How Does the Machine Kill You

 Bill O'Reilly sat John Sherman down and asked how the machine kills you.

Sherman runs the AI Risk Network. This first clip is the short one that went up Friday under the title Countdown to Extinction?

Watch it here: [VIDEO]

Sherman's answer is that he cannot name the method. Today's systems are not the threat. The threat, as he tells it, is general intelligence and then superintelligence — machines smarter than a person in every domain. He points at Dario Amodei's recent essay: in six to twelve months, bot swarms could take the internet and hold it. Encryption could fail in the same window. Bank, Gmail, Pentagon. When O'Reilly asks how they kill us, Sherman reaches for Roman Yampolskiy's dog. The dog thinks you kill it by biting. It does not know about guns or poison. A mind that stands to us the way we stand to the dog would use means we do not have a word for. The builders and the outside experts, he says, already agree these machines have the near-term potential to end us. They also agree they do not fully control what they are building.

Ben Shapiro discusses the hacking of Matt Walsh

 

[VIDEO] Ben Shapiro and Matt Walsh both are part of the stable of personalities of this company known as the Daily Wire. And thus they discuss further how Walsh's twitter feed became a place that saw some pretty hilarious if not vicious tweets directed toward Shapiro and certainly just well I didn't see his feed. All I have is what others have reported.

Shapiro explains that Walsh's phone was hacked. Either someone stole his phone - which doesn't seem very likely. What seems more plausible just based on what Shapiro says is that somehow someone cloned Walsh's SIM card and was able to access his social media.

Perhaps someone at Walsh's cell provider was a culprit in this. Matt Walsh is a tough guy willing to withstand the negative attention and is willing to pursue legal action against those responsible for the invastion of privacy. Indeed he's noted death threats against himself and his family - and consider who his targets are they're not reasonable people. They would think it's OK to attack in the most vicious ways people disagree with them.

A reporter for the website Wired has been suspended permanently from Twitter for distributing hacked materials from the hacker involved with what happened with Walsh. Here's an article written about this at Wired.

Of course it seems to be a vicious prank that might not have been ideologically based. Just juvenile fun, I'd say. Regardless I think Ben Shapiro, Math Walsh and others will turn this into a left wing attack on conservative media.

Perhaps we shall see what emerges from this.

Using the first iPad in 2020

[VIDEO] I can't believe it's 2020 and I probably said that about 2010. Ten years ago the first iPad was released and it was quite a boxy device. Perhaps one day I will show you the first iPad I bought which was actually the iPad 2 which isn't as boxy and the form factor I do miss these days.

It's amazing to see how the tech has evolved from the iPad to the iPhone for example and I've been thinking about showing you my favorite and first iPhone of all time. Interestingly for the iPhone I see there could be a return to the form factor that I do like from the various designs.

Either way I never owned the first iPad but it was a nifty device. As a consumer my first question ought to be what can I do with it? I know what I do with my iPad now which is basically surf the internet, check my social media, and my emails. Sometimes take photographs and video and more often use it for streaming.

To see this review brings back some memories of playing with this device at the Apple store on Michigan Avenue. However little did I know that I'd be playing with other devices in addition to an iPad from Apple Inc.

As an aside I wrote this about available tablet devices such as the iPad 2 back in 2011.

The first ever webcam

[VIDEO] I often enjoy the videos of one 8-bit guy on YouTube. He likes to show us the technology of computers and how they evolved from the time they became available to the general public.

This recent look at a 20 year old webcam underscores how this technology has evolved. It was funny how he described using this device as almost similar to say a 19th century daguerreotype. You have to sit still for such a long exposure and for that reason no one smiled for a picture back in the day.

It was from this webcam that now we seem to use such cameras to monitor our homes for example.

57 nerdy things about the original 6 "Star Trek" movies

From the first Star Trek movie in 1979 to the last film featuring the cast from the original series in 1991 we see a list of trivia from those original series films.

I found this bullet point to be the funniest one. It involved a certain computer seen in 1986's Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home - yes the one with the whales...

31. Hello computer?!? The Apple Mac wasn't supposed to be in the factory, and the original Commodore Amiga model was originally supposed to be in its place. Commodore Business Machines refused to send a sample machine for filming and simply told the film crew that they had to buy one. Apple just sent a machine and a member of staff to help out.

Commodore also stated it didn't want to be associated with Star Trek. Facepalm...

Excuse me what's a Commodore?

