How a Smart Midwestern City Is Getting People To Switch To Electric Cars

Encouraging ride and drive testing, building out charger capacity and engaging local car dealers to participate so they treat it not as a threat but as an opportunity.

In other words, the city - Columbus, Ohio (capital of the state and home to The Ohio State University) - instead of treating it like a government program, approached it like a marketing campaign. JL


Jonathan Gitlin reports in ars technica:

The city has seen an uptick in people choosing battery EVs and plug-in hybrid EVs that's outstripped both the national and midwest regional average. Smart Columbus assembled a "ride and drive" roadshow with 12 BEVs and PHEVs that visit places of work, and also opened an experience center with another fleet of alternative powertrain vehicles for people to test drive. "There's a great correlation between what people test and what they buy." The program built charger capacity (and) engaged 20 local dealers to create a certification program. "We approached the dealers as partners, and learned about the future of their product lines."

Robot Baristas Are Arriving That Make 100 Cups of Gourmet Coffee - In an Hour

Not clear how this would go over in your comfortable downtown coffee space replete with couches and laptops, but it could certainly help ease the lines in airports and workplaces. JL


Peter Holley reports in the Washington Post:

A fully automated, robotic brewing machine can push out 100 cups of coffee in an hour equaling the output of three to four baristas.Using a blend of Latin American beans, the machine creates cups of gourmet coffee that can be ordered via an app, giving customers control over ingredients, espresso shots, flavorings and temperature. (But) “All the numbers and data in the world can’t actually tell you how the coffee tastes.”

Cities Can See Where You're Dropping That Scooter

Cities want to use such data to manage transportation options and make public policy decisions.

But privacy advocates - and companies like Uber which view their riders' habits as a monetizable asset are not happy. JL


David Zipper reports in Slate:

The company that provided your scooter will collect detailed, anonymized data about your trip, from the moment you unlocked the vehicle right up until you left it. And that data will belong to the city. Mobility Data Services is used with dockless vehicles , but the system is intended to help cities also manage ride-hailing, car-sharing, autonomous vehicles and drones. It’s all powered by the data from individual vehicles. Transportation officials are thrilled about MDS’s potential to help handle new mobility technologies, but privacy advocates—and Uber—want to stop it dead in its tracks.

Inside the Race To Build the Burger of the Future

You thought this was about meat, vegetables, bio-chemistry and innovation. You forgot the environment, cultural values - and politics. JL

Michael Grunwald reports in Politico:

Meat is as central to American culture as cars or sports; the average American eats three burgers a week, and even more chicken than beef. But Western diets include too much meat, and more than half of Americans say they’re trying to cut back. Beef producers don’t want to follow the path of coal, which is hemorrhaging market share. Burgers made with peas, potato starch, beets and other vegetarian ingredients that mimic the chewiness, juiciness and tastiness of ground beef produce 90% fewer greenhouse gases.The most daunting long-term threat to the industrial meat system may be “clean meat” grown from stem cells in a sterile lab

How Instagram Became the Most Popular Way To Make Connections

As digital connections become as or more important than physical ones, having the easy contextual information Instagram provides is crucial. JL


Taylor Lorenz reports in The Atlantic:

As Instagram has grown to more than a billion monthly users, it has also morphed into people’s default public internet profile and communication method. Instagram provides much more context—and conversation fodder—than a string of 10 digits.(And neither) iMessage and SMS come with profiles. Adding people on Instagram is like scanning a digital business card into your address book. You get full name and bio, a direct line of contact through Instagram DM. Plus, you have the added benefit of scrolling back on their profile for additional context on who they are and what they’re into.“Swapping numbers feels so serious and stiff nowadays.”

Can Your Smartphone Really Tell If You're Depressed?

Yes (you didnt actually think the answer might be no, did you?).

