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Saturday, March 2, 2013

Movie Review: Computer Chess

Photo courtesy of producers Houston King and Alex Lipschultz

By Callum Glennen

?You know what I think the future of computers is? Dating.? The programmers chuckle at the thought of it. The computers they are tinkering with aren?t capable of beating a human at chess yet, but the future looks promising. With period cinematography and deliberately sloppy editing, Andrew Bujalski?s latest film shines as a surreal look backwards to the dawn of the digital age where the future seems limitless, the present is restrained by the current technology, and the humanity of artificial intelligence is in question.

In the early ?80s, the brightest minds in chess programming pit their machines against one another in the pursuit of innovation and victory. During the nights between games, increasingly bizarre events occur to and around the programmers as they wrestle with what the future holds for their machines, and artificial intelligence being more human than their socially awkward creators.

While not a documentary, Computer Chess starts out pretending that it is. Shot entirely on a camera from the ?60s in black and white, it gives the impression that it was found buried in one of the now ancient machines that is the subject of the film. Often out of focus, continually grainy and occasionally out of sync audio adds to the dated effect. It?s satisfyingly effective, and exaggerates how old the machines in question are.

It?s quite different to other recent films looking at the history of computer technology. While the nerds of modern culture are quick-witted and endearingly eccentric, the stars of Computer Chess are awkward, shy, and struggle with simple human interaction. It?s a completely different representation of the modern rock star geek.

None of the main actors are professional and the film was entirely improvised. This creates genuine awkwardness, and it fits almost perfectly with the type of programmer it is trying to reflect. Additionally, with little direction was given as to what the plot of the film even was, the actors seem even more surprised than the audience. While occasionally it does come across as inexperienced acting, those moments are few and don?t distract much.

Computer Chess is not an easy film to categorize. It is not about the history of computers, and it?s not really about the people who made them. Instead, it is obsessed with showing the line between computers and man, and asking whether it can be crossed. Just like the outcomes of a chess game, this film is black, white and infinitely complex.

In a haze, one of the programmers poses the question: ?Real artificial intelligence, is that the same as artificial real intelligence??

Rating: VVVV

Source: http://www.voxmagazine.com/blog/2013/03/movie-review-computer-chess/

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In telecommuting debate, Aetna sticks by big at-home workforce

(Reuters) - For more than six years, Tammy Saunders has woken at 5:30 a.m., showered, dressed and walked upstairs - to her office.

A nurse practitioner, Saunders works as a case manager for Hartford, Connecticut-based health insurer Aetna Inc, helping college students recovering from accidents or surgery get the follow-up services they need.

The bonuses? No ironing, no commute and no need for after-school care for the kids. Also, less chatting with other employees - so fewer distractions.

"There are days when I sit at my desk, and I don't move all day," said Saunders, a proud member of the 47 percent of Aetna employees who work at home. She lives 20 minutes away from headquarters by car.

Of course, that also means no coffee breaks, lunches or group chats about, say, the Oscars. "I miss them, but not enough to go back into the office."

Ever since Yahoo!'s new chief executive, Marissa Mayer, called at-home workers back to the office last Friday, American workplaces are buzzing with debate over the benefits of telecommuting. Mayer said employees needed to be back together to innovate better at the technology firm.

Silicon Valley may swear by its brainstorming-together-in-the-office culture, but many private companies and even the federal government have put their weight behind telecommuting.

In 2012, 63 percent of companies allowed employees to work some hours from home compared with 34 percent in 2005, according to the National Study of Employers, which was produced by the Society for Human Resource Management and the Families and Work Institute.

A 2010 survey by SHRM, the human resources industry's largest trade group, said that providing flexible work arrangements such as telecommuting, part-time work and phased-in retirement was the best way to attract and retain the best workers. And 20 percent of companies allow workers to work full-time from home.

Of health insurer Aetna's 35,000 employees, 14,500 do not have a desk at Aetna, a move that the company's top executives, CEO Mark Bertolini and national business chief Joseph Zubretsky, have said helps cut costs in real estate.

Another almost 2,000 people work from home a few days a week, putting teleworkers at 47 percent of its total.

That number has grown steadily since 2005, when about 9 percent of its employees were logging on outside of an office. Another 1,800 people spend half their time in an Aetna office. In part, that migration was hastened when the company closed down its Middletown, Connecticut campus in 2010, home to some 4,000 employees.

Through telecommuting, the company has cut 2.7 million square feet of office space at $29 a square foot, for about $78 million in cost savings a year including utilities, housekeeping, mail service and document shredding.