BTW, here's the scene in question Scotty is trying to use a 1980s Apple Macintosh machine but speaking through its mouse. Well it was an hilarious scene and even better while Scotty may not know how to use a mouse he typed the hell out of that keyboard! [VIDEO]

Not bad for a guy who seemed to have started off only with two index fingers at first!

Adventures in getting connected online...

I like to state that I've been fooling around with the internet for many years in the pre-Facebook - Twitter - Instagram - Myspace years. The internet of the late 1990s was so low-tech I often wondered if my teenaged-self head would explode with what the internet offers day.

Most people years ago connected via dial-up and only recently did my home get connected with DSL broadband. Dial-up was cheap broadband wasn't and thankfully DSL prices went down - even if introductory - to the point where I felt comfortable going for it.

All the same that doesn't mean things don't happen to the point where you'd have to call for help. I'm learning that even DSL is headed towards being obsolete. Since my DSL service is through AT&T now I'm learning about U-verse which is supposed to be fast internet as opposed to DSL although Uverse is DSL of some sort.

Anyway it's a bit of a hassle to even get tech support via AT&T because if you have a problem with service as I have then they might decide well that's an opportunity to upgrade. The only thing is all you want is the possibility of a restoration of service. In that instance even getting a new modem seems out of the question as I had been told.

So regardless after seeing how difficult it can be to get through the AT&T sales pitch and finally get some internet service restored and was told finally that we should just get another DSL modem for now. It took time to get service back and while I'm confident in my ability to do things on my own I was forced to call AT&T to get my new modem up and running.

I'm really glad I did and after almost three days offline I'm back on the web. All I needed was to use the correct password to get back to where I wanted to be. That means more activity on the PC and away from my various mobile devices.

Apple has unveiled the iPad mini

[VIDEO] On Tuesday, Apple unveiled new iPads mainly the anticipated mini and one with retina display. The full iPad with retina display is considered the 4th generation. At least the mini doesn't merely look like the iPhone.

I wrote about my use for that device. Figuring that the mini would be perfect for use on the go. Perhaps taking it in your car or for your commute on public transportation.

In fact, if I was going to homecoming this year it would be perfect to carry around on campus just to surf and all that. Hopefully the wifi is operating on campus. During my time there the network would go down at random.

All the same, I'm not in the market for the mini just yet. If nothing else it's certainly a less expensive option to the full-sized iPad. Time will only tell if it sells more than it's much larger sibling. Also for now, I'll just take good care of my iPad 2. :)

BTW, the 5 minute video above talking about the mini is from Apple's official YouTube account. I wonder what took them so long to get on the social networking train!

CNet: What we don't know about the iPad mini...

Well at this point I know that there will be a smaller version of the iPad coming at some point in the near future it's been rumored for a long time. It would be a cool thing carry around and probably easier if you're carrying it in a bag.

With my iPad my fantasy was to bring it with me while out and about. This contraption might make that much easier. Still I find myself wondering what's the point of a smaller iPad? Could this thing instead be an early version of the iPad 4?

I'm fan of the form function of the iPad 2 and 3. I can put it away in a bag just as easily while out and about. Surely it would make for the perfect travel companion as well. If you have wifi you can surf the internet on it much easier than using the iPhone. Of course one doesn't need an iPod if you have a nice hard drive size iPad with you as well.

Anyway for a different reason I won't be falling all over the "iPad mini". It's just not worth it for me at this point. Especially if there is a larger iPad (that is the one I currently own) being sold along with the mini. There has to be a purpose to it.

When it is finally unveiled, I hope to learn more about it's purpose.

These are what I have in mind as far as tablet devices.

First, I've played around the iPad a lot since the 2nd generation was released earlier this year. May have no idea about many of its inner workings but so far I have little expectation of not on this device but the other devices below. The one thing that would keep me from buying this device is the price tax. Even the entry-level device is pricey to me.

Second, there's the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0" it's as easy to use as the iPad. I only know this because I dropped by a Best Buy to play around with it. But only after reading an entry over at Instapundit, which basically talks about how Apple wants to prevent it's sale in Europe. Another notch in its favor is price at $349! There is another Galaxy Tab 10.1" much larger than the 7.0". Also the 7.0" has buttons while the 10.1" is totally touch screen.

Finally the BlackBerry PlayBook. The only knock at first is ease of use. I had to search far and wide for a Best Buy to find one I could play with. Took me awhile to figure out how to minimize certain programs so that I can access others. It takes a certain stroke to be able to go from program to program so that is certainly a negative. I do have still like being able to synch information between the PlayBook and BlackBerry phone. That is certainly a plus. Still this device costs as much as a WiFi only iPad. One major notch in its favor is tethering for internet access to the cell phone. Could use some improvements hardware-wise. Especially buttons for ease of use.