It can provide behavioral biomarkers that help medical professionals determine if your mood is indicative of clinical conditions. JL

Sumathi Reddy reports in the Wall Street Journal:

Behavioral biomarkers (for) depression, PTSD, schizophrenia and suicide give a summary as part of treatment to see how that person is behaving today compared to a month ago. Depressed patients don’t enunciate vowels as much as people who aren’t. Their smiles are smaller. Suicidal individuals who speak in a breathy voice rather than a tense tone are more likely to re-attempt suicide. And patients with psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia, raise their eyebrows often when averting their gaze. Artificial intelligence “can sense people’s facial expression and behaviors to help doctors do a more objective assessment of mental health.”

Why the Golden Age of YouTube Is Over

When it began,YouTube was a font of serendipitous creative expression. All you needed was imagination, a smartphone and the ability to project on screen. Or maybe not even that last one.

But three things happened: people with darker personalities - or motives - began to post vile, hateful and sometimes abusive content. YouTube stars began to make serious money - and in the process - took themselves so seriously that they assumed they could post anything they wanted without consequence.

And then advertisers with their billions in marketing budgets woke up to the potential bonanza YouTube offered, but demanded safer content. All of which sounded the death knell of YouTube's era of 'letting a thousand flowers bloom.' JL


Julia Alexander reports in The Verge:

YouTube’s pitch decks to advertisers increasingly feature videos from celebrity names, not creative amateurs. And the creators who  found the most success playing the platform’s algorithms have demonstrated profound errors in judgment, turning into cultural villains instead of YouTube’s most cherished assets. As YouTube battles misinformation catastrophes and discovers new ways people are abusing its system, the company is shifting toward commercial, advertiser-friendly content. The golden age of the YouTube of a million different creators making enough money to support themselves creating videos about what they love - is over.

Google Tests AI-Powered App Usability To Achieve Human-Level 'Tappability'

Who knew? JL

Kyle Wiggers reports in Venture Beat:

Google’s AI research division crowdsources a task to investigate elements across a range of apps to measure their “perceived tappability.” In experiments, the AI model’s predictions were consistent with the baseline at the 90% level, which demonstrates it might obviate the need for manual tests. “Tapping is the most commonly used gesture on mobile interfaces, and is used to trigger all kinds of actions ranging from launching an app to entering text … [but] predicting tappability is merely one example of what we can do with machine learning to solve usability issues in user interfaces,”

People Who Change Jobs Too Often Penalized By China's Social Credit System

They will get back to you on a precise definition of 'too often.' JL

Xinmei Shen reports in Abacus:

A local social credit system will deem residents a “discredited” person if they move from job to job too frequently. “Normal resignation” won’t affect a person’s social credit.The system will only target “malicious, frequent behavior.”China’s social credit system keeps records of citizens, rewarding people for good behavior and punishing them for bad. The system has publicly shamed more than 13 million “discredited individuals” on a national website, banning them from taking airplanes or high-speed trains, or enjoying luxuries.

With So Many Streaming Services, Is Apple Too Late?

Given the size of its installed base, probably not.

But the greater strategic question is whether consumers have enough time and enough income to watch all of the content being produced. JL


Benjamin Mullin reports in the Wall Street Journal:

Consumers who abandon pay-TV can afford to pay for several streaming services before they eclipse the amount they paid for traditional cable. The average customer pays $90 for their video subscription and an additional $57 for their high-speed internet connection. With $90 freed up from cutting the cord, the average video consumer could pay for monthly subscriptions to services such as Amazon Prime Video ($8.99 a month) and Netflix ($13 a month) and still have cash left over for additional services. Streaming-video consumers are willing to pay for services that cost a total of $38. They would be willing to subscribe to six streaming services

The Reason Firms Are Attempting To Foster A Sense of Belonging

It results in better performance. JL

Sheree Atcheson reports in Forbes:

Companies in the top quartile for gender diversity outperform their competitors by 15% and those in the top quartile for ethnic diversity outperform their competitors by 35%. When employees “think their organisation is committed to and supportive of diversity, and they feel included,’ their ability to innovate increases by 83%. (But) the largest 150 Silicon Valley public companies averaged only 14 % women directors and an average of only 0.8 women executive officers. 58% of main boards in the FTSE100 currently have no ethnic minority presence.