Teleworkers, who in addition to nurses and physicians include customer service representatives, claims processors, network managers, communications and human resources professionals, lawyers, underwriters, actuaries and others, have high productivity, Aetna says. Many are likely to be women as about three-quarters of the company's workforce is female.

SO HAPPY NOT TOGETHER

The company has built a culture around it. When CEO Bertolini, an admitted technophile, does his quarterly company-wide address, Aetna's employees don't dial into a conference call, they watch a video conference.

Another benefit of teleworking is retention, with annual voluntary turnover for those Aetna employees who work at home in the 2 to 3 percent range, Bertolini said this week at the Detroit Economic Club where he spoke to local business and health care leaders. That compares with company-wide turnover that is about 8 percent.

Shelly Ferensic is head of claims at Aetna, which processes 1 million claims a day. Her department has 2,000 employees around the country, about half of whom work from home.

These processors are responsible for handling more than 100 medical or dental claims a day, a largely electronic job. They receive the claims online, work out issues such as which provider needs to be reimbursed and then push them out.

Aetna provides a secure laptop or desktop computer, a separate modem and router, a separate phone line, a paper shredder and a locking file cabinet. Before workers can start, the company inspects the home office.

Ferensic, who works out of an office in Jacksonville, Florida, says that the claims teleworkers are 10 to 20 percent more productive than their in-office counterparts and produce comparable quality.

"They work a 40-hour work week, but it's flexible as long as they put in the hours and meet their productivity objective," she said. They are measured on producing a certain number of average claims per hour.

Workers have webcams on their computers for monthly one-on-one meetings, attend videoconferences and work with a local office for support.

The main downsides are that employees who work at home aren't there to meet with customers and some issues have to be handled in person, Ferensic said, who has also worked from home.

And there is a limit to how much the company can handle in terms of at-home workforce and still ensure an Aetna culture.

"I think it's reached a point where it's a comfortable number at about half. I don't envision growing it much from that," Ferensic said, referring to her division.

(Reporting by Caroline Humer in New York; Editing by Jilian Mincer, Mary Milliken and Tim Dobbyn)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/telecommuting-debate-aetna-sticks-big-home-workforce-051356649--sector.html

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Sky to buy Telefonica UK's fixed phone line and broadband business for up to ?200 million

Sky already supplies fixed phone line and broadband on top of its TV services in the UK, but it's just announced it'll be gaining a few more customers. The company has shaken hands with Telefonica UK to purchase the latter's broadband and phone line business provided by the consumer-facing O2 and BE brands. As you would imagine, big bucks will change hands: Sky plans to fork over £180 million (around $273 million) right off the bat, and will write a cheque for up to a further £20 million (circa $30 million) "dependent upon the successful delivery and completion of the customer migration process by Telefonica UK." Regulators will need to give the deal the thumbs up before it's official, but if and when that happens, Sky will become the second biggest ISP in the UK after adding over 500,000 new customers to its books. Should everything progress as planned, the buyout will be completed by the end of April, which gives Rupert Murdoch just enough time to carry out the vault extension he'll need.

Update: If you're worried this transaction will impact anything you're currently signed up to, you can probably rest easy. O2 has tweeted one of our editors to report "there will be no material change to a customer's broadband service and no fundamental contract change."

Filed under: Misc, Internet

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Via: GigaOM

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/YXcGCbq3YIw/

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Pearls across the Zooniverse: When Crowdsourcing Becomes Citizen Science

SubseaObservers

Help assess the health and abundance of the mid-Atlantic scallop fishery

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Tweet data about snow depths in your area

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Help researchers study how seasonal differences in the ice cover of lakes, rivers and other areas impact ecosystems

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=a2f7f2a2f92aa7499d5db8ef06427910

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Obama Outsourcing and Offshoring Promotion Program ...

Posted February 28, 2013 by Bierce & Kenerson, P.C.? ? ?Print This Post

President Obama?s current programs are very likely to limit growth of small businesses to mid-sized businesses and will promote automation, ?right-sizing,? outsourcing and offshoring in 2014.?? We examine some of the key themes in his tenure as President since 2009, particularly those in his State of the Union Address on February 12, 2013.?? Outsourcing and offshoring might be increased as a result of his policies on healthcare, energy taxation, energy infrastructure investment, higher local U.S. wages and even new regulations on cybersecurity.

Burdening Both Small and Larger Businesses):? Bye-Bye, Back Office Employees; Hello, New Small Service Providers.?? The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 is pushing small business owners to cut back on full-time employee staffing.??? The law is over 1,000 pages long.? Among its key provisions is a mandate for individuals to get medical insurance (or pay a tax of $2,000).? Another key mandate requires U.S. employers with over 50 full-time employees to pay for coverage for their employees, effective January 1, 2014.? (Incidentally, as of March 1, 2013, U.S. employers must now disclose to their employees in writing whether the employer has obtained medical insurance for the employee.)