If only I could have all three!

AT&T Opens the Bridge for BlackBerry-PlayBook Connection

AT&T Opens the Bridge for BlackBerry-PlayBook Connection

I wanted to look seriously as the BlackBerry PlayBook until I saw this:

Users will be able to access basic information coming into their BlackBerry from the tablet without a paid tethering plan, but those looking to access the Web using their BlackBerry’s Internet connection will need to sign up for the $20-per-month tethering plan.

I won't necessarily need a separate data plan, but to access the internet still need to pay more for tethering.

Even for a basic 16GB PlayBook, it costs the same as a similar iPad with only wifi ($499). A 16GB iPad with wifi and 3G capability will cost $130 more. There are other sizes to the PlayBook with a 32GB and a 64GB that will go up by $100 each at $599 & $699 respectively.

At least the Playbook has wifi. Then I also understand that one could use tethering with an iPad instead of having to purchase a data plan for that device.

BTW, I'm a bit upset that I missed a sale for the Playbook at Staples. Could've saved $100 on it if purchase before July 30th with a coupon! >:(

This time let's talk about tablet devices

I have a lot to learn about tablet devices such as the Dell Streak 7 above. I had a look at that device on display at a local Best Buy the other night. Talked to a representative about that. This isn't meant to be used as a phone, but can be used for Skype for example. It can also be used for texting, photography, video teleconferencing, mobile web surfing, and even social networking.

Still I'm unclear largely as to what a table does. But one of my questions to the representative was if this was like one of those old-style PDAs that used to be on sale years ago. In recent years the PDA started to give rise to the smartphone. Who knows with tablets, the smartphone might start to decline in everyday use.

BTW, tablet devices would include the iPad by Apple. If I knew that an iPad could be had for a reasonable price it might be worth getting one of those for me. Something that could be put in a bag and pulled out when necessary to surf the internet or even to read an e-book.

All the same, I have to determine for what reason to utilize a tablet device. Also should I possibly change my phone service from a smartphone to a regular cell phone. That will also mean just using a phone for the purposes of making phone calls mainly and maintaining a dataplan for only a tablet device.

There's more I have to research about these devices hitting the market.

Diary of a deliberately spammed housewife

Article via Instapundit:

For Tracy Mooney (pictured), a married mother of three in Naperville, Ill., the decision to abandon cyber-sense and invite e-mail spam into her life for a month by participating in a McAfee experiment was a bit of a lark.

The idea of the Spammed Persistently All Month (S.P.A.M.) experiment — which fittingly started on April Fool's Day — was to have 50 volunteers from around the world answer every spam message and pop-up ad on their PC.

What would be the experience in 10 countries when everyday people, armed with a PC and e-mail account McAfee provided for the Global S.P.A.M. Diaries project, clicked through the spam and chronicled the results?

Mooney — who had observed the family's PC crippled just before Christmas by a virus — was game, especially because McAfee was giving a free PC to all participants. She was selected to be among the 50 volunteers picked by McAfee out of 2,000 people who applied to be part of the adventure.
...
By the time it was all over, after every bank-account phishing scam, Nigerian bank scheme, and offer for medication, adult content and just plain free stuff had been pursued. "I was horrified," says Mooney, a realtor by profession. "It's all snake oil. I'm amazed at what true junk is out there when you're clicking through on e-mail."

McAfee is releasing the results Tuesday of its free-wheeling month-long S.P.A.M. experiment, done largely to illustrate — if you didn't know already — how spam is connected to malware and criminal activity, not to mention some of the slimiest marketing ever devised. (Compare antispam products.)

Each S.P.A.M. volunteer saw an average of 70 spam messages arrive in their in-box each day, with men receiving about 15 more per day than women. That was a lot to answer, but "Penelope Retch" — the alias that Mooney chose for her S.P.A.M. adventure — answered every single message.

Read the whole thing! The results and the findings are very interesting.

When will Chicago get a Mac camp?

Steve Garfield talks about a Mac camp coming to Boston, but I'm interested in learning how to use a Mac. At the moment it's not likely that I'll ever purchase one let alone use one. On the other hand there are some things that I'd like to do, such as video editing, where I would be very interested in using a Mac.

It's unfortunate that the prices are high for a Mac and for that reason I'm still a committed PC user for the moment. then again who says I can't use both even if I had both a PC and a Mac.

The official Apple website.