The World's Greatest Delivery Empire

Can a system in which food delivery is cheaper than making it yourself be sustained? JL

Lulu Chen and colleagues report in Bloomberg:

In Beijing, it’s often cheaper to have food delivered than to get it yourself. Order a local restaurant’s roast duck dish for 20 yuan ($2.99), 80% less than it costs at the register, via delivery app Meituan, (which) has 600,000 delivery people serving 400 million customers a year in 2,800 cities. Meituan retained 63% of the country’s ($35 billion) meal delivery market at the end of 2018.

Why An Aging Population Is Reshaping the Internet

Research is showing that people over 65 are often digitally suboptimal. They are sociologically vulnerable, frequently being lonely, isolated and angry at feeling abandoned. And studies show they are far more susceptible to fake news, misinformation and financial scams.

They are also more likely to vote than other age groups and as a powerful demographic cohort, exert considerable influence. That combination of emotional fragility, digital vulnerability and socio-political power is a volatile mix. JL


Craig Silverman reports in Buzzfeed:

People 65 and older will soon make up the largest age group in the United States, and will remain that way for decades. The people who struggle most with digital information and technology risk (are) left to fend for themselves. They’re targeted and exploited while demographic changes are increasing their influence. Four recent studies found older Americans more likely to consume and share false online news than other age groups. 36% of people ages 60–69 (are) lonely. Isolation and loneliness are important factors in the online behavior of older people. It’s essential to better understand the effects of social media, loneliness, and a lack of digital literacy on older people

UPS Announces That the First US Commercial Drone Delivery Service Is Operating

Strategically clever to use medical samples as a first, focused source of the service, so as to emphasize the public benefits.

What will happen when demand arises for mocha skim lattes or pepperoni pizzas has yet to be determined. JL


MIT Technology Review reports:

Currently, the majority of medical samples and specimens are transported by courier cars. The addition of drone transport provides an option for on-demand and same-day delivery, the ability to avoid roadway delays, increase medical delivery efficiency, lower costs and improve the patient experience.  medical professional will load a secure drone container with a medical sample or specimen – such as a blood sample. The drone will fly along a predetermined flight path, monitored by a trained Remote Pilot-in-Command (RPIC), to a fixed landing pad at WakeMed’s main hospital and central pathology lab.

A Birth Control Pill For Men Is One Step Closer

Once approval is granted - which may take some years - the big challenge will be to get men to accept responsibility and take it. JL

Scott Simonsen reports in Singularity Hub:

A new trial details strides made by researchers in developing a male version of the birth control pill, bringing it within reach of  FDA approval. In men, the idea is to stop the production of sperm, which relies on progesterone and androgens like testosterone. This trial is important because participants had mild enough side effects to be within reach of FDA approval. There was little effect on libido for the majority of participants, which is often a source of concern.

MIT Cuts Collaboration With Huawei, ZTE Over Security Concerns

While the moves by top global universities - also including Oxford and Stanford - to end research with the Chinese companies, especially over intellectual property theft, which lies at the heart of academic research, there is concern that this may facilitate the trend towards 'two internets,' one primarily Chinese and authoritarian, versus one American and European, and more open. JL


Rosie Perper reports in Business Insider:

MIT joins a growing list that have stopped collaboration with Huawei since the US government accused the company of intellectual property theft and breaking US sanctions on Iran. Oxford, Stanford, and University of California at San Diego have also suspended research ties with the company. The new process would take extra caution considering international proposals that were deemed "elevated risk," particularly when they related to intellectual property, data and security access, national security, and human rights. "Engagements with China, Russia and Saudi Arabia  merit additional faculty and administrative review beyond the usual evaluations."

US Dept of Justice Warns Oscars Excluding Streaming May Violate Antitrust Laws

The Motion Picture Academy's initiative has been spearheaded by Steve Spielberg and is perceived to be aimed primarily at Netflix.

The reaction against the potential threat posed by new technology has been a consistent feature of the film industry over the years, from silents to talkies, black and white to color, theaters to television, DVDs and now streaming. The industry always capitulates and ends up making more money than ever before.

