia. "It has over 6 million pages and the site has been visited hundreds of millions of times. portmanteau Besides creating original content, I have also loaded videos to pre-existing Everipedia pages. I have interviewed world boxing champions DeMarcus Corley and Paul Vaden by phone. Corley competed against Floyd Mayweather in 2004. Mayweather is the richest athlete in history, and he has made more money than Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan.

Everipedia: Online Encylopedia With Over 6 Million Articles

Use Beta Distribution and Thompson Sampling to Beat The Multi-armed Bandit at the Casino

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has taken the forefront of conversations from employers across the globe. AI is helping organizations make incredible strides in efficiently handling mundane and repetitive tasks and freeing up valuable time and thought space that employees can use to exercise more creativity, solve complex problems, and otherwise focus on the bigger picture. Let’s take a look at some software companies utilizing AI to create enterprise solutions that will transform the workspace of the future. Twilio is a US-based cloud communications platform acting as a Ucaas service company. Twilio allows software developers to automatically make and receive phone calls, send and receive text messages, and carry out other communication tasks using its web service APIs (Application Programming Interfaces). Twilio About 20 years ago, communications platforms were a complex and expensive task, requiring proprietary hardware from various communications vendors. However, Twilio has enabled its customers to apply machine learning to live voice calls via Media Streams. Media Streams is a new set of APIs which enables developers to layer AI-based functionality, like natural language processing (NLP), keyword detection and sentiment analysis, on voice calls in real-time. This, then, reduces the stress of trying to keep up with customers, forgetting information about them and going through a repetitive task, as AI is known to sieve through data to avoid such. Darktrace is a UK-based, one of the world's leading cyber AI companies and the creator of Autonomous Response technology. Darktrace The Darktrace Cyber AI Analyst is a new technology designed to emulate human thought-patterns to consistently investigate cyber threats at the speed of light. With transformational effects for the security industry, first users of the Cyber AI Analyst reported a 92% decrease in the time required to investigate threats and provide conclusions to authorities. Hence, causing fewer worries and saving time to cover more workspaces. Featurespace is a UK-based provider of adaptive behavioral analytics technology for fraud and risk management in financial services & gaming. Featurespace Featurespace built the ARIC platform to outwit fraud attacks by thinking like each one of their customers. The ARIC platform uses quirk detection to study unusual behavioral data in real-time, spotting abnormalities to block any fraud attack as it happens. At the same time, Featurespace recognizes genuine customers without blocking their activity, therefore, reducing the number of real transactions mistakenly identified as fraud by over 70% and increasing business' profits. Catalyte is a workforce creation technology company and one of the fastest-growing providers of software engineering services in the United States. Catalyte Catalyte recently launched a platform named "Odyssey" which has a ground-breaking ability to transform technology workspaces. Relying on AI-based predictive modeling and enhanced analytics, Odyssey helps multinationals and mid-market enterprises birth high-functioning technology workforces that are distinct, native, cost-efficient and manageable. With the Odyssey platform, companies can now source for, train and deploy top-notch developer talents right under their nose. TopDevz is a US and Canada-based software company that offers other companies simple and complex software development services using elite-level developers, designers, project managers and QA testers in the United States and Canada on a project basis. TopDevz TopDevz is known for its work with global brands like Kraft, Invesco, Bose, Ferrari, W Hotels, TMZ, Urban Outfitters and Williams Sonoma by offering its AI-based hiring technology. In recent times, job openings have outpaced available workers by 17%, making the talent gap really wide. This is due to the frequent launching of new products and services in large scales to provide the needs of today’s consumers. This has caused difficulty for companies to deploy the solutions needed to keep up with demand, especially in the technology world. However, TopDevz has birthed TopDevz Academy which enables prospective talents to go through a testing process to prove that they are qualified for a particular project. This will then, avail potential developers the opportunity to sharpen their skills that need improvement through TopDevz academy before being contracted on a project. Hence, reducing the stress of making their employees go through avoidable stress. Babylon Health is a UK-based health service provider that serves remote consultations with doctors and medical experts via text and video messaging through its mobile application. Babylon Health The company’s approach to healthcare is to combine AI with the medical expertise of humans to deliver flawless access. Babylon's AI has been designed to act as a doctor to provide acquirable healthcare for millions at the click of their phones. It can comprehend and recognize different ways humans express their symptoms. Using this knowledge, added with a patient’s health history and current symptoms, it provides information on probable medical conditions and the quickest approach to it, therefore, reducing medical ignorance, increasing life expectancy and saving medical experts from avoidable stress. Onfido is a software company that aids identity recognition in various businesses using a photo-based identity document, a selfie, and artificial intelligence algorithms. Onfido Onfido makes aspiring employees snap a selfie and a picture of their passport, driver’s license, identity card, or one of 600 other forms of identification. They perform a liveness check by following on-screen instructions involving one of many actions and then, using optical character recognition, facial biometrics, criminal records, and other required records. Onfido processes and gives out a risk report showing the person’s identity status, hence, causing a non-rigorous output in making the workplace a haven. Healx is a UK-based biotechnology company integrating artificial intelligence with elite pharmacology to discover treatments for rare diseases. Healx Healx uses an AI-powered and patient-inspired service called Healnet to accelerates the research and creation of rare diseases treatments. Their AI drug discovery platform uses public and proprietary biomedical data and employs the best knowledge graph for rare diseases. Applying this technology with patient perception and drug discovery expertise, they have been able to discover different treatments with just a 30-member team and save lives. Conclusion The workspace is gradually going through an evolvement and this will, in years to come, increase in a geometrical rate due to the import of artificial intelligence. CEOs make more money, recruiters save energy, employees go through less stress and the masses are enjoying transitions in different facets of life. Hence, the transformation that comes with AI only caused a ripple effect in productivity in the industrial world.