Under these conditions, outsourcing will grow because the back office (finance, accounting, human resources administration) does not generate revenue and thus cannot be leveraged for purposes of valuation.? We predict a boomlet of new small service providers offering such services, with the real work being done in foreign countries under the supervision of U.S. founders.? For a well-designed new service provider, startup costs are modest and return on investment can be recovered within six to twelve months by leveraging a scalable offshore service delivery center.

Even if such outsourcing is not so robust, small business owners will seek to enter into new ?independent contractor? agreements with current back office employees to kick them off the payroll and keep the business size at below 50 FTE?s.

Favoring Foreign Manufacturers and Service Providers:? New Tax on U.S. Energy Consumption, No Tax on Products of Foreign Energy Consumption.?? President Obama wants a carbon tax on energy consumption.? A draft law failed in 2010.?? Now, if Congress does not act, he will administratively issue regulations to ?reduce pollution, prepare our communities for the consequences of climate change, and speed the transition to more sustainable sources of energy.?

If such a carbon tax is enacted, it will apply only to U.S. producers of energy and other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.?? The tax would not apply to foreign energy producers or foreign GHG emissions.? The tax would not be applied to the importation of finished products from countries that have not such tax.?? So such a tax would increase the cost of U.S.-made products (and energy consuming services such as office workers) and also promote the importation of foreign-made goods and foreign services that are not so taxed.

Promoting Foreign Jobs along with American Jobs: Upgraded U.S. Energy Production Infrastructure.?? President Obama approves the hiring of U.S. workers by foreign companies in the U.S.? ?The CEO of Siemens America ? a company that brought hundreds of new jobs to North Carolina ? said that if we upgrade our infrastructure, they?ll bring even more jobs.? And that?s the attitude of a lot of companies all around the world.? And I know you want these job-creating projects in your district.??? It?s not clear where the R&D work or manufacturing will take place for energy projects, but the U.S. does have some obligations under WTO agreements to treat certain foreign manufacturers equally.

Comparative Advantage for Automation: ?Higher Minimum Wages, Maybe More Automation.? ?Tonight, let?s declare that in the wealthiest nation on Earth, no one who works full-time should have to live in poverty, and raise the federal minimum wage to $9.00 an hour.??? By increasing the cost of labor, this could promote capital investment in machines and software that could replace labor.

Cybersecurity: Sharing of Private Data with U.S. Government.? In his speech, President Obama viewed cybersecurity of critical infrastructures as essential to national security.? ?And that?s why, earlier today, I signed a new executive order that will strengthen our cyber defenses by increasing information sharing, and developing standards to protect our national security, our jobs, and our privacy.?

His Feb. 12, 2013 Executive Order to Improve National Cybersecurity will establish a ?voluntary information sharing program? that will ?provide classified cyber threat and technical information from the Government to eligible critical infrastructure companies or commercial service providers that offer security services to critical infrastructure.??? Under this Executive Order, the term critical infrastructure means ?systems and assets, whether physical or virtual, so vital to the United States that the incapacity or destruction of such systems and assets would have a debilitating impact on security, national economic security, national public health or safety, or any combination of those matters.?

The regulations implementing this ?voluntary? program have not been drafted.? A draft law on the same subject failed in 2012 because ?voluntary? sharing did not come with insulation from liability to third-party stakeholders such as customers, individuals, patients, suppliers and others.

We can speculate whether the eventual regulations will promote offshoring of data centers or more virtualization of data services.?? It could have the opposite effect, of forcing full supply-chain cybersecurity across national borders.? It could result in more segregation of data collected overseas and hiving off of such data so that it is not processed in the U.S. in order to avoid potential liability from complying with the new regulations.

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Filed under: Newsletter Article
Tagged: Automation, cybersecurity, Foreign Jobs, Higher Minimum Wage, Obama, ObamaCare, offshoring, outsourcing, right-sizing, Small Service Providers, Tax Energy Consumption

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Source: http://www.outsourcing-law.com/2013/02/obamas-outsourcing-and-offshoring-promotion-program/

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Friday, March 1, 2013

Obama issues pardons to 17 for minor offenses

El presidente Barack Obama habla con reporteros en una sala de la Casa Blanca en Washington, el viernes 1 de marzo del 2013. Citando el principio de igualdad que impuls? la creaci?n de la naci?n, el presidente Obama se pronunci? contra la ley de California que proh?be el matrimonio gay y dijo que la Corte Suprema debe derogarla. (AP Foto/Charles Dharapak)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama on Friday issued pardons for 17 people, largely for minor offenses.