That the current Department of Justice has become involved is seen primarily as a political threat targeting Hollywood, which has traditionally supported more liberal politicians. JL


Anthony Ha reports in Tech Crunch:

The DOJ has sent the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences a letter expressing concern about potential changes to the eligibility requirements for the awards. The letter says, “In the event that the Academy - an association that includes multiple competitors in its membership - establishes eligibility requirements for the Oscars that eliminate competition without procompetitive justification, such conduct may raise antitrust concerns.”

Why AI Experts From Google, Facebook, Microsoft Urge Amazon To Stop Selling Its Facial Recognition To Police

There is concern not just about misidentification, but about potential abuse by government agencies or companies of a system known to be flawed. JL

Cade Metz and Natasha Singer report in the New York Times:

25 prominent artificial-intelligence researchers, including experts at Google, Facebook, Microsoft and a recent winner of the prestigious Turing Award, have signed a letter calling on Amazon to stop selling its facial-recognition technology to law enforcement agencies because it is biased against women and people of color. It mistook women for men 19% of the time, the study showed, and misidentified darker-skinned women for men 31% of the time.

How Tracking Eye Movements Helps Computers Learn

Researchers are finding that in an increasingly visually-oriented technological world, captured eye tracking may provide better and faster guides for helping AI systems learn than does vast arrays of data.

The implications for improving human education and training are equally profound. JL


Gregory Barber reports in Wired:

Researchers are looking for ways to make artificial neural networks more brainlike. A dataset that combines eye tracking and brain signals gathered from EEG scans discovered patterns that can improve how neural networks understand language. By adding data around how long eyes linger on a word, helped the neural networks focus on critical parts of a sentence as a human would. Gaze was useful for identifying hate speech, analyzing sentiment, and detecting grammatical errors. Adding more information about gaze, such as when eyes flit between words to confirm a relationship, helped a neural network better identify places and people.

Your Future Violin Teacher Might Be AI

And there will be no fiddling around... JL


Ben Coxworth reports in New Atlas:

A new computer system uses artificial intelligence (AI) to identify a user's bow technique, and could perhaps even tell them how to improve their performance. Machine learning-based algorithms compared arm movements to the corresponding audio, determining which movements created which sounds, within each technique. When the system was tasked with identifying the technique that a violinist was using, it could do so with an accuracy of over 94%.

Google and Walmart Partner To Let Customers Buy Groceries With Voice Commands

The question is whether consumers have enough trust in automated systems yet to hand over that degree of impact on their finances. JL


Valentina Palladino reports in ars technica:

To begin voice-controlled shopping, users must say "Hey Google, talk to Walmart." Then, they can ask the virtual assistant to add items to their Walmart Grocery cart, and check out. Walmart Voice Order will get better at identifying the specific items you want the more you use it. For example, the feature should be able to identify the type of milk you want based on previous orders. But it's unclear how many consumers actually want to buy anything using their voices—according to a report, only 2% of those who own Alexa-enabled devices have ever placed an order using the assistant.

Is Apple's NewsPlus A Netflix For Magazines?

Well, sort of. The big difference is that you can't see movies too many other places as conveniently as you can by streaming or downloading, whereas you can buy magazines elsewhere (hard copies: what a concept!).

And Apple's draconian terms may actually hurt magazines if it attracts too many current subscribers away from the publication.

But the service does suggest that as a strategic concept, consolidation is more attractive than the fragmentation that Disney and others are now imposing on the viewing public. JL


Nick Statt reports in The Verge:

The question of whether to pay for Apple News Plus depends if you like reading magazines enough to fork over $120 a year for access to more than you’ll ever be able to reliably consume. For some, unfettered access to new issues of The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Wired, and hundreds more could be well worth the cost. But there are a lot of caveats. (And) you’d be saving money and directly contributing to publications by directly subscribing, which grants you digital access to the websites and full issue downloads.

The Reason HUD's Housing Discrimination Lawsuit Surprised Facebook

Facebook thought they had earned a pass from conservatives as ideologues became more aware of how the impact of fake news benefited them more than their liberal opponents.

And they thought the current US Administration and its legislative allies were reflexively opposed to regulation, especially the kind that benefits the downtrodden.