8 Enterprise Software Companies Using Artificial Intelligence to Transform Workspace

Just another day selling my soul to the telecom companies. And also, I don’t care about our country’s future. *** This is satire. *** Many people I know are talking about this thing called “Net Neutrality.” They’ve gone through painstaking explanations as to why I should care about a “free internet” or should care about the fact that large corporations may be able to “throttle” my internet. And yet, I still don’t care. There are numerous reasons that I, the typical American consumer, don’t give a shit. Here are some of the reasons IDGAF about Net Neutrality. I’m Rich AF I don’t give a shit about Net Neutrality because I have money to throw around and I don’t care about spending hundreds of extra dollars a year just to be able to access “Bojack Horseman” on Netflix. I mean, I know I already pay for a subscription, but if Comcast wants more money to show me the thing I’m already paying for, who am I to argue? I love giving money to telecoms instead of spending it on unnecessary shit like food and housing! I Don’t Care About Free Speech Because I Have Nothing To Say It’s okay to me that it might be much easier for me to access FOX News than my independent, local news site that helps me keep a pulse on my community. It’s cool — I love the idea of letting people who still use IE6 decide what I consider important and what’s not so important that I should pay more for it. I mean, I know this is effectively censorship of anyone that isn’t willing or able to make a deal with the telecom companies to have their pages load at the same speed as these media giants’ sites… but that doesn’t affect me because I believe these conglomerate monopolies have my best interests at heart and definitely aren’t just trying to make the most money for their shareholders. They’re totally looking after the little person here! I Love It When Old, Out-Of-Touch Rich People Tell Me How I Should Use The Internet I’m cool without Net Neutrality because if a bunch of old dudes in the government who don’t even understand the basics of packet switching are into it, it works for me, too. Sure, it’ll prioritize sites owned by the big media companies instead of the websites I use to learn valuable skills or to motivate myself to be better — you know, sites like TED and Coursera, which are independently owned. It’s fine that the telecom companies are going to prioritize the sites that pay for speed, even though those sites showcase the Kardashians and not content that helps me become a better, more informed citizen. I Don’t Care If I Get No Traffic To My Own Site I was thinking about starting my own company, but I realized I’m never going to be able to compete since I am not owned by a big media company. Because my awesome site will be scaled back and isn’t part of a plan people pay for, it’s fine that my site will lay in the bowels of the internet, never to be discovered while people share more easily accessible content like stuff from TMZ.com. But that’s cool… we don’t need more competition and diversity in business in America. IDGAF If I Can’t Use Basic Sites In fact, because I’ve decided not to pay more for the “unlimited Google” package, the internet is basically useless to me now… so do whatever you want with it. I’m fine getting my news from late night comedy shows and Access Hollywood. I’m Fine Choosing My Service Provider Based On Whether They’re Going To Charge Me More For Hulu Their politics are shady at best. They have the crappiest connection of all the telecoms. Their customer service sucks. But, like, they charge $20 less than competitors for Hulu, and I’m really into “The Handmaid’s Tale.” I Never Plan To Access A Site That Disagrees With The Internet Service Provider’s Politics If my friends at Verizon tell me that the site I was accessing to learn more about social injustices leading to Black Lives Matter isn’t legitimate enough for them, then I trust they have my personal interest in mind and they’re looking out for me. You know, just like we all totally agree on whether it’s disrespectful for football players to kneel during the National Anthem. I trust they’re not going to use their power to thwart access to take a stance on a site that might espouse a controversial but perfectly legal opinion. Freedom of speech for all! You know, unless the telecom companies disagree with your views. I’m Down Giving Corporations Complete Control Over My Internet Use I don’t care about Net Neutrality because I’m totally fine with the idea that corporations can exercise control over everything I do on the internet. Who needs a free internet when I can rely on Comcast and Verizon, the same companies that charge me too much for cable and then bully me when I try to unsubscribe, to promote the sites they think are important and scale back the ones that aren’t? After all, it’s not like I’m trying to voice an unpopular opinion, possibly like the one in this very piece that could totally be scaled back if it’s not in line with what the telecoms say it should be. It’s All My Fault That Telecom Companies Have Refused To Innovate It’s fine for these telecom companies to make a few extra bucks on