Remove
Month: October 2016
Remove

IBM Is Counting on Its Bet on Watson

The New York Times
Jason Tate

New York Times:

At the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Watson was tested on 1,000 cancer diagnoses made by human experts. In 99 percent of them, Watson recommended the same treatment as the oncologists.

In 30 percent of the cases, Watson also found a treatment option the human doctors missed. Some treatments were based on research papers that the doctors had not read — more than 160,000 cancer research papers are published a year. Other treatment options might have surfaced in a new clinical trial the oncologists had not yet seen announced on the web.

I had a “holy shit” moment reading this.

AirPods Getting a Slight Delay

Jason Tate

It looks like Apple’s AirPods will be delayed a bit. Matthew Panzarino, at TechCrunch, reports:

“The early response to AirPods has been incredible. We don’t believe in shipping a product before it’s ready, and we need a little more time before AirPods are ready for our customers,” an Apple spokesperson said to TechCrunch.

Apple did not say whether hardware or software updates are what is at the heart of the delay so I couldn’t conjecture which. My experiences with the AirPods have been very positive this far but the pre production units that were given out to press are not without their foibles and bugs. I have seen a variety of small software/hardware interaction issues that have caused some frustration — but have taken them in stride because they are not final products.

Apple will be making more announcements today at an event (rumors are new Macs), feel free to come join us in the Apple thread to talk about the new shit.

Yes, American Democracy Could Break Down

Jason Tate

Politico:

There are three interlocking reasons why our confidence in the system is naïve. For one, we’re in genuinely uncharted territory with Trump: we’ve simply never seen a candidate with this much disregard for typical Constitutional values get this close to the White House. There’s no precedent for what might happen if he got there. For another, if you look at how our system of checks and balances is really built, it has relatively few resources to stop an authoritarian president from violating the Constitution and getting away with it. And the third reason may be the most unsettling of all: In a democracy, the final brake on the tyrannical exercise of power is public opinion. And polls suggest the American public has never been as skeptical of democracy or as open to authoritarian alternatives like military rule as it is right now. If a President Trump really blew down the walls of our system, a worryingly wide swath of the public would likely stand behind him.

Remove

Vagrant Records Celebrates 20th Anniversary

Jason Tate

Vagrant Records are celebrating their 20th anniversary with some vinyl reissues.

We’re celebrating another year on the street… our 20th! Over the next few months we’re rolling out vinyl represses of classic Vagrant titles from The Anniversary, Saves The Day, Hot Rod Circuit, The Get Up Kids, and Alkaline Trio and more. Up now, nab brand new presses of Senses Fail’s Still Searching and Let It Enfold You and Rocket From The Crypt’s Group Sounds and Live From Camp X-Ray.

Remove
Remove