But as the company tries to position itself as more of a responsible, neutral purveyor of information, they have stirred outrage that the advantages of disinformation might be shifting as the next election cycle commences. JL


Casey Newton reports in The Verge:

The move comes at a time when conservatives are ramping up pressure on big tech platforms, accusing them of anti-Republican bias ahead of the 2020 election.We are not used to seeing regulation of tech companies in this country, particularly not from HUD, which is currently run by a man who said that the Affordable Care Act was “the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery.” Given the strange timing — the two sides were in settlement negotiations when the suit was filed — it’s fair to ask whether there isn’t a broader political motive at play here. The Trump Administration has resorted to intimidation tactics before.

Why Amazon Is Packing Smaller Warehouses Into Urban Areas

As consumers' expectations about 'their right' to one day delivery solidify - and as urbanization continues its relentless growth, Amazon is finding that the benefits of scale in its larger warehouses are superseded by the benefits of getting distribution centers closer to where people actually live. JL

Jennifer Smith reports in the Wall Street Journal:

Amazon's first major New York City distribution center is 20% smaller than Amazon's usual fulfillment centers, stuffed with twice as many robots as human workers and able to handle 50% more inventory than traditional warehouses.The smaller sites are the latest example of how online sales are reshaping logistics networks. As retailers move inventory closer to big population centers, they’re squeezing big distribution operations into smaller buildings that use automation and build up rather than out to get more out of every square foot. The space is used as efficiently as a New York studio apartment

How the Data Mining of Failure Teaches the Secrets of Success

A widely embraced theory has been that learning reduces error and, eventually, failure. But the data suggest it is actually more complicated than that. 

Research reveals that the way individuals and teams learn may determine whether knowledge gleaned from failure ultimately contributes to success or not. There is a range between taking into account all previous experience or completely ignoring such experience. That point may differ by individual and organization, but it suggests that reducing failure lies at a threshold along that continuum from which learning reduces failure.

Finding that point of experiential learning through analysis and experimentation is the key to reducing failure and achieving success. JL


MIT Technology Review reports:

When the level of learning from experience is below some threshold, future attempts never become good enough to succeed. In fact, groups can end up reducing the quality of their work. But when the level of learning from experience is above this threshold, future attempts become better until they eventually succeed. The key factor is the way people learn. (Which) means a team's learning process is a good indicator of whether or not it will succeed. " Neither chance nor learning, alone, explain empirical patterns underlying failure. Our findings unveil identifiable early signals that allow us to identify failure dynamics that will lead to victory or defeat."

The Business Value of Design

The intangible value of design can be quantified - and monetized. JL

Benedict Sheppard and colleagues report in McKinsey Quarterly:

Good design matters whether your company focuses on physical goods, digital products, services, or some combination. The market disproportionately rewarded companies that stood out from the crowd.Top-quartile MDI (McKinsey Design Index)  scorers increased their revenues and total returns to shareholders substantially faster than their industry counterparts did over a five-year period—32% points higher revenue growth and 56% points higher growth.Top-quartile companies make user-centric design everyone’s responsibility, not a siloed function.

The Reason For the Increasingly Angry AI Ethics Debate In Silicon Valley

As AI plays a greater role in decisions with financial, legal and socio-cultural implications, the question of not just who is designing the code, but who is overseeing their efforts becomes more important - and more volatile - especially as the stakes get higher. JL


Sam Levin reports in The Guardian:

Major tech corporations have launched AI “ethics” boards that not only lack diversity, but include powerful people with interests that don’t align with the ethics mission. The result is what some see as a systemic failure to take AI ethics concerns seriously, despite widespread evidence that algorithms, facial recognition, machine learning and other automated systems replicate and amplify biases and discriminatory practices.

What AI Will Do To Corporate Hierarchies

Traditional hierarchies are no more likely to survive than the legions of workers they were originally created to oversee.