my dime… after all, it’s not like they could have kept up with the times and found new ways to innovate instead of lobbying the government to cater to their power structures in a way that helps them gain even more profit. I mean, just because Elon Musk is changing the world, it doesn’t mean Verizon can! And it’s definitely just a coincidence that the person pushing this vote is someone who directly worked for one of these companies that failed to keep up with the times. I Don’t Care About Poor People Who Don’t Have The Same Access I Do I fully understand and accept the argument that this is all about free choice… the freedom to choose what I want to pay for and deal with slower sites so that I don’t have the same access to information as someone who can pay more than me for the entire bundle. No matter that the digital divide is already massive between poor communities and wealthy ones, and that Net Neutrality ensures we all have equal access to the voices across the spectrum. My freedom to decide I don’t want to pay to for the broadband required to run the New York Times is more important than someone else’s freedom to ensure anyone in the U.S. has equal opportunity to access whatever content is important to them. Telecom Companies Already Own All TV, Why Not Let Them Own The Whole Internet, Too? It’s cool to me that when these companies have the authority to scale back services, they’ll want to own as many properties as possible, creating even more of a monopoly on content than the one we already have by purchasing some even more digital properties. And should I voice dissent or disagree with their views, I’m cool with knowing they can just shut me and my site out. But hey, I’m comfortable with the guy behind FOX News controlling how I use my internet. ! No political bias there I Believe My ISP When They Swear They Won’t Censor My Internet ISPs swear they won’t throttle, and I trust them in spite of the fact that there’s documented evidence of and having censored my service via throttling. You know, even in spite of all the corporate incentives to throttle every chance they can make a quick buck off of doing it. Because powerful corporations would NEVER use their power to and advance their own corporate agendas! AT&T Comcast effectively censor people In sum, I want you to know that I don’t care about freedom of speech. I don’t care that the telecom companies are already plotting to manipulate our every move, using the disbandment of Net Neutrality to find even more ways to take money out of the pockets of ordinary citizens. I don’t care about Net Neutrality because I don’t care about our country’s future. But if YOU do, then I urge you to visit , , and , and to participate in the on Dec. 7, 2017. Battle for the Net Dear FCC Go FCC Yourself Save Net Neutrality protests happening at Verizon stores nationwide Net Neutrality is an incredibly important matter of free speech. If my post resonates with you, please clap and share to spread the word. And please, don’t stop fighting for Net Neutrality.

I Don’t Care About Net Neutrality Because I’m Fine Letting Greedy Telecom Companies Decide How I…

Police departments around the country are generating more and more bodycam footage, and companies like (Taser) and other manufacturers are building software to help law enforcement wrangle what is essentially a . Axon big data problem with video Bodycam footage is often used as evidence, or at least as proof of a certain set of actions. But it can also be used to help identify suspects, piece together more evidence of a crime, and generally act as a source of knowledge. Today, the idea of going through evey second of body cam footage looking for known suspects is near impossible. That is where some machine learning can help. Let’s look at a quick and easy way to search through a massive collection of videos with a face. Let’s take this mugshot as an example. http://www.tmz.com/2017/07/11/shia-labeouf-arrest-bodycam-footage-savannah/ I’d like my software to search all the bodycam and security camera video I have for instances where this man appears. For developers of this kind of system, here’s a great, simple way to get started. The rest of us can try it pretty easily as well. Head over to and sign up. Follow the simple instructions to download and run Facebox (state-of-the-art facial recognition). ~ 10 minutes http://machinebox.io Use the console or the RESTful API to teach Facebox that this is . ~5 seconds Shia LaBeouf Find some bodycam footage you want to test. ~ 3 minutes Use the Facebox console or RESTful API to post a frame (or the entire video). ~ 1 minute Behold the results: A screenshot of a UI I built to test images with Facebox Using Facebox and a bit of integration work, you can build software that lets law enforcement agencies quickly find footage in which a given suspect appears. They might want to search by the person’s name, or by a sample image using . They may even want to to be immediately notified if a suspect is within field of view of a security camera. visual similartiy search capabilities stream live footage to Facebox With state-of-the-art machine learning and facial recognition, a whole world of possibilities opens up.