Those receiving pardons came from 13 states and had been sentenced for crimes that included falsely altering a money order, unauthorized acquisition of food stamps, drug violations, and possession of an unregistered firearm.

No one well-known was on the list released by the White House. Some of the crimes drew light penalties in the first place ? such as a North Carolina woman sentenced to two years' probation and 100 hours of community service for distributing satellite cable decryption devices.

A dozen of the 17 had been placed on probation. The other five had been sentenced to prison terms ranging from 54 days to five years. For those placed on probation, the length ranged from one year to five years.

The White House offered no details on why these particular people were selected by Obama, who has issued relatively few pardons since taking office.

He granted his first pardons in December 2010, to nine people convicted of such offenses as drug possession, counterfeiting and mutilating coins. He also issued two separate batches of pardons in 2011, including eight people in May for relatively minor offenses and five people that November.

Those pardoned Friday by Obama:

? Robert Leroy Bebee of Rockville, Md., sentenced to two years' probation for concealing a felony or concealing information about a felony.

? James Anthony Bordinaro of Gloucester, Mass., sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment, three years supervised release and a $55,000 fine for conspiracy to restrain, suppress and eliminate competition in violation of the Sherman Act and conspiracy to submit false statements.

? Kelli Elisabeth Collins of Harrison, Ark., sentenced to five years' probation for aiding and abetting a wire fraud.

?Edwin Hardy Futch Jr., of Pembroke, Ga., sentenced to five years' probation and $2,399.72 restitution for theft from an interstate shipment.

?Cindy Marie Griffith of Moyock, N.C., sentenced to two years' probation with 100 hours of community service for distribution of satellite cable television decryption devices.

? Roy Eugene Grimes Sr. of Athens, Tenn., sentenced to 18 months' probation for falsely altering a U.S. postal money order, and passing, uttering and publishing a forged and altered money order with intent to defraud.

? Jon Christopher Kozeliski of Decatur, Ill., sentenced to one year of probation with six months of home confinement and $10,000 fine for conspiracy to traffic counterfeit goods.

? Jimmy Ray Mattison of Anderson, S.C., sentenced to three years' probation for conspiracy to transport and cause the transportation of altered securities in interstate commerce and transporting and causing the transportation of altered securities in interstate commerce.

? An Na Peng of Honolulu, sentenced to two years' probation and $2,000 fine for conspiracy to defraud the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

?Michael John Petri of Montrose, S.D., sentenced to five years' imprisonment and three years' supervised release for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribution of a controlled substance (cocaine).

? Karen Alicia Ragee of Decatur, Ill., sentenced to a year's probation, including six months of home confinement, and a $2,500 fine for conspiracy to traffic counterfeit items.

? Jamari Salleh of Alexandria, Va., sentenced to four years' probation, fined $5,000 and ordered to pay $5,900 in restitution for filing false claims upon and against the United States.

? Alfor Sharkey of Omaha, Neb., sentenced to three years' probation with 100 hours of community service and ordered to pay $2,750 in restitution for the unauthorized acquisition of food stamps.

? Donald Barrie Simon Jr. of Chattanooga, Tenn., sentenced to two years in prison and three years of probation for aiding and abetting in the theft of an interstate shipment.

? Lynn Marie Stanek of Tualatin, Ore., sentenced to six months in jail and five years' probation condition on not more than a year in residence at a community treatment center for unlawfully using a communication facility to distribute cocaine.

? Larry Wayne Thornton of Forsyth, Ga., sentenced to four years of probation for possession of an unregistered firearm and possession of a firearm without a serial number.

? Donna Kaye Wright of Friendship, Tenn., sentenced to 54 days in prison and three years' probation, condition on performance of six hours of community service per week, for embezzlement and misapplication of bank funds.

___

Associated Press writers Darlene Superville and Pete Yost contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-03-01-Obama-Pardons/id-c9a91cb72f0e4620bebc8814e5fb4a0b

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Gates, Zuck and crew entice kids into programming through a short film

Kids in many parts of the world are growing up surrounded with technology, some from a very tender age. Many schools aren't teaching much if any programming, though, which has led Code.org to make a short film spurring young techies into action. We have a hunch that it might work -- the video has quite possibly the most star-studded collection of men and women explaining how they got into coding and why they like it, including Bill Gates, Gabe Newell and Mark Zuckerberg. There's even endorsements from unexpected sources, such as Miami Heat player Chris Bosh. It's true that most of them have a vested interest in creating future employees, but they collectively raise the real concern that there's a deficit of software and web developers. Catch the full feature after the break if you're looking to persuade a curious child.

Filed under: Internet, Software, Microsoft, Facebook