The broader question is to what degree they will enhance their skills with the help of automation - or eventually be replaced by it themselves. JL


Thomas Malone reports in the Wall Street Journal:

Regardless of what happens to the number of jobs, how is AI likely to change the structure of business hierarchies themselves? When AI does the routine tasks, much of the remaining nonroutine work is likely to be done in loose “adhocracies,” ever-shifting groups of people with the skills needed for whatever problems arise. The key for all companies will be to not assume any particular path. AI may create some more centralized hierarchies, and even more situations that call for flexible structures. The overall goal will be figuring out how to combine the different capabilities of people and computers

Why It's Hard To Create Cryptocurrency Value With Just An Algorithm

And, as society is learning the hard way, it is hard to create other types of value - and of values - with just an algorithm, as well. JL

Matt Levine reports in Bloomberg:

Bitcoin is valuable. Bitcoin’s value is incredibly volatile. To look at those two facts - a cryptocurrency that is both valuable and volatile - and say, what we need is monetary policy. The problem is that you can’t just apply a stabilizing monetary policy to Bitcoin because it’s not programmed to work that way. You can build another cryptocurrency that is programmed that should be stable. But there is no guarantee that it will be valuable. Whilst algorithmic (cryptos) eliminate need for trust in a third party, they (are) dependent on investor belief and confidence. As long as all users believe that the coin will be stable, their behaviour ensures it will be stable, but if some users start to lose confidence and sell, the coin risks falling into a downward spiral.

How To Write A Resume That Appeals To Robot Recruiters

What is most interesting about this advice are not the recommended tactics, but how they illuminate the failings of so many automated recruiting algorithms.

The algorithms can be gamed, but more importantly, they suggest how unimaginative such systems are - by design - which merely illustrates why the supposed 'skills shortages' plaguing business are more the result of poor management resulting from emphasis on speed over outcome. JL


Bernard Marr reports in Forbes:

Recruiters spend only 6 seconds reviewing each resume they receive (if they read it at all). And those are just the resumes that make it to a human for review. First, resumes must pass the filtering algorithms of an applicant tracking system (ATS). The machine rejects 75% of job applicants before a hiring manager ever looks at them. If the name of the ATS is visible, do a quick search to see if there is any information to help adjust your resume to better suit the system you are applying to. Be sure your resume matches as many aspects of the job description as possible.Use the exact phrases and keywords that were used in the job posting.

What If Google and Facebook Admitted Ad Targeting Doesn't Work That Well?

Both companies recently announced that in response to accusations of bias, they are curtailing certain targeting practices. And no one seemed to care.

Does that, perhaps, suggest that the ineffectiveness of such advertising has been more exhaustively researched and is becoming more widely known than has been previously admitted? JL

Mike Masnick reports in Tech Dirt:

In most cases super-targeted ads don't perform well. That's because even if you're putting the ad in front of the right demographic, most of the time they don't care or don't want to see whatever it is that you're pushing. Or, it shows an ad for something you already have or something you just bought and don't need to buy again. Facebook announced that it would no longer allow granular targeting for housing, employment, or credit ads -- all three of which were seen leading to discriminatory outcomes. If such targeting really was important and useful, you'd think that this would have resulted in Facebook's stock price cratering. Instead, it went up.

A Patented Russian Drone Can Shoot Down Other Drones - With A Shotgun

Crude, but effective. Not unlike its native country's foreign policy. JL

Steve Dent reports in Engadget:

A Russian defense contractor has patented a drone that uses a shotgun to blast other drones out of the sky. Almaz Antey manufactures the S-400 Triumf surface-to-air missile that caused a rift between Turkey and the US. The tail-sitting drone takes off on the spot but flies like an airplane for greater efficiency, giving it a 40-minute range while packing a fully-automatic Vepr-12 shotgun with a 10-round magazine. The drone was built by the "Student Design Bureau of Aviation Modeling" at the Moscow Aviation Institute

The Cold Case Factories: How Forensic Genealogy Has Become A Thing

Human curiosity almost always outweighs cautions about efficacy, implications - and inaccuracy. JL

Sarah Weinman reports in Topic, illustrations by Matthieu Borel:

DNA phenotyping determines distinct physical traits—eye color, hair color, nose shape—to produce computer-generated sketches. A working sketch of a criminal suspect could be generated from minuscule amounts of DNA. Forensic genealogy is a technique of forensic science that combines DNA analysis and family-tree building. Its specific alchemy results when the field of genetic genealogy—which uses DNA testing to help people identify their ancestors—is applied to legal and investigative issues. Concerns already lodged about ethics and privacy should not be ignored. We want crimes to be solved, but at what cost?

The Importance of Aligning Business Models To Employees and Markets

Adaptation is the key to the digital economy - and the consumer expectations that have arisen in other markets as a result. JL

Kwokchain reports:

Why do some companies seem to run better than others, and why can’t others replicate them? As the cost of forming startups decreases and capital availability increases we see a proliferation of options for consumers. Market supply fragmentation provides users with more options and shifts leverage towards demand. As the structures of markets change, the optimal business models change with them. Business models are how we align and reconcile the markets needs with the cost and human capital to provide them. Investing in employees is an asymmetric strategy aligning incentives and business models to thrive

McDonald's Bought A Tech Startup To Make Ordering More Like Online Shopping

Is it 5pm - or 5am? Is it raining? Does your previous order history suggest you might be open to an extra large size fries?

McDonalds is hoping to make its ordering process as dynamic, personalized - and profitable - as digital businesses. JL


Justin Bariso reports in Inc:

McDonald's has acquired Dynamic Yield, an Israeli startup that specializes in "decision logic." This uses data from previous purchases to recommend additional purchases. (Think: the "customers like you also bought" suggestions when shopping on Amazon.)McDonald's will provide more personalized customer experiences (such as) digital drive-thru screens that show food based on time of day, weather, and trending menu items. (It) can instantly suggest and display items customers might want based on their current selections. "How do you transition from mass marketing to mass personalization? We've never had a lack of data. It's drawing the insight and the intelligence out of it."

Lyft's $22 Billion IPO Was A Huge Success. But Not For Social Responsibility

The company cleverly positioned itself as the socially responsible alternative to Uber. Which makes complete sense given the growing trillions of dollars in assets being managed for ESG (environmental, social and governance) purposes.

But in Lyft's case, those attributes should fairly be described as aspirational. JL


Eric Rosenbaum reports in CNBC:

As Uber battled a public relations nightmare, Lyft positioned itself as the ethical choice.1 in 4 new investing dollars go to companies that investors deem socially responsible. In 2018, $12 trillion of managed assets were in socially responsible accounts, a 38% increase since 2016. There are compelling reasons to invest in Lyft, a business that is growing and targeting a huge market. Investors have good reason to overlook the billions in losses, but they should not be fooled about making lives better. Pay for drivers has gone down over the past five years and "It would not be responsible to say they are a sustainability company today."

Why A Great Business Model Matters More Than Great Technology

Unless a leader and his or her team can envision, explain and then manage to grow the value of their technology within a business model that scales it profitably, it is just another interesting innovation, not a transformational solution. JL


Mark Johnson reports in Harvard Business Review:

Mature companies often look at successful startups like unicorns and wonder if they can reinvigorate themselves by adding a digital component to their existing business model, in the way that clamping an outboard motor onto a rowboat makes it go faster. But what made those companies so valuable wasn’t their digital auspices — it was their customer value propositions, which investors believed they could deliver at profit and at scale.A digital platform, or a digital solution, may enable a new epoch of transformative growth, but when you see what’s driving it, the engine of transformation turns out to be its business model.

DeepMind, Google and the Battle To Control AI

The real question is whether the very notion of control is illusory given the degree to which machine learning may empower technology in general and AI specifically. JL

Hal Hodson reports in The Economist:

Human intelligence is limited by the size of the skull that houses the brain. Its power is restricted by the puny amount of energy that the body is able to provide. Because AI will run on computers, it will suffer none of these constraints. Its intelligence will be limited only by the number of processors available. Human-level intelligence, coupled with the speed and scalability of computers, will make problems that currently appear insoluble disappear. (But) the focus on achieving high performance within simulated environments makes the reward-signal problem hard to tackle.

The Reason Texting Means Never Having To Say Goodbye

The expectation of always being in touch means there is no hello or goodbye because the conversation is never expected to end until death do us part (and maybe not even then). JL

Jane Hu reports in Slate:

A goodbye is merited only if one plans to disappear into meatspace for a while. Everything else is one long, rolling conversation. The implication is that your friends will always be there for you, literally at your fingertips. Research on cellphone etiquette (says) who’s texting matters (but) people expect significant others to text back faster than friends (and) younger participants expect a faster responses. Forgoing the formalities of hello and goodbye implies closeness. You can just jump into talking about Instagram posts, complaining about public transit, or swap articles. People who text more report feeling less lonely and closer to their friends.

By 2022, If You Don't Stop Speeding In the EU, Your Car Will Do It For You

More information almost always means more attempts to control the knowledge derived from it. JL


Palko Karasz reports in the New York Times :

The European Union plans to require speed-limiting and emergency braking technology in all new car models starting in 2022, and existing models on sale starting in 2024, along with dozens of other technical features to improve road safety. The speed-limiting technology, called intelligent speed assistance, uses video cameras, satellite location data or both to detect when drivers go over the speed limit, and curbs their ability to speed up further by restricting engine power. The technology could reduce fatalities on the European Union’s roads by 20%.

The Reason Biometrics Use At Work Are Triggering An Employee Legal Backlash

Employees are increasingly mounting court challenges over how the data are being used for purposes other than security, especially with regard to how it may impact compensation, health benefits and performance evaluations. JL

Te-Ping Chen reports in the Wall Street Journal:

From warehouses to restaurants, the use of biometric data is moving from a niche practice to become a more mainstream way to verify employee hours and check workers in and out of facilities for security reasons.(But) as more companies track their workers with fingerprint and facial scans, employees are increasingly challenging firms in court over how that biometric data gets used and stored. “An iris scan looks cool. But that data has to go somewhere.”

How Tech Companies Want To Disrupt the Way You Buy and Sell A House

The new focus on eliminating 'friction' in the process by providing a holistic, tech-driven 'solution' is designed to address the frustration with cost and time of those in the market as home buyers or sellers.

But there is growing concern that the smoother transaction experience will - like so much else in tech - enrich those providing the tools rather than those doing the buying and selling. JL


Jeff Andrews reports in Curbed:

Zillow’s shift in strategy comes as part of an industrywide trend of tech-driven real estate companies aligning their business models around solving pain points in the real estate transaction. Has tech-world “disruption” finally come for the cumbersome process of buying and selling a home?Algorithm-driven home-flipping companies, along with strategic shifts by major companies like Zillow and consolidations across the industry, seem to say yes.“A lot of people  trying to build this end-to-end consumer ecosystem where consumers can do everything in one space. “It’s about reducing that friction in the whole process.”

Why We Need To Stop Glorifying Failure

Because the odds of succeeding are so stacked against almost any enterprise, embracing failure has emerged as a defensive mechanism designed to suggest that the process of learning means whoever does so has a better chance of success in the future.

But it may be that the glorification of failure is reinforcing the wrong behavior because it enshrines the nobility of the brilliant idea over the real challenge, which is the prosaic necessity of solving difficult problems and addressing unmet needs. JL


Greg Satell reports in Digital Tonto:

Over 50% of startups fail (and that number goes up to 75% for venture backed startups). The same is true of about three quarters of corporate transformations, which is probably why the average lifespan on the S&P 500 continues to shrink.We tend to think that success is the result of hard work and talent. (But) innovation isn’t about ideas, it’s about solving problems. That’s why most ideas fail, because they don’t address a meaningful problem that people really need solved.

Can Robots Be Stopped From Outsmarting Humanity?

Almost certainly not.

But the larger question is whether humanity is capable of managing the risk.JL


Mara Hvistendahl reports in The Guardian:

A common fallacy is assuming that AI has human urges and values. “Friendly” means something much more fundamental: that the machines of tomorrow will not wipe us out in their quest to attain their goals. If an AI is sufficiently smart, it might have a better understanding of the constraints than its creators do.Advanced AI can dispose of us as swiftly as humans chop down trees. Superintelligence is to us what we are to gorillas. "We won’t have the luxury to worry about consciousness if we haven’t first solved the technical safety challenges.”