Use a mugshot to automatically identify suspects in all bodycam video

And it sounds very much like AirPods I turned my iPhone into an “audio notification radio” for 6 months and it convinced me that AirPods-like devices are the wearable of the . More on that soon, I’ll start with a bit of background first. future The evolution of media has been influenced by the hardware used to consume them. Visual media (text, images and videos) took over almost completely thanks to the many displays we use and carry around. Visual media can be very fast to consume but they often require a lot of attention and many times, expensive “context switches” too. One has to invest a burst of attention into a visual piece of content to decide if it’s important enough to be consumed at a precise moment. Push Notifications are the perfect example. It takes the same amount of attention to check an important WhatsApp notification from your partner or friend, as it takes to check a notification reminding you to use an app you’ve forgotten you had. Clearly those notifications were not created equal and differ immensely in priority, but they will still get the same resource allocation while you check them. With audio it works a bit differently. Humans have the ability to filter and prioritize audio information from multiple sources, and even switch between them (see ). I found myself many times responding to someone who was talking to me during an important task, only after I had finished the task. Our brain is capable of processing audio info, prioritizing it, and storing it for an ulterior execution. the cocktail party effect So a few months ago, I decided to run a little experiment to check if those natural capabilities could be used to consume information more efficiently and protect our attention. 6 months with audio notifications For this little side project, I chose to focus on 2 huge attention drainers: news and messaging. The idea with news, was to check if I could absorb and filter information on the go through audio, without having to look at a feed or notifications. With messaging, I just wanted to reach one step closer towards “hands-free communication” using voice messaging, and see how it would feel. On a side note, I’m more focused on the side in the past few years, but I still really enjoy coding side projects on my spare time. This was the perfect occasion, so here it is. product In order to be able to “hear” notifications, I used a nice little hack. I replaced the default iOS notification sound with a spoken version of the notification’s text (read by a synthesized voice). That was it, I could then start hearing my notifications. Then came content. My friend Shay Erlichmen decided to help me build the server part that would fetch headlines from RSS feeds, synthesize and send audio push notifications to the iOS devices. For the messaging part, the server would do just about the same, except that it would just pass the audio coming from the users’ voice messages. Quickly, all was up and running. See how it sounds in the video below. After 6 months of using the app, here is what happened in increasing order of interest: I stopped using the messaging part after about a month. though. It just became annoying to open my phone and record a reply message; this “non hands-free” functionality felt terrible. This will soon be a problem of the past though, but more on that later. Listening to incoming messages without having to touch my phone was a true pleasure when you’re working late alone in your silent office. A problem that could be easily solved by fading-in the sound or playing a short entrance tone A device that spontaneously starts talking by itself can scare the hell out of you It wasn’t easy to get rid of the habit of instinctively looking at my phone every time a notification arrived. But when I finally managed, I was able to look at it only when I was really interested in reading the news I just heard about, and when I actually had the time to read In fact many times, I just wanted to tell my non-existent assistant, “Read me more” When I was listening to music while running, I didn’t mind having news notifications blending in. … easy When I wanted peace and quiet, I’d just remove the earbuds This happened when I didn’t have my earbuds plugged in or forgot to switch the silent mode on I was embarrassed more than once when a loud notification came in public place and everyone could hear it. , at least at the superficial headline level; kind of like hearing news flashes on the radio I felt really connected to what was happening in the world without having to open a feed I even subscribed to the TMZ feed for extreme testing. I was not bothered at all by content I didn’t care about, as it would be naturally filtered out by my brain if it would come on the behalf of something more important. It stayed in the background. This is probably the most interesting and surprising point I totally managed to ignore notifications that were not interesting to me, or came in at a bad timing. Master: Audio - Slave: Display This little project confirmed that audio is a great lightweight way of absorbing short information with minimal disturbance to our focus. In the last years, speech has become a much more reliable input, and can finally free us from being tied to our displays. Based on the above, we could create a new efficient way of consuming incoming information: audio first, display on demand. “Pushed” information would come in as audio first and passed through our native cognitive filters, instead of “stealing” our attention at will. Should the pushed information need visual attention, it could be vocally summoned to the display in use. Using displays is an expensive task that should be initiated by the user on a “pull” basis only. Audio and speech would become the “master”, displays would become “slaves” with purpose of helping us consume “more expensive media” intendedly. AirPods AirPods to rule them all Wireless earbuds, in combination with a strong AI assistant (such as AirPods + Siri), are the device that could help us regain freedom of movement and control of our attention. “Ultimately, wireless earbuds might be the only wearable we need.” I strongly believe that wireless earbuds are the wearable of the future, the one that will be used to control other devices. And when they’ll be able to connect to every display around us (oh wait… Apple…), we’ll just tell our AI assistant to transfer visual content on to them… Ultimately, wireless earbuds might be the only wearable we need. Hear you soon.

I have heard the future

A cubicle — photo by Logan Ingalls You get ready for work a bit early in anticipation of the news. You are going to be promoted to Head of Analytics of the IoT Division. This means that you will now report to a person who reports to a person who was part of the early team at Hotmail back in the 90s. Marketing This is your second promotion in less than a year. You haven’t received any pay increases — but that’s ok — you are principled and care more about title than pay. Sure, your company is a 30,000-employee behemoth that is primarily driven, but you’ve played an important part since your startup was acquired 3 years ago. engineering You are critical to the company’s success. And you are climbing the ranks fast — just as you were critical when you were the “first business hire” at your previous startup. The financial outcome wasn’t great, but it was awesome for your career and you got to tell your friends that you had an “exit” at cocktail parties. They don’t have to know you lost $30,000 exercising your options and another $20,000 paying capital gains on equity that ended up being worthless. Perception is reality. On this important day you are reminded of your parents and the upper-middle class suburb you grew up in. You were taught good values — to be humble, and to connect with people on a genuine level. Arrogance is frowned upon. You are down to earth. Kombucha — photo by Michael Cote You pay 2x surge pricing to take an Uber to work because your car is in the shop. You introduce yourself to your driver. It’s only polite. You talk to him about the election, where he lives in Manteca, and what other sharing economy services he uses to piece together an income. You established a genuine connection. How nice of you to talk to him. You didn’t exchange numbers, but you could definitely hang out with that guy at some point. You have so much in common. You take a final sip of your Kombucha and ask him if he can throw it away for you. You can’t wait to get into the office. As soon as you hear the news you can change your job title in LinkedIn. Will it appear in everyone’s news stream? Who will notice, and who will “like” the job change? You shudder in anticipation. You are waiting to meet your boss. You are typing away at your computer. You are IMing your colleagues. You spend a lot of the day IMing your colleagues. You have two Chrome windows open — one for work stuff and an incognito window for “personal” stuff (Buzzfeed, TMZ, Facebook, Techmeme). You alt-tab between the two since you are one of the last people at your company who uses a PC. You hope no one can read your IMs when they walk behind you. You don’t want to be caught talking shit about one of your co-workers. Especially if you are projecting your screen during a meeting. You have anxiety attacks about that shit. Your boss is ready to meet you. She conveys to you what a good job you are doing. And how the people at the top are thrilled with your contributions. All of this goes in one ear and out the other — you are waiting for the speech to end so you can update your social profiles. First LinkedIn, then Facebook, then your Twitter bio, then Instagram, and a Snap to your friends showing your new office. You WhatsApp a few friends abroad. You’ve made it. An ex likes your LinkedIn job change — what do you do? How do you respond? A HS friend comments below the job status change on FB. Do I “like it” or submit a normal reply? What’s the etiquette? You Google around and find a bunch of stuff, but consensus has not yet been reached in this area. So what if the company is engineering driven and you are a business guy? Over the years you’ve gotten pretty technical, and can “speak dangerously” to anyone about technology subjects. A Javascript engineer on your team congratulates you on the promotion. You feel good. You engage her in a conversation about Node and Angular. This makes you feel better. It makes you feel whole. It makes you feel connected. A dive bar in San Francisco — photo by . Michael Beaton You grab beers with colleagues after work. You pick a bar that’s appropriately trendy based on a cursory analysis of Yelp. You use the “Happy Hour”, “Rating” and “Good for Groups” filters. You talk about your past to your colleagues. You lived in the Mission “back in the day” when it was not overrun by techies — before rent was so crazy — before gentrification. Somebody making a burrito at a burrito joint in the Mission. Photo . by Rick You ate burritos in obscure joints that no one has heard of and no longer exist. You would never be caught dead in a Chipotle. You are above that. You are too real. You used to take the BART instead of the Caltrain because it’s edgier. You don’t actually know what the Mission was like “pre gentrification”. You moved here 5 years ago. Back in ’12 you attended music shows by “indie” bands in tiny venues. Those were the days when music wasn’t corrupted by large corporations. You work for a large corporation. Your holiday party was on Treasure Island and The Foo Fighters played. You secretly listen to Taylor Swift, Katy Perry and Savage Garden at low volumes on your headphones so your co-workers can’t hear. You can actually engage in “real” conversations. You know politics, you know film, you know the inside and out. All of your colleagues must wonder — where does such an accomplished guy find time to connect on ordinary subjects with normal people like us? Pat yourself on the back. And thank your insomnia, and over-consumption of Apple TV content. San Francisco music scene You and your colleagues reminisce about that one time you volunteered at a homeless shelter back in 2013. That was some real shit. You feel like you have your finger on the pulse of the problem. What will you do to fix it? Your mind drifts off to a way to use software to scalably solve the problem. You can’t code. You take a sip of your $15 drink. After tonight you will go on a juice cleanse. You tell your colleagues about that time you could have joined a company pre-IPO…“I interviewed with Mark” you say to your colleagues — after a few drinks. “But I was too stupid to join”, you tell them — all the while feeling self-congratulatory for being self deprecating. Authentic. That’s what people love about you. You are so open about your mistakes. “Frontier Psychiatrist” by r. Kema Keu After getting a good buzz going you talk about therapy. All of you have been in therapy at some point. Your therapists all tell you your past was screwed up. You were traumatized — your parents were just doing their best. It’s not your fault. It’s somebody else’s fault. $200/hour, 2x/month. Cheaper if you pay cash. After drinks you walk outside of the bar. Through the side of your eye you silently judge a parent who is looking at their phone while watching their kid. You don’t like kids. You are going to stay single. Everyone you know with kids is unhappy. You’re unsure if you’re happy. You get a message notification from Snapchat. You check your phone. You take a Lyft to pick up your car after hours at the shop. You make sure your colleagues see you taking Lyft instead of Uber. Uber is an evil company. You’ve spent $1,000 this year on Ubers. You won’t buy Starbucks, or eat at fast casual restaurants, but you’ll happily use ride sharing services. You are waiting for your car. Your phone is going crazy. More likes on Facebook for your job title update. This is getting ridiculous and you need to stay on brand. You reply to each and every one of the comments with a personalized message. That is going above and beyond. That shows you truly care who your friends are — and when they post an update of substance, you will write a meaningful comment to pay it forward. A Prius at night — photo courtesy of . Joe Goldberg You drive a Prius. Prius is the way to go. It shows you are environmentally conscious. It shows you value efficiency. You can give anyone a ride in a Prius. You don’t want to go Tesla — if you go Tesla you might be saying something about yourself that scares you. That you have money. You hate yourself for having money. San Franciscans hate you for having money. Everyone in San Francisco wants money. You drive across the Bay Bridge to your apartment in Oakland. Actually, you don’t live in Oakland. You live in Emeryville — in the Avalon. But at least you can say you live in the East Bay. Prior to your move you hadn’t been further south than Daly City. And that’s only because they have good Pho. You didn’t have time for dinner. You have to grab something. You want to support local small businesses. You hit up La Burrita in Berkeley — the one on Durant, not the one on Euclid. The one on Euclid is in too nice of a neighborhood. You don’t want to be seen there. The one on Durant is more authentic. You make conversation with the guy taking your order. He does not seem to give a shit about what you are saying. He takes your cash. You smile and nod your head at him. You are a regular “every man”. You come home after the long and grueling day. You are going through an “existential” phase. Worn in copies of Eckahrt Tolle, Soren Kierkegaard and Camus books rest on your nightstand. You bought them from a used book store but haven’t read them yet. Alexa reads you books. You stopped using Tinder months ago. You’re ready for something serious. Coffee Meets Bagel? Maybe if you meet someone on there they’ll notice the books on your nightstand. No interesting matches tonight. You go to bed thankful that you have so many friends who congratulated you in so many different ways for your career accomplishment. Facebook, Text, Email, Snapchat, Instagram, Tweets. No one